itch.io

I initially didn't want to do this jam because the limitation seemed so specific at first, but I thought of my idea like 3 days into the jam and scrounged up all the motivation I could to get it done. Probably the best game I've made thus far, but that makes sense since all the other jams I've participated in were shorter jams. Overall I'm glad I had the experience to make a more complete game than any I've made before and I'm happy that it's done :)

I really liked the whole atmosphere of this game, and I also appreciate the level design with the diamonds for extra challenges. But the button deactivates when the player steps off of it even when the robot is on it, which seems unintentional, and there were times where i managed to get stuck in walls. It's also a bit weird that you can press space early when jumping on the ground but it doesn't really work with walljumps. But these are just minor these that didn't affect the overall game much, and the little bits of text definitely enhanced the experience. It was really cool to see how we took our games in completely different directions even though we both made puzzle platformers!

Don't think I've seen a boss rush kind of game in a while! I really like how the artstyle and music seem very consistent with each other, and the idea itself is also really fitting for the limitation. One thing I would suggest though is for both the user's health and the boss' health to be stationary somewhere on screen so that they can be seen at all times. Overall great game!

Assuming that you were trying not to kill any enemies, you can just throw the dagger at the wall to use as a platform. But thanks for playing!

I think this type of game would be great for a much younger audience, but I like the chill vibes!

Fantastic stuff! Probably the best platformer I've played in a Mini Jam, but it'd be even better if there was some nice music (and maybe make the sound effects a bit quieter).

It looks and sounds great, but unfortunately I just can't do it :/

Things I liked: 

The level design was great! With just 3 levels, you seem to have made the most of the movement mechanics. The difficulty of each level relative to each other was also great. I like how each level increased in difficulty by a substantial amount. The art/animations and music also enhanced the experience.

Potential improvements:

You give the player leeway when pressing jump before actually touching the ground, so I think you should give leeway when the player presses jump a fraction of a second after leaving a jumpable platform as well (like coyote time in Celeste). It would also feel better if the platforms didn't feel so... slippery. I think those changes would make the movement a lot more fun. I think the placements of the heart fragments could be improved as well, because currently it pretty much takes the same amount of skill to get ending 2 and 3.

Overall, great game, especially for a game jam. I would love to see more levels!

I love the animations and music! Not exactly sure how the splitting works though since sometimes I can control all the split slimes and sometimes I can't. Overall fun game with cool mechanics!

Um... interesting? 

In all seriousness though, this was pretty cool, but I don't have the attention span to read through everything. 'Twas a good time.

Pretty cool game! I liked the rhythm part and open-space part separately, but I'm not sure if they mesh that well together. 

I really liked the idea of the game and how it looked!

Good effort! I like the level design, and it was easy to see what I needed to do in each level. The movement could feel smoother though, and I'm not sure why but I can only seem to grab the balls from the left side and not the right.

https://elporkador.itch.io/just-a-dagger

Cool effects on the player and platforms! Regarding the movement issue, I think a lot of it stems from how high the 'gravity' is, which makes it so that you have to give the player a lot of jump force to counteract the force pulling down (which is what makes the jump feel 'jumpy'). As a 2D Platformer, I think my game is pretty similar to yours so feel free to check it out if you want to try out 2d movement that feels different (mine also had comments about certain movement issues but they don't seem to be the ones yours has so it might be beneficial to try it out anyways!)

Thanks for playing! By “slipperiness “, do you mean the amount of time it takes for the player to come to a stop after letting go of a direction?

Thanks for playing and great job of getting to the last level! Unfortunately, I joined the jam a day late so I didn't have time to add in music or sound effects. but I'll definitely keep that in mind next time!

The art and animations look fantastic! Maybe adding more mechanics could make the gameplay loop less repetitive.

Thanks for playing! I'm just wondering but did you have trouble getting hit by the cans and eventually just couldn't get enough height to make it to the next jellyfish?

Thanks for playing! I put a lot of enemies at the end to be kind of like a final challenge, but it's actually possible to lead the first few ghosts away and only have to throw two candies before avoiding the rest. I may have gone a bit overboard with it though since I got so used to their movement pattern that it didn't feel like it had a challenge anymore   :P

The art, music, atmosphere, and implementation of the theme were all fantastic! Something I want to mention though is that I didn't really like how the seemingly most optimal way to play was to memorize the places you need to jump after each death. 

Sorry there isn't a download, but I'm not sure what's the issue. I just tried it and it worked, and no one else has mentioned it either.

Oh do people generally use space to jump? Idk I'm used to 2d games with either the up arrow or w key to jump.

Thanks for playing! Can you elaborate on what you mean by "difficult to move"? Also can you let me know where you lost most of the candy? (I tried to design it so that there wasn't anywhere that you can't just shoot or dodge the ghosts)

Thanks for playing! How well do you think the shooter mechanic worked in the game in combination with the "boo" mechanic?

Cool typing game, but I found that since the screen scrolls horizontally, the letters are hard to distinguish.

Nice, very challenging, and fun rhythm game with great visuals!

This is great! Did you make all the assets yourself? 

Thanks for your comment! By making the enemy only move they you are not facing them, I was trying to simultaneously fulfill the theme of "behind you" and also somewhat give the player control of the enemies' movements to maybe lead them away and avoid them instead of having to shoot them.

This was so fun! The art and audio was nicely done, and the gameplay was fantastic! My only complaint would be that the player falls a bit too quickly, so maybe turning down the gravity would make it feel better.

Very cool concept, although I found the gameplay to be more luck than skill based. The atmosphere was also really well done! Overall cool game, considering the character is a... rectangle.

Very cool art and gameplay! The music is really catchy as well, but it can get a bit repetitive. Overall amazing game!

I like the vibe of this game, but the attack mechanic is kinda damaging to my eyes... Nice game overall!

Amazing game! I really like the art and animations, and the music was fitting as well! I'm not sure what the attack does, but otherwise the gameplay was really nice as well.

Nice game! I like the unsettling feeling of the music and the simple art! Something that I would like to mention though is that it can be hard to predict when enemies will come behind you and sometimes I feel like I lost a life for no reason. 

Thanks for playing! The enemies can only follow you when you are not facing them, to match the theme "behind you". The point of the enemies is also not to kill you, but to take your candies, since your goal is to get home with as much candy as you can.

Thanks for playing and commenting! Although personally I was satisfied with my final product, I found it a bit unfortunate that my interpretation of the additional theme of 'time will wait for me' perhaps took away the potential fun of including a timer and racing for December.  I also decided not to include a score to try to make the experience as cozy as possible, but maybe it felt a bit meaningless instead because of the lack of purpose...

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you understood my decision for not including a score or timer.

Thanks for playing! I understand your point that a score (or maybe timer) would be good, but I thought that without it the game would feel more cozy. For the time passing, I tried to make the change gradual by slowing shifting the color of the leaves and background, but maybe a more sudden change would've been better.

The cozy indoor vibes were on point! I loved the concept of playing a game inside a game, and the music and art fit really well!