The Underventure of Polin
Introduction:
The Underventure of Polin is a puzzle platformer in which our titular squishy yellow ball of pollen has fallen into a deep chasm full of outlandish creatures. The only way back is through climbing, but thankfully, the sticky “arm” Polin has is good enough for the job.
How to Play:
By pressing the left mouse button once, the player launches Polin’s “arm” in the direction he’s currently looking at. If it connects to something (like a wall or platform), then Polin will be pulled that way. You can also cancel the pull by left-clicking again during it. Doing so will cause Polin to ‘drift’ in that direction before stopping.
Useful links:
PLAYABLE ON ITCH.IO: https://nikopaes.itch.io/the-underventure-of-polin
Windows Build: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8IXfxBseQlmNDdvellhcE5jUG8
Mac Build: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B74TGa7VvlDNYlBNeWtRYlFnMVk
Comments19
pankamil12 May 2017, 15:47
The graphics and audio are super-cute, but it's a shame you have to repeat such a huge level everytime you die. Quite frustrating.
Also, I think that controls would get a lot better I could just see my cursor, and point the direction with it. It's clear this is exactly how it works now, just the presentation is not right – my invisible pointer can be all over the place and I have to guess where it is now, just by looking at how fast the direction dot changes place.
Also, I think that controls would get a lot better I could just see my cursor, and point the direction with it. It's clear this is exactly how it works now, just the presentation is not right – my invisible pointer can be all over the place and I have to guess where it is now, just by looking at how fast the direction dot changes place.
feltip15 May 2017, 19:42
Amazing visuals, super love it. Very frustrating though. Good entry :)
danhett16 May 2017, 09:25
Deceptively hard, but your little dude is adorable. I can't stay mad him.
buteratosgames16 May 2017, 10:54
Wooow! Cool art!!! Love it!
foolmoron17 May 2017, 03:19
Suuuuper cute game. Great presentation overall. Really wish the mouse sensitivity was higher, or you just had a free-floating cursor that you could click around with for more responsive movement.
qzqxq17 May 2017, 04:34
I played a few times, eventually getting to the centipede enemies before giving up.
The biggest complaint I have is the lack of checkpoints. It was okay when I died at the spikes near the beginning, but after getting quite far into the game, I don't want to replay through everything I already did. If you do end up making a version with checkpoints, I'd be happy to play it all the way through, but right now I have no interest in replaying the first 5 minutes of the game over and over again.
Other than that, I thought it was quite nice! The visuals and music are very polished, and the player character is extremely cute. The part where I had to get past the creatures that were moving back and forth involved some nice puzzly thinking, though it would have been nice to demonstrate to the player in-game that you can click again to let go, because I had already forgotten reading that in the instructions and got stuck for a bit. I can imagine some really fun levels that could be made with this mechanic (and perhaps you did make them, since I didn't see the whole game).
One more small suggestion (it looks like others have already made this point, so I'll just pile on): have a cursor on the screen, as opposed to just a white dot a fixed radius around you, since that would make positioning yourself a lot more intuitive. Right now it's pretty annoying since you have no clue where your mouse is.
Honestly, the lack of checkpoints is a pretty big bummer since I really do want to see the whole game, as it looks great and has some cool mechanics. I did have a decent amount of fun, though, so nice work!
The biggest complaint I have is the lack of checkpoints. It was okay when I died at the spikes near the beginning, but after getting quite far into the game, I don't want to replay through everything I already did. If you do end up making a version with checkpoints, I'd be happy to play it all the way through, but right now I have no interest in replaying the first 5 minutes of the game over and over again.
Other than that, I thought it was quite nice! The visuals and music are very polished, and the player character is extremely cute. The part where I had to get past the creatures that were moving back and forth involved some nice puzzly thinking, though it would have been nice to demonstrate to the player in-game that you can click again to let go, because I had already forgotten reading that in the instructions and got stuck for a bit. I can imagine some really fun levels that could be made with this mechanic (and perhaps you did make them, since I didn't see the whole game).
One more small suggestion (it looks like others have already made this point, so I'll just pile on): have a cursor on the screen, as opposed to just a white dot a fixed radius around you, since that would make positioning yourself a lot more intuitive. Right now it's pretty annoying since you have no clue where your mouse is.
Honestly, the lack of checkpoints is a pretty big bummer since I really do want to see the whole game, as it looks great and has some cool mechanics. I did have a decent amount of fun, though, so nice work!
jk500018 May 2017, 13:30
This is a super cute game, that is overall fun to play. But a checkpoint system would be really great, and I would have liked a bit more to do.
pascalman18 May 2017, 14:36
Cute art! I like it! Great job!
Anubhav Kashyap18 May 2017, 15:34
Really nice art and sound effects! Loved it! 👍
misterstripey18 May 2017, 15:48
Great job polishing up the audio and visuals. It was a very cute game and the gameplay was deceptively challenging! I echo a lot of the other comments in that I quickly lost motivation due to lack of checkpoints/ having to go through the beginning of the level.
Amazing music!
Amazing music!
hunttis18 May 2017, 17:59
Like mentioned above, seeing the cursor would improve a lot. For some reason on my mac the cursor showed up after I took it to the top edge of the window and it bugged somehow and started showing :D
After that happened I enjoyed the game quite a lot. The graphics remind me of "World of goo" and the gameplay was smooth enough to be interesting :)
After that happened I enjoyed the game quite a lot. The graphics remind me of "World of goo" and the gameplay was smooth enough to be interesting :)
rodancheg18 May 2017, 18:00
Cool graphics & audio. I really enjoyed your game!
Nicolas P Leme18 May 2017, 23:19
Hi everyone, Polin's programmer here. First of all thank you so much for the feedback, it's really amazing to see such a great community come together.
We've talked and decided to fix/add some requested features to the game so we can have some closure on the project. So I've added Checkpoints and a Mouse cursor to the game. I hope this will improve the experience for all of you. All of this is available on the new itch.io page we've created !!
Enjoy and thx again !!
PS.: @hunttis @misterstripey @jk5000 @qzqxq @pankamil @nahkala
We've talked and decided to fix/add some requested features to the game so we can have some closure on the project. So I've added Checkpoints and a Mouse cursor to the game. I hope this will improve the experience for all of you. All of this is available on the new itch.io page we've created !!
Enjoy and thx again !!
PS.: @hunttis @misterstripey @jk5000 @qzqxq @pankamil @nahkala
noseminer19 May 2017, 01:51
Loved it! Absolutely adorable art and the sound effects and music fit so well with the art. The checkpoints were also a good idea since there were a few parts that took me a few tries to get passed. I could see it being quite fun with a touch screen on mobile.
Clemzd19 May 2017, 10:30
A sweet game, fun to play! I think you should change the sound when the player left click, sorry but it's quite annoying ^^
manou19 May 2017, 12:30
Nice idea and cute graphics + audio, good job !
DaisyChubb19 May 2017, 13:49
Wow very cute graphics, but more importantly - FUN gameplay! Great job. Would love to play with on mobile.
Richard Michael Smith19 May 2017, 16:12
This has an excellent "pick up and play" quality to it. As others have mentioned - a check-point system would be nice - when I died I didn't want to go back and do it all again! The graphics are great and the music fits well. I can imagine it would play very well on mobiles and tablets! Nice work.
Enjoyed it but quickly got frustrating without any checkpoints (or maybe I just suck and never reached one)