Hold Time by Local Minimum

Fight time and try to reach your goal without getting too frustrated or old.
Butterflies appear where bad things happen.
Put on some music that makes you calm and try getting to the end.
How to play
Use a X-box controller for best experience.
Align your sticks with the handles on any ticking clock to bust it (WASD + IJKL on keyboard).
Jump with any of the two top shoulder buttons (space on keyboard).
Character movement:

Clocks interaction
On keyboard this is a borderline A or A and W for minutes, and K and L for hours.
Excuses
The game is made to be hard (which is a scary thing doing for LD) and frustrating. I've completed the first real level several times and for the second level I've completed all segments but have yet to complete it all from the beginning myself.
| Link | https://local_minimum.itch.io/hold-time |
| Link | https://github.com/local-minimum/Hold-Time |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/hold-time |
Ratings
| Overall | 1213th | 3.048⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1311th | 2.6⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 154th | 3.875⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1020th | 3.357⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1219th | 2.643⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 630th | 3.026⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1207th | 2.895⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 37🗳️ | 20🗨️ |
I know that if you put in UI indicators of your controller angle that would be way too easy, so no complaints from me. But for the first stage, I did get stuck on the 2nd to last one for FORTY years! It was very tough and I had to skip it. Oddly enough, in the 2nd stage I was able to complete ones with similar speeds and directions. Now that I think of it, perhaps you simply narrowed the timing window on that one.
The arm angle for jumps is clever and diegetic, rather than having some UI pop out of nowhere to show your aiming direction like Angry Birds.
I unfortunately got stuck in stage 2 though I tried my darndest. In some ways the bricks reminded me of the gears in Double Dragon 2. Those were a nightmare for me as a kid, and having to go back a while because you missed a jump from a brick to a grass platform was just as painful :) I normally don't/can't stick with these games long but this one was enjoyable.
@peachtreeoath Wow thanks for the feedback. (I'm feel a bit guilty that my brain blanked out after playing yours, maybe it just zoned out with that happy upbeat feeling) It's a weird thing making a game in a genre that I haven't ever played and don't think I would particularly enjoy myself. :laughing: It made me smile with the "got stuck on that jump for FORTY years", I didn't think about how well the age system worked with that frustration.
An improvement on the aging system would have been to let each age group have a different bonuses or drawbacks, like younger age has more time, adult can jump higher, old has less strength but can manipulate time better etc. etc.
I think for unique mechanics like this, you should always prioritize how you could convey your mechanics to the players as simple as possible. I think even how great the mechanic is, if the players don't understand your game they might just get frustrated or not play very long. One of the best way, I think, you could do this is by level design. For example, at the very start of your game you can focus on just teaching the players the jump mechanic first before introducing the time mechanic or the butterflies afterwards. This lets the players digest what the main goal is (which I assume is to reach the flag) against the minor goals/mechanics.
Also, when designing levels and objects on your game, objects should also clearly convey their purpose. Which ones are the platforms, which ones are just interactable, and which ones are dangers. A simple way I think is to have contrast in color or shape design. Art doesn't need to be super complicated, there's a charm on having an art style like this. But building off on top of just basic shapes and compositing them rather than having complicated lines and curves would be better.
Hope this was helpful, thank you for submitting. Great job!
Overall, this was an interesting innovation and a daring entry that appears to have worked well for the goals it set for itself. Good job!