Alterplaces
Made in two weeks as part of My First Game Jam - Summer 2020.
More of a demo/proof of concept due to the time constraints of the jam, and the fact that it's the first thing I've ever made with Unity and every step was a learning process. I intend to expand it in the future, hopefully into a full (if still probably short) game.
If you have the interest, you can find the devlog here. It's somewhat incomplete as I was putting most of my energy into development, but I hope to write up a postmortem to add to it after taking a breath or two post-jam. I learned a lot and am really glad to have participated. Big thanks to the community and everyone in the MFGJ discord!
Controls:
- Arrow keys or A/D to move
- Space to jump (W to jump planned for update)
- Left shift or left mouse button to swap to dark world
- Z or right mouse button to swap to light world
- Left shift + Z or both mouse buttons to swap to void world
- P to pause
Controllers may also work, but all won't be supported. As tested with an Xbox One controller:
- LS to move
- A to jump
- Left and right bumper to swap worlds
- Menu/Start to pause
As it is right now it's fairly easy to get yourself into walls when swapping between worlds, but you can always swap to the void world to fall offscreen and trigger a respawn.
Thanks for playing!
Design, programming, art, and music by Justin Crandall
TripFive font by PixelMush
Massive thanks to the YouTube channels of Bardent, Brackeys, and Lost Relic Games
Development log
- Alterplaces Post-MortemJul 28, 2020
Comments
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This is really creative and fun. The animations are nice and the movements smooth. I'm a big fan of the music and its variations. Like some others said, I did run into issues with getting stuck in walls while shifting, but I get with time constraints, that can be a tough thing to completely eliminate. I think some of the wall jump sections could be slightly closer together, but that could be personal opinion.
i love the concept of the game the controls are nice and i like the music.
some hints/suggestions:
- u can break the game by clicking left and right mouse
- add maybe some smooth transtions between the worlds
- while swichting to the other worls the music can be weird maybe also add some smooth transition or some generell music for all worlds
- adjust the difficulty of the game start easy and go slowly harder
Thanks for playing! I'm genuinely shocked to hear a positive response to the controls. And yep, smoother audiovisual transitions between worlds were something I really wanted but didn't have time to figure out. That and a much, much more gradual difficulty curve are definitely planned for updates!
EGG!!
Not sure if you want to change your listed instructions, but for those reading the comments, I found the easiest control scheme was using my mouse (+WASD and space); left and right click to change worlds accordingly allowed my other hand to more elegantly handle the movement and jumps without worrying about holding down very many keys at once, and I highly recommend it.
The last jump was very difficult! After 3 or 4 attempts I decided to just clip inside the wall and jump on the insides of the wall... I understand this is unintended play but I actually found it a really enjoyable alternative at certain parts or where very thin jumps got too frustrating/nerve-wracking. Hehehe. I would like to play a game with that as part of the mechanics as well, though I understand that would probably be hell to design puzzles for!
All in all really stellar game regarding visuals, music, concept, and general polish; the one major bug ended up being one of my favourite features, so well done. (;
I will definitely explore using the mouse for controls! That's a great idea as it solves my simultaneous keypress issue, and I feel kind of ridiculous being so nearsighted about it. It sounds like it's even already working, so I will give it a try and at least update the description to reflect it for now. And I have done that same trick inside the walls for the last jump many times during testing, myself. Nicely done figuring it out!
Time constraints were the main reason I didn't change it at first, but I ended up kind of liking the rule-breaking exploration element of getting into the walls and seeing what you could do, so I think that might stick around at least in some form.
Also very happy to finally have the eggs brought up. Gold star!
That part when you have to switch between light and dark while jumping between two walls got me stucked xD its kind of difficult to coordinate my fingers, but it's totally the type of game you can get better and better by playing it more, its a skill game.
If you want to continue working in this game I suggest introducing each dimension little by little, at the beginning its very hard to get it :)
There is a little bug, I guess you already know it, that you can get stucked inside a collider, maybe you could add a script that disables the collider if the player is inside so that he can fall an die. But it's not that bad because you can always go void and kill yourself to respawn.
Yeah, I had originally had the idea to have a sort of death-timer while you were in a wall to give you a second to try to get out but not let you feel stuck, but I never even had the time to try and set it up. I think it'll be something I at least experiment with going forward, even if maybe just as an optional feature.
Yes, I like the idea of the timer, so you can still save yourself
Really cool implementation of the jam's theme (change).
Great job!
The concept actually came from a dream I had the night after the theme was announced, so I just kind of rolled with it since all I knew was I wanted to make a platformer. I'm happy to hear it seems like it came out well. Thanks for playing!
i got stuck. lol But its really cool how you could go through different worlds. VERY NICE
Thanks!
I did find a bug, if you die while moving and wall jumping... I got stuck in the ground haha.
Would like feedback on my submission: https://noahmastro.itch.io/valiant-evangeline
Ah, I'm not surprised walljumping led to a bug, as much trouble as I had trying to fix the problems with it. Better and alternate controls are something I wish I had more time for but are a top priority for updates. Thanks for playing and I'll be sure to check out your game!
I love what you did with the music in different worlds! Great work!
That idea was there from the beginning, but getting it to work was...interesting. Wish I had left myself more than a day to actually write the music, but feel pretty good about it considering. Thanks for playing!
WOW!
Love the pixel art and the game play. The music having 3 different octave (I think that is how you say it) for each version is brilliant.
Thanks! There were times when I started to regret putting so much time into the visuals, but I'm happy I did now.