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Somewhere in the Distance
by Lightvolt
Somewhere in the Distance is an adventure platforming game that focuses on a boy named Blu searching for his brother, who was taken by a man of questionable reputation. Join Blu on his quest as he braves challenging obstacles, and meets new friends (and foes) along the way, all while coping with the loss of someone special.
Contains traditional platforming gameplay with old school challenge and a thoughtful story, along with original sprite work and music.
Controls
Left, Right - Move
Up - Jump
X - Interact
Enter - Advance Text
Q - Pause
Roasts
Harvey 6 years ago
Animation MechanicsI played the whole game and honestly...your game needs a LOT of work.
1. Your game needs game feel: Now when I say game feel, I mean the feelings that your game can give to the player when they play your game. Think of any RPG game that you've played or heck...play Cave Story for that matter. Any RPG would have characters that make you feel for them and anything that happens gives you feeling about them.
This isn't necessarily only on RPG games but this also applies for any game. In this case, your game feels very static and characters hardly do any animation. Even the main character does only one animation throughout the entire game. Why not have portraits for the characters when they talk just so to make them look lively. Again, look at Celeste and Cave Story for the idea here.
There are so many things that are really odd for your game. The one that comes to my head is how a crate appears out of nowhere to kill the big slime? And also, where's the last petal? What happens when you get them all?
In short, give your game life. A lifeless game is a pointless one.
2. GET RID OF THE ONE HIT MECHANIC!: Your game is infuriating for the simplest reason that every thing kills you in one hit. For a game like this, it doesn't need to be some masochist game like Super Meat Boy for that matter. Just because games like Teslagrad or again Super Meat Boy do it doesn't mean its good game design. If anything, its a bad one simply because you force the player to replay the part from the very beginning and in your case, it happens a lot. You don't even have that much of checkpoints for the levels and only few of the sections have it or have it but can only happens when you beat one chunk of the level which drags very often. Have checkpoints and health. It doesn't matter how short the game is, the point is to make players want to play your game.
3. Do better art: The art that you have done is nice but I feel it is best that you do it better than this. This one is the same thing as what I said in game feel.
4. Fix controls: Now you made up to jump and for some that might not be a good idea. Instead, have a different button to jump.
5. Fix the technical issues that your game has: For some reason, when you jump and land, the game kinda tears the screen a bit and does not make it natural. Some of the sections have bugs that need to be addressed. If you move and press the pause screen, the movement animation still plays. When you meet Leon's mom and if you move as soon as the scene happens, they kinda disappear like that and only reappear when the dialogue is done.
Also, give a full screen support! Its a stupid idea to play it on a small screen.
That's all I have to say here. I could say more but it all depends on you if you want to work more on it. It looks like you have finished development of it which is good because you in your efforts made a big game that I haven't made it yet. But improve on it because you have come this far to make it a game, give some polish and it might end up being better than what it is now.
1. Your game needs game feel: Now when I say game feel, I mean the feelings that your game can give to the player when they play your game. Think of any RPG game that you've played or heck...play Cave Story for that matter. Any RPG would have characters that make you feel for them and anything that happens gives you feeling about them.
This isn't necessarily only on RPG games but this also applies for any game. In this case, your game feels very static and characters hardly do any animation. Even the main character does only one animation throughout the entire game. Why not have portraits for the characters when they talk just so to make them look lively. Again, look at Celeste and Cave Story for the idea here.
There are so many things that are really odd for your game. The one that comes to my head is how a crate appears out of nowhere to kill the big slime? And also, where's the last petal? What happens when you get them all?
In short, give your game life. A lifeless game is a pointless one.
2. GET RID OF THE ONE HIT MECHANIC!: Your game is infuriating for the simplest reason that every thing kills you in one hit. For a game like this, it doesn't need to be some masochist game like Super Meat Boy for that matter. Just because games like Teslagrad or again Super Meat Boy do it doesn't mean its good game design. If anything, its a bad one simply because you force the player to replay the part from the very beginning and in your case, it happens a lot. You don't even have that much of checkpoints for the levels and only few of the sections have it or have it but can only happens when you beat one chunk of the level which drags very often. Have checkpoints and health. It doesn't matter how short the game is, the point is to make players want to play your game.
3. Do better art: The art that you have done is nice but I feel it is best that you do it better than this. This one is the same thing as what I said in game feel.
4. Fix controls: Now you made up to jump and for some that might not be a good idea. Instead, have a different button to jump.
5. Fix the technical issues that your game has: For some reason, when you jump and land, the game kinda tears the screen a bit and does not make it natural. Some of the sections have bugs that need to be addressed. If you move and press the pause screen, the movement animation still plays. When you meet Leon's mom and if you move as soon as the scene happens, they kinda disappear like that and only reappear when the dialogue is done.
Also, give a full screen support! Its a stupid idea to play it on a small screen.
That's all I have to say here. I could say more but it all depends on you if you want to work more on it. It looks like you have finished development of it which is good because you in your efforts made a big game that I haven't made it yet. But improve on it because you have come this far to make it a game, give some polish and it might end up being better than what it is now.
Lightvolt 6 years ago
Thank you for your honest feedback, I really appreciate it! I finished development on this game about a year ago, and i'll admit, I rushed a few things to get it done quicker. I would've loved to do better art, but since I was the only one doing it, I had to make some sacrifices in that area so that I could focus on other things. Your advice is really encouraging, and i'm excited to jump back in and improve the game. I'll do my best to make sure that everything you mentioned is taken care off. Thanks again!jc 6 years ago
Level Design MechanicsPlayed for about 15 minutes. Got to the part where the wizard looking guy at the cave tells you to get a crystal.
First, I think the artwork and animation is fine, especially for a one-man project. Not sure what the other guy was talking about.
Some of the dialogue I thought was a little corny, lol. Although, it did do a good job of explaining the story and what to do next.
Pressing up to jump can be awkward on a controller, especially on parts where you need to be precise.
It also felt awkward not being able to attack. I kept thinking for a game like this, it was strange not having at least a simple melee attack. I assume you learn how to attack later?
The music that plays when you first leave the house is ear-splitting. The music in the caves was nice and soothing, though.
The jumps feel a bit stiff, like he has too much vertical speed and not enough horizontal speed. Not sure how to explain it.
Anyway, that's what I felt in the short time I played this. Take this criticism as you may. :)
First, I think the artwork and animation is fine, especially for a one-man project. Not sure what the other guy was talking about.
Some of the dialogue I thought was a little corny, lol. Although, it did do a good job of explaining the story and what to do next.
Pressing up to jump can be awkward on a controller, especially on parts where you need to be precise.
It also felt awkward not being able to attack. I kept thinking for a game like this, it was strange not having at least a simple melee attack. I assume you learn how to attack later?
The music that plays when you first leave the house is ear-splitting. The music in the caves was nice and soothing, though.
The jumps feel a bit stiff, like he has too much vertical speed and not enough horizontal speed. Not sure how to explain it.
Anyway, that's what I felt in the short time I played this. Take this criticism as you may. :)
Lightvolt 6 years ago
Thanks for the great feedback, jc! I plan on making the crystal-fetching level a bit easier, since it seems a tad bit difficult and tedious for a 'World 1' level. As for the dialogue... you're absolutely right! I'm definitely not a writer. The game does not feature a melee attack, but i'm thinking of adding one! Thanks again for being super helpful!thescratcher123 4 years ago
Animation ControlsI played a little bit of the game and noticed it was somewhat annoying to have to go from the arrow keys to move to the other side of the keyboard to press the "X" key to interact. If you can think of anything to make the controls a little bit faster to use that that would be great. Other then that the game seems great!
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