H.A.R. VEST by Breaddysticks

[raw]
made by Breaddysticks for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

A short Puzzle Platformer where the goal is to get to the end of each room while using as little energy as you can to increase your score. Aim for a high ranking at the end of the level!

Story

Jason was a scientist working for a brilliant tech laboratory developing a new kind of advanced artifical intelligence that could be fully self-taught.

One day, when the newest prototype, the H.A.R. VEST, was nearly completed, he decided to steal it and escape the lab for his own personal interests.

Now, Jason and the H.A.R. VEST must work together to not get caught in the lab's security traps! The vest has the remarkable ability to absorb energy and use it in a variety of ways. Can this unlikely duo make it to the end?

Theme

The theme is represented in the titular vest and its "harvesting" of energy ability.

Screenie1.png

Ratings

Overall 636th 3.133⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Fun 661th 2.857⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 702th 2.735⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Theme 799th 2.429⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 385th 3.673⭐ 51🧑‍⚖️
Audio 302th 3.354⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Mood 578th 3.135⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Given 59🗳️ 92🗨️

Feedback

Zonoxx
09. Jan 2023 · 20:07 UTC
As you can probably tell by our own submission I'm a sucker for dumb wordplays, so well done with the title/theme. Also, really impressive and unique style, both in terms of art and sound. Might be the dark souls of platformers though, you need to be really precise and the control scheme is a bit weird. Regardless, super fun, very nice entry and congratz on finishing.
Andreadbx
09. Jan 2023 · 23:29 UTC
Intresting game! Nice mechanics, platforming is a little bit snappy! :D
jackypark9852
10. Jan 2023 · 20:14 UTC
The player controller felt pretty snappy, and it felt very fast. But at the time, I think the camera movement is a little abrupt, especially when you change directions. Other than that great game!
cottonfloweryellow
10. Jan 2023 · 20:35 UTC
Very fast-paced and fun. Nice work.
daitli
10. Jan 2023 · 23:07 UTC
I love puzzle platfortmers so I had a blast with this one. One constructive criticism I have is that I did find myself scrolling down to the description every now and again to see the controls, maybe add a UI that shows them? That would have made this much, much better! Thanks for sharing it, I had fun :)
VaizAragorn
10. Jan 2023 · 23:11 UTC
It is indeed very fast but i kinda get used to controls after playing it for some time. But they kinda lacked reliability, i'd have really loved some coyote time thing in the jump. It was too punishing to not being able to do the jump properly. But other than that the game itself is really nice with awesome graphics and music. Keep up the good work!
Cloughd
10. Jan 2023 · 23:18 UTC
The overall aesthetics were nice and the music was synthy. Admittedly I am terrible at platformers. The weight of the character feels a little too snappy. Rather than falling to the ground it felt like I was dragged down instantly. I ended up using the teleport mechanic a lot which was interesting.
Achilnos
10. Jan 2023 · 23:24 UTC
This was fun.
Graphics were great. Audio was great.
The puzzle aspect of each level was good.
Platforming itself could do with a bit of work, maybe some acceleration on the movement. Some coyote time wouldn't go amiss as I often found myself dashing when it felt like I should be jumping.
Very good though.
breadstick
10. Jan 2023 · 23:25 UTC
A fun platformer! As others have said, the controls feel fast and snappy and responsive. I also agree with the sentiments that the game is currently quite difficult based on the required input speed, and a UI showing off the abilities would be very helpful--I reached for the wrong button far too often, meaning to teleport only to do a costly lightning blast. On a game where resources matter as much as they do here, mis-presses are quite the frustration!
TPunisher33
11. Jan 2023 · 04:14 UTC
Controls were quick and easy to use even on keyboard, audio was really great. I'd suggest offering a bit of coyote time on jumps as I often found myself dashing when I meant to jump in some of the platforming.
nikolaself
11. Jan 2023 · 09:16 UTC
The game is pleasant in terms of gameplay. Although while you're dealing with the controls, you can lose all the charges. Good music in the background. I like. There are a lot of buttons to control: if you could see the controls during the game, it would help a lot.
Xeke-Death
11. Jan 2023 · 14:12 UTC
Very different idea for the theme, good work.
Fun little platformer with some cool mechanics.
Graphics were nice, but that fragile texture on the side of the boxes kinda let it down a little.
Efilheim
11. Jan 2023 · 14:15 UTC
Interesting concept. I like when you can't get resources back naturally, it makes good puzzle!
But damn that jump!
aevek
11. Jan 2023 · 22:33 UTC
Some interesting puzzles for sure, the limited energy definitely gave some fun limitations that you used well. I agree with some comments here, you definitely have a lot of room for adding some tutorialization. For the first few levels I wasn't sure which of the buttons you listed on the page I should be using and why most of them weren't doing anything. Platforming felt pretty solid, I always like the inclusion of a dash, and it looks great.
Pokopish
11. Jan 2023 · 22:37 UTC
Thanks everyone for the wonderful feedback! I definitely agree with most things said. Especially about the great lack of a tutorial and the very snappy platforming. We all learned quite a bit from this jam and have seen many ways we could improve for next time! Regardless of its faults, thanks for enjoying the game!
Eranot
11. Jan 2023 · 22:45 UTC
Good job! Wish the keys were a little different tho, as I couldn't remember what each did if my life depended on it! Concept is really cool, solid entry!
NG.ViciouS
12. Jan 2023 · 00:19 UTC
A little hard to control, which is tough for a plateformer. The character is too fast and the jump is very hard to control.
Interesting puzzle ideas with the teleport, would have been nice to get a little explanation about it tho haha!
BoxedMeatRevolution
12. Jan 2023 · 00:53 UTC
Very fun! My first play-through was pretty slow and I got Rank B, but I immediately played it again and got Rank S in 2:12. But I knew I could do a better run so I played juuuuust one more time... and then a few more times... and then again and again until I got a speed-run I was happy with! S Rank in 1:19 :raised_hands:

I do think that the platforming controls felt a bit off, but they clearly weren't _too_ off, otherwise I wouldn't have played it as much as I did. I also ran into a bug a couple of times where a box or platform would be somehow "behind" the character, making them impossible to jump on top of. This was a pretty rare bug, and I'm guessing it's some kind of physics issue, but it killed my runs when it cropped up.

Anyways, great soundtrack, great level design, fun variety of abilities, and a unique 2D/3D platformer look! Overall I'm very impressed with what you guys accomplished here.
![Harvestbest.PNG](///raw/e13/1/z/56319.png)
chompdev
12. Jan 2023 · 01:27 UTC
Looks like a lot of work went into this one - nice job, guys! The teleport mechanic lends itself well to some unexpected puzzle solutions, and the 3D environments and puzzles are well done for such a short timeframe. The music and sounds are effective, too. I liked being able to solve puzzles in different ways, like being able to teleport past the three laser beams, or jump up and disable the generator from a distance. Impressed that you finished all these features in a weekend!
Hawkin
12. Jan 2023 · 03:12 UTC
I always like literal interpretations of the theme as a word :D the modeling and design of the main character was very nice!

I didn't have such a good time with the puzzles. For puzzles, I think consistency and clarity are highly important! For example, I was not sure why the teleport got me past one wall earlier, but then it wasn't allowed later. The inconsistency was a tad confusing! Also, in the first puzzle with the laser wall, I was able to jump down to the ground floor once by accident, and then I couldn't figure out how to do it again. Clear indications of what the player should do, especially early on, are a great way to bypass frustration and get people to play your game _quicker_.

I really loved your menu design, by the way! That's usually under-utilized in jams and quickly thrown together (guilty as charged), so seeing that level of polish is impressive.
plexsoup
12. Jan 2023 · 09:36 UTC
Nice graphics!
SimonO
12. Jan 2023 · 09:37 UTC
Fun concept and enjoyed the blend of puzzle and platform mechanics! I got stuck a couple of times (didnt know do use Lightning power) and found the platforming a little frustrating at times, (more coyote time?) but had fun playing around with the powers, solving the puzzles and figuring it all out, nice work :D
LDJam user 314423
13. Jan 2023 · 23:41 UTC
Afraid I got stuck here:

![Screenshot_20230113_233948.png](///raw/73c/c4/z/56638.png)

I can't jump up either left or right side and I don't seem to be able to walk towards or further away from the camera. Unfortunate.
ayperosia
13. Jan 2023 · 23:43 UTC
Fast-paced and quite fun, had a good time playing through it! Also enjoyed the sound design a lot!
leggy
14. Jan 2023 · 10:31 UTC
![har_vest.png](///raw/037/43/z/56692.png)
I sucked badly :smile:
But it was a nice entry. At the beginning the speed of controls and changing direction was a littlebit uncomfortable but then I got more and more used to.
Catchy music (damn you I will sing it in my head the whole day) and aside a couple of glitches that was a pretty solid submission.
I just found inverted y axis on the controller stick while on the menu and a couple of times item where unaligned on the z axis and could not hit them.
Had a nice time, thanks!
Dorzhieva Yana
14. Jan 2023 · 10:52 UTC
quite intresting experience, very fast and funny
Buni
16. Jan 2023 · 19:32 UTC
im not really good in your game but the gameplay was great! Well done!
DFaouaz
25. Jan 2023 · 12:46 UTC
Great game! Interesting art style choice! Loved it! Great job!
Porcus_Pie
27. Jan 2023 · 08:06 UTC
I loved the presentation on this game, I'm always a sucker for this style of visuals and combined with the UI and music it had a really nice overall aesthetic and feel to it. The concept was also a lot of fun, having the multiple abilities and different ways to explore was really enjoyable, and I felt I had a lot of chance to almost sequence break a lot of the game and really experiment. Not to be a bit of a broken record, but like other people have said some tutorial, UI over controls, and maybe some less heavy platforming would have just increased the game feel a bit for me. I'd often found myself jumping just a second too late and air dashing straight off a platform, so maybe some coyote time would have been a nice touch. Overall though I liked what you put out here!
Alchemic
27. Jan 2023 · 18:02 UTC
The physics are a bit unpolished and the level design is a bit lacking, but I like the direction this was going. The controls were pretty snappy and I didn't have too much trouble jumping around. Just the physics really caused issues like pushing be off the Z axis and some weird hitboxes.

The art and music are fantastic.

I recorded my experience in this video, HAR VEST is at **12:03**.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST10nvA_qXE