Ravenia

Great

I really enjoyed playing through this. I think it hit the difficulty curve very nicely. I really wish it had some form of saving, such as after 5 or 10 levels, offering if you want to save, or something, so I didn't have to do it all at once. 

I really liked the color scheme, and the sprites. The only thing is that I wish the spikes were not solid gray. Everything else that is solid gray is a wall. So I several times just walked right into them without realizing it.  You could change the color, or even include some pallet swapping to pseudo induce a spike-moving animation.

I really liked the mechanics, especially the teleport. There were a couple of what seemed like bugs, but hear me out here. They are good. You should keep them. 

1. You always left two blocks for when you had to face a direction. But it is totally possible to place the portal, then orient yourself correctly elsewhere and port on in staying in the same direction. 

2. If you shoot off the portal, and then hit B again before it hits the wall it,  pauses, but isn't able to be used. 

3. The portals can be used to block the sliding books.

4. If you move while shooting the portal, you can steer it. 

All of these "bugs" if discovered can only serve to make the levels easier. 

I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAN IN-TO THESE AS FEATURES AND MECHANICS. 

If you slowed down the travel speed of  the portal to more easily control these, you could design some more levels that require them, and teach them later. Meanwhile if players discover them ahead of time, it makes a few of the levels easier due to their cleverness, and they will like that. 

You are doing a great job, and I totally look forward to the next episode. 

I hope you consider to put them all in one ROM when you finish the series. 

Sweet game! I really enjoy how you managed to make a red and green color scheme palatable. The portal mechanic gives you a lot of mileage. I would prefer to have a separate button for throwing and teleporting, but I guess that's not so easy with only gameboy controls available. I would have liked a stronger notification when the exit is open, and when you actually complete the level. Getting the last chest into place while standing on the exit tile doesn't finish the level - you have to step off and back on. One time I couldn't activate the exit at all, even though all chests were on the markers.

The portal throwing does have some major bugs. If you mash the throw button, you can keep on throwing it over and over, and it will sometimes even get stuck in-between tiles. If you teleport to that you will be unable to move (unless you portal again). You can also redirect it by moving around while the portal is mid-flight. After doing this it would usually just re-throw instead of teleporting if I hit the button again. Sometimes I wouldn't realize and think I was going to teleport, but instead I throw a new one, ruining the level. Perhaps the player should freeze while the portal is thrown, similar to the sliding chest.

Thanks. There can be never enough puzzle games :) (especially for the Game Boy!)

I don't usually play, I prefer to make them :) , but I'm stuck with this game. Brilliant !!!! Many thanks for making it, masterpiece! I found a bug in it, but maybe I'm doing something wrong ?

Hey, I played the game (through the 22 levels); by the way, I have started learning Game Boy development partly thanks to you. ;)

First, I liked how this is a sequel to Rewind Time; without spoiling, there is not only a character that makes a comeback, but also some music. ;) More importantly, the two chest mechanics are back. There is a nice effort in dramatisation, through the careful title screen, the introduction (where I immediately spotted the cheeky allusion to Rewind Time in the dialogue!), transition sequence (going from the garden to the castle), and especially ending sequence, including the unique animation. (Also liked the cute demon head on the final "i". :p I do not remember if there was such one for Rewind Time.) It felt like a little film of its own.

I was pleasantly surprised by some nice visual details (eyes for cell door and holed tomb), and enjoyed the variety in tiles, including the fountain. I also liked the different aesthetics for the garden and castle (the ‘skeletal’ curtains reminded me of A Link to the Past!), as well as the change in music; the fact that there are two parts, where the second one introduces the sliding books, reminds me heavily of Rewind Time too. The use of the dots as an in-game indication of the current level is a clever one!

On a technical note, the game feels very much like a Game Boy Color game, and I noticed after that there is indeed a ‘Only For GBC’ file; I think this is because GB Studio targets the Game Boy Color but not the Game Boy Advance. Not that this is a problem at all in itself, I just noticed the game targeted the GBA.

Some levels did make me think for a little while, so once again, nice overall puzzle design! Some other levels felt easier, including not needing to move some ‘neutral’ chests in some levels, but this may be voluntary if they were decoys. The second part (the castle) felt easier because you can actually block sliding books with a portal; I wondered in some levels if my use of this feature was expected or not, as it sometimes gave quick solutions. (On a general note, I would say that the game felt easier than Connect All the Bots; its difficulty is somewhat comparable to that of Rewind Time, or perhaps a bit less, although I would have to play this latter one again to be sure.)

I especially liked how some levels need you to have two tiles to be able to orient yourself correctly to throw a portal; I think the famed Stephen’s Sausage Roll (which I still have to play…) makes such clever use of precise movement mechanics. It was well-thought-out here.

A problem I did experience was that portals are a bit buggy sometimes, even when being cautious about not moving around launch. For example, it happened that a portal would stop midway, or in some occasions between two tiles; some other times, I pressed to teleport, and instead, this caused the portal to get relaunched. I had to restart some levels because of this — fortunately, restarting is fast thanks to the special key.

As a small visual and user-friendly suggestion: I noticed the exit door turns red when a level is completed, which is nice, but I think it would be more useful to have it turn red when all chests are correctly positioned rather than for reaching the end of the level. (By the way, I noticed in one level that if you are positioned at the exit when pushing a chest to finish the puzzle, you have to move away and then go back to the exit tile to win — which is not a big problem at all.)

One regret I have is sounds: apart from the music and the falling sound at the end, I think there was no sound effect (or hardly?); this could be a nice addition to the game. Sounds for often-used main mechanics generally enhance the experience for the player; here, this would mean pushing, sliding, perhaps positioning a chest correctly, opening the door, launching a portal, and teleporting. These would be great to feel!

Another small detail which I think could be enhanced: I checked the level selection screens, and the navigation could be made a bit smoother by allowing cycling through the levels (ie jumping from first to last on the list, and conversely), and also allowing to come back (from level selection to main menu rather than title screen, and from garden’s second part to garden’s first part). And perhaps even allowing left-right movement in the selection, but this may be even nitpickier. ;) Nothing really serious! By the way, I noticed there are some intermediate levels without (dot) numbers, which are thus not directly accessible from the level selection screens; I wondered why.

If I wanted to get nitpicky again, you could also say that the game is not as original as Rewind Time but feels like its sequel, although I am actually fine with having a sequel (both narratively and gameplay-wise) to this game. :)

A nice puzzle game that feels like the Game Boy Color sequel to Rewind Time, with a Portal twist.

Great game

very spooky!

Your game gives me a strong sensation of dejavu related to another very similar game I played last year, also for the Game Boy. (I wouldn't be surprised if that was alao your work 😀). I really love these puzzles. I played the game up to the point the character woudn't enter the door even if the chests were placed in their positions (I assume this could  be the last level (?)). Congrats for your wonderful game, and good luck with the jam! 🤩