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Echo Spark's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Relevance to the theme picked | #1 | 4.571 | 4.571 |
| Metroidvania | #1 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.257 | 4.257 |
| Sensory | #2 | 4.214 | 4.214 |
| Execution | #3 | 4.214 | 4.214 |
| Enjoyment | #10 | 3.786 | 3.786 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme chosen
Echoes of the Past. Leaving behind an "echo" of your past self is a core mechanic.
Team/Developer
Neopolis, baharto
Engine
Godot
External assets
Sound effects sourced here: https://pastebin.com/4w8K6ibY
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Comments
I really really enjoyed the bits that I've played of this. I'll definitely get back to it and update my thoughts but for now I found the implementation of the theme really cool, the level design was very creative and engaging and it always impresses me when people find the time to implement full fledged bosses in a game jam. I will say though, the segment of the game that contains the shop with the healing echo is in my opinion a brutal jump in difficulty considering the lack of saves for that entire section. I reached the end with the eyeball and echo soldier combo and when losing to that brought me to the start I did have to put it down for a bit.
I was eventually able to get past all that and to the next save though, and in terms of design I thought it was all very well done and fair, but the pacing and escalation to me felt very off considering the intro section had an abundant amount of saves. But other than that bit of balancing, for now I don't really have much else constructive to say this was just really well done! I'll definitely be getting back to this in the coming days to finish it up
Yeah, the pillar area is definitely a bit too fast of a difficulty jump, haha, you're not the first person to get stuck there for a while. I tried designing that whole around the one checkpoint (with the shortcut unlocking so it stays useful) so people wouldn't miss out on the healing upgrade, but the shield sentry arena's corpse run is definitely too long and perilous for how tricky a fight it is. Thanks for your thoughts!
Ok I just finished, and yeah, this was great. Like I said in the previous comment, really impressed with what you created here, and it definitely feels like a demo of something I would pay money for. Unique concept, unique atmosphere, and engaging exploration gameplay all around. I ended up finishing with 89%(not sure where I had missed stuff, but I assume I got everything but a couple hearts, or an ability I forgot to buy somewhere), but may go back to explore what I missed. Here are some loose thoughts/feedback as I was playing:
Yeah, this was incredible. Easily my favorite jam project so far and maybe the best jam project I've played in each one I've participated on? Either way, excellent work here and you should both be proud. I can't wait to see what either of you make next.
Thanks again for the kind words and the feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Regarding the spark collector, I double checked, and it is working, although its effect might not be super clear. The way it works is that if the enemy runs into your Echo and dies as a result, the sparks it would've dropped will go directly into your inventory. To be honest, the main reason why it's an upgrade at all is so people will read the description and go "wait, my echo can kill things?", haha.
Holy crap. I just beat the Scavenger King and have to put this down for now, but I absolutely love this game so far. It would take an immediate drop off for me to not rate this game incredibly high. As is, I would pay for this experience. Mechanics, gameplay, level design, atmosphere(both art and music, my god) are done so well. I'll give more detailed comments once I complete the game, but felt I had to say how damn good you two did so far. Incredible work.
Wow, thanks for the kind comment! To be honest there is a bit of a drop-off towards the end since those parts weren't tested as much, but I hope you'll still continue to have a good time!
Whoo boy, this is a meaty game. I'm at the Scavenger King atm and will continue playing later, but want to get some thoughts down while they're fresh. The art is very good and there is a ton of enemy variety already - the sound effect the machine frogs make is top notch. There's just a lot of overall polish all around so far, which is really cool to see in a gamejam game. The echo transposition ability is very cool for puzzle solving mechanics, and from what I saw of the Scavenger King so far, its tells are very well implemented and the fight seems very balanced and fair.
Some initial thoughts:
- The echo as a combat mechanic doesn't feel super great right now, or possibly I'm using it wrong. It feels kind of strange to dash away from enemies to damage them. With the shield enemies in particular, I felt very passive and cowardly the first several times I fought them. In the challenge room I finally figured out I could down bounce off of them which felt better, but right now I just never feel sure that I'm using the echo correctly (in this regard I was very surprised to see a purchasable item that interacted with your echo damaging enemies because up to that point it had seemed quite hard to use on the current enemy set).
- I think the short attack range is okay for the feel you're going for, and I like that you can up its range as a sort of risk reward mechanic, but it gets a bit troublesome when chasing down enemies paired with the character's fairly quick speed. I ended up making a lot of baby steps towards enemies that are walking away from me for fear that I'd run into them while trying to attack otherwise. I don't really know how to address that, was just something that stuck out to me.
- The healing mechanic is interesting, but it's a lot of set up for a relatively small amount of healing. It feels odd to have to charge up while an enemy approaches you, dash away from that enemy to create an echo, and then run back towards that enemy to get your heal. I like that it ties into the theme and is definitely unique, but I'm wondering if there is a smoother implementation.
Anyway, I'm enjoying my time with the game so far and will come back to it later today. It seems quite massive, Is there a way to know how much progress I've made?
Glad you're enjoying it! I put some thought into making an interesting risk/reward healing system, but from seeing people's gameplay, it does seem a bit complex for what should be a simple action, as many people don't end up using it much. I do like the tradeoff of being able to hold on to the charge to get a damage boost though.
There's not really a progress indicator, but to give a general outline of the scope, after getting to the central hub zone, there's 2 areas you can do in any order (the forest with the Scavenger King and the electric area), after that you'll have to do a little bit of backtracking/exploring, and then you can open a short final area + final boss. Depending on if you already did the electric area you may be pretty close to the end.
That was good! Nice art and the scarf is such a good point. Well done. Feedback to the player and juicy elemnts are also nice, and the combat is responsible and simple enough to get it quickly but challenging enough when it needs to be. The eco mechanic was very surprising, specially when it hit me and learning how to use it in your advantage felt really good. Again, the detail to turn this eco into your save point adds so much to the game feel.
Overall, very good entry! Congratulations, I really liked it.
From the beginning this game starts with a punch. Nice graphics and the trailing scarf is a really nice detail. Soundwise as well. As you punch the ground, the sound of your fall and a very good soundtrack give a very good first impression.
The movement is swift, and the combat is very close quarters, so taking advantage of the echo is very important. The rooms are interesting and the way the echo plays into saving and opening areas is so cool, the animations as well.
I really liked playing this game! Congratulations!
This was pretty good. Made good use of theme. There were some design choices that were less than awesome for my own experience, but as the behavior was pretty consistent, I want to be clear that they don't seem to be flaws in execution, but they are things that hampered enjoyment.
Enjoyment: 3.5/5. I actually enjoyed this one a fair amount, but there were a lot of moments of what felt like cheap shots at least the first few times around, and some battle rooms that felt more frustrating that fun on balance.
Please in the future consider not making players face a wall to pull off a wall-jump. Probably a large portion of my frustration came from that.
Execution: 4/5. Very few if anything in the way of bugs. There was one puzzle that thankfully I was able to contact the dev about (thank you!) but without doing that I might not have gotten what I was doing wrong. Aside from that and a couple of places mechanical conveyance might have been better I think this was pretty well done. Also kudos for the time-pressure escape. Not only is it a classic
Sensory: 3.5/5. Pretty well put together and aesthetically consistent throughout. I wouldn't play it for the aesthetics, but they don't hurt the experience.
(Note: In my actual score, I'm rounding up on enjoyment and down on sensory since in my brain you probably have a better shot at winning the first category.)
Metroidvania: 5/5. Checks all the boxes, and kudos for basically making the dash and variations your centerpiece.
Theme 5/5: Good use of theme. Mechanically integrated. The story blurb on the page actually feels a bit like a distraction in comparison to the mechanical implementation.
Solid entry overall, a contender.
Overall this is a pretty solid game. I feel like the mechanics were clearly interpreting the theme. If it wasn't listed on this page, I'd still know what theme you were going for, so thats really good. I always like purchasing upgrades, so thats a plus as well. Enemies were simple enough, but provided a level of challenge.
I think the my main criticism would have to be the difficulty level starting from the first upgrade station. I did have to run that several times before I adjusted enough. After that section you enter the closed room with the skeleton and wall eye on the left side and after a couple tries, I got the hang of that, but was blindsided by the spawning of another wave on the right side, plus an extra enemy. As a player, I didn't expect that second round. After that, I feel like I had a decent idea of how to play the game. So i think the initial difficulty may be a little high, but i think after the room I mentioned it feels like how I would expect it to play.
The above is the only thing that I feel is worth pointing out. Other than that, very solid. Music and art meshed well together. None of the art, music, sfx stuck out or struck me as being an "odd choice". Congrats on a really solid entry!
Yeah, in general, I overshot the difficulty, especially for gamejam standards. I think the skill ceiling is surprisingly high, but the skill floor might be too high as well, since a lot of players reported dropping the game after getting stuck, which is unfortunate but super understandable. Thanks for your comments!
No problem!
Cute pixelart style!
Giving this almost full scores all round!
The introduction to the mechanic was nice and early and clearly a unique take. I loved that it worked as a dash, attack and key all in one. I was disappointed the second place to use it didn't also open a door - I felt the first use established that's what it did, but after that I got it and it was fine.
I loved that there were 'platforming' ways to get through but I could go faster with good use of the dash. The cape is an excellent touch. Enemies were simple but a nice challenge (I stopped playing at the first boss' second phase, the run back to it grew frustrating)
The grey pillars initially I wasn't sure if they were background or platforms.
On 2nd playthrough today. I think this game nailed it! I enjoyed it, it was light to move, fun mechanic, super clever idea with that "echo" mechanic. Overall 5/5 for me for this jam! Great job! Will give more feedback if you want, but overall fun, lightweight and just cool!
Immediately enjoyed this.... I am afraid I am just too tired after fixing an annoying issue in my own game to finish playing tonight. I will 100% come back and play though this more...As of right now I rated mostly 4/5 stars...Can't wait to see how this progresses. The controller movement was great and it seems to be quick and punchy and fun!
Coming back to this still one of my favorite games in the jam! Will give this a detailed review of all things, when I play through again this week! Would appreciate a basic/review and comment on our own submission if you have the chance! This is my top 5-10 games tho!