NOTE: Because of the Theme tie, we allowed everyone to pick either Theme. Using both was optional. To keep things simple, there will still only be one Theme category. Every category in Ludum Dare voting is an opinion, so you’re welcome to rate them as you see fit. But we encourage you to be fair in your scores to people that chose only one Theme, and not both.
ALSO: Itch.io has an experimental game downloader over here. You may find it useful.
I tried to create a simple Metroidvania, in which you are playing as a little cosmonaut on a small unknown planet. He is very young, but as he grow up - this little world becomes more and more approachable to him.
So I combined both themes:
1)You only need to use two buttons ("Z" and "B") to play this game
2)I was trying to connect growing process and level-up process and to think a little about, what does it actualy mean to be an adult.
It is very short, It won't take you more than 5-10 minutes.
Hope, that you will be able to play it without any problems
Controls:
Z - to move left
B - to move right
Z + B - to jump and make other actions
Esc - to quit
Link to the gamejolt
http://gamejolt.com/games/homewards/113935
I know, it's dumb that you should instal this small game instead of running singletime executable. But it is the only way to make sure that collision in the game would work on your computer.
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 59% |
| #20 | Mood(Jam) | 4.34 |
| #110 | Theme(Jam) | 4.17 |
| #143 | Overall(Jam) | 3.77 |
| #148 | Audio(Jam) | 3.71 |
| #205 | Graphics(Jam) | 4.03 |
| #555 | Innovation(Jam) | 3.09 |
Comments
You've done a nice work with the mood. Music is beautiful
I liked it. Mainly the aesthetic. Although controls seemed very convoluted to me,i guess theme takes its toll in Ludum Dare :)
Great take on the themes. I really liked the mood with the style and color choices, and I found that the controls were even better than having a third button for jump. Only question was about the blinky bars...were they supposed to hurt me? Either way, I liked just bouncing around exploring.
This was quite an experience. Very touching. Amazing how you managed to be so clever with the controls and even communicate through the game mechanics. Thank you for this ;)
Very nice! The graphics look lovely, and I could really see what you were going for with the story. With a bit of proof-reading (I guess English isn't your first language?) and some more level/abilities it could be really great!
I really love the mood ! The sounds/music works very well.
The story is good to follow !
Congrats guys for the game you've done !
The obstacles did nothing, I passed right through them without taking damage.
I also randomly took damage, as if I was running out of oxygen, it was as if my hitbox was in a different place from my character.
And when I was looking for the last heart I got stuck in a ledge and couldn't progress.
Great art though and the 2button control scheme was impressively responsive.
Damn, i thought i managed to fix the bag with obstacles.
And when I play it seems okay.
What about damage, lives, which flying above are running out as the time goes. Lives restores at home. But as you grow up, you live bar decreases slower and slower. I wanted to show that when you become infependent, you don't need any help at home.
P.S: I'm very sorry for my bad English. I'm Russian and I wrote those sentences in the last moment. The really need to be fixed.
What a great mood and audio! The story was also great! The colored beams did not seem to hurt me however? And there was no Vsync so I had some tearing. Overall a great experience!
Played this to the end. Strong message and loved the mood. very nice.
I uploaded other version on gamejolt. I didn't change nothing, only checked the collision with the lasers. Hope that now it would be working
Very soothing and poetic atmosphere! I like the somplicity of it, and the story behind it. You also made a great and clever use of the "two button controls" theme!
Great art and a fantastic message I'm sure many people can relate to. Nice job.
Well polished, the graphics are great and it was surprisingly easy to control with the two buttons for jumping.
Wow excellent game. The control are excellent, fluid. I think you did a great job of developing on top of the limitations of the theme. I really liked it.
Nice game. Good graphics, the music fits perfectly. I missed sound effects. And I didn't understood what is with those hearts. I think the game might not be checking collision because the bright obstacles (I imagine they are obstacles) did nothing to my character. There is some text alignment issues here too. In my opinion, I I think it could have the option to press a button to advance the text. But the game is well done. Great mood!
It was a great experience to play this game, it's beautiful, with lovely audio and art, and so the story -really moving!-. The controls were a bit confusing, but they're easy to get the catch of! Great entry!!
Good game, but a becomes frustrating when you have to jump of the walls.
Wow, I call that theme usage CLEVER. Representing a kid as an astronaut is a great idea. Mood and audio are great too!
The only things you need to fix are death conditions: I couldn't die whatever I did.
If collisions doesn't work, just run the game as ADMINISTRATOR!
Lovely game, in particular the music, my only criticism would be that the length of time the text is displayed for could be shorter, amazing other than that though!
Loved the mood in this entry, controls were well implemented and I enjoyed the level design and unlocking mechanics. Overall great job!
This game gives a very beautiful experience. The soothing atmosphere is very well-built. Good job on the level design. The blue and yellow bars didn't seem to make any damage on my health and the two button controls felt a little clunky and out of place but it was manageable. But apart from a few little polishes here and there, this game is close to perfect. Good job!
Excellent little piece! Charmingly simple graphics, and peaceful music to tie it together to a central theme.
There were a few bugs and issues I encountered though. First of all, it would be nice if there was a way to skip through the text. It sits on screen for much longer than I need to read it, which can be frustrating. I also encountered the lack of hit detection in my game too, so good luck for eventually pinning that down. The health bar also seems to be attached to your character, rather than the screen, so it floats out of view when your near the edge of the map. Finally, I'm not sure whether this is intentional, but you can skip the section beneath the double jump just by jumping against wall to climb up to it.
None of these issues were a deal breaker for me though, and this is still one of my favourite games I'm encountered so far in this Jam!
what a darling game. I loved the sense of progression and the message was touching as well despite the broken English at times. Great entry and I found it awesome that you were able to find time to focus on delivering a story.
Pro:
+ Awesome concept
+ Very fluid control (even though it gets confusing sometimes)
+ Nice mood, graphics and audio
+ Great take on theme
Excellent work!
The game basically becomes impossible to finish after you get the wall jump. It's probably possible to get back from there to the save point, but it's too hard for me. Those spinning blades are not fun.
I like metroidvanias a lot, but this one I think it's too hard.
Because I can't vote on the Fun category on this game, this is (probably) the only game where my overall vote is lower than the average vote of the other categories.
Nice game! The concept is pretty nice too! :)
Great work on the graphics and the audio. It really helps set up a nice mood.
I got stuck sometimes, though, after getting the higher jump, so I had to restart the game. :P
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Beautiful game. The story was very touching. Loved it!