I still cant quite understand how to control it, it seems right arrow accelerates and left decelerates, but I can't quite turn how I want, not sure, but I coulfn't go anywhere but up, and then I got promptly eaten by another bigger creature.

On the other hand I liked the aesthetic, especially the ice level, I liked the ice accumulating and moving felt very ethereal, even if I couldnt avoid it >.<

The music was also nice, classic sci-fi with a bit of an upbeat tone, reminded me a bit of portal's ost, with the slow progressing scales.

I'd say you either need to tutorialize, redo or explain the movement, but I may be a dummy and missed something or not understood, after all I spent like 5 minutes on the world select screen mashing keys :P

@firewill I just updated the itch.io page to have a more in depth explanation of how to control your character. Check it out and see if it solves your problems. :smile: thanks for playing

I gave it another try, this time I could move, once you get used to it it feels pretty nice, very kinetic, alternating between up down and pressing right in between, I'dsay most games going for something similar use up as their propulsion and left right for rotation, so I guess that was throwing me off.

Once I got moving I noticed one thing, your background needs a few more elements so I can feel better my movement, right now its very empty, and I can barely notice my speed by tiny irregularities in the ground, as long as there are no pickups anywhere.

Also now I can comment on some of the other elements you got going on, thematically I love the fact that you have to swim at the edge of the water it feels very fitting, tough I feel this level need a bit more stuff to do, other than swimming along hoping for some algae and the occassional swoop down to get a careless organism.

The ice level on the other hand has more elements which make my movement feel more responsive, also has more pickups, which is fun, and allow for more exploration, I liked that after swimming a bit I came across bigger clusters of algae.

With both levels I got to 50 combined score, after a few tries, especially the water level which seems to be very RNG dependant, I did not unlock any other world, so I guess it's very difficult >.<

Actually now I feel that this is very well put together, but I fear controls might turn some people off, as they have somewhat of a learning curve, and level mechanics might be a bit obscure.

I only got a handful of points per level, but thanks to the rather tricky controls and the spot on audiovisuals the struggle for survival couldn't have felt more real. The icy pond especially is very immersive. Reminds me of flOw quite a bit in that regard.

Fine job, although such a control scheme won't win you any favors with most people I'm afraid.

:ocean: :bear: FTW!

Cool. I love the sound design (less so the controls, but they're growing on me). Overall, though, really original idea.

As a dad/composer myself, I second the props to your dad on the OST! Dads represent!

I played the game quit a bit, because figuring out how to control was quit intresting. I found out, that the easiest way is to move in the direction you want with "a" or "d" and turn with pressing the other button "a" or "d" shortly. Then you begin to turn. I was able to get a combined score of 23. The ice sound was bothering a bit and maybe you could add more action to the game.

Most of my activity was spent just trying to get the tardigrade to move. It was enjoyable, although I've no idea how to get points.

Hm not sure if I missed something, I see a cube that slowly rotates clockwise, mashing WSAD spacebar doesn't seem to be doing anything...

Didn't realise you had to click on the arrow icons to start a level. Tried pressing all the keys before working that out.

The controls are really tricky, but I love the concept and graphics! I'm not sure how to turn or get the waterbear to go where I want to to despite trying different variations and timings of WASD. Sometimes he turns, but what caused it? With a little bit of control refinement, this could be really fun.

Interesting concept. The controls aren't only difficult to figure out, they seem inconsistent, which makes learning them very difficult. I really like the idea and the general mood of the game, though. Nice job!

Nice game! I thought it was a great and original take on the theme and enjoyed the visuals and the atmosphere. I found the controls rather difficult (which from what I can tell is intentional to an extent), I think it might have been easier for me to internalize if left and right were to rotate, and up / down moved your forwards and backwards. (｀・ω・´)

Nice game. Love the art, great color choices. Music fits really well. The controls were very tricky, I never really felt like I fully grasped them. If you get a chance check out our entry https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/down-the-rabbit-hole

Nice little game, i like challenging games so i was intrigued to figure out the controls, but i don't think most people feel the same way. Visually very pleasing, the blurred effect of background looked really nice.
The music and sound was very calming and together made the game quite relaxing.

Maybe something like "select the biome" at start could be helpful, since it wasn't exactly obvious.
Overall pretty nice game! :slight_smile:

Really cool concept, goes along really well with the theme. The controls were driving me nuts at first, but after I figured them out I felt pretty accomplished. It was fun to get decently good at moving the little waterbear around. That said, the game was still really hard! I never was able to dodge the big bugs that ate you, and the ice always made me panic and lose control.

Had a good time playing it! Nice work!

First of all, this is a beautiful looking game! The sounds are great too!

I had a HARD time getting used to the controls, but once I managed to get them correct, I was able to swim around eating stuff and getting eaten aswell. This is really innovative and it's such an interesting concept. I would love to see it developed further.

Great work! :)

Was a bit difficult to realise what was going on and even then I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. Really lovely art design though, the backgrounds and levels looked great!

A/D - controls are the best. You don't need to W/S with them at all :smile: It's an atmospheric game. Best regards to your Dad -- music really fits the style and gameplay.

One thing could make a gameplay more interesting to me - ability to speed up a bit. May be with some sort of stamina bar or special food. Even with this kind of a control, a player needs a way to escape a bad situation (from ice or enemy) somehow, by spending some expensive game resource (stamina, food, etc. - does not matter).

Also, I was not able to unlock two level, is it possible to do at all?

I like the designs and I the music fits in very well ( special mention to your dad who did it! that's a cute collaboration!) I think the ice mode is my favorite, because it's more polished. Particules and growing ice making the environment more lively.

However controls are very difficult and ruined the game experience... maybe it's not adapted for every keyboard (why not using just the arrows?)

Its a cool concept! The ontrols are a little hard to use. I like the sounds and the graphics a lot ^^

As you mentioned, the controls are difficult. I sometimes got the critter to move in directions I wanted, but the lack of purpose and not gaining points after a few minutes (no clear indication of what gives points). The sound effect in the Ice world (growing ice?) is a bit to chaotic for my taste. Game looks nice though and I will give it a rerun later, thanks!

In Safari controls not working. But game looks great. Good job!