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SAGE 2023 - Demo KilaFlow (SAGE 2023 DEMO)

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General Information



Kilaflow is an upcoming fast paced 3d platformer inspired by games such as the Sonic Adventure, Super Monkey Ball, and Crash Bandicoot Series. Play as the mascot of a blazing fast (for it's time) antivirus software to clear out corruptions and viruses from various devices around a town.

This demo is available on Windows and Linux!​
Please note that it this is currently in extremely early development [about 2 months!] and everything in it is subject to change/altered for the sake of the demo. The first 9 levels will probably be different/easier in the full game and are designed to showcase what the full game may be like overall.

kilaflow SAGE screenshot3.png

This game features numerous byte sized levels per world with a focus on speedrunning and replayability in mind, with environments, aesthetics, and controls similar to games you may have seen in the late 90's and early 2000's.
Walk, Run, Jump, Bounce, and FLOW your way through these colorful stages and strive to get the best time possible as well as saving every corrupted critter to weaken the source of the virus.

kilaflow SAGE screenshot1.png


The game initially started out as just a small tech demo for testing out Godot 4 and a new control scheme for another game of mine, but has since grown into it's own full fledged game with one main goal: Make a high speed platformer where you CANT just hold forward or let go of the controller!

kilaflow SAGE screenshot2.png


If you let go of the stick, you stop on a dime! The only momentum you keep is vertical momentum, which can be manipulated by the games FLOW mechanic to achieve greater heights or make it across larger gaps. Instead of gaining horizontal speed overtime, Kila has different "Gears" you can kick into with set speeds you can activate by doing certain actions, usually relating to FLOW. The idea is to give the player full control over how fast they're moving and know exactly where they will land, mixing the speed you'd get from a Sonic game with the precision you'd get from a Crash Bandicoot game.

kilaflow SAGE screenshot4.png


This game is in it's very early stages and everything is subject to change. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know! The first playable demo will be available during the SAGE 2023 event!

Kilaflow SAGE ANIM1.gif


The download should be available on the right! But if not, here's some mirror downloads you can try:

Itch.io (also contains old versions in case the current versions break for some reason!)

Google Drive (Windows)

Google Drive (Linux)

Ironically, I am unsure if a Mac version will be made at this time as mac can be rather obtuse to make builds for, but i'll be trying to do so if i have the time and if people deem it important enough!
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Latest reviews

Kunedon
First impressions:
  • Presentation is nice, characters are expressive and have appealing designs
  • Being able to adjust the camera would help a lot
  • Level designs suffer from a bit of "precision platforming", with some tight jumps and little margin for error
  • Flow mechanic could use some work
  • Checkpoints would help especially if you are going to introduce larger/longer stages
  • Audio feedback for taking damage would be nice
  • Music was incredibly repetitive for the first 8 stages, I was relieved when a different track played in 1-9
  • A tally or something showing the rank I earned upon completion of a level would be nice instead of seeing it handed to me upon returning to the main menu
The game has the makings of something fun but I feel that what's presented here needs work. It's a delicate balance to try and hit when you want to offer a fast paced platformer that also allows folks to play the game casually and at their own pace.

The camera angle used for the forward sections make gap sizes and jumps too ambiguous, and as a result I would die from undershooting or making bad predictions for moving platforms. Either being able to slightly adjust the camera or changing up the angle would help a lot.

The Flow mechanic is rather unwieldy. I understand what it's meant for but considering you immediately lose it upon stopping on the ground or in the air, you're typically given an all-or-nothing scenario when jumping on a series of enemies/balloons trying to make it to the next safe platform. This has caused unintended drops into pits due to not having the speed to make it to a platform or balloon. I think giving the player a brief moment to adjust before losing it would help in that regard.

On top of that, when trying to hop over a series of platforms that need Flow to make it to, you run the risk of running yourself off and falling. The slower steadier option of stopping on every platform, charging Flow, then jumping to the next one feels like I'm playing the game incorrectly instead of being presented as an alternative. Generally speaking, there haven't been cases where Flow could have been used to save a bad jump or loss of momentum from my experience.

As mentioned in my impressions I do like its presentation in terms of visuals and character designs, however. I wish you luck as you continue working on your game.
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CHAOKOCartoons
CHAOKOCartoons
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback!

No audio feedback? Did you toggle "shut kila up" without noticing?

I ran out of time to implement the end result stuff yeah. The 1.2 update i'm about to push will add at least one of them.

I can see about making adjustments to it especially on less vertical levels like 1-2. Generally there seems to be concerns with judging depth when playing the game which may have many different factors but I'll see if simple camera adjustments will do in this regard

flow buffer has been brought up previously, so that's something that will definitely be added in the next demo/ version 1.3 of the SAGE demo

Adding more forgiving mechanics to the game is a major priority right now for sure. In the 1.2 update i'm about to push, coyote time and double jump mechanics have been added. Hope this makes playing the game a bit more forgiving.

Nice to hear that ya like the idea of the game so far! Hope i can present the game even better next time!
Read more…

Comments

C
kilaflow is just delightful. obviously the mascot character drew me in, great design. the rest of the aesthetic going on is adorable. controls are interesting, unique, and feel great to play. the FLOW system draws me in to trying to get way faster clears than i otherwise would have. definitely one of the standout hits of SAGE 23 for me!
 
Superbro64
A very addictive time attack game. You got a lot done in just 2 months, and it looks great too!
There is a learning curve to the move set, but it's satisfying once you got to grips with it.
Here's my feedback (my experience is from playing on keyboard):
  • The controls are very strict. There is no coyote time, nor any input buffer forgiveness
  • Switching directions would sometimes lose Gear 2. When the game reads that I let go of the up arrow key to press the left arrow key, does it think that I was in neutral for a moment?
  • My fingers would appreciate it if holding the space bar had me repeatedly jump as soon as I land. Especially since the levels in this demo are a lot of small-platform-to-small-platform jumps in quick succession
  • It would be cool if (from standstill) charging Flow, then holding a direction would have you Kilo dash as soon as it is ready
  • Flow bouncing was hard to for me time correctly. So I was stuck on level 1-5 for a bit
  • The S ranks for the levels are a tad too intense. It would help if the S rank time was shown
  • The giant mouse cursor in the background of the stages was actually kind of distracting lol
And lastly, a dedicated quick restart button would be a blessing.
Bonus points if it lets the music continue to play, instead of starting from the beginning.
 
CHAOKOCartoons
Superbro64 said:
A very addictive time attack game. You got a lot done in just 2 months, and it looks great too!
There is a learning curve to the move set, but it's satisfying once you got to grips with it.
Here's my feedback (my experience is from playing on keyboard):
  • The controls are very strict. There is no coyote time, nor any input buffer forgiveness
  • Switching directions would sometimes lose Gear 2. When the game reads that I let go of the up arrow key to press the left arrow key, does it think that I was in neutral for a moment?
  • My fingers would appreciate it if holding the space bar had me repeatedly jump as soon as I land. Especially since the levels in this demo are a lot of small-platform-to-small-platform jumps in quick succession
  • It would be cool if (from standstill) charging Flow, then holding a direction would have you Kilo dash as soon as it is ready
  • Flow bouncing was hard to for me time correctly. So I was stuck on level 1-5 for a bit
  • The S ranks for the levels are a tad too intense. It would help if the S rank time was shown
  • The giant mouse cursor in the background of the stages was actually kind of distracting lol
And lastly, a dedicated quick restart button would be a blessing.
Bonus points if it lets the music continue to play, instead of starting from the beginning.
Click to expand...
Very glad you enjoyed the game! :D

  • Been working on adding more forgiveness mechanics to the game yeah. Coyote time is one i've head from both players and my own head when playing it countless times lol
  • Interesting. Currently, if you ever stop at all, be it letting go of the stick or bumping into a wall too head on, the game will throw you into Gear 0 (BIT). I hadn't considered that on keyboard its far easier to drop inputs due to the nature of pressing keys. I will have to make a sort of small few frame buffer for checking when your speed is dropped to 0 to prevent this. Thank you for letting me know!
    • for the record, the suggested experience is with an analogue controller, which is why keyboard may be harder to use. I appreciate you playing it with a keyboard though, as it lets me know how i can improve the experience on it!
  • Huh, i hadn't considered holding the button to continuously jump, but that's a good accessability change! Will try and implement that
  • hmm, i'm not sure about this one. Holding a direction is how you aim your charge direction. This is important for preparing a charge into things like moving platforms.
  • Sorry bout that one LOL. In the full game world 1 is much easier and doesnt require you to learn that tech, but i thought it'd be important for this showcase to teach people everything the game has to offer (I'll add a hint bubble next time, and maybe a visual that tells you when you're doing a flow bounce right ' w';)
  • S-Ranks are usually a second or two (way more for the bonus levels cause they're hard enough as is) off of my personal record. They're not required for anything besides the 100% skin and are considered bragging rights more than anything. That said, maybe i should make 100% only require A-Rank in that case....
    • Either way, Ranks will likely be done away with in the final game in favor of something closer to Crash Bandicoot's relic system. The only ranks that really mean anything are A and S, it's a little mean to give someone a D or C for simply playing the game, it implies they did something wrong, and that's not true! You're allowed to play the game in any way you want, and i want to try and encourage that in the future ^-^
  • lol
  • honestly yeah an instant restart button is a great idea instead of having to navigate the pause menu. need that instant "run it back". I always love adding ways to get players into the action faster.
    • OOPS, forgot to set the music right on reset! It does it for dying, but not resetting! My bad.
 
CHAOKOCartoons
Vazazell said:
This needs a proper tutorial level instead of readme
Click to expand...
yup lol

will happen in the full game. kinda wanted to see how well people would figure the game out on their own first and see if my design was intuitive enough. While people did figure it out, there's a lot of suggestions and observations that have given me lots of good ideas how to streamline it beyond just having a tutorial or hints

That said, dont know WHY i didn't make a proper hint system, though admittedly it was still 2 months of dev.
 
metalharbor
I was able to get through most of the levels with knowing about or reading the tutorial... I'd say it's very intuitive.

I wasn't able to bounce high enough to reach the first box on the bounce level, I'm not sure what I missed. I will have to check out the readme.

I really enjoyed this. Despite the charge being obviously inspired by the spin dash it feels very unique. I look forward to seeing more!

It also runs really well on my somewhat low end PC.
 
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