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HuvaaKoodia

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Aug 14 00:18:36 AQUATIC SUBGAL ♥ 4 *Solar Jetman*, you can't go wrong with such a *rare* inspiration. The growing walls mechanic is (hazarding a guess this being my first comment in LD42) often used, yet thematic. My initial idea was something along the same lines and as the saying goes: *you should toss the first idea!* While lacking in originality the challenge is certainly enjoyable. The underwater "low gravity" environment is a fresh take on the tricky flying controls. Constantly rotating around to both aim the harpoons and thrust with the engine is a solid mix. The first 4 levels pose little difficulty. The last one has a healthy balance of rushing and shooting. Try to take out all of the turrets and, *surprise*, the algae has already taken over the whole level! My only technical complaints, unfortunately, concern the last level. The WebGL build, running on Linux here, starts to buckle under the pressure with so many object. A much more annoying issue comes with the turrets. Their shoot sound effect is played even when they are outside of the view. What a cacophony! The music is ok; sound effects are low-quality, Sfxr-tat, never been a fan of them beeps. On the graphics front the tiles often times don't match that well, which is an eye-sore. Audio-visuals are secondary, especially in a jam, so not a big deal. Solid work in all. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Below average (2.5)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Average (3.0)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Above average (3.5) (I like the fish!)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* **PS.** Looking at the code (I know, not your best work) I spotted a few patterns worth improving: #### 1. Controllers should be singletons. There is an alternative to this type of code everywhere: mc = GameObject.Find("MenuController").GetComponent<MenuController>(); mc.DoStuff(); A singleton allows for direct access of its members via a public static reference to itself. In MenuController class: public static MenuController singleton; void Awake() {singleton = this;} Anywhere else: MenuController.singleton.DoStuff(); #### 2. int to X database dictionaries These dictionaries, which never change contents or size: tileDictionary = new Dictionary<int, TileEnum> (); tileDictionary [-1] = TileEnum.None; tileDictionary [0] = TileEnum.Ground; tileDictionary [1] = TileEnum.Ground; etc... Should be arrays instead: tileArray = new TileEnum[]; tileArray [0] = TileEnum.None; tileArray [1] = TileEnum.Ground; tileArray [2] = TileEnum.Ground; etc... Faster and less verbose, enough said. #### 3. Using objects as tiles, instead of the tilemap system Unity has a [tilemap system](https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Tilemap.html) now-a-days. Should do wonders for the performance and it even supports animations (by the looks of it, haven't actually tried that bit myself.) #### 4. I'm going to stop now... Cheers!
Aug 14 22:54:03 22h 35m MinoFall ♥ 1 Why is the score counter in Arial*rgh!* The WebGL build froze after a while in both Firefox and Chrome on Linux Mint. The Windows version worked as expected. Positives (kind of) out the way first (kind of). Certainly an original take on Tetris'ish mechanics. The visuals are fine, apart from the font issue... The programming is solid, apart from the webGL issue... Back to negatives then, in *exciting* list form: - The randomized shots are annoying. Moving a single tile (mino?) multiple times in the same direction requires aiming and shooting, side-stepping, shooting past it multiple times to get the right shot-type again, and repeating up to 8 times! - Inability to see the upcoming minos. - Lack of rotations results in holes everywhere and no way to fill them, because... - Minos cannot be moved below the lower line. - Minos breaking into pieces when successfully matching lines is neat and nearly makes up for prior two issues. *That's not a negative!* Ok, fine. How to fix these problems: - ~~Just remake Tetris~~ - No random shots. Randomness isn't thematic to begin with. Arrow keys move the ship; say, F and G shoot left and right; throw in rotations with H, if the falling pieces mechanic doesn't work out. - Show the next mino and the position where it is going to appear in. - Alternatively, relocate the ship below the play area, shooting past the stationary minos. Less thematic of course. - If you actually want randomness it has to be manageable. Show multiple (4-8?) random shots at the same time and allow using any of them out of order. New shots appear with a delay. Despite the ample bulletpoints, not bad! Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Finicky (2.0)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Too reliant on music made by somebody else (n/a)*
Aug 15 22:11:05 23h 17m Escape from Space ♥ 1 Getting *Shadowgrounds* vibes from this one. Looks the part, pleasantly retro graphics. Plays the part too, which is *not* very high praise. Basic shooting and enemy kiting. The levels are nearly identical, I would have liked to see some variety in the second level. Running away from more aggressive biomass (or a massive horde of aliens) would have been a nice set piece. Some way to fight the biomass would open up avenues for advanced level design and resource management. The ending of the first level is more difficult due to the smaller arena. Switching the levels around would have been an easy, last minute fix to avoid frustration. Never heard of FTE QuakeWorld, seems pretty well suited for shooters... No surprises there! The Linux version worked fine, except that the menu input broke in fullscreen mode. Solid work. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Below average (2.5)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Great (4.5)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*
Aug 17 00:28:16 26h 17m House of Dog ♥ 1 Building a dog hotel in the DOGPOCALYPSE! So, is the foreman of the construction company a doggo too? Let's run down Obstacle Avenue with foredog, shall we? I was more entertained by the instructions and the introduction than actual interactivity. That alone barks volumes... It was really easy to build a single tall wall to heights unreachable even to 800 raving mutts. It is unclear if the dogs actually need to move near the couches and kilns to be *helpful*. I guess not as resources kept piling in. Having to sweat over structural integrity, accidents and the well-being of the ever increasing kennel population might work. Managing resources, trying to keep the head count high enough, but not too high, sounds worth a biscuit too. The visuals are adequate. The GUI gets obstructed by the dogs in the end. Audio is severely lacking which hits the mood hard as well. The tail waggling 🐕🐕🐕 are cute, I'll give you that! Overall: *Below average (2.5)* Fun: *Terri(er)bad (1.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Pretty much nonexistent (1.0)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Bad (2.0)*
Aug 18 18:59:06 42h 30m Sthog ♥ 4 I'll start with unusual advice: 7 people is 3 too many! An optimal jam team, in my opinion, is composed of one programmer, one graphics artist, one audio/music developer (make from scratch of find stuff online!) and an optional 'support' person (designer/jack of all trades/real life problem solver). Adding in more programmers or graphics artists (especially if inexperienced) tends to reduce work efficiency, rather than increase it, due to conflicts in vision and team work. Killer deadlines tend to kill big teams too! A usual issue with multiple graphics artists is a loss of visual cohesion, which is what happened here I think. The main character and the pots are pixelated, most of the backgrounds are not pixelated; the engine is textured, the floors are not textured; the kitchen is unshaded, the bridge is shaded; nearly every ladder looks different; and the list goes on! The main activity, cultivating tea, is lacking in two ways. 1. Most of the pots, other than the one to the right, are too far away from the engine to be useful. I won simply by using the closest one. 2. There is no challenge to it. Plant, wait, pick up, go to the reactor, rinse and repeat... The seed for an actually compelling challenge is here. The spaceship turning into *random* things overtime due to the engine malfunction could be used to block off parts of the ship in order to force the player on another route and use multiple pots. When the engine is repaired some areas turn back to their original state. The cultivation process needs to be slower so that moving from one pot to another becomes useful. Some movement related abilities to speed up traversal in certain areas (turbo lift, low-gravity section, teleporters) would add an aspect of route decision making. Small bugs: 1. The ladders are glitchy. 2. It is possible to spend more seeds on a pot which is already cultivating. 3. The progress bar at the top *lies*. The ship is destroyed before it reaches 0! The music is enjoyable, but it does not loop! Sound effects would have improved the feel of actions and the overall mood by leaps and bounds. The visuals drag the mood down too. The effort is there and you did finish a jam entry which is commendable. The outcome is rife with problems, but you live and learn. *(The scores won't be pretty. Those faint of heart better avert their eyes!)* Overall: *Bad (2.0)* Fun: *Repetitive action disorder (1.0)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Terrible (1.5)* Audio: *Above average (3.5)* Humor: *Filched from Hitchhiker's! (1.5)* Mood: *Terrible (1.5)*
Aug 18 22:41:54 3h 42m Rumble Trouble ♥ 1 A pleasant puzzle, playing it safe with the mechanics. Tried and true they might be I haven't actually seen this puzzle genre in a jam before so, points there? Most of the levels are very easy which is down to the linear'ish layouts as pointed out by others. The very last level offers a glimpse of greatness, more of that sort of thing; puzzles are deductive logic challenges after all. Walking off of tiles into oblivion doesn't add anything except a punishment for input mistakes. Removing this possibility and adding a restart hotkey would be an improvement. The levels look tiny confounding the issue, zooming in the camera is in order. The audio-visuals could use a lot more work. A quick breakdown of the title image: - 3 different pixel sizes - Alpha blending in the brown blob - Unappealing colors (poison green, barf brown and *you know what* yellow!) - Clearly hand written text (using fonts is allowed in the compo) When it comes to music, the different instruments don't follow they same scales and seem to break harmony too. I advice looking up scales, picking one ([C Major](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_major) being the easiest of them all) and sticking to it Solid programming, less than stellar presentation. Concentrate on that! Overall: *Below average (2.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Average (3.0)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Terrible (1.5)* Audio: *Terrible (1.5)*
Aug 19 13:49:44 15h 07m Farms and Polders Tycoon ♥ 1 A competent, if simple, farm management simulation. Today I learned what a polder is; educational to boot! Draining and damming water is a novel mechanic, often overlooked by *everything and the kitchen sink* city builders. You could make it into a selling point; big future plans for the project I hope? Expansion ideas: - Resource management (money -> wages, build materials, electricity, etc.) - Irrigation (canals, pumps, dealing with salt water and fresh water) - Fertilization (natural produce / artificial chemicals) - Pests (combat crop loss with traps, pesticides, etc.) As mentioned by others the waterpumps slow anddown the simulation if the zone is large enough. Looking at the code the water pump update function and redrawing the whole map when a single tile has changed seem to be the culprits. Water pump drainage doesn't need to be calculated every frame as there is no constant effect attached to it. Updating individual sprites instead of the whole lot would improve performance as well. Farm progress bars sometimes bug out, growing past the bounds. Just a little visual issue. Creating sea walls adds in rubble, which doesn't seem to go away at all! It would be nice to be able to prioritise worker tasks (drain, cultivate, build, cleanup) on a global scale to get things done when they need doing. Thematically this seems the reverse: I'm not running out of space, I'm making more of it! I was waiting for floods and earthquakes to mess things up, but they never made an appearance. The only way to run out of space is to build too many houses and have no food left to feed the workers. More of a user mistake that. The visuals are utilitarian, clean and fitting. 2D renders of 3D models can go terribly wrong, but these work just fine. Proper job, despite the theme miss. Overall: *Above Average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Reverse (1.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Nonexistent (n/a)* Mood: *Average (3.0)*
Aug 19 19:32:46 5h 43m Weltraum ♥ 1 >75 - 75 42!!! *Riveting stuff!* It is a visual novel, as in there is text and there are pictures. Technically you also have interactivity, but it just comes down to pressing a different button sometimes to advance the dialog. Pressing the wrong button puts you back to the very beginning which is not an interesting consequence for failing and additionally wastes the user's time! Here's a thought experiment I like to try whenever reading an interactive story: would printing it out on paper change the story structure in any way? In this case the answer is a disappointing and resounding **no**. Here's what I look for in interactive storytelling, *for what that's worth*: - Some choices, no fake choices (where the choice has absolutely no affect on anything, immediately or eventually) - At least one high impact consequence (branches the story, usually near the end) - Some random or otherwise indeterministic events (restarting from the beginning stays interesting as do future situations) - Alternatively, saving and loading from any point (reduces re-reading the same parts over and over again) Now, of course, some say: > A visual novel running on a computer doesn't need to be interactive! At which point I reply: > Why bother with a computer then? Make an animation (as in, a video) or write a novel (with pictures) or a graphic novel (lovely these near identical terms, eh?) instead! I don't find clicking (or tapping) a screen to be that different from turning a page, except that there usually is a lot more clicking involved, which is distracting more than anything. Then again, I don't read many (non-interactive) visual novels for reasons already revealed. The jam had a tight deadline and I don't exactly know your original design intentions apart from the few comments, so... I'll refrain from rating this time.
Aug 20 22:19:56 26h 47m Super Square Dodge XLII ♥ 0 A dodge'em up dexterity challenge; a welcome diversion. I quite fancy the dotted lines designating movement outside the playable area. Stylish and useful. Their practical value would increase if the size of the upcoming projectile was also communicated, not merely their position and speed. At times the projectiles are too fast to react to leaving memorization as the only way forward. Other times the holes you need to squeeze through are barely just enough to house the surprisingly thick rectangle. The fast & twitchy controls are not a good fit in these situations. If only holding down shift slowed the movement speed down... If only. Restart button needed! Losing is frequent due to some outright unfair segments, and going through the tutorial again isn't interesting. You have the instructions already on the title screen and in the description, so why bother with a tutorial panel at all? The music is aggravating which stems from the unpleasant instruments. Melody and harmony *seem* to be there though, so just change the instruments, ok? Thematic, somewhat innovative too... Polished, clean visuals... Good effort apart from the aforementioned issues which unfortunately bring the score down. Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Terrible (1.5)* Humor: *Nah (2.0)* Mood: *The music! The horror! (1.5)*
Aug 21 22:32:23 24h 12m Junk Dealerz ♥ 3 That intro animation... Words aren't capable of describing its splendor! Still, audio would have made it even better. First go. Had trouble with the controls, the boss arrived and the blow darts didn't seem to damage him... Dead! Second go. Figured out the controls; they are not great, *more on that later*. Explored half the map before the boss arrived. Managed to trap it behind a wall up north. Explored the rest of the map. The best ranged weapon I could find: **a bag of chips!** What! Fine, nearly ran out of food, but did triumph over the moose man... A sudden ending; well, better than no ending. The controls, the controls. Top strangeness: *escape for inventory?* Haven't seen that in a long while. How about Tab or Q? Another, more complicated, UI improvement would be drag and drop for the menus. That is on the post-jam list, right? Other than that, pretty impressive. The visual style is high quality and consistent; exploring the world is interesting (the first time around at least); and, ah, even the combat is functional (lots of kiting, yet the variety of enemy movement patterns keeps it real). Good work! Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Great (4.5)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Good (4.0)*
Aug 22 23:50:34 25h 18m SHTACKITT ♥ 1 Usually I wouldn't recommend adding a timer to a puzzle, but strangely it works here. Allowing two ways to rack up points (go for one 100% container or multiple 50% containers) is clever. Not sure if the numbers quite add up with that massive 10x multiplier. Solid visuals. The container looks like the real deal, but does get in the way at times. More transparency or a *hide crate* button would do. Some of the bits and doodads are spread out outside the camera view, only visible from certain angles. Kind of annoying having to relocated pieces, wasting time in the beginning. A *reset from the beginning* button would be much appreciated taken that I prefer to go for the 100%. Tried multiple times without success, refreshing the whole page to save some time. Will be coming back until I get it! Good work! Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Great (4.5)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)*
Aug 23 21:38:32 21h 47m Trattoria ♥ 1 >No guest is waiting to order food. No guest is waiting to order food. No guest is waiting to order food. No guest is waiting to order food. No guest is waiting to order food. No guest is waiting to order food. No guest is waiting to order food. There is no meal that I can bring any guest. There is no meal that I can bring any guest. There is no meal that I can bring any guest. *Waiter Marcus lives for the job!* Impressive complexity for a jam, foolishly so. Tried a similar stunt once and had the same issues as you did: crashing and bugs. Talking of crashing... Managed to get one at the start of day three, running the desktop jar on Linux. I was already in the hole by 300💸, so not a big loss. Seems to have something to do with multiple preparation tables, bought a few just before the crash. > at java.util.HashMap$HashIterator.remove(HashMap.java:1454) at com.bippinbits.trattoria.economy.restaurant.RestaurantSystem.workStationsSufficient(RestaurantSystem.java:278) at com.bippinbits.trattoria.agent.tasks.cook.ShouldPrepareMeal.start(ShouldPrepareMeal.java:31) The basis for a compelling restaurant management simulation is here. Setting up the floor layout and buying more ingredients every once in a while isn't very interesting on its own. Proper chaos is needed. Here are a few ideas: - Ingredients are ordered between days, they can run out. - Food can be prepared before hand (and heated up) to reduce wait times (decreased quality) - Prepared, unused food needs to be thrown away (waste management cost), sold the day after (further decreased quality) and can cause food poisoning (eventual spoilage). - Food critics. Prioritise them (lose money from other customers) or take your chances (bad reviews) if service not smooth enough. - Incidents: fires, medical emergencies, brawls... Respective emergency services can be called in (slow, expensive) or dealt by the workers (fast, risky due to them worker unions and lawsuits) I can see what you tried to do theme-wise, but it doesn't matter; there is way too much space in the restaurant. What if workers and customers couldn't directly walk through each other? Now, that would cause some planning headaches both in the kitchen and the main hall. Solid work, do keep at it! Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Average (3.0)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Nah! (n/a)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*
Aug 24 23:26:18 25h 47m Not Enough Space ♥ 4 I'm glad I played this one, a proper challenge! And then again, addicting to boot; had to force myself to stop! Got to some sort of asteroid slalom with loads of fuel and spacemen to pickup, then crashed into a group of nasty lava rocks... Sure, the level is not random, a smart move as random generators are hard to get right in a jam, so I could keep memorizing the level and finally get to the end. *I'll be back for my fix, no doubt...* The view distance is a bit short for the *fly in a straight line* movement system. Planetary gravity is too inconsistent to use effectively, after all I don't really want to get close to those things to begin with. I would have preferred slight turning controls while the thrusters are flaring. In other words: if I tap the button the ship flies in a straight line; if I press, hold and release the button, the ship can be controlled for about a second while the charge lasts. Weaving between asteroids and planets would feel even better than the current, already quite juicy, controls. *How about mouse rotation input too?* My last gripe is with the scoring system. The challenge of staying alive is so great that there really isn't much time to actually pick-up them dudes. I ended up ramming into a couple, mostly by accident. A few possibilities here: - Keep it as it is. Suitable for those who wish to invest hours into mastering the controls and trying to get a high score. Others can just not care about the score. - Remove fuel. With infinite thrusting survival is less difficult and score can be prioritised. - Remove the astronauts. Who gives about saving humanity! Score the fuel left over, or the amount of thrusts used, or the time spent near planets and other hazards. There are lots of options! Even more if the level was endless. Satisfactory audio-visuals all around. Space is quite easy to get right, another smart design choice that! Theme and innovation are the least impressive aspects here, adequate I'd say. Some innovation points for the thruster charging. Good work! Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Addictive! (4.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Nah! (n/a)* Mood: *Good (4.0)*
Aug 25 21:04:00 21h 37m Pusher ♥ 0 Super simple with a slight twist on the usual block pushing puzzle genre. The audio visuals are functional in a retro way. Of course, animations and them effects would have been much appreciated. The levels were randomly generated, but they are the same every time meaning you had to save them separately. Surely some/more manual tweaks would have been possible within the jam? I'll take 10 hand-crafted, complex levels over randomized, rudimentary levels any time. Yet... The falling blocks twist would work better with randomly (preferably procedurally) generated levels every single time. *Didn't figure it out in time, tough. Here's a brand new level!* Currently the falling blocks don't matter much as I can replay the same level over and over again. Weirdly the order in which the blocks fall seems to be linked to player movement. Easy to notice in the second to last level. How much time did you have? Overall: *Below average (2.5)* Fun: *Inconsistent levels (2.5)* Innovation: *The twist nearly works (2.5)* Theme: *So-so (2.5)* Graphics: *Lacking (2.5)* Audio: *Grating instruments (2.5)* Humor: *Nah! (n/a)* Mood: *Pfft! (n/a)*
Aug 26 13:29:46 16h 25m The Mansion ♥ 0 The linux version didn't like my two monitor setup and completely hijacked all input forcing me to shut down the whole computer! Not your fault, the Unity 32-bit executable is the source of the issue. I'd recommending building the universal Linux option which has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Adding a key (F12, for instance) to close the application would also be a quick quality of life feature. With that out the way, booting up Windows just for you, let's jump in. After a few tries I managed to get to level 18, the first one with the portals. Wasted two lives there trying out how they worked and didn't have it in me to start from the very beginning again for two reasons: - Wall jumping, which is not used that much thankfully, is buggy. The walls disappear nearly immediately after contact which is unlike the floors as they disappear only after leaving the platform, not before. Maybe you didn't have time to implementing a *stick to walls* feature, but it would have been a much needed improvement. - The trampolines are still buggy, or at least too inconsistent. Hitting the side sometimes causes the jump height to halve, leading to death in most cases. The trampoline should always launch the character the same height no matter where you hit it. Basically, with limited lives the controls and mechanics need to be polished to perfection. If you did the usual thing, infinite restarts from the beginning of the current level, then these issues would be merely annoying, not utterly critical. The visuals are fine, everything is quite small though. The levels could be zoomed in a bit. Maybe the last 10 or so levels use the space more effectively. A difficult platformer is not an innovative prospect these days, even if bringing back the old, *finite lives system* from the arcade days sure is bold. Fits thematically, yet I've seen these falling floors a few times already. Solid work for a first jam project. The technical issues are most unfortunate. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Below average (2.5)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Above average (3.5)* Humor: *Nah! (n/a)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*
Aug 27 22:38:25 33h 08m Owned By ♥ 2 > I feel my rating system will break here... What the heck! - Forced to restart 5 times to play as a dynamic triangle. **-2 points.** - Creepy aesthetic, claws and arms length. **+7 points** - Unrelenting, *Faster Than Thou*, fuzzballs. **-6 points.** - Sporadically sprinkled walls to trick the unholy. **+4.45 points** - Lackadaisical sprinting, lacking ocular effectiveness. **-28 points** - The eyes, the eyes! *I'm not safe here...* **+1x06 points** - Major group guarding, the light, the way, to final reckoning. **-22.2? points** - Kill or Think? Kill or Think?! Lo! I'm driving without my head! **+34#56y points** --- ### Net income *1 & 1/2* 🔺 out of *17* 👁
Aug 29 00:09:12 25h 30m Break The System ♥ 3 *Gunpoint* mixed with (reverse) *Elevator Action* mixed with *REDDER*. Cool! The technical side is less cool. Bullet physics? What happened?! The spinning is funny at first, but missing a guard for the Nth time does rev up the F-curve. Did not get to the top. *That's the point, right?* Everything was pretty messed up already at the time of my unwilling demise. Maybe the tower should be a wee bit less tall? Eh, I would have gotten it on the third go; too annoyed by the physics to bother. Most of the user interface issues have been mentioned before by others so I won't reiterate. Nice design, ok graphics, fine music, questionable programming... Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Average (3.0)* Humor: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*
Aug 29 22:47:48 22h 38m Raise the sea ♥ 1 First time seeing an environmental take in a jam, innovation points there! The message is certainly in slight opposition to the interactivity. Concentrating on trash would have fit the theme and focused the environmental angle more effectively. The rising sea level increases the amount of space available, watering down the challenge; is completely out of the player control; and has nothing to do with the trash *directly*. It is the darn ~~penguin~~ factory behind it all! Overpopulation (or higher standards of living for everyone) ramping up the volume of plastic might have been a better fit. I like the hand drawn black and white style; the music fits too. It kind of restarts in the end after the icebergs go down, which was slightly distracting for some reason. Stylistically solid work with such a limited schedule. The interactivity design is lacking. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Bad (2.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Great (4.5)*
Aug 30 20:29:07 21h 41m worm.exe ♥ 1 Simple, effective idea; and a dexterity challenge again?! Unfortunately this does not seem like an improvement; I liked Age of Pacman more as it sticks to its strengths. Here the worms appear really late and then in such numbers that the memory fills up nearly immediately. I can see the desktop clutter working out better if all the files had an affect on neighbouring spaces and files so that the worms aren't the main target all the time. More dynamism needed, that is. The graphics are mushy, I would have much preferred actual Windows XP visuals, you can disable the graphics rating category after all. Not to tout my own horn too much, but back in January we made a Win 95 inspired, hacking themed puzzle with the visuals ripped directly from the source; looks and feels authentic as a result. If you are interested [take a look](https://teamsneaky.itch.io/sneak-95). The music isn't any better than last time. I've heard this generator before, and it is no good... Maybe look into composing your own stuff? Making a simple beat combined with a melody (based on a scale, plz) is not that hard after a bit of researching. It works, yet could do a lot of tweaking. Audio-visuals also took a hit this time. Keep challenging yourself in that department.
Sep 1 18:38:11 46h 09m Qix ♥ 0 Remake of a classic; retro visuals to boot! The music could use some work: multiple instruments, more complicated melodies, etc. I'd ramp up the difficulty scaling; adding a few adversaries at a time, rather than one per level. Also disappointed by the lack of innovation. How about enemies which slowly home in on the character *(dot?)*, projectiles to dodge, areas with slow down or speed up effects? New ideas! Found one bug. This situation filled up the WebGL memory. QIX.png The area fill algorithm seems quite intensive, takes a second or two for it to finish. Just looking at the code, it seems this is caused by the excessive use of List.Contains() in the findAreasFromSeedPoints function. The optimization is simple. Instead of using lists to contain the tiles for checking use a 2 dimensional int array where the index denotes the state of the tile at the x,y coordinates. This way both setting and getting the current state of a tile is an O(1) operation. It works. Would have liked to see some changes to the formula, not just a rehash.
Sep 1 19:29:13 51m 02s Space Billiards ♥ 0 Messy, frantic, funny! A neat concept with functional graphics; the sound effects are grating, though. Another downside is a few small issues with the controls: - The planet acceleration and deceleration inputs are very slow. Getting hit even once is a death sentence *(for quite a few people!)* as result. - The asteroid release input needs a visual, for instance an arrow. I'd also spawn the asteroid at the base of the arrow, not at the tip. Good work in all. *Seriously, there is no towel emoji?!*
Sep 2 14:37:45 19h 08m Quickshot Yellow: The Quest for Green Flags ♥ 1 A solid puzzle, after some digging. The tutorializing is excessive, would have liked more proper levels instead. I think you actually need more than two ability slots to make compelling enough levels. I would start with two slots and then keep adding them (up to 5-6, why not?) when introducing more abilities and complexity. The theme does not fit. Even in the last level the problem is about timing and ability set, not about space. With disappearing tiles (based on time, usage or manual activation) you could strongly tie the other aspects to the theme. Yes, the controls are clumsy. Glad to see you already have that under consideration. Good foundation for an expanded puzzle. Swapping out abilities is a rather innovative idea worthy of development.
Sep 2 18:02:57 3h 25m DOS: Deletion (of) Old Stuff ♥ 1 70 deaths should not be an A+. Oh well, I'll take it! A platformer with a twist. Ehh, the twist is novel sure, but a bit finicky. This is mostly due to the jittery collision detection *(enough specific comments on that already)* and the tight timing of the jumps. For instance in the last level you could easily add a bigger window of opportunity by moving the bottom most trash can all the way down to the edge of the level. Obviously the graphics would use a lot of work as most objects are temp boxes or a varying colors and sizes. The few custom sprites emanate a pleasant Supaplex vibe, but look out of place at the moment. No bugs, that's good. The workmanship isn't there yet.
Sep 3 21:51:21 27h 48m Freezing Sky ♥ 1 > Start moving, the sun is up! > Mate, we are underground. I can't see anything! Neato management simulation. Having to abandon the surface and push further down the depths is a thematic idea and could be expanded with hazards (cave-ins, monsters, etc.) and additional mechanics (light, heat & water management once entering the mines) For me the biggest issue is the visuals. While alone fine, put together I don't find the colors, models, GUI and lighting very appealing. Elaborating: - The GUI textures clash with the flat shaded 3D models. They also lack cohesion among themselves. - The lighting over saturates the colors. Using linear color space and reducing the intensity would do. - All of the GUI elements at the bottom are bigger than they need to be, taking space and cluttering the view. - Workers without animations look like ghosts gliding around (they sometimes bug out too, flying through floors!). In the end they aren't really needed, so maybe dropping them altogether would have been a good idea due to the tight jam deadline. Good design, interesting to play, oozes potential, visuals lack polish.
Sep 4 20:50:23 22h 59m Climate Change Simulator 2018 Chinese Hoax Edition ♥ 1 Interesting simulation. The interactivity is less so. Destroying all the cities (and people) is very easy. Start from one corner, force the population to move to the other corner (build cities there too), and then take them out with the bears and plagues (what a combo!). There aren't any decisions to make after figuring out that optimal strategy. In this case the more traditional take, working with the humans, would facilitate decision making better. Try to build the most effective city network, with limited space (and time/turns?), while having to choose which cities are affected by which random calamities. Touch choices, especially if the disasters had long lasting effects. They could also affect the connected cities, or roam around the place (the bears!) The visuals are basic, but functional. The music does go off the scale at times, but otherwise sounds ok. Solid effort, no bugs. The design is lacking.