Ascend by almost

Ascend is a puzzle platformer where the player loops through seasons, making their way upwards to find their lost red balloon.
Controls:
WASD or Arrow Keys to move, up or space to jump.
- Something that happens in one season can have an effect in another season *
Notes:
You can jump on colored platforms and colored branches
You can climb vines and icicles
You can jump while climbing
You can stand on bubbles for a second or two before they pop
Alt f4 to quit the desktop version
Walkthrough:
In case you get stuck, here is a video walkthrough, but I recommend trying the puzzles yourself first!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRCgseM1b90
Let us know what you think, how you did, and anything else! We love to hear any feedback :)
| Youtube | https://adafheyesh.itch.io/ascend |
| Youtube | https://adafheyesh.itch.io/ascend |
| Youtube | https://github.com/AlmostMatt/LD47 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/ascend |
Ratings
| Overall | 254th | 3.934⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 501th | 3.595⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 99th | 4.068⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 73th | 4.324⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 94th | 4.432⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 138th | 4.014⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 610th | 2.948⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 154th | 4.041⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 22🗳️ | 51🗨️ |
Yesss, you may get a hint, you go bump the middle apple first, the panda would go eat, and hibernate in the winter. You then go hop bubbles to get to icicles, and go to fall again, to get the apple on the right :) This time the panda noms on the right apple, so you go back, hop the bubbles, and keep using bubbles. (The next part is to get the left apple somehow). Let me know if you need more help!
If you find the panda blocking the way, it's a one way door from right to left, press jump and while you are in air press left, which would probably help.
Such a magical ending, thank you! A absolutely gorgeous game, worthy of incredible marks.
I can't fault it at all.
Good work guys
Also, for anyone who is totally stuck, here is a video walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRCgseM1b90
And there is also a video playthrough from ursagames' stream at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/762956252?t=3h15m12s.
Hi! Thank you so much for playing, a couple of comments above you, almost (one of our devs) posted a walkthrough in case you are stuck, check it out if you want to see the ending :)
and yess thank you for noticing that (I wonder how long you were stuck to notice that lol), there is sound of rain during spring too!
Great game!
I completed the game without watching the walk-through video, but spent some time on the panda part. I understood that I had to make it go on the right to use its bubbles to access higher platforms, but it somehow felt wrong to go left (so, "back in time") to take advantage of its new position. Also, when going to the left, the position of the panda is actually reset in summer and spring, so that was a little confusing.
Good entry!
the mechanics are great, changing things in one season to move forward in the other. i think there's an inconsistency with the bear's position not updating in every season, but that's minor.
my main criticism is that it was really hard to jump on the bubbles, and climb on the vines / icicles. i ended up getting stuck at the first place where you need to jump on the bubbles. i couldn't figure out what to do after making the second apple drop. i watched a play through, it seems you need to backtrack several seasons, because the path is blocked off, to get back to winter, but that wasn't obvious to me, and i just couldn't get back up on the bubbles again a second time.
the creature at the end was very surprising! the clouds were beautiful too.
i think a bit more tuning with the movement, jumping, and climbing mechanics would have made this entry perfect!