itch.io

Thanks for replying, I don't quite understand why you think that this game is not that matching to the theme. I literally designed the game around the theme, The main mechanic of the game is the entire theme. I also adapted the entire set of other mechanics and level design to that mechanic. In my opinion having a platformer where you die being a new beginning isn't something bad in my opinion, it's more about how it's executed, especially in the level design. And also I haven't seen a single game using something like me as their connection to the theme, so in my opinion it's (still) quite unique. And I'm sorry, but just saying that the starting point is where the end point is, sounds a bit cheap to me, but I'haven't played your game yet,but maybe you could've implemented it well so I'm my opinion might change. And yes, I'm aware that you can either implement the theme as a gimmick/mechanic, narratively or in the graphics/audio (doesn't really apply to this jam).

Games also don't need to be exceedingly original, innovative or something similiar, but yes these things can make the games more unique, but just having good design is often times enough to have a great game. Take Celeste and Hades as an example, Celeste is a basic platformer, but still managed to win big awards due to it having a really good game feel and Hades having an incredible execution of the roguelite genre and in general being very juicy. And yes, I did not make like a really original idea or something, but rather focused on polishing. You may remember Ategons stream, I was the one guy that was talking about coyote time, jump buffer, etc. I implemented almost everything from the platformer toolkit. I also tried to add some extra juice and emphasized the dying, by using the zoom and slowing down time, particle systems to emphasize the walking and landing, stretch & squash, terminal velocity, acceleration & deceleration, etc. But they are some things that a bit less experienced game developers, who haven't come into contact with game design usually oversee. My take on making the game special was trying to make the palyer feel good to control and also satisfiying. And apart from that I also tried to make the UI look clean by using custom sprites and fonts (most people tend to stay with the default icons and font in jams and also adding accesibility. And there are also some other things but they are compared minor to these I won't mention them, since this reply is already way too long. I would be glad if you would reconsider your rating and also maybe play it on your main pc, since your experience might haven't been that great on the other pc. But I also guess it's rather about how you define special, but I think you should redo some of it atleast since my game's specialty mostly bases of the things that are often times overlooked and also not really cared about.

I'll also make sure to check out your game now too