[SA Game Jam 2018] Specktrum

poleydog

In the beginning there was dot…


Specktrum is the story of a rather brave dot in a peculiar and dark world. As you traverse this cold land, you gather colour power ups that allow you to use your own trail as a platform to reach and unlock new areas, elevating possibilities and bringing you closer to your goal – to rescue the dot princess and make some dot babies.

SA Game Jam 2018
Game name: Specktrum
Level: Hobbyist
48hr entry (eeek!)
Team: Hey Gurl Hey @poleydog @donderbos @gawie88

ORIGINAL SUBMISSION - Both Win & OSX: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TaCAPClMUbOQvgC-sXEr16FivG0mJvwW
(we haven't been able to test the windows version as we're all on Macs)

NEW VERSION - POST FEEDBACK
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1no9oz73w2-RqgK2xyXeH5tViXIsv-_KG

CONTROLS:
Move with W A D or arrow keys
Space to jump
R to reset specktrum power

poleydog

Still so much to do, but getting there! Last hour...

poleydog

Just adding in some of the artwork now.

poleydog

And just out of interest, here's some of our foliage artwork concept boards. Uploading the file to Google Drive now...
Hope you all enjoy :)

poleydog

Done! That was so much fun. Looking forward to some feedback :)

Nandrew

This is really well-polished! Was admittedly unable to complete because I got stuck in some level geometry after a particularly steep fall, but I saw the concept in action and there's a lot of simple but efficient systems you have in place. So, my thoughts if you had longer to work on this?

I think movement polish would be the next step, making jumping a little smoother and affording some small air control to make the simpler leaps feel a little more in line with their difficulty. I'm also going to depart from usual advice and say that you could prioritise refining the narrative. I think ironic trope of damsel is probably a product of a jam environment but I think in the early parts you started setting up an interesting dot world. With every glow collected, the game could feed you more pieces and hints of that world if you decided to build on this.

Finally, a different way to dismiss messages. Thinking that even changing it to <Enter> would do a lot, means I don't reach for the top corner of the keyboard every time I want to dismiss. ;)

Good entry overall, well done on your 48hr submission!

Tuism

The polish is great on this piece, the music and graphics really pop and make it look and feel great! Well done for creating a really beautiful world!

- But the core platforming experience has problems - Not being able to control the character while in midair (I dunno if it's a bug or intended) was a problem. If I start a jump against a wall, I can't get over the wall. Most platformers let players control the characters in midair so there's an expectation for that. And then I found that while I can't change directions during a jump, if I let go of the direction I was holding, I would drop straight down, rather than continuing in the same direction as "not being able to control my character in the air" would imply.

So that means I have to jump before I am against any wall to jump over it. It was frustrating but manageable.

- The dash mechanic's controls were difficult. I think the key placement of shift and R to reset was awkward for me, and combine that with a really fast gravity (which looks and feels good but made in-air controls very difficult) and I found that I couldn't make the simplest dash-lines without many retries, which was quite frustrating.

- The placement of the tutorial window felt off - In a game where I'm looking to the right for the next thing, the tutorial entirely obscuring the forward vision was a problem. I never saw the "esc" prompt until much, much later, and it would probably work much better if the window could be smaller and more out of the way, and not need to be closed manually in the first place.

- The dots were a bit difficult to understand in terms of "how much power did I still have to use". It seemed like there's a meter variable being used but the UI were a couple of dots.

- On the narrative, I find that "ironic sexism" is still sexism. Using a princess trope in a self-aware way is still buying into the trope. I hope that in future you guys take that one step further in terms of writing. It could have been anything - a stick of carrot. Whatever.

It's a great start and great for 48 hours for sure! Congrats!

poleydog

Tuism said:

The polish is great on this piece, the music and graphics really pop and make it look and feel great! Well done for creating a really beautiful world!

- But the core platforming experience has problems - Not being able to control the character while in midair (I dunno if it's a bug or intended) was a problem. If I start a jump against a wall, I can't get over the wall. Most platformers let players control the characters in midair so there's an expectation for that. And then I found that while I can't change directions during a jump, if I let go of the direction I was holding, I would drop straight down, rather than continuing in the same direction as "not being able to control my character in the air" would imply.

So that means I have to jump before I am against any wall to jump over it. It was frustrating but manageable.

- The dash mechanic's controls were difficult. I think the key placement of shift and R to reset was awkward for me, and combine that with a really fast gravity (which looks and feels good but made in-air controls very difficult) and I found that I couldn't make the simplest dash-lines without many retries, which was quite frustrating.

- The placement of the tutorial window felt off - In a game where I'm looking to the right for the next thing, the tutorial entirely obscuring the forward vision was a problem. I never saw the "esc" prompt until much, much later, and it would probably work much better if the window could be smaller and more out of the way, and not need to be closed manually in the first place.

- The dots were a bit difficult to understand in terms of "how much power did I still have to use". It seemed like there's a meter variable being used but the UI were a couple of dots.

- On the narrative, I find that "ironic sexism" is still sexism. Using a princess trope in a self-aware way is still buying into the trope. I hope that in future you guys take that one step further in terms of writing. It could have been anything - a stick of carrot. Whatever.

It's a great start and great for 48 hours for sure! Congrats!

@Tuism Thanks so much for the feedback! Really appreciate all the comments and constructive critique. Were you able to finish the game? Without wanting to give anything away, there is a twist in the narrative that is intended to negate the trope, but perhaps it isn't strong enough.

Tuism

Honestly it was really frustrating getting to the end, I did it, and relied way too much on just jumping up and tapping dash to stand higher than I was. There was one jump that sends you all the way down a couple of jumps if you missed, and that had me really frustrated.

Anyway, the plot twist... It's fine. Somehow true love is still tied to "the most beautiful" etc. The story hasn't really built up much of any character to feel for, and honestly in a jam game that's not really the goal, but when you encounter something jarring it just sticks out a bit. It's really not a big deal consider that wasn't the point of the exercise.

poleydog

Thanks again for all the feedback. We've updated the above post with an additional link to a version that should hopefully feel a bit smoother.

@Tuism Got you. Hadn't even picked that up, but definitely noted. Shot!

TerryPogger

Hey! That was really cool! The environment and character look really nice and it kind of makes me want to have the whole experience without the narrative. The narrative doesn't really seem to do much except create a tone - but one that doesn't quite match the environment. I think having to stop to read takes away from the look and feel of it all. The movement and controls did make it a bit frustrating and I wasn't sure if I was just using the dash/trail in the wrong way. I think it'd be more fun to arrive at like, another friendly dot, or say, a 'line'. Seems weird to introduce gender into a game that is about a dot. Anyway I feel a bit weird saying all this as there's no way I could produce anything this coherent and polished in 2 days. I really like your shaders!

donderbos

@TerryPogger thanks for the feedback. Ideally the narrative would be narrated instead of the player having to read it all. Kind of like it’s done in Thomas Was Alone.

We were perhaps a bit naive in the way we handled the narrative surrounding the princess. Our intention was to poke fun at Super Mario and it came from a spirit of playfulness. It was never meant to make anyone feel uncomfortable. It’s definitely something we’ll handle with more care going forward.

NickCuthbert

I enjoyed the game a lot, especially the well executed art style, and music.

As was mentioned by earlier commenters, found some of the dynamics a little off, especially in the beginning; think it was mainly because the dot felt a bit heavy. What was interesting was that as the dash became longer, this felt less of a problem. After I unlocked the princess cage, and was just moving around the level for fun, I started to really enjoy myself. The speed was exhilarating in itself.

Another minor issue was that at times I was struggling to reach the strokes I'd made. This was more a problem when I was still learning the system, as I didn't realise you could start dashing from the ground.