For anyone interested, I built a TAS (tool assisted speedrun) for this game.
The run uses rapid movement in topdown mode, as well as using a glitch that lets you jump in the air right after transforming. This TAS has cut my personal record of 4:55 to 2:48 minutes! Link to the run video: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FYAJDxF33Xus
I don't know if anyone will see this (with things on Kong as they're now). I made a TAS (tool assisted speedrun) of the game in 1:14, here: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FwNzVCiR8yCU . Everything is *theoretically* possible to do by humans. FeatherHatGames, if you see this; you made a great short game, and I'm sure you'd be impressed to see how even shorter this game has come!
Because you implemented a leaderboard for fastest times, it would be appreciated if we could start a new game after finishing it (so speedrunning it would be simple and it won't be required to refresh the page every time)
Had a lot of fun with this one! I also prefer the progressing difficulty of the original game, with each difficulty has its own unique set of pictures. I only played the madness difficulty, but it felt like I'm missing something. I liked the new features on the left (even if I rarely used them). Also, if you implement an "awards" system, let us view those anytime from the main menu.
Tips (explanation)
1.If the reaction is written correctly and ENOUGH reagents (look at the number of moles of reagents). For example 2CH4 this means you need 16 * 2 = 32 (g / mol) for the reaction
2.If everything is written correctly, then the bar at the bottom of the text box will start to fill up (~ 100 seconds), you will receive products that you can use further for reactions or sell and buy other necessary reagents
3.A correctly written reaction stops only when the reagents run out.
4.Correctly written reactions (there are only 9 of them so far) are stored in the "reaction list" from where you can easily copy them and not write each time.
5.Many reactions can be easily found at the prompts in the "reaction list" using a search engine.
This game is one of my favs from Ferociter, and I ran it a few times after finishing it, so wanted to say some notes for the players coming for the new badge:
1) You can press "alt", "c", or "j" to switch in the mirror realm, no need to *stick* with shift (pun intended).
2) The mirror realm contains exactly 24 levels. Game doesn't have a progress bar, but if you count the levels it's something I guess. The first few are focused on puzzle and platforming related to the switch mechanics, only the last ~6-7 levels are harder because of some chase sequences.
3) Most levels are filled with checkpoints, so deaths aren't very painful because you can quickly return to the where you were. Almost all levels without checkpoints are short.
4) The boss levels at the end always play the same, and his movements are deterministic. When you reach those levels you are almost there!
5) I would assume the length of the average first play-through as about 25-40 minutes.
Top speedruns of this game are getting insane. You need 3 frame perfect tricks, one glitch to get into crates without jumping, and overall precision to finish a run in 80 seconds or less.
Please disregard my previous comment on the timer. It appears I had copious amounts of lag in my first and second playthroughs, so the game was basically running at half speed. I don't know what happened, but it's fine now. I assume the timer start when pressing "new game", and ends when you pick the yellow arrow, right?
Almost, but not quite. The timer goes up whenever the player is playable. So it starts when the first small cutscene of the game is finished, and ends when the final little cutscene is triggered (so that's a bit after the yellow arrow). The timer is paused during all cutscenes and textboxes, and it still saves when dying or quitting the game.
Another great game! I really like all your platformers. By the way, how the ingame timer even work? In my second playthorugh I finished in real time of 20:37 minutes, ingame timer shows 653 seconds.
Since the game got more popular due to the badges, for anyone interested in the speedruns, here is my speedrun on top place (3:43 minutes): https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F3JdOCwc7zao. Level 15 isn't optimized in this video but I wasn't bothered to make a new run just to improve it.
Since the game got more popular now thanks to badges, for anyone interested in the speedruns, here is my run on first place: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FxLhOi9YUIbo
I made a kind of "speedrun walkthrough", to show how me and aspire43 got low times around 10 minutes. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FVPSpoumAbvg%3Ft%3D40
I loved the game, good concept.
My only complaint is on the "or have you" screen after beating level 24. I didn't kept track on the levels and so I did think the game was finished, and then stuck on the ending screen. There was no clue that this screen contains a button and I should use the mouse to proceed, because this is a keyboard-only game.
I liked some parts of the game (and I ran it some times for getting almost 10-minute speedrun), but like other players have mentioned, this game has problems with its pacing: (1) 81 short levels with unrelated concepts are too much. It will be better if you show one game-concept and stick with it to the end, with fewer levels (like you did on any of your previous games). 15-30 levels is enough for all purposes. (2) levels where you do basically nothing are boring, don't pose any challenge, and not fun. You just walk and jump to the goal. 1-3 levels for this is fine, but 20+ is just dragging it. (3) Autoscroller levels (like 52,57,58,59) - This kind of levels is highly unsuitable for speedrunning. When you speedrun stuff you want action, not wait a long time for something to happen. Overall I most liked the ~20 last levels.
For anyone interested, I posted my run of 303s. This may prove a possibility of a sub-5 minute run.
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2Fy-qdp5sTwqI
Problem (2): Pressing on something after your moves ran out SHOULD NOT KILL YOU. It happened to me several times where I pressed something by mistake (coughcough problem (1) coughcough) after my moves ran out, and I died right before getting to some checkpoints. Mildly infuriating. It would be much better if running out of moves will mean that the movement buttons will just stop working, and the bear would walk until he hits a checkpoint/wall/spikes. The button "r" already behaves as a reset/suicide button, and it should be the ONLY button that does so.
Metroidvania games are my favorites, and so I really liked this new concept of a game!
I'm also a sucker for the dash ability in games, makes speedrunning fun and challenging, trying to figure how move optimally.
However, I have two problems with the controls:
(1) There is an issue with the jump button, sometimes it registers a single press as two presses for some reason, making a very fast double jump (which acts as an almost regular jump, because the bear had very small time to leave the ground). For many times it made me lose the last move required to get to a checkpoint, and climbing the stairs (to the checkpoint that requires 13 moves) was a real pain, each accidental double jump meant a reset. Maybe add a little timeout (like 200-300ms or something, dunno) after the first jump, before the second jump can be activated.
 "Doodle Alive")
 "A Pirate and his Crates")
 "circloO 2")
 "Tarnation"){kind=icon}
 "Happy Cube Idle")
 "Maptroid")
 "Unproportional2")
 "idleHimiya (test)")
 "Soul Mirror")
 "A Grim Granny")
 "A Grim Chase")
 "FireBlob Winter")
 "Chrome")
 "Dozenbear")
I never expected anyone to genuinely speed run it! Will consider a speed run mode, or at least implement them in any future developments ;)