HOLY SH*T 35 SECONDES BEAFORE THE DEADLIEN. . . . I hope the source code works and is enough holy molly rolly poly

The controls are not written in game so :

R = Restart : When you die from any other thing than colliding with spikes or a piggy (not enough SPACEbar presses left or falling into the void), you have to manually press R to restart the level. I forgot to make autorestart for these causes lol sorry

T = change level : If you're stuck on a level, pressing T will increase the level select counter by 1, so on next Restart, you will go to the next level, skipping the one you were in. If you do that on the last ""level"", you will go back to the start. You can do it infinitely.

Good luck !

Cool concept! I like your take on the theme, and I'm always impressed any time somebody does a puzzle game, especially for the compo.

I skimmed through the explanation text, so I didn't realize that there was a restart button until I saw the comment above! That makes a huge difference; I was literally hitting F5 every time I died.

Oh, one thing that will probably help you get more plays: since the web version on itch.io is working, I would add HTML5 (Web) as one of the types of links. I know that some people won't even play a game that they have to download, and you're already set up for web play!

Tough as nails! I got to the stage with the yellow/red key blocks on the botton with the green key behind it. I manage to get one or two keys, but then I'm done for.

Nifty idea, and clever use of the theme ;)

@guardaro Thank you very much ! Yeah, I forgot to include a text window with the controls at first, and ESPECIALLY the R button for a restart (which was frankly needed), and the T button to change level, which can be useful if you're stuck on one. I'll add the web version in the types of links, good Idea ! Thank you for playing ! I'm glad you liked the concept of the game, I had no clue what to do and this appeared like a good idea for using the theme as a mechanic.

@endurion Thanks ! I played too much die and retry platformers lmao, it's impossible for me to do something easy now lol (I won't act like I'm good at them, it took me like 15 minutes to do my game deathless lmao). Thank you for your comment
I've added a full playthrough in the Ludum Dare page's description, if you wanna check out what the solution was (this is probably the most hated level according to my friends). The order in which you take the keys is crucial (I had planned for taking the red key first to be the ONLY solution but the first of my friends who played the game after I finished it managed to beat the level while taking the yellow one first... Well. New speedrun strat lmaoo. Thank for playing and commenting !

I wanted to give a very important shoutout to the music "Crime and Punishement" by DECO*27 that helped me through the crunch period of 4 hours before the end of the COMPO, had it on repeat the whole time, idk what I'd've done without it... Truly of of the Mikuest moments of all time fr fr no cap

Already in the third phase it seems too difficult and I don't know how after getting the key not to collide with the thorn. The level design seems poorly implemented although I generally liked the concept.

@lincolnsalles I put a playthrough of the entire game if you want to check the solution !

If you press the SPACE key for a very short amount of time, you will make a very short jump, which makes you able not to collide with the thorns (you can see how it's done in the video). You have enough SPACE key presses (5) to complete the full level.

If you wanna try again, you can skip levels by pressing T and then R (in that order) this should make you able to continue where you were.

There were quite a few tricky concepts to this game that surprised me, and it was fun figuring them out!

@sleepystudios thanks for the comment ! I'm glad you liked them. Did you make it to the end ?

@myrmyxo oh yes I'll try again, I was trying to really press the space very lightly, but it was still difficult. But I'll try again, thanks.

@lincolnsalles No worries ! Tell me if you manage to finish it

The game is pretty cool and I really liked the concept of 'limited spacebar.' I found it to be very challenging. Good job!

@sean-atterbury Thank you ! I tried to make it as hard as possible (while still ""fair"" and playable) as a die and retry platformer fanatic ! I'm glad you liked it

The collision detection was a little wonky, other than that neat little puzzle platformer!

Neat idea. I loved the alternate meaning of "space". The game was pretty hard for me, I'm very good at twitchy games.

Good use of the theme, game is actually quite cute and funny. Fun glitch where you can hold down the jump and you keep jumping forever, controls could use some work (and music!) but it was an enjoyable experience!

The concept is cool and for the most part the levels make good use of it. The part where you have to jump across the red and yellow key blocks felt inconsistent, where sometimes you hit the platforms while holding space without getting a jump. The last level didn't really feel like it interacted with the mechanic, since you only need one space press and it's not made much more interesting or difficult to do in minimum presses. A game like this with a leaderboard for completing levels with minimum presses could be really fun.

This is a cool idea and an interesting take on the theme. The levels were tricky to work out logic wise. Also, adding the tutorial was a nice touch (I used it). I think that the player was hard to control and I kept on hitting spikes when I didn't mean to. Also as a small touch I think you should make the solid tiles a bit lighter to make them contrast more with the background.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments !

@croze I made the collision detection as a mix of Unity's collision system (for actual collision with platforms) and one I developed myself over the 15 hours I worked on this lol (for pickup up pickups, collisions with spikes and ennemies, collisions with key blocks (the destructible kind), and for the detection of being on the ground/being able to jump (which I did not put at the same thing... for some reason ? I don't even remember why)). So it's a bit wonky (with sometimes you not being able to jump if you're on the side of platforms, and the Unity tilemap system messing with everything lmao), but it kinda works, which is a miracle honestly. I plan on removing the Unity entirely from it to make it better.

@tod-semple I'm glad you liked the idea ! The game is made to be hard yeah, in a puzzle die-and-retry fashion.

@prismapunch Thank you ! I actually wanted the controls to be fast and responsive, which they are, maybe a little too much lol I'll have to reduce the air control and make actual animations that should indicate where you are better. Fix the collision system as well, sometimes you hit the ground before you're supposed to lol.
And actually, the "holding down the spacebar for infinite jump" glitch is actually not a glitch but the main mechanic ! To finish all levels you need to hold it down to du multiple jumps with one key press. You can check on the walkthrough video if you want to see the solutions for all levels.

@kaliuresis Thanks ! The "bridge" of yellow and red key blocks is arguably the worst (and most hated) part of the game lmao, due to the inconsistent nature of the jumps and collisions. If you take only one key and stay on the blocks of the other color only, while crossing the spaces between each one by one at the right timing, it's way more consistent and easier.
I tried to put a coyote jump mechanic for the player to be able to jump just after leaving a block, but because of the collision detection that considered you exited the block juts a tiny bit before the edge, it just counteracted this lol, I should change that.
I made the last level like 30 minutes before the deadline lol, so I didn't have time to make it as interesting as I wanted with the amount testing it required. Originally, I had planned for a yellow key to be in the exit tunnel, but it went out of my mind and I forgot to put it, it would've made the level too hard though so that's probably for the better ? Sincethis level is already tricky, I felt like 5 key presses allowed players who are not very good at platforming to stop and think and time their jumps better, making it easier for them (but you can still complete it in 1 space press, which was the original goal, without it being much harder yeah)
I wish I had made more levels with the strollers/spiky pigs that made more use of the mechanic, I'll probably try to turn this into a fully fledged game that use their mechanic more (they are just moving spikes though, nothing crazy). A minimum presses leaderboard is a crazy good idea ! I'll definitely implement it if I put the game on Newgrounds. I might even try to do something similar to Opus Magnum, with multiple leaderboards, like a speed one, a minimum presses one as you said, a minimum separated ground hits...
Thank you so much for your constructive comment, I highly appreciate it !

@aucguy Thank you ! I tried to add a bit of a puzzle challenge, since the main mechanic felt appropriate for this, especially for the fourth level (the one with the 3 keys, my dad even thought it was impossible at first lol). I'll try to make the player controls better in the future, as a fan of platformers I might have made her too hard to control for everyone to be able to enjoy the game lol.
The graphics weren't really my main focus on this lol, I wanted to make changes on the solid tiles' color but I didn't have the time to sadly. I'll keep that in mind. What do you mean by the tutorial ? The first level or the walkthrough video on youtube ?

Thank you all again for your comments !

Wow this was hard. Finished the last level and watched you playthrough after that. I used only one jump just like you in your playthrough :) took some trying but made it in the end!
Probably a bit too hard for a game jam like this hehe I usually do the same thing because I get too good at my own games. A good way to make it more easy without removing any design of the puzzles would be to slow it down a bit, give the player some more time to think between jumps and not make the movement so twitchy fast.
I liked the jump limitation and the puzzles made you stare at the level for a while to figure out which way to go first.
Also it didn't need a tutorial in my opinion, I almost think you should set the jumps to 1 on the first level to force people to think a bit ;)
Well done!

@notime4games Thank you for your comment ! I wanted it to be hard hehe, I love hard games... You're right about the fact that the game is very fast, I might try to change that in the future or at least make the player character easier to control and more consistent (for jumps especially). I'll try to figure that out, I kinda actually like the facing of the jumps for now since they feel pretty fluid to me.

The first level is meant as a "tutorial" to make you figure out that you have to keep SPACE pressed to do multiple jumps (I put 3 space presses since you need 4 jumps to complete the level, exaclty short of one, but I get that you think 1 press only might be better).

There are actually ways to do most levels with less key pressed than needed, we tested with friends, the best we got were, for each level in order with key presses left : [2,0,2,0,4] (for the last one and first one it's kinda on purpose).

Don't tell anyone (lol) but there's a glitch, that was a feature than I planned like 1h in but absolutely forgot to remove at the end, that makes you able to complete every level in ONE, exacly ONE space press. It uses an arrow key, I'll let you figure out which one lol. This also makes it possible to destroy every key block for each level, although it's extremely tricky to pull of.

Feel free to record yourself playing so I can see the way you jumped, I'm interested in the solutions you used (especially if I hadn't planned any lol, like on level 4 you were supposed to have to take the red key first, but a friend found a way to cheese through and finish it with only 2 key presses after starting with the yellow one, while I made it so you had to press it 3 times lmao). That's the fun in platforming games, finding weird routes... even in your own game lmaooo

Really cool concept. It is quite hard, and I often just jumped out of habit 😅. Great game

@fraanns Thank you very much ! I'm glad you liked the concept

Took me a few try to understand, but now I get it. It's a mix between a platformer and a puzzle game. That's a very simple but effective idea, I like it. However, I got stuck pretty quickly ... not very good at puzzle game. But I enjoyed my time on the game! The mood could of course be improved with audio, but overall I would say it's a nice game! Good job!

Hard game and a very fun take on the theme! Nice job!

If anything, I would suggest making it so the level resets when the player falls off the screen. You could also try to add a quick death animation when the player touches spikes or enemies. I think it would add to the feel of the game. It would have to be a very quick death animation because of the direction you are taking with the difficulty of the game, but it could work.

Overall, had fun with the puzzles and platforming! Nice job!

@jonathan-lorenz Thanks a lot ! Yeah I wanted it to be a mix between a platformer and a puzzle game, I never tried to make a game like this so I wanted to see how one could turn out with that limited space press mechanic ! I'm glad you liked it ! Yeah I didn't have the time to add audio lol, it's something that will be added if I work on the game again. If you want to see the rest of the game, I made a playthrough video, I'll link it at the end of this message (I'm very proud of the animation/design of the only ennemies in the game in the last level haha).

@redoxeide Thank you ! I forgot to do a automatic respawn for some of the hazards yeah (falling outside the screen and dying from too much space presses). I actually have a death animation done (it's just one sprite but let's still call it an animation lmao) but I didn't have the time to put it in the game, but I really wanted to (in a sort of mario fashion in which you like fall to the bottom of the screen). A fast one at least, because it's indeed going towards being a die and retry (or just make it skippable with R maybe ?)
I'm glad you had fun with the game nontheless!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKnNuexLcCU

Super neat concept! One of the most creative uses of the theme I've seen so far. Had a lot of fun solving this puzzles (they are super tough!!). The enemies at the end are cute ahah. Great job :smile:

@mina Thank you so much ! I'm glad you found they tough hehe, I didn't want to make a game that was too easy... was kinda scared to make a game so hard people would just ragequit and judge it badly, but apparently this isn't the game and i'm really happy about this !

I'm super happy you liked the end ennemies, I spent some time on them, and managed to include them by making their level like 30 minutes before the deadline, so I'm glad you noticed them and found them cute !

Thank you very much for you review !