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Aperture's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Fun | #4 | 3.957 | 3.957 |
| Originality | #9 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Theme | #13 | 3.957 | 3.957 |
| Overall | #16 | 3.466 | 3.466 |
| Controls | #18 | 3.478 | 3.478 |
| Graphics | #37 | 3.478 | 3.478 |
| Accessibility | #46 | 2.783 | 2.783 |
| Audio | #56 | 2.609 | 2.609 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
4.5
Game Description
A short puzzle-platformer with a unique mechanic that allows you interact with objects of another world.
How does your game tie into the theme?
The core game mechanic is inspired by the clipping mask function from digital painting softwares.
Source(s)
N/A
Discord Username(s)
bakedbreadtheorist
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
2
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Comments
Oooh, this was so much fun, loved the mechanics being introduced over time. The ability to stretch the mask surprised me, but was super intuitive and really opened up possibilities in overcoming puzzles (would be interesting if one of the puzzles required you to shrink after growing).
I enjoyed the SFX, and agree that adding some background audio would definitely help with world building. Even some soft non-intrusive soundscaping / nature effects could go a long way in complementing what is already such a cool and interesting art style.
The masked title font is awesome btw, really cool and fits the game so well.
Awesome job :)
An interesting take on the mask theme. I found the switching between mouse and wasd movement a little disorientating but got the hang of it after a few tries. I liked how the controls felt very tight and snappy. Had fun with this one!
One thing I noticed is that you matched your itch.io page background colour with the mask colour of the game so it blends in nicely. Very nice touch and well done!
The masking mechanic is fun and quite challenging to use, although somitimes it might be hard to calculate if you can make the jump in the first attempt, but no so hard overall because the masks sizes are predefined and can't be changed.
Pixel art is nice a pleasant. Great submission!
I think this might be the hidden gem in this jam. The mechanics is super interesting and creative, and extremely on theme. Even in the earlier levels, I was already very impressed with the well-designed puzzles and implementation. but I keep getting surprised by addition of new content. The different mechanics are all cohesive and on-theme too. I like the minimal aesthetic and color scheme. The puzzles' difficulty curve was planned well. Got challenging towards the end, but never unfair.
By the nature of the game design, it takes some degree of perseverance to complete the end-game puzzles. Making a mistake in calculation requires a full reset. I can't think of an easy way to circumvent this, but I think players who are motivated enough or enjoy the challenge will have no issue pulling through.
Some UI elements can be improved. I was thrown off a bit trying to resize the early stages mask due to the presence of the Black dots are the cardinal points. The later addition of a resize option made this confusing. Might be better to leave out the black ones that are static, and make the resize points more obvious. The difference between the resize and move NPCs, as well as the manually activated vs the masked-over switches can also be made more distinct. The game would definitely benefit from enabling the "full-screen" button option on Itch to improve accessibility for people with poor eyesight. I'm not colorblind, but the choice of red/green might cause problems for those impaired, so many an option to switch to high contrast hues might help.
The let down here would be Audio. The SFX were jarring and can wear on the player as time goes by. The absence of a vol slider forced me to mute the game altogether eventually. A more pleasant choice of SFX and addition of some complementary BGM would go miles in improving game-feel.
That said, this is likely my favourite entry so far. I sunk more time into this than I should. But I always find myself intrigued by the ingenuity of game design in entries like this. Tremendous effort.
Thanks for the detailed feedback! Because I was the one who made the game, naturally I knew that the black dots were not interactable until the resizing mechanic was introduced, but I did not consider how much this would confuse new players-- that was an oversight on my part. I also have little experience in the audio aspect of game design (my last entry to GWJ, which is also my first ever game jam entry, basically had no audio), and I did try to compose some BGM but couldn't finish it in time (in retrospect I should've use a royalty free BGM instead). As for the visuals, I agree that there should be a high contrast mode, and as for fullscreen mode... I just realized that you could enable that in the settings :> Will keep that in mind when I publish more games on itch.io in the future.
Neat Concept. controls felt great. Very well put together.
This one is so cleannnn! Like the art style, sound effects and mechanic?? All so fun! Great work :D
oh yeah, I like this. This has crunch. I like the direction you took the masking, and the level design was pretty cool. My only real complaint would be in the first big level with the maskable switch, it's *extremely* easy to softlock and have to reset the level if you miss a jump or miscalculate a masked area.
I'm glad you liked the game! When I was making the game, I felt that the game was a bit too easy puzzle-wise so I intentionally made some levels that required you to be intentional with the placing of the mask. In hindsight, this also made some levels easy to softlock as you've described...
That's a great idea and fun variations on the mechanic, Great job!
The art is very clean and sound effects are satisfying! I do wish there was some more mechanics or cards used as the concept of shifting worlds has been done a lot in this jam but this version is very crisp and bugless. Also only had a week so hard to implement much more. Great work regardless!
I'm glad you liked the art and sound effects, because I won't say it took a lot of effort, but it did take time for me to design them. I did have more mechanics in mind, and I initially also wanted to do friendly ghost, but in the end I ran out of time 馃ゲ
I love this idea, and the level design is really good. I think the platforming could be a little more forgiving, but, besides that, awesome idea. Loved to play this, congrats!
We have the exact same Idea for the jam xD
Good work, the level design is quite interesting.
Play our game: Spectral Mask if you can :D
Fantastic idea with pretty good execution
Good platformer with a clever twist, easy to understand mechanic, solid controls (though I would have added a smal "coyote jump" to make it a little less rage inducing). Good minimalistic artstyle, great entry!
I like the game's difficulty pace, and the new puzzle elements were integrated smoothly. I noticed myself completing levels without having to think too much about what I needed to do or what I should press, if that makes sense — the sprites explained everything visually.
Great job!
i think that the art style and the game machanics are perfect together
I enjoyed it.
Some of the puzzles were a bit unforgiving and was unsure how it fit into the theme until I read the submission details, but in retrospect good job!
Thanks! I initially felt like the idea for this game would barely fit the theme as well but I really wanted to try making the masking mechanic.