I really enjoyed the challenge of solving the maze. Even the unintuitive controls scheme, that was annoying at the beginning, eventually felt like it belonged, complementing surreal atmosphere of the game world. Besides the 'unintuitiveness' of controls really made me think through every step, which supported the gameplay, that was all about spatial reasoning, perfectly.
The puzzle mechanic is simple but very effective. The chess metaphor works very well here: as soon as you got how the first obstacle work, you got all the others too. And I liked how twisty the maze itself eventually became, at one point forcing me into an impasse near the very end, only to make me realize that I was moving in the wrong direction this whole time.
Soundtrack and visuals are mesmerizing. My only regret was that sights placing was somewhat misleading. Even after discovering where the exit is, I was still unsure weather I was supposed to go there, since this Athena statue in the other corner of the level was so attractive. I think placing her near the exit from the level would have directed player's attention more effectively.
Special praise goes for the game web page design. It sets the expectations and grabs attention even before the game starts.
Cool game! I like that the gameplay is so simple while the game is challenging. It took me a while to figure out why I kept restarting; I really like that the chess piece that captures you flashes, but a little bit of motion feedback (i.e. the piece moving towards your character) might help convey exactly what's happening more clearly.
The transformation tiles really spiced things up and are a clever mechanic. If this game had multiple stages, I'd probably introduce them in like the 4th or 5th stage just to smooth out the difficulty curve a little. It took me a little while to figure out what they did because the transformation was subtle and had no animation or sound effect -- the first time transforming from light to dark, I thought that I was under a shadow!
I liked that the music was soothing and did not distract from the game. The melody perfectly suits the game. It got a little repetitive, but perhaps a lengthier loop would have helped with that.
After I beat the game, my only disappointment was that there weren't a couple more levels. Nice work! :)
P.S. Zoe was adorable. I loved seeing her scamper about the board!
Thanks for the feedback! there are more levels on the way. Im working on all the "death feedback", but for now I'm making checkpoints and adding some cool mechanics. I would love to see you in the next version, I'll have more levels by then and (I hope) that many of these issues will be fixed by then. Thanks a lot for beating the game! :D
Woah, this game was amazing, I only watched the post jam party stream last night and as soon as I saw this game I knew I wanted to play it! I managed to finish it after a few tries in, it was extremely fun as a puzzle game concept. My biggest complaint was the slanted controls, but it's completely understandable with the isometric style, you would either have people rather it be one side or the other, most of my deaths were accidentally pressing the wrong direction at a time that it put me in danger.
I found the camera angle to be fine in my opinion, maybe if people were struggling you could add an easy mode where if you click/point over a piece, you can see what their danger zones are. Or else maybe mode options for people with and without checkpoints for people who want more of a challenge.
Congrats on this awesome game, and I'll be interested to follow it's development!
Thanks for the feedback! I added an optional control arrangement and it helped me to think in new puzzles (thanks for that ;D) I'll be sure to add that feature in the next version (with more levels to test them of course). Thanks for playing! I hope to add a DevBlog (with luck) to share some of my puzzle design choices, i'm trying to learn how to make more great puzzles and I think its a good Idea to learn together. I hope to see you in the next version!
I look forward to seeing your development log, you're adding features like crazy! I hope you end up getting somewhere with the game concept, it's probably my favorite game from the jam so far!
Awesome! Really creative and fun. Some sort of check point would be nice, so I am glad to see you are putting something in. Like others said, the tilt is disorienting. I attached an image with a couple solutions, but really after playing enough you get used to it. I'm looking forward to more levels!
it's a great idea to add those instructions at the begining of the game, I have a few ideas about that too and I hope to see you In the next version. Thanks for playing!
I have great Ideas to put "check points" and add more levels, I had to cut a lot to "finish" the game for the jam, but there is a lot more on paper. thanks for playing! :D and I hope to see you In the next version
I got to the scroll but can grab it. I think you got a bug there.
what a very clever mechanic you got there, of chanign colours to dodge the chess pieces by changing color! although what happens if osmeone doens know how the chess pieces move? I guess that reduced the accesibility of your game. I like the concept, and overall I think i could expand for a big puzzle game. Great job!
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Thanks for the game!
I really enjoyed the challenge of solving the maze. Even the unintuitive controls scheme, that was annoying at the beginning, eventually felt like it belonged, complementing surreal atmosphere of the game world. Besides the 'unintuitiveness' of controls really made me think through every step, which supported the gameplay, that was all about spatial reasoning, perfectly.
The puzzle mechanic is simple but very effective. The chess metaphor works very well here: as soon as you got how the first obstacle work, you got all the others too. And I liked how twisty the maze itself eventually became, at one point forcing me into an impasse near the very end, only to make me realize that I was moving in the wrong direction this whole time.
Soundtrack and visuals are mesmerizing. My only regret was that sights placing was somewhat misleading. Even after discovering where the exit is, I was still unsure weather I was supposed to go there, since this Athena statue in the other corner of the level was so attractive. I think placing her near the exit from the level would have directed player's attention more effectively.
Special praise goes for the game web page design. It sets the expectations and grabs attention even before the game starts.
Cudos for the great work!
Cool game! I like that the gameplay is so simple while the game is challenging. It took me a while to figure out why I kept restarting; I really like that the chess piece that captures you flashes, but a little bit of motion feedback (i.e. the piece moving towards your character) might help convey exactly what's happening more clearly.
The transformation tiles really spiced things up and are a clever mechanic. If this game had multiple stages, I'd probably introduce them in like the 4th or 5th stage just to smooth out the difficulty curve a little. It took me a little while to figure out what they did because the transformation was subtle and had no animation or sound effect -- the first time transforming from light to dark, I thought that I was under a shadow!
I liked that the music was soothing and did not distract from the game. The melody perfectly suits the game. It got a little repetitive, but perhaps a lengthier loop would have helped with that.
After I beat the game, my only disappointment was that there weren't a couple more levels. Nice work! :)
P.S. Zoe was adorable. I loved seeing her scamper about the board!
Thanks for the feedback! there are more levels on the way. Im working on all the "death feedback", but for now I'm making checkpoints and adding some cool mechanics.
I would love to see you in the next version, I'll have more levels by then and (I hope) that many of these issues will be fixed by then. Thanks a lot for beating the game! :D
Woah, this game was amazing, I only watched the post jam party stream last night and as soon as I saw this game I knew I wanted to play it! I managed to finish it after a few tries in, it was extremely fun as a puzzle game concept. My biggest complaint was the slanted controls, but it's completely understandable with the isometric style, you would either have people rather it be one side or the other, most of my deaths were accidentally pressing the wrong direction at a time that it put me in danger.
I found the camera angle to be fine in my opinion, maybe if people were struggling you could add an easy mode where if you click/point over a piece, you can see what their danger zones are. Or else maybe mode options for people with and without checkpoints for people who want more of a challenge.
Congrats on this awesome game, and I'll be interested to follow it's development!
Thanks for the feedback! I added an optional control arrangement and it helped me to think in new puzzles (thanks for that ;D) I'll be sure to add that feature in the next version (with more levels to test them of course).
Thanks for playing! I hope to add a DevBlog (with luck) to share some of my puzzle design choices, i'm trying to learn how to make more great puzzles and I think its a good Idea to learn together. I hope to see you in the next version!
I look forward to seeing your development log, you're adding features like crazy! I hope you end up getting somewhere with the game concept, it's probably my favorite game from the jam so far!
Awesome! Really creative and fun. Some sort of check point would be nice, so I am glad to see you are putting something in. Like others said, the tilt is disorienting. I attached an image with a couple solutions, but really after playing enough you get used to it. I'm looking forward to more levels!
it's a great idea to add those instructions at the begining of the game, I have a few ideas about that too and I hope to see you In the next version. Thanks for playing!
very nicely made, the tilted camera made it a little harder to count tiles from the knight, but I guess that's part of the challenge
If you ever made a giant level, save points are probably things to consider, but right now the short respawn makes the process not very painful.
I have great Ideas to put "check points" and add more levels, I had to cut a lot to "finish" the game for the jam, but there is a lot more on paper. thanks for playing! :D and I hope to see you In the next version
Cool game, I really like the puzzle design.
Thanks for playing! :D
I got to the scroll but can grab it. I think you got a bug there.
what a very clever mechanic you got there, of chanign colours to dodge the chess pieces by changing color! although what happens if osmeone doens know how the chess pieces move? I guess that reduced the accesibility of your game. I like the concept, and overall I think i could expand for a big puzzle game. Great job!
Please give us a review:
https://anlevant.itch.io/almost-there
Very well made in all aspects and unexpectedly hard. The gameplay mechanic has potential.
I'll add more levels an mechanics in the future, thanks for playing! :D