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A jam submission

Snowmen's Champion PassView game page

A small mini-game with a cartoonish and nostalgian style.
Submitted by Jan Allersma — 43 minutes, 36 seconds before the deadline
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Snowmen's Champion Pass's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#343.1433.143
Art#393.1433.143
Polish#432.8572.857
Gameplay#472.9292.929
Overall#492.9292.929
Creativity#622.9292.929
Theme Interpretation#722.5712.571

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Wow, I did it!

Controlling with this camera is certainly a bit difficult, but maybe that’s the way it was intended for the challenge, especially when throwing rocks.

The gameplay was a bit lacking. Maybe it would have been great to add some additional targets to catch.

The goal of deaths isn’t entirely clear. As far as I understand, it works more like a timer, and you don’t really influence them, just wait and dodge. If that’s the case, I’d leave only one of these two targets.

Overall, it feels quite dynamic and fun!

Submitted(+1)

Unusual and entertaining game. I enjoyed it.

Submitted

Took quite a while, but I'm officially a Snowman Champion now =)

Pretty tough but fun challenge. I really like the art ... the animation of the snowman in the start screen made me laugh! Needs a bit more work, but it could become a really nice arcade-like game. Loved it!

Developer

Congrats! Really nice to hear. Enjoyed your game a lot too. I already heard some suggestions from others who played it. Do you have some specific suggestions for improvements?

Submitted (2 edits)

Sure, here are a few of my thoughts how to improve/expand the game (without any claim to be good).

The camera view is a nice artistic style, but also a challenge to the player:

  •  I would try to improve the situational awareness (i.e. where the player position is relative to other game objects) with some subtle visual indication of "lanes".
  • The controls should feel more intuitive and precise. So I would align the axis of the controller with the coordinate system of the screen (not with the 3d world one), so UP would mean straight up the screen (not diagonal, i.e. forward in the 3d scene). Btw. did you notice that the controls are mapped differently in the menu screen than during the game? =)
  • To add some "juice", I would experiment with some dynamic camera zooming/following w.r.t. to the player position. And a screen shake when a collision happens!

You are basically mixing a racer with a shoot 'em up, so I would take inspiration from those kind of games:

  • The game is currently very unforgiving. Maybe give the player a health bar or a number of lives, so that the game is not instantly over after a single hit? I wouldn't interrupt the game either, just show some visual effect and reduce a life. Let the race go on. And make the player invincible for a short period of time.
  • I would try to come up with some interesting obstacles (e.g. reindeer, tree trunks, stones, or ditches) that also need to be avoided. Icy or snow-free patches could also be fun if they change the control behaviour a bit. Last but not least, what about jumping? Maybe the player can avoid some obstacles or the fallen enemies with a timely hop.
  • Powerups would multiply the fun for me. I would come up with my own variants of shells, stars, bananas, etc. from Super Mario Kart or similar. This is naturally the place where you can have fun with visual effects the most.

You have currently three goal conditions in the game:

  • I don't feel that this is beneficial. One single obious goal might work better. Say you start at the last position X and need to "overtake" (i.e. get rid off) all of them to win the race.
  • Levels! Start with a short race (a few dumb enemies, no obstacles or powerups) and then increase the difficulty gradually. Introduce a new enemy type, obstacle or powerup every other level or so.

Sorry, this got longer than planned ... I like brainstorming about stuff like that =)

Developer(+1)

Wow! Thank you for your elaborate feedback. This is very useful! :D I was planning to fix the game this marathon, but I already had a different idea for a new kind of game. Nonetheless, I will make a post-jam version of this game. Also, giving your analysis helps me developing future game to look at my games that way (e.g. what genres am I actually combining and how do I get the most out of it?) :)

Submitted

I like the concept, but hitting the snowmen is too difficult. Also, I'd like my character to stand out more from the others - that would make it much easier to keep track of the character.

Developer

Thanks for playing the game! I was afraid that adding an aiming line would make the game too easy. Also, I heard that in a previous comment: that it’s not clear which character is the player. A suggestion was made to encircle the player on the ground. Would that also be a good solution to you, or do you might have another suggestion? :)

Submitted(+1)

Yes, a circle around the player is a pretty good idea. A marker above the player is also an option. Not sure which one is better.

Submitted

Cool vibes! Took a second to realize which snowman I was. Love how the lil dude dances to the music.

Developer

Nice! So what would you think about? An arrow only at the start indicating who you are?

Submitted(+1)

Yeah, I think an arrow could be helpful! Or like a circle decal/outline at the base of the snowman to stand out.

Submitted

fun game~ just missing some juice

Developer

Good to hear! What you mean with juice? More polish? More action?

Submitted

hmmm something like the on hit sound effects or visual effects when throwing the rocks.

Developer

Ah, yeah. That would be a good addition. Especially something like a snow trail behind the snowboards now that I think about it. Thanks!

Submitted

it give me a bit of subway surfer vibes. This could be a game to be played on family guy clips on short content haha
But yeah, its a chill game, i enjoyed it :D

Developer

Great to hear! You saying this, makes me think about this lol

Submitted(+1)

Pretty fun! Great soundtrack. 

Submitted(+1)

Simple and fun

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Vibey soundtrack, simple gameplay, love it.

Good job!