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A jam submission

HeartstrungView game page

What will you do with the time you're given?
Submitted by Fresh — 1 day, 13 hours before the deadline
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Heartstrung's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Narrative#10013.4553.455
Creativity#18963.8183.818
Audio#19423.3273.327
Enjoyment#21763.4553.455
Artwork#27913.4913.491

Ranked from 55 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
You have a limited number of lives as a resource, counting down until game over.

(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
See description for full credits

(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
Fresh

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Comments

Viewing comments 44 to 25 of 44 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

Finished the game on my 4th try, the level is small but takes a bit of time to figure out how to collect all the keys. The audio and visuals are amazing, but the best thing truly was the level design. The way you interpreted the theme is unique, and perfectly matches with the level design. I love that there isn't a tutorial thing, because the game teaches you what to do by playing, when I first realized I could move and use my dead body was super satisfying, because I learned it myself without any tutorials.

One bug I found was that my dead body went below the ground when I was in the scene with lots of spikes and vines,  right below the first drop. So I decided not to die there anymore :D Anyways, this game deserves to have more levels, the puzzles are amazing and aren't too complex. Great job!

Developer(+1)

Tysm!! Your kind words and feedback really mean a lot <3 it makes me so happy when people enjoy it and especially beat it, despite the flaws or frustrations. Level design is my weakest skill, so it’s heartwarming to hear that I didn’t do too bad on that front!

I intend to polish up movement and bugs after the jam. Ty again for playing <3

Submitted(+1)

Beautiful music and visuals. I also enjoyed the macro puzzle premise where I need previous lives to help other lives in order to win. 

The movement, specifically the jumping, felt a bit fiddly to me and the jumps I was required to make seem quite precise, so the stakes were high. It would also be nice to engineer a solution that reduces backtracking since losing lives and returning to the previous position is flat out required.

Developer

I’m really glad you liked it! You’re totally right though. Controls could’ve been polished. I was considering checkpoints, but didn’t prioritize it for the time and small size of the map. Ty for playing tho! <3

(+1)

Lovely game . Very Enjoyable

Submitted(+1)

I had a similar idea when the theme was announced. I was thinking of a cat having 9 lives and using those lives to solve some puzzles. We ended up going in a totally different direction but I like your take on it! Very beautiful too. I hope you had a fun jam!

Developer

Oh wait counting down from 9 lives for a cat is so clever xD why didn’t I think of that lol. But thank you for the kind words, and I’m glad you enjoyed it! The jam has been a blast :)

Submitted(+1)

What an interesting concept, using your own deaths to progress the levels, though you have to be very precise, as the game same, it's unforgiving out there. Also the music was very calm. Great work!

Submitted(+1)

I really liked the narrative sections and the calming text, it saved me from raging thanks to my bad platforming.

Submitted(+1)

That was clevel mechanic! It reminded me of Mortol from UFO50. You should definitely check that out if you dont know it already. I also loved the theming of the whole thing: the philosophy, limited palette and general atmosphere really worked well all in all. Truly one of the best executions of the theme in platformers so far!

Developer(+1)

That’s such high praise! :D tysm, I’ll definitely give your rec a look. I’m really glad everything worked together so nicely, ty for playing <3

Submitted(+1)

Clever! I struggled a lot on the spike maze, it's pretty tight quarters to maneuver in. I did like the puzzle with detonating the bomb to turn your corpse into a raft. The sounds are nice and punchy - landing on those spikes makes you wince!

Submitted(+1)

Loved the artstyle and concept! Though I did get stuck once by exploding myself at the start area, causing my own dead body to prevent me from moving lol. Aside from that, great work!

Developer(+1)

lol yeah that’s a bug I didn’t even realize could happen x.x will iron it out after the jam, tysm for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Great entry!

I love this concept and execution. You've got really good taste in making games, especially with the story beginning.

The big countdown is sooo cool and creates great emotions. Using the corpses of your previous life to move on is such a good mechanic.

Congratulations on your submission!

Submitted(+1)

played this one for a while! figuring out that i could use my dead bodies to help with completing puzzles was great! i had a lot of fun figuring out what else they could do. the one part where i had to die to spikes above and push my body down to press a button was great. 

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Really awesome entry! The core mechanic of using your past dead bodies as physical puzzle pieces is super clever and perfectly fits the theme and completely different than what we did! The atmosphere and fourth-wall-breaking narration gave me huge Undertale vibes and kept me hooked despite how challenging it gets. The movement controls and hitboxes can feel a little heavy or floaty at times, and the glowing character occasionally gets lost against white backgrounds, but it's a beautifully moody and complete experience. Great job! :D

Developer

Thank you!! I was really going for an atmospheric and narrative hook, so I’m glad it shone through and added to the experience ^^ I could’ve polished the controls a bit for sure, something I wanna tweak after the jam. Ty for playing <3

Submitted(+1)

5 For artwork cause you used the same pack as my game

Developer

Lmaooo real, kenney the goat

Submitted(+1)

Loved the game, such a unique and creative take on the theme, counting down your lives as physical pieces of the puzzle. I'm giving this a 5/5 for creativitiy !  The puzzles were also really tricky and engaging to solve ! 

Submitted(+1)

Really enjoyed this one, but the spike section feels very difficult contrary to the rest of the game, and more about precision than puzzle solving. Still enjoyed it though!

Submitted(+1)

Cool game! Really interesting… I’ve seen a lot of “die to continue” games so the gameplay isnt super different but the theming and the dialogue is so cool. I really like the themes of this work!

Submitted(+1)

At first I was gonna compare this game to Bloodbound (from this same jam) but NOPE, similar takes with very different approaches. I enjoyed this greatly.
I get the 1bit look tho I would recommend doing some refining on white character on white background, I think hinders the gameplay without adding to an actually needed difficulty.

Submitted(+1)

Great job! I like when games use something punishing like dying and turn it into a game mechanic. Clever take on the theme.

Submitted(+1)

I really liked the level design and that It is possible to beat with 2 extra lives. The art style is excellent I love the splash of colors in a 1-bit world, really makes the colorized stuff pop a lot more. Very good job!

Submitted(+1)

really clever level design in this, it was a cool feeling to do something with less "lives" in subsequent runs because I found a new path or mechanic

Developer

Thank you! Level design I felt is my weakest skill, so I’m glad it wasn’t so bad :D tysm for playing <3

Viewing comments 44 to 25 of 44 · Next page · Last page