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Been wanting to play this for a few days - finally got around to doing it. I like your setting the most out of all the games in this jam. Like everyone else, I like your movement the most too!

I think two things could've been done:

  1. Narrative - I know its a game jam and we don't bother much with stories in jams, but its such a core component of what makes a game a game, that imo it should be a part of any game. Something simple - some directive to get the player moving towards a goal. I personally feel like even in a game jam, some narrative is a non-negotiable. It could be something simple - "need food for my family", or "I must kill all dinosaurs" - but the fundamental function is to give the player some reason to explore. That's just my 2c.
  2. Level design - the playing space was elegantly designed from a mechanical standpoint, but visually they ended up feeling unmemorable. Unmemorable doesn't mean unfun. It was fun for sure. Unmemorable means that there were no rooms that stuck out as locations for me to recognise and remember. Having one memorable room per region helps players memorise the map and increases immersion. Think of rooms like that giant room of platforms in the forgotten crossroads in hollow knight. It's difficult to forget that room, and every player knows what's to the left of it and what's to the right of it. So some ways to do that are using the shape of the room (horizontal, vertical), use repetition (many many flowers, or many many of those round spiky things), use symmetry (what's on the left side could be on the right side), use some architectural component (maybe a gigantic archway or something) - basically anything that makes the room stand out.

These are minor nitpicks in what was overall a super fun experience. Well done!

Thank you so much for playing our game! This is really great feedback - we've been having a lot of discussions about Narrative recently, and we agree that it could be a lot stronger in this project.

The Hollow Knight example of level design is also such a good point. Our levels were made with our mechanics in mind like you said, but they could absolutely use more landmarks/visual difference to keep players engaged in the world. It would be a dream come true to create memorable rooms like the Crossroads vertical platform area. (I immediately knew what you were talking about, and what is around it!)

Hopefully you were able to see all that we had to offer! The Caves area that you start in can be a bit long, but afterwards we have a few different areas that are visually distinct, with some fun new mechanics to find.