So, I played for half an hour (fair warning : did not finished the game), and I've gotta say, I'm positively suprised of what I've discovered by getting over some of the initial issues.
Here are my (very subjective) thoughts :
- The game needs a better "onboarding". The tutorial is quite slim, you're thrown a bit at random and I would like to get more explanation about it.
- There's an Azerty/Qwerty keyboard compatibility issue, along with some screen size issues, which can be very difficult to understand. Be careful to test your game on different computers/keyboards !
- The lore seems very good. There's a nice melancholic tone, almost poetic at times. Few writers manage to hit that style.
- The pixel art is nicely drawn, but the palette of colors are not there yet, in my opinion. I would have loved something a bit less saturated, or in a more limited palette of colors. (A nice reference site : https://lospec.com/palette-list )
- Also, maybe a less zoomed camera would've helped to enjoy more and feel less lost.
- The main issue of your game is, I think, your level design. And it's probably one of the hardest thing to achieve ! Some parts of your levels feels a bit stretched, some could've been longer. The overall pacing is a bit too slow to make me wanna continue and discover the game. I feel like there's more, but I was repelled by the difficulty of some level parts. It's an iterative process, and a hard one.
- The game feel was nice in the attacks, but the movement felt a bit "slippy". Something slower and with more control would've felt better.
- I didn't used the swap reality power that much. I loved the "maze" idea and the river, but I feel like the game didn't wanted me to use the power, and didn't invite me that much. Maybe more links between the two worlds would've make me want to use it more !
In summary, this is a nice small game that is hidden by the level design and user experience issues, with a nice sad tone. I encourage you to keep going !
Congratulations on finishing the game and participating to this jam. It's such a difficult challenge and your team made it, you can be very proud !
Koya & Sov, out ! 🦝🦝