Too Many Gems by Quetzakol
Hello! :smile:
What is this game?
In Too Many Gems you are on a quest to collect all the magic gems of the dungeon, equipped with many tools to help you: a flame thrower, an ice maker, an axe, a shield and an umbrella. But your bag is full and you have to get rid of the right tool each time you collect a new gem. Will you make it to the end without all your gadgets?
Controls:
Remark: please consider changing the "Use an object" control to F or R if you use the AD keys on the keyboard. You can do that in the "Input" tab before launching the game.
Keyboard
- A/D, arrows Move left/right
- Space Jump
- Q/E Change equipped tool
- 1-6 Change equipped tool (quick select)
- X Use equipped tool
- R Restart the level
- Escape Quit the game
XBOX 360 controller
- Left stick Move left/right
- A Jump
- LB/RB Change equipped tool
- B Use equipped tool
- Back Restart the level
- Start Quit the game
Tools used
- Engine / Programmation: Unity 2018.2 with C#
- Graphics: Photoshop, Photofiltre
- Sounds: Audacity and a Guitar Hero microphone
- Music: Bosca Ceoil
Screenshots


| HTML5 (web) | https://quetzakol.itch.io/too-many-gems |
| Source code | https://quetzakol.itch.io/too-many-gems |
| Windows | https://quetzakol.itch.io/too-many-gems |
| macOS | https://quetzakol.itch.io/too-many-gems |
| Linux | https://quetzakol.itch.io/too-many-gems |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/too-many-gems |
Ratings
| Overall | 309th | 3.458⭐ | 38🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 322th | 3.314⭐ | 37🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 388th | 3.143⭐ | 37🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 532th | 3.171⭐ | 37🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 229th | 3.583⭐ | 38🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 334th | 2.933⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 161th | 3⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 180th | 3.318⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 36🗳️ | 23🗨️ |
Other than that, very nice and polished game :D
It's fun and funny.
I think having slight variations of the ending depending on which item you decide to stick with until the end would be nice.
Good job!
- smooth character movement
- x is hard to reach for use of tool (maybe use e or f)
- when you die there is no indication as to how you died (at least when the box kills you)
- after being killed by the ice cube, I never in a million years would think that I could stand on top of him (maybe add a visual element to show that his head is safe)
- character animations are well done
- some background parallax would be a nice to have
- after the stars I'm not sure how to proceed
[SPOILERS]
On my first playthrough, I tried to avoid giving away the bunny, thinking that there would obviously be a secret ending if I didn't give away the most useless item... and then the ending surprised me, making me thing that on the contrary, there will be a secret ending if I give away the bunny and somehow manage to keep two tools? So I tried again, attempting to give away the bunny and to jump over gems... but neither worked, so I guess there is only one ending after all?
[/SPOILERS]
@jelbre I would have liked it too, it annoyed me quite a lot when testing, but lacked time for that too ^^
@paden-shorey Thanks for taking the time to give such a constructive feedback! I agree with all your remarks. I'm not sure what you mean by "after the stars" though. Are you stuck after the falling stars in the first level?
@gelisam No secret ending, sorry :P That would have been cool though!
I really enjoyed the style of this game. The enemies are imaginative (an ice cube?), and the entire game is surreal.
I exaggerated to take advantage of the bug. Hahahahahah.

0 - Main Mechanics:
Exit certain point of the stage and reach another point, avoiding predetermined objects in the path (creatures and others).
1 - Secondary Mechanics:
I would place here each item to be used, though they are more complements to the main mechanics, than really isolated game mechanics. A particular item needs to be mentioned, this "ball" that allows "climbing levitating a wall"; in my previous comment I mentioned that it allowed to escape to the top of the level and thus pass it without major difficulties (I had this same type problem in my game project, when using object translation, I ended up losing the limitation of the wall).
2 - Learning Curve:
I'm not the best person to talk about, because I get so confused when I have to entwine my fingers to be able to do everything I want at the same time. So understanding what can be done turned out to be easier than actually performing the intended actions (for me). Each level is a new challenge, there are clues as to which tools should remain, in this sense the game tries to give clues on how to learn to pass each region of play.
3 - Flow:
I believe that the first point to mention is the question of having to return fully from the beginning, at the first level. This was uncomfortable because the phase is relatively long (it ends up penalizing a lot, boring because the person already knows what he needs to do so he will not go wrong again). For this first level it might be more interesting to break into several smaller levels (because creating a checkpoint system would not make sense in relation to what is on the other levels (the possibility of choosing the wrong tool to lose).
Because some movements are not fully fluid (requires polishing), we end up with "box-crunching" problems.
I need to resume the game and play more (because I overdid the use of the bug quoted in my previous review).
4 - Love Points:
The diversity of tools. The relationship of the character with the sixth item.
5 - Presentation of the Narrative:
I believe it can be worked on in a way that strengthens the efforts and has better results. In the time of Ludum Dare is of good size, I would like to see more in that sense in a continuation of the project.
6 - Art Polishment:
In Ludum's time Dare is fine. There is always room for polymetn (sonorous and visual). I liked the art representing the objects and the character (mainly).
7 - Monetization Attractiveness:
I believe that with minor, challenging phases and narrative / artistic polish; the game could sell by itself (with the appropriate size in terms of levels and with a greater diversity of mechanics, on Steam perhaps).
8 - Community Generation:
Focusing on the relationship between character and object can lead to the creation of a community, perhaps a Facebook page is a good tool to support this (if the project continues). PS: If you create a page, invite me to follow.
9 - Cultural Dialogue:
I can not see how the game would apply. I know that if there is the proper treatment of elements when inviting new players, using cultural themes present in the game, it is possible to find the right group of players. In this way, the game starts to feed the culture, influencing it. With greater narrative intensity and specific focus perhaps this may become clearer.