Moss Step

A kinda hard platformer where moss grows everywhere you go.

The main mechanic of this game is that you can't go to the same spot twice. Why not? Because everywhere you go, poisonous moss grows!

The rest of the info is in the game link, no point in making you read it twice over.
I have a few less levels in this game than I did in my last Alakajam entry, but I'd say it still turned out alright.
I actually had more fun making this one than my last game, too, so that's a plus.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy the game.
Make sure to say how far you got and how many coins you ended the game with!
Or don't.
I mean, it's your choice.
I'm not gonna force you.
HAPPY JAMMING!

Voting results

Overall
3rd
7%
7.786
Graphics
8th
24%
7.429
Audio
2nd
3%
7.286
Gameplay
1st
7.857
Originality
10th
31%
6.429
Theme
14th
45%
6.571

This game entered in the Solo competition (29 entries).

Comments (14)

Z_Doctor
 • 6 years ago • 

Very fun game, suprised that you made this in such a short amount of time. I played hard mode and got 8 coins. I didn't releaize that your progress wasn't saved :( But really well made.

Oat
(@OatMealPal)  • 6 years ago • 

@Z_Doctor yeah, didnt have enough time to add that. should do that for a small post-jam update.
Thanks for playing!

Iris
(@iris616) • 6 years ago • 

The sheer amount of levels is impressive for a 48 hour game jam! There's two minor nitpicks though:

  • You can jump right after you've just jumped, you have to wait (or so it seems). I find it annoying that I can't b-hop to grow as few moss tiles as possible (and I don't have enough patience to stop even just for a split second, sue me.)
  • Sometimes when you're trying to get those little hops in, you'll fall between two tiles and grow moss on both of them. I understand why it happens, but ouchie.

I'm nitpicking though. It's surprisingly good overall.

Akselmo
 • 6 years ago • 

This is really fun, like I've told others I'm not very good at platformers so I kept dying a lot. However, since dying in this doesn't take the player too far back, it annoys you but just enough to keep playing. I think this is difficult to get it right, but you managed to do it! :D I also liked how you got the theme in there by growing moss in areas you have walked and you cant go back walking on those areas.

Really liked the whole gameboy color aesthetic too!

I'll try to play it more again later, very good job!

Oat
(@OatMealPal)  • 6 years ago • 

@Iris616, @Akselmo, thank you both for playing! and even if they were nitpicks, I'll try to keep them in mind. Thanks a ton. :-)

Tehsplatt
 • 6 years ago • 

This is my favourite game out of the whole jam, amazing job, so many game jam games are just pretty graphics and no gameplay but you managed to pull off an amazing atmosphere and have extremely solid game play, I would genuinely buy and play a full version of this game. Well done, 10/10!

Raindrinker
 • 6 years ago • 

Great game! A great platformer, Maybe a bit too much The End is Nigh + Celeste's hotel level :P

Love the aesthetics! Took a bit too long to see the moss and notice why I was dieing randomly.
Very very polished. What's it mage in? Why the gameboy layout? Its great but I dont get why. it just reminds me of TEiN cardtridges.

Great work!

Oat
(@OatMealPal)  • 6 years ago • 

Thanks for playing, @Raindrinker and @Tehsplatt.
Once I finished the game I was thinking the same thing. It was a lot like the hotel levels in celeste.
I made it in Gamemaker Studio 1.4 and there is absolutely no readon for the Gameboy Layout.
No clue why I even did that, but I like it. :-O

automatonvx
 • 6 years ago • 

Love it! It does remind me very heavily of celeste, but that was great, so not such a bad thing. I thought the moss mechanic was an interesting enough twist to feel fresh. Art and style was really nicely done and I really really liked the chiptune style music too, what did you use for that?
Got stuck on one level for quite long time before realising that I could squash the enemies, somehow i didn't expect it. The gameboy thing is fun, but actually I wanted to play fullscreen so i could better enjoy the pixel art and then I only got like half a screen due to the gameboy UI :(, so maybe that would be a reason against. Or perhaps turn it off in full screen. Anyway great job.

Oat
(@OatMealPal)  • 6 years ago • 

@automatonvx I used beepbox.co for the music. I've already started working on a post-jam version and I was thinking of adding a way to go into fullscreen. I'll definately do that now.
Anyways, thanks for playing! :-O

DaFluffyPotato
 • 6 years ago • 

I love the music and the level design is pretty good, but I have a few criticisms. The game felt like a platformer with a gimmick. I feel like the theme could've been used a bit better (although take that with a grain of salt as I'm the one who suggested it). Also, the wall jumping didn't feel right and took a bit to get used to. The animations were great, but the artwork could use a little bit of improvement. You still did a great job though! ^-^

Kleinzach
 • 6 years ago • 

I also thought of the Celeste hotel levels when I figured out the mechanic, but I would have liked to see more development of that mechanic in particular, but I really liked the concept of different difficulty levels changing that core mechanic. I don't know if a single mechanic like this is enough to maintain through the whole game. I would brainstorm all of the interesting ways that you can interact with this mechanic, make levels for those, then end the game. The moss mechanic itself can be inherently frustrating as it limits freedom of motion and doesn't allow for much creativity of play.

I loved the music and simple aesthetic of the game, and liked how precise the movement was.

hyperlinkyourheart
 • 6 years ago • 

Wow, really great and tough platforming! I really like the graphics, especially the character with his little helmet. The gameplay feels very polished and the quick restart on death makes it very compelling. My only criticism is that the moss growing on walls that you haven't specifically jumped onto feels a bit unfair, and often results in death just for jumping when you've gone too near a wall. Music is great as well.

Yeah not a lot more to say, great game overall!

HuvaaKoodia
 • 6 years ago • 

Played through twice, on easy and on normal, 20 coins each. Had a good time! Hard mode is too much though. Nearly every jump needs to be pixel perfect as accidentally bumping a single wall more or less ruins the run.

The moss mechanic is pretty novel, unfortunately all the additional mechanics don't actually build on top of this foundation. Spikes, locked walls, icicles, ghosts, destructive walls; good variety, but very standard.

I would have liked to see you explore the moss mechanic to its fullest. Here are a few ideas in that vein, in random order:

  • Colored keys. Allows for complex levels with more backtracking.
  • Flying enemies on a set path. Increased dodging in air.
  • Wall crawling enemies. Similar to the muncher, cleans up the walls.
  • Moving platforms. Allows getting around the level without creating moss (except on the platform, I guess)
  • Utilizing the springboard jellies more to jump over moss filled surfaces
  • Reversing gravity to walk on the ceiling.

The visuals are fine, nice little animations. Audio is less fine, the second music track does it in for me. Quite abrasive.

Good work, fits the theme too.

Overall: Good (7)
Graphics: Good (7)
Audio: Above average (6)
Gameplay: Good (7)
Originality: Above average (6)
Theme: Good (7)

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Itch.io link, yo.

Author

OatMealPal

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