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A jam submission

ChronomancerView game page

Past selves work with future ones in a rotating temple
Submitted by Bonsix, elOx — 19 hours, 42 minutes before the deadline
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Chronomancer's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Graphics#133.3753.375
Audio#143.2503.250
Overall#153.1563.156
Fun#162.8752.875
Gameplay/Design#173.1253.125

Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

What would you like feedback on?
Mostly about level design, but all feedback's welcome.

What did you update?
So far I've slightly improved the movement, though it's still not perfect and will be polished further in a full on overhaul version with much better code. I've also added a few more easier levels at the start and (hopefully) made the tutorial easier to understand. Besides that the graphics got a few small tweaks and I've also added sound effects, as they were missing in the gmtk game jam version. I've also fixed a few bugs.

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Comments

Submitted (2 edits)

The base idea is very cool, but the process of solving a level is long and tiring.

One big issue I see is how finicky the platforming can be. In particular, the fact that you can affect the trajectory of past selves (with weight and collision) is, during the first level at least, only causing mistakes and errors. For example, it's very difficult to estimate how much I should be moving in a given direction and for how long since I don't know exactly how my trajectory will be affected in the future. This becomes even more of an issue if I need to go somewhere else to help another future self afterwards. This causes a lot of frustrating trial-and-error. I think you should not be able to change the trajectory of path selves except in very specific scenarios where the player has a lot of control over it and doesn't need to go back and forth to minmax it.

(Edit for clarification: I think it's less an issue of the platforming itself being bad, and rather that the kind of character controller parameters you're using are not well suited to precise, errorless movement that you will rely on with future selves.  Specifically, jump and fall speeds are too fast, I think)

Additionally, it feels like yellow sometimes just has to wait for some time because future selves have to move first, and once again it's very hard to estimate how long you should wait for and causes more trial-and-error. Maybe you could either avoid those kinds of puzzles entirely, or add a better way to estimate time passing (for example, a visible clock or timer, which each step of the solution taking roughly the same amount of time)

Still, I do think the idea has a lot of potential!

Submitted

Awesome concept! I tired out on Level 2 after going back several times to jump in different places then trying to catch the Level 1 copy to ride it up high enough to jump up to the orbs. I couldn’t get it to work out. This is not the type of strategizing I’m good at, apparently. But it was interesting. If I wasn’t really work down for the day, I might’ve kept going to get to Level 3 at the least. Maybe next time.

The atmosphere is pleasing. I would like to see more levels.

Submitted

Solved the first 3 levels but gave up on the 4th as it required not only to time a frame-perfect jump on yellow’s dash with green and then hope that somehow using blue wouldn’t mess up with green’s frame perfect timing so you could end up using it as a platform with red at the end. Which seems impossible to me (or would require grinding for at least several hours to hopefully get it right).

The idea is definitely great and allows for lots of cool things in level design, but right now it’s frustrating due to the high difficulty of the platforming. The precision required is also way too high as even if you understand how to solve a level, you might be unable to solve it due to the high skill level required. The frame perfect jump in level 4 is a good example of that, as not only you need to time it but also do a quick move left right after before doing an upward dash so you can go upwards. Another example are the paths you can only take when verticaly and not horizontaly, those require to be pixel perfect for no proper reason and so you might try 10 times to have it right once. And add to that using your previous selves as platforms will push them down, meaning not only you can’t take your time but you will also break their path doing so making planning routes a bit of a mess.

There’s truly the basis for a great puzzle platformer with that mechanic, the graphics work pretty well and feel polished too and audio is good overall. But the difficulty is absurd for a puzzle platformer where the main challenge should be in finding the solution to levels, not performing said solution.

Submitted

I think the idea is very fun, and some of the solutions I figured out for puzzles felt very rewarding. I do think however that the platforming can be a bit too precise in how you have to execute it, which often takes away from the feeling of discovery with solving the puzzle. I found several times where I figured out the solution, and simply could not get the platforming to work like I intended it to, which took away from the satisfaction of solving the puzzle in the first place.

I do think that the core is there, the idea of using past selves with rotating gravity to help future loops is a really neat puzzle to work around, I think the game just needs to focus more on either the platforming or the puzzle element, right now it is a weird mix that fits between the two in a way that takes away from some of the satisfaction of both.

Submitted

Solving these puzzles felt quite rewarding and required some interesting attempts.

You should play around with different reset options, because sometimes it felt frustrating to reset the entire stage and setting up everything again.

The challenges felt quite unique and allow for a lot of freedom. Good job!

Submitted

Honestly, I felt pretty frustrated playing. Partly because I don't play a lot of platformers, partly because of the control scheme, and party because of the lack of the difficulty of the first level and lack of guidance.

For me jump is always space on the keyboard and shift is dash so I couldn't overcome the muscle memory of dashing  with spacebar when I wanted to jump. There also isn't any guidance on what to expect. Am I supposed to be able to reach the orbs by dashing and jumping? Am I supposed to sequentially wall jump to reach the orbs? Additionally, once I got to the next character the "rules" of the game were still unclear: Does my current character affect the physics of the previous character?

The platforming itself was already difficult, but adding the additional layer of timing with past selves was even more difficult. Trying to time jumps with your past selves was more frustrating than satisfying. I ended up reaching the green orb without the help of the yellow guy and then gave up on the blue orb because I couldn't get the timing right.

My recommendation is to tutorialize the player. Set the rules/expectations of the game world (what can and can't be done so the player isn't guessing if they're doing something wrong or if the game is broken). The speed and slipperiness of the characters also makes coordinating movement with past selves not fun. Perhaps the movements need to be slower and more deliberate. Lastly, I know it's a pain, but setting up different control schemes would be highly appreciated.

Submitted

I don't know how to reach the checkpoint as Blue Pilgrim, so I have failed to pass the level. I think Dash with [Shift] and Jump with [Spacebar] (alongside with [W]) would be better for movement. 

Submitted

This is an interesting concept. I was able to figure out the strategy and beat the first level, and I'm pretty sure I know how to do the second, but I was not good at getting the timing right for many of the jump dashes. The first color of the second level I was having issues with moving to the side, then switching to up and dashing, then to the side again just right to complete the jump. I kept not getting enough jump height, or mistiming my dash to be sideways. For people more used to this kind of platforming it is probably easy, but I was just not getting it that well. I did get to the second color and figured out what I needed to go back and do with the first, but the thought of redoing the jump for the first was where I decided to stop. I like the puzzle parts, but the platforming is a bit tough for me.

When not in full screen the tutorial text can be hard to see as it is on top of the environment.