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A jam submission

Borrowed TimeView game page

A game made for the GMTK Game Jam 2026.
Submitted by pinguinopt — 22 hours, 40 minutes before the deadline
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Borrowed Time's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Creativity#44293.2943.294
Audio#46002.7652.765
Enjoyment#56712.7062.706
Artwork#63752.6472.647
Narrative#70512.0002.000

Ranked from 17 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?
It has time and it counts down haha

(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Music

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

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Nice game, creative use of the theme! Enjoyed the level design where some powerups allowed you to save time by skipping sections at the cost of spending that time in the powerup. Would’ve enjoyed some more platforming features like coyote time or controllable jumps

Developer(+1)

Hi, thanks for playing my game! Thanks for the feedback too, I’ll definitely consider it if I make a future version of the game. Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

"Simple" concept but such a fun game man, it's nice seeing a sort of rougelike in this jam! :)

Developer

Thank you so much!

Submitted

The art style was great, and the music fit it so well. The idea was just as good and the implimentation was also done well. the rouguelike upgrading system added more depth not just to the gameplay but to the time managing system. Only thing i would like to see improved would be the jumping system, usually in platformers you get an extra bit of time to jump after your character is no longer on the ground, I’d like to see that implimented. A good gamejam entry overall!

Developer(+1)

Thank you very much! Yeah, as I said in a previous comment, I actually wasn’t aware of that jump grace period. But I’ll add it if I make a post-jam version. Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

what an interesting twist on a platformer! at first, i was wondering what the gimmick would be and then panicked as soon as i saw the timer tick down while i was browsing the shop. it would be kind of funny and challenging to add powerups with lengthy descriptions and mechanics to put more pressure on the player haha. cool game!

Developer

Thank you so much! Thanks for playing.

Submitted(+1)

i love how the game is looks is just little bit hard with  all  thing to memorized i think i have massive skill issue but i think the game IS very fun and cool  I hope u get alot rating 

Developer

Thank you so much! Good luck to you as well!

Submitted(+1)

I liked the level design, as a plataformer it is pretty fun to play, however I think the powerups are a little bit broken, the first time I bought em' I beat the game with 30 seconds left meanwhile my runs without any powerups I was not even close to the final lol

Developer

Thank you for playing the game! Yeah, I agree. The power-ups and consumables are not well-balanced, it’s something I’ll look over if I make a post-jam version. Thank you for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

I like the idea of echanging time to beat the levels for powerups that make it easier, it's a nice mechanic with a lot of potential if you keep working on this game in the future.

I wish the timer was bigger on the shop screen so you were more aware of it. Also a button to reset the items you bought without having to refresh the website would be nice

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing my game! I probably should’ve made the timer more noticeable on the shop, but yeah, I didn’t. I’ve also received some feedback about the resetting problem. I completely missed that on my play-through lol. Thanks for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

The timer being your currency is a concept I've seen used quite a bit, but yours does it quite well. I found the levels to be a little bit confusing as to where I should go, but other than that everything good. there's some nice strategy to picking items on a second play through. overall solid submission.

Developer

Thank you very much!

Submitted(+1)

I played through the game multiple times using a combination of different powerups to test the limits. Made a run with each powerup individually, as well as with all three. Also made a run with consumables. Here's some general thoughts about the game's direction:

- I really like the idea of using time as a currency. For a longer game, it would be interesting to have ways to recover time as well, such as through collectibles or simply through the conclusion of levels.

- For a longer game, it would also be possibly more interesting to have time reset between levels. If the player doesn't know how long the game is, and that the timer is for the entire game, it makes it harder to make purchase decisions.

- By far, the powerup that give you the most time is higher jumps, as it lets you skip quite a few puzzles. Ironically, on the second level where you have an alternate path to proceed using higher jumps, it's actually faster to use the key.

- There is no indication that the last door in a level needs a specific key, as they all look the same. If that is the case, changing the door's color (and key color) would make it clearer. What is the benefit of using crowbars or taking alternate routes through doors and saving keys if you can't use them?

- Drawing a door knob on doors when they are closed makes it easier to understand that they are doors, as they look like flat lines.

- A different sprite for when you are holding boxes (and turning back when pulling them) would be a good visual indicator.

- Controls for triggering different actions are very far apart. It may not be as thematic, but keeping all button presses close to another makes it for a more enjoyable experience, especially if you depend on time.

- Since there is only one key "hidden" in the environment, the magnifying glass consumable doesn't shine very much as an item. Also, consumables don't sound very smart purchase decisions if you don't recover your time per level (or your consumables), especially if the player doesn't know what sort and how many levels there will be ahead.

- A tooltip on the shop explaining what each upgrade actually does would be welcome. For instance, Extra Speed should indicate how fast you move without it, and with it. Same for the others.

- Certain parts of the level, like the last column you can hit your head on before the climbing steps on level 3, are hard to see because they have no outlines and they mix a bit with the environment. There is a also a climbing step slightly misaligned with the platform it leads to on level 2 or 3 that can get the player stuck.

- A couple of bugs other people have already posted, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that, on the puzzle where you have to drop a box on top of a button to get the door slide upwards, if you touch the button with your body while the box is on top of it, the door will slide closed and you won't be able to finish the level.

- I can see the respawn (R) feature used in some capacity to make a "scouting" or exploration mechanic, where there are visual checkpoints on the map that you can cross which save your position and time left, and when you press R you recall to the previous point, which would allow for interesting gameplay mechanics, of having multiple paths to follow, items to find, and more usage of the time as a limitation and currency.

Nice job!

Developer

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write such detailed feedback and for playing through the game multiple times! I really appreciate it.

You brought up a lot of great points, especially about the shop, readability, controls and the respawn mechanic. I also hadn’t considered some of the bugs you found, so that is very helpful.

I’m definitely keeping this in mind if i make a post-jam version. Thanks again, and good luck with the jam too! :D

(+1)

When you died and return to tutorial - timer is 00 and i can't play further or buy anything, need to restart game. But not bad idea at all, never see that you need buy somehing like in roguelike for time you play. Control is good except jumps from ladders, GL on jam!

Developer

Thank you for your feedback! Completely missed that problem lol. If there’s a post-jam version I’ll fix it. Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

I do like the idea of the timer also being your currency/resource. My first run I accidentally spent all my time and instantly lost the next round lol. It’s a cute game tho with a fun simple concept. Platforming was slightly frustrating though, coyote time would’ve been helpful. Congrats on the submission!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for your feedback! I had no idea what coyote time was prior to this comment, not going to lie lol. But I’ve researched and yeah, I should’ve implemented it. Thank you for playing!

Submitted(+1)

interesting concept!

Developer

Thank you very much!

Submitted(+1)

Only feedback would be bigger keys! I loved it tho, great game, could see myself sitting down to play this game again!

Developer

Thank you so much for your kind words! And thanks for the feedback by the way 😀