Hey sorry I can’t make a third stream session. Receiving my new PC parts earlier than expected fucked up my schedule.
Notes while playing:
Looks really good. Cool intro with the 3D effect. Pretty unique art style.
Can’t jump with space it’s doing a weird thing instead. Checking gamepage, wtf why use physical Z as jump, are you also French? Pick physical W so it’s W for US-based layout and Z for French. And anyway I like jump to be space, but I can’t remap it. For next time check Maaack’s Game Template (yes he is a regular of GWJ) for this kind of thing, or make your own reusable one.
I got attacked by an enemy I didn’t kill during the dialogue thing at the end of the level.
Cool double jump, now I can ignore the combat that wasn’t particularly fun, and now is unnecessary. Got a feeling of sudden freedom based on both of these aspects. Maybe if attacking a charging enemy interrupted them it would be better 🤔
Controls pretty good. I suck at platformers. I would appreciate some helps like coyote time and some lenience. But that’s a design choice and impacts difficulty. See Dead Cells as the best example I have of good platforming controls. The lead designer gave a conference about it in my school, maybe he has some stuff online.
Checkpoints plz I don’t have time for a jam game. At least life refill here and there, but progress save would be best. It’s a 2d platformer, there’s probably a ton of already-made code and tools to implement all this. Didn’t finish the game, got an unexpected jump headbutt from one of the guys on the upper part of the level. That killed me twice in the same spot after an otherwise long walk in the park and didn’t feel like trying again.
Gameplay not very original, but the inclusion of the theme in acquiring new abilities is pretty good. Though the concept of upgrades in itself is not super original for a metroidvania. But you know, nowadays anything has already been made once.
Music is pretty good, a bit samey. Sounds are good too.
Overall solid entry, my criticism is mostly programming/design details that you will figure out with experience. 2D platformers are popular and pretty easy to make (tons of resources), which makes people’s expectations for the genre particularly high I think.