The Cog with no Machine
Made in 1 month for the MVM 23 game jam!
The initial idea, programming, and level design was done by me, the rest of the team worked on music, sound, art, and story, credits are in game.
Explore an abandoned factory and the surrounding city as a small robot with a powerful cog. Discover the mysterious purpose of the factory and uncover the events leading up to its desolation. Who are you, and what is your primary directive...
Sorry if you lost progress, I am done updating for now unless I find a major bug.
Some tips:
- Progress is saved automatically, checkpoints just act as a respawn point.
- Use the pause menu (p) to adjust platforming settings and reference the controls. If you are struggling with orb inputs try the more buffer time option.
Some updates:
- Map now shows location
- Good ending shows completion percent
- Minor adjustments to make the flow of game progression and platforming smoother
- Added Mac and Windows Build
External assets: Craftpix.net: Power Station, Exclusion Zone, Industrial Zone/Industrial Zone bosses and enemies -- 0x72: Industrial Tileset -- Kevin Macleod: Local Forecast - Elevator -- AStar Pathfinding
Download
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Comments
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The game is fun, though I think that there are some places where it isn't very easy to figure out what to do, I didn't know how to kill the boss where the yellow symbols are in the purple and white areas. I currently have only not finished the boss fight in the purple area (4th image) because I don't know how to get it when it's under the floor the 2nd time, I have also only done 1 ending assuming there's 2 because the descriptions talks about a good ending.
I don't see any images but I think you're talking about the section in the top right. You have to throw the cog to the right and fall off the platform so that as it returns it hits the chain orb.
A rather fun little game with some very interesting platforming, but very much falls under the "dev got too used to the controls" that other games encountered (see the game Nauticrawl, where there's a rather interesting blogpost describing how that was caught). Especially in the gauntlet just left of the starting room, it's a bit more frustrating than rewarding trying to "bounce" on the sword points. Other than that I'm enjoying how the boss fights are structured, the story, and the relatively unique upgrades in this metroidvania!
Thanks for the feedback, I'm always looking to improve my level design and make platforming enjoyable. I think i got carried away with the possibilities of the mechanics in some sections and focused on that more than balancing. With that section in particular I wanted to offer a challenge that would become much easier if you get all of the optional upgrades so that they would have more of a purpose, given that the challenge is optional to begin with. Happy you enjoyed it overall!
Ohh, I thought it was required, since I couldn't seem to go down, and I was told to "head to the left", which I interpreted as to that!
Either way, knowing it's optional makes it a lot more bearable, it's just sometimes a pain to deal with the fact that every time I respawn my gear is in a slightly different position, making attempts extremely inconsistent!
I'll repeat that it is pretty darn unique, it's just that, as you said, you got a little carried away, which is pretty easy to do when making something like this ^v^
Update deleted my save data T_T (seeing "last updated 2 hours ago" and my save gone was tragic after having started it yesterday) Im glad i started it again though, it was worth it.
Enjoyable exploration, puzzles and bossfights. Some mechanics can feel clunky at times, but are unique and can feel satisfying.
Awesome level design. At some points i wasnt sure if i was sequence breaking or doing the intended way (its a good thing)
Finished with 92% (completion?)... didnt use any upgrade points for some reason
As for feedback:
- logs font can be hard to read (too bold? maybe its my resolution, but sometimes i cant tell "a" from "e")
- wish there was a way to disable the blade so you could bounce on enemies without killing (but that might be just me trying to sequence break more)
Im sorry about the save data, Im just trying to perfect it as much as i can! I dont think im going to update it anymore but im not sure. Im really glad you liked it! I agree with both points, I might just leave it as is for now, the jam grace period is about to be over and im ready to take a break! I'm impressed on the amount of completion! Did you have a favorite trail?
Also I think you may have played an older version based on the time of this comment so there may have been some broken things.
No worries, enjoy the deserved break! No major issues really, which is impressive... I probably just had bad luck with the save lost on refresh.
I liked the electric trail, reminded me of metroid's screw attack hah
Oh that is my favorite one too!
It's mostly good, but there's some really major problems. First, the map doesn't show you where you are or where the upgrades you missed are, which makes it pretty worthless as a map. There's some parts that seem to rely on the sword being in just the right place, which is theoretically controllable but unless you're capable of doing that it's just annoying RNG. And then there's times where those boosts take you too far, and they move so fast that timing isn't feasible. At the very end, I was just spamming shift and kept failing for not spamming it in exactly the right timing.
Thanks for the playing and giving some feedback! I would've liked to make the map more functional, that was more of a time constraint, its more there just to show you the general shape and size of the world so you can have some idea of scale. The sword positioning is a bit clunky but its doable, I'm not really sure how to improve this issue but there is an ability which makes it easier later. And you can buffer the inputs for the dash orbs, maybe I should make the buffer a bit more generous so it isn't so difficult, I also think its a little easier with autospin which is why its recommended at the beginning but that may just be a personal preference.
The Cog With No Machine Gameplay
Thanks for checking it out!