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Toki the Kunoichi's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Relevance to the theme picked | #7 | 3.875 | 3.875 |
| Sensory | #14 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Enjoyment | #16 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Overall | #17 | 3.075 | 3.075 |
| Execution | #21 | 2.625 | 2.625 |
| Metroidvania | #25 | 2.375 | 2.375 |
Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme chosen
TIME, the protagonist has time control powers. (Slow down & Stop Time) Required for platforming and dealing with some enemies.
Team/Developer
Solo
Engine
Gamemaker
External assets
Ovani Sound Assets
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Comments
I've been trying to playthis game but haven't been able to run it properly for reasons I can't really explain. When I run the file from the zip, it only shows about a quarter of the screen (the top left), and when I run it from the exe it shrinks the screen to about a quarter of my screen size and even though I can hit the start new game button, it doesn't let me control the character.
I'm going to try it from another computer after the weekend, but thought maybe you might have some insight into what's happening or know if it's happened to anyone else. =/
That's bad T_T.
It seems is a resolution problem, the game has a native resolution of 640x360, maybe that cause errors in your case. Windowed mode could fix that error you can activate it from options.
Thanks for the answer, that fixed it, thanks! Honestly I'm super impressed you even included that option...
Anyway, I'll give it a playthrough later in the day and leave a real review.
Wow, a very difficult game! I was unable to make it past the Oni. Anyway, I've been a fan of this slowing down mechanic since Megaman 11, so I was happy to see it used here. Landing on the arrows is a really cool idea and very thematically appropriate. The controls were generally easy enough to control, my jumps were controllable and my character moved at a good speed. The music was also nice and picked up in intensity at the right moments.
Some feedback:
- Checkpoints please. It was a nice touch to unlock a shortcut to the boss, but the run back was still a bit annoying, especially with that big hole you have to fall down and climb back out of (where the sword is found). I really wanted the lady who talked about her onsen to offer me a checkpoint then and there.
- The game needs iFrames. The amount of times that I got knocked between arrows and spikes in rapid succession or bounced between oni boulders was pretty frustrating.
- A nice UI touch would be to put some sort of indicator closer to the player to show how much longer they have on the time slowdown. A bar abov ethe head like in Megaman might not be the most appropriate, but I didn't really want to look up at the top left of the screen while focusing on whatever I was slowing down time for. The time slowdown also felt like it depleted very quickly, I think a little bit more leeway would have been nice. It looks like it can be upgraded to more bars later, but I never made it to that point. :(
Overall I think it's a really cool concept and the theme is a fun one to explore. There are a lot of neat little touches here too, like arrows sticking into the walls. If you're going to continue it I'd focus on ramping up the difficulty slowly rather than going full speed ahead with it, but I'd be happy to give a future version another play. Nicely done!
I read other people's comments, then went back and found the unlocked onsen and the two trial areas. I thought the trial areas were really fun, especially with the check point so close. It kinds of reinforces one of the comments another player gave that this game feels more appropriately like a Celeste-style game, a series of rooms each of which is its own challenge that need to be overcome in sequence. But yeah, with the trials done and the extra enegy under my belt, I was able to go back down and defeat the Oni. Good times!
I didn't add iframes to let the player be damaged with multiple damage sources, maybe in a future i add some ability like a roll or a dash that has them.
Yeah, UI is my weak point, i will work on it for my next projects.
Thanks for the feedback!
Oh, this may have been misleading - by iframes here, I meant a brief invulnerability period after taking damage. As is, I can take damage multiple times in quick succession. Most games will give the player a small window of time to receover after taking damage. This goes a long way towards making the game feel more fair.
this game looks and feels great...if I had a controller for these complex actions I feel would have made it more enjoyable.... I am not a fan of the controls....its hard to get a hang of slowing down time and jumping with Z and C... I need an alternative for this....but that being said this game is pretty great feel/sfx/sound/story/concepts will 100% come and try to conquer this control structure.....just wish there was alternative keybinds and/or gamepad function!
I see, thanks for the feedback, that is something i have to work on, i will investigate about it for my next projects.
Thanks you for playing my game!
Yes will play and try to give a better comment/review on this game right now....looks awesome and think I need to give it more credit and play through than i could conquer first time around.....please review and comment on our submission if you have time! thank you
I got here after archers? than tried to back track but doesn't seem logical that I shouldn't be able to move forward here? I tried to get up above but also hard to do after I already passed the archers?
It is a locked door that is unlocked by a certain NPC located in the underground area. If you're having trouble anywhere in the game, I have a 100% gameplay video on the itch.io homepage. If you have more specific questions, I will answer you here.
Interesting slow-time mechanic and fairly well implemented. It was fun to play and the controls are very responsive. However, it felt that the game was way too hard from the start, throwing challenges to the player that were not prepared to. It felt a bit frustrating, I think a bit less steep progression would make wonders for the game as it is a well done entry. I liked a lot also the music and the art style! Well done there.
I'm glad you like the style and the main mechanics.
Regarding the difficulty, I will work on it, it seems that I made it too high and right at the start.
I honestly think this game should've been an entirely different genre. This feels and plays more like a Celeste type game where every screen is a separate challenge you have to skillfully bypass, rather than a metroidvania. I think this game's weakness is ultimately the fact that it was form fitted to be a metroidvania, because if it wasn't I think it would have been an incredible amount of fun. But as it stands, it feels like the game just throws you into the deep end and excessively punishes any small mistakes with a large amount of progress lost, which made for a pretty frustrating start
I greatly enjoyed the actual challenges within every screen, the way the game controls is really clean, the feedback on every action is very tight and feels great, the audio is excellent, and I absolutely love the visuals, but the way it's all contextualized together lets all of these fantastic individual elements down in my opinion
In what points do you think I have failed in making a Metroidvania?
The first thing that comes to mind is the limited number of rooms, maybe that's why it doesn't feel like an interconnected world. (I have no excuse, I organized myself quite poorly for the jam). Another element that matches what you've said about Celeste is that I try to make each room unique. (Whether it be a puzzle, the scenario or a particular event). Is that bad in Metroidvanias?
If there is any element in which I have failed, I would like to know what it is for the future update of this game and future projects.
Thanks you for your feedback and playing!
In my opinion it's the pacing that lets you down in terms of making a metroidvania. Instead of a gradual increase in difficulty and power, it just feels like I've been thrown into the game with harsh difficulty right off the bat, which makes its pacing quite unmetroidvania like. I can definitely sympathize with that being part of not having enough time to add more rooms that make the pacing more gradual, but it does mean that the experience has a very awkward flow in my opinion. But I absolutely wouldn't say that you've "failed" in making a metroidvania at all, this game is ultimately a very competently made metroidvania, but it's more so that I believe this game would have actually been stronger if it wasn't a metroidvania with its pacing and design philosophy.
I definitely think more frequent checkpoints is a start in this regard, so it doesn't feel like the player is being pushed too hard by having to do these difficult rooms back to back right off the bat. I do have to stress though that this is still a very strong entry overall and I had a lot of fun playing it regardless
Oh, i thought it was a more serious problem. I will work on pacing on my next games.
There is a shortcut to avoid the archers (at the sword powerup room). And the onsen works as a checkpoint. (You need to speak to the girl before the boss room to open the door). Did you use them or they weren't easy to notice?
It took me quite a bit to notice it honestly, saves and checkpoints should preferably be in a place where the player is just naturally gonna go to, rather than an area that's off of their current path. All of the critiques for this entry really just ultimately come down to balancing and pacing though, which I think speaks quite strongly to your other fundamentals when it comes to game development which I believe are super polished
I really dig the art style and music. I think you nailed that aspect. The main character actually reminds me of Ty Lee from Avatar the Last Airbender. You also included your theme very well. Character movement felt good. Nothing stuck out as being odd. I like that you included a map and it updates accordingly. MVM entries with a small number of rooms can get by without having one, but there's a point where the player can't keep mental track of all the rooms and places they need to come back to. That being said there are a couple items that should be addressed.
First of all, spikes in blind spots. As a player, it feels really unfair. This might be the most noted feedback you receive throughout the jam. And its definitely something you should keep in mind in the future.
The other thing, and this may just be a personal preference, I feel like starting out the arrows you have to use the time slow on should be slower and gradually increase in speed as you progress through the game. You don't want to immediately frustrate the player. With this type of mechanic, (and it is a very cool mechanic) you want to ease the player into the flow of it. After a certain point of progression, step it up.
Other than that, you have a really cool idea that I think you should continue with it. SMVM is going on, so you can take the feedback you receive here and really step up the game's quality and submit whenever the deadline for that is. I would definitely give it another go to see how it improves!
I'm glad you liked the graphics, i haven't seen Avatar so it's funny that Toki is similar to a character of that show.
One of my friends told me about the blind spots too and damage that cannot be avoided, so i will work in the future to avoid that error in my future games (and the update of this one.)
Hmm, I like the speed of the arrows, but I could add other types of projectiles with different speeds. I will think about it.
If the feedback is good my plan is to keep working on this project.
Thanks you for playing!
No problem. And yeah, its your game so if you think the arrow speeds are fine how they are, thats all that matters. I just wanted to provide the best feedback I could.
All the pixel art in this is really cute, and the key art is adorable too, overall a big fan of the vibes you managed to put down. It took me a long time to get past the first arrow jump (I was trying to jump onto it from the ledge on the left where the message is, and only later found out it's much easier to jump on it from below) but I got the hang of it eventually. I was a bit annoyed by the underground dungeon area directly dropping you into spikes or arrows a few times. After I got through it, I accidentally killed the oni before doing any of the trials by standing in a corner and just waiting for him to kill himself with falling rocks, but I did get 100% completion afterwards. Overall, I think the time slow (which I actually like more than the time stop) has a lot of potential for a Metroidvania. There wasn't really a lot of room for it in this game, but that's expected with gamejam projects. In the future, it could be a really cool idea to explore further if you want. Nice job overall!
I'm glad you like the art of the game, it's one of the aspects I've worked on the most.
The first arrow jump is designed to make the player suffer a little and force them to try things until they master the jump and time control. (Although the player can pass the obstacle without using the special ability.)
You can defeat the final boss at any time and in different ways, I see that in your attempt he decides to resort to the "pacifist" route. :D Although the ideal would be for the player to die a couple of times so he could explore the rest of the map and come back much stronger.
It is still a prototype, although if I see that people like it, I would polish its mistakes and make a proper version with everything I have not been able to add and the feedback received.
Thank you for playing it and reaching 100% completion!