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Tom Robson

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		Tom Robson's comment
Apr 21 18:05:27		Keeping SNES Alive!	♥ 2	Awesome entry! Love the idea, the theme integration, and just everything about the game! I love that there's people so dedicated to their childhood consoles that they still make games for them.
Apr 21 18:34:51	29m 24s	Lost Island	♥ 0	Loved the time I spent with it! The first few days where I was exploring the island, finding my way around the games mechanics, and seeing the colour slowly return to the world were honestly magical. I think the fact that I didn't know about the colour changing going in really added to that moment. As it went on I found the days to get a little repetitive, especially towards the end where I had to go from one end of the island to the other just to water two trees. I would love to have kept playing if there was more to do. Perhaps talking to the octopus-people that live on the island would have been a great addition - give them something new to say each day. But, I know it was a jam game and scope is a big issue. Please keep working on this though, you've got something really great here! The only other thing I would address are the controls. They worked, but felt very clunky. It's as if there was a small delay between me changing which direction I was pressing, and then the character actually going that way. It wasn't a dealbreaker, but should definitely be fixed up. Overall though, great job!
Apr 23 10:31:59	39h 57m	Save the Fish	♥ 1	The funniest jam game I've played so far! Took a few attempts to get the hang of it, and especially in the later rounds it became insanely hard to read and memorize the sequence, but that's all part of the fun!
Apr 23 10:44:57	12m 58s	Embers	♥ 0	One of the most polished games I've seen in the jam! It's super fun too, I could have sat playing it for hours if there was more to do! I love the art, the atmosphere, the mechanics, it's really well made - good job!
Apr 23 11:02:59	18m 02s	Efi	♥ 1	Great entry! Loved the time I spent with the game, the movement was fun, and everything about the presentation was great. I only got about half way through though, I just couldn't clear one of the rooms (though that's just me not being all too good at the game) - but the half I did play was brilliant! Definitely keep developing this.
Apr 23 12:21:49	1h 18m	MACHINA	♥ 1	I love it! The aesthetics were beautiful, the sound work shockingly clean, and honestly the gameplay was far more fun than I'd expected. There were a couple things I'd love to see added/changed/improved/whatever, though: - I feel that just rotating the level wasn't quite enough to get a proper perspective, there were a few time where I would try turning the level in each direction and I still couldn't get a good read of the situation. Any way to improve perspective here would be brilliant, whether that be toggling a top-down view, toggling a 'flat-mode' view, or just letting the player rotate it in more ways; anything in that department would be ideal. - I didn't really have to move much, I don't think i used it much until one situation with a Boomer, but that seems more like the exception rather than a rule. Seriously though, I loved my time with this, and would love to buy a full version if you developed it further!
Apr 24 16:41:31	28h 19m	Solais	♥ 0	A good entry! Everything feels polished and fluid, and just running and jumping around is great fun (coming from someone who rarely likes platforming!) Only issue I had was that in some of the levels, it was really hard for me to make out just what was going on. A lot of the time I wouldn't notice spikes until I hit them. Now that could just be me, my vision isn't amazing, but I feel that the restrictions Pico-8 brings isn't helping. Don't get me wrong though, the art is gorgeous, just a little hard for me to fully take in while playing. Good job overall!
Apr 24 17:06:53	25m 22s	Angst	♥ 6	Loved it! The overall mood and atmosphere were great, and as someone with anxiety (especially at work), it all felt more real than it had any right to! Which, in this case, is exactly what I was wanting. I'd love to see a little more variety going forwards, rather than just exploring around and interacting with the right item. Obviously it's a jam game, and for the time we had this is a great effort; but if you keep developing it further, I'd love to have some minigames or just different encounters in the blackout sections. Overall, great job! Would love to see more in the future.
Apr 24 18:06:09	59m 16s	Woodpunk	♥ 2	Pretty good entry overall. The presentation was stellar! The art was lovely, the music amazing for a jam, and it felt great to play most of the time. There were a few issues I had though. - I was lost for most of the time I spent playing. I just didn't know where to go. I must have spent a good 20 minutes just running around areas I've already been, until I eventually found the right path. I feel like adding a map, compass, or just some directions from the NPCs themselves would solve this, then at least I can have some idea of where to go. - I found myself getting caught on edges a lot. Never to the point where it ruined the experience, but enough to the point that it got annoying. - Both enemies and friendly NPCs were always getting caught on things. I feel like the idea was to have a big gang of friends following you around but their pathfinding meant that, at least for me, they always got caught on stuff before I could get more than 2 of them together. (Obviously though, it's LD, 72 hours isn't much time to go about adding complicated pathfinding, so I totally get why this would be a thing) Please don't get the wrong impression from this comment though, I had a lot of fun playing the game! I feel that with a bit of polish and development post-jam, you'd have a really great little game! Everyone involved should be proud!
Apr 24 18:16:20	10m 11s	Noble	♥ 1	I loved it! The simple concept alone had me hooked for a while! I could honestly see myself playing this over a really long period of time if the game were further developed. There's so much potential here and I'd love to see it taken further! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it. Great job!
Apr 24 18:39:26	23m 06s	Delicious Letters	♥ 0	One of my favorite entries so far! The concept and execution was great, and the overall presentation was brilliant! I did encounter a bug, though. After dying, I was unable to open anymore letters, all I could do was sleep. Refreshing the browser fixed it Other than that though, I loved it! Bravo.
Apr 24 22:59:48	4h 20m	VAMP	♥ 1	Was a really fun game! It's like someone took the Berserk powerup from the new DOOM games and made a full game out of it - which is a-okay in my books! The mouse sensitivity was a little high for my tastes at first, but I got used to it pretty quick (it's not hard to miss enemies with the lunge so it wasn't a big issue). But I never really felt challenged, which can be good if there was a bit more variety in the kill animations. Obviously though, it's a jam - you made a game in your own custom engine, that's impressive enough! Just if you were to take it further, either add some more challenge to the levels, or try to take the kill animations even further! Preferably both. Great entry though, bloody brilliant!
Apr 24 23:17:36	17m 48s	Keep chicks alive!	♥ 1	Had a blast playing this! I'm sure it was designed this way, but I ended up finishing every level with a second to spare, so every single level clear felt like it was just through the skin of my teeth. And given how bad I am at platformers... The music was great, the aesthetic was great, even the level design was great (I loved that you showed off the main gimmick in a level before getting the egg, great touch). Definitely keep going on this, I could play this for hours.
Apr 24 23:33:20	15m 44s	Postcard Ninja	♥ 1	The art style here is great, I love the blend between 3D meshes and bloom but with a pixelation filter to make it look 2D, it's a really nice style! The game's idea seems pretty fun, running around and dodging the shots, but I think the movement needs some more work post-jam. It felt really floaty and just a bit sloppy overall. I think just stopping the characters horizontal momentum on the ground when the player isn't inputting anything would really help the responsiveness. Also, it was never clear which point I'd be hooking on to, and the distance I had to be to hook to a new one. Just a little UI element to show that would be a huge help to the game! I think with those tweaks, you could get something really fun here, it's definitely got character and potential!
Apr 24 23:54:44	21m 24s	Mammoth Expedition	♥ 3	Was a good little game, plenty of stuff that can happen to keep it interesting. If you were to take it further, I'd love to see some more extreme consequences for certain choices. Little events that might make you regret you choices. For example, I thought it would be funny to just annoy the chef and say no to almost everything he said. It'd have been great if, as a result of my actions, the chef hates me so much that he leaves, leaving me without a solid source of food. That's just one example, but having little things that can be a threat other than the flame going out. Good effort overall though!
Apr 25 15:34:10	15h 39m	Elementrees	♥ 3	Was a fun little game! I really like the overall idea behind it, having to defend 4 points it a lot more interesting than jut running around endlessly, so good job there! The environmental art is brilliant as well, the flaming tree down in the bottom left was a sight to see! I feel like more could have been done to polish everything up though, a lot of the game just felt flat to me, the combat especially. It's not so bad in the first wave, because it's slow enough to be able to see the enemy flash, but even in the second wave, that's something that blends in more than feedback should. You could easily fix this with a little bit of camera shake when the player kills an enemy, and a sound effect for hitting them. Apply that to the player and things should feel a lot better to play! Speaking of sound, what was there was great, but the game definitely needs more! But, I can't judge too harshly, it's a jam game, and given the time constraints, what's there is good! I especially love the music, great job to whoever did that! Overall, it's a good game with plenty of potential. Polish it up post-jam and I'd love to play it again.
Apr 25 15:46:21	12m 11s	Unsplashed	♥ 1	Was a fun game! The shaders were really nice! I think the design could use a bit of work, as a lot of the levels were super easy. A couple ideas could be to add a set number of waves you can make, as I felt that if I made a mistake it rarely went punished, so limiting my resources would be a nice catch. Also, I never found the shark to be particularly threatening, it only killed me once because I was taking ages to look at the level and it spawned super close. Also, I'd speed the timer up, I didn't once feel like I was being rushed by it. But, I'm gonna be honest, puzzles are hard, I've always struggled with them, so good job for getting a solid foundation for a good puzzle game! Give it a bit of work after the jam and I would love to play more!
Apr 25 15:59:31	13m 10s	Space Exodus	♥ 3	Loved it! I've always wanted to see sound be a more important part of games, and making it the main mechanic was a great choice! Maybe I just didn't spend long enough looking, but I'd love to have a bit more stuff to find! Those first few minutes of blindly exploring and trying to figure out what was making each sound was a blast, and I'd love to see that taken beyond the small handful of things present in the jam version. Absolutely take this further post-jam!
Apr 25 16:17:47	18m 16s	Gophers	♥ 1	Honestly my favorite from the jam so far! I love a good moody atmosphere, and that Fallout-esque humour was a great touch to keep it from getting boring. I'd love to see it expanded. As someone else said, having more to do in the bunker, and more to do outside would be a nice addition, just to keep each loop more varied. Other than that though, I'd love to see it taken further!
Apr 25 22:53:21	6h 35m	Prism of Science	♥ 1	There's not a lot to say that hasn't already been said - fix the movement up a bit and it'd be perfect. The visuals are really nice, and the audio especially fits really well! Not a lot of games make the character landing feel as good as it does here, so definitely a big plus as far as game feel goes! Really good entry though, wish there was more!
Apr 25 23:03:07	9m 46s	Kaoamaru Kaiju	♥ 1	I absolutely adore the PS1 style of graphics, it's one of my all time favorites (both to look at and work with!) - so seeing an entry with that style was great! I had read a comment or two going in about the lack of gameplay, so with my expectations set accordingly, I really enjoyed this little scene! I'll keep an eye out for any future update you might do, since reading over your plans and such I think it could make for something really quite unique!
Apr 25 23:29:31	26m 24s	Teddy?	♥ 2	Not a bad entry! Has a really good atmosphere, I think just knowing there's a jumpscare but not knowing where can put the player on edge right away! But, there's a couple ways you could improve it post-jam. - Try to fix up the movement, it felt pretty loose and floaty, which wasn't a huge issue, but the big one was jumping. If I have to jump up stairs, I don't want to constantly be getting stuck on them. It just kills the pacing and atmosphere. - Personally I wouldn't have the flashlight battery levels be a UI element. Sounds like bad design, but in horror you wan't to make things abstract enough that players are never quite sure, but still give enough info for them to have a little bit of understanding. So, with the flashlight, maybe have it flicker at certain percentages, with the flicker getting faster the less battery you have. This way, while the player can't put an exact number on it, they can tell by the flickering that they need to find a battery soon. - Give the player something to read! A big part of horror is the writing - you have to get the player invested in the story and trying to figure out just what on Earth is happening. That way, when the jumpscares hit, it's not just some scary face and a sound effect, it actually means something, and thus hits harder. It's a cool little horror experience, but I'd love to see this expanded a bit! You don't get a lot of 2D horror games, so it'd be nice to see this one become something great!
Apr 25 23:49:29	19m 58s	Garden Royale	♥ 1	I'm a huge fan of old-school shooters, so seeing the billboarded sprites thing was an instant plus in my books! The movement was pretty fun too, being able to just strafe around at crazy speeds is always a good thing! I think adding some jumping so I could bunny-hop would make movement even better! The idea is pretty neat as well, I like the idea of bouncing between aggressive and defensive play all the time. What needs a lot of work though is the gun play. Right now it's just press mouse 1 a few times until the enemy dies, or you die, whichever happens first. Which, technically, is how it works in all shooters. But you'll notice about other shooters is that they do a bunch of tricks to make that action feel really powerful and fun. Look at the animations in some of your favorite shooters and try to get the guns in your game to move in similar ways. Also make the enemies really react to getting hit. I'm talking particles, knockback, a bunch of sound effects, hit markers - anything you can do to make sure the player knows they hit someone, do it! I think for a game jam it's definitely a solid effort, but if you decide to take it further you should really try to polish that gameplay up!
Apr 26 00:12:58	23m 29s	Lights Out	♥ 2	Great first jam game! That's a really impressive achievement for your first, so massive congrats there! And as for making a horror game in a jam, yeah, that's not an easy feat either (coming from experience, the only good horror game I've made in a jam still took me a week!), so good job for attempting it and sticking the landing! The binaural audio for detecting the ghost was a great touch, the art was brilliant, and honestly the player felt surprisingly good to just walk around with! Would love to see it taken further!
Apr 26 16:45:56	16h 32m	Cthulhu: The Cult Must Not Die	♥ 3	I think like a lot of people it took me a while to figure out how to play, but once I did it was a pretty fun game! For a jam game, the art is really nice, the animations are smooth, and I really liked the atmosphere! A little more story would have been nice though, given the game's inspirations. I feel like it would be nice to have a little bit more to do other than just combat. Maybe in the segments between waves the player would have to do some kind of short mini-game to help speed up the ritual. That way, the player doesn't get burned out on the combat so quickly. A nice entry for the jam, definitely keep this one going post-jam!
Apr 26 16:55:14	9m 18s	THE PATH	♥ 3	I really enjoyed my time spent with the game, though i didn't finish it. Honestly I could barely get the chick half way across the road without them dying haha But, I did take the time to explore the map without the little chick, and honestly the game has a really nice mood and atmosphere. The graphics really add to it as well. It's just a shame I couldn't get the hang of the chick's controls, I'd love to experience everything properly! Really great job regardless though!
Apr 26 17:05:11	9m 57s	MiniDrone	♥ 1	I think a little bit of direction on what to do when you start would be a good addition, but honestly I really liked the idea here! It's something I could honestly sit and play for hours if it was a little more fleshed out. Sure watching a meter go up is fun for a few minutes, but man just imagining all the possibilities if you took this further makes me really excited to see what might happen next! Scale the planets up, add more stuff to find and do, and maybe slow the pace down a little bit, and I would adore this game! Great job!
Apr 26 17:19:54	14m 43s	RatJar	♥ 1	Love this take on the theme! The art is great, and just the general presentation is brilliant! Not many games can boast rat ragdoll physics! A couple little problems though: -It felt a little bit cheap having a bunch of hay bails be put at drops that the player just can't see the bottom of. Obviously once you die and know they're there it's fine, but the first time it happens is still annoying. It's not really a challenge, and comes off more as a joke at the players expense. Which hey, first time around I actually found it funny! Less so afterwards though. - When I started I somehow managed to get myself turned around, so trying to get used to the tank controls without knowing which was was forwards was a bit frustrating. Just something to roughly tell the player which was is forwards and back would be a great touch! Seriously though, I loved this game! Great entry!