Arca - Showcase

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News of the Great Flood has reached the South Pole, and rumor has it there's an Ark ready to help... but only one spot per species! Jump, slide, and sabotage your rivals as you race against time to secure your place. It's every penguin for itself and the world against them all!

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Arca is a fast-paced platformer & racing game with simple-to-learn, hard-to-master mechanics.
Each level is a race against up to 3 rivals, with dynamic challenges designed to help you gradually master the game’s movement and interactions.

I’m planning to include 6 unique worlds and at least 2 bosses, possibly more if time allows. Bosses will blend combat and racing.

This is my first project using Godot, and my first real attempt at releasing a game

I’m planning to release a demo soon. If you’re interested and willing to leave some feedback, it would be a huge help. I’m currently working solo, doing everything from gameplay to music to art, and I haven’t had many chances to validate the game yet.

Steam: Arca on Steam
Itch io: Arca demo by GustavoFS

7 Likes
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Hey everyone!

After a few final tweaks to the level design, I decided it was time to release the first version!

I’m not 100% sure if “demo” is the right word here, it’s more like a proof of concept. Either way, I hope you enjoy what’s there so far.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

  • What works?
  • What feels off?
  • What would you like to see more of?

Your feedback will help shape the direction of the project moving forward!

2 Likes
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This game was really fun! One suggestion though, I think there shouldn’t be a timer for the tutorial. Other then that, I am enjoyed playing it!

1 Like
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Thanks so much!
You’re right, the tutorial shouldn’t have a timer, I just forgot to remove it :sweat_smile:. I’ll fix that in the next update. Thanks for letting me know!

1 Like
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The demo is now also available on Steam:

2 Likes
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:three_o_clock: Time Adjustments

  • Tutorial timer has been removed, so you can take your time learning the basics.
  • Stage timers have been rebalanced. The previous values were a bit too short, making the game overly difficult. Since there wasn’t much playtesting before, difficulty wasn’t well calibrated. Thanks to your feedback, the timer values are now more forgiving (but still challenging)!

:sports_medal: New Ranking System!

  • You’ll now receive a rank (from D to S) at the end of each stage, based on how quickly you complete it.

:puzzle_piece: Level Design Tweaks

  • Unfair or confusing challenges were reworked.
  • Some parts are now smoother and more rewarding, especially for players who take advantage of the environment and shortcuts!

:artist_palette: Visual & UI Adjustments

  • A color tweak in Abyssal Drift makes the background stand out more clearly.
  • A tutorial sign using a controller was missing its translated message — now fixed!

:warning: The tutorial still shows Xbox button prompts even when using other controllers.
This issue has not been fixed yet, but it’s already on my to-do list and will be addressed in a future update!

:speaker_high_volume: Sound Improvements

  • Snowballs now make a warning sound before crashing down, giving you time to react!
  • Coin sounds now only trigger when collected, reducing unnecessary noise during races.

:brain: Rival AI Tweaks

  • Rival penguins are now a bit smarter. They’ll make better use of the terrain to keep things spicy.

:new_button: Now on Steam!

The demo is now also available on Steam!

Arca Demo no Steam

Thanks again for all the feedback. It’s helping the game grow in the right direction!
More improvements coming soon :construction::penguin:

1 Like
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I’ve released a new version of the demo! If you’d like to check it out, the link is below. Feel free to share your feedback!

This might be the last demo. To make the project fit within my time and experience limits, I had to cut some features like multiplayer and bosses. That’s a bit disappointing, but on the other hand, it lets me focus more on the core idea of the game: 2D racing + platforming.

I never imagined how many “invisible” decisions go into making a game. At first, I was worried about adding too many items or making them too accessible, since that could make the game too easy or even break it. But things worked out better than I expected, and the items added a really nice layer of chaos to the gameplay. The level design also leans into that chaos, many obstacles are designed to hinder the player in first place, like walls that need to be broken to open the path, which ends up helping the players behind who don’t have to deal with them. This helps keep racers close together and increases the chaos in a way that feels less frustrating than simply giving better bonuses to players in last place.

That said, a lot of things had to be removed too. For example, the more clumsy character movement was originally meant to be a defining trait of the game, but it ended up making the experience too punishing and frustrating.

Out of all the challenges in game development, I didn’t expect the hardest ones to be the game loop and level design. I’m not an artist or a musician, so I’ve been learning those along the way, but surprisingly those weren’t the most time-consuming parts. Making a game that is balanced, fun, and intuitive is incredibly hard. I prioritized creativity and originality above all else, without relying on established templates from other games. That turned out to be a big mistake, without solid references, I spent a lot of time testing and discarding ideas, and I’d say more than half of my development time went into things that just didn’t work or weren’t fun.

Still, even though many mechanics were created and scrapped, a lot of cool new ideas made it into the game as well. It’s been a huge learning experience.

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I just played the demo, very cool! It’s a very complete experience already :slight_smile:

Bit of a shame with no multiplayer, I think that’s where this game would really shine. It’s fun in single player though, and I think it’s very wise of you to have lots of negative feedback loops that keep the players together and add some extra challenge to being in the lead.

Are you still looking for feedback, or has the project been shelved?

1 Like
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Thank you so much for playing!

It wasn’t archived, but this would be the “definitive” demo. I don’t intend to change it, but I’m open to feedback as I’ll continue working on the final version. Depending on what happens, I might change the demo as well, but the total focus now is on the final game.

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Well I thought it was a nice experience, that could make for a very good partygame. :slight_smile:

I’d say most of what remains is tweaking the controls and speeds. As you’ve discovered, those are difficult to put into words, but I felt the initial acceleration after being stopped was quite low, which feels a little too punishing for the game.
It’s a little unintuitive that the slide button doesn’t do anything until the avatar is up to speed - there could be an indicator (like sweat beads / a flash / …), or maybe just let the player use it at low speed, but this is only an advantage on a slope, otherwise speed is lost. Or something.

1 Like
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Thank you very much!

That slide issue is a good point. I’ll think about how to improve it.
Acceleration/deceleration is a bit more complicated to work with because it involves other mechanics, but your point makes sense. I’ll try some variations later.

1 Like