Very entertaining concept! Excellent characterisation and effective, concise writing. Not to mention superb use of the theme! Unfortunately, my game crashed twice after the, uh, 'foreigner's' return, so I was unable to finish the game. Happy to return to it if there's a fix or workaround after the jam! In an extended version, I'd love to see visuals of the memories as well, if only just a still image. My one critique is that the music restarting or switching between cuts was somewhat jarring, but I don't think it's a major issue. Keep up the good work!
Absolutely mind-blown by the art direction on this project. It may be more fantasy than magical realism, but the setting perfectly fits the tapestry aesthetics. As others have mentioned, the movement and boat ride sections can get a bit challenging to handle, but I appreciate the chapter select screen to bypass difficulty spikes if needed. Keep up the good work!
After an additional five attempts I had to hand in my pro gamer card halfway through chapter 5. But I gotta say - fantastic job with the minimalist approach to narrative and art, I look forward to a checkpoint system after the jam so I can go back and see the ending!
Thoroughly enjoyable - a good showcase of doing a lot with a little by reusing locations. The rubbed out line work creates such an interesting effect. And what high-quality character sprites! Good use of puzzles to show the character's emotions as well. Very solid writing, and in an extended take I'd love to see even higher stakes with the puzzles getting near impossible to the point of Kirsten losing control of her powers completely. I noticed in your summary the game has an 80's setting, which I didn't see much of in the game, but didn't matter in the long run. Excellent work overall!
Hello! If all goes to plan, we'll launch before the end of October for sure. Most of the assets have been done from before the jam deadline, we just came to a grinding halt when a crucial teammate went silent the last day. Thanks for your interest!
Hello all! Writer here with a long background in prose fiction looking to get temporarily adopted by a team. This'll be my fourth jam as a writer, so I've got prior experience working in groups. You can find all my games on my profile, including a project submitted to the previous MVM. I'm happy to supply any additional material on request, if needed.
Now, I understand a Metroidvania might not have much need for a narrative, but if you're looking to put together a story-based experience - or just need someone to write some dialogue - feel free to contact me on Discord (Fred#5492).
Great entry! The rewind function was visually impressive (not to mention functionally pretty much exactly the same as in our entry) and I was pleasantly surprised by the scope of the entire game. My main criticisms are with the level design (very similar, hard to navigate by memory alone) and the combat (short reach and hard to hit enemies, especially flying ones). Kudos for making a metroidvania, though! Keep it up!
Unfortunately didn't get far due to enemies shooting me through walls and reset not working. Rewind seems neat, though didn't find much use for it. Good luck with the post-jam polish!
Thank you for your detailed feedback! We'll be addressing all the issues with the project once the jam's over, but at least we learned a little something about scope and overestimation.
Using time to buy upgrades is a really cool feature! I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen this before. Not going to delve too much into suggestions here as stuff like balancing issues (bullet count being the superior upgrade), lack of enemy variety, and the boss bullets being the same colour as the player's have already been mentioned, but I will say adding a volume limiter to the audio should take priority over anything else. The gameplay's fun and all, but the crackling of twenty ships dying at the same time takes away from the experience. Anyway, you got a good foundation going here, so best of luck if you're continuing the project after the jam. Keep it up!
Very well done! Unfortunately I didn't get too far before the game bugged and I got stuck repeating dialogue, but the game was a joy the second time. Excellent art and music, really love how the time mechanic is used. Some small nitpicks: I think the gameplay could use some variation, as it's mostly just travel in a straight line and click every dialogue. Perhaps consider letting the narrative breathe a little in the beginning as well, as the introduction of the time mechanic feels very rushed, though I'm guessing that was mostly due to running out of time. Otherwise, fantastic job with this Night in the Woods-esque project. Keep it up!
Hey, really cool concept! Good use of minimalist visuals paired with a great soundtrack - especially for the boss fight. I would have liked to see more variation to the gameplay, perhaps some other ways to stop or reverse time. As it stands, the game feels like it's unsure whether it wants to be a bullet hell shooter or a puzzler. The narrative should also be clearer, as it's very confusing. Otherwise, good job with the project, and good luck if you're polishing it after the jam!
Really well polished visually! Love the retro platformer look and feel, as well as the bopping soundtrack. Gameplay is fun in bursts, though quickly gets a bit frustrating, especially when you have to jump from one end of the screen to another. Not going to expand on the time mechanics as it's already been mentioned so many times, but I think a countdown timer would make more sense, if anything. Anyway, good job with the project - it's something I could see perform well as a casual phone title. Keep it up!
Great visuals, especially the level design and variety in enemies. Some fun puzzles, though the platforming could use an overhaul. Gameplay feels sticky, and some difficult sections get even more frustrating with the strangely long respawn timer. I didn't even know about the slow-mo until I read the controls after finishing the game, felt like a bit of an unneeded optional add-on just to fit the theme. I think some polish could turn this into a good little title. Keep it up!
Very ambitious project! The presentation is a bit confusing, but the use of time reversal as puzzle mechanic is a great concept and is visually neat. Some truncation issues with dialogue text - not sure if it was just me. Good luck if you're polishing the game after the jam!
A fun little game I can see do well on a phone! The time stop is a cool twist, though the enemies are a bit hard to see when they approach from the side, at least in the beginning. It doesn't take long until the player becomes overpowered, so some tweaking to balance, and clean-up in presentation (like proofreading the text) would go a long way. Good work and keep it up!
Deceptively simple presentation! As has been said already, the concept is very interesting, and I'm curious to see how far you can go with it. Keep it up!
We joined on time (heh), but we had to strip down a lot from our original vision to make it. We decided about two days ago to throw together this little demo build. Gives us time to polish the actual level design and narrative to up the wow factor! Thanks for playing, though!
Thanks for playing! The full release won't take long - we've got most of the foundation already done, including a complete narrative. Check back later this month / early August!
Amazing work! The concept alone is fantastic, but the level design showcased is strong. This might be a personal gripe, but I found the controls very hard to get used to, especially when you're trying to time three consecutive hits while also dodging a homing attack. Perhaps a more gradual increase in difficulty would ease the player into the mindset better. Regardless, well done with the project. The audio's good, the monster design is great. The dash and the laser together form a connection so unique and fresh I really hope you continue after the jam. Looking forward to seeing more wild power-ups. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for playing and for your feedback! We'll definitely take this into consideration when we go back to polish the prologue. A lot of the gameplay was put in at the last moment, so we'll look at what we can do to make it more enjoyable, as well as put in missing features.
Dang, I really love the aesthetics of this submission. Solid job with the art - not just with the models, but the UI and intro menu as well. Unfortunately I fell through the floor shortly after getting the bow (twice), and was unable to proceed, so I assumed that was as far as I could get. Apologies if there was more to do. Hope you finish the project after the jam, as I'm loving what I'm seeing here, especially with how good it feels to use the bow. Keep up the good work!
Interesting concept, but I didn't get far before I got stuck and confused. Wasn't sure if I was supposed to kill the butterfly or not - I only managed to once, and I couldn't replicate that success. Would love to come back to this project after some polish. Keep it up!
Really like what you're doing with the aesthetics here. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much to the gameplay, as every direction led to a wall of some sort. I've read your replies below, so I understand you've got more content coming out. Good luck with that, and keep up the good work!
Absolute joy of an entry. This feels like a loving remaster of an Amiga / early DOS trendsetter. Great work with sprites for the protagonist! Level design is top notch for the most part, although it gets a bit tough to navigate without a map, especially when all the areas are very similar. Some very unforgiving jumps at times, and I'd reconsider taking damage as a necessity for progress. I got to the very end, but I didn't want to backtrack through the entire game to find my two missing hearts. Perhaps I will go back and try again in the future. Keep up the good work!
EDIT: Not only did you make a complete game, but adding a dedicated speedrun mode is absolutely going above and beyond what I expect from a jam entry. Kudos for that.
Impressed with how much you managed to do in one month. Strong 2D Zelda vibes. A great mix of combat and puzzles, though the spike trap rooms get very tedious, especially towards the end. I got to the palace before I had to give up. A smaller player hitbox and more room for error would help this, I think. Also noticed there's no sound or music, even though you mentioned both in the credits. Anyway, keep it up!
This was a very enjoyable experience! The rock blast felt good to use, especially love how it explodes into smaller bits. Some added sound effects would really sell the impact. Double jumps and wall jumps were very welcome, though some of the jumps were a bit awkward, especially the ones requiring leaps of faith. Keep up the good work!
Lovely art! Obviously it's unfinished as you say, but I can see where you're going with the project. I'd make sure to move and/or shrink the UI, as it's hard to see where any potential enemies when you're descending. Good luck with the polishing!
I love seeing some experimentation with the player character in this format! Well executed, though I got stuck on one of the spinning grinders without the jump ability and had to wait for the battery to run out. But otherwise it felt good to play. Keep it up!
