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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | Jaco van Hemert's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2 08:03:24 | Chain Mail | ♥ 6 | Unsurprisingly, lovely graphics. I also enjoyed the music a lot. The writing was good, with a light-hearted tone that brought Final Fantasy Tactics Advance to mind (maybe only because I know that was part of the inspiration for this). (Particularly loved the apple mission's warning not to eat any of the apples.) The gameplay loop is surprisingly fun for how passive it might seem. Though I'll note that towards the end of the 14 days, I was sometimes in situations where I was just waiting for time to pass, first because there were no missions my available heroes could succeed at, and later because there were no missions left! I managed to get a favourable outcome with my guys for the last mission, but I did wonder what would happen if I hadn't, since there were no more missions left. There were some UX things that I would have liked to see. One is in the mission select screen, where it would have been nice to see which of my heroes are available for missions, so I know if I can end the day without having to go into a mission to test. And speaking of the mission screen, I don't know if I'm just blind or something, but I couldn't tell which of my heroes were available to be selected, which means I often had to just click through to see if they were available. While my heroes leveled up, it wasn't clear how many completed missions would result in a level up; it's not necessarily necessary, but some indication of progress towards the next level might have been nice? Also, a message that says that they leveled up, maybe at the end of the mission report? That's about it. Looks really good, and it's a nice gameplay loop. | |
| May 2 09:17:40 | 1h 14m | Broomstick Blitz | ♥ 1 | It took a bit of time to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. Starting me off next to the story time building might have been helpful (or just some instructions in the game description or on the menu!). But once I found that building, it became clear what to do. The movement controls are wacky as hell, but it lends a sort of charm to it. I feel like I'm always a bit out of control with the turning. Though I'll note that the slow movement felt too slow and the fast movement too fast (though the latter is really satisfying to activate; perhaps the slower starting move speed is what makes it feel that way). As for the gameplay loop: It's pretty easy to get into a flow, though often it feels like the best strategy is to activate a mission you have no intention of completing to collect some items so that when you get a real mission, you can finish it more easily. The arrow showing where you need to go is great, though having some directional indications of the closest of each resource might have been helpful to avoid the temptation to pre-collect. That said, towards the end of the game, I started to remember the layout, so perhaps it's better to leave it to the player to memorise (though then perhaps either the resources should be more logically distributed in a more distinct series of places [e.g. crystals in the mountainy area, and red gems in a city-esque area], or the time limits should be a bit more generous to start off with). That's about it. Nice entry! |
| May 2 10:20:37 | 1h 02m | Merge Barge | ♥ 1 | This was really fun. The combination of merging crates and preparing for smog collection was great, introducing a bit of small-scale variety in the gameplay loop. The strategy of thinking ahead with where you place your cargo became quickly apparent, and I enjoyed figuring out the puzzle. Though I made stupid mistakes a couple of times, so an undo button (just one step back) would have been cool. I would have liked a clearer indication of what you're placing down. A couple of times, I accidentally put down a smog collector when I thought it was a crate, because I wasn't paying attention to the line-up at the bottom. Having a transparent version of the thing you're placing on your mouse cursor rather than just a generic block would have avoided that (or at least having the one you're placing in the line-up be normal size, and the others smaller?). Also, as a side note, there were tooltips for the initial starting stuff, but not for the bigger crates, so it wasn't immediately obvious to me how many of the crates I needed to combine (e.g. I first thought that a 2 and a 1 would combine into a 3). I couldn't finish the third mission, because I kept getting no-win scenarios (granted, I didn't do everything perfectly). The randomization (?) screwed me over a couple of times, unfortunately. Overall, a pretty great game. It's fun and polished. Well done! |
| May 2 11:23:00 | 1h 02m | Longship! | ♥ 3 | This is really wacky, and perfectly fits the description of qwop-ey. The absolute disaster that my rowing synchronisation was is great, and I enjoyed the sound effects as well. Some over-the-top heroic music that swells as you get closer would have sealed the QWOP legacy. I'm not super into the mouse-controlled sliders for the control scheme though. Having a weird uncomfortable keyboard-button set up might have been better. As it is, you'll always start off with just one oar rowing, then two, etc. One of the things that made QWOP so addicting is that moment where you press all the buttons in the right rhythm, entering a deeply focused trance as it all comes together and you make incredible progress... only to miss one press and face plant. It feels like it's hard to have that sort of experience with this (though I did get something like that one time when my two left oars seemed perfectly synced for a few seconds). But very well done regardless; I enjoyed playing it! |
| May 2 11:55:48 | 32m 48s | Package Delivery | ♥ 1 | My favourite moment in the game was the one lady who seemed to be hiding in the bushes, waiting for her package. My thoughts: I liked the two modes of walking and driving; it adds a bit of variety in the gameplay. Though walking felt a bit too slow for the amount of distance you had to cover. The maximum distance from the truck limit is also a good idea. I would have liked some kind of challenge or problem to solve. It very quickly devolved into me just walking left, memorising the colours that are there and going all the way back to the truck to get the packages (and all the way back with the packages, and all the way back to the truck [see why I want faster move speed?]), and then the same for the right, drive further down, repeat. Like the others here said, it was a pretty chill atmosphere, so having a timer or something would probably ruin it, but perhaps instead of having all the packages, you get a random coloured one, and have each person able to receive multiple packages, so that you can eventually learn where the different colour destinations are and head there immediately, rather than having to just happen upon them. Some small things: If you carry a package, it's always on your right; having it be pointing in the direction you last walked would have been convenient. Also, once you deliver a package (which is once-off per person), the arrow remains. I would have like to see some kind of visual feedback that the delivery was successful (e.g. the arrow disappears, or the recipient sprite goes from a waiting pose to holding a package, or whatever). Also, the colliders generally felt too big, especially for a three-quarters view situation like this. Putting the player's collider on only the lower half would have allowed him to overlap with obstacles, but only with his head, creating a feeling of depth and less annoying bumping into stuff that don't seem like you should be bumping into. |
| May 2 13:48:59 | 1h 53m | The Souls Express | ♥ 4 | What a beautiful game! I loved the visuals and audio; it evokes such a calm and serene mood, perfect for the thematic elements in this. The movement felt a bit slow, such that there was an element of tedium in walking back to see who wants to be at the current station. Also, on that, it feels like there's something missing in my interactions with the passengers. Most of them either tell me exactly where they want to be, or not at all, which meant I either knew immediately or had to just randomly select stations, rather than conversation with them leading to me figuring it out. I also would have liked to have some choice; e.g. assigning each of them a station based on what I think they like, rather than just taking them there. That would add an element of solving a problem, rather than just clicking on the thing the passenger tells you to click on. Overall, incredible atmosphere, stunning graphics, and amazing music. Well done! |
| May 2 14:57:55 | 1h 08m | Pack 'em UP! | ♥ 4 | A really cool combination of warehouse tasks and driving. The graphics are cute and the music gives the game a nice chill atmosphere. The timers on the orders seem a bit rough, and sometimes they'd all be in the low 50s when I get back, so I'd have to essentially just wait around until they run out before I can continue playing (since I can't put together and collect an order in 50 seconds). Maybe they should reset every time you enter the warehouse again? Like others have said, it would have been nice to have the timer and order numbers on the screen while you're driving so you can see what you're going to make and where you should be taking things. I also would have liked driving that wasn't locked to just four directions; it feels like that would have freed up the movement, led to some crashing shenanigans, and made the driving parts more fun? (Also, this is probably just me, but I would have liked to have the option to use arrow keys for movement; having all the controls one one hand feels a bit unwieldy somehow. [And inefficient! My other hand is just hanging pointlessly by my side.]) |
| May 2 17:49:21 | 2h 51m | MagiCat | ♥ 2 | The art is this is so great. I love the bizarre medieval drawings, and the paper style really brings to mind the sort of theatre vibe that the curtains seem to suggest. My initial reaction to this game was confusion; I think an easier / simpler first "level" would make this a lot easier to understand. The first (and seemingly only?) guy says so many things that I wasn't sure if I was supposed to memorise everything, and I eventually ended up just tossing random ingredients into the pot, which seemed to work? (Unless I somehow accidentally got all of them right?) I also couldn't throw in the "A" button ingredient, which was either a bug, or something I didn't understand. The rune phase was interesting -- once I figured out how it worked. The time limit on it really reduced my ability to learn what to do with trial and error; as before, a simpler, non-time version to start with might have been good. E.g. a level where you make something for another magic practitioner? Making the runes under a time limit was quite satisfying though, so I liked how that was implemented. Anyway, a very unique game, both in gameplay and art style. Well done! |
| May 3 07:15:51 | 13h 26m | Devilery | ♥ 1 | Really excellent use of music and art to set a mood of fear. I was definitely a little on edge the whole way through. I would have liked to have had more choice in what I could do; most of the time, I could only do the one thing that the game told me to do. The only exceptions I found were in the last few seconds of the game. Having some more agency throughout would have elevated this quite a bit. Nonetheless, a really great atmosphere, and pretty good entry. |
| May 3 07:46:59 | 31m 08s | Delivery Boy Express | ♥ 3 | The controls felt really unintuitive for a bit (had to get by using only boost and Z/X), but after a while, I started to get a feeling for it, and it felt great. Really fun to fly around once you get used to it. Perhaps rather arrows for rolling, Z for accelerate forward, and X to flip 180? But that would have been unintuitive on the ground, so maybe not! Music was well chosen; it gave a nice chill, adventurous vibe. I liked the cute graphics and the little snippets of dialogue. I also really liked how there were ways to deal with enemies, but you could also just avoid them. A lot of games that have the "just avoid them" component devolve into thousands of enemies in a mob behind you all the time towards the end, but you've avoided that, so it felt worth it to avoid them. Not much else to say. Really excellent job. |
| May 3 10:58:16 | 3h 11m | Mother's Day: Requiem | ♥ 2 | A very funny concept, and a good take on the theme. The fact that the camera follows the baby made it a bit difficult to catch high babies (maybe an arrow indicator where the doctor is would have been good), but it was still a funny and fun experience. The max height and distance stats at the end was great, as it motivated me to try some different techniques by the end. Also, great baby sprite, and having it spin just added to the wackiness. Edit: Forgot to say that I love the title; great stuff. |
| May 3 11:42:27 | 44m 11s | F. Ragile | ♥ 1 | Love the art and music -- immediately puts me to mind of SNES classics. The gameplay loop is pretty solid, sort of like a sidescrolling shooter, but with an angled and gravity-affected projectile, so that was interesting. It wasn't immediately obvious that I would get refills for my packages, so some kind of indication about that would have been nice. My strategy for playing was essentially to dodge the red guys and shoot the yellow guys, and I got into a good rhythm. It looks like the game doesn't have an ending, per se? Just a high score sort of system? I eventually got knocked down at 10100. Cool game, though I'd have liked to have seen some progressing complexity or difficulty, and an ending / levels. |
| May 3 12:23:17 | 40m 50s | Reloot | ♥ 1 | Restocking a dungeon isn't an entirely unique premise, but having the player also play the hero going through is genius. It's a classic case of having the same level, but making it feel very different the second time around. Very cool. Loved the music -- excellent -- and the art style is very Shovel Knight / SNES era, and beautifully done. I would have liked there to be some penalty for dying as Molt; just going back to the caravan feels a bit anti-climactic, and makes dying in some cases just a minor inconvenience, and in others, an advantage. Also, the camera jumping upwards just at the top of your jump was very jarring and weird feeling. A smoother motion would have been better, I think. There were a few times where the colliders felt a bit off, where I'd jump into a ceiling when I thought I'd gone past. Maybe a more forgiving collider for the player would feel better? Anyway, this is great. Well done. |
| May 3 14:15:53 | 1h 52m | Ravenhaul | ♥ 2 | Great game. I put almost an hour into this. Sadly, after I got the Queen Isidora patron, I didn't get any of their contracts for some reason, so I couldn't win the game. I liked that there was a physical component to it, with you flying around. Loved the design of the raven master and the bird merchant. It was cool to have a bit of placement tetris with the birds as well. My only criticism is that with the placement being so packed, it would sometimes get difficult to select the right bird you were looking for. How reputation worked was a bit murky for me. You seemed to lose reputation by default if you did nothing? Or something? And I'm not sure exactly what and how much different actions do to affect reputation. Some more transparency there would have been good. While I love the graphical and physical aspect of it, I can't help but wonder if this would be better if there was or was also a more traditional UI-based interface, so you could see all the birds and their stats at the same time when you looked at the contracts, to see who should go where with what. Really, really good. I enjoyed it a lot! Excellent! |
| May 3 14:58:06 | 42m 13s | The Delivery of the Message | ♥ 2 | I really like the atmosphere of this, though I would have liked to see more complexity. At this point, whether you get around enemies seems to be more about starting positions than actual strategy. While I was initially confused as to where I should be going, once I found the "distance to target" indicator, I thought it was a cool mechanic to add. But the indicator text should for sure be bigger and more prominent, given that it's your primary goal in the game. There's a "Set trap" button, but it doesn't appear to do anything? Or at least, I couldn't figure out how to use it. Also, the fact that the camera moves on its own -- a bit too slowly, such that I had to wait for it to catch up quite often -- makes misclicking outside your move range a lot more likely, especially considering how small each tile is. Combined with the bug that makes a misclick just end your turn, it's a recipe for frustration. |
| May 3 18:54:03 | 3h 55m | BOI | ♥ 3 | The moment the second cow stacked on top of the first, I was hooked. Very funny, especially when you have a bunch of geese piled on each other, swaying around wildly while I ran around. Incredible. Some annoyances: The mouse sensitivity felt way too much, and the lasso was very hard to aim. Some adjustments would maybe help make this feel nicer? Overall: Hilarious, and fun to play. Good work. |