Strata (Demo)

Really love the game. I know it's just a demo, so I'm giving feedback on what I noticed during my gameplay.

W̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶j̶u̶m̶p̶s̶ ̶ ̶f̶e̶l̶l̶s̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶e̶r̶e̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶p̶o̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶j̶u̶m̶p̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶o̶u̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶,̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶j̶u̶m̶p̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶o̶u̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶h̶e̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶.̶ ̶ ̶(̶J̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶m̶ ̶-̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶A̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶D̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶j̶u̶m̶p̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶d̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶o̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶c̶h̶a̶n̶i̶c̶,̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶x̶e̶c̶u̶t̶e̶ ̶-̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶:̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶m̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶j̶u̶m̶p̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶d̶e̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶)̶

Just understood how the are supposed to work, so never mind this above, but you should still do something about the wrong way to do them - holding A or D and timing your jumps, just make it impossible to do it that way so people don't waste half an hour like me to try climb walls, because it feels like it just was supposed to be hard to climb and it is possible that way.

There should be some indication you touched the ground, as you don't really know when you can start another dash-slide-jump combo and you often just dash, because you are in the air and cannot slide and it kills your momentum.

When you dash off a platform you are powerless to do anything, I think you could try giving a 1 frame timing (with buffered jump during the dash) to jump even when not being on the ground. #Played some more and I really despise this.

You don't have to touch to wall to fall slower.

Quality of life - You could make the mouse vanish when you touch the keyboard so it isn't visible on the screen as you don't use it and you don't need it.

Probably Bugs:

It doesn't register your position is eligible for a wall jump when you touch the bottom corners of the wall.

When you spam the dash button really fast, sometimes you can enter a strange state in which you are sliding without pressing the slide button, you cannot dash, and you can exit this state by jumping or pressing the slide button and it will un-slide you.

When you try to dash and jump at the same time (probably frame perfect) or with slight delay (2 consecutive frames or something similar) strange round particles start coming off you and you are unable to do anything (jump, dash, slide), you can unstuck yourself by resetting (r), dying or falling of the edge (probably it just needs to register that you touched to ground).

When you try jumping during the dash it will make you unable to slide after you exit the dash animation killing you momentum and destroying the dash-slide-jump combo, as you won't jump because it doesn't buffer your jumps during the dash and you won't slide because of the bug. #This too

Sorry for English btw

my ps4 controller doesn't work with the game besides jumping. I can't even move left or right on the controller, and I have beaten an (almost) grandmaster Celeste map on my controller, can't even do an ultra on my keyboard. I find DSJs really hard on keyboard, and have no idea where this fabled "controls menu" is supposed to be. 

I've been working on a game like this for afew weeks when I saw your youtube video on my home page, when I watched it, I realized... That you are WAY better at this than me, (I've only been using unity for like a month) and that my game still needs a "LITTLE" work. Good Job and awesome game!

Also if you don't mind me asking, How did you get so good at level design, and how in the world did you make the movement so, smooth and soft, but also responsive and fast?

First, why does the Escape key restart and P for the dash in the keyboard control? I can't exit the game to the main menu...

The learning curve is too steep, you throw me to a large map with the unknown.  The movement is not as satisfying as I think. I feel like I need many hours to master the game but the game doesn't tell that to me.

And after the corner slide, you can't dash? intentional? it bad.

Too many soft locks with force you to restart. 

The boost mechanic as you describe in your yb video is interesting, but I feel like it is required to beat the game somehow. With is okay but feels like this is an advanced mechanic where you aren't required to beat the "game" but are required to beat the "time"

Not as good as I think, I don't feel like spending hours mastering this game, the game doesn't give me some reason to master it. Still a early stage of game dev through could be change.

Hey there! Just played through the demo and I'd like to report a small bug (I think) that I found on my playthrough. Judging by how inconsistent it feels, I'd imagine this is a bug. If you change your direction after a wall jump (whilst in the air), you can gain height as it gives you a small boost - very similar to neutral jumping from Celeste. This is cool tech if it's intentional, and if it's not, then it's a cool bug.

Great little game. I discovered it through the YouTube vid I/O made, came because I was curious to try it, and, honestly, the main reason I'm finding myself booting up the game now is  for the music... The soundtrack is phenomenal.

Regarding the gameplay itself, here's my experience in case it is useful for the development (this is my first time posting on itch, I'm assuming this is where i can give feedback, but, if not, I can move this!):

1. Positive: The indirect way the game design teaches you about the mechanics of the game I think was done really well. I picked up the game after watching the first video breaking down the design philosophy behind the game, and I was still surprised at how effective the level design was at teaching the movement mechanics;

2. Negative: That said, there was one mechanic that I really struggled with - it took me a long time to figure out how wall jumping worked exactly... Because of this, I actually found Level Two significantly harder than Level Three. I think the fact that it's something you can do the game introduces effortlessly, I did my first wall jump without giving it a second thought. But it took me a long time to understand that when you first wall jump there's a brief moment where your character sticks to the wall, giving your fingers time to change the inputted direction... I did eventually figure it out with trial and error, but i found it very frustrating. Don't know if anything can be done about it, but wanted to mention it;

3. Bugs: there are also two bugs I ran into. The major one is that my sliding is inconsistent... It doesn't feel like it always registers. I don't know if it's user error, or something to do with my keyboard, or something else... Its just, since this is a game about movement, not being able to control movement smoothly stands out... I can try to capture some video footage if it's helpful. Secondly, as with DarkAtrium, the level selection menu, the settings menu, and also the image with the control buttons at the start of level one all clip outside the edges of my screen (playing on a 2k monitor in case that matters). It honestly doesn't impact the gameplay experience at all, just mentioning it. 

4. Suggestions: lastly, a suggestion: i think it would be really cool, and helpful, if there's a visual way to show the user when the dash has been used up, and when it can be used, like in Celeste. 

Excited to see where this game goes! 

when i opened the settings it looked like this and wont let me leave settings(I have not zoomed in, this is my entire screen)

The windows defender says it's a virus, but it's safe. Right? Right?

Linux support when?

Hey leo, Is it okay if we can put this game into our bundle? Cheers, D Games

My run in level 1

gamepad doesn't work, unfortunately, I wanted to play the game with a gamepad

It first said it was a problem with Windows Defender, so I temporarily turned it off, now it's saying this,

OS: Windows 11 Beta Insider Build                                                                              Browser: Opera GX                                                                                                                              Version attempted to be installed: 12.3quite goofy isn't it (10.9 works lol)

Seems like space is slide, and S is Jump? I'm guessing it's just a couple of lines being swapped around accidentally 🙏

os: W10, version: Test Build 12.2 MASSIVE INPUT OVERHAUL.exe

I just got the gold medal without dashing or sliding xD.

found a really really easy to pull off triple jump bug

It isn't letting me install through the itchio app? It says

cannot read property 'build' of undefined

and when I tried again I noticed there was a bit that says "Install" and a box that says "Select" to its right but when I click the box it doesn't give me any options to select

Very fun, current pb is  18.86 after about 5-10 mins of playing. Movement feels nice, just wishing i could rebind controls but that's not something i really expect this early on.

Have a weird bug where the first blue block has turned completely invisible. It still has collision  and behaves like it should but it's just not visible.

two things, one it has some bugs but as a developer I don't expect there to be none(if I pressed esc before touching the start checkpoint I spawned at another checkpoint and if I dashed into a wall it would stop letting me move until I dashed again)

and second, could you make w a jump button option as well(it is ok if you do not), this is because I am terrible at 2d platformers with space bar jump. 

Anyway, I love this game and will definitely follow its development.

ya I downloaded it (had to turn off windows defender) and the file got scanned as a trojan virus after a scan... Maybe distributing the game as a portable instead of an exe would fix the isue... it might just be a bug with windows defender. Either that, its a worm and corruped the file Leo uploaded, or Leo's distributing viruses. I'm leaning toward the first one and if so it's not really a bug just windows defender being incredibly weary of .exe files

Skimmed the other comments to not double report a bug, but not seeing this one. Not sure if its intentional, but if you hit R to go to checkpoint before you've started the game at all, it teleports you to the halfway point on the level. If you finish the level and then hit escape and restart from the start, it no longer tracks your time at all.

found a bug where you can activate one of the respawn triggers to skip to the second door crystal part by going skipping the path up, then jumping and colliding with the bottom of that piece of terrain.

Thanks to whoever it was who donated, very based.

what the hell

Wanted to play on Steam Deck, but the Download is only Windows. :(

You defenetly did something there, this games movement can be mastered to a high degree, I can tell even though I only played for a few minutes. But there are also a lot of bugs, my encounters so far were:

-getting stuck in corners

-dash and/or jump  beeing entirely disabled 

both could be resolved by getting off the ground (falling off a ledge, using a jump pad or jumping if possible)

so I would guess that the player can clip into the terrain due to having slightly changing hitboxes throughout diffrent animations, hope this helps, keep going, the game is on a good way from what I can tell.

Edit:

Also add fastfalling

Not really sure if I should mention this or where, but you can go into the walls by clipping into the corners, if you want to replicate this pretty much just jump at the crack in the far left wall until you clip through(I tried to get a video of it, but for some reason obs records the game specifically at like 1 fps)

B|

Wanted to play but i only have a Mac... you can add a HTML build to reach more players if you can

New PB! (This doesn't affect the cameo competition. The in-game Developer time will remain 11.7 seconds).