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(+1)

Well, didn't read your comment about the ontime version being impossible.  But firstly, that's not true (it is possible, because I beat it), and secondly, because that's the version I played, that's the one I'm commenting on here.

So this had the potential to be one of my favorite games in the jam, but there were definitely some design decisions that were very questionable.  Clearly it seems like that was because of a lack of time, but I'll outline them briefly.

What is with the very first screen?  It's literally superhard for no good reason.  And is "You're" really mispelled as "Your"?  Oh well, maybe it's a cheeky reference to spelling errors in old games.  OK whatever, just press R then hold right, cool.  OK, so now there's a split path.  Take a right, and the hammer throwing enemy will mercilessly block your path.  I couldn't even get past this guy, so I reset and took the left path.  OK, now the game gets good.  It's cool, everything is going well, the graphics look good, the controls work well, the game feel is great, and the whole thing is very fun.  Until you get down to a dozen or so of these cats left.  You realize you can get through a wall of breakable blocks by dashing into it. Hmm, that's an unexplained mechanic... What other unexplained mechanics are there?  There was a wall jumping cat earlier, was it trying to teach me how to wall jump Super Metroid style?  Hmm, that doesn't seem like it works... is it just really hard to wall jump?

Dashing around a bit, I realized the dash ability also greatly increased your jump height.  AHA!  So I can get back up these walls.  I try every place I can though, and I'm just not high enough.  The leftmost room with the two blocks and axe throwing kitten above though, I come really close.  Maybe it is possible here?  I give this a few tries before realizing if you jump before dashing off the platform, you can use your double jump in midair.  OK, this seems possible now.  In fact, there are two ways up here.  One is to get the timing just right and the jump height just right in order to jump up to the platform above, or you can get hit by the kitten's axe and you'll respawn above.  OK!  Sequence breaking, cool.  It has to be unintended, although I can't for the life of me figure out the intended way up (little did I know it wasn't possible in the intended way).

Anyway, I played for a bit more, the room before the bat was brutal because of the axe throwing cat (so many deaths...), but hey, this bat upgrade will surely help me get anywhere.  And, hey, why am I getting this super jump ability when I already have the bat ability?  And why was I supposed to have wall jump in order to get wall jump?  Oh well, let's just go through these buzzsaw rooms with the bat.  Oh, it's absolutely relentlessly brutal.  OK, whatever, it took a while, so let's just get these last two dogs and win...hey wait, hold up, am I stuck in a wall?  It turns out there was a misalignment at the topmost room and I got stuck in the wall.  There was no way out, so I had to reset.

So, again I go, sequence breaking, getting past brutal axes, finding all 25 (hey wait, there was one I didn't get, why am I down to 0 already?  And, oh the game's over and it quits out and I can't go for 100%.  Hmm...OK.  Well, I'll just play the whole game again just to see if I missed anything.  Oh ok, there's just 27 total kittens.  You don't even have to go through the buzzsaw room if you don't want to.  Alright.

OK, anyway, great game.  I made a Metroidvania last year so I totally understand that these games are massive with many working parts and you have to get everything done as a priority or else the game won't work at all.  I hope the other post-jam version fixes these issues and stuff.

Wow, amazing! I had no idea you could sequence-break your way into actually finishing the on-time version. I really thought it was impossible.

As you can see from the submission time (37 seconds left!) I pretty much ran out of time and barely even managed to make the deadline. It was so down to the wire that I didn't even get time to play my submitted version to realize I mistakenly left in a murderous kitten in the first room for testing purposes.

I think the post jam version released a mere 90 minutes after the deadline fixes essentially all the issues you brought up, although it still has a few unfortunate quirks. I think I will do another small update when the jam is over to "finalize" the game. Thanks so much for playing and for the super detailed review!!

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Yeah, just played the post-jam HTML version now, and you literally already fixed most of the issues I mentioned.  Axe kitten before bat-kitten is still brutal, but you slowed down the axes so it's slightly less so.  But yeah, the sequence order makes a lot more sense now -- it gives backdashing an actual purpose, though now dash-cat is a little cryptic to figure out how to get.  I'm a little sad jumping while dashing was removed, but it makes it so you need the super jump to get bat-kitten.  And it's good to see breakable blocks put in more places; it makes it more obvious that you're supposed to dash through it.  Though there is one cat who's now been made a lot more brutal -- the windmill boomerang cat in the alcove the in the room next to where I sequence broke'd the jam version.  Mostly because the uppermost boomerangs go above the floor on the pillars, so if you're standing all the way up, it kills you.

But yeah, post-jam version is a great game.  Great job!