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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | Alphish's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 8 18:29:35 | Witchcraft: the Collecting | ♥ 2 | An incremental game... I guess theme like "Start with nothing" tends to lead to these (full disclosure: it's actually the first game I play). I feel like the game could explain itself better, especially with gameplay mechanic (collecting witched stuff) being so different than the framing surrounding it (a card game). It took me quite a bit of mental shift to realise that the game plays itself and requires no involvement from me. Also, while I got these typical cards quite a lot, there are these glossy cards and I don't know what they give compared to the regular cards. Likewise, I couldn't tell if I can safely sell as many cards or if it would negatively affect my prestige. And for that matter, what benefits I get from my player level. Maybe it was explained somewhere, but lots of information was given at once. Some on-demand help system would help a lot, but the closest thing this game had was description at the bottom (it *was* pretty helpful, but convered too little). I think additional game feedback and maybe some redesigning would make the game easier to grasp. For example, some extra effects when the witched stuff is clicked, or cards actually being moved around to indicate that the card game plays itself (though maybe the latter would have the opposite effect?). Also, visually grouping the duplicate cards into a single card with a number indicating their count, to know how many cards I can sell while keeping at least one card of a given type. Then again, I can't tell if I benefit from owning a card once I already collected it... There is also some additional room for polish, be it with graphics, UI (these cards displaying off-screen) or audio, but this lack of clarity stood out the most to me - I couldn't really tell if I'm playing the game correctly. >.< Oh, and another thing - for a game that takes a while to finish, having a save mechanic is essential. | |
| Oct 8 20:43:45 | 2h 14m | Rubber Duck Genesis | ♥ 1 | The first level reminded me of Hacker Typer. The second level reminded me of these puzzles where you have to interact with elements in a specific order, except here it wasn't as much about the order. The third level reminded me of this Jam theme, because there was none. Either way, that was short but fun trip. I hoped for more levels, because it seems like one of these riddle games (like dozens of ways to "find a button" or "paint everything black"). I kinda liked the audiovisuals and funky symbols, too. |
| Oct 9 06:14:01 | 9h 30m | itemless | ♥ 0 | People here already said most of what I wanted to say, so just a few key points: - could use more player speed and/or more resources along the way - more weaker enemies would work better, I think - the blocks didn't seem particularly useful; it'd have been a different story if player could attack over these blocks without destroying them (or maybe they could place some turrets; everyone loves turrets) - I liked the appearance of progressively upgraded gathering tool, especially this scythe thing that could collect metal The use of theme is adequate, but not particularly creative. All these things aside, it's a pretty solid entry, though it missed something that would make it stand out. |
| Oct 9 19:00:06 | 12h 46m | 0 | ♥ 1 | Alright, at first I had no idea what to do, but after playing around with things I eventually figured out how can I make my character move. I love the concept of re-usable slots, allowing for some nifty puzzles. My main complaint would be that it wasn't exactly clear how the W/S upgrade worked, because for some reason I couldn't take off the ground while pressing W. For a while I even thought I need to be in Shift mode for it to work, until I respawned at some point and found that I can hover without it. Aside from that, though, the game provided some nice platforming challenges, good progression with higher levels of perception and a satisfying conclusion, putting together all the gathered pieces. The graphics weren't too great, but the overall setup and design makes up for it. Also, I liked how the character starts with no vision and how they have to retrieve the most basic things. It may not be original, but it's pretty strong and tangible take on "Start with nothing" (more so than starting without tools or clothes, especially if you gather your first utility within seconds of the beginning). Great job here, overall. |
| Oct 9 20:51:36 | 1h 51m | Nothing left for Jim! | ♥ 1 | Is it Sanic there at the beginning? I dunno, but gotta go fast, either way. I love how goofy this game is, starting with the premise of the dude putting the items in place before the race and having this generally cheerful mood. My favourite part has got to be theme execution - I mean it's kinda an opposite of theme but also leading to the specific phrasing of the theme. Another thing I love is how at the finish line there is Sanic (?) standing at the top place and then you go to the starting line and find Sanic is already there. Now that's fast! One thing that could be really improved: have keyboard-controller menu instead of mouse controlled! >.< It's already quite annoying whenever one controller is used only for menu and nowhere in the game, but here it's particularly distracting when I have to briefly move my hand away from item-placing keys so that I can click the button with a mouse. Other thing - I feel this kind of gameplay could benefit from more behind-the-back perspective rather than the skewed one. As it is now, it's somewhat tricky to map the visible directions vs the WSAD keys to press. Either way, I enjoyed this entry quite a lot, largely because of its Humour factor. Well done! (by the way, my best run: 25 seconds with both extras) |
| Oct 9 21:37:28 | 45m 52s | Return to Nothing | ♥ 2 | That was quite a curious sandbox entry. Many bits of curious lore, wouldn't mind getting to know even more of these species. The first playthrough was quite a hassle because I didn't know RMB can rotate the camera. Also, it seems that no matter what, I could get the good or evil down to 0 (which sort of fits a "you can't rid the world of all good/evil" theme, I guess) and I didn't get any title except for the Abandoner. How would one invoke other endings, I wonder? When it comes to the gameplay itself... Personally, I'm not a big fan of these black-and-white morality systems, with obviously peaceful and obviously malevolent species, especially if it implies that it's a benevolent thing to destroy "bad" people. Also, I kinda hoped that these ray-eyes species (Brilights?) concerned with universe balance would actually react to the balance in the universe changing (be it for the side of "good" or for the side of "evil"). I'd have preferred if the game would describe the outcome of the player's actions, and let them judge whether they like it or not. Also, maybe have more nuances in species behaviour? One of the additional actions I can think of is moving one unit of population of some species to another planet, and see how they interact (whether it results in a multicultural planet, a mutual eradication or eradication/enslaving of more peaceful species). Of course, this would have been many times more complex and way beyond the scope of the Jam, but since you plan to work further on the project, maybe you'd be willing to try? Either way, it's a curious project and has some potential, especially with even more wacky species. |
| Oct 10 20:40:31 | 23h 03m | Lucifer's Rise | ♥ 3 | So, I was brought in by the blog post I saw a while ago on the main page. Back then I couldn't really check the game out, so I really wish that there was some kind of "Play later" feature, much like "Watch later" on YouTube. But enough of these technicalities. For the record, I played the 1.0.0 version, as it's the one I believe to be When it comes to the game itself, the blog post promised a cutesy graphics and it delivered. The platforming mechanics felt sloppy, with the character sometimes hanging on the edge of platform, seemingly floating in the air; I don't know if it was some ledge-grabbing mechanic, or maybe physics of non-rectangular platforming*. Also, the movement above water felt too fast; that's why I preferred to stay around the water area in general. I don't think the economy aspect meshes well with platforming gameplay. In the end, it boils down to moving between shops, repeatedly overcoming same platforming challenges and looking to buy things low and sell high. I think I'd have preferred if the game either focused entirely on platforming coin-collecting or the business one. The general audiovisual presentation works from the design perspective, though when it comes to the gameplay I still resent that ninja rabbit hopping around that bright cloud background. I mean, I know rabbits adapt their coats to camouflage themselves, but still! When it comes to the story, it has an alright premise, but I'm not the fan of the ending. It seems like this kind of "subverting expectations" when it doesn't so much surprise (I mean, these shaggy dog stories aren't that uncommon) but rather disappoint. Like, it replaces generic but satisfying conclusion of reaching the goal with aan un-resolution where God doesn't care and that's it. Now if you followed through and made Lucifer turn into a supervillain as a result, that'd have been much more interesting, because rather than silently accepting God's indifference, Lucifer would take action instead. As it is now, the ending feels just sad and pathetic... Overall, quite a pretty game, but could realy use some polish with mechanics (seems to be somewhat addressed in 1.1, though I didn't check it out) and more satisfying conclusion. *Rectangular platforming being the kind of mechanic where each platform, enemy and the player have plain rectangular collision mask. |
| Oct 10 22:14:49 | 1h 34m | Girl in a Dungeon | ♥ 1 | That's a nice top-down platformer you got there, you got all this 3-dimensional movement working well, so I appreciate that. The gameplay generally worked well, though I've found luring the enemies to be somewhat annoying. Still, the game kept me interested enough to keep playing to the end, so good job with that. I think the graphics fit well together and have some charm to them; animation certainly helps with that, too. The sound effects were alright, but I'd really prefer if there was some matching soundtrack, so that I could adjust my phones volume before getting to the end-of-level sound effect (I had somewhat high volume set, so when I reached the end, I was a little startled by the unexpected sound effect). When it comes to the theme execution, it felt pretty weak. Many games this Jam try to evoke the "start with nothing" feeling by giving some kind of tangible and permanent progression, so that it feels like the player starts with nothing and works their way up. The closest thing to theme here is that every level you start with no coins and no buttons pressed, which many games do without even trying to match the theme. ^^' Overall, quite a solid and somewhat challenging entry - good job. The use of theme could have been more prominent, though. |
| Oct 11 16:55:08 | 18h 40m | NothingMan | ♥ 1 | That was a fun little platformer. Usually this kind of upgrade system would be used globally like e.g in a metroidvania, but here it was used per-level basis, allowing for a variety of combinations, which I appreciate. The gameplay was mostly fine except for one little yet significant thing - wall-jumps. The way they were executed, i.e. with holding UP to stick to the wall, was needlessly cumbersome. I feel it could've been mapped to the wallside button (e.g. if you press left while falling against a wall to the left, you cling to it) and it'd be way more natural. The graphics were fine, though sometimes they felt glitchy, especially the last level. The audio fit the game well. I love how you made the soundtrack increasingly rich as player collects more upgrades - way to nail the mood. One note about the menu - the game doesn't really tell what to do to play, so I wasn't even sure if I'm supposed to press some keyboard buttons or click the PLAY or do something else. Some indicators like "Press SPACE to continue" are always helpful. Overall, quite an entertaining entry, if maybe rough around the edges. |
| Oct 12 10:31:19 | 17h 36m | There was something here | ♥ 1 | It was an entry so entertaining it made me check out the prequel. I love how well these two work together. The game's definite strong points are variety and uniqueness of gameplay mechanics and sense of progression. The void and body are kinda generic, but when we enter the world is when real fun begins, watching the world being rebuilt with armies of friends. There's some beautiful chaos to it, yet still there's some pretty simple logic to it. Entering the last phase, while it didn't really add much to the gameplay, felt epic with all these worlds around. The sense of progression is reinforced with progressively rich soundtrack, which makes advancement all the more satisfying. There are some minor complaints, like the purchase buttons covering the gameplay area; I would rather have them separate instead, I guess. Also, it wasn't clear how anti-things work at first - I only figured it out long after purchasing some anti-thing converters, wondering what these do (though when you know how to use these, anti-things are super-profitable). Despite being an incremental game, it doesn't take much time, which I appreciate from the perspective of the Jam reviewing. Also, repeatedly halving the prices down to 0, which would break an ordinary incremental game, works here because it happens at the endgame stage, anyway. Great entry overall, my favourite thus far. |
| Oct 12 13:36:37 | 3h 05m | carrot | ♥ 0 | I got to the point where I have everything I want and I invested in like 50 CarrotCoins, while having 200k houses and loads and loads of... eggplants? Was it all? I didn't seem to get much progress from that point. It was a nice and somewhat silly incremental game (seems like this theme led to many incrementals). I appreciate the minimalism of using only some webpage-like layout with Unicode characters, though the progress bars seemed to be slightly misaligned in relation to each other (i.e. the research bar was slightly to the left compared to the carrot planting). Speaking of research, I wonder what benefits did it do, aside from providing randomised bits of science? Having some research stat along the number of carrots and housing spots would at least give an impression that the research is increasing something. ^^' Overall, a nice little entry, though it doesn't stand out among other incremental games I've played. PS. "Got thinks Andrea is seductive" is more or less what the game told me. |
| Oct 12 16:13:55 | 2h 37m | The Firebrand | ♥ 2 | So, I spent the first few seconds clicking on the top image, thinking it's a title screen, before scrolling down and noticing the actual game area is below. ^^' The game is definitely well-made and polished audiovisually; I was quite impressed with the intro, and the animation was pretty good as well, making the game livelier. Also, it has some good story behind it, as well as some nice bits of lore that become apparent through the investigation. I played through it many times, eventually building up a tree of words that the game leads to, until I made sure I've found every dead-end word. And here comes a problem which I'll call "Phoenix Wright syndrome" - even knowing all the words, even having more or less complete picture of what the context is, who is the protagonist, the woman, the crime and the culprit, I still can't figure out which buttons to push to get a relevant answer from the "truth"*. There seem to be two parallel goals - convincing the woman that you figured out the situation and gaining her trust. But based on the dialogue alone, I still can't tell with 100% certainty which of potentially useful-sounding leads are actually useful, and which are actually a waste of time. In Phoenix Wright, the barrier was picking the "just wright" piece of evidence from a bunch of sensible-looking ones (and sometimes picking the not-sensible sounding one), or suffering a penalty/quickload. Here, it's finding the right combination of many answers, or starting from the very beginning, with lots of guessing which leads are relevant. Personally, with this many possibilities, I'd have the mechanically-useful information emphasized somehow. Granted, it'd make the gameplay more schematic - just note down the routes with important-marked dialogue and use them for the final showdown - but I don't think it's a bad thing. For me, the appeal of this game comes from learning about the story and its context, as well the internal sense of figuring the story out. The challenge - external validation that I *did* figure it out - doesn't work so well. It relies on pinpointing the relevant leads solely based on a dialogue that puzzle-makers may find obvious but is often fuzzy for puzzle-solvers. On the other hand, explicitly important dialogue would make the challenge not as frustrating, while still keeping the internal figuring-things-out appeal - I mean, detective novels have no mechanically imposed challenge, but they can still give this kind of satisfaction. Of course, that's my view on things, you may disagree with it. From other things - sometimes the game would randomly restart. And by randomly I don't mean after the time runs out, but around the third or tenth question or so. It didn't happen for my first few playthroughs, but then got two situations like that in a row with questions I earlier got an answer to. Overall, a well-made entry with a great story behind it. Sadly, because of the aforementioned Phoenix Wright syndrome and the combinatorial hell of all these words finding the Normal ending - let alone the True ending - is way too frustrating for me. *incidentally, on my graph "truth" is spelled in a distinct rectangular box, and with a badly-drawn homunculus next to that |
| Oct 12 18:57:34 | 2h 43m | Tart with nothing | ♥ 2 | That's a cute and wholesome little game. The tart searched for everything, but I feel a Jam is all it needed. Just a technical note: It wasn't clear to me that you need to leave the area to cross the word out; at some point it appeared to me like I need to stay at the word for some time instead, and was kinda confused overall. Having the word crossed right after stepping on it would probably make it more intuitive. ^^' |
| Oct 15 17:36:27 | 70h 38m | CreepyCandy | ♥ 1 | Halloween Jam game in October? Themed or not, I'll play it! The best part about this entry is graphics. They set the mood well and have good variety to them. It feels wasteful at times how the level structure and mechanics results in me not getting a good look at these - in particular in the last level, when I drop myself into the oven and I instantly get to game completed screen, without even properly seeing what the oven is like. The no-so-best part is the gameplay. The mechanics combining wall-crawling and jumping are pretty unique and provide some interesting challenges, but sometimes they feel off, in particular when the main character sometimes does a super-high jump. Maybe that jump was intended at certain spots (I realised that jump allows me to Mario-skip most of level 3) but it feels more like a bug. Also, the levels could use more checkpoints, especially level 3. Playing the same section over and over again because of a mistake near the end is quite painful, especially if it was caused by wafflespikes lurking in the dark. Another part I didn't like was the tight passage in the level 4 you had to jump into - the cookie kept bouncing off the ceiling. Overall, a great-looking platformer with neat platforming idea, but could be improved in terms of mechanics execution and level design. |
| Oct 15 20:37:54 | 3h 01m | Spooky Isekai | ♥ 1 | Yet another isekai this season... I agree with others about the clunky mechanics, especially the character hanging from the corners of the platforms. As for the flashlight, I can see the point about the character pointing the flashlight towards the direction he sees - that's why I'd suggest if he instead turned along with the flashlight independently from the movement direction. Another note: maybe have the relic activate right after the player collects it? Unless there's a reason to stick around after the relic is found? O.o' The graphics are pretty nice when it comes to the foreground elements and the pre-isekai area. However, the background of the main gameplay area was pretty lacking. The music was appropriate, but the sound effects felt out of place to me. ^^' Also, I don't really think having a flashlight right from the beginning counts as "Starting with nothing", so I'm going to give a penalty for theme here. Overall, somewhat clunky platformer with nice graphics. Hopefully, you'll do better the next Jam. ^^ |
| Oct 15 21:13:45 | 35m 51s | Nothing is my car ! | ♥ 1 | When I saw the picture of the main character float-driving a no-car, I knew I had to try it out. I like the idea of assembling the car on the fly, though the penalty for collecting a repeated part can be harsh. Personally, I think it would work better if all parts were listed by name - collected highlighted, uncollected dimmed - so that I can tell which parts I've yet to collect and which parts I've already got. Aside from that it's a pretty generic endless runner, but a fun one, still. Not much to say about the audiovisuals, except that they worked well with the game. Also, I liked the game over screen with the main character sitting on the tree - a silly conclusion to an even sillier run. Got 15k on my second run. Not getting anywhere near the 60k scores others reported here... ^^' Overall, an entry that is just as fun as it is funny. Good job. |
| Oct 18 07:00:09 | 57h 46m | The Legend of Nothing | ♥ 2 | At first I was kinda lost, because I thought I sunk while stepping on the lilypad thing, while I actually must have been a little off, so I was thinking I had to collect the boots before crossing the first river. Then after examining every bush and piece of grass in the starting area I've tried walking through the lilypad again, this time succeeding. Oh well. After that, things went more smoothly. I didn't exactly like the part with the large lake, since it required lots of precise movement, but other than that, I didn't stumble upon any major hurdles. I just don't know what was the purpose of the cat ball thing; I tried throwing it at cats and raccoons and it didn't help. Overall, a cute and enjoyable entry with a nice range of abilities. The audiovisuals were fitting as well. |
| Oct 21 17:55:45 | 82h 55m | Super Goat Life | ♥ 2 | That was fun to play for a bit, I guess? Mechanically, the game was fine, though it felt clunky or slow at times (it should be noted, however, that I played on a laptop with a high-end processor, but no dedicated GPU). When it comes to the powerups, I'd have preferred if they had some shine around them or other eye-catching effect, to make them stand out among all these colourful background elements. Especially since they aren't really hidden in the first place, so I'd assume that they're meant to be spotted easily. Also, the grass-grazing minigame, while not completely unenjoyable, here felt redundant and out-of place - a distraction from a powerup focused game. I was also a little disappointed that with the supposedly straight movement at the beginning I still could turn around. So when I collected the A/D side movement, it didn't really feel like going from virtually nothing to a remotely sensible movement. What I wasn't disappointed with was the demolition at the end - I assume it's that hidden ability the game mentioned? Also, the game provided some reasonable variety of powerups in general. By the way, in search of secrets I got back near the beginning, and from there I managed to fall off from the map, seeing the disappearing layout from the below. Unsurprisingly, that concluded my playthrough. I was quite impressed with the amount of assets in this game, graphics and audio alike. Looking at the extensive collaborators list it feels a little less impressive, but you still did a good job here. ^^ Overall, a pleasant game, though rough around the edges. |
| Oct 21 18:25:27 | 29m 42s | Armada | ♥ 1 | Oh, I finally found the whole Zombies Indie House squad again. I've been wondering how you were doing. ^^ The gameplay concept is strong here, with naturally increasing difficulty by higher and higher armada requirements, which in turn result in larger area of collision - and you don't even need to alter the rocks or ships spawn rate to keep the challenge growing (literally). There might be this "wall" effect, where players can reliably keep going through the few initial levels then they are constantly stopped at a certain mark and no amount of experience lets them progress further, but I guess that's how things are sometimes. The game is also highly polished, not only in terms of audiovisual quality, but also the gameplay feedback - by reading the messages and seeing the things happening I could intuitively figure out the specific mechanics of the game (don't collide with the ships, don't leave a stray ship once you engage it etc.). Overall, a high quality entry with cool gameplay concept. Well done. (for the record, I scored ~2500 points until my invasion was foiled at the 15-scale planet) |
| Oct 21 20:48:58 | 2h 23m | Polychromatic Escape | ♥ 1 | I sympathise with the main character who has to run and jump through all that uneven terrain in heels. I played the Jam version. On my first playthrough, I passed through the wall into the inside of a mountain and couldn't leave. On my second playthrough I got stuck between the crystals for a change - that's also when I found out I can actually shoot stuff (but I didn't have the red necessary for breaking the crystals, anyway). On third playthrough, I figured out that I'm actually supposed to destroy crystals by shooting properly coloured stuff at them, rather than avoid them by some imprecise collision trickery. After a few minutes of items collecting and precision platforming I reached the exit platform and got the congratulatory message. I tried the post-Jam version, and it largely improved the most jarring problem, i.e. the collisions. Also, adding the target mark on collecting first shooty pod makes things more intuitive, and there's a proper ending now. So props for that. The graphics work well enough for the game, and the music gives this nice ethereal feeling to this odd world. The UI was also clean and readable, though I'd have also liked some more explanation, especially about the pod-shooting controls (I mean, I did discover it pretty randomly). The theme is technically there, but it doesn't feel like going from near-zero to 100%; more like going from about 50% mark... (all the platforming abilities are already there, the only difference is getting tools to smash the crystals and collecting all key characters). Overall, a pretty if clunky platformer when it comes to the Jam entry; the post-Jam version does add some useful polish on top of that. |
| Oct 22 22:50:46 | 26h 01m | Beet-hoven | ♥ 1 | The use of theme might not have been very original, but the gameplay mechanics themselves are quite creative. I was pretty confused at first, when I collected first few carrots and then the cook was constantly "waiting for vegs". In part it was because I somehow focused on the patches yet to purchase, not noticing the already available ones. ^^' After I explored a bit and playing around with planting vegetables I finally figured out how pies are made, mostly going by the colour rather than the sound. After that, things got clearer and I finally earned a few vegbucks, eventually affording the third patch. Then, after making one three-note pie and fruitlessly searching for the green vegetable, I accidentally ran out to the water, and from there I fell off the map entirely. So I had to restart. >.< I played again, and this time I think I succeeded treating everyone to a pie (two 2-note pies and four 3-note pies). Then, I made a four-note pie just for the heck of it and then carried it, while listening to its ethereal melody. Also, I finally noticed it's the vegetables that are literally singing, i.e. moving their mouths when it's their cue. This game seems to have quite a few easy to miss details like that. ^^' I found the gameplay unclear at the beginning, but somewhat enjoyable once you know what to do; the game could use some movement speed-up option, though. The audiovisuals are good, and complement the game well - the audio aspect in particular is essential to the game mechanics (I mean, you can serve right pies without any sound, but you lose a large part of the experience). Overall, a pretty well made and original entry. ^^ |
| Oct 23 16:15:18 | 17h 24m | Bob the Brawler | ♥ 1 | I got about 72k score on my second run. A few notes a gameplay mechanics: - having to mash LMB to fend off the enemies is just way too tiring in the long run, with this many enemies and so much of their health attacking repeatedly by holding would have worked better, I think - on my first playthrough I got a large map, on my second one the map was smaller (no scrolling, just as large as the screen); the random generation of permanent walls already adds a risk of unfairness between playthroughs, but getting drawn different sized maps exaggerates that even further (or maybe it's a bug?) - I couldn't quite decide whether I'd rather fortify myself behind a wall or go collecting things; the walls promote static gameplay, the collectibles promote dynamic one; maybe it's not a bad thing, though - the fact that a wall once destroyed by baddies is lost forever discouraged me from getting the wall; maybe if the destroyed wall became a rubble I can collect, I'd be more eager to place them around (with a restriction that I can't place a wall on a baddie)? - on both playthroughs, I was doing pretty well for a while, and then I got caught in the loop of baddies punching me, swiftly leading to game over; with that, it barely feels like health is really that significant if getting hit once leads to many subsequent blows; maybe the main character could have some invincibility frames or something? - the game could definitely use some more variety aside from punching the same brand of enemy, sometimes with shinier helmet but otherwise acting the same Also, I don't really feel much of a theme here. I mean, technically the protagonist starts with no potions nor walls of their own, but still has his magnificent fists. Throughout the game, I didn't really feel so much more powerful than I was at the start. Aside from that, the general idea behind this game is pretty workable, and audiovisuals are spot on. Maybe you could expand that concept into something more? |
| Oct 23 16:50:30 | 35m 12s | Unlock Everything | ♥ 0 | The general game setup would fit the "Upgrades" theme a lot, but it works here as well. I appreciate the unparalleled dedication to the "unlocking" take on "Start with nothing". I mean, that's the first game I stumbled across this Jam, where moving left and right are unlocked separately, and there is actually some challenge provided for just moving right part. Also, it got to the point of audio and stages and ending unlocking, and it's just so silly it has its own charm. The gameplay itself isn't particularly innovative, though with it the game being specifically Megaman-inspired, I don't think innovation was the main focus here, anyway. Aside from that, it works pretty well; I didn't notice any jarring problems. I appreciate that the top of the Libra's head is excluded from the hitbox, so I could stand still one tile below a cannon without being affected by its forward attack. I like when a game has this kind of precision to it. The boss battle took me a few tries, but then I figured out that charging right at the boss with maybe some little dodges (or just taking the hit) worked well enough to win. The story... well, there seem to be some questions asked, but no answers given, which is pretty dissatisfying. There better be some continuation to it; I hope this cliffhanger isn't just another of Megaman references. The game has well-made pixel-art graphics, but we all know that DDRKibry's games are played mostly for their soundtrack (aren't they?). The game delivers; I guess my biggest complaint would be that I'd have the tracks to be longer, but I can see why it wouldn't happen within the tight Compo timeframe. I think my favourite track in terms of mood is Level 1, despite being pretty short (maybe that's why I'd like to have a bit more done with this theme). Overall, a solid and neat platformer, though the conclusion (or rather lack thereof) is still pretty disappointing. ^^' |
| Oct 23 20:07:24 | 3h 16m | Quest for the Good Time Adventure | ♥ 0 | I got to the point where I got a small shop and a bunch of employers, and I just kept cleaning up the danger area with all monsters that stood on my way, including the scythe-wielding boss. The cool axe is OP, but it feels so right. In general, I've found the game to be veeeryyy sloow and clunky to play. Ideally, all commonly used controls should be within the reach of two hands - here we have WSAD/Space for one hand, inventory I for second hand and, for some reason, left mouse attack button for third hand. The game doesn't even use mouse pointer information as far as I can tell, so I don't see a reason why the attack button couldn't be on a keyboard as well. >.< Another troubling thing is that the game has lots of items with overlapping purpose, but provides no stats for them except for the Common/Uncommon/Rare/Legendary descriptors. With these, I can't really tell if Common Iron Boots are better than Common Leather Boots, or whether I should pick a Legendary Sword or a Legendary Axe. The game in general has issues with providing feedback to the player, making things inconvenient. For example, the only place I can check my actual cash is the item-selling shop; there is no such information in inventory, and the board where I can purchase shops and hire people always shows 0 money for some reason. As for the gameplay itself, the premise could be interesting but I've found the game to be pretty monotonous, especially after I defeated the scythe monster. There is a good feeling of progression when I start with nothing and gather the equipment, I give you that. However, once I gather the equipment the monsters-slaying portion becomes tedious. The business empire aspect felt pretty unsatisfying, too; I dunno, maybe having the employers physically appear around the stall/shops could add some feeling of progression to it? I won't really comment on audiovisuals because they're from RPG Maker assets. Overall, there is a lot of room for improvement in this game, especially when it comes to better feedback to the player, avoiding the monster-slaying-junk-selling monotony and having some more visible progression of business empire. I guess the project's scope ended up too big for the Jam...? ^^' |
| Oct 23 20:24:19 | 16m 55s | - V O I D - | ♥ 1 | Gee, that's exactly the type of game I needed to play around the evening. Aside from that, I completed the whole thing. It wasn't too hard, considering the game isn't really long in the first place, but it really could use some user experience features, mostly when it comes to hinting that some part of the screen is actually interactible (especially that void shard spike, that unlike other background spikes was actually collectible). Many adventure games like that also provide some tiny arrows around the screen borders, to kindly inform the player that they can move that way to another area. In general, the game involved a bit too much blind clicking and trial and error for my taste. As much as I feel the void as the place of distortions and darkness and eeriness and monochromes etc. is somewhat overplayed, the game does a great job using these aesthetics here. The ending was a bit underwhelming, but the gameplay portion in terms of mood was pretty well executed (though I guess it still could be improved by some kind of background animation or something). Overall, a game with a well-set mood and a gameplay that relies a bit too much on blind clicking and guessworking. ^^' |
| Oct 24 17:29:03 | 21h 04m | Zen Man | ♥ 1 | I've reached Nirvana in 193 seconds. I actually like that there is an ending, because at this point there was such a cluster of word that adding one or two more words would make the level unbeatable. I also liked the background change. The gameplay itself might not be particularly innovative, but it's not overplayed, either, and here it's surrounded with a neat story and matching aesthetics. I don't know if fish symbolise something, but they're pretty and they're fish, so I won't mind even if they don't. Some things weren't immediately obvious (e.g. it took me quite a few hits to spot how the health is displayed), but I don't mind. I also like that in this theme execution starting with nothing is beneficial (you want to keep it as nothing as possible) rather than detrimental (you have no abilities/tools/money and must gather them). Overall, relaxing and aesthetically pleasing entry*. Well done. ^^ *I first typed "empty" for some reason; must be either the game or the theme in general |
| Oct 24 19:01:11 | 1h 32m | ReWorld | ♥ 2 | Those were pretty enjoyable puzzles. Took me a little bit to grasp the general concept and specific cards functions, but I eventually figured things out; that, and I assumed that every card other than colours is inherently beneficial, so I've been activating the strength upgrade without really considering what it's for. Speaking of that matter, it'd probably help if the currently carried card had some kind of description that'd appear near the screen bottom. E.g. "Strength: allows you to push blocks" or "Menacing Rainbow: Reveals all the rainbow monsters". Aside from that, I found the puzzles challenging enough not to get bored with them (though player speed could be increased a bit, there was quite a lot of walking around), while at the same time pretty logical, if sometimes they required thinking about the box (yes, I mean the last level). The audiovisuals fit pretty well, and I liked the special effects related to various modes of vision. Use of theme isn't particularly original, but I appreciate having the upgrades level-scoped rather than game-scoped. Overall, pretty well made entry. Good job. ^^ |
| Oct 26 09:52:40 | 38h 51m | Angry Words | ♥ 1 | Oh, yay, a fellow word game. The premise is completely different from mine, but it means more originality. ^^ (and from what I've seen, it's not the kind of theme that promotes a varied gameplay, though people still tried) I enjoy the gameplay concept itself - on one hand, trying to fit the words into the crossword is quite challenging. At the same time no knowledge of English words is required - you could consistently swap each letter with a Chinese character and NOTHING would change - yet the challenge would not. I'm not a big fan of the controls - for this game, mouse controls would be way simpler and much more convenient (click to select, move around to choose the right location, right-click to rotate, click on board to place). Also, the game could really use word reset and level reset options alike. I have no idea why the game starts at the level 2. Also, as someone else pointed out, level 10 is impossible (there's only one way to place PLAYING x YOURE on board, and that way locks out THIS). Maybe it would have worked if NOTHING was placed two tiles higher...? The graphics are aesthetically pleasing, and music - despite being simple - does a good job keeping the player engaged. I liked the story gradually revealed by words in each level, but sadly I couldn't get past level 10. Overall, pretty well made game, though it could definitely use better controls and the impossible level needs to be fixed. |
| Oct 26 10:06:18 | 13m 38s | Tale of the Dreamer | ♥ 1 | Short and to the point, I like it. There was some walking around, but not so much that the game would become tedious because of it. I like how unrealistic yet very internally consistent is the realm the creature is in, presumably a dream world. Things keep changing, but they change to adapt to what the dreamer needs. When they find a key, a house spawns. When they find a chest, a dungeon with the key emerges. When they find a broken lever, a handle is bound to appear. Pretty much what one would expect from lucid dreaming, where the dreamer's thoughts and needs shape the realm. Not much to say about graphics and sounds except that they serve the game well. Overall, a pretty nice adventure game. Well done. ^^ |
| Oct 26 10:54:42 | 48m 24s | Unstable Dungeon | ♥ 1 | No wonder it's an unstable dungeon, considering it's filled with so many bugs. Programming jokes aside... That's a decent basis for a complete dungeon crawler, though there is a lot of room for improvement. First of all - the upgrade system. The upgrades take lots and lots of resources to take any real effect. Also, the system is counter-intuitive - taking the green upgrades feels like making some progress, but there's no actual increase in capabilities taking place. I mean, it makes sense if your bag cannot contain all resources necessary for a full upgrade, but maybe have each green upgrade cost the same amount per blue upgrade level? If we kept blue upgrade costs the same, it would be 3 per green at level 0, 8 per green at level 1, 13 per green at level 2 etc. If green upgrade costs were fixed, then they could be represented with a bar gradually filling up instead, and blue upgrades could instead be represented with "LV. X" text, and possibly some additional descriptor (e.g. "1DMG", "10 items" and so on). I think this would work better from user experience perspective. Final note about the upgrades: I don't like how sword, shirt, staff and bag each use only one kind of resource, while amulet uses two kinds of resources, and it's the same as the one for staff and bag. It means that amulet resources are in twice as much demand as non-amulet ones. I feel an amulet-exclusive resource would break that imbalance. Having each upgrade use two kinds of resources (spread evenly among the upgradable items) would add some element of strategy. The gameplay is functional, but tiring in the long run - especially with how slow the player movement and attacks are. Speaking of attacks, I'd really like an ability to attack up and down aside from left and right. Dungeon exploration can be particularly tedious, when I've already visited most of the floor and there are just a few monsters left (or nont at all) and walk around at snail pace, trying to see if there aren't any nests or bugs to clear. Having a minimap showing the already discovered parts of the floor would help quite a bit. Also, the game needs more variety of enemies - two regular enemies + boss with lackeys isn't nearly enough to keep the player engaged through all that grinding. ^^' The graphics are fine, but they could likewise use some more variety - some kinds of skulls lying around, or some debris that could act as a landmark. Even using a different hue for each floor would go a long way - as it is now, each floor feels exactly the same. Sound effects are fine, music is absent. Again - it's a good start (better than nothing), but there's a lot work to be done here to make a full game out of it. ^^' |
| Oct 26 11:12:46 | 18m 04s | Alphabet | ♥ 1 | Minimalistic with the graphics (though there's still that boom effect and the asterisks in the background) and there are no sounds whatsoever, but the gameplay concept is pretty strong for this little game. I like the idea of attaching the letters to the ship, how it counts the unique letters - indicating that you need to gather different letters to increase your score - and the strategic element of placing the same or close letters on the outskirts to keep the bad glyphs at bay. The zoom-out effect, aside from being neat in and of itself, is greatly helpful to see what's around. I think it glitched at some point, because I collected a letter yet the game zoomed in instead of out, but otherwise it still worked well. Once I grasped the rules, I enumerated the alphabet in my head to find the missing letters and eventually managed to get them all, winning the game. Glad you included the winning condition here, especially since after you get all 26 there's nothing left to do. One minor complaint I have is that the game seems to be restarted by clicking on the "restart" button (at least that's the impression I got on my first few tries). I'd rather have it done by pressing Enter or Space or something. Overall, pretty neat gameplay concept and executed quite well mechanically. ^^ |
| Oct 26 12:10:06 | 57m 20s | Void/Entropy | ♥ 1 | Completed in 29:46, with 16 deaths. Guess me being a regular Touhou player* helped here. This was quite taxing, especially since I didn't expect an entry that long in Ludum Dare. Other factors that contributed to general tiredness was no indication of how much was left, and the music getting gradually slower and slower with each death - don't know if it was an intended effect or just a bug from when the music slows down upon death and not resetting the speed, but it kinda felt depressing after yet another death on the last level. >.< Aside from that, I found the patterns to be quite varied and enjoyable - visually my favourite level was the one with flowers, and the maze with wall-orbs was a fun idea mechanically. I suppose one of the cool things about bullet-hell genre in general is the variety of patterns one can come up with, and this potential is used well here. I also appreciate staying true to bullet hell conventions and having both regular speed mode and focused slow speed mode. I like when the game allows me to pull off some micrododging. Overall, a nice and varied bullet-hell entry, though still somewhat tiring. *actually, I tend to fall back to Easy Mode when it's enough to unlock what I want, occasionally completing Normal if Easy doesn't suffice |
| Oct 26 13:16:21 | 1h 06m | BLOB | ♥ 1 | A pretty simple crafting entry with decent audiovisuals. It definitely could use some UI and gameplay improvements. It's not explained in the game itself that the mine and oven have to be clicked to produce resources, so I spent a while trying to get the mine to work (it especially contrasts with the game clearly hinting that e.g. spacebar is used for harvesting etc.). Other thing I noticed is that I didn't actually spend the ore on metal nor the metal on engine parts. After trying out the different buildings, I built the rocket and completed the game. Overall, the game needs more polish in terms of user interaction and mechanics. Most importantly the gameplay needs to be redesigned - especially since I could built a rocket with no engine parts, so just spamming the ore and then metal leads me to endgame, making the auto-spawner and engine parts redundant. |
| Oct 26 15:13:33 | 1h 57m | JustStart | ♥ 0 | That's a good start, now make the full game. ;) It's nice to see a "Find a button" style game every once in a while. This one has some nice puzzles, though I'd have really preferred if scrolling wheel wasn't used. First, because when a game tells me it's mouse-only, I instinctively think of mouse curses + two buttons, and second: because scrolling wheels tend to get broken and I generally wouldn't rely on them as a required control. Scrolling wheel aside, I've found the game to be pretty enjoyable. Good job. |
| Oct 26 16:13:42 | 1h 00m | White Starts With Nothing | ♥ 1 | I love the concept of the game and how it uses the theme - it's got to be one of the most creative ways to handle it. I guess chess has this charm to it that allows some creative modifications - I remember seeing another fun chess-based concept many Dares ago. The different modes added to replay value, too. I like how different mimics resulted in quite different strategies. Double nothing has got to be my favourite, because of how you try to strategically place the white pieces while sabotaging the black pieces placement at the same time. Well done. ^^ |
| Oct 26 16:30:40 | 16m 58s | Inventory Loss | ♥ 0 | I completed it on both normal and hard. The troubling thing about it is that the game is apparently meant to have the player collect as few items as possible so that they can go faster, but at the same time the speed itself is more of a hindrance than the items slowdown. I guess if the player had lower zero-item speed and/or the level didn't involve falling off the screen and losing some time and/or the items slowdown was more significant, then there would be more incentive not to collect the items. Another thing I'd suggest is not put the time limit on removing items from the inventory, but instead make clearing the inventory part of the run. In such case, the player is encouraged to go as fast as possible (not just as fast as they need to remove all items in time) and the race portion is always guaranteed to actually start with nothing. Overall, it was a curious concept, but its execution could seriously use some rebalancing/redesign. |
| Oct 26 20:17:15 | 3h 46m | Solar Grid | ♥ 0 | Not much to say except for what others pointed out - mostly the part about controls and how the game can be cheesed with a literal power grid (maybe more of a graph than a grid, but still power). Having to control the turrets manually in this kind of game doesn't really work out... ^^' I liked the audiovisuals, still, they were cool (though destruction sound effect volume could be toned down a notch). |
| Oct 26 22:00:23 | 1h 43m | Timed Cave | ♥ 1 | I agree with others that an indication that you can use a bomb multiple times would be helpful - especially since apparently you need not to do anything else at the moment, so the bomb button often becomes unresponsive. Aside from that, it was a pretty nice incremental entry, though I wouldn't mind an extra upgrade tier for a pickaxe and/or a clock, to give players even more breathing room and opportunity to play around. The graphics were somewhat silly (in a simple, but nice way), the ending was... very themey. Too bad there was no audio. |
| Oct 27 10:22:47 | 12h 22m | Color and Creativity | ♥ 1 | The visuals are cool and so is the gradual soundtrack buildup, but with these highly sensitive controls, frictionless movements and changing camera angles I could only reach the second red pedestal, before giving up after several more tries. >.< |
| Oct 27 13:02:52 | 2h 40m | Build Yourself | ♥ 0 | Somehow I ended up writing a review but not publishing it, so I'm writing anew. Oh well. I've found the entry challenging, but enjoyable - though this might have been affected by me playing a game with frictionless movement just before, when I couldn't even stop the character. Here I could wait for the car to stop and I could freely change camera perspective, so the game didn't make itself more difficult by depriving the player from some quality of life features, at least. The maze at the beginning of level 2 was tricky, until I realised there's no point in trying to see my way out and instead just opted for moving along an arbitrary wall. It was hilarious in hindsight when I had to restart and using the same method found the exit right away. I liked the graphics, especially the neon car with its add-ons. The levels were also varied rather than using the same colour or texture over and over again, providing a cheap way to prevent the monotony. The encouraging text was a nice touch. The lab UI could use some improvement, e.g. highlighting the add-on currently in use or actually show jumping in the list of passive upgrades. Sadly, there was no audio. Well done, overall. |
| Oct 27 16:02:39 | 2h 59m | Game from the Void | ♥ 1 | That was an enjoyable ride. Pretty meta and genre-crossing in a way. One thing I'd really like in the game engine portion is subtitles for the narration, especially helpful for non-native English speakers or people with hearing problems (though I acknowledge that there could have been no time to prepare and sync subtitles). Also, I agree that there could have been more feedback from the boss, or maybe even some explicit healthbar to make it obvious that there's some health that you need to tear down? Aside from that, pretty cool job done here, it's all around quite complete and pretty polish entry. ^^ |
| Oct 27 17:03:45 | 1h 01m | Never Ending Entropy | ♥ 2 | The gameplay and progression were generally cool, though with its degree of nonlinearity it was sometimes easy to miss the bits you should have collected (I took down quite a few wisdom-bearing creatures before unlocking Wisdom). The game is strong in story department, though I would've preferred if I could activate the dialogue with intelligent creatures myself (e.g. by right-click or F to pay respects or something). In particular I like how the ending neatly wrapped the story up - personally, I kinda rooted for chaos, though I'm also the kind of person who went "oh, look how adorably they wiggle their tentacles" when looking at the enemies. #TeamChaos (that said, I would really like to see an interpretation of chaos as something other than organic horrors, but I guess it is pretty well-established) As someone who firmly believes you cannot have too many particle effects (as long as your GPU can handle it), I liked the visuals here a lot. The audio was fitting, too, too it's unfortunate that it really played part around the endgame. Also, the initial portion of the game could have really used Yakety Sax, but I understand you might have not wanted to use it so that you could be rated in Audio (and/or copyright reasons, don't know what's the copyright status of Yakety Sax). Overall, quite a fun and original entry, with a well-developed story. Well done. ^^ |
| Oct 27 17:45:00 | 41m 15s | Dumpy's Endless Quest for Crap | ♥ 2 | The audiovisuals are cool, but the gameplay is way too clunky. I tried going for a few attempts, I even got 4th or 5th power level on my last one, but the super-speedy movement combined with the falling pits and moving platforms is just too much. That one time I didn't lose by falling into a pit I got stuck into ceiling after being skyrocketed there while jumping from a vertically moving platform instead. >.< Also, sometimes the collision felt "jagged", as if the collision was based around the main character's actual 3D model. In 2D platformers, it's often a good idea to base a collision around some character-centered rectangle instead, and I think this game would benefit from such approach. Also, I really would have preferred if there was some tangible increase in power after upgrading it. At some point I was genuinely wondering whether I'm increasing the power of mine or of the opponents, because they took more and more hits to be taken down. ^^' (also, I'm not really sure if "nothing but your axe" counts as "nothing"...) I hope you'll take notes from this experience and sort out the platforming mechanics by the next Jam. ^^ |
| Oct 27 20:05:08 | 2h 20m | Temptris | ♥ 1 | Very enjoyable and unique concept, wouldn't mind getting a full version with more levels and some overarching story (though with these many Jam entries, I'm glad it's as short as it is). And I agree with @triplefox that playing as Temptris would be pretty awesome on its own. One surprise for me was that the level zoomed in so much that I had to recall the labyrinth layout to follow the trail of skulls (thankfully, it wasn't too hard to remember). I would also like to have a bit less time in exchange for proportionally higher player speed. The audiovisuals were decent and matched the general retro aesthetic, though the font stands out with its non-pixelly smoothness. Overall, great and nicely executed concept. Congrats! ^^ |
| Oct 27 21:00:42 | 55m 34s | Bricklayer! | ♥ 1 | Oh, so that's where Arkanoid levels come from. Neat concept. As much as this theme seems to promote incremental games and power-up themed ones (usually platformers), there are some cool twists on it like this one. I like how the game didn't really have any losing conditions, but instead is just based around getting the job done as fast as possible. It makes for a less frustrating and more relaxing gameplay, which I appreciate in Jam games. The graphics are simple, but functional, and there are some stars in the background too. Sound effects are fitting. While I initially didn't know what are these counters above for (especially the constant 0 ones), I eventually figured it out while playing 2nd level. Pretty cool game, overall. ^^ (by the way, my final score was 104483) |
| Oct 28 06:22:04 | 9h 21m | Chasing Light | ♥ 1 | That's a good self-balancing concept here. The attack uses up visibility, yet it being area-of-effect rather than single hit means that to attack most efficiently, you need to gather the enemies round. I also liked the audiovisuals, especially the coloured pencil aesthetics. Well done. ^^ |