Pandora’s Box [WebGL/Win/Touch] by AJ Studio
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mobile Touchscreen Web Version: https://spider853.itch.io/pandoras-box
Main character is a little cute girl 💃🏼 named Pandora which got lost in the Pandora’s box.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYjeXt1Uvn0
She has 10 seconds to escape each zone in order to get out 💃🏼of the Pandora’s box. So you have to be really fast🚀

🌹🌹🌹 Pandora is a pure, clean girl that starts a serene and evocative experience, trying to escape dangers and obstacles and pass the evil from the box hereby moving as quickly as possible from one zone to another in less than 10 seconds.
For the amazing gaming experience, we’ve built 12 areas to play in the game.
Fast paced platformer in fantasy environment evading different obstacles such as: moving mobs, monsters, environmental traps.
🦋 Good news, you can collect butterfly bonuses. Weee
👻 Whatever you do, don’t touch the ghosts😃
The game can be enjoyed by anyone thus exploring zones, escaping experience to get Pandora💃🏼 out of Pandora’s box.
CONTROLS:
Keyboard:
A - Move left
D - Move right
Space - Jump
R - Restart
XBox Controller:
Left/Analog Left - Move left
Right/Analog Right - Move right
A - Jump
X - Restart



Most resources are self made like music and art. We got the SFX from different royalty free licensed sites like: pixabay.com mixkit.co
Post-Jam update: small fixes + player sliding fix 👌👌👌
👩💻👩💻👩💻👩💻👩💻
| Link | https://spider853.itch.io/pandoras-box |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/pandoras-box |
Ratings
| Given | 147🗳️ | 133🗨️ |
Unfortunately the controls made it a bit frustrating to play. The movement felt like I kept going for a while after I let go so I didn't have a lot of control
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/pandoras-box
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/pandoras-box
We highly appreciate your feedback!
I just tried your game again and this time it worked without issues, so I'm pretty sure it's tied to the larger embed issue for the LD site.
Once I did manage to get the hang of it, though, it's actually quite enjoyable. The "ten-second time limit per level" concept was one I'd considered doing myself, and it works very well. The level design is good, with enough variation to keep things interesting, and (slippery controls aside) manages to be challenging without frustrating. Nice job!
(And well done on giving out so many ratings in such a short space of time, too! That's honestly quite impressive in its own right.)
In case you mean delayed jump from a platform it's intentional, it's called coyote jump to have more forgiven jumps, also there is an edge hang to be able to jump when touching a corner.
Thanks for your feedback!
Well done.
I think I held my breath for those ten seconds every time after level 2. x.x
The graphics were adorable, the layout was incredibly challenging for me but still fun.
I greatly appreciate the generous take on death that was taken here because I wouldn't have gotten far at all without that consideration. I probably didn't get as far as I should have either, but it is late where I am and I need to go to bed. =( I can't believe I'm saying that I wish I could stay up to play a platformer more, yet here we are. You did this.
I don't really have any suggestions to improve the game though, unfortunately.
I guess if I was pushed maybe more variance in the music? I suppose? ...Maybe? It's not really necessary.
This was ridiculously well done.
Be proud of yourselves, please.
Fun: The float-y and slide-y controls really made the last two level a bit too frustrating. Otherwise I really enjoyed the slow addition of obstacles and enemies of the course of the game.
Innovation: + for cutscenes to a platformer. - for the controls.
Theme: 10 seconds to beat the level. A level every ten seconds. :ballot_box_with_check:
Graphics: Cute!
Audio: Music really solid the intensity of my desire to get to the end of the level quickly! Very good!
Humor: Story has some charm and humor. I dig it.
Mood: Frantic. Mysterious. Good.
I recorded myself playing the game so you can have some more feedback:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8WhoIwWuO0
A lot of good features to mention, from the cute little Pandora, the story itself (the referring to the greek mythology), the music i like it kinda progressive make you enjoy the experience, the art style and the design are so lovely.
The levels get challenging when the slide and space travel came in.
Well done also on the light idea it made the game feel vital.
conclusion, cutest game ever by far.
Thank you for your feedback!
Thanks for your feedback!
Hope you had fun making it!
This was very fun to play! The controls felt great, and the music was a bop! I think it could have gotten more difficult towards the end, but it definitely wasn't too easy. If there were more levels, I definitely would have kept playing. Also, the animations and lighting effects looked very nice. Great entry!
i was not fan of graphics, however light effects are super nice!

My total time was 94.49s, which isn't the most competitive time on here but I think still pretty good! However, if you cap 10s per level and have the longest possible total time as 120s, maybe it's not such a great time haha. The quick restart button was a great idea!
Cute art, and the character animations for jumping/running movement look great. I'm impressed that you made this music too! Would you mind sharing what you made it on?
like the cute art!
Music was done in FL Studio, mainly Poisone synth and stock samples and FX.
Not too bad on time! Though I definitely didn't go for butterflies.
A sweet little entry that I think could do well if you expand it out. Here's a few thoughts I have for if you look to build this out further:
* The art is super cute but I feel like some visuals could be pushed further. My first time encountering ice I didn't even notice it was there and just assumed the controls were slippery. Exaggerating some of your special pieces like ice or spikes can help telegraph the danger to your player better. They only have 10 seconds so being as bold and obvious as possible will make things feel more fair.
* The platforming was a bit fiddly for me, mostly due to some platform placement. In later levels I didn't feel like I was conquering the stage, I was just trying to squeeze myself into impossible crevices that could have been structured in a more unique way that feels better to get through. Missing a jump is one thing, but banging my head as I try to fit into a small space is very frustrating
* I really didn't care about the butterflies personally - which isn't really a bad thing. I just wanted to get through the level as fast as I could, through damage boosting through enemies and even just killing myself if I messed up and not wanting to wait out the timer. I feel the butterflies are asking the player to test themselves by going out of their way but I feel like there needs to be more of a reward for them that's telegraphed to the player early. Similar to Celeste's Strawberries. But since the player is fighting a time limit - my anxiety wins out over collectables.
You guys did a great job! I hope to see if you decide to build this out further
Pretty fun! The character is cute and I like the premise. The butterflies are a really fun idea for extra challenge, although some of them were just placed next to/on the way to the exit, haha. I also liked the dynamic lighting effect coming from the character!
I found the platforming a little finicky -- especially jumping off the diagonal platforms was often a hassle, and there were a few pixel-perfect jumps which were a bit annoying to execute.
Often, it felt like the enemies weren't very dangerous as obstacles -- in order to lose on hearts, you have to get hit 3 times within the span of 10 seconds, which didn't happen to me very often except with the enemy that follows you around (which then kind of felt impossible to dodge once it had hit you once.) Given that each level only lasts 10 seconds max and your hearts replenish at the end of each level, it might be worth considering making the character die in one hit and tweaking the enemy behaviors accordingly. Otherwise I often found myself simply not caring whether I got hit as long as I made it to the exit. (as you can see, I got a low time but a lot of hits :p)
The art and the engine seem solid to me and I like the speed aspect to the game. With some more polish, I think this project could become something really cool!


You guys did a great job, hugs

I think I just noticed it a lot cause it was so prevalent.
Loved the atmosphere and sounds. Very cool game!
It was a big brain decision to have an easy restart button, as this is that sort of a game.
The art is really good and I loved the light effect :)
Good job !
Hope to see more things from you!
Fun little platformer! Love the addition of the collectibles, and very nice timing for each level. Would be quite fun to speedrun! Most of my deaths - if not all of them... - come from that one level with the very close platforms that demand extreme precision to jump and not bump your head :'D
Music and art are cute, sfx work, gamefeel is comfortable and intuitive. Great one :) I'll probably come back to it and better my score!
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you 🙏🏻
Much love from our team for honest feedback. It definitely helps us be better and encourages to move forward in game industry! ⭐️
Graphics and audio were great, and the game controlled nicely. Also, I love it when there's a scoreboard at the end of games like this! I closed it already, but IIRC my time was *just* under 80 seconds :D
The focus of attention for development for this game was clearly aesthetics, which are great! But there are some graphical issues and the level design is... fine... if the player controller doesn't feel slightly jank. I noticed were that there was either a lack of anti-aliasing or a lack of resolution on some things. Also the player controller's movement is on a different update loop than the camera, which causes that stutter. I loved the aesthetics in this game though. Nice submission!
Edit: OH I forgot to mention. As I said, the aesthetics are great, so consider using a different font than Arial or whatever the default is because that would have looked great here!
Hey, thanks for the feedback, could you please elaborate more on jank controller? What exactly didn't feel right to you?
Camera is synced to player physics as it should, if you notice some desyncs it might be from low fps.
The UI was the last second addition to the game as there wasn't much time left, as you guessed it it's the default one, but it's not Arial 😉 (Liberation Sans)
The antialias thing, I'm not 100% sure but might be artist's preference? 🤔
She always draws like that
What I see when I see Pandora's Box is a game where an extremely talented artist designed a character first, and a barebones game was put together afterwards to have an excuse to use said character and plaster her on blog posts and memes to be eye-catching. Ultimately the entire crux of your game is an extremely simple platformer with no deeper mechanics than the original Super Mario Bros., condensed into 10 second segments.
The undeniable quality of your main character is where another major criticism lies: The inconsistent art. While you are utilising sprites in one art style, it feels like your levels are completely incongruent. The blurry wood background, the thick details on the platforms, and the blurry gradient portals, and the gradient given off by the lighting all feel like they belong in completely different games.
The gameplay itself is, as mentioned before, serviceable at best. There's no hook that sets the game apart outside of the 10 second limit, and even that isn't something that can be interacted with - when I went in I initially expected the butterflies to affect the time, but I was off the mark there. The simplicity wouldn't be such a noticeable issue if the game was super polished, but unfortunately the game just does not feel great to play. The physics are all ever so slightly off, and Pandora has a consistent jitter - I'm assuming there's a deltatime missing somewhere.
If I could offer one suggestion in future, it would be to focus a bit more time into gameplay programming as opposed to aesthetic programming. I'm going to assume that a large chunk of your work was spent setting up the lighting effect which ultimately had zero impact on the gameplay and wasn't super noticeable or even relevant to the visuals being shown. Maybe consider mechanics that could make things feel a bit more unique and interesting to play, something like a dash? And hell, if being a simple experience is what you're gunning for, try and invest as much time as you can into getting it feeling tight. Clever level design would go a long way as well, try and utilise the tools given to the player in more interesting ways, as currently just going from point A to point B with an optional route for a butterfly isn't very engaging.
I hope nothing I've said here discourages you from working hard and trying your best in future, but students for sure need detailed criticism more than any other group of people. I wish you all the best!
Much love
Thank you all for love feedback and playing our game!
It means a lot for our team members who did so much work and effort a great game experience!
❤️🤗⭐️😍
I do not want to be mean or anything, but seriously, do not engage in this; the system here is made so that if you leave interesting feedback, rate, and reward other feedback/comments reasonably, you will get a fair share of reviews. For example, I had the surprise to see I got many first reviewers for my game after writing only two big reviews. (And I have no idea where my game is at now, too busy testing as much as I can to help. XD)
What would be nice would be to come back to the games you commented on, play them if you did not, and write constructive criticism. Do to others as you would like to be done unto you, this is the age-old Golden Rule! Also, I have not tested your game, but I think the anonymous comment, which may seem harsh, is well-meaning; and this is what *real* karma gets you (as opposed to virtual Ludum Dare karma). ;) Be nice to other people here! Wishing you godspeed. :)
As a community member, as a team we keep contributing by testing other games and of course letting people know what makes it great.
Much love and hugs 🤗
Please don't spread hate and if you want to find spammers on first page I'm sure you can find other guys who post the same thing 3 times per day.
Have a great day and spread games not hate! 🙏
P.S. All your teams voting for your comments just to feel more important sounds very fun 👍
Graphics are cute, music is nice too, especially the menu music. Having audio cues for when you're about to run out of time works really well.
In terms of critique, it was sometimes unclear design which things were collectibles and which were enemies/hazards. Something simple like a red outline around enemies/hazards would help. This isn't a huge issue though since the reset loop is so short.
Much love and hugs! ;)