itch.io

Thank you for taking the time to craft feedback on my frustrating game. There were several glitches that made it into the final game that I could have fixed if I just had another couple hours. 

      The up/w as jump option is something I usually use, but in this case there was a weapon that the player unlocks that has up and down shooting capabilities, so I put jump on a different button. 

     The narrative ideas that didn’t make it into the game………thank you for saying it. I almost moved away from a platforming game to a point and click narrative because of all the ideas that were swirling around - and the game that I posted did NOT flesh out many of those ideas. Your instincts were right - there was a lot here that was not included in the final product. Narrative should not be ignored. 

Thank you for your clear feedback. It is invaluable to have an experienced view with clear suggestions.

You hit the nail on the head. There were wide chunks of this dungeon that I wanted to go back and address because they were empty/even boring, but I took so much time making the whole thing work that I didn’t get to do that second pass and put interest into every room. On hindsight the lives/continues system was more of a habit than a requirement. I am from the 90’s school of thought that the player has to be hazed and challenged, but making people walk through empty rooms or mindlessly repeat certain tasks is not a good way to achieve that. I should have done some kind of password or save system as well - it would have been easily implemented but wasn’t possible in the “time crunch” I experienced. 

Thank you for your feedback. You are very insightful when offering answers.

I have to comment because I have been playing this game for a while now and haven’t given any feedback. LOVE THIS! Games don’t need to consume 9000000 hours of playtime to be fun and satisfying. I feel like you played a decent amount of Castlevania because you have captured a lot of the fundamental feeling of playing those NES games. The "attacking slightly early" idea - can't say how much I like it and miss it in modern games. The whip IS slow, but if you learn how to manipulate it you can take out multiple enemies with one strike. The boss IS a bit of a puzzle because that’s how bosses are SUPPOSED to work. Once you figure him out you can own him readily. It should always be satisfying to take down a boss and this is a good example. 

Saw this game on a site called KBHgames and after playing it I had to hunt down the source profile - which brought me to itch. Wouldn’t change a thing except for the obvious…….we would love to see MORE! 

As far as the audio crackling - I am playing on the Itch site via Google Chrome browser and the only time the audio crackled was when I was progressing and the screen was scrolling. As long as I stayed still and moved around in the same area the audio had no crackle. Hopefully that helps. It’s not a game breaking problem by any stretch.

Thank you for the fun and challenging gameplay.

Hey buddy, I’m mildly obsessed with your game - plus you gave me such good debugging advice I have to at least try to return the favor. I found a soft lock situation: after the player finishes the diner sequence and they have to go through a slalom of falls:

The player progresses to a hall with 2 falling ceiling blocks. There is no real reason for the person to be out of the ship, but I ended up outside of it and got stuck in this little area because the ceiling blocks wouldn’t fall, there’s no other way to die, and I can’t jump high enough to get out. I’m playing on the itch page via Chrome by the way.

      Just an FYI and thanks again for spending so much time testing my messy entry.

WOW! The old “rolling ball” puzzle, but you started with AI generated images and made altitude maps from them - and the ball now has to navigate them. 

Nice use of AI, nice challenge, I can tell you put bumpers in certain places so the player doesn’t just fall off the map which tells me this was crafted - not just copied and pasted. This is a good example of how we can use AI as an assistant and NOT as a crutch. This is how AI should be used in my opinion.

My only critique, if you want to expand this, would be more labyrinth style layouts and maybe some enemies/hazards. I found most maps could be defeated by rocking the board steadily with the up and right buttons/motions. 

A fun experience and a nice example of how AI can be a helpful tool; and not just a support for lazy people. Also I always have to applaud solo devs - it’s a challenging plight and you did it. 👏

(same comments as the itch profile page)

The physics dance is always fun. I liked exploring ways to get through the game while avoiding falling at all costs. At one point I was playing the entire first sequence while upside down. 

We just need a little more time to get used to your physics in this world. The initial arrow has collision and sends the truck off course right away. I think most users would just need more even ground to start on. But then again….the game really hazes the player into figuring out how to move effectively right from the start. It’s up to you on how much you want to expand this. 

There are endless possibilities for wild jumps and end over end flying - I would like to see style points or rewards for landing bizarre jumps or some kind of stats pop up on how many degrees I rotated on my last flip. Maybe I’ve played too much Grand Theft Auto in my lifetime. It would also be good to have save points/way points.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I found it fun that there was no audio for the jumps/screams because I was doing the sound myself. All the A’s flying out did address the scream, and after a while I found MYSELF doing the “scream”. This is an interesting angle - making the player do their own sound effects. This game really had me leaning over in my seat and vocalizing - that’s something EVERY game should strive to do at some point. You’ve created an engaging experience.

Also - 👏 applause for solo jamming. It’s a very tough road to take.

The physics dance is always fun. I liked exploring ways to get through the game while avoiding falling at all costs. At one point I was playing the entire first sequence while upside down. 

We just need a little more time to get used to your physics in this world. The initial arrow has collision and sends the truck off course right away. I think most users would just need more even ground to start on. But then again….the game really hazes the player into figuring out how to move effectively right from the start. It’s up to you on how much you want to expand this. 

There are endless possibilities for wild jumps and end over end flying - I would like to see style points or rewards for landing bizarre jumps or some kind of stats pop up on how many degrees I rotated on my last flip. Maybe I’ve played too much Grand Theft Auto in my lifetime. It would also be good to have save points/way points.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I found it fun that there was no audio for the jumps/screams because I was doing the sound myself. All the A’s flying out did address the scream, and after a while I found MYSELF doing the “scream”. This is an interesting angle - making the player do their own sound effects. This game really had me leaning over in my seat and vocalizing - that’s something EVERY game should strive to do at some point. You’ve created an engaging experience.

Also - 👏 applause for solo jamming. It’s a very tough road to take.

This is very interesting - the subject of dreams is endlessly fascinating. 

I like how the game has it’s own physics for the “weapon”. If you stay still it pounds out scream in all directions, if you move it pounds more scream in the direction you are moving. Once you get the feel for it you can really survive for a while. I find myself picking one direction and just going that way and dodging enemies - kind of like a “bullet hell” flying shooter. 

I also LOVE the way the game/nightmare seems to get mad at you if you are doing well and how it starts spawning larger and more intimidating enemies. If you practice lucid dreaming you know that the dream can get "angry at you" for doing certain things. I once made it so far that the game was producing enemies that started taking up ¾ of the screen. 

The scenario is a dream in the world of sleep - so “dying” means you wake up. “Press space to go back to sleep.” Solid. I like it. 

Dreams are always a fun subject for any art form, thank you for choosing that path. One day AI might end up dreaming everything we see and experience. 

My suggestions would only be some kind of points system - some way to break through the wall of nightmare and end up in a good dream because you survived long enough and got enough points. I just like to have a way to “win” the game. Maybe you could do something like  “arcade mode” and “survival mode” on the main screen. Part of me wants to suggest a sound for the scream but that would get horrifying given how much of it the player does - maybe a background song. 

The whole experience was fun and easy to pick up/play. Good choice of eyes. The only thing more threatening than eyes is teeth. If you see teeth in you dream it’s time to wake up.

Just to confirm - I played on Chrome and the face was visible.

This is very interesting - the subject of dreams is endlessly fascinating. 

I like how the game has it’s own physics for the “weapon”. If you stay still it pounds out scream in all directions, if you move it pounds more scream in the direction you are moving. Once you get the feel for it you can really survive for a while. I find myself picking one direction and just going that way and dodging enemies - kind of like a “bullet hell” flying shooter. 

I also LOVE the way the game/nightmare seems to get mad at you if you are doing well and how it starts spawning larger and more intimidating enemies. If you practice lucid dreaming you know that the dream can get "angry at you" for doing certain things. I once made it so far that your game was producing enemies that started taking up ¾ of the screen. 

The scenario is a dream in the world of sleep - so “dying” means you wake up. “Press space to go back to sleep.” Solid. I like it. 

Dreams are always a fun subject for any art form, thank you for choosing that path. One day AI might end up dreaming everything we see and experience. 

My suggestions would only be some kind of points system - some way to break through the wall of nightmare and end up in a good dream because you survived long enough and got enough points. I just like to have a way to “win” the game. Maybe you could do something like  “arcade mode” and “survival mode” on the main screen. Part of me wants to suggest a sound for the scream but that would get horrifying given how much of it the player does - maybe a background song. 

The whole experience was fun and easy to pick up/play. 

Intimidating! This game seriously works on every level. 

I’m going to try to say some original things - your game really makes its statements clearly so I might be saying the same things as everyone else. There really isn’t anything to fix…I will share the emotional experience I had playing the game. 

The conversation at the beginning is wonderful. So many little details are being discussed in this alternate universe: the guy asking what your heat shields are made of.  Sometimes the best way to put someone into an alternate world is just to put them into a normal conversation in that world. 

Obviously: The moment where you step out of your vehicle and leave it on the pressure plate so you can hit the switch was where I realized I was dealing with a serious game designer (well, that and the feedback you gave me on my game). You are using previously introduced features in a new way. 

I’m left wondering if you watched the show Twin Peaks? The diner, the coffee seeking, being a skilled person who is from out of town talking about how things “work around here” felt very Agent Cooper. Anyway, these story elements were beautiful. The sudden introduction of the war ships that your mechanic friend is watching on the news - excellent way to introduce a sense of unexpected urgency.  

The second sequence where you are infiltrating the enemy ship was so well executed. You really made me rethink even bothering with a system with lives and continues - this kind of challenge really makes the player grit their teeth and try again and again. 

Also the dangers of AI if it’s brought into warfare………thank you for bringing this up. 

There really isn’t ANYTHING to fix, this really was so well done. My only suggestion would be to have a “press _ to continue” button for the dialogue instead of auto timing just because the dialogue is so important I wouldn’t want anyone to miss it. I’m left with more questions than suggestions because you are clearly the better game developer.

If you weren't such a dunce you would have a nice little demo to go with this post FintoozlerM. 

So weird that it's Twenty twenty two, month two, day twenty two, Tuesday.....

This is some weird 12 Monkey's strangeness going on right in the middle of our game jam. Feed off it people, lean with it! IT'S NOT REAL!

How are your games coming along? 

Hamburder. This should be an impossible burder. Fake meat. Fake news, fake everything. 

This is some Rick and Morty level science right here my bros. Mind blown. 

Lil metroidvania. Nothing too big, but a nice traversable little world in 2D. 

I will be using it too buddies! YES! It's just the thing I'm most adept at right now. You can produce .exes and other file formats if you use https://turbowarp.org/