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Zathnic

Feedback comments for LD48

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		Zathnic's comment
Apr 28 14:44:31		Awakening	♥ 1	It took me a while to realize that the bar at the top right represented my health and that there was fall damage. I think it were the different colors that threw me off - you sort of expect the health bar in games to always be the same color, or to go from green to red. I thought the colors had some sort of deeper meaning. It's interesting to see a game where you can only move left and right and the only way is downwards. This reminds me very much of the game Roll by Nifflas. Though I didn't really understand what the point of the really long falls was, starting from love and joy.
Apr 28 15:05:16	20m 45s	Marty and the Eldritch Horror	♥ 0	I really like how fast-paced the movement is, makes it a lot of fun to play. The chase sequence also was a good fit because of this. I was kind of sad when it was over after that already. As for criticism, some sort of effect when hitting the spikes would be nice, even if it was just a sound. Also, there seems to be a bug where you can't dig down when you're holding left or right against a wall.
Apr 28 15:34:08	28m 52s	Duggy	♥ 1	Wow, that pickaxe cuts through the dirt like butter, and you can also shoot it very fast. This makes the gameplay fast-paced and fun, however I would consider adding some more challenge, like enemies turning or more treasure chests spawning, considering how powerful the character is. The game seemed to get a bit buggy as I reached level 3. I killed all enemies I could find, but I couldn't advance to the next level. Even after I dug up every dirt block, nothing happened. Treasure chests also didn't always spawn enemies after a few seconds (I think this problem was only in level 3 as well, though I don't fully remember). Still, this is a fun game with quite a bit of potential for expanding it.
Apr 28 20:27:38	4h 53m	Don't Pop Descent	♥ 1	Nice, challenging gameplay with the bullet evasion! I'm assuming there isn't an ending to the second level, or maybe I was just blind. I didn't feel like the difficulty ramped up much too quickly, since I think bullet hell games are generally more on the difficult side.
Apr 28 20:35:59	8m 21s	Mini Miner	♥ 1	Fun, basic platformer. The mining is a bit rough around the edges, sometimes it seems like some blocks to the side don't want to get mined. Maybe the game could also be improved if the pickaxe would continuously swing when you hold down the button.
Apr 28 20:42:34	6m 35s	Spring Tale	♥ 1	This game has a very nice presentation and mood. The mechanics were simple but well executed and even though I've seen this type of game before, I don't think I've seen the jumping mechanic going along with it; that added a good bit of depth. In one level, I found a bug where you could jump over the surrounding walls and cheese it, I think it was the second level that had enemies in it. Other than that I can't think of any real flaws, so good job!
Apr 28 21:02:38	20m 04s	Soaring Under	♥ 2	Like others have mentioned, the flight mechanics are quite hard to get a hang of; I noticed myself holding forward most of the time and not really using the left, right and down keys since I felt I was more in control that way. With enough time, I'm sure you could master it and it would be a really interesting challenge to go for the collectibles. My suggestion would be adding an easier difficulty mode where you don't instantly lose when you strafe a wall, could make it easier to gain practice when you can more freely and for a longer time just fly around and learn from your mistakes. The atmosphere was of course very beautiful, there's something quite soothing about slowly drifting down into each new area.
Apr 29 03:10:47	6h 08m	depthscraper	♥ 2	Nice innovative puzzle mechanic! I also like how cleanly the game is integrated into the itch.io webpage. I wonder if there would be potential to expand this with multiple game modes, for example a hard mode with more than four columns or maybe even a Tetris-inspired mode.
May 3 01:59:59	94h 49m	Boring in the deep	♥ 2	I like this kind of movement mechanic in a limited arc since I did something similar in an old LD years ago. It's also a nice touch how the view distance increases when you slow down. I did die three or four times in a row at the beginning of the stone area, so maybe that turn is too sharp, though I may also have been going a bit too fast. I really like the mood of the third area! The art and music there give it a really menacing vibe.
May 3 02:02:07	2m 08s	You Know The Drill	♥ 2	I always like these kinds of upgrade systems in LD games, they certainly keep me playing for a bit longer ;) The sound design is also well done, with the changes in the music when you dig deeper or lose oxygen. Since according to the story you visit a new planet each time, it would have been nice to have a better sky background that maybe changes its color scheme each time you warp down, for variety.
May 3 02:04:51	2m 44s	Asterisk	♥ 3	Really catchy music, and in combination with the voice acting it feels very professional! The gameplay is also fun, I especially like how fast-paced it is. I'm not entirely sure about being able to spam the sonar, although adding a cooldown could also hinder the game's flow. Maybe add a secondary powerup and they each have cooldowns so you have to switch between them? Idk, just an idea.
May 4 01:12:31	23h 07m	Blackout	♥ 7	This was quite an immersive experience, I enjoyed the music and how realistic and interconnected the house feels! I don't think it fits the theme that well, you don't really go "deeper" into a house I don't think. A way to advance the text faster would also be nice, but other than those nitpicks, this is a great, polished entry!
May 4 01:13:33	1m 02s	River, Carry Me Away	♥ 4	Best mood I've seen so far! The gameplay is very simple, but doesn't really feel lacking because everything feels so much like a complete experience. The story is also interesting to observe - it takes a while to understand what is going on because of the silhouettey style and lack of text, and it feels like the ending is left open to interpretation, which makes it interesting to think about.
May 4 01:15:30	1m 57s	20.000 LIGHT YEARS deep in THE SKY	♥ 3	Love how much life each of the different planet types has, with different music, descriptions, great voice acting, a creative design - there really isn't much more you could have done to bring these planets to life. The gameplay is maybe a bit simplistic, but still works well and I understand it would have been difficult to add more depth and complexity to it in the span of the jam. Overall it feels very polished, like a complete package, quite impressive!
May 4 01:17:08	1m 38s	Selkö	♥ 3	Really interesting idea to simply control a flashlight and nothing else, wish there had been a few more puzzles to explore the idea further. Didn't see the part with the whale coming, that was pretty funny :)
May 4 01:19:02	1m 54s	6 Feet Under	♥ 3	The main mechanic is really cool, not being able to change direction midair and having to set the right angle when launching makes for an interesting challenge. I felt like I was improving a lot while playing, goes to show how well the mechanics work and can be learned quickly despite being unique. I'm also impressed by how many levels there are!
May 7 00:34:41	71h 15m	DeepO	♥ 3	Heh, the mechanic with the air bubbles that you have to reach before you run out of air is quite similar to what I did in my own entry, but the rest of the mechanics are very different. Really fun and unique, the continued but limited dashing through the air (well, water) and the pushing away enemies by dashing in the opposite direction especially stood out to me. You managed to create a really nice mood with the squeaky sound effect and the music. One small note though, you should probably opt out of the audio category since you used third party music. You'll have to send an email to Mike Kasprzak since you can't change this yourself after the fact.
May 7 01:29:14	54m 33s	Snake Match	♥ 1	Very nice idea, would have been a perfect fit for the Combine 2 Incompatible Genres theme. The graphics are simple but charming. Would have liked more of an incentive to match the blocks, like gaining score on top of XP, or perhaps the maximum length of the snake could be shorter but matching fruits would reduce the snake's length at the end?
May 7 02:05:28	36m 14s	Zepog	♥ 1	Wow, what a beautiful mood. I love the music, and how smooth the frog feels to control. I can see a lot of potential for expanding on this, for example by also having sections where the frog leaves the water and you can jump around. I first wanted to make a game about a frog myself, but then I remembered I can't animate. Having a really simple sprite like this is actually a good solution, I should probably remember that for future LDs ;)
May 8 02:08:01	24h 02m	dyppan	♥ 1	Fun concept! I like the way the character moves, and how you can interact with everything by walking. It stopped being challenging pretty quickly though, once I got some stat points and items. Would have been nice if the enemies got stronger the deeper you went.
May 8 02:42:58	34m 57s	Just keep sinking	♥ 1	Good presentation, lots of attention to detail! Gameplay was a bit too simple imo, maybe would have been better if you could speed up the submarine by holding down the mouse, or something like that.
May 8 03:09:15	26m 17s	Run Ant Run	♥ 1	Wow, super unique concept! Very well executed, it gets very exciting when the game gets fast to try and stay ahead of the poison. I never really went into the longer passages though, maybe there should be a few more ants in there to make them more rewarding?
May 9 00:01:42	20h 52m	Deep Sea Mining	♥ 1	Great graphics, a lot of variety for a game jam! I love the wavey look of the water, never seen something quite like that before. I found the difficulty balance surprisingly good, the game felt challenging from beginning to end. The times I died felt like a genuine setback, making it harder to progress since you always need to go a little deeper to find new crystal veins, but still always doable. It's a little jarring how the gun quickly changes position when you turn, though I'm not sure there's a good solution since it would be weird if the submarine wouldn't flip and was upside down in one direction. Maybe a button to decide when to flip it yourself? Overall a very complete, polished entry, good job!
May 11 20:45:40	68h 43m	How Deep is Your Love	♥ 4	Simple but fun gameplay! The enemy variety was nice, as well as the animation of the main character. It was quite short, and maybe also too easy since I didn't die once in three playthroughs. But you did well to tell a nice little story in this short timespan.
May 12 17:57:42	21h 12m	GRIMM	♥ 3	Simple but fun. I like how the sections are randomly generated so you can't just remember where the spikes are. Sometimes you can see the ground a little too late so you have to jump blindly; also some sound effects for the player would have been nice.
May 12 18:30:09	32m 27s	AeroCat	♥ 2	Wow, surprising how a simple mechanic with two buttons can have so much depth! You can either play it safe, or go fast and become a master at dodging. Music and visuals are great, too. A very nice entry overall!
May 12 20:23:06	1h 52m	Swab the Deck!	♥ 3	Fun game! It was quite challenging until I realized how powerful energy gain in combination with the healing card is. At that point, I didn't feel the need to buy any of the more expensive cards anymore and it was rather easy to make it to the end. Maybe that could be balanced a little better. But you managed to make quite an intricate game here for a game jam, and it's interesting how everything is in real time so you have to make decisions quickly to get ahead of the enemy.