next »

[agj]

It will be brutal, yet fair.  The first person to actually beat it will dedicate the game for eternity to whomever they like.

This is brilliant. BUT: considering the second highlighted point, I think you should remove the first point, so that it takes effort to beat it that one first time. Otherwise, pretty much the first person to play it will get to dedicate it.

[Jonathan Whiting]

I wonder what the chance is of someone dedicating this to an obscene word : P

Fairly high I'm sure.  I think I'm okay with that though.

It will be brutal, yet fair.  The first person to actually beat it will dedicate the game for eternity to whomever they like.

This is brilliant. BUT: considering the second highlighted point, I think you should remove the first point, so that it takes effort to beat it that one first time. Otherwise, pretty much the first person to play it will get to dedicate it.

When I say fair I simply mean that I won't be playing masocore tricks on players.  To dedicate the game a player will have to complete the entire thing without dying once.  This *should* be very hard, but we'll see.

[Jonathan Whiting]

I finally finished the level design (exercise and tiredness got in the way last night).  The build is updated.

This build also has what will become practice mode enabled, meaning when you die you only get bumped back to the last heart.  I figured not every one would be interested in commiting to trying for a true one life completion.  So the practice mode should fill that void a bit.

It should now be possible to get a pretty good feel for what the final game will be like.

Still quite a bit to do: sound, music, polish, front-end, dedication.. but I'm pretty happy with how it's progressed so far.

[Inanimate]

Wow, this is amazing! I love the bite-size feel it has.

[Draknek]

This last section at the bottom is cruel. Got to the final room once but haven't managed it again since. Got all the other hearts though.

Really liking it. 

[Jonathan Whiting]

This last section at the bottom is cruel. Got to the final room once but haven't managed it again since.

Excellent, cruelness there is certainly the intention .  I have managed to make it all the way too the bottom and then back out again (the return will incidently be mandatory), but only the once.  If anyone does manage to dedicate it I want them to have earnt it.

Really glad you've been enjoying it guys.  I'd been worried (as usual) that I was making the sort of game that'd only appeal to myself.  So thanks!

[agj]

I think that this is plenty punishing.

[increpare]

had another wander around there.  niceeee

[Jonathan Whiting]

This is still progressing pretty well.  I've mostly been working on the necessary but slightly tedious FE/interfacey bits though, so there's no new builds as of yet.  I'm hoping I'll have something near finalized by the weekend.

[Slash - Santiago Zapata]

I need the last heart

[Jonathan Whiting]

It is definitely possible to get it, but it's also the biggest puzzle in the game.  Think laterally.  (If anyone has the solution, please don't spoil it!)

[HybridMind]

Really like how this is coming along. I played it a bunch last night but was too damn exhausted to do very well. I did manage to reach some brutal bottom area that is probably what the others are talking about. Wish I hadn't lost what feels like 80% of my platforming chops...

I continue to really like the look and feel of this game though!

[JMickle]

I got all the hearts, but there is no way in hell I am going to try and get them all without dying. Good game, I love the heart-jump thing of it, its really a great idea.

[Melly]

I really like the heart-jump, like love pushes you higher.

The game has a really charming look and feel. All you need now is a soft song and some cute jump noises to go with it.

[Jonathan Whiting]

I managed to use a few bits and pieces of my evenings whilst on holiday to finish this off, so it's finally done, yay!

Play the finished thing here!

Love,
  Jonathan

[miconazole]

What's the difference between practice mode and the proper game? Because I just beat practice mode and feel a little empty inside

[Jonathan Whiting]

What's the difference between practice mode and the proper game? Because I just beat practice mode and feel a little empty inside

In the proper game you have to restart the entire game every time you die, and if you manage to win you can dedicate the game to whoever forever.

Practice is all well and good, but sometimes you need to be devoted.

[Toeofdoom]

It looks like a cool game, but I can't actually get to your website. "Firefox can't find the server at jonathanwhiting.com." fairly consistently. Any idea why that might be, apart from my ISP? I'll try again tomorrow or something anyway since it's probably a DNS issue, just a heads up.

[PsySal]

Great game, I concur with melly that the heart jumping is a great mechanic.

[Jonathan Whiting]

It looks like a cool game, but I can't actually get to your website. "Firefox can't find the server at jonathanwhiting.com." fairly consistently. Any idea why that might be, apart from my ISP?

I'm afraid not.  jonathanwhiting.com is a 'new' alias for jwhiting.nfshost.com but it's been that way for about a month now, and I've had no problems here, so it seems unlikely to be related.  If you're still having difficulties do try http://jwhiting.nfshost.com/coding/loveletter/

Great game, I concur with melly that the heart jumping is a great mechanic.

Thanks   I'd actually wondered if the mechanic was a bit simplistic, but I'm pretty happy with the way it all melded together in the end.