LudumData

Can't Escape Your Past by Marcenat

[raw]
made by Marcenat for Ludum Dare 50 (COMPO)

Try to escape your past self in this fast paced platformer ! You play as a mad scientist who tried to invent time travel and is now hunted by his past selves. A simple contact could cause a time paradox and destroy you ! You can run, but your "delayed" selves will catch up eventually, death is inevitable... Don't be surprise if you run into acid pit, locked doors, and time shifting corridors, it's a mad scientist lab after all.

Command (remappable)

  • Arrow to move
  • Space to jump
  • Escape to pause

Tips

  • To wall jump you have to slide against the wall first
  • There are 11 levels, the last one is pretty hard
  • Some levels require more brain than dexterity
  • The blue zone really delay your past selves, so the longer you stay in it the more delayed your past selves are

Capture d’écran (17).png

Capture d’écran (16).png

Capture d’écran (15).png

Link https://gitlab.com/lemon-sugar/ld50/-/tree/master
Link https://adrienmarcenat.itch.io/cant-escape-your-past
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/cant-escape-your-past

Ratings

Overall 40th 4⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 55th 3.978⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 100th 3.804⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 288th 3.674⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 294th 3.478⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 33th 4.022⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 364th 2.553⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 284th 3.286⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 16🗳️ 22🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 185813
03. Apr 2022 · 23:09 UTC
Really fun! A nice take on the theme!
LDJam user 0
04. Apr 2022 · 18:22 UTC
Nice. Didn't like how the wall jumping felt.
jd557
04. Apr 2022 · 18:41 UTC
Very fun game, that last level was very challenging.

As another commenter pointed out, the wall jump sometimes felt a bit off, but I got used to it.
ScootalooZamyslona
05. Apr 2022 · 20:28 UTC
The game is really challenging. The use of theme is made well and the overall experience was positive :)
wondry
05. Apr 2022 · 20:29 UTC
I like the idea of escaping your past self
foxwater
05. Apr 2022 · 20:29 UTC
Wow really amazing gameplay mechanics for a compo game! The time warping was especially impressive and the fact that it slowed or sped up the music was a really nice touch. I had a lot of fun manipulating my past self to stay out of my current self's way!
Phoenix Fireflower
05. Apr 2022 · 20:48 UTC
A novel spin on the theme. The puzzles were good, but the wall-jumping is a bit unintuitive: you'd think you are ready to wall-jump sooner than you can actually wall-jump (especially in high pressure situations).
LDJam user 262525
05. Apr 2022 · 21:01 UTC
I think I played the first 8ish levels and I think this idea has great potential if expanded and refined. I like the way the music speeds up and slows down when you're in the zones.

My main complaint with the game is that the timings often feel too tight. In many cases I understood what I was supposed to do, but I couldn't because I would get caught in the last second, which is frustrating. I feel like the game would have been much more enjoyable if it was a bit more forgiving.
🎤 Marcenat
05. Apr 2022 · 21:25 UTC
@dennis-magnusson I was worried the timing were still too tight, but every time I wanted to fix them it created other ways to solve the level.

@phoenix-fireflower I struggled a bit to make a wall jump with a nice feel, with more time and experience I could have made it snappier (and bug free ^^), but good platforming controls are so hard to do :) Thanks for the feedback anyway.

Thanks everyone for playing !
ollie_d
05. Apr 2022 · 21:57 UTC
Overall a pretty fun game! I do think the wall jump timings are a bit too unforgiving, but I really like the mechanics and enjoyed playing this
Michael Wingfield
06. Apr 2022 · 01:56 UTC
Wow! That was super fun! I loved the slow down/speed up mechanic. Super unique! Thanks for a good time!
Gonzo13
06. Apr 2022 · 12:29 UTC
Very complex skill-based game! Perfect mechanics. Neat graphics and sound! Great work!
Papaya
06. Apr 2022 · 14:17 UTC
Very interesting mechanics and cool puzzles. I also like the animations (wall sliding). I also like that the game is intuitive without the need of a complex tutorial. I can't figure out the lowering door level lol.
🎤 Marcenat
06. Apr 2022 · 14:26 UTC
@papaya

*Spoiler*

For the lowering door level you have to use the time speed zone to speed up your past self to let you pass sooner, but the timing is very tight as other people have pointed out.

*End of spoiler*
Papaya
06. Apr 2022 · 14:35 UTC
@marcenat Ah yes, it is tight indeed. I tried that a couple time and it didn't work. Guess I am not fast enough haha
PerfectSquare
06. Apr 2022 · 22:32 UTC
Great job on the graphics and audio and the idea of having to navigate around your past self is super cool. I did find the timings for the wall jump quite tricky which made executing the puzzles very challenging but the other controls were pretty smooth.
realryanrogers
07. Apr 2022 · 02:24 UTC
Absolutely fantastic. The general mechanic is fun, the animations sell the movement, the controls feel nice, and the music is banging. Genuinely had a fun time puzzling out the best routes to make it to the end.
blockerz
07. Apr 2022 · 02:57 UTC
I am glad to see that I wasn't the only one struggling with the wall jump. It looks like that has been covered. It takes a lot of time and iteration to get good controls for something like this and that is something we don't have much of in the jam. :)

I really liked the game. Great idea and the puzzles for the levels were fun. I was impressed how many you had for the short timeframe. The mechanics were all really good. The graphics were nice. The audio enhanced the gameplay.

Great job making a game in 48 hours!
sdelay
07. Apr 2022 · 15:04 UTC
The idea that you shouldn't pass by the place you've been or wait too long is cool.
Foursay
08. Apr 2022 · 02:15 UTC
Wow... This game is so amazing! When I started to play the game, I thought this was just another shadow-chasing game like the famous Celeste provide to every platformer lover. Then, I was deeply absorbed with the different time zone mechanics introduced.

The platforming is a little tricky there, as you said that the wall jump needs some "pauses" to work. But the level design is fantastic, and I especially love those levels with the same layout but different timezone configuration. That's introduces so many dynamics and possibilities there.

This is the most fantastic platformer-puzzle game I have ever played in any LD entries. Great Job!
LDJam user 279546
08. Apr 2022 · 12:26 UTC
The wall jump needs some work as it is a bit hard to control. There were also points where I was sticking to the wall and just dropped. The game idea and how it fits into the theme was fantastic though. Great job!
alec
08. Apr 2022 · 13:16 UTC
There's some really neat level design here. I liked how you slowly introduced mechanics, and reused layouts with a slight twist. As others have said, the wall jump could definitely use some some tweaking to the "feel", maybe something like a jump buffer that allows jumping off walls a couple frames before or after touching it would help (though I'm just spitballing). Also I really liked the music, especially with the slow down and speed up effects!
congusbongus
17. Apr 2022 · 06:28 UTC
What can I say, this is the best interpretation of the theme I've seen, an innovative game mechanic, and very well implemented with the music speed. If I had to nitpick the platforming can be polished a bit, including the wall jumping, and the difficulty spikes at about level 9-10, but those are easily forgivable for a weekend game. Well done!
damakuno
17. Apr 2022 · 06:32 UTC
wall jumping feels a bit weird and bugs out at times, sometimes I get stuck in some surfaces but I'm not sure why, aside from that though, it's a fun premise and fun to play game as well! Pretty impressive for a compo game!