Vain is a surrealistic platformer, experimenting with different styles and different mechanics, while the world collapses on you as the music progresses.
I like the surreal world, it definitely feels like you had a lot of ideas about what you wanted everything in it to mean. The platforming felt like it had a few leaps of faith which typically aren't fun, usually when you had to do something with the raven form. You could try and pull the camera out when you use the bird so you know where's safe to land.
The level reacting to the music was a nice touch! Oh and the developer comments actually got a chuckle out of me
ahaha, i love how the game react to the music, become faster and slower dynamically, i also love the hand drawn graphic, but its imho the inconsistency between background and character a bit jarring, the platformer feels fine, control also feels fine, different music for different world also a nice touch, well done !
@stillnotsure Ooooh, that's what I forgot :smiley: changing the camera distance according to the movement speed of the player. Well. Next time I won't forget this. And I'm glad that I could achieve ... something with you. :smiley:
@ghen Thanks :smiley:. Regarding to the "jarring": I wanted a "worlds flowing into each other" feeling but due to lack of time, quality suffered and I just mashed them together .. which is ... yeah, jarring a bit. :smile:
I loved the mood of the game, the music is really outstanding. (I usually rush music in the last hour before submission hour :laughing:. I encountered two game breaking bugs, though. For one, jump inputs didn't seem to get registered consistently. Also, in the time rewind level, you can just rewind past the line at the beginning. (Or is that deliberate?) Over all, good job!
@alexey-akulovich Yes, that's why i called it the quarter level. It was created under 20 minutes, just before the submission hour. I didn't want to waste all the visuals, audios and mechanics created for that level. In the design phase I planned that as the most important level, so I really wanted to make it, even it will be nothing compared to its planned "glory".
@psychead Yeah, sometimes jumping is off :\ At first I just wanted that you have to use the time rewind to spare the running back to the "crossroads" from the lever, so you could just reach the just opened gate before the wall is killing you.
But when I first tried, the 3 seconds was too long, and the "past position" was always behind the wall. At that time I was 2 minutes in submussion hour so I didn't really wanted to balance it, and I also liked this tricky way of escaping certain death. So I left it this way.
But the second level was built in 20 minutes, it's really just a visuals, audio and mechanics showoff :smile:
Started out as a regular platformer until the song got slower and suddenly was caught off guard by the increased tempo haha. Cool overall concept and it seemed you got unusual amount of depth to your story in a ludumdare game which is refreshing definitely! Cool idea with nice execution, well done Tudvari!
I really like the feeling that you're building up here. I think that, perhaps, the theme isn't doing your game any favors. It's almost a game where I want to slow down and explore. I like seeing weird, surreal games. Turning into a bird, obeying the tempo, the strange creatures, it's all very good feeling to me. The constant threat of needing to move forward added a tension that I don't think the game needed.
Pretty much everything about this game is awesome, except I feel the graphics could have used a bit of work. That can be completely forgiven because this is a compo game though! Great work and good luck on future titles! :)
The first game I found that tries to go for an uncanny valley style of game. I wasn't a fan of the blind jump every now and again. I like how the music is constantly messed with and has an irregular rythim, it's difficult to tell whether certain sounds are from the game or the music, so you definitely ticked the "Confuse the hell out of the player" aspect of the uncanny.
I think it was missing the terror aspect though. The player constantly being in fear of what the game may do next. That long bridge segment was a perfect time to add in a speed up or a glitch to the music. A good example of a game that perfects this aspect is Doki Doki Literature Club, if you want an example of what true fear of the game feels like I recommend you take some notes from it.
Otherwise, this has a lot of potential and something one can work on to perfect it.
Nice game, the art style and music is nice and made it all flow nicely. The jumping felt a bit too floaty, meaning I died a few times trying to get to the ground to hit a switch. A nice base, and entry. I'd like to see it when it's completed :D
your games has really good atmosphere. Graphic would be more compact and the puzzles are unnecessary for this project. It can be more about your story and special feelings.
Took me a while to understand that the game reacted to music (slower and faster) ahah btw, love that part :p
The idea is cool, push the player from left to right is a great thing !! The only thing I could say is that music is a bit repetitive and can be a little annoying after a long time :)
Fun! I enjoyed mix of styles and your use of audio to set the pace.i got stuck a few times and sometimes it felt like the camera was maybe a little too central. Overall great jam! :)
Congratulations on the completion of the game! Platformer in just two days is a cool achievement! Your entry can become a prototype for something bigger.
The level reacting to the music was a nice touch! Oh and the developer comments actually got a chuckle out of me