The world has been fractured into two dimensions. Can you find the source of the fracture and reunite the two halves?
The inspiration for Antichromatic was "black and white", but rather than make (yet another) black and white game, I incorporated black and white into the core mechanics.
The game is a hardcore skill based platformer, not for the faint of heart. You'll find the controls on the game page.
If anything I'd have to say that it's not very minimal, in terms of art style, etc. But as far as content and gameplay goes, it's as good as ever. Well done.
I ran into a bug where I was killed by a laser and then infinitely respawned inside of the same laser to die again, unable to switch my color or otherwise escape.
Fun, super hard, I really enjoyed the segments that forced me to mix up wall-jumping and double-jumping (though it took some getting used to switching in between them!) I wasn't as much a fan of rooms where I simply had to dodge a million bullets. I also liked the teleports!
Great game. I had a bit of a challenge getting the idea that space = jump out of my head, but had a lot of fun afterwards. Experienced random slowdowns which was interesting.
I had a lot of fun with this. Right up until I rage quitted. The art is beautiful. My game plays on black and white too. Your level design is interesting. My mind got some exercise in that inter dimensional jump puzzles.
Thanks for the comments guys! Considering some changes before posting elsewhere, so the feedback definitely helps!
As for the text boxes, I totally agree. I wanted to go writing on the wall, since instructions for this aren't important enough to interrupt gameplay, but didn't for lack of time. Definitely want to for post compo version.
Agreed on the controls taking a bit to get used to. Tried a few other schemes, but didn't like them. Hoping once I get my Ouya it's simple enough to port since it'd probably simpler to play with a gamepad (though shooting will be less enjoyable).
Impressive amount of content and polish considering the time limits. Gameplay is pretty solid. Controls seem alright as well.
I don't think the music fits all that well, that could as well be my personal opinion only. I actually ran into a bug where I was unable to continue due to being insta-killed near a turret as soon as I respawn. Here's a screenshot of the location: http://i.imgur.com/xLumXn7.png Not quite sure what caused it, but I guess switching dimensions quite a lot might have contributed to it.
To be honest, I don't think this game really fits the theme except for the limited use of colors. But then again, the theme is pretty stupid anyway.
While the game is a realy high quality, I found the controls pretty hard to grasp as there is just so much to control. I agree that is not so minimal also, but still very well made.
I literally could not get past the first set of guns. I can see it being fun, but I shot them ran past them, changed between black/white...nothing worked.
For those who get stuck at the beginning, you should ignore the room with the two turrets until later (after getting the wall jump ability). I should have added a "Sometimes you need to go back to move forward" message or something to that room.
Nice metroidvania style game with a dimensional shift platforming mechanic. It was really hard for me to get used to using space bar to shift, I kept pressing it when I intended to jump and getting myself killed. I liked the effect you did for the environment. -Strega
At the boss battle I died like 10-15 times after destroying all crystals. Suggestion: make some door open after destroying all crystals, which leads to an actuall boss battle, and make the boss more difficult. The level design has some lacks... you sometimes leave pathes to go back, but they have a dead end, acting just like red herrings. Also, there is a path splitting, leading to the green shard and... a teleport? Well, if you go for the teleport first, you will have to pass it once more to get the green shard. The challenges are well balanced, though I didn`t know I can destroy turrets for some time. I liked the appearence of the game. Keys are sticky sometimes, which is unwanted for hard-difficulty games. (By the way, why would the world reunite after destroying the source of fracture? It would make more sense if destroyng the source of fracture would make the world not able to reunite at all.)
This was good! The timing on the jumps were often very hard, which I liked, though I disliked having to use my left hand for everything. Those turrets were quite annoying and I think I had to kill them in three universes before they stopped shooting, which I didn't understand. I got the red and blue shards, but then I was in some room where I died and kept respawning in the same place as a monster -- there was nothing I could do; I just kept respawning over and over. That was sad because I did want to finish it, though I don't really want to beat some of those jumps and turrets again!
In the post comp version, I fixed the issue with being able to go towards the teleport first (also, an "issue" where you could get double jump before red shard, which also wasn't intended).
As for why destroying the fracture would reunite the worlds, it was intended that the source of the fracture (the boss) was the one who was holding them separate, and without his interference, they would reunite. Not really explained in game, but the focus wasn't on the story.
I think I'm going to change the turrets to have to kill them only once in each universe.
As for the constantly respawning on that snail, it seems a lot of people enter the room in a way that causes that to happen, which I didn't forsee. Fortunately I was able to fix that kind of issue in the post comp version. I've also added saving and loading (in addition to a harder mode). Hopefully I should be able to finish that soon.
And thanks again for the comments, it's definitely help me to tweak the new version. :)
I gave up after a while, hardcore metroidvanias aren't my style. Now, if they're hardcore with levels that can be accessed from a level select screen at any point, entirely different story.
Didn't know where to go/what to do after a point, which is a shame, but major thumbs up on a) the amount of content, b) the polish, c) the level design. Only gripe is that I found moving and jumping with the left hand a little awkward.
Comments51
Fun, super hard, I really enjoyed the segments that forced me to mix up wall-jumping and double-jumping (though it took some getting used to switching in between them!) I wasn't as much a fan of rooms where I simply had to dodge a million bullets. I also liked the teleports!
Gameplay is also quite punchy. Not sure about the extensive text-boxes, they kind-of impede gameplay.
the amount of content is amazing, loved it
Your level design is interesting. My mind got some exercise in that inter dimensional jump puzzles.
As for the text boxes, I totally agree. I wanted to go writing on the wall, since instructions for this aren't important enough to interrupt gameplay, but didn't for lack of time. Definitely want to for post compo version.
Agreed on the controls taking a bit to get used to. Tried a few other schemes, but didn't like them. Hoping once I get my Ouya it's simple enough to port since it'd probably simpler to play with a gamepad (though shooting will be less enjoyable).
My best time so far is 8:57 with 16 deaths. http://ss.iarke.us/201304/290205591.png Let me know if you do better!
I don't think the music fits all that well, that could as well be my personal opinion only.
I actually ran into a bug where I was unable to continue due to being insta-killed near a turret as soon as I respawn. Here's a screenshot of the location: http://i.imgur.com/xLumXn7.png Not quite sure what caused it, but I guess switching dimensions quite a lot might have contributed to it.
To be honest, I don't think this game really fits the theme except for the limited use of colors. But then again, the theme is pretty stupid anyway.
I agree that is not so minimal also, but still very well made.
Can't beat it yet but maybe I'll give that a second chance!
Your tiles are good! Seriously :)
Extremely well done though. Played almost an hour.
And it's pretty challenge :D
and *really* frustrating. more impossible-until-you-get-a-xxxxx puzzles than antichamber, which is quite a feat.
This is freaking hard. >_<
Awesome game!
I'll come back to this game and finish it!!
You seem to be suffering from a case of "music clashes with the game a lot" syndrome.
-Strega
(this is a team account)
The level design has some lacks... you sometimes leave pathes to go back, but they have a dead end, acting just like red herrings. Also, there is a path splitting, leading to the green shard and... a teleport? Well, if you go for the teleport first, you will have to pass it once more to get the green shard.
The challenges are well balanced, though I didn`t know I can destroy turrets for some time. I liked the appearence of the game.
Keys are sticky sometimes, which is unwanted for hard-difficulty games.
(By the way, why would the world reunite after destroying the source of fracture? It would make more sense if destroyng the source of fracture would make the world not able to reunite at all.)
In the post comp version, I fixed the issue with being able to go towards the teleport first (also, an "issue" where you could get double jump before red shard, which also wasn't intended).
As for why destroying the fracture would reunite the worlds, it was intended that the source of the fracture (the boss) was the one who was holding them separate, and without his interference, they would reunite. Not really explained in game, but the focus wasn't on the story.
I think I'm going to change the turrets to have to kill them only once in each universe.
As for the constantly respawning on that snail, it seems a lot of people enter the room in a way that causes that to happen, which I didn't forsee. Fortunately I was able to fix that kind of issue in the post comp version. I've also added saving and loading (in addition to a harder mode). Hopefully I should be able to finish that soon.
And thanks again for the comments, it's definitely help me to tweak the new version. :)
Your level design instincts are very, very good.
It's a bit hard to play!
SEPHY (@sephyka)