Backwards by MerpADer

[raw]
made by MerpADer for LD 43 (COMPO)

My game is called Backwards! This is a reverse-metroidvania style game. Screenshot (5).png You have already beaten the boss and have all the powers, now you must sacrifice those powers every few rooms you go into to proceed Screenshot (6).png This is my second Ludum Dare but first compo.

Ratings

Overall 473th 2.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 466th 2.474⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 403th 2.737⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 352th 3.132⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 469th 2.289⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 346th 2.526⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 271th 2.656⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Mood 430th 2.5⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

Alexey Akulovich
04. Dec 2018 · 07:33 UTC
Your link to web version is broken (404).
andrewl
04. Dec 2018 · 21:33 UTC
Same. Link is broken :(
764hotshot
05. Dec 2018 · 02:32 UTC
you haft to make the game public on itch.io
🎤 MerpADer
06. Dec 2018 · 02:25 UTC
@alexey-akulovich @andrewl @764hotshot thank you all for the fb. I have now made it public. feel free to now play & rate it
Lenny Sirivong
06. Dec 2018 · 03:01 UTC
After I gave up my first power and talked to the guy that was like "eh the big boss will get you" I couldn't figure out where to go.

A pretty interesting concept! The mechanics of jumping around and shooting took a while to get used to, with the jump feeling so floaty and the gun sometimes not registering if I was in front of it.

Pretty nice pixel art and I liked the level design (the parts I could access at least :slight_smile:)

Nice job!
Trusty
06. Dec 2018 · 03:41 UTC
My precious abilities! Fun idea, good job.
Wevel
06. Dec 2018 · 14:24 UTC
Interesting game, I think that you jump a bit too high but otherwise well done.
PurpledArtFrog
06. Dec 2018 · 17:23 UTC
@merpader Nice entry - controls felt a bit fluffy though
Ninnec
06. Dec 2018 · 21:30 UTC
I personally liked the really high jumping. I only got to the first room where I lost my ability before I get killed but I liked it!
lilou_cormic
07. Dec 2018 · 00:21 UTC
Not bad, I like the idea. The jump was hard to control though.
bitdecay
09. Dec 2018 · 21:30 UTC
I wasn't on-board with the game at first, but playing a game in reverse like that is actually a pretty cool idea. The game gets harder based on how the player wants to play the game. Seems like it would be very difficult to balance it and allow the player to still be able to get through everything if they can sacrifice whatever they want.

I did run into some collision bugs where I fell through the floor, but otherwise, nice compo entry.
Slashee the Cow
13. Dec 2018 · 02:42 UTC
I don't know if I was doing something wrong but I couldn't get past the second room - you move left from the start, the room where the door closes with a speech bubble and there's two enemies in that room. I killed the enemies but nothing opened up, I tried moving through all the doors but I couldn't get through any of them.

A couple of things I think could be improved a bit (that I could get to at least) - I think the jump is **waaaaaaaaaay** too floaty, I spent so much time just waiting to get back down to the ground. Also I thought the platforms should have a bit more contrast from the background - I found them a bit hard to see.
🎤 MerpADer
15. Dec 2018 · 00:07 UTC
@slashee-the-cow ty for the fb! you have to interact [E] with things that have speech bubbles
LMB
16. Dec 2018 · 17:09 UTC
Interesting concept, really nice idea and a creative interpretation of the theme also! Some suggestions for the next LDs:

* Some more feedback to the player about what is going on would be nice, In particular, I am not sure if beat the game or not (I reached the guy saying the boss will beat me; looked like the start (or end :smile:) of the game, and I couldn't find anything else to do, but who knows?)
* Character movement didn't feel natural
* Key mapping wasn't great, in my opinion. For example, there are too many controls on the left hand (WASD, Q, only left shift works for running), it's hard to use them all comfortably.
* I found some glitch: Press A and D simultaneously and the hero starts looking at the wrong direction (as if moonwalking :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:). Also, walking and shooting really quickly makes the bullets self-destroy (or destroy each other).
MZA
20. Dec 2018 · 15:41 UTC
Very good platforming game. I didn't mind the jump height - i think the level design is such that you'd require to jump high. I found a bug that if you press left and right arrow at the same time, the sprite will flip incorrectly - so you can make the player do a moonwalk :smile: I had this problem in the past in some of the game and I fixed it using a simple if statement.

Out of the few mechanics to sacrifice, I found that shooting and sprinting were the least beneficial. I feel the game can be finished without doing any of that. Conversely, I thought jumping is extremely important in the game, I dunno How'd you finish the game w/out jumping.
Geckoo1337
24. Dec 2018 · 21:50 UTC
Cool platformer game which could be improved, but it is good for a project which has been created in less than 48 hours. Well done ++
LeviDSmith
25. Dec 2018 · 02:55 UTC
Seems like all the fundamentals for a good game are there. The jumping felt a little bit floaty. I also frequently got stuck in walls, so I wasn't sure if that was by design (sometimes you could find secret areas in Metroid that way, but it was used sparingly). The music got a little repetitive, just being seven or eight notes repeated. Sometimes it seemed like the speech bubbles were inaccessible or on the wrong side of the wall/door.
chaczyk
25. Dec 2018 · 18:14 UTC
It's always fun to run a naked man
phi
28. Dec 2018 · 21:12 UTC
Who doesn't like a space-y platformer? I would have liked to have the jumping physics at least a little bit more dynamic. I kept jumping up to the ceiling whenever I just wanted to take a little hop. Once I understood how to use the interface, I really liked it! And surprisingly, I actually finished the game! The graphics need some more work, but I really liked how you integrated the narrative into the level design. Music is quite funky, but a little repetitive after a while. Overall, great job!