EDIT: The bug is fixed now, so avoid the video if you don't want spoilers :)

I've checked my code and can't figure out why the letter collector resets in a build when it works fine in the editor.

I've done a playthrough video https://youtu.be/rea2f6DGLIQ for anyone interested in what the game should have been.

I hadn't watched the video in advance, so the word becoming the player was a fun surprise! The controls were incredibly difficult to adopt, since I couldn't figure out how to rotate vs move left/right consistently. That said it's pretty innovative and I love the concept!

Hi @jedd
Thanks for playing and the feedback. The controls are supposed to be a little frustrating (part of the "Expect Nothing" theme), though on watching my play though I did realise I was stopping to think what button to use a little more than I intended.

The player is basically a spring and a wheel, and the controls change to the appropriate mode for the grounded part when you release all keys. So wheel is A-D left and right, W-S rotate and spring mode is A-D rotate and S arms the spring.

It does perhaps need some visual indicator adding for those close cases where you can't tell if it's wheel or spring mode, but W is a safe key to press to find out - if it does nothing it's spring mode, in wheel it's a safe rotate.

My original plan was to use W in spring mode as the 'Something' upgrade to change the spring to a stick for spearing / bashing enemies. Yet more features that I ran out of time before adding.

Your Antexander game looks interesting but I've only got Linux machines, so sadly can't play it.

@domino-marama Ah, good to know! I'll give your game another shot.

Give me a sec and I'll do a Linux build ... just for you ;)

@jedd I'm already working on post jam features for my game, I've added an indictator for the mode and a scanner to find the nearest collectable. The indicator makes it a lot easier to play, thanks again for the feedback that gave me the idea. I had to add a time penalty for using the scanner to avoid overuse - it makes all my hiding spots obvious..
I'm going to take my time now and work towards a polished release, but if you did want to try the improved version, I can put up a build somewhere.


I can't believe how many hours it took to find this random audio "bug". I lost over half a day during the jam and more since. I guess I exported all rather than selection in Audacity. So easy to overlook the obvious sometimes.

@jedd you can see the result of your feedback in the post jam version http://dominodesigns.info/games/ExpectNothingPreview/
If you do get chance to play again, I'd appreciate hearing if the changes make it more playable for you.

Super interesting concept, sadly I wasn't able to progress far since I was really confused by where I could go, because, yeah, the camera is too static. I really like the idea of "NO" being a spring and a wheel, sometimes the control swap is weird but damn, that's a good idea for a "character". I know the topic is "Start with nothing" but at least some information in the beginning would help the game a lot as well as an adapting camera (I know it's hard to do in such a short amount of time, because we struggled as well with it :smile:).
Overall a very nice idea with a good attempt of making it in that short amount of time. Some more work on it and it would be a really lovely game to play!

@TheMiSta92 I guess you played the jam edition (asking for info at beginning is the giveaway), though I've only freed the camera a little more in later versions. How can you 'Expect Nothing' if you see where you are jumping?

I've added a scanner to show nearest collectable which should help with navigation while learning the level. It doubles as an indictator for wheel / spring modes which does make things more predicatable too.

Originally I did plan a more traditional platformer, but hit on the idea of one big level with a dropping floor to open up new areas. As the floor drops you get a bigger spring so the available platforms tend to increase upwards and downwards at the same time. It was a jam hack to save time on level design / testing but revisiting the same areas does help with learning the layout and in the end I think it improved the game.

The game is really designed for speed running, not the slow I'm lost, there's nothing, exploration that first impressions give. Things like which order to collect things can make big difference to your time and that only comes out with repeat plays unfortunately. I certainly enjoy playing it (I'm under 6 mins to complete the game now) though there are still a few things I want to improve. At least the known bugs are fixed now :)

Thanks for playing and taking the time to give feedback.