Pef Needs To Go Deeper

A WIP Platformer. Pef needs to go deeper! Explore the caves, try to go fast and take care of the terrible larvae!

Pef Needs To Go Deeper : a Prototype

Pef needs to go deeper! Explore the caves, try to go fast and take care of the terrible larva!

**Controls : **

Move : Left and right arrows
Jump : Up arrow
Dash (to break planks and some rocks) : Spacebar
Pause (switch in and out) : P

**An Alakajam game made by : **
Thibaut Husson and Frédéric Gondeau - Graphical Team
William Benichou and Maxime Richard - Development Team

Voting results

Overall
6th
21%
7.071
Graphics
1st
9.000
Audio
4th
13%
6.889
Gameplay
12th
46%
5.714
Originality
16th
63%
5.607
Theme
8th
29%
7.607

This game entered in the Team competition (24 entries).

Comments (17)

Spartaqui
 • 5 years ago • 

Wow !! Very very cool ! SImple but very efficient !
The Graphics are sicks ! Love the musics. I really like the lights effects on the character and the trail !
Great job !

elZach
 • 5 years ago • 

Hey! Firstoff your graphics work is amazing. Especially looking at the timeframe of a jam and that multiple people were able to strike that much of a visual coherency.

Some things left me puzzled though. On my first playthrough I tried to avoid the glowing crystal by all means as I though I would take contact damage on touching them. (They are indicated as being gameplayelements due to their high contrast and placement on the same depthlevel as the player)

However I also noticed not taking damage from enemies - so it may well have just been bugs or a case of weak playerfeedback. Sadly after completing level 1 the menu kept bugging out and I just couldn't click "next level", when I got the UI to respond again I could only manage to get back to the menu. I proceeded through the level a second time to randomly die when I reached the goal.

So sadly I havent seen that much of the game, but what I saw was promising. Just needs a little tweaking to the gameplay and feedback.

WilliamB
  • 5 years ago • 

Hi, @Spartqui, thank you for your feedback, glad you like the game !

Hey @elZach, thank you for the bug report, effectively we didn't have time to fix all the remaining bugs, the damage thing has not been implemented and should have been similar to sonic game flow, if you take damage, you loose power orbs but you can get back some if you go fast enough.

Thanks again to both of you !

Nanukk Luik
(@NanukkLuik) • 5 years ago • 

Holy gamjam. This is amazing and has so much potential. Sure there isn't any damage or death but you guys have outdone yourselves with gameplay and graphics. Welldone!

DrSkort
 • 5 years ago • 

You guys made a really great game. I like the graphics which look awesome and the music. Maybe you could have added this in the menu, too, because this way there was an awkward silence. I sadly couldn't proceed to level 2 but level 1 was very easy. At first I thought I would have to avoid the enemies and spikes but soon I realized this wasn't the case. This way I just had to run through the level. Also I liked the idea of destroying objects with the trail mechanic but it took me a good amount of time to realize it and it felt a bit random. Still the game is really great and has great potential. I hope you finish it and solve the bug that I can't continue with the next level.

psevrain
 • 5 years ago • 

Quite classic on the gameplay, but what a score on graphics and music.
It is unforntunately not terminated (collision with enemies and spikes do nothing) and thus with no challenge it's not funny very long.
You have good material for a nice little platform game.

Lokior
 • 5 years ago • 

Really good, I was wondering how to correctly use the dash button, it was not super clear.
Classic good Jam platformer. Congrats!

amras0000
 • 5 years ago • 

The graphics are fantastic - they're very polished, the shaders are amazing; the lack of AA was a little jarring but if that's the worst thing I can say about a gamejam entry's graphics then you've done well.

The gameplay I have a bit more of an issue with. Right off the bat, in platformer fashion, I went right on the first screen, jumped over a pit, then continued offscreen to where I thought the next level would be. Instead, I fell off the map.
So I started the game again, waited through the loading, entered the cave again, then went down the center hole. After a while I noticed that I could clip through the enemies. Then I noticed I could clip through the floor. Then I noticed that I could clip through the wall and fell off the map again. I wasn't trying to break the game - this is just from me trying to beat the level.
I eventually came to a point where I think the level is supposed to loop until I do something, since it was pushing me through the same few platforms over and over. So I tried pushing against the side walls to see if there was a hidden exit or something and I fell off the map again.
Then I tried the game again, and this time I must have done something differently because I didn't get stuck in the infinite loop. I got to the bottom of the map, I broke through all the rocks, then when I tried to break through the last rock the game just said "Nice Try" and told me to retry.

I understand that this is a work in progress, and that you were more concerned with getting a solid foundation than with providing a polished product. But the format of the gamejam means I'm forced to examine it as a complete game, and as a complete game it's unplayably buggy and obtuse.

I'm sure you can turn this into a playable product with a bit more work, but you need to get the collisions working properly, prevent the player from leaving the screen, and make it clear what your level design is trying to do. Maybe tweak the air dash mechanic as well, so it's not just "press space to break things" but gives the player some more movement possibilities.

(I also noticed that you don't have a dedicated composer, and it shows. The music felt a little on the generic/repetitive side. Not a huge issue, but worth mentioning.)

I'm sorry to be so harsh on this game. It's outstanding how polished the graphics are for just 2 people, and you had some good ideas and a good interpretation of the theme. In its current state, this is just a really fragile game that breaks frequently and forces me to wait a long time before I can try it again. And that makes for a frustrating experience.

HuvaaKoodia
 • 5 years ago • 

Positives first, I guess. The visuals are mighty fine, I especially like the texture work and selective bloom on the crystals.

Otherwise everything is very much unfinished. The dash doesn't actually dash, nothing causes damage, level end menu doesn't work… Hmm, at least you clearly call it a WIP prototype.

The music is ok. It does overwhelm the sound effects, although I only, barely, heard one effect for picking up the energy orbs.

What can I say? A shame the interaction design and mechanics aren't finished, hopefully you keep working on it.

Takko
 • 5 years ago • 

Wow, incredible work.
I enjoyed a lot the music and the sounds, the graphics are really cool and the gameplay il fluent.
And the menu is a great idea, I loved it.
Your game only missed some health points or way to loose when you toutch some ennemies or spikes, and there's some issues with the wall's collisions.
I'm impressed you've made this under only 48h.
Good job guys !

WilliamB
  • 5 years ago • 

@amras Thanks for your awsome feedback, you almost said everything, we will probably publish a fixed version that will be unranked. Anyway, this was our first game jam as a team and we really learned a lot of this experience.

Thank you everyone for your feedback, the game will be improved in the future.

Prabh
 • 5 years ago • 

WONDERFUL graphics but many mechanics were not that up to mark. Next time try to create a bit smaller and less furnished game than this so you submit a perfect and fully made game and not a prototype.

Rardo
 • 5 years ago • 

I like it all, cant fault it, unless level 2 was meant to be playable?
Two Big Thumbs Up!

WilliamB
  • 5 years ago • 

@Prabh @Rardo Effectively we did not have time to implement level 2, we are taking all this feedback very seriously, thanks to all of you, we learned so much of this game jam !

akusan
 • 5 years ago • 

Really cool graphics. Good job on your game. The gameplay may need some kind of variation though. It feels too easy. But overall i like your game and it looks amazing. Thanks for sharing

SadaleNet
 • 5 years ago • 

The graphic of this game is awesome. It looks professional. It's just great. I guess at least one of the artists of your team is a professional 3D artist. The lighting looks cool. And the blue character looks cute. It reminds me of kirby.

I'm a bit sad that I got "Nice try!" after reaching the goal, tho. Is that all what I get after completing the game? :( Anyway, I guess that's just a placeholder. This game is just a prototype afterall.

BTW, I guess I've found a bug. If I get to the edge the character would freefall.

DaFluffyPotato
 • 5 years ago • 

This is probably the best looking game I've seen so far. The music was pretty good too. Unfortunately, the gameplay is pretty weak. I wish y'all could've finished it. Aside from the physics being a bit buggy, I really don't have much else to say since the game cleary wasn't finished.

Login to comment

Links

Play on Itch.ioGitHub Source

Authors

Kurokawa
ThibHuss
WilliamB
fredericgondeau

Details