Epoch by Fictions

[raw]
made by Fictions for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

Splashscreen.png Epoch_03.PNG

"It took ages... - Finally it will be done... - Just a button push away..." Follow the final steps of a scientist to fulfill his lifes work.

Epoch is a platformer where you have to build the stage up by yourself. Try to master all 10 stages and see how the story ends.

Keybindings: Build Mode => Mouse (Drag/Drop/Click) Play Mode => W/Arrow Left: Left, D/Arrow Right: Right, Space: Jump

We challenged ourself to make the game within 48 hours and we are very proud of the result.

Features: - Time Reverse - Build Mode/Stage Editor - Voiceover - Music Reverse with time - Music written by Karlheinz Follner - Character Platorm Controlls - Cutscenes

Created by:

Tobias Kiehnlein: Code, Art, Design https://github.com/TobiasKiehnlein/

Raphael Kölz: Code, Art, Design https://raphael-koelz.de/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTb9nI3Ic95v8pMkslX9Yiw

Karlheinz Follner: Sound, Music https://www.follner-music.de/

Build Mode: Epoch_01.PNG

Ratings

Overall 357th 3.833⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Fun 445th 3.639⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 370th 3.722⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 788th 3.639⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 283th 4.139⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Audio 168th 3.944⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 201th 3.722⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 532th 3.639⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 9🗳️ 8🗨️

Feedback

Listonos
05. Oct 2020 · 03:20 UTC
I found this one to have a certain charm to it. Play button desperately needs a hotkey and I didn't quite get why the placement of objects need confirmation. It was interesting that you could either rebuild the scene or just get better at platforming (which is what I often chose). Great entry!
sriram070
05. Oct 2020 · 03:28 UTC
Great game. Controls are a little buggy. But great concept tho.!!!!
Krg
05. Oct 2020 · 03:34 UTC
really cool game
indivicivet
13. Oct 2020 · 18:02 UTC
very cool! nice concept, cute graphics and music, and of course it was fun. :) I rly appreciate the gameplay clarity with red for dangerous things, the big direction arrows, etc.

personally I think it'd be better if the loop keeps going; it'd be a bit tighter with the theme, and I did want to go back and start again to make harder versions of the levels!
🎤 Fictions
13. Oct 2020 · 18:16 UTC
@indivicivet Thanks :) We were two developers - so I had to jump in and do the graphics xD But I realy enjoy the look of it.
@sriram070 I agree - we need to tinker a bit with the controlls. But I also love the cartoony and snappy fall of the character.
@listonos Hotkeys...! We haven't thout about them - Thanks :D That would make the game flow much better.
YoungBlade
13. Oct 2020 · 19:01 UTC
A very fun idea! Good concept, well executed. The graphics are both good looking and give the game a particular flavor when combined with the music and voice. There is not a real tutorial apart from the first level, and yet I was able to intuitively understand how the game worked and how the mechanics worked without needing an explanation. Well done, and thanks for sharing your game with us on stream!
Matoux42
13. Oct 2020 · 19:47 UTC
Very cool!

To be honest, I did only 8 levels on 10, because at the end it became very tricky and I hadn't that much time) But very cute and cool game :ok_hand:

(take a cookie :cookie:)
Roka Josh
13. Oct 2020 · 19:50 UTC
Very solid entry, really well done. Nicely polished and generally well made! My only criticism would be to not have to confirm the placements of obstacles so when you die you don't have to fully reset the objects and instead can just move individual objects. Overall though, amazing work!
Zoomer
13. Oct 2020 · 19:57 UTC
Nice game, like the art and the concept. Well done
The Enigma
13. Oct 2020 · 20:09 UTC
Interesting idea, its pretty fun. I love the art and the voice acting.
For some reason when I first played it I didn't realise there was a jump key so I spent quite a while trying to do the first level. The fact that you couldn't rearrange the objects without completely resetting the level was in that case quite annoying because it meant that despite having a "solution" much of the problem was guessing in what had to go where instead of being able to fix any slight errors.
(TLDR I'm an idiot but rearranging the room without resetting would be useful if you're going to continue the game).
Once I did realise you could jump, because of the floaty-ness of the jump it perhaps made the levels too easy, you could get across by using a small number of the most useful objects and stacking the rest next to the start location. Although the jump does offset the difficulties mentioned with not being able to edit the level.
Obviously its a jam game so its not expected to be super complete and polished, and you do a really good job of what you did make and it was a lot of fun, so good job.
Red Chilakillers
22. Oct 2020 · 16:55 UTC
Really entertaining game, I loved the skeleton animations, there are a couple of things I would improve for this, the jump is too floaty which given the setting wouldn't be an issue, but the fall gravity is too high in comparison to the jump, so I would either reduce the gravity for the fall or reduce the floating of the jump, for a better control feel, placing the objects gets a bit difficult because of the UI layer and is impossible to place them too high since the checkbox is at the top. Reset and Play really need to be mapped to the keyboard as well, it really break immersion to reach out for the mouse/trackpad before every attempt. Other than that, this is really well done and greatly put together.
Noah Kuhn
22. Oct 2020 · 17:35 UTC
This was such a cute and funny little game, I loved it! I hope you get the ratings you need, this game is a gem :)
SandPile
22. Oct 2020 · 18:35 UTC
Cool game. I can see inspiration from Ultimate Chicken Horse, and Super mario with the screenwrapping falling platforms. The voice acting might be a bit much, because when he says "I wish this to be over soon" it's hard not to think "Me too", even though you might not agree with it. Having to press the checkmarks to place items also felt a little redundant. But my criticism comes from a good place, and this game is actually really neat! It reminds me a lot of old flash games I used to play. The artstyle is super great! Good job!
Zuvr
27. Oct 2020 · 12:30 UTC
Had a lot of fun with this! At first I was put off by the "Ten levels in order to understand the story", but five levels later I found myself really enjoying the challenge and wanting to finish properly.
Following that, I don't know if I'm amused or disappointed with the ending :sweat_smile:

Besides the jump feeling a bit off to me and the points other have mentioned regarding the difficulty and needing to reset every time, I think this is a really cool premise, great executions, and it fits the theme very well!