The Magic Hat by Shanzhai

According to Google, a loop is "a structure, series, or process, the end of which is connected to the beginning." However, this is just one of two definitions they offer, the other one being "a shape produced by a curve that bends round and crosses itself." I thought about the second one and got the idea of crossing one's own way - which eventually lead to the creation of this game.
A lot of things didn't make it in, namely speedrun-mode, stages and obstacles, original music and the ability to go back, but maybe at some point this will become the Metroidvania I imagined it to become. Until then: Have fun!
Software used: Godot, Pyxel Edit, Bfxr, DefleMask (The song was written for my last LD game though, which is why I disabled the audio rating.)
| Youtube | https://shanzhai.itch.io/the-magic-hat |
| Youtube | https://shanzhai.itch.io/the-magic-hat |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/the-magic-hat |
Ratings
| Overall | 222th | 3.962⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 168th | 3.962⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 282th | 3.808⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 311th | 4.038⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 504th | 3.885⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 602th | 2.958⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 558th | 3.62⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 16🗳️ | 24🗨️ |
@roberto-nascimento-almada @lees-pac @chaoseiro People told me that that quite a few times by now - in my head I expected it to be a surprising little thing for the final stage being a vertical scroller and while throwing it together near the end of the jam it totally made sense to make it "a little" more hard. For me it was "yeah a three-level-ghost should do the trick that's AWESOME"... but it turned out to be kinda stupid, especially with the player not being able to see the whole stage and therefore not being able to plan his or her movement. I'll definitely add checkpoints to the post-jam-version and maybe even shorten the stage a little (and/or introduce a few stages that are half as long before that one in order to introduce the player to the idea). Thanks for playing and especially thanks for leaving quality feedback, much appreciated!
@funemaker Yeah, sound was (literally) a last minute addition and I'm unsatisfied with it myself - I spent too much time drawing and fixing bugs I somehow managed to put in like an hour before the deadline and... I don't know, it just felt wrong to ship a silent game, so I fired up bfxr and added the first halfway passable sound effects it generated without much mixing or anything. I'll fix that in the post-jam-versions. Thanks for thr feedback, mate! :)
While it seems as though the clone resets its movements based on most recent moves, I also would have appreciated a true reset button to start clean from the current stage, particularly for the ones that don't have any hazards you can hit and run yourself into. Longer, taller levels could use a map of sorts so that a player can plan out their moves more efficiently instead of having to guess and check.
That aside, I think the game itself plays fine - I like the setup and controls were smooth and fast paced. The music complemented the pixel art and character style well, although I think that the composition of the track was a little too sad for the bright blue setting? But I guess it's sad because you lost all your pets, haha. The jump sound effect is on the loud side - I would definitely compress or lower its volume next time.
This idea was pretty cool and the overall execution of the game is good. Nice job.
That being the controls were solid, it was fun. I beat the game :D
Would have loved to be able to go back to earlier levels or a level select page
Fun simple gameplay, nice simple graphics, challenge levels but not to spoil the fun.
I managed to reach 4 or 5 level, do intend to return and try to finish.
Really hope you plan to take it to a game portal on a complete project.