I'm still getting the gist of some things, like the music (today I learned that I could've just installed a soundfont on the software I was using to get that chiptune feeling of the 80s and 90s games XD), but by the time of the jam I wasn't even aware of what I should learn.
About the map I really hoped it wouldn't be needed, but as you and more people here mentioned it was lacking and something I should have prioritized, that's good for me (the person who designed the puzzles and map) to keep in mind not to make assumptions about the player being able to solve hard puzzles or keeping track of the game's map by memory.
About the buttons I reckon it would be a good quality of life improvement and I confess I considered making it but don't really know why I didn't implemented it.
Well, I'm not against a game being hard or anything and that code system works well as a saving mechanism but I think there were some things that make the game extremely frustrating were it did not need to be, like the countless times I had to go back to a terminal accessible through some very difficult and punishing platforming just to not be able to copy the code cause the text passed too fast, and the only way to get the code to be displayed again would be reset time, input all of the previous codes and do all those difficult platforming again, dying a lot in the process, which felt very unfair cause I just managed to get the code, just wasn't fast enough to copy it. It would be as simple as letting the player close the dialog or displaying the dialog again every interaction.
Nevertheless I think the key aspects of a metroidvania were well applied here and the game fits well with the chosen theme, I personally enjoyed the difficulty (aside from the frustration I just mentioned), and think it was well done.
Congratulations for your submission and good luck!
I must retreat my comment about the controls not being mapped nowhere, I've seen it later that you stated them on the game page, sorry. But anyway, they were very intuitive, congrats!
What a neat little game. Great music, art style and gameplay. Just finished it and already want more. But it's so polished and detailed that I understand it being so short due to the jam's deadline.
I see lots of potential here. The idea is good and the game is pretty cute. I don't know if there is something after the third boss cause after I defeated it it just vanished dropping nothing and I couldn't get up again.
My first impression wasn't good, that's my fault cause I skiped the first boss on my first playthrough, then it disappeared getting me stuck. On the second playthrough I've faced the boss and the game's true value opened up and I had a lot of fun.
Had some difficulties with the controllers, first cause the mapping wasn't stated nowhere, but after mashing some keys i found it was intuitive enough to not be so much of a problem, second cause I felt it missed some fine-tuning like if you want the jetpack to take the player up it should do it more promptly, it felt like I was always barely making it to the ledge, or when you hit and enemy at such close distance they should stall or be pushed back or else you'll end up being punished for landing a hit by taking damage cause the enemy didn't stop.
The level design was interesting, it made me engage and want to explore the whole world, and felt rewarded for that with the extra life in form of the melon pieces. But... It was very linear which hurts a bit the concept of being a metroidvania.
To finish, some parts of the art where a bit blurry while some were very crisp which caused some inconsistencies with the style you were going, and in some part in the middle of the playthrough the music stopped suddenly and I don't know why. Missed some sound effects, but I forgot to put them in my game too lol.
Overall I think the idea has a lot of potential and would be something I'd buy on steam if well executed.
Quite a funny little game, seems to me like you nailed everything.
The different areas increase difficulty very well, the crisp controls compensate for the close combat that is always more risky, there is reward for exploration (so much that I had to go back to see what were in the rooms that I hadn't explored in my first playthrough), combat was well done, and a good dose of laughs at the end.
If I had one thing to say, but it is just me nitpicking, it would be good to have an indicator of health on the final boss just to know if you're halfway through the boss or almost finishing it. But that's just a detail and does not change my rating at all.
About the sound effects I must admit it was something that went over my head and when you guys mentioned it then I realized it was missing. As it's the first game I was doing all by myself I'm still getting the gist of priorities and now I see that while I was focusing too much on the level design some things have gotten left aside. But it's definitely something I'll prioritize on my next games.
About the music some of the previous apply here too and while I know some things about music theory in general I'm still not used to making video game music (like techniques or software). I wanted to make the music feel choppy like and 8bit or 16bit style but that time my knowledge just fell short.
I had some implicit goals and one of those were for the game to be completely textless, and didn't think at the time that I could do some graphical indications of the powerups usability, I just knew I didn't want to use text. What I did thou was locking the player in place until they figure out what the powerup could do, classic metroid style.
Thank you so much for playing and thank you for the feedback!
I'm still getting used with some mechanics of the engine and tools I'm using, like these snappy animations that I'm sure there must be a better way to do than the hacky one I used.
About the choice to have the player discover what powers do was inspired by the older metroid games, when the game barely tells you the name of the powerup you just got but make sure you're locked in place until you discover it by yourself.
Hope you enjoyed playing and thank you for the feedback
I'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feedback!
As much I play-tested it and try to bulletproof all of the movable objects and entities I see that a lot of you guys are getting stuck in some parts that I did not foresee... Maybe for my next game that should get a greater focus.
I'm very glad you liked the music, it was my first attempt and all I know is a little about music theory but not much about video game music (like softwares and techniques) and is a thing I hope to improve in the next games.
About the switches I must confess is something that passed through my mind during the development process but I didn't get to implement it, don't really know why lol.
It just saddens me that you didn't get to see the later puzzles because of the breaks.
