Springtail

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.72
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.74
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.58
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.92
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.42
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.72
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.50
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.49
You are a springtail, an amazing tiny creature that lives in soil and eats decaying plant matter. You get your name from your ability to perform an incredible spinning jump that you use to fling yourself away from predators.

Today, however, a pair of muddy shoes unwittingly carried you into a strange place. Although there are no predators around, you must use your amazing jumping ability to escape!

How to Play


Move using WASD

Hold SPACE to power your jump!

Escape the Mudroom!

Works well with a controller!

Press F11 to toggle fullscreen in the standalone build

Cheat Tools


I understand that these types of games are not for everyone. If you’re having a hard time, you can enable cheats to help you get to the end!

To enable cheats, press Ctrl+Alt+T

This enables a few things:

Press G to return to your last grounded position

Press F to save your position

Press T to teleport to your saved position

Press Ctrl+Alt+W to show some game stats that you might find interesting

Comments60

LDJam user 236256
LDJam user 2362568 Oct 2024, 10:50
Might be the hardest game of the jam. I get what you were going for, but I really would have appreciated a checkpoint.
Dingbat
Dingbat8 Oct 2024, 10:52
This game is pretty hard but the core game mechanic is a great idea! I could absolutely see some youtubers/streamers playing this getting infuriated lol nice job!
Custodi
Custodi8 Oct 2024, 11:32
Nice little game kinda Jump Up, springtail has very pretty leg animaton ⸜(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Maybe too big stabilization time, when falling - it takes my control for ~5 seconds, frustrating for such dynamic game.
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor9 Oct 2024, 06:58
@cheeks @dingbat @custodi Thanks for playing!

I added how to access cheat tools in the description if you're ever interested in a more casual playthrough. Not everyone is a glutton for punishment, I completely understand!
woona9 Oct 2024, 13:52
Great job with modeling and animating the main character, it looks really cute. Jumping around feels fun but it's the type of game I would prefer watching than playing. 😁 Still, it's very fun and feels polished.

My only complaint would be that distant objects look very blurry, maybe you could tone down post-processing a little bit...
v1ru69 Oct 2024, 18:07
I'm so bad at platformers.
Nice game!
Ava Skoog
Ava Skoog9 Oct 2024, 18:33
Very nice and very difficult! Took me probably two hours to beat. I almost got there without cheats a couple of times but once I found out they existed I decided to just use them to get it over with. Still, I barely needed them by the end… 😅

While difficult it doesn't feel unfair. The motion is good, the way you don't go bouncing off in some random direction so you can at least count on going the same way you aimed unless you hit a wall, and the way you can walk a little bit on the side of something before falling off (like a proper bug should)! You quickly get a good sense for how far you'll go depending on how long you hold.

I like the music and it adds a bit of chill. Not sure how I'd do if there was stressful music and I had to race a rising flood or something. The pitter-patter of the legs is nice and the human voice is funny.

Really cool animation on the legs, wish I'd been able to see it more from the side too. Procedural?

I'm unsure about the depth of field. It really fits since I'm tiny, but it's not very nice for motion sickness, so a toggle in the settings would've been good.

Overall very cool! C:
SHAKIROVICH
SHAKIROVICH10 Oct 2024, 00:12
I really like this game, very polished sound animation and gameplay especially, I never felt like something isnt working properly, at first I tried it without cheats, but eventually gave up, but I dont think its problem, difficulty is good for its genere of games like Get over it. Only thing I wish there was more art, but as I understand all time went on polishing mechanics. I hope this game get more attention.
Miku
Miku10 Oct 2024, 01:57
I had a hard time with this game but I thought the little jump animation and physics was really funny and cute!
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor10 Oct 2024, 04:26
@ava-skoog Thanks, Ava! Yep, the animation is procedural! My main goal for this jam was to try out rigging a character for custom IK for the first time. Had a ton of fun working out each procedural element! I have the camera lag a bit while turning to show the legs moving, any more felt too disorienting, but I understand wanting to see more of the IK goodness! Thank you for spending so much time with my game, that's so awesome! :)

@shakirovich Thank you for playing! You're right, I spent most of the time focused on the character movement. I took this jam a lot more casually than I normally do, at the expense of art. Hence the world has no real models, no textures, there's no UI, and no logo. Instead, I decided to let myself sleep during the jam for once. xD
JulienLussiez
JulienLussiez10 Oct 2024, 04:52
It's fun. I also like the video on Youtube explaining the jump of the springtails. I learnt something and it was fun, good job!
FireFalls
FireFalls10 Oct 2024, 18:46
This was frustrating, but really fun. Kudos!
LDJam user 371030
LDJam user 37103010 Oct 2024, 18:48
Oh man.. I got really hooked at the simplicity of this along with the jumping mechanic that takes skill to master! Very well done! Now let me try again.. this little masochistic creation since I fell from very big height several times... and now I saw there are several useful keys to use XD

May I ask what engine was this made in?
coatline
coatline10 Oct 2024, 18:55
That was really cute! The music in the background fits really well. Also, I really like the procedural animation of the legs on the bug as well as all the little sound effects. Obviously, it reminds me of Bennett Foddy's Getting Over It and I think it achieved that comparison well. Great job!
Gerrit
Gerrit10 Oct 2024, 19:10
Love the bouncy noises :D And I heard them a lot!
badbons
badbons10 Oct 2024, 19:14
Amazing! I liked the jump mechanics and physics!! Really intrigued by this big room approach to theme as always, feels so cool
Lizz
Lizz10 Oct 2024, 19:15
This is surprisingly fun to do! The character is honestly cute, the obstacles are simple yet its easy to see where you need to go. The sound is calm, the sfx are fun. Its nice you did not put any limit or too active music in it, it allows one to do this at their own pace as its not easy. I likely won't finish this game while doing ratings, but maybe in the future. What I miss be an indication of how much you charge up your jump and with the ball for example a differentiating between from where you can climb and where you will fall off if you land. Everything in the distance being hazy is a good effect on one hand, its shows the dephy of the world, however my head and eyes did not like it too much for one reason or another.
RoBOT10 Oct 2024, 19:15
Fun game, reminds me of only up. The physics and the roll of the bug are a bit frustrating, but I guess that makes the game fun. :D Did not really like the depth of field effect. It felt so blurry and fuzzy. It gave me motion sickness, so I had to stop...
f1tzy
f1tzy10 Oct 2024, 19:42
This is really kind of fun, I'm not sure the jump controls are tight enough. But really good job on the concept and the music is great.
HaaYaargh
HaaYaargh10 Oct 2024, 21:48
I'm obviously aware of time constraints, but I feel like the level would gain a lot, if more platforms actually resembled furniture and household items, there were couple of shelves and one unjumpable rack, but the rest was pretty abstract.

I reached without cheating until slippery shelf right at the end, then I returned there and enabled checkpoitns. Too bad I was called out for doing that.

It was fun experience, I loved moments when I managed to backflip and land on my feets.
Sockenpuppe
Sockenpuppe10 Oct 2024, 22:08
I did not expect to have this much fun bc I totally suck at these types of games. But this is sooo good.

This point right here is where I was struggling the most. I lost count of how many times I fell down at this spot, always screaming "Noooooo". Bc then I'd have to see the little guy bounce and bounce and bounce. Poor guy is probably concussed as hell.

I finally decided to enable cheats and managed to escape:

I'll give it another try later bc I really want to beat the game without using cheats. Plus I get to listen to the music again which I probably wouldn't even get tired of after listening to it the whole day.
coatline
coatline11 Oct 2024, 00:22
Yeah, I'm just better. Sorry guys.
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor11 Oct 2024, 00:30
@coatline Amazing job! Thank you so much for spending time with my game :)

You may be the first jammer to have completed the game legitimately!
Klaus Peter
Klaus Peter11 Oct 2024, 08:52
I don't know how I managed to do this

This does just feel like getting over it. I don't know if I'm mad that there are no checkpoints or find it really cool. If I had fallen on the last or forlast jump I would have definitely hated it :joy:
Ava Skoog
Ava Skoog11 Oct 2024, 08:57
Well, coatline gave me the motivation I needed to do this legit!
Klaus Peter
Klaus Peter11 Oct 2024, 09:01
@keithswanger bro, coatline probably just whipped out MS Paint and filled the cheater label white :joy:
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor11 Oct 2024, 17:36
@klaus-peter that sounds like a confession :smirk: haha, thanks for playing! And great job finishing!

@ava-skoog yes! Nice!!! You have become one with the bug.
Klaus Peter
Klaus Peter11 Oct 2024, 18:46
damn actually now I was motivated as well to try to speedrun it. The training paid off :D
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor11 Oct 2024, 19:01
@klaus-peter amazing! The current WR is 1:48.56, so you're not far off! Really impressive!
Klaus Peter
Klaus Peter11 Oct 2024, 19:37
@keithswanger who got that run? is there a speedrun.com page? I need to know who I want to beat :joy:
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor11 Oct 2024, 19:49
@klaus-peter No speedrun page... yet... haha. Just some players on discord sending me their times.
WhiteFox11 Oct 2024, 22:08
Crazy game. Really fun haha. I needed the cheats to be able to get further than the first ball. I liked the minimal sounds & music and the bug animations were very nice! Great job!
Understudy11 Oct 2024, 22:21
Great game. Extremely masochistic though!
Miles Michell11 Oct 2024, 23:06
The bug is adorable. I'm in it for the cute dark souls of platforming!
Arthurmtro
Arthurmtro11 Oct 2024, 23:24
I like the cute bug ! super hard but also super fun to play :)
johnnysix
johnnysix11 Oct 2024, 23:52
Very cool, really liked the animation and the style. Maybe a little quicker on the recovery front would be cool, like having random button mashing throw his limbs around wildly to slow down a spin/bounce/slide so there's a bit more friction. Where the bounces are somewhat random also, some kind of visual feedback on the power of the jump ( an actual visual meter/ring ui or just have the bug squat / vibrate more intensely like he's holding the power in ) would make it a little more predictable.
Lachlan James
Lachlan James12 Oct 2024, 03:47
Haha! HARD game, I'm glad there were cheats. Reminded me a lot of Getting Over It. Nice use of the theme, I was indeed a tiny creature. I agree with the points about recovery time - bouncing around out of control for long period of time adds a bit of insult to injury when you've already taken the fall.

The leg animations of the springtail were GREAT - as well as the little sounds of movement. Subtle stuff, but really tastefully done.

Would love to see clear credits on what was made by you for jam (ie music and sfx?) so as to rate accurately in those areas.
Lachlan James
Lachlan James12 Oct 2024, 03:58
@keithswanger Wow dude! That's awesome, well done to you. Just figured I'd check - hard to tell sometimes when someone's just popped an asset in, or spent hours making it - certainly makes a big difference. Thanks for clarifying.
Aviv Levy
Aviv Levy12 Oct 2024, 10:48
Pretty cool! But definitely needs checkpoints 😅
Would also appreciate to be able to control the camera.
And maybe more detailed environment (but it's understandable for a jam!)
Fis
Fis12 Oct 2024, 12:30
Very nice game, dropping down to the floor is pretty cruel - but these kind of games are entertaining (especially watching someone play it)

Enabling some easy mode with checkpoints would be appreciated, having to cheat feels wrong!

Also, the control combination CTRL+ALT+T does not work well for me on ubuntu linux (playing the web build), as this gets caught by gnome creating a terminal window and doing nothing in the game itself (CTRL+ALT+W for stats works) - I would recommend non-complicated input processing like just a button C for cheat, or adding a menu that's accessible using escape
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor12 Oct 2024, 17:42
@coatline Hilarious. Thank you for taking the time to make this video, it turned out great! You found a couple new skips that I didn't know about! Congrats on the WR, there are a few people right on your tail! And thank you for spending so much time with my game :)
Klaus Peter
Klaus Peter12 Oct 2024, 20:11
damn you @coatline :joy: I'm just a second off, but i got a hole lot of new skips up my sleeve! We'll meet again!!!
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor12 Oct 2024, 21:00
@klaus-peter Wow. Insanely impressive. Another skip that I didn't know about! (to the tennis ball rack). Thank you for sharing the video!
Klaus Peter
Klaus Peter12 Oct 2024, 21:23
@keithswanger Tbh I kind of hate this skip. I can only manage to do it successfully every 3rd time. But if anyone beats me to the record I'm not going to be mad. At least I will have tought them the tennis ball rack skip :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
It's really been a blast with your game :D you should put it out there on Steam!
Ategon
Ategon13 Oct 2024, 16:51
Thanks for submitting your game to the stream! If you wanted to watch it again in the future heres the vod of the stream (timestamped to your game)


Also Wanted to ask if youre fine with me using gameplay from the game in this LDs score chasers tournament intermission video. (Would play in the breaks of the tournament on my stream). Last year for reference
KeithSwanger
KeithSwangerauthor13 Oct 2024, 17:55
@ategon Totally fine with you using gameplay! And good luck with score chasers! Thanks for playing :)
ssiannas
ssiannas13 Oct 2024, 18:33
Awesome game! Really annoying at times but addicting :stuck_out_tongue:.

Loved the movement control feeling and animations.
wl6413 Oct 2024, 19:34
You've crafted a perfect love hate for me in all the right ways xD the cuteness of the bug vs slightly-humanoid and crawly sfx, and pain of falling vs landing perfectly on legs. Well done! The music is such a great fit too!
Klaus Peter
Klaus Peter13 Oct 2024, 20:30
Couldn't let that one sit on me :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
LDJam user 379026
LDJam user 37902619 Oct 2024, 01:54
Love the concept, we had a similar idea but opted for a slightly different path. Props on the IK legged bug critter!
vidarn
vidarn21 Oct 2024, 11:27
Well crafted game. It's minimalist in all the right ways. You've made a lot of good choices in the game design.

The comment section here really elevates the experience, I had a lot of fun watching the speedruns, especially knowing how difficult the game was. I'm very impressed! Thank you all for the entertainment
Tetracold
Tetracold21 Oct 2024, 22:23
this game is awesome, one of my favorites from the jam jam

I really enjoyed playing it. I felt compelled to try again and again, I didn't give up till I completed it legit, even if if it took me a long time.

It's also genuinely so cool to see the progression of the speedrun in the comments, I think that shows the potential this entry has as a speedrun game if you consider expanding on it and making it a full release

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