The visuals of scanning things is so cool! It was a joy to play.
I like how the theme is "peaceful" where you don't fight any enemies, but instead explore the map and document the wildlife.
The snail shortcuts are a great idea and I hope you continue with that. Sometimes with games, the map is so expansive that it's hard to remember which places I have visited. Seeing the snails helps me remember that I unlocked that part. A very simple minimap showing which screen the player is in could be nice, but wasn't necessary.
If possible, I would make the secret tunnels more apparent when scanning, as sometimes it's hard to see clearly when all the blocks are flashing.
The movement is a bit "slippery" too, which makes some jumps difficult. Having the character stop as soon as the move button is released would help this. Right now, the character seems to slide, or carry their momentum.
Interesting mechanic where scanning an animal for enough time will freeze it in place. Could see this integrated into the platforming but it would be hard to time in it's current state.
When scanning and pressing the jump button, I see my character "phasing" upwards, like it's showing my future path if I again press the jump button. I wasn't sure if this was a special mechanic or not, which was a little confusing, but it seems like it's just for visual sake.
Too bad I couldn't leave the end screen since I wanted to explore more. It seems like this was intended so I'm looking forward to more!
Thanks for your comments hygge! my paragraph-by-paragraph answer follows:
I've for a few years wanted to make a "biologist game". Then the idea collided with an already-existing post-jam platformer, and they fused into EMUUROM.
Snail shortcuts are tHE BEST. Also, there is a map screen, but its button is currently only told in one of the 'tombstones', or virstanpylyväät.
[it's the S key]
I'll consider adding more holes to the ground (through which the scanline is seen in the secret tunnels)! That might change the aesthetics of the tilesets considerably, tho, which means design work (note also: i am lazy)
Slipperiness of movement is mentioned enough times already for me to do something about it.
There will be a few emuuroms that are designed around pausing :)
The "future path" phasing is indeed just a visual thing
for now
maybe I should add an easter egg to the endscreen as well...
:D Luckily, there is indeed more to be found in the demo, see my answer to your second message :>
GOOD GAME; AT THE START i WAS VERY CONFUSED ABOUT IT ALL; ESPECIALLY THAT i COULDNT READ THE SIGNS: BUIT ONCE i GOT THE FIRST THING IT BECAME MORE CLEAR. and then it was already over :-(
Neat idea and execution. Hope that there will be more.
I think that "ground" tiles should be more clearly separate from "background" tiles. At least once I thought that I can make a jump and was blocked by something I thought that would belong into background. Also I think that some challenges are too precise. A little bit of leeway would make it flow smoother.
In all other ways I think that level design is just right. I always had some kind of clue where to move next, even without any instructions. Challenges were fun and it is nice that new mechanics emerge through different creatures that have their own purpose (love how snails work as shortcuts for cleared challenges). Music is awesome.
I had some performance issues on browser, which I guess is to be expected.
Thanks for extensive feedback! ^^ Great to hear that level design does its job, as I'm not that experienced on the matter, hehe.
I'll try to smoothen out some of the trickier jump sections, especially those in the first bird room for the next release 0.1.e. And I guess I should also work on the tilemaps, too! Which tile was the one you thought was part of the background?
And yup, it's is tricky to deliver a steady 60fps on browser, and for optimization I can only do so much (but I'll try to work on that, too.)
Here is that part. Now that I think of it, it might have more to do with that plant that is on front of the wall, giving impression that it belongs to background.
Ps. I've found myself booting up this game just to listen to that catchy music that plays most of the time.
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The visuals of scanning things is so cool! It was a joy to play.
I like how the theme is "peaceful" where you don't fight any enemies, but instead explore the map and document the wildlife.
The snail shortcuts are a great idea and I hope you continue with that. Sometimes with games, the map is so expansive that it's hard to remember which places I have visited. Seeing the snails helps me remember that I unlocked that part. A very simple minimap showing which screen the player is in could be nice, but wasn't necessary.
If possible, I would make the secret tunnels more apparent when scanning, as sometimes it's hard to see clearly when all the blocks are flashing.
The movement is a bit "slippery" too, which makes some jumps difficult. Having the character stop as soon as the move button is released would help this. Right now, the character seems to slide, or carry their momentum.
Interesting mechanic where scanning an animal for enough time will freeze it in place. Could see this integrated into the platforming but it would be hard to time in it's current state.
When scanning and pressing the jump button, I see my character "phasing" upwards, like it's showing my future path if I again press the jump button. I wasn't sure if this was a special mechanic or not, which was a little confusing, but it seems like it's just for visual sake.
Too bad I couldn't leave the end screen since I wanted to explore more. It seems like this was intended so I'm looking forward to more!
Very excited to see where you take this game.
Thanks for your comments hygge! my paragraph-by-paragraph answer follows:
I've for a few years wanted to make a "biologist game". Then the idea collided with an already-existing post-jam platformer, and they fused into EMUUROM.
Snail shortcuts are tHE BEST. Also, there is a map screen, but its button is currently only told in one of the 'tombstones', or virstanpylyväät.
[it's the S key]
I'll consider adding more holes to the ground (through which the scanline is seen in the secret tunnels)! That might change the aesthetics of the tilesets considerably, tho, which means design work (note also: i am lazy)
Slipperiness of movement is mentioned enough times already for me to do something about it.
There will be a few emuuroms that are designed around pausing :)
The "future path" phasing is indeed just a visual thing
for now
maybe I should add an easter egg to the endscreen as well...
:D Luckily, there is indeed more to be found in the demo, see my answer to your second message :>
GOOD GAME; AT THE START i WAS VERY CONFUSED ABOUT IT ALL; ESPECIALLY THAT i COULDNT READ THE SIGNS: BUIT ONCE i GOT THE FIRST THING IT BECAME MORE CLEAR. and then it was already over :-(
GREAT TO HEAR, THIS IS THE INTENDED EXPERIENCE (save for the abrupt ending,) MORE COMING SOON!!
Neat idea and execution. Hope that there will be more.
I think that "ground" tiles should be more clearly separate from "background" tiles. At least once I thought that I can make a jump and was blocked by something I thought that would belong into background. Also I think that some challenges are too precise. A little bit of leeway would make it flow smoother.
In all other ways I think that level design is just right. I always had some kind of clue where to move next, even without any instructions. Challenges were fun and it is nice that new mechanics emerge through different creatures that have their own purpose (love how snails work as shortcuts for cleared challenges). Music is awesome.
I had some performance issues on browser, which I guess is to be expected.
Thanks for extensive feedback! ^^ Great to hear that level design does its job, as I'm not that experienced on the matter, hehe.
I'll try to smoothen out some of the trickier jump sections, especially those in the first bird room for the next release 0.1.e. And I guess I should also work on the tilemaps, too! Which tile was the one you thought was part of the background?
And yup, it's is tricky to deliver a steady 60fps on browser, and for optimization I can only do so much (but I'll try to work on that, too.)
Here is that part. Now that I think of it, it might have more to do with that plant that is on front of the wall, giving impression that it belongs to background.
Ps. I've found myself booting up this game just to listen to that catchy music that plays most of the time.
haha, didn't even consider that interpretation! I moved the plant one tile right so it should be less ambiguous in the next update.
Ps. Nice to hear that you like the music! You can also listen to (an older version of) it on my soundcloud: :D https://soundcloud.com/oggborbis/sets/tic-80-chiptunes