itch.io

I've uploaded a new version. I added checkpoints, expanded the map, you keep your coins when quitting, and there's a bunch of other things. If you play it, let me know if you find any bugs or have any problems.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I'm still working on the game a bit for a post-jam version, and I changed it so instead of getting stuck in the blocks and dying, they just instantly smash again when you're caught inside, and only damage you once. I also fixed a game-breaking bug, where when you get stuck, you can spam jump to move yourself up through walls. I'll try to fix it so you can stand right next to the block and shoot, it is kind of annoying that you have to move back a bit.

Thanks! I'll think about it. I've just started implementing checkpoints. Making it so barrels and collectables don't respawn after loading a checkpoint makes sense. I think I'll try it out and see how it feels. On the other hand, they are kind of meant to feel like coin blocks in super mario. You can collect coins if you want to, or you can just run past. If you die before getting to the end of a level, you rarely go through it slowly to collect everything, you usually just run to the end, to get back to where you were. I'll have to experiment with it a bit and see which feels right.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely add thumbstick support. That was something I completely overlooked. For this type of game, I usually exclusively use the dpad, so I didn't even think of it. Shouldn't be hard to add, though. As for the pacing, I'm thinking of add checkpoints before the bosses, because a couple people have said they just do not enjoy having to go all the way back to the beginning. Maybe I could have a screen at the end when you're rewarded based on certain things, like if you beat it without using checkpoints, or beat it without getting hit. I originally planned to add checkpoints, but the game being short led me to try out a kind of roguelike thing, but I'm not sure if it was the best choice. For the pacing issue of having to stop at all the barrels, maybe I could just make the barrels break in one hit, so you aren't stopping and starting as much, and slightly reduce the amount of coins they spawn.

Thanks! Did you come across anything you didn't like about the game? I'm still working on it a little bit post-jam, so it's good to know about any crappy parts I can try to improve.

Really nice relaxing game. Like a connect-the-dots drawing in space. Great choice of music, and really nice sound effects! I love that you can boost multiple times to go faster, it feels quite satisfying to control. Thanks for adding controller support, too. It feels quite polished apart from the lack of a menu/start screen, but that's not really essential for a gamejam.

Nice job, but it's quite hard! I only got the level 1-5. I like the art, and the game feels quite solid, but there's some tweaks I'd personally make. I understand that it's meant to be a precision platformer, but I feel like certain parts are a bit too precise. This is only my opinion, maybe you enjoy this type of precise gameplay. One area is the lack of coyote time. In lots of platformers, you have a few frames to press the jump button after you walk off a platform, which means that you don't have to be quite so perfect with the timing of a jump, you get a couple frames of wiggle room. Even the game celesete, which is a fairly difficult game has this feature:

One thing that I really think should change is either the size of the fish's collisionshape, or the player's collisionshape, that's the part I got stuck on. The collisions kept happening when they felt like they shouldn't, and trying to precisely put the player in between the fishes on either side on level 1-5 to not get hit is really difficult because of the lack of analogue controls. Usually hitboxes are a little bit smaller so you can get away with slightly scraping the edge of an enemy, but in this it felt like the hitbox was as big as it could be.

I feel like these changes would not take much away from the challenge, but would add some flexibility and make it feel a bit better because of the slightly extra room for error.

Overall, great job on finishing the game! The animations are nice, the player feels good to control, and from what I've seen the levels are fairly fun, but the things I mentioned made it very challenging, so I wasn't really able to get a full opinion on all of the game.

Also,  maybe adding variable jump height could be a good choice, allowing you to make short jumps, instead of doing a full jump every time you press the button. This would make hopping short gaps feel a bit nicer in my opinion, but I suppose it's just a gameplay choice, not something that's necessary. And like some other people said, controller support would be great.

Update: I played a bit more and got to level 1-6, but the aiming was just too difficult. I think having a cursor on screen that the trunk points to would be a bit nicer, at the moment, the aiming is a bit unintuitive.

Pretty cool idea! I played up until the animals started showing up, but I couldn't figure out how to craft a knife. One small thing I'd recommend is to allow any amount of spaces between the crafting recipes items, like "craft wand + pebble". Not a huge thing, but I think it would make sense.

Also, another small thing I'd recommend is to reset the text after a few seconds when you press enter on the side screen and it says "The conditions are not met". I accidentally pressed enter when I opened the screen, so I didn't get to read the original text. It would be nice if it went back to the original text after a few seconds, or when you press tab again.

I'm not sure if it really follows the "transformation" theme and the 1-bit graphics very strongly, but it's still a pretty cool game, I think it has quite a bit of potential if you keep expanding it! Maybe some upgrades for later in the game, like increasing the field of view, so instead of exposing one tile when moving around, you could expose the 4 adjacent tiles too, or maybe 8 tiles including the corners. Also, things like different biomes with a slightly different look to the ground tiles and unique items could be cool. I think there's many different places you could take this game.

Thanks! I also got that feedback from someone else. It's meant to be like a roguelite game, where you go back to the beginning, but can buy permanent upgrades to help your next playthrough, but I didn't get many upgrades finished in time. I plan on adding checkpoints, though.

Ah, might be the player's animation. The player's speed is almost like he should be running, but his legs don't move that fast. He doesn't look like he's sprinting.

Thanks! What feels weird about the movement? Do you mean the keyboard controls?

Like k12t12 said, you can only shoot down while jumping. It works that way in some metroid games, so I based mine on that. I was going to make a tutorial area, but I didn't have enough time. Pressing C (or X on an xbox controller) shapeshift's you, but you only unlock the ability after defeating a boss.

Thanks!

Got stuck when more notes were introduced, but it's really well executed. Really nice art and polish, and interesting gameplay!

Just to make it clear, any uploads after the deadline are bug fixes.

I've tested my game and it works fine when running in my own web server, but when on itch.io, it leads to a few 403 errors when loading a save file, which leads to a json parse exception. I've searched and I can't figure out what the problem is. The save file name is the same everywhere I use it, there's no casing issues, and I'm being sure to use a unique name. I'm just not sure what the issue is.

function save(_save_data) {

    var _sav = file_text_open_write(working_directory + "cowboy_shapeshiftin_save.json");

    file_text_write_string(_sav, json_stringify(_save_data));

    file_text_close(_sav);

}

function load() {

    if !file_exists(working_directory + "cowboy_shapeshiftin_save.json") {

        return -1;

    }

    var _sav = file_text_open_read(working_directory + "cowboy_shapeshiftin_save.json");

    var _json = file_text_read_string(_sav);

    var _save_data = json_parse(_json);

    file_text_close(_sav);

    return _save_data;

}

I'd definitely like to work on it in the future. I had a lot more planned for the game initially. There were meant to be 3 bosses, puzzles, lots more lore stuff, but for a 2 week jam it was too much. I'm working on other stuff at the moment, but I'll probably get back to this game at some point! I'll also probably abandon the low-res concept, 64x64 just felt too low and I think the graphics look a lot better at 256x256 (at least for the default). Thanks for the feedback. Other weapons shouldn't be too hard to add, a bow and arrow could be fun!

I see what you mean. While I started making this for the lowrezjam, I also want to work on it post-jam, probably at a higher resolution, so I didn't limit myself to making very low-poly models and going with simple lighting.

Thanks! It is in a true 64x64 canvas, what made you think otherwise?

Thanks! I should've put a checkpoint just before the boss-fight!

The default is 64x64, with no textures, but the game can optionally go up to 512x512, with textures. I plan on having 4 main areas. 3 areas with boss battles, to obtain gems that have special powers, and a final 4th area where you have to use each of your 3 powers to solve a puzzle/defeat a boss.

Really nice! Diagonal shooting and d-pad support would be even better, though!

Honestly, not too much work. Godot Engine is very nice for quickly prototyping stuff!

Thanks! To be honest, not that much thought went into the levels. The main thing I focused on was trying to make sure it didn't get too repetitive. Because I'm the one making the level, it's hard to tell if it's enjoyable/challenging, so it did get a little stressful near the end. The two door areas in the start of level 3 were thrown together in the last few hours of the jam.

Very cool concept! The only problem is the length, but that seems to be a problem with most people's games (including mine!)

I don't think it's actually non-euclidean, but I did take some inspiration from CodeParade's non-euclidean engine

Thanks! Sorry about the html5 build. It works on windows (chrome.) But I haven't tested any other platforms.

Very fun! The control feels a bit slippery, but other than that, it's quite nice! (I can understand the slippery feel, to add a bit of difficulty, maybe?) Funny that we had the same idea of flipping between red and blue! Maybe some super mario galaxy 'Flip Swap Galaxy' inspiration?

Thanks! I'm not sure if I'll add more levels, because it gets quite confusing quite quickly. But if I ever do, I'll definitely consider your feedback!

Thanks!

Feels really nice, so far! Check out this tutorial for interacting with rigidbodies properly: Kinematic to Rigidbody collisions

Really nice so far. The music, the graphics, gameplay. I really like it!

Thanks. Are you still targeting april for early access?

If I pay for early access, will I have to pay again when it's released, or pay more for extra features? Also, if the game ever moves from applab to the main oculus store, will I have to buy it again, or will it convert the purchase to the main store release?

Beat it on my first attempt!

This is quite nice! Really polished, and perfectly fits the description of "chill."

You can get it for $10 on steam, don't get it on here, this version is for schools!