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VaporWay's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Relevance to the theme | #77 | 2.746 | 3.500 |
| Sensory | #91 | 2.255 | 2.875 |
| Enjoyment | #93 | 2.255 | 2.875 |
| Overall | #93 | 2.314 | 2.950 |
| Execution | #93 | 2.059 | 2.625 |
| Metroidvania | #94 | 2.255 | 2.875 |
Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme interpretation and application
In the game you explore an abstract world and unlock (for now just one) skills that let you reach previously unavailable areas
Team/Developer
gullo97
Reference info
guferranti@gmail.com
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Comments
Gotta say, at first I was unimpressed, but I stuck with it and I'm really glad I did. The grapple ball ability is so much fun to use haha. To the point it feels like I'm breaking the game, which is definitely a good thing! I do feel like it's a bit overpowered tho. I basically could just scale a wall and reach the end of the game. But before you get that ability, the game is fun, but the movement just feels clunky at times. I like and understand the "braking" mechanic, but I do wish I had a bit more control when I used it. Also in general, I'm not a fan of games that make you charge your jump. I wish I just jumped when a pressed space. Just a personal preference obviously. But overall, I really liked it. Nice cinematic ending too. The aesthetics are on point, the music and the style of the game is super cool. I do wish there were some sound effects though!
Thank you so much for playing my game and leaving such a nice and constructive comment! Yours and some other comments really improved my mood ahah
I completely understand and agree that the game currently does not make the best first impression ahah, and I'm starting to work on that, but I'm really glad it managed to get through to you anyway!
I'm so happy you found the grapple mechanic as fun as I do! During development I was a bit anxious about how to balance it and I basically wasted almost a week trying to make the grapple only work on certain surfaces with a special color and effect. In the end I scrapped all of it because that not only limited me a lot in aesthetic choice and placement of colors (because I was forced to place big bright blocks in the middle of obstacles) but it also simply made the game less fun than I was having before implementing it ahah
About the controls I for sure agree they need a bit more fine tuning especially in the 'Walking' mode and thank you for helping me focus in on the issues. About the charged jump, for now I honestly think that with a bit of tuning it might not need a complete rework, mainly because I like the fact that it makes each jump require a bit of premeditation and I like that for now. As I mentioned in another comment, I want to try and add animations and maybe a charge gauge, as well as making the max charge time a bit shorter to see if I get better feedback, but we'll se!
Soooo glad you liked the aesthetics and music! The latter was composed and recorded by 2 dear friends of mine (I was in the room and like to think I helped too ahah) which still have not answered me regarding how they want to be credited lol
Thank you again for playing my game and for leaving great feedback!
On another note, if you are interested, I just released an update with a more polished map with a few more hidden collectibles, a better counter that now displays the total number of collectibles to find and a timer at the credit scene for players who are into speedrunning!
I'm a sucker for marble/ball physic games, really liked the ideas here. The jump was a little hard to get used to, being on the release of the button rather than the initial input, but gives a nice weighty feeling. I think more reactionary sounds like grabbing items or hitting the ground or even when traveling at max velocity could give this game that extra juice that'll knock it outta the park!
Hey I'm so glad you enjoyed the game! You put a big smile on my face the past few days ahah
Im currently working on making the jump *feel* better and considering potential changes. Honestly though I kind of like the hold and release version because I like that it forces to premeditate jumps in advance instead of using it in a reactionary way. Maybe adding animations and/or gauges and making the charge a bit faster could make the difference. Also, the sound effects are definitely a big missing component that honestly scares me a little at the moment ahah
In any case, thank you so much for the feedback!
Also, if you are interested, I just posted an update to the game with more polished levels, small additions to the map, a better collectibles counter that now displays the total (missing) collectibles and a timer at the credit scene if you are interested in speedrunning the game :D
I'll definitely check out the update! I think something like audio could make the hold-release jump feel as good for the player as well; its not a bad feel, its just different and takes a little getting used to lol I enjoyed it once I got into the groove of it
I loved the aesthetics of this game; you can really see the great attention to detail in that aspect, as well as in the paths within the game. It's truly a very good game.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
This one was good overall. For improvements, I’d suggest adding a sound effect when the ball hits the floor, and some kind of visual or audio cue to indicate when the player should jump, so the ball can go higher. I couldn’t finish the game, but I did reach the gravity ability section. I was a bit confused about where I should go at that point, but I still enjoyed it great job.
I did notice a few bugs: the ball’s collider stops working when its velocity gets very high. Also, when switching between the ball and the spider (or vice versa), the collider sometimes stops working as well.
Overall though, good job.
Thank you so much for the feedback, I sincerely appreciate it!
You are absolutely right and sound effects are high on the priority list right now, together with character animation ahah
I'm sorry you couldn't finish the game, I'm already working on making the game explain itself better to the player, but it's hard to find the balance between guiding a player and putting them on rails.
Thanks again for finding the time to play my game and look out for updates once the 2 weeks pause ends!
So.... I can't exactly rate this game but I do want to leave my thoughts upon browsing some of the entries.
I like the aesthetic but given how bright the colors are I do think that this may benefit from a seizure warning for those who struggle with that. But that aside I think the idea itself is kind of straight forward.
I kind of feel like some of the controls feel inconsistent in terms of the mechanics that could have benefitted from a bit of polish. I like the idea of switching between the walker and ball mode but the problem is that I found myself in a guessing game when the gauge itself wasn't totally working when building up speed or trying to get a jump. I don't really know how to articulate that better but there were moments where I found myself skipping parts unintentionally and getting to a point where I felt that I was skipping pointers as a result.
Maybe that was the intention for more advance players to skip certain parts? But I feel like something happened where I couldn't really get a full grasp on the idea that it pulled me out of the experience. It would have been nice for there to be a pause menu to easily quit the game and what not but I'm guessing there may have not been enough time to put that in.
That said, it's a great concept and I think it could go places but it did need some level of polish.
Thank you so much for taking the time to play my game and leave such a detailed comment.
I basically agree with everything you just said. I didn’t really think about photosensitivity warnings and I will add them in the next patch.
About the skippable sections, the intention was indeed to make the exploration feel not fully linear and to be able to skip parts, but that said, I think you are completely right that right now you can too easily break too many of the “intended” routes. Basically it came down to time, as I didn’t have enough to playtest the map after adding decorations and all the cyan neon bars that I now realize let you climb walls that you are not supposed to. Also the pipe level needs some rework.
In any case, thank you again for the great feedback! This was my first time ever making a game and I plan to keep working on it! In a week or so (after I’ve recovered from the past 30 days ahah) I’ll post a patch to address as many small issues I can find!
Ps: did you make it all the way to the credits?
Unfortunately, no. I wasn't able to make it all the way to the credits. But I'd be more than happy to give it another go to see if I can make it to the end.
Hey no worries of course and thanks again for the feedback! I recently posted an update to the game that added a few things and improved most parts of the map so you can check that out if you want!