GBJam10 - Potbound
Everything becomes trash eventually.
When a bruised onion finds a dying plant in the trash, he agrees to help her find her way out and back to her place on the windowsill. Potbound is a short narrative adventure about power and hope.
Controls
INPUTS | KEYS |
---|---|
UP | up arrow, W |
DOWN | down arrow, S |
LEFT | left arrow, A |
RIGHT | right arrow, D |
A | alt, z, j |
B | ctrl, k, x |
Start | Enter |
Select | Shift |
Status | Prototype |
Platforms | HTML5 |
Rating | Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars (10 total ratings) |
Authors | Polyducks, Lance Campbell, bitmapkid, batfeula, West, DL |
Genre | Adventure, Role Playing |
Made with | Paint.net, GB Studio, Aseprite |
Tags | Action RPG, Cute, Game Boy ROM, GBJam, gbstudio, Narrative |
Download
Development log
- Post-Jam Fixes For Browser VersionNov 22, 2022
Comments
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This game is awesome. I love the graphics and the concept of a game taking place entirely in the trash
I got stuck on the paper scene. Couldn't figure out how to "turn myself around"
Ah snap, that's only the first part of the game too! If I remember correctly, the way you enter the room with the pot defines whether you can move it across the room. Still, you don't need to complete that part to continue onwards, it just gives you more health.
Oh OK! Good to know
I am not sure if this is a bug, or what, but when playing the non-postjam-fix version of the game on a GB emulator, I'm finding the "keepaway" sections of the game randomly unresponsive. Sometimes onion moves the pot immediately, and sometimes won't respond at all. This makes these sections very difficult. I may try the postjam fix version (which I didn't notice at first) and see if that helps.
Postjam fix has a lot of repairs to make the experience smoother - in reality it might be just the poor UX that you're experiencing. On the pointing phase of the keepaway battles you can move your pot freely. When the attack phase happens it locks in the direction you've set. Hope that helps!
Yes, it is most likely that the movement is being locked before you have time to move to a safe direction. That window of safety gets smaller and smaller fairly quickly.
I imagine we probably should have had some sort of visual indicator to show the player when they are beyond the locked off point because it can definitely feel like it is a UI response bug.
You have to be pretty quick to get past the second foe (the first foe, I think, is fairly straightforward) and it gets even tougher beyond that.
It's definitely tough though. Probably the toughest game we have ever made. I wrote the code and I still find it pretty challenging. But, yeah, like Poly said, figure out which is the warning phase and which is the attack phase and use that warning phase to avoid being hit and do it fast.
If you are still having problems, let us know here and I can give you a technique hint I use to make it slightly easier.
Aha! So... I was today years old when I realized that there is a warning phase and an attack phase. I thought the intent was just to react quickly and avoid everything coming from the edges of the screen, and I thought some were "fake" attacks and some were real and you had to react on the fly. Now I see that there's a pattern recognition element. It looks obvious in hindsight. Much easier to manage, now, thank you!
Awesome game!
It was an amazing story, I did my best to make her healty. And at the end I just cried. Thanks
That's wonderful to hear. Thank you so much for playing :~)
Looks great!
very nice game!
I got the messed up ending, but I was save scumming, so it was kind of deserved.
I really appreciate your patience with the game, especially after encountering the hastily patched bug with the banana combat. It was valuable to see where the pathing did and didn't work, and it's definitely a great piece of evidence to see why shorter games are more beneficial. We'll have a fully patched version released anon for a smoother experience.
On behalf of each game you reviewed, thanks for producing such an important document. There are jam entries I've made in the past which now only exist as gameplay videos. You are providing a very important service, thank you.
Such cool game ! Everything fits so well together, from art to music to dialog and gameplay. Got genuine laughs, and the “bond” mechanics really add a lot of empathy in the mix. Love it !
Thank you so much Adel! :~)
Omg aside from everything being good, the music is so great. really awesome job on that!
~<3 Thank you! I'll pass on the compliment to the musician.