Game About Trying to Gain More Time In A Time Cave by HacksawUnit

Once, there was a mage and and there was an arcane scientist.
- Explore a 'time cavern' with strange movement mechanics.
- Find and collect time gems in tricky areas to skip past levels, or play it safe and charge ahead.
- All gems are optional- there is no bonus for collecting them all, so don't feel like you have to. :-)
| Game and Source Code | https://kirklindsay.itch.io/gameabouttryingtogainmoretimeinatimecave |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/game-about-trying-to-gain-more-time-in-a-time-cave |
Ratings
| Overall | 35th | 4.03⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 47th | 4⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 291th | 3.333⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 499th | 3.152⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 78th | 4.121⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 22th | 4.121⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 193th | 3.222⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 120th | 3.683⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 12🗳️ | 7🗨️ |
Anyways I'll probably try to finish it later today, after work. It feels fun so far.
Edit: I get it now, I need the gems to activate the doors. Should've read more carfully.
Edit 2: So I finished the game, sadly I could not get the last gem. The music is good and does not get boring. The levels are fun and challenging, but they are quite difficult though (which is not bad). The hidden gems were a nice touch. Sadly I can't go back and try to get the last gem after reaching the endscreen. It is a nice entry, even if the tileset may felt unfinished.

^
P.S.: I Really feel like you missed a grand 'yo momma' joke opportuninty there.
The checkpoint system is really well implemeted!
Great work!!!
The music is fantastic, and the graphics are nice.
That last room got a bit weird for me. I think some of the timings on the projectiles got a bit out of sync, the blue projectiles coming from the right got blocked by the red things after a few tries, and the laser wasn't fully blocked by that extra red thing.
Regardless, I still managed to beat it lol.
The obstacles, though challenging, didn't feel like they could be impossible to finish, or frustrating at all, up until the fifth part of the cave, at least. Plus, the music added that encouragement, without being dull or heavy-handed. It's, in a sense, an addictive game.
Overall, this one's one of the better games I've played so far in this jam!
That being said, it was fun and the gem collecting part was fun and also mandatory ;).
I enjoyed this take on a puzzle platformer. Interestingly slightly different movement, the hidden-but-obvious shinies were fun to hunt.
Hunt-the-gems for warp was an interesting approach that is either brilliant or doesn't work out quite right and I'm not sure which. It might make it "the warps are harder to get to for exactly the people who need them most", or it might make it "decide if you want to focus on platforming or puzzling" and I'm still not sure which it is. I think you mixed puzzle gems and harder-platforming gems so the answer is unfortunately a bit of a muddle that pushes it more to the hard for the people who need it end. I definitely enjoyed playing (and hunting gems).
Very well made game, so polished and nice to move around. Platforming feels just right for a game of this kind, and level design is annoying as hell. The idea of using checkpoints as rewards for collecting time gems is questionable, failing to understand a new level from the get-go results in several frustrating attempts to catch up only to fail the last level again. Rinse and repeat until rage quit. :sweat_smile: And a background tune still sits in my head, dunno if it's a good thing or not. :)
All in all, that was quite an experience and I'm happy I gave this game a try. You can watch me struggle for 25 minutes here (spoiler: I rage quit):
https://youtu.be/-doNW0PHu_A
Nice job!
If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1450162412?t=11h28m31s
Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D
💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady
https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
solid game!
the tutorial in the level works really well
all the general game elements work well - gg
i'd argue the graphics making up the level design are a bit plain
but i love the song
very nice
keep it up - take care :)
I loved the artwork, and the jump/charge is a lot of fun. I think the last level had a bit too many moving parts. It became way too much to keep track of, especially when going for the gem. All around, great work!
https://www.greenskyonline.me/