It's a very interesting and clever little game. I'd say the graphics could be improved, but frankly it fits very much into a stylized form that fits the game, any change there would require a major overhaul.
Author Comments
Winter Bear is looking to get chubby for the winter, but pesky snow slugs have invaded her mountain! Toss snowballs at them, and kick 'em to clear each level. But can you survive the entire winter?
Controls:
Left / Right: Walk
Z: Jump
X: Dig
X + Left / Right: Dig horizontally
Up: Pull out snowball
X: Throw snowball
Down + X: Superjump
platformalist responds:
Hi Inhumaninterest! I'm starting to dig into more detailed graphics for my future games using Love2D and Aseprite, but I really do love PICO-8 for its use of really low-resolution graphics. I'm glad you enjoyed Winterberry, and thanks so much for playing! :)
Why is the superjump also with down+x instead of down+z? Wouldn't it be better to reserve each key to a setting of similar actions (like jump related to z, digging related to x and picking/throwing with up and maybe another key).
Also put what you've wrote in the descripition inside your game (be it as just text in the menu screen or right before playing)
platformalist responds:
Hi Tebyricat! I'd messed with using Z for a superjump, but it felt a little odd because the superjump requires a snowball. Guess my logic was that because X is an action (dig), it would also apply to the superjump. Honestly, I could have applied both buttons to the action, and whoever wanted to use either could have been satisfied. Oh well, lesson learned, I guess. I hadn't thought of putting the instructions on the main screen - they're currently spaced out in the tutorial section, but I guess some folks want to jump right into the action, so having the instructions on the front screen is probably the right choice. Thanks for playing, and thanks for the input. :)
The mechanics are just aggravating. Having to go back and forth between z and x, then also throwing in that the up arrow key isnt used to jump, but instead to summon snow. Also there was really no structure to the game. No story, bad controls, mixed with a plot that gets boring real fast is why Im rating this at 2 stars.
platformalist responds:
Hi WildJasper!
Sorry that you didn't enjoy Winterberry! Thanks for giving it a try, anyway.
Pretty damn nice! The flying you can do whilst super-jumping in the air is addictive as hell, and the game is fun too. I know its addressed, but the only complaints I have is spawning on enemies, and the respawning can be annoying, like if I spawn in a hole in a place where I cannot get out of. The berries you eat have a very short effect, too.
platformalist responds:
Hi Grandpa-Bernie! Thanks for playing. :)
I agree, for future games I should definitely have more protections set against spawning on top of enemies, since that seems to be a pretty common issue. Thanks for the feedback, and I really appreciate you giving the game a try! :)
I like the controls and mechanics of the game though I feel it would have been more fun if it had a story mode and/or ending instead of randomly generated levels. I came across two problems:
- Sometimes you spawn on top of enemies. I had the bad luck of doing this several times in a level and I ended up dying as a result of it.
- You can pick up snow in mid-air. Doing this, you can infinitely jump (I know you can only hold a max of 99 snow, but basically, it feels like you can jump forever).
I wish you luck in your future of game design!
platformalist responds:
Hi Plasmarift!
You're right about spawning on top of enemies - I didn't run into it much during testing, so I didn't put up proper safeguards against it. Being able to grab snow in mid-air is meant to be possible, so you can superjump all around the screen and reach tough areas. In the main mode, jumping forever isn't really possible since you'll run out of snow, but in later levels (once you've built up a stockpile), you can superjump forever!
Thanks so much for playing, and for the feedback. I always appreciate detailed feedback like this! :)
Credits & Info
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Frontpaged December 20, 2018