not bad, pretty good for a rush job really.
GÖRF was made in 48 hours for the GMTK Game Jam 2023.
You are a brave frog trying to catch some juicy flies so you don't starve. However, a dangerous heron is lurking on the side of the river, eagerly waiting for you to emerge from the water to catch the flies...
Update Log:
1.13 - Added personal highscore and it gets saved
1.12 - Fixed some audio issues and made space a shortcut to play again
1.11 - Added a how to play button, back to menu button and feedback for when you try to shoot your tongue underwater
1.10 - Ported to mobile (android only)
1.00 - Game Jam version
not bad, pretty good for a rush job really.
Now I know where the Size Matters frog comes from! :)
As for the game itself? I hope you'll forgive me, but honestly, I can't say the design is good. There's no fluid movement or much strategy. Moving on a grid-based system feels stiff and punitive. Underwater, you can move left and right simply enough (not smoothly), but it doesn't help you get into a flow. The hit detection for the fly seems wonky, seemingly missing when it's touching the fly when not simply difficult to line up, since the there's no way to aim the narrow tongue, so you have to eyeball and hope for the best, and the heron barely telegraphs the bite by just briefly appearing with an open mouth above you for a split second, making it nearly impossible to react, and it's suddenly over in one confusing instant. If you do react in time, you'll still probably die, as you explicitly have to remember to press down, which isn't obvious as your first instinct is to chase the fly, that getting the fly automatically saves you, and there's nothing visually enforcing that you can only go down while above water for some reason. You just have to remember, so it feels like you get stuck a lot. And that's when you're not just missing the fly or dying instantly.
While the concept of a simple arcade game of being a nimble frog to pop out of water to catch flies to avoid a bird works well enough for this arcade game and could be interesting, there's really nothing to keep you engaged. Just a high score number, and that's it. One static challenge, nothing dynamic or interesting, and no possibility for interesting anecdotes.
The best part of the game is the aesthetic style. They're not bad, but they're not interesting. The retro pixelated style is nice, but there's not much to look at. There's the title screen logo, the hastily slapped together default buttons, up to three frames of animation per basic sprite, inconsistent black or white outlines, and the curvature of the fly's path. The sound too is nothing special. The music's fine, not amazing, and the sound effects are underwhelming. At least the details of the rewarding, exaggerated Minecraft chewing sounds in tandem with the frog sprite chewing, and the clown honk with trying to eat underwater are cute.
I'm afraid to say the game is pretty messy. With the gamey abstraction and confusion about mechanics, the distractingly modern sounds vs retro arcade noises, and a decent pixel style contrasting default menu UI, it tends to fall apart.
I can't honestly say I had much fun with the game. On the occasions I could get into a flow with the stiff controls, I tended to die in an instant to the heron, and seems to mostly be an exercise in precision. Mostly, the game left me bored when it wasn't frustrating. My high score was 15 and I didn't care to go beyond that. Finishing a game in 48 hours is always a feat, so props to you for taking on that challenge. Perhaps with some polish to could become a viscerally satisfying challenge. But for me, this game wasn't it.
It's ok, you're forgiven ;)
To comment on your review:
- thx for the feedback :)
- there is one strategy, which is quickly emerging and going back in to then emerge in another spot, which will make the heron go for the first spot you emerged and give you more time above water in the other spot
- i personally really like the music but it doesn't really 'come into it's own' (idk if that's correct but that's what google translate told me) because the game is very hard so you die very quickly
a highscore of 15 is actually really good, my own highscore is 17
- I'm not going to develop it any further, but thanks for the tips
- It's probably an underwhelming game compared to my newer games, but GÖRF was my first ever working game i made with Godot and also my first working jam submission