This could be a great game and I do understand that you only had 72 hours to make this, but it is lacking things and has problems:
- The game refuses to end unless you either help or kill everyone or at the least 3 out of the 4 people. (I killed the old guy, ignored the snail guy, buried the beach guy's family, but it wouldn't end so I killed the voodoo guy and I get the evil ending).
- On the screen where the snail guy is (the guy who wants you to get rid of the fire breathing snail), invisible platforms will sometimes be there for the player to jump on. Also, I've been respawned inside the platform, a little bit below where the player is supposed to respawn, forcing me to restart. Also, if you jump up to the top of the screen and go off of the top of the screen, you instantly die (the same thing happens if you touch the beach scene's far right wall).
- I've so far only found 3 endings and I don't see how another ending is possible (either you are consider good, evil, or obedient. I thought there might have been something to do with "not killing the animals", but it doesn't seem to affect the outcome).
- The fact that it's the same boss every time really doesn't help a game like this (even the subtle changes in the way the boss fights doesn't help). The only real reward is the text you get at the end of the game and it gets old quick when you are trying to unlock the other endings and keep the getting the ones you got before, forcing you to start over at that point.
- It is also kind of lack luster when the ferry guy treats the game like a play rather than an actually adventure "I will now take on the role of this". It really takes away from the morality of it all when it is presented as this and it really takes away from the ferryman's character as he is now just a jerk who plans on trying to kill you in choosing whatever you choose.
- I got a boss battle where an endless number of animals came to attack, but I can't seem to get that again. Concerning this though, spiders can pop up everywhere on the platform, which leave little time or room to dodge (by the time I notice it's under me, it's over).
- You put the old man's wheel chair in the direct path of the player, making it impossible to ignore either him or the archer guy, seeing as you can't drop the wheelchair once you get it, preventing you from just using the underground tunnel to get to the beach and bury the beach guy's family.
- You say there are two secrets in the game. The only thing I could possibly identify as a secret is the place where you get the cucumber at. Other than that, I think I've gone and pushed against every corner and can't find anything else (the "ha ha" cannon is a little annoying in that if you are on the platform above it and walk toward it, you die).
- I thought the "dark flame" was an interesting idea and I liked how it could destroy the fire snail and the rock blocking the easy exit to the beach, but outside of this, it does nothing, but make the game harder (it doesn't even seem to affect any of the endings. It just makes the final boss fight harder).
- The description says "Your choices will affect gameplay in subtle ways". They really don't. The music goes away when you kill someone, quest items disappear sometimes, and the boss battle might be a little different, but overall, the gameplay remains exactly the same.
- It would've been cool if the black flame could reveal a secret or it could be harnessed. It would have also been cool if the void butterfly could have an effect on the ferryman. It's just different things like that could could have made a real difference.
I like the idea of the game, I can certainly see that it was influenced by Undertale and Don't Look Back, and I can see that work went into it, but it's just lacking in general: it's lacking in interactibility with the game (you can only collect some things and kill), lacking in effective story telling and invoking emotion (though the music cutting out was a neat little thing), and lacking in replayability (the first time through, it is okay, but as you play through it hoping to find something cool you can do or some different way to affect the world around you, you find you can only kill, help, or ignore, and you can't even ignore the people completely).
I liked the art, music, and the platforming was solid. I really do look forward to your future works as I know you'll make cool stuff.
esayitchresponds:
Hey! I love getting detailed feedback and there are some valid points here, but there are also things that were intentional/misunderstood. I'll go over your feedback and clarify some points:
- The game refuses to end unless you either help or kill everyone or at the least 3 out of the 4 people.
A: The game will also end if you kill more than 50 animals, or if you just kill the beach-guy (murderer's) family. The quest you are sent on is to kill the beach guy with the two dead bodies. He is the murderer the ferryman mentions in the beginning (or he is a mourning father, both can be true). So you have 4 ways to end the game, and in the situation you described you didn't qualify for any of them, so it didn't end... if you ignore everyone the game doesn't end at all (this might not be perfectly intuitive and perhaps I can change the situation to end it if you just explore and don't do anything).
- On the screen where the snail guy is (the guy who wants you to get rid of the fire breathing snail), invisible platforms will sometimes be there for the player to jump on. Also, I've been respawned inside the platform, a little bit below where the player is supposed to respawn, forcing me to restart. Also, if you jump up to the top of the screen and go off of the top of the screen, you instantly die (the same thing happens if you touch the beach scene's far right wall).
A: The invisible platforms are there on purpose. They offer a way for the player to cross the water and get to the beach without having to help or kill the huntress (snail guy is a gal :P). Do you spawn inside the platforms only in this screen, or does it sometime happen in general? Either way I didn't have a lot of time to test everything 100%, so I am sorry for that :( about dying when you hit edges of a screen, that happens when there is nothing on the other side and I just forgot to put an invisible wall there... apologies!
- I've so far only found 3 endings and I don't see how another ending is possible (either you are consider good, evil, or obedient. I thought there might have been something to do with "not killing the animals", but it doesn't seem to affect the outcome).
A: From what you wrote a bit later on, you also found the 4th ending :) The game can end also if you kill more than 50 animals (I think that was the number, perhaps slightly more). If you don't kill as much animals, you will get one of the three endings you mentioned.
- The fact that it's the same boss every time really doesn't help a game like this (even the subtle changes in the way the boss fights doesn't help). The only real reward is the text you get at the end of the game and it gets old quick when you are trying to unlock the other endings and keep the getting the ones you got before, forcing you to start over at that point.
A: The original plan was to have 4 different bosses, but I just ran out of time to be honest :(
- It is also kind of lack luster when the ferry guy treats the game like a play rather than an actually adventure "I will now take on the role of this". It really takes away from the morality of it all when it is presented as this and it really takes away from the ferryman's character as he is now just a jerk who plans on trying to kill you in choosing whatever you choose.
A: The game starts off very weird and without explanation (it is vague on purpose, I like players interpreting things for themselves), you fall asleep and wake up someplace you don't know... why? Maybe you died and this is a divine test... Maybe the ferryman is just a very powerful wizard... Maybe it actually IS a dream even though the text says it isn't. I wanted to enforce the feeling that anything regarding the story is possible (the setting has its strange things... cucumber forest O.o? Flying wheelchair O.o? Fire-sick snail O.o?) Maybe the warlock stole the old man's chair to try and excape? Maybe the warlock is a good soul who is trying to kill the fire-snail to help the beach guy bury his family? The ferryman clearly has supernatural aspects, and so he will stress the fact that this is a "game" or an island where anything regarding the story is possible, because like in the old pulp fiction, the story didn't matter all that muchin the end. You were there to read about heroes killing sh*t and going on adventures and sleeping with beautiful women, and you didn't care if the plot made sense or had any meaning or layers to it. It's not that I didn't want the story to matter here, I did, and I also wanted to enforce the theme of choice and consequences, which when translated into the story, resulted in treating the story like a canvas more than an actual story, and the ferryman at the end embodies that. He assume the role you want him (by reaching that ending) assume.
- I got a boss battle where an endless number of animals came to attack, but I can't seem to get that again. Concerning this though, spiders can pop up everywhere on the platform, which leave little time or room to dodge (by the time I notice it's under me, it's over).
A: This is actually the 4th and worst ending (and you actually got all 4 endings :P). It is the calamity ending. You get it when you kill a certain number of animals. The boss fight is supposed to be frustrating and "not fair", but it is certainly winnable. Generally the easiest boss is the good run boss, then the "normal" boss is the obedient man boss, the vile murderer boss is hard (Fire from sky), and the calamity upon nature boss is hardest.
- You put the old man's wheel chair in the direct path of the player, making it impossible to ignore either him or the archer guy, seeing as you can't drop the wheelchair once you get it, preventing you from just using the underground tunnel to get to the beach and bury the beach guy's family.
A: That's a great point! Didn't think of that.
- You say there are two secrets in the game. The only thing I could possibly identify as a secret is the place where you get the cucumber at. Other than that, I think I've gone and pushed against every corner and can't find anything else (the "ha ha" cannon is a little annoying in that if you are on the platform above it and walk toward it, you die).
A: The other secret are the invisible platforms in the screen with the huntress (snail gal), which allow you to cross the water without helping/killing.
- I thought the "dark flame" was an interesting idea and I liked how it could destroy the fire snail and the rock blocking the easy exit to the beach, but outside of this, it does nothing, but make the game harder (it doesn't even seem to affect any of the endings. It just makes the final boss fight harder).
A: Yeah... that's the payback for using dark magic to cross the area :P it makes the game harder. In general, a lot of the choices make the game harder in certain areas even though they can potentially help you. If you kill people you can jump higher, but try platforming in a restricted area (underground for example, crossing the flame cannon or jumping to the platform with the spider in the wheelchair room) is much harder.
- The description says "Your choices will affect gameplay in subtle ways". They really don't. The music goes away when you kill someone, quest items disappear sometimes, and the boss battle might be a little different, but overall, the gameplay remains exactly the same.
A: They actually do! Like I just wrote above, certain platforming challenges will become much harder if you murder people, and if you help the warlock the dark flame is in the boss fight and it is harder. If you choose not to kill animals the boss fight is easier but the platforming is harder. If you kill a lot of people it isvery hard for you to jump during the boss fight, etc.
- It would've been cool if the black flame could reveal a secret or it could be harnessed. It would have also been cool if the void butterfly could have an effect on the ferryman. It's just different things like that could could have made a real difference.
A: Nice ideas! I know this sounds like an excuse by now.. but I just ran out of time to make neat additions like that.
I'm glad that overall it was all right, I realize there is a lot of places for improvement obviously, and you live and you learn! Perhaps the next jam entry will be better as a result of this feedback. Thank you again for writing in so much detail!
