i feel like i'm always bracing to be disappointed by a pulp game because so few of them really tend to take their fiction very seriously and feel wreathed in deflective irony - i was delighted for that to not be the case, here. the restraint from overdeveloping and relatively taut pacing helped this develop into a very, very solid little piece of existential sokobon-ing. thank you very much for this! definitely a top 5 pulp game, for me, and something i'd put on a short list of recommended titles in the entire playdate library, in general.
my only gripe is more a gripe with pulp - i wish there was an accessible option for dragging and dropping other music or it were just slightly easier to compose for. ever since playing the 'novena' port, i have been driven mad there's not more pulp games with music composed outside of it. i feel its range has an especially difficult time with dread, unease, and all manner of pensive feelings.
Oh wow, thanks very much - that's a very well put review, and I appreciate the kind words! I'm glad it hit for you in a way that I had hoped it would for people.
Agree with you on the sound front, it is very challenging! The biggest issue, as you may know, is when you compose on pulp on desktop you get the full frequencies through your headphones or whatever, but when you transfer it to the tiny pulp speaker it can sound way way different, or just drop frequencies altogether.
Hey buddy, I could be wrong about this but I think you might have uploaded an unpatched version of Coda to the Playdate Catalog. There was a bug in the original version on itch.io that softlocked you from completing some of the block pushing puzzles, and it seems it was brought to your attention and you fixed it in an update 1.0.3 (nice), but I bought the game on catalog and I seem to have experienced the same bug (in the room where the guy says 5) that was in the original release. It sounds like you went out of your way to fix it for people so it seems like uploading an earlier version of the game was just an honest goof but I felt like I should bring it to your attention because I was enjoying the game quite a bit and I’d like to finish it !
Again I could just be really stupid (puzzle games aren’t usually my jam) but in case it isn’t make sure to update the catalog release to 1.0.3 when you get the chance. It’s a great game and I’m exited to see what you do next, cheers !
(Photo of the “glitch” I’m talking about for reference)
Thanks! No this is a new bug that I have been made aware of - it comes from moving very quickly from the previous room while the timed gate is still on a timer. It then places the closing gate in the next room. I’ve been a bit too busy to send out a fix, but I will be doing it this weekend on catalog and itch :) thanks for letting me know.
Not a fan of the timed sections where you also have to switch the platforms with the crank, but otherwise I love the vibe of the game. Looking forward to more from you!
I made a review and will be putting up a full gameplay video on my channel if anyone is interested. I loved the environment, it's eery, it's mysterious, I wasn't a fan of the gameplay but it is Pulp with its limits there and I compare it to Another World in that I think the world building more than makes up for how it plays.
Appreciate the honest review! And you putting the time in. Thanks so much. The process of making the game has inspired me to push further and I’ll be making something in Lua next - the gameplay should hopefully be better freed from the limitations of pulp.
Beautiful art style and animation, intriguing atmosphere and story, and simple but satisfying Sokoban-style puzzles. I immediately played it again because of that mysterious… object at the end.
Nice work! You got a lot out of Pulp and its limitations.
Wrote about your game on the Best(TM) Playdate website on the web, and compared it to many of my other favorite games. Great work, thanks for making it! Was looking forward to it for months then devoured it in one day lol https://www.playdateunofficial.com/the-games/coda/
Wow.. thanks so much. It’s my first game and I was anxiously waiting for some real feedback outside of people close to me. I’m really happy to hear that I achieved the things I was aiming for. Really appreciate it.
With the red and black color scheme in the trailer, I expect we'll see this game get ported to the VirtualBoy as well....right? ;) From what I can see of these screenshots, they look top notch for a Pulp game.
Hahah, you're not the first person to mention the Virtual Boy actually. I wish I could do it in black and red... Thanks very much! It should be out sometime in January, it's very close now.
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i feel like i'm always bracing to be disappointed by a pulp game because so few of them really tend to take their fiction very seriously and feel wreathed in deflective irony - i was delighted for that to not be the case, here. the restraint from overdeveloping and relatively taut pacing helped this develop into a very, very solid little piece of existential sokobon-ing. thank you very much for this! definitely a top 5 pulp game, for me, and something i'd put on a short list of recommended titles in the entire playdate library, in general.
my only gripe is more a gripe with pulp - i wish there was an accessible option for dragging and dropping other music or it were just slightly easier to compose for. ever since playing the 'novena' port, i have been driven mad there's not more pulp games with music composed outside of it. i feel its range has an especially difficult time with dread, unease, and all manner of pensive feelings.
Oh wow, thanks very much - that's a very well put review, and I appreciate the kind words! I'm glad it hit for you in a way that I had hoped it would for people.
Agree with you on the sound front, it is very challenging! The biggest issue, as you may know, is when you compose on pulp on desktop you get the full frequencies through your headphones or whatever, but when you transfer it to the tiny pulp speaker it can sound way way different, or just drop frequencies altogether.
Hey buddy, I could be wrong about this but I think you might have uploaded an unpatched version of Coda to the Playdate Catalog. There was a bug in the original version on itch.io that softlocked you from completing some of the block pushing puzzles, and it seems it was brought to your attention and you fixed it in an update 1.0.3 (nice), but I bought the game on catalog and I seem to have experienced the same bug (in the room where the guy says 5) that was in the original release. It sounds like you went out of your way to fix it for people so it seems like uploading an earlier version of the game was just an honest goof but I felt like I should bring it to your attention because I was enjoying the game quite a bit and I’d like to finish it !
Again I could just be really stupid (puzzle games aren’t usually my jam) but in case it isn’t make sure to update the catalog release to 1.0.3 when you get the chance. It’s a great game and I’m exited to see what you do next, cheers !
(Photo of the “glitch” I’m talking about for reference)
Thanks! No this is a new bug that I have been made aware of - it comes from moving very quickly from the previous room while the timed gate is still on a timer. It then places the closing gate in the next room. I’ve been a bit too busy to send out a fix, but I will be doing it this weekend on catalog and itch :) thanks for letting me know.
Not a fan of the timed sections where you also have to switch the platforms with the crank, but otherwise I love the vibe of the game. Looking forward to more from you!
You're not the first to mention that - thanks for the honest review! Glad you enjoyed it otherwise.
I made a review and will be putting up a full gameplay video on my channel if anyone is interested. I loved the environment, it's eery, it's mysterious, I wasn't a fan of the gameplay but it is Pulp with its limits there and I compare it to Another World in that I think the world building more than makes up for how it plays.
Appreciate the honest review! And you putting the time in. Thanks so much. The process of making the game has inspired me to push further and I’ll be making something in Lua next - the gameplay should hopefully be better freed from the limitations of pulp.
Beautiful art style and animation, intriguing atmosphere and story, and simple but satisfying Sokoban-style puzzles. I immediately played it again because of that mysterious… object at the end.
Nice work! You got a lot out of Pulp and its limitations.
Thanks so much for the review. I'm happy to hear you went back, I was hoping it would encourage a repeat playthrough.
Wrote about your game on the Best(TM) Playdate website on the web, and compared it to many of my other favorite games. Great work, thanks for making it! Was looking forward to it for months then devoured it in one day lol https://www.playdateunofficial.com/the-games/coda/
Wow.. thanks so much. It’s my first game and I was anxiously waiting for some real feedback outside of people close to me. I’m really happy to hear that I achieved the things I was aiming for. Really appreciate it.
Looking reaaaally good
Thanks!
are you aware you can run timed sales in itch.io rather than temporarily changing the base price?
I have become aware more recently yeah... maybe I should update it now. Thanks for the tip!
With the red and black color scheme in the trailer, I expect we'll see this game get ported to the VirtualBoy as well....right? ;) From what I can see of these screenshots, they look top notch for a Pulp game.
Hahah, you're not the first person to mention the Virtual Boy actually. I wish I could do it in black and red...
Thanks very much! It should be out sometime in January, it's very close now.
Love the art style man!
Thanks very much!
Wow, amazing job!!
Thank you.
Looks great!
Thanks v much!