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Samuel Hollywood-Summers

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		Samuel Hollywood-Summers's comment
Oct 6 15:51:45		Hangin' Around	♥ 1	I really enjoyed this. Great attention to detail with the audio, and typical Nocity humour in the interpretation of the theme. I enjoyed the challenge mode, as during the story mode there isn't quite the room for mastery of the individual minigames (although I did enjoy the discovery aspect of the story mode). The ramping up of the tempo and therefore intensity of the music during challenge mode was a great touch, and felt like it was enhancing my motivation to succeed. Nice work.
Oct 6 16:07:37	15m 52s	21 days	♥ 1	Interesting concept, and I love the celebration screen when I managed to enter my new life. It took a while to realise that 'hits' are a good thing (I think?) and it felt awkward that I was kicking successfully at all points in the kick animation, rather than having to time it so the foot or knee should collide with the sweets. I enjoyed the music, but it could loop more smoothly, and music for the celebration screen would make the breakdancing feel even more awesome. I made my own game for the first time this jam, so I appreciate how difficult it is to get everything perfect, so well done on making a fun little platformer.
Oct 6 16:21:04	13m 27s	RECoil	♥ 2	Awesome game. Certain influences come through clearly, but in a good way. I love how the loops were used to solve puzzles. This is an interesting application of the theme. I'd like to play a more expanded version of the game with more challenging puzzles, but the difficulty was just right for a jam game. Good stuff!
Oct 6 16:37:17	16m 13s	Born To Die	♥ 1	Great concept, and the larval stage animation is great. I like the way that the puzzles require understanding and application of the life cycle, but at times the timings are frustrating. A major bug (lol) is when only 3 corpses are available, and the moth stage ends while trying to place the final corpse. It wasn't added to the nest, and I could not pick it up again to finish my nest. In my opinion, the moth stage should not be able to end whilst placing corpses. A fun game, and the potential for some really interesting puzzle design if you choose to expand on the concept.
Oct 6 17:05:25	28m 08s	I want to go	♥ 1	Cool idea, but constantly respawning in a spike pit just isn't any fun. Sound would also really help to keep me engaged to play more.
Oct 6 17:24:31	19m 06s	40 Days Till Impact	♥ 1	An interesting idea, and very calming gameplay. The issue is, after the first asteroid impact, I couldn't seem to take most actions, and could not understand why. For example, I could not build a farm, and it was not clear why. I'm not sure the mood of the music suits the narrative framing of the game, although it did match the calm experience of the gameplay.
Oct 6 17:42:50	18m 19s	Until All Ends	♥ 1	A great idea, with many elements implemented well. The mood would certainly be enhanced with Werner Herzog doing VO! I'm not sure how much impact my action were really having on the balance of power in the game, but the constant changing of the technology offered enough intrigue for me to keep playing through to the end. I liked the music and the art, but the voiceover recordings could be much clearer (a quick fix would be to drop the volume of the music considerably, but making clearer recordings in the first place would help). Thanks for making the game, I enjoyed it, and it has a positive message (I think).
Oct 6 18:00:34	17m 44s	ShredyCat	♥ 2	The most fun I've ever had with a suicidal cat. The 'Kill the Monkey' bits were frustratingly difficult, and not as much fun as a result, but I was stubborn and played until I pushed the TNT box all the way to the centre. 'You Win' flashed up for a fragment of a second before the game reset back into the main gameplay, is this a bug? Great fun (mostly) and looks and sounds great. Good job.
Oct 7 08:20:54	14h 20m	while(true)	♥ 1	I enjoyed this! Most of the fun was in learning what was going on and how I needed to play. Once I got the concept, though, the gameplay lacked challenge and strategy until it got to the point where enemies formed a barrier to the cookies/chips. At this point, the difficulty went from trivial to near impossible. This is a great idea, and with some tweaks could make for some more interesting level and puzzle design, rather than just hanging around at a cookie or chip spawner, and a more gradual difficulty curve would be ideal. Great work for a first jam! I also enjoyed the gradual way that the garbled sfx became more and more intelligible as the game went on. At first I had no idea they were words. 'Move' was the first one I noticed, and eventually it seemed obvious that they are all just the words for the actions occurring. Nice touch.
Oct 7 09:45:22	1h 24m	Bean Up!	♥ 3	I eventually gave up on the last saw. Very challenging, and great use of the iterative level design. It would be great to have music that ramps in intensity with the increasing difficulty of the levels. Also, there were some unpleasant sounds that felt like they were clipping or contained clicks/thumps. The music could have looped more smoothly, but it was well suited to the mood of the game, and the music itself did not grow irritating despite the length of time I stubbornly spent trying to complete the game. A great game for a jam and a good difficulty curve that will become challenging to any player eventually. Well done.
Oct 7 10:07:34	22m 12s	Colorful Memories	♥ 2	A lovely idea, and an emotional experience. The impact of the final memory could have worked better if it wasn't expected. The game description kind of hints at this. The choice of music and the environmental sounds worked well. The ambiences, though, should have been faded in and out as you enter and leave the relevant areas: they start and end abruptly, resulting in clicks in the audio. Changing small details about the 3D models you reuse could help add variety to the game world, too. For example, the slides could be different colours, etc. I enjoyed the calm and ease of the gameplay, and it nurtures the right frame of mind to be emotionally impact of the memories. It seems, since you opted out of the audio category, that you did not make the music yourselves, but it would have been a great touch if the music practice melody fitted with the game's underscore (in the same key, in time with the rhythm, etc). This would really enhance the emotional impact of that scene. Thanks for making this, I enjoyed the experience.
Oct 7 10:57:05	49m 31s	Boomerangs Of Wizendrail	♥ 2	I love the dripping cave ambience, and the gameplay mechanics were intuitive. The lights and fireball sfx helped to warn me of the enemies, but a sfx for when I or an enemy is damaged would help the game feel much better. I also heard no music, even when the text 'Why do I hear boss music' appeared on screen. These audio elements, as well as animations for the player character, would be the next things to add, in my opinion.
Oct 7 11:14:38	17m 33s	S.A.L.F.s	♥ 1	I loved the audio and visual style. I feel like the questions I was asked were a bit trivial, mostly, but I suppose they put me into the role of a scientist. I'm just not sure a scientist would place any significance or see any challenge in correctly identifying which thing is bigger. The text was engaging enough, but I would have liked more philosophical exploration. The fourth wall break towards the end was interesting, as was the implication that the player is acting as another observer, but there was not always a compelling point to the text. For me, the biggest strength was in the audio, which I really liked. Good stuff!
Oct 7 11:33:05	18m 27s	Infinite Stairs	♥ 1	If you are going to rely on audio hints, you need to make sure all of them are intelligible. Some were clearly "up" or "down", but others are an ambiguous mumble or groan. Regardless of whether I interpreted them as up or down, I could not reach the ending. Due to the limited gameplay, this just gets frustrating very quickly. I feel like there was an interesting idea here, but it wasn't implemented in a way that is friendly enough to the player. I started to feel almost like the game is intended as a practical joke on the player, which would be rather mean-spirited and not very funny for the only person experiencing it. I love the texture of the wall, and the infinite looping of the staircase was done well. I do like the mood of the audio, but the creepiness level has sacrificed too much intelligibility in the dialogue.
Oct 7 12:58:30	1h 25m	Ouroboros	♥ 1	I enjoyed this game. The mechanics took a while to work out, and the difficulty seems a little hard for a jam game. This is closer to the escape when time gets faster. Before the acceleration, the challenge is maybe on the low side. Despite the fact that the difficulty could be tweaked, I really like the idea for the game, and the music that ramps in tempo with the worm's speed is a great touch that enhances the feeling of urgency and risk. I eventually managed to escape, showing that the game is engaging despite feeling very difficult when time speeds up at the end.
Oct 7 17:47:06	4h 48m	Sad Dads: Loop of Lawn Maintenance	♥ 1	An interesting concept. The protagonist could probably use a shift in his priorities! Lovely lawn, though...
Oct 7 22:15:09	4h 28m	Bloop	♥ 2	Easily my favourite game of the jam so far. I love the movement mechanic. It feels awkward to begin with, but I feel I have just enough control with practice that using the awkward controls is fun rather than frustrating. The look, sound and feel of the game is gorgeous. So simple and elegant, and cool. The vocal sfx are a lovely touch. Very soothing and this counters the sometimes frustrating difficulty. I would like to see a high score, rather than just my most recent score, and when turning in the tightest circles it is difficult to see where the head is, which could be made clearer. An amazing jam game, and a very promising concept. Please develop this further, I would love to play more.
Oct 8 13:09:41	14h 54m	Pulsewave	♥ 1	A cool game. Easy concept to understand, and fun to try out different approaches. There doesn't seem to be a penalty for staying still though, which feels like a missed opportunity for additional challenge. It would also be nice if there was always a sequence of possible moves to stay moving on every beat. There is at least one moment where you end up in the middle of three lanes with another ship on either side, just waiting to pass by. A nice concept, with a good level of polish in the art and sound. The music is upbeat and funky, adding to the enjoyment of the game.
Oct 8 13:20:59	11m 18s	A Duck in Time	♥ 1	The recoil on the gun wasn't enough to get out of the pit. I started again from the beginning and had the same problem. It didn't feel good to run into such difficulty so early on in the game. I don't know if your parallax is working the opposite way to how it should do on purpose (some sort of spatial distortion due to the 'rift' mentioned?) or if this is a mistake, but it was distracting and disorienting. Let me know if there is something I'm missing for the problem of being stuck in the pit and I'll try again.
Oct 8 13:29:00	8m 01s	Asteri	♥ 2	This is gorgeous. I only wish it was longer. My favourite game of the jam so far. Thanks for making this, it made my day a little better.
Oct 8 13:45:28	16m 28s	Journeys to the Spire	♥ 1	I like the idea, but as other people have mentioned, it is difficult to understand what to do, and why. Seeing the life cycles play out was an interesting touch, but people tend not to reproduce asexually outside of this game. It might be nice to have the camera more zoomed out to see what might be worth heading towards. Because it was not clear what I might be able to do, and what my interactions achieve, I played for less time than I would have if I was playing this with a dev to hand to answer my questions and explain things.
Oct 8 13:58:33	13m 05s	Shunk Stark	♥ 1	Level 6 is annoyingly difficult. I think this is because the jump is very difficult to tame. I could not reliably jump at the minimum height. I knew what I needed to do, but did not have the patience to keep trying and waiting for the movement controls to play ball. I liked the idea of platforms that require a sacrifice to use, and may or may not be needed to use to solve the puzzle. Some sound effects would really help with the game feel. And having a different sound for a minimum height jump compared to a higher jump might help to train me to get it right more reliably! I think it would also be a good idea to introduce the time limit only after a successful completion of each level without the limit first. The choice of music really helped inject some character into the minimalist aesthetics of the visuals, and probably kept me motivated to play for longer than if there was no music.
Oct 8 14:08:39	10m 06s	Lily The Bee	♥ 2	It is great that you have included a narrative, and the game has a consistent aesthetic style that contributes to a pleasant mood. The biggest problem to solve is that the projectiles are very difficult to see against the background. There should be much more contrast there. Another minor thing is that the VO and text do not always match, and there are a few spelling errors. Interspersing the cut scenes with the gameplay was a nice touch, and enhanced the overall feeling of the game.
Oct 9 16:04:16	25h 55m	LichLoop	♥ 1	An interesting concept, and consistent aesthetic. I enjoyed solving the puzzles up until the 5th, which I lost patience for. I noticed in the comments that this bug is already known, but it would be nice to be able to jump onto a square that another thrall is leaving in the same step. If you hadn't declared that the idea is not original, then I would have thought it was, I've not seen gameplay quite like this before. A great submission, which I enjoyed playing!
Oct 9 16:20:12	15m 56s	Dear John	♥ 1	I can't interact with the jewelry (US)/ jewellery (UK) box (see spelling!) when I first re-enter the room. I restarted the game and tried again, and both with and without the key, I just can't interact with it. I have not rated the game because I don't really feel like I've experienced it. Am I missing something, or is it a bug?
Oct 21 16:32:49	288h 12m	Olivia	♥ 1	A great concept. I've not seen anything like that before. The sounds and music suit the visual style, but some of the sfx that play during gameplay seem to have clicks or bad edits in them. Also, it got frustrating to try to avoid enemies and also not fall in the pits sometimes. With some fine-tuning for difficulty, this game has a lot of promise.
Oct 21 16:58:34	25m 45s	The Innermost Inside	♥ 1	I liked this more the longer I played it for. It somehow manages to be both relaxing and frustrating. I wish I'd played it first with a mouse rather than my tracker pad, and definitely plan to try it again that way. With how long some of the levels last, it might be nice if the music varied a little more. Also, the gameplay is much more enjoyable than the intro, which could be shorter. The gameplay really drew me in. I like the simplicity of the idea, and subtle design choices like only being able to use each node once, led to more strategic thinking when finding the correct route. It might be nice if there was more of a clue where to go. I found some levels frustrating due to heading in the wrong direction. Overall, a really nice jam game. Well done!