reIterate()

Thanks for the free key on /v/ will play later and leave a proper review

Overall its a very solid game. The game is definitely as advertised "A modern-classic 2D precision-platformer". Here is my general feedback: Criticisms: - Not really super critical I just don't like the jump sound. I don't know why it just feels off. - I use a switch pro controller for steam games, the buttons that it displays when i am connected are wrong so I guessed until I find the correct input for time slow. Not a big deal, and not hurt over this, I've seen triple A games mess this up. - I thought the game was bugged when I fell off and it didn't reset. Didn't realize it was because I had to press the jump button again. I had died before and was probably trying to jump when I died, so I didn't notice for a bit. I think a gentle "jump to restart" floating in after an amount of time would be a good idea. - Story doesn't add as much as hoped for. [spoiler] It feels like a back and forth of "do you trust me" the entire game between the 2 characters(?) who want to be more grandiose/important than each other, and then all the actual plot got dumped into a file for you to read once the game has been complete. It results in no investment to whatever is going on. A good story should be implemented through the game mechanics, and if it can't, it really doesn't have any place being there. [/spoiler] General comments (neutral): - Game progressed at a decent rate and the last levels get extremely difficult. This is due to how slippery the player can feel which is both a benefit and a hindrance depending on when, but it's consistent. - The enemy that follows you encourages a different type of movement while simultaneously being the thing that would frustrate me to no end. - The art is programmer art. Its functional and does it's job (except for once or twice I mixed up a bouncy pad for the one that falls due to visual similarity). Visual effects definitely enhance it. Positives: - First off, music guy did very good job. Compliments to the chef, all absolute bangers and aesthetically appropriate. - I think a good majority of these levels are extremely well designed and well paced. It follows the golden rule of introduce a mechanic in a safe environment and let the player slowly get used to it. - Just generally felt polished gameplay wise, which is what this game sought to be.

one thing ive realized about myself is that im incredibly passionate about brutally challenging games even more than im dispassionate about grammar and punctuation, for a quick picture ive beaten Super Meat Boy multiple times 100%-ed all of The End Is Nigh up to Nevermore (for now) and the only games i seem to add to my libraries are notoriously hard ones Geometry Dash, Rain World, Spelunky, etc as a artist, programmer, and aspiring game designer, ive always taken note of what i love about my favorite games in the hopes that i could make something just as great one day so when i first found LTGD on yt, around 7 posts in, i was pretty interested to see someone else actually "live the dream" of making their own 2d platformer -a brutally realistic, not very dreamlike dream as it turned out but after that whole journey, i was invested enough to buy the final product i played the base game, then went back for all the collectibles, then beat all of black edition and after being flattered enough (the addage is a lie apparently) im here the game has good controls. good, as in they get the job done everything in them is rigid; holding jump wont make the protagonist jump higher, or fall slower and tapping jump to avoid ceiling hazards wont stop you from going full speed into them theres no nuance or variation in them at all, other than the natural acceleration of falling, if that even counts but the game isnt built around the controls, like super meat boy its built entirely around the obstacles and level design and believe it or not, that works, do it in the sequel if you like the rigidity gives the game a lot of identity in how it plays and suits both the main character and the world, intentional or not that said, the level design, being the only thing this game has other than narration wasnt as thoroughly explored as it couldve been big shock, i know, being a first-game and all but the game relies way too heavily at just throwing obstacles as the player which can be fun, but after playing for a while, i start to realize that most of what i'm doing is holding right, getting thrown around by spring pads, and pressing jump at the right time the spikes may move in a lot of different ways, but im going to rush past them all in the end and my ring finger is going to hurt from holding the right key theres no *flirtation* with death nothing to force me to dance around in a small area with a relentless enemy until a risky opening appears nothing making me sit and stare at a seemingly-impossible setup, until i realize the one simple trick that makes it easy, changing how i play the entire game going forwards (and when i go back to play it all over from the start) im not having to go back through the same area again and again with the ground disappearing each time, or new hazards being released with each switch i have to press to get out in other words theres pleanty of hazards but nothing designed to force me to stay and engage with them in different ways what the level design does do really well, is explore all the different synergies between different hazards the chaser changes everything when its introduced, and makes it so you cant wait around for different cycles to happen so naturally its paired, one by one, with every cycle-based hazard in the game pushing you out of your comfort zone and forcing you to find the ideal route to take without stopping for anything theres still some synergies i was disappointed never happened ...alright one synergy chasers, with different types of disappearing platforms blocking their line of sight to you temporarily there were only horizontal disappearing platforms used in-game though, so i understand how that couldve been impractical one interesting game mechanic is the ability to slow time being stubborn i ignored it for my entire first playthrough only opening up to it after the credits rolled and... ...its really great it did help me with frustrating moments, but i used it just as much, if not more, for playing things riskier weaving in and out between several projectiles and swinging spike bars, all pixels away from me i couldnt be expected to play like that at normal speed, but it opened a lot of new possibilities for me the artstyle is very memorable, and i wouldnt change it except for one thing its not readable during regular-speed gameplay i cant tell where one moving platform's path ends and another begins i still confuse portals with platform switches and i confuse every type of platform with every other type of platform i cant hold every different pattern in my head, definately not fast enough to react to them on the spot as a pretty hard dyspraxic that sucked for every platform in the game not-visible from the start, i had to touch every platform on my journey running right to discover what each one did some flung me into the ceiling, some dropped me in pits, some i wasnt sure if they were about to blip out of existence so i would panic and die some other way i understand that for the art style, you cant sacrifice the monochome/2-bit color theme, but consider changing the shapes of the platforms a bit more to make them more readable the springs can have rounded edges on the top, maybe a pixel or two taller to look spongier vanishing platforms can have dotted outlines you can even slap a quick accessibility mode that just makes the different objects different colors whatevers easiest for you i just cant be expected to tell the difference between these two, functionally completely-different platforms: https://imgur.com/a/NJRQCIh other than that the art style works surprisingly well, everything dangerous is covered in sharp, repeating angles, the solid ground of the levels have 3 white outlines, and the simplicity of the backgrounds made even small compositional changes very effective, especially towards the end of the game you may not be detail-oriented but you have a sense for composition, keep developing that! theres a lot i could say about black edition, but its all stuff you already know it was rushed uninspired because of what point the development was at you didnt have the time or energy to reinvent every level, only enough to add hazards on top yadda yadda yadda i hope you understand tho that since you have 138 levels in this game, everyones gonna expect at least 138 levels in the sequel, not sure how you should handle that but just a heads up that and, as interesting as the story was in white edition, black editions laid back, direct commentary was much more engaging to me, idk if it was more because i was a LTGD viewer, or because its such an interesting change of pace from the original story, but think about it final thoughts Reiterate(), even removed from LTGD, embodies the want to create games ive had since childhood aesthetically its a weird unintentional blend of one of my favorite flash games growing up, Exit Path, the first big platformer i made as a kid, and all the scratch.mit platfom games i played, with the floating text inside the levels themselves it wierdly scratches a very specific itch i didnt know i had, and for a first game, its well done just needs some polish, like saving your button remappings, and letting you select levels youve reached, not just levels youve beaten for a sequel, i would love to see the time controlling mechanic be explored more fully, and not just as an accessibility feature i mean the protagonist can control time, how cool is that itd be cool to have levels almost endlessly ramp up difficulty/the tight squeezes between projectiles you could make it so that everything moves slower, but you move a little less slow, so there gets to be a point where you can only do certain feats in slo mo, if you'd like to go that far if you did though youd have to invent an interesting way for players to want to exit slo mo occasionally tho its your game either way, and im interested in whatever your next project may be

This is the best game I have played since 1066.

Let's make a negative review sandwich: - The creator of the game, is a gem of a person. - Controls could be tighter. It made the game feel harder than I couldn't tap my controller and make really small adjustments. I'm not saying the controls are floaty, but they could tighten up. - On falling platforms, I'd try to jump, hear the jump sound effect, but not jump. Not a big issue on most levels, but there's at least one where this was driving me crazy. - There's one level with four boxes in it. You jump straight up to and try to double jump, but just being close to the wall, you double jump. Kind of odd behavior. - Odd difficulty spikes. Level 40 was a second hardest level after level 69. - Game is too difficult for old people like me. - Guns don't also have to be spikes. You get used to it, but looking at guns you'd think you could jump on them. Could have been more creative there. - Issues where the joystick didn't work super well. I sometimes had to close the game and start it back up. - Saving issues where you might have to repeat a level. Not always a big deal, but it sucks if you get taken back to a hard level. That really only happened once. - The game has a slight delay when starting where you can't move. Games like Super Meatboy start you right in, and that is better for timing and all that. You kind of get use to it though. - Game was the proper length. If it were much longer, I probably wouldn't have finished. - Platforms felt good. The disappearing platforms give you that extra micro second after they disappear where you can still jump off of them and that was a very clever design. The bouncey platforms worked really well. I really liked all of them. - Game feels fair overall. Even though I've cried a bunch during this review, it mostly because I'm bad at games. The reaction times are really fast and you accelerate really fast toward, but it's fair. - Double jump feels really good. - Lots of times you can just run and jump. That's always fun. I prefer when it's possible to complete a level or a good part of it, with excellent timing while just running. - Game looks great. The graphics aren't technically sharp, but they work really well. - If the game looks like you'd like it, then you'll probably love it. - There's a slowmo button. I only ever pushed it accidentally, but it's nice that it's there for people who would use it. - The difficulty spikes inside of the level were pretty spot on. Level 69 and maybe one other are exceptions, but most of hardest bits, are early to mid level. The ends are hard too, just not as hard. - Lots of easy levels. It's nice to have the learning level. Making games is difficult and I appreciate the method the creator took. While the review looks harsh, it is still a positive review. I think it's the type of review this dev can hopefully appreciate even if he doesn't agree. I think the dev has a lot to be proud of. He made a good game.

Awesome platformer. So happy to support this developer! I agree with the trailer, ReIterate() is some of the purest platforming you will find.

I'd give this game a 8.5/10, because this is an overall good game. I think the thing that really makes this game work is that you know why you failed, I'm a bit of a noob at platforming games so I had difficulty getting past levels, but I felt (for the most part) that I could've done better and that there was something I could've done differently to beat a level. The only problem is that the jumps sometimes don't register, I know why it happens, it's because I press the jump button too early before I land, but I'd like some feature (maybe in the options) that allows you to change the window that you have to perform a jump, other than that, the game is worth my time.