Cat Queen is best in my opinion, but they’re all fun. I see where people are coming from with the whole reset thing, but I really think it’s part of the challenge. If the feeding segments could be sped up, I think it would be enough to lessen the frustration. And maybe making the final spike climb with the cat a bit easier on the last round? I was able to make it without damage boosting, but rarely. Mouse knight and bird knight seems pretty balanced to me.
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Plus, for those who desire it, the Bird Queen adds a mild forcefeeding element from her protesting. <w<
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Great job Roops! I’m not a platformer guy but it’s pretty fun, I am sure I got almost the best ending for the mouse queen. When reading the comments I was worried about the lack of restart function but seems to me like the game is short enough that it isn’t a huge issue. - I think the fact that losing HP doesnt affect your progress and the fact that there are some unreachable crates should be made clear before you begin. - I restarted when I lost HP more than once only to find out I didn’t need to lol. I reckon for most people this would lessen the need for a restart or checkpoint function 
The only thing I had a silght issue with was some of the platforms that seemed to require a near perfect jump. The generous collider on the player does mitigate this issue though 
My suggestion would be if it takes the character being a few pixels over the edge to make a jump it probably needs shifting a tiny bit.
One other thing I would suggest is when you meet your chosen queen at the end, that you have one section where you can enjoy her picture without the final text box
Great job and good luck in the competition!
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I’m surprised to see that people found the final cat climb almost impossible, as I get through it unscathed almost every time without an issue. I don’t know what I could be doing right other than just jumping off the wall as high as possible to allow the knight to catch himself before sliding into the spikes. Of course now that I’ve said this I will probably fail miserably next time I try.
Also with that right-to-left tower jump, I definitely know that pain, but again I find the cat makes it actually pretty easy. If you miss by a pixel or two you can usually mash the spacebar a little as you fall past and climb the platform like a wall, so it’s a little more forgiving. With the mouse on the other hand, I just keep on plunging past like a rock until I remember to really push the corner jump.
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This is my favorite game so Far, you did an amazing job !
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Huh, funny that, I only ever have issues with that jump when using the cat.
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If I may add another thought, I completely understand wanting to keep the sense of challenge in there, as I said before I love the challenge! Checkpoints and level restarts could undermine that, for sure. But completing levels or dying knowing the queen doesn’t have as much food to get her biggest also makes feeding her less satisfying. When that happens I find myself just quitting and trying again anyway from the beginning. What if imperfect runs or deaths result in the queen eating without your assistance a bit faster, getting as big as she can with what she has, then telling you it wasn’t quite good enough and sending you to the same levels again instead of urging you on toward the end of the game? Making it so finishing the queen’s missions requires repeating levels until you get her as much food as she can eat could be the answer. That way beating the game is still a challenge, and the end of each queen’s run always has the maximum reward of the queen at her fattest.
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I really like this game! It’s pretty darn well polished, very replayable, art is super nice, and the Queens (and “Queen”) are 
. With simple lines and zero shading, you still managed to make their highness’s look quite soft. The location each Queen is situated in also look really nice, just well done all around! Also like the themes each group is (The Greeks, Egyptians, and… Revolutionaries? Perhaps while the abandoned building vibe with oil cans might be a little off in the aspect of world building, it’s fitting for the group. If you were perhaps looking for a group of people more set in the past that might fit the role, I’d recommend the Celts. They’re a group with a bit of a fighting spirit and green is a color that fits them quite well).
The gameplay is fun and responsive and some levels can be quite the challenge! The fact that you have 3 unique characters that sport their own benefits and consequences is really nice, and they’re all pretty balanced too. I much prefered the mouse and cat over the bird controls wise. Having to time each flap of the wings did feel a little weird to me and that presented a bit of a fear with those spikes, though with enough time I probably could have learned it like with the cat climbing. That and I just have a preference for more agile characters. Either way, the trial and error means of learning how to navigate the map was quite fun.
The story was also simple but served its purpose well. Each Queen while unique in theme and appearance was also drastically different in personality. The difference in response when you fed each of them really added to the moment while also distinguishing their attitude toward their meal. If you continue working on this game and release more stuff later on (which reading your responses to some of the ideas makes it sound like that might be the case) I wonder what you’ll do with the story. I already see a few more kingdom ideas floating around, but what else might you be planning? Higher weights? More levels? Increased interactions with the Queens aside from just feeding? The pig kingdom get mad at all the missing food resulting in war? The ability to serve under the pig kingdom?
We may never know until you release a new edition
Whatever you do for a newer version if it is made, I’ll be ready for it all the same
On the topic of a restart button, perhaps if it’s added you could have it send them to the beginning of that group of levels. It wouldn’t send them all the way back to the beginning, but some effort would still be needed to complete it. Personally I agree that being able to achieve everything is a task that should be earned, even if it becomes tedious in some aspect. If it’s to help less experienced players be able to complete the game, maybe add a difficulty bar specifically for them. It would allow restarting as an option while still allowing those looking for a challenge to go at it. Perhaps to make the higher difficulty still worth striving for, make special endings exclusive to that once getting everything. Maybe even a little badge on the character option to show your accomplishments!
One more thing, my favorite Queens from top to bottom:
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Cat- She knows what she wants, and she’s letting you know what she wants. Very strong leader.
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Bird- She doesn’t like carrying around the extra weight, but she’ll do it for her people. A very kind heart
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Mouse- We all know what she’s there for, to sneak a few extra meals. Her heresy must be stopped
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Oh boy! I woke up this morning to NINETEEN new comments! You are all incredible! I can’ t thank you enough for the feedback. I’m going to attempt to reply to as many of you as I can with info that I hope is helpful. Sorry for the long post!
Regarding Bug Fixes/Future Patches.
A million thanks for reporting the bugs. I’ve actually fixed all of the reported ones on my LOCAL version of the game, but alas, I won’t be able to upload it until the judging is over. That said, here’s a list of what will be fixed, so please keep reporting if you find others!
- Fixed typos during dialogue for Mouse Queen
- Fixed an issue where the player had a low chance of getting temporarily stuck in a wall when turning right before falling off a platform.
- Fixed glitch where pressing up twice on a level exit would skip levels/feeding scenes
- Fixed collision on Mouse Maze where player could fall off of the map
- Fixed issue where “up arrow” on the staircase was rendered in front of player
@onipuck @Muffintopmanor1 @AlexKay @Shatteraura
Regarding Difficulty
Feedback like this is so crucial to game design, so thank you. As a developer, you playtest so much that it’s hard to know what is too easy or too hard for the players. Due to the small time frame and the ambition of the game (WHY did I make THREE characters for a two week jam hahaha) a lot of levels were pretty rushed. I just replayed that tower climb, and you are absolutely right. Those jumps are unforgiving! Before the official next patch, I plan to do a LOT of level clean-up and improvement. Additionally, the proposed idea of a checkpoint system before a GROUP of levels is a very reasonable compromise, so thank you to everyone who added to that discussion! I plan to add that in the next update (see update section at bottom of post).
@someoneoutthere (thank you for such a thorough review! Also see the bugfix section for the level exit glitch–thanks for pointing it out! Side note: I actually thought about an armadillo knight because of how fun that mechanic would be! But I have no idea how to make an armadillo queen sexy hahaha…)
Cat Climbing Mechanics/Difficulty
I initially programmed the cat to be capable of “sticking” to walls and climbing much as you described. However, I found like that took away from the weight mechanic. I kind of wanted the climbing to feel frantic, like a fat cat struggling to get over a wall. It sounds like there’s some more tweaking I can do to make it feel better and less difficult though. (And less tiring on the spacebar when heavy!)
PLANNED UPDATES
You’ve all blown me away with all the creative suggestions, and while I can’t include them all, I want to give a spolier-free list of what you can expect from the next update (which is going to take some time!)
- Better dialogue and MORE dialogue from the Queens
- Improved sound effects and the addition of original level music
- Additional levels and rebalanced previous levels with a smoother difficulty curve
- Fatter Queens (of course) and some extra rewards for the perfectionists
- “Speed Feed” mode to allow you to rapidly get through the feeding scenes on repeated playthroughs. This will be a toggle, so you can skip the ones you’ve done and slow it down when you get to the new content.
- A checkpoint system of some sort. I like the suggestion of a checkpoint before a SET of levels. That way you still have to work for it, but you do get some forgiveness.
- And lastly, an open position for a willing Pig Knight to serve a certain gluttonous and vengeful Queen…
But don’t think that’s the end! I consider those changes to be what is requried to put the game in a “Version 1.0” state. If people keep having fun playing, I’ll keep having fun creating! I have taken your ideas for new knights/queens and some of my own and plan to have a poll for people to vote on for the next character to add after Version 1.0 is complete.
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This whole thing is immensely impressive and the planned updates sounds fantastic, is there any way to support this project more than just ideas and reporting bugs?
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Sounds ace 
Since you are willing to develop the game further then, to echo an earlier poster here, I can happily see myself supporting the venture on Patreon or the like, or buying a gold release of the game.
It’s clear that this game has legs and I’m excited to see where it will go!
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Can’t wait!
I feel like a lot of the games (This one in particular) submitted for this Jam have a lot of potential.
This one is my personal favorite!
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Just finished playing through the game and I wanted to say how much fun I had! It was challenging without feeling like it was bullshit, and I found myself trying the different queens again and again to try and get perfect runs. Also, the personalities of each queen were really fun to explore.
Oh, and big props for using gender-neutral language for the knight - it really helped me stay invested in the scene! Wonderful submission, all around <3
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How the hell do you go up from the Cat Queen ending? She already hops on the knight’s dick after a perfect run; at her current rate, she’ll be building a time machine to bang over the 4th dimension. Y’know, if she can fit in it by that point…
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Well you heard Her Highness, she can still eat more. I imagine she won’t stop until she’s had the best that all the known realm has to offer, and more besides!
Oooh this is sounding really good! I can’t wait to see what you come up with, Roops! I’ve always love many different kingdoms/factions in stories!
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hm… vengeful… I might see why pig kingdom are greedy…
Nice Checkpoints, Fatter queens and I can see the pig Queen… this is GAME of the Year for me.
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I’d be vengeful too if some buggers kept nicking all me cheese wheels!