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A jam submission

ShadowcurseView game page

You will face the Shadow. Whether you bring an end to it, or vanish into its depths
Submitted by Greencat — 6 days, 15 hours before the deadline
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Shadowcurse's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Sensory#82.7142.714
Enjoyment#161.7141.714
Overall#181.8571.857
Execution#181.7141.714
Metroidvania#191.2861.286

Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Team/Developer
greencat

External assets
Art by: Tiny Worlds, logaboga, Burrito, escape-pixel, Noobk, zLizard, zneeke, AimMaga Music by: Andrew LiVecchi, MakotoHiramatsu

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Why you put monetization on a jam game ? and why I can watch ads to skip a "level" in Metroidvania game ? Am I misunderstand what is metroidvania ?

Well, ignore this and let me jump off to the game.
It dose catch me before actual playing because I like game has a  dark vibe.
and your game asset look great ( you list out a lot of art asset so IDK which is your work )

1) character hitbox is... weird, are you using capsule for character vs map collision ?
It can simple slip off from the edge after center of character have little bit step off the edge, this is little annoying, at least in a 2D platformer need often jump off from edge. ( in my opinion )

2) I can save and load anywhere, and the level have some location need you travel back a long distance before try it again, so what I do is just save and load if I fail to jump.
this make me feel boring, but without this, the whole level design is just give me stress, because I need to restart the level after instant dead or need a long time to travel back.
I recommend simple remove save and add check point in mid stage, but again, I don't feel this is metroidvania.

beside of this two point, the combat also very vague, maybe it's because I only have one attack ability, boss fight only need to pressing space again and again ( no movement ). If there have any ability make combat funny, than I think you can give player one more ability at start.

I only point out some cons, so don't get me wrong, hope to see a improved ( and related ) game in future.

Developer (1 edit)

Sorry about the monetization. I just learned how to add it, but I didn’t realize it would feel really annoying and it’s definitely not suited for a jam game. For the character hitbox and movement I used a circle collider with map collision (I just followed a tutorial video here:

). About the Metroidvania part . I only really knew Hollow Knight and misunderstood it as just a “dark platformer,” so that’s my mistake. Thanks for pointing it out, and sorry again!

Submitted(+1)

No need to say sorry, I'm not try to argue you add monetization in a game, but for jam game ( at least during rating period, I don't think this conflict with rule 7 but step on the gray zone ).

It just my opinion, you can keep use circle or capsule for character vs map collision with "slip off the edge" function, but I recommend change to rect ( at least for bottom part )
or need to add some check to keep character stay on the edge before some value of the character over the threshold ( e.g. touching normal over 20~30 degree to the upward direction ).

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I guess I was slightly put off by the whole game monetization and offers to play ads to skip this level, I mean it's fine to try and make money off a game, but a jam is really just for the fun of it, and people will play your entry to try and offer advice and sense of community so trying to monetize that good will feels a little off.

That said there are some promising signs... it looks good if dark, but it;s an aesthetic I quite dig, I am note sure if any of the sprite/ art work is yours or if you just did coding... but either way with so many external assets you have made something that feel cohesive. 

I'd suggest trying to up the speed a bit, as others have said it does feel sluggish... leave annoying  precise jumps till a little later or at least don't make them result in insta death. I am not one to talk as movement in my games is always pretty bad... but really focus on getting a character that feels fun to move/jump attack, and then you can focus on adding some metroidvania ability gating.

Sorry if the above was a little negative but hopefully constructive - but you are on the right track, and I would be interested to see future games you come up with

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! I’ll work on improving the level design and look into better monetization methods that aren’t intrusive. Sorry about the ads to skip levels. I’ll avoid that in the future.”

Submitted

It doesn't seem like the game was made for this jam. There is nothing in it to reflect the theme "clockwork" and I couldn't spot any metroidvania elements.

For the game itself, I like the art style, but the movement is very lacking. The jumping specifically is very off. It starts off at high velocity then becomes floaty, making it impossible to judge precisely  (for me at least)

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much for taking the time to play and share your thoughts! I totally understand your points about the metroidvania elements. I realize now I misunderstood what metroidvania really is and just thought of it as a dark platformer, so sorry about that 😥

Submitted(+1)

No need to apologize. My advice is to get some metroidvanias and play them (Metroid, Castlevania, Hollow Knight). Play the jam submissions, there's a few that really embody the classic metroidvania games, like Hickory and A Clockwork Kumquat. The others are great too but they're either experimenting with different concepts or are not complete enough to showcase the genre (my entry falls into that category unfortunately)

Developer

Thanks so much for the advice! Really appreciate it 💚

Submitted

Spam entry game? Feels like an AI spam entry

Nothing is good. The movement is so sluggish, and who but attack in the pacebar. 

Developer

Sorry to hear the game didn’t click with you😓, but I appreciate the feedback 

 I’ll keep it in mind for future game, project

Submitted(+1)

This didn’t feel like metroidvania at all. Maybe I didn’t get far enough, I got to what seemed like a boss fight because the music was so dramatically different but didn’t have the patience for it. Jumping felt really sluggish and I didn’t feel like there was any strategy to the combat. The atmosphere and primary attack looked good but the levels were so dark it was hard to appreciate the art.

Developer

Hey, thanks so much for giving it a try and sharing your thoughts! Totally get what you mean about the jump, combat, and dark levels. I’ll keep working on improving those in future games and projects.