Recursion by Finn Truman

You are B4, a little robot who needs to turn the power back on in a long dormant facility, but you only have a limited life span in which to do it.
This is a short platformer where you have to get from one side of the room to the other! But obviously, it's not quite that simple.
Controls
F toggles fullscreen
A and D to move
Space to jump and double jump
Shift to slide when you have momentum

Credits
Artwork, sound, music, writing, design, and animation by Archie "KAI" Reid (https://twitter.com/thekaigames)
Programming and voice by Finn Truman (https://finnttruman.wixsite.com/portfolio)
Background art by Katherine Simpers
Made in GameMaker Studio 2
| Youtube | https://finnttruman.itch.io/recursion |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/recursion |
Ratings
| Overall | 946th | 3.6⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 970th | 3.44⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1979th | 2.88⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1847th | 3.34⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 915th | 3.84⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 374th | 3.78⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 289th | 3.76⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 731th | 3.66⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 28🗳️ | 23🗨️ |

Graphics are cool, and I appreciate the comments of the big guy after he refives you. But I think I would really enjoy some subtitles, as English is not my mother language and with that robotic voice it isn't always clear to me what did he say, but that's probably just me.
I think the jumping from platform to platform isn't very forgiving, and I didn't manage to find a checkpoint (maybe there are but I didn't get so far?) Starting always from the big guy might be logical for the game, but for playability it's a complete pain.
Please, could you tell us how to keep going from the image that the_martin published?
As for subtitles, they were on our list of things to do but due to our work schedules we only had about half the normal time to make everything so we couldn't get round to it.
As for checkpoints, since each level is split off from the main hallway, using it as a return-point made the most sense to us as an idea of replaying with a new room unlocked each time you reach the end of a branching path. It's a hit-or-miss concept but sets the level design apart!
Thank you so much for playing, though, and we hope you enjoy it!
There is indeed a backstory written for the world in that the Earth has become uninhabitable and the last of humanity are in pods while robots work to fix the issues. This, of course, went wrong due to a power malfunction. It's sort of based on Wall-E in that sense. Good eye for noticing, though!
I'm glad you enjoyed what you played, though! Thank you!
The art, music, sound and voice acting are awesome, creating amazing post-apocalyptic mood. At the same time narrator's comments were on point and made me giggle while dying dozens of times. The gameplay is polished. But what is really incredible is game and level design. At first I was frustrated that I couldn't reach some platforms but after reading some comments here I went back and did finish the game. The complexity is crazy by the way, I was so lucky to finish the final part with the first try.
What you could do better is to put some instructions to the game. I haven't carefully read the game description initially and had no idea that I should hold space to jump higher and that I could double jump. Also drop jump came as a big surprise. It was probably intended, but all the platforms are put so that you can barely make it with double-long-jumps. I've wasted lots of time to figure them out. There is complexity progression but it feels like it starts from super-hard and ends with impossible. No medium and no time to take a break. It is amazingly rewarding to complete this hell though. Unfortunately, not many players enjoy these kinds of challenges. How I wanted to approach it in my game (didn't have time to implement though) was to have two difficulties: one with relaxed jump force, speed and health parameters for those who prefer easy games and another with parameters that are barely enough to make it through the game for those who like challenge.
Overall, one of the best games I've played so far in this jam. Great job!
I agree that instructions were lacking. That is one of the aspects we wanted to improve (my personal pet hate is the lack of instruction on the wide gap. How is the player supposed to know there is a platform beyond the screen?), but it was a case of time. I'm the only programmer and I had to go to work on the Monday. This is also why we haven't reviewed as many games as we would like, we unfortunately have other things to do, but we're scraping by.
The jump height is not increased by holding the button. I think what you're experiencing is the increased jump height when you pick up the computer chip in the basement (again, lack of instruction).
Again, thank you for leaving such elaborate feedback!
But other than that, the game was really fun! :) Thanks for sharing your game!
Things to improve (imho):
- win screen (after hitting the red button? or should I go back?)
- deaths count! :smirk:
- better voice volume (or subtitles)
Here is my playthrough:
https://youtu.be/ObFuf2bUjJY
Thank you for playing the game! I'm glad you enjoyed it!