Although it took me a while to understand how my lives worked, I got the hang of it and it was really fun to play! movement is nice but with the upgrades it becomes better! And the juxtaposition of a cute pixel cat to a scary grey skull of death staring down on you was really giving the vibe of Death offering an opportunity! <3
i played the game in the browser and it was really fun but it lagged a bunch the entire time, i would love to download this and play it without any lag but im on linux
is there any chance you can make a port for linux so i can have a real go at it?
Thanks a bunch dude, thats awesome, but if your engine allows it, could you port it to flatpak, its a new standard that supports all linux distros - but of course if the ubuntu port is all that is there then i can definitely make it work on my system, im sure it’ll run the same
Thanks so much! Hmm, not super sure but probably not? I dont have a lot of experience with mobile development but definitely something I will consider for sure!! :)
Thanks so much! :D Its small but it works I guess. haha. Definitely trying to practice my design skills a bit more so i'm glad some folks are enjoying it! haha. Thanks again!! :D
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm not sure if I will really expand it more at this point or not. haha. Something to think on for sure! :)
Wow thank you so much!! I really appreciate the critique! Yeah, sounds could be better for sure, but just due to limited time constraints originally as well as the "arcade" style gameplay, I just rolled with some arcade sounds I had. Haha. I loved your breakdown of player expectations! Im still learning game design (my weakest area of development skillsets) so this is good advice. I do like breaking expectations, but definitely agree that you have to make it clear early on of what expectations are being broken! Really great advice! I think it is about as far as I'm willing to take it at this point, so I will probably refrain from updating it much further. Haha.
Thank you so much for playing though! It means a ton!! :)
I love the game! I love that it's short, but it would be nice to have an alternative "full version" that's longer and has more content. Also, please don't fix too many exploits, they're part of what makes these sorts of games fun. I personally don't think the goal should be to prevent players from breaking the game, but to make it challenging to do so and rewarding when they inevitably do.
Good point! The most recent fix was mostly just bad design on my part. Haha. You only needed 2 cards (easy to get) and you could basically just take your hands off the controls and make the score and HP tick up. Haha. But yeah, I think in its current state its about to the limits I want to take it. Idk how much more it could really even be expanded in a way that is engaging enough. Haha.
Thanks for taking time to play it though!! I appreciate the feedback! :D
May I suggest adding breakable side walls as an upgrade option to temporarily stop incoming arrows? This already feels close to paid product quality. Even with the same core gameplay, adding an area selection screen and unlockable zones would naturally extend playtime. Each area could feature unique tweaks to keep things fresh, like lower gravity or slippery ice floors. The breakable walls could be one upgrade among others added in a paid version. I’d gladly help beta test it, haha.
Great ideas!! haha. Yeah I had thought about more "platform-y" elements to it like spawnable side-walls but just feel like balancing it could be difficult. I would love more "Celeste" style platforming elements, but we'll see. haha. I also have other projects as well that I need to focus on some more so I'm not sure how much more time I will have to dedicate to this one. haha.
Thank you again for the thoughtful feedback! Some really great ideas to chew on for sure!! haha. :)
How did you get GX export to work on itch.io? I thought it doesn’t use web assembly, so it doesn’t work well. But yours works fine it seems. Or am I mistaken? Is your export HMLT5?
Endless is fun. One issue is that with cat nap and purr-tection I am able to not move and still get points while never losing life. Maybe endless should take 2 lives per death or increase penalty every 20000 points or something? Not sure. Still having a blast.
You could probably synergize those two powerups by changing purr-tection to a shield that generates a one-use charge each time by pressing down for 1.5s.
Oh thats a cool idea! I think for now as a quick hotfix, I am just going to make naptime un-usable while impurrvious is active. I do love this idea though! I think eventually giving the game more depth with things like this would be really fun! Thanks for the feedback! :D
Really fun! I really liked the art in this game, I think the limited color pallet really helped draw my attention to what I needed to dodge. The music is also really nice! Is there a download link somewhere for that track?
With regards to the gameplay, I definitely enjoyed dodging incoming enemies, but I felt that the death boss on the final wave was a lot more difficult than dodging bats and stones. For reference, I did 6 waves. Also, my strategy was using a 2nd level to block all falling objects, and then increasing the height to give myself space to jump over incoming bats. But yeah, really nice game!!
wow thanks so much for playing!!! Yeah, there are definitely some balancing tweaks that need to be made. Hard to find the right middle ground. One useful tip is the skeletons arrows will miss you if you are just standing on the platform 99% of the time (e.g. dont jump and let the 2 pass over you).
Thanks so much for the awesome feedback!! :)
Oh and no DL for the music. Its just something I whipped up quickly but may upload to my gizmo199 soundcloud with DL
I have tweaked this in the latest update! Now the skeleton enemy will move quicker before wave 9 (and thus only shoots 3 total arrows with bigger gaps between them)
Yeah, i definitely wish I had time during the jam to add some story / cutscene stuff. Haha. Maybe in the future if I decide to actually continue developing the game I will add some things. I honestly didnt think many folks would even read the description. Haha.
Thanks for playing though! And thanks for the great feedback!
Nice game, though I found it pretty easy since you can just die as much as you like so long as you can gain lives. Maybe reduce the amount of lives you can get so that it is more focused on survival? It depends on what you want for the game to look like. Im also used to playing roguelikes where its permadeath, so I might be biased towards that.
Wow thanks so much for the feedback! Yeah, I mostly erred on the side of caution since I didnt want it to be too difficult. One idea was to introduce either a "no life gain cards" mode, or let players keep certain cards from being drawn by letting then disable it on a main menu screen or something?
lol. Nice strategy! Yeah I noticed randomly that enemies can stop spawning. I will have that fixed in the next update along with endless modes, more balancing, and some new cards hopefully! Haha.
Woah!!! Everybody keeps getting all these lives and I cant even get more than like 14-15 max. Lol. Great workA definitely need to make them stack some (ui wise) haha.
Thanks so much! Yeah since its a more 'avoidance' type of platformer I wanted to go with the "hollow knight" style of platforming, e.g. no friction/velocity build up/slowdown so that its instantly reactive. Maybe I can add a setting though that allows players to add friction to the player. And most definitely and endless mode is on my list of things to implement next! :)
Thanks so much for taking time to play it and for the valuable feedback!! :D
Hey! I have added an endless mode now! You can unlock it by beating all 9 waves! Still considering player friction stuff, so movement is still generally the same for now. haha
Great idea! Yeah I had thought originally about introducing a "high score" card you get after round 9 that starts ticking up with each enemy avoided. I think first, however, I want to add some more cards, enemies, and level elements. Maybe on the next update! :)
Gizmo199, you made an amazing game, and I beat it in the first 30 minutes of hitting the run button. I love how the platforming works and how increasingly difficult it is to beat all 9 waves. A thing that I would look at is: Making sure that the enemies are more visible when the mezzanine is stacked to the max, as it creates some weird situations where Mittens loses a life from the fast flying bats (idk what it is, but I'm calling them bats). Otherwise, keep up the great work, and I hope to see more of the fun roguelike games. 9/10
wow thank you so much!! This is great feedback and something I will work on for sure! I had considered getting rid of mezzanines entirely, but haven't quite decided yet. They seem more harmful then helpful I think. I could probably add some better / more useful cards in their place. :)
Please keep the mezzanines in the game, I love them, they always help me. Maybe you could keep the enemies on the top layer so they don't get covered up
Gizmo, maybe you could make the screen larger, so it can be more visible, and maybe you could create a boss fight mode, where it's only the skeleton. Maybe you could make it so that the skeleton only shoots arrows, and it can be 9 waves of him in ascending difficulty
Well making the screen larger i feel like would make it inevitably easier plus art at 480x270 versus 320x180 (current) is much more time consuming. Haha. I think i like the more condensed space. Also could make waiting on enemies to leave the scene take longer. Hmm, something to think about though for sure! Haha
Hey mangoooes! I have updated the game to fix the mezzanine visibility (draws behind everything now) as well as an endless mode you can unlock by beating all 9 waves!
Hey Bill_GDE! I have fixed it so that HP now 'loops around' in the UI (no longer extends off screen. haha). I have also added an endless mode with scoring that you can unlock by beating all 9 waves! :)
That was incredibly fun. I will be honest I brute forced my first run though. The staying still for 1.5 seconds to heal and the 3 seconds grace time sync so well. A version that disables life gain upgrades for a hard more would be pretty fun if that is possible.
oh nice! Good thinking! Yeah I want to add some more cards and game modes as well to wrap the game up, this could be a great mode! Maybe a screen that let's you view all cards and disable them from being drawn entirely? Not sure yet. Thanks so much for playing though!! I really appreciate the feedback and great suggestions! :)
Hey! I have tweaked some of the life gain stuff now so that its a bit less easy to stack up lives. There is also now an endless mode you can unlock by beating all 9 waves! Endless mode from the menu is also much more difficult then continuing from normal gameplay! I hope it offers something more for you and others who enjoy more challenging gameplay! :)
It's a bit unfair that you always spawn in the center of the stage :D But apart from that, I really like it! Incredible level of polish for a jam game!
And I have a question: how do you upload the GX.Games build as an HTML5 game here?
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
nice game
Thanks! :)
Although it took me a while to understand how my lives worked, I got the hang of it and it was really fun to play! movement is nice but with the upgrades it becomes better! And the juxtaposition of a cute pixel cat to a scary grey skull of death staring down on you was really giving the vibe of Death offering an opportunity! <3
Wow thank you so much, you are very kind!! I am glad you enjoyed it! :)
i played the game in the browser and it was really fun but it lagged a bunch the entire time, i would love to download this and play it without any lag but im on linux
is there any chance you can make a port for linux so i can have a real go at it?
Oh dang im sorry! I will definitely look into it! The engine I use does have Ubuntu export so I will see about getting that working! :)
Thanks a bunch dude, thats awesome, but if your engine allows it, could you port it to flatpak, its a new standard that supports all linux distros - but of course if the ubuntu port is all that is there then i can definitely make it work on my system, im sure it’ll run the same
Watched Jack play this, it’s super cute! I really like the music, where can I find it? :3
Oh thank you so much! I uploaded it to my soundcloud :)
Any chance of a mobile version in the future? I feel this has great potential as a mobile game!
Thanks so much! Hmm, not super sure but probably not? I dont have a lot of experience with mobile development but definitely something I will consider for sure!! :)
Love the new endless mode! I think I did pretty well!
Woah! Nice!! haha. Much better than me! lol. Thanks for playing it!! :D
dude damm, you've been getting so much better, congrats <3
hope on seeing more content from you owo
Thanks so much! :D Its small but it works I guess. haha. Definitely trying to practice my design skills a bit more so i'm glad some folks are enjoying it! haha. Thanks again!! :D
i need more please this is so fun
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm not sure if I will really expand it more at this point or not. haha. Something to think on for sure! :)
cool game (:
thanks so much!! :)
A little gameplay, a little critique ;)
Wow thank you so much!! I really appreciate the critique! Yeah, sounds could be better for sure, but just due to limited time constraints originally as well as the "arcade" style gameplay, I just rolled with some arcade sounds I had. Haha. I loved your breakdown of player expectations! Im still learning game design (my weakest area of development skillsets) so this is good advice. I do like breaking expectations, but definitely agree that you have to make it clear early on of what expectations are being broken! Really great advice! I think it is about as far as I'm willing to take it at this point, so I will probably refrain from updating it much further. Haha.
Thank you so much for playing though! It means a ton!! :)
Yooo! Thank you so much! That was soo fun to watch! I appreciate you taking time to play it! :)
playing this instead of doing the game jam i should be doin
This was also a jam game! haha. Go do your jam!!! haha. Reply back to this with a link and i'll play it!! :D
I love the game! I love that it's short, but it would be nice to have an alternative "full version" that's longer and has more content. Also, please don't fix too many exploits, they're part of what makes these sorts of games fun. I personally don't think the goal should be to prevent players from breaking the game, but to make it challenging to do so and rewarding when they inevitably do.
Good point! The most recent fix was mostly just bad design on my part. Haha. You only needed 2 cards (easy to get) and you could basically just take your hands off the controls and make the score and HP tick up. Haha. But yeah, I think in its current state its about to the limits I want to take it. Idk how much more it could really even be expanded in a way that is engaging enough. Haha.
Thanks for taking time to play it though!! I appreciate the feedback! :D
May I suggest adding breakable side walls as an upgrade option to temporarily stop incoming arrows? This already feels close to paid product quality. Even with the same core gameplay, adding an area selection screen and unlockable zones would naturally extend playtime. Each area could feature unique tweaks to keep things fresh, like lower gravity or slippery ice floors. The breakable walls could be one upgrade among others added in a paid version. I’d gladly help beta test it, haha.
Great ideas!! haha. Yeah I had thought about more "platform-y" elements to it like spawnable side-walls but just feel like balancing it could be difficult. I would love more "Celeste" style platforming elements, but we'll see. haha. I also have other projects as well that I need to focus on some more so I'm not sure how much more time I will have to dedicate to this one. haha.
Thank you again for the thoughtful feedback! Some really great ideas to chew on for sure!! haha. :)
How did you get GX export to work on itch.io? I thought it doesn’t use web assembly, so it doesn’t work well. But yours works fine it seems. Or am I mistaken? Is your export HMLT5?
Yeah it is the GX export! Idk, I just selected the GX target and exported to local zip file. Haha.
nice game, simple to understand, but challenging, this is my record for now.
Woohoo! Very nice! Thank you so much for playing!! :D
Endless is fun. One issue is that with cat nap and purr-tection I am able to not move and still get points while never losing life. Maybe endless should take 2 lives per death or increase penalty every 20000 points or something? Not sure. Still having a blast.
oh thats a good idea! Yeah there are still some balancing issues for sure. Let me see if I can come up with a hot fix for it.
Thanks again for checking it out!! :)
You could probably synergize those two powerups by changing purr-tection to a shield that generates a one-use charge each time by pressing down for 1.5s.
Oh thats a cool idea! I think for now as a quick hotfix, I am just going to make naptime un-usable while impurrvious is active. I do love this idea though! I think eventually giving the game more depth with things like this would be really fun! Thanks for the feedback! :D
Really fun! I really liked the art in this game, I think the limited color pallet really helped draw my attention to what I needed to dodge. The music is also really nice! Is there a download link somewhere for that track?
With regards to the gameplay, I definitely enjoyed dodging incoming enemies, but I felt that the death boss on the final wave was a lot more difficult than dodging bats and stones. For reference, I did 6 waves. Also, my strategy was using a 2nd level to block all falling objects, and then increasing the height to give myself space to jump over incoming bats. But yeah, really nice game!!
wow thanks so much for playing!!! Yeah, there are definitely some balancing tweaks that need to be made. Hard to find the right middle ground. One useful tip is the skeletons arrows will miss you if you are just standing on the platform 99% of the time (e.g. dont jump and let the 2 pass over you).
Thanks so much for the awesome feedback!! :)
Oh and no DL for the music. Its just something I whipped up quickly but may upload to my gizmo199 soundcloud with DL
I have tweaked this in the latest update! Now the skeleton enemy will move quicker before wave 9 (and thus only shoots 3 total arrows with bigger gaps between them)
Very cool! It's tense but not as hard as it looks, so you feel skilled
My only wish would be to see the said elderly owner saved at the end, the ending screen didn't feel rewarding without that story concluded
Yeah, i definitely wish I had time during the jam to add some story / cutscene stuff. Haha. Maybe in the future if I decide to actually continue developing the game I will add some things. I honestly didnt think many folks would even read the description. Haha.
Thanks for playing though! And thanks for the great feedback!
Nice game, though I found it pretty easy since you can just die as much as you like so long as you can gain lives. Maybe reduce the amount of lives you can get so that it is more focused on survival? It depends on what you want for the game to look like. Im also used to playing roguelikes where its permadeath, so I might be biased towards that.
Wow thanks so much for the feedback! Yeah, I mostly erred on the side of caution since I didnt want it to be too difficult. One idea was to introduce either a "no life gain cards" mode, or let players keep certain cards from being drawn by letting then disable it on a main menu screen or something?
Anywho, thanks so much for playing!! :)
Hey! I have tweaked this to make the game a bit more challenging, Especially in the Endless mode. Less lives will spawn now overall! :)
Woohoo!! Thanks so much for taking some time to play it! :)
I will be playing this live tomorrow 10/24 around 5-530 PM EST =D.
oh awesome! Ive got a small update I plan to push tomorrow morning as well that fixes some issues so thats perfect! Thanks so much!!
I won cause I used Naptime to facetank the damage until enemies stopped coming.
lol. Nice strategy! Yeah I noticed randomly that enemies can stop spawning. I will have that fixed in the next update along with endless modes, more balancing, and some new cards hopefully! Haha.
Thanks so much for playing!! :)
I got so many helth-ups that I couldn't even see my helth go down again lol
Real fun game
lol. Wow!! Yeah I need to tweak that some it looks like. Haha. Thanks for playing!!
This game is super fun I keep coming back to it!
Woah!!! Everybody keeps getting all these lives and I cant even get more than like 14-15 max. Lol. Great workA definitely need to make them stack some (ui wise) haha.
Won!
Woohoo!!! Nice! Thanks for playing!!
i love this you eared this
haha. Thanks so much!! :)
A simple, but really fun game! Visual are well made too. Good job!
My only "bad" feedback is about horizontal movement, it feels to much sensible in my opinion.
And maybe to add an endless mode to see how fare you can go.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much! Yeah since its a more 'avoidance' type of platformer I wanted to go with the "hollow knight" style of platforming, e.g. no friction/velocity build up/slowdown so that its instantly reactive. Maybe I can add a setting though that allows players to add friction to the player. And most definitely and endless mode is on my list of things to implement next! :)
Thanks so much for taking time to play it and for the valuable feedback!! :D
Hey! I have added an endless mode now! You can unlock it by beating all 9 waves! Still considering player friction stuff, so movement is still generally the same for now. haha
I made it to wave 9 on my second ever attempt this game is fun
Woohoo!! Thanks for taking time out of your day to play it!! :D
Mittens not only survived but ascended!
whaaa!? That's awesome!! Haha. I dont think i can ever make it past like 12-14 myself. Haha. Thanks for playing!! :)
You should add an endless mode, I think it would be fun to see how long I can survive.
Great idea! Yeah I had thought originally about introducing a "high score" card you get after round 9 that starts ticking up with each enemy avoided. I think first, however, I want to add some more cards, enemies, and level elements. Maybe on the next update! :)
Thanks again for the great feedback!
Hey Karatski! I just made an update that adds endless mode! You can unlock endless mode by beating all 9 waves now!
This is super fun, especially for how simple it is. Great work!
Thank you so much!! :)
this game is amazing! keep up the good work <3
Wow thank you so much!! :D
Gizmo199, you made an amazing game, and I beat it in the first 30 minutes of hitting the run button. I love how the platforming works and how increasingly difficult it is to beat all 9 waves. A thing that I would look at is: Making sure that the enemies are more visible when the mezzanine is stacked to the max, as it creates some weird situations where Mittens loses a life from the fast flying bats (idk what it is, but I'm calling them bats). Otherwise, keep up the great work, and I hope to see more of the fun roguelike games. 9/10
wow thank you so much!! This is great feedback and something I will work on for sure! I had considered getting rid of mezzanines entirely, but haven't quite decided yet. They seem more harmful then helpful I think. I could probably add some better / more useful cards in their place. :)
Thank you so much again!! :D
Please keep the mezzanines in the game, I love them, they always help me. Maybe you could keep the enemies on the top layer so they don't get covered up
Oh good to know! I wasnt sure if anyone was getting use of them or not. Haha. I will fix the layering issue for sure then! :)
Gizmo, maybe you could make the screen larger, so it can be more visible, and maybe you could create a boss fight mode, where it's only the skeleton. Maybe you could make it so that the skeleton only shoots arrows, and it can be 9 waves of him in ascending difficulty
What other modes are you thinking of making
Well making the screen larger i feel like would make it inevitably easier plus art at 480x270 versus 320x180 (current) is much more time consuming. Haha. I think i like the more condensed space. Also could make waiting on enemies to leave the scene take longer. Hmm, something to think about though for sure! Haha
Hey mangoooes! I have updated the game to fix the mezzanine visibility (draws behind everything now) as well as an endless mode you can unlock by beating all 9 waves!
thanks! love to see that more people are playing your game!
beat it with ~90 hp, 42 hp on screen. It breaks after a number of deaths. A sane person would have quit long before that tho
Yo!! I guess i need to account for that! Haha. Thats insane! Haha.
If you dont mind me asking, what broke after so many deaths exactly? I will try to look into it and make an update. Thanks again!!
Hey Bill_GDE! I have fixed it so that HP now 'loops around' in the UI (no longer extends off screen. haha). I have also added an endless mode with scoring that you can unlock by beating all 9 waves! :)
Why is this so incredibly fun?! I'm mad at how good this is.
Thank you so much! It could definately use some more enemy types and cards, but im glad you enjoyed it as it is currently!! :)
That was incredibly fun. I will be honest I brute forced my first run though. The staying still for 1.5 seconds to heal and the 3 seconds grace time sync so well. A version that disables life gain upgrades for a hard more would be pretty fun if that is possible.
oh nice! Good thinking! Yeah I want to add some more cards and game modes as well to wrap the game up, this could be a great mode! Maybe a screen that let's you view all cards and disable them from being drawn entirely? Not sure yet. Thanks so much for playing though!! I really appreciate the feedback and great suggestions! :)
Hey! I have tweaked some of the life gain stuff now so that its a bit less easy to stack up lives. There is also now an endless mode you can unlock by beating all 9 waves! Endless mode from the menu is also much more difficult then continuing from normal gameplay! I hope it offers something more for you and others who enjoy more challenging gameplay! :)
Please add WASD keys too
Hey banOne! I have published an update that adds full gamepad support and input remapping! It will also save your settings now as well! :)
Music blew me out the water !
Thank you!! :)
Congrats man! You did really well!
Thank you so much!! Im honestly pretty shocked it scored that high. Haha
Freaking fun. Cute style and easy to understand gameplay. Just great job
Wow thanks so much!! :)
It's a bit unfair that you always spawn in the center of the stage :D But apart from that, I really like it! Incredible level of polish for a jam game!
And I have a question: how do you upload the GX.Games build as an HTML5 game here?
Thanks! Yeah I originally had it always spawn over a platform but it felt off to me. Guess i shouldve just stuck with it. Haha.
And there should be an option to do the "build locally in zip" for the GX option