Adafheyesh

Signal by HitchH1k3r 2019-05-08T03:26:30Z

Solid gameplay and a nice variety of zones/mechanics! I like how some rooms are designed so that if you end up revisiting them later, you can use your upgrades to traverse them faster, so that you don't get bored repeating that content.

I think the arboretum could use more contrast between the background and the rock walls. I tried to jump at one point but didn't realize there were rocks in the way. It didn't trip me up in any significant way so it was just a minor thing, but I think that visual clarity is important for a game about navigating through a level.

I actually don't like enemies crossing screens only because they can pop out just as you're reaching the edge, and then you take damage that you had no idea was coming.

Following the common thread from other comments, I have to say I'm not sold on the signal mechanic either. Like others have said, it just amounts to waiting -- it might work better if the player had to earn it somehow. I think it also detracts from the theme a bit, since now there's something other than life acting as currency, too.

I like how blaster shots (and even menu sounds?) don't just make the exact same sound repeatedly, and instead there's a bit of variety in the pitch. It's subtle, but I like it (or I'm crazy).

Overall, good stuff! It kept me playing until the end. I thought the credits "screen" was a nice touch too.

Code:NOTHING by guoboism 2019-10-10T03:02:46Z

I crashed in the browser on night 19. But it was great until then. I like the variety of words you can make, so I could do one run where I focus on upgrading my weapon, and another where I try to place turrets all over the map. Speed upgrades seem essential though.

A couple annoyances: 1) New letters from killing enemies would overwrite ones I had already placed. But this isn't a huge deal and you can learn to play around it, which does encourage the player to move around more of the field. So in the end, I guess it's probably fine. 2) Enemies would spawn in my path as I was moving around. This was a bit more annoying and difficult to play around, especially when I was fast. Maybe if they spawned offscreen it would help.

Overall, solid concept and gameplay!

Origamijin [Finished] by good.enough 2019-10-12T02:50:13Z

Neat idea, though I didn't know what to do until after I spent 5 minutes making grass, haha. Discovering what to do was cool, but maybe the experience could be improved if the "0" at the top told you what you have 0 of, so that the player doesn't spend their entire first playthrough getting nowhere. I also found that the font used made the text difficult to read at times -- I wasn't sure if maybe there were instructions that I had missed.

I could see a more fleshed-out game using this idea with levels that have targets to reach. Or, going in the other direction, sandbox-like (though it would be a lot of typing to sustain).

Rolley Sh❤t by Andreas Roschal 2019-10-10T00:59:02Z

Fun! The art looks great. I like how the environment scales up from level to level to really emphasize how you're growing.

Gameplay-wise, I didn't really notice a difference between the easiest and the hardest difficulty. Also, I found that I didn't use the shooting mechanic that often, because it felt like it was more likely to hit an obstacle than not. I did like how the enemies would stop at a jump barrier, effectively resetting the level -- that made it so that I always felt like there was a chance to come back and win, even if I went down to my last life.

Overall, good entry!

Bob and Plantboy by Pete 2020-05-09T16:30:08Z

Fun little game! The requirement of following the light around puts a nice little spin on the top-down shooter gameplay. I agree with other commenters about the environment blocking shots -- there were some places where it seemed like enemies were able to shoot at me, but I couldn't shoot back, which felt a bit unfair. It didn't happen that much -- I think it happened most often in the kitchen, when the bugs were below the southernmost wall. (I was playing on the fixed collisions version.)

There's not much depth and the difficulty ramps up quickly, but that's totally understandable for a jam game. With some more powerups/upgrades, levels, and enemies, I think this could definitely be a fun browser game that I'd play all the way through. (I also agree with other commenters that it would be cool if the plant was linked more with your power, like if it gave you boosts/abilities as it grows.)

A minor art/gameplay point: the bacteria (is that what they are?) moving through the walls feels a little mismatched. I know pathfinding can be out of scope for a jam, so that's also understandable. But if you were to polish the game, I think it would be good to either give those enemies pathfinding, or change them so that it "makes sense" that they can move the way they do. For example, the bugs ignore the level geometry, and it's easier for me as the player to rationalize and understand that, by thinking that they're flying above everything.

Overall, nice work!

ADOA - Addition Dino Offspring Alive by fabrito 2020-04-29T23:31:16Z

I grew up playing a lot of educational games, and I feel like there aren't enough of them around anymore, so I'm excited to see something like this.

It actually took me a bit to understand how the platforms work. I thought at first that the heights that they stopped at would depend on the relative weights, but it seems like it's just that whichever side is heavier will eventually go down to the lowest position. This is mostly my fault for having a bad intuition of how scales work -- but I wonder if anyone else had the same thought, and if there's a way to make that clearer.

As a couple other people have mentioned, simulating the rocks with fully dynamic physics makes it finnicky to complete each level. If this were to be a polished game, I think it would be better to have it be more controlled, so that the focus is just on addition, and not on placing rocks correctly. There are also some performance issues that seem to result from the physics simulation, but I don't know for sure. (I assume it's just the way it is because it's easier/faster to get going in Unity, which is understandable.)

Of course, art and audio aren't spectacular, but that's understandable given the limitations of the jam. I do think that if it's a game aimed at children, visuals and sounds might matter more than usual, but I don't have a child and it's been a while since I was one, so I could be wrong there.

Overall, I like the idea. It definitely feels like it can be a minigame in a larger "math education" game. (There's probably an opportunity to teach subtraction too, by releasing balloons that push the platforms from below, or something like that :wink:) Nice work!

CPR Simulator by derstander 2020-04-29T22:39:17Z

Not bad for what it is! Scoping is always tough in a jam.

It would be nice if the game didn't immediately start -- for example, if there was a countdown with a few beats that don't require clicks -- that way, the player has a chance to ready themselves. (Actually, playing a bit more, it does seem like my first 3 clicks don't register points or misses, so maybe you did do that already. It would just be clearer if it was a separate thing and the timer didn't start counting down. Maybe you wanted to do that but were pressed for time.)

I like that this is accurate to the actual BPM recommended for CPR. When a side effect of playing the game is entraining something that could help someone save a life, that's kinda cool :)

Hack'n Loop by Darenn 2020-10-06T19:03:52Z

Fun game! The enemy friendly fire is interesting, and I tried a couple runs where I left boomers alive and got them to kill the others for me. But the best strategy I found was to take damage upgrades and spawn camp enemies. My only gripe is that you can die to the physics sometimes, because you get caught on the central structure or you get blocked by spawning enemies. Good job overall!

Into the loop by ChickenChaser 2020-10-17T23:56:32Z

Literally jumping around in the loop of code is a cool interpretation of the theme. Platforming-wise, I think the gravity for the player could be higher; often, I'd jump for a platform, but float way above it, and I wouldn't be able to see it on my way down (and sometimes it even disappeared by the time I came back down).

The ending screen is neat, but I suspect it's pretty hard for a non-programmer to parse it and find the buttons. I do like the dedication to the theme, though.

Nice work overall!

rendevu by Strange_jeremy 2020-10-17T20:58:14Z

Nice job for beginners! Making multiple levels is a good accomplishment in a game jam. Obviously there are a lot of bugs, but as you gain experience, you'll get better at fixing them. Hope you continue to practice :)

In A House by LRVStudios 2020-10-17T21:17:55Z

Neat puzzle idea. I played through it twice and found different colours each time, so I guess it's randomized? Luckily, I didn't get stuck -- in fact, I managed to get the right combination just by picking up every ball I found. On my second playthrough, I had 1 yellow and 2 blue, then picked up a yellow and made it out. Not sure if that's a bug (I expected to lose a blue one).

For possible improvements, I think the UI that shows how many balls you have could be onscreen all the time. That way the player doesn't have to remember what they still need. (Or, make TAB show it, and make sure the player knows.) And the "E" icon that appears to let you know you can pick up the ball could probably be closer to the center of the screen, so that the player doesn't miss it.

Nice work overall for a jam game! Hope you continue to participate :)

INSIDE THE LOOP by aerloth 2020-10-17T21:57:08Z

Very cool! Great idea executed well. Nice visual aesthetic, and the sound design is really good, too. I definitely feel the Inside vibes, especially when that big door moves out of the way to let you out of the dark cylinder. And using the sound as a cue for the timed rotation part is just good design. There was an impressive amount of content, too. I like the hinged flaps that act as one-way entries -- it's a great little solution to a level design problem that feels very natural, given the physics. With the game as polished as it is, any extra feedback I have is bound to be nitpicky.

I think the first stage might be too open as a starting level -- that one seems like it's the easiest to get lost in, especially when you don't yet have a grasp of what's going on. In my opinion, the more linear levels are a better place to get acquainted with the game mechanic. And then the big level feels like it has potential as a big navigational puzzle when the player is more comfortable.

It's not immediately obvious what the light orbs are about -- it's clear that walking into them does something, but maybe a stronger visual connection to the door could hammer home the idea that you need to find and collect them all.

I did find that the timed platforming in the "library" section was a little tough, due to the character sliding off of the platforms after the rotation. In particular, it happened near the end of the section, when the player was upside down -- and because of the perspective, it was tough to intuitively move the character back onto the platform before they fell off.

Overall, really good. One of the best I've seen yet. Great job!

Helevator by bemmu 2021-05-10T00:05:16Z

Neat little adventure! I liked the head-shake mechanic as a way of doing yes/no without any UI. I like the custom audio too, though the repetition of the lines was a little too frequent.

A few observations: - At the very beginning, where you're just facing squiggles on a wall, I wasn't actually sure if the game had loaded properly or not. I see now this was in your description, so apologies for not reading that... but I think it would be fine to just have the player start facing the elevator anyway. - I had a bit of trouble hitting the button inside the elevator because I didn't know I was too far away. Maybe increasing the range on that, or using a cursor other than the "interaction hand" icon when mousing over it from out of range, would be good. (Or maybe that's not even why it didn't work sometimes?) - For moving the air conditioner, I would have liked it if it was my inputs that caused it to move, rather than it reacting to me being in front of it. And maybe if you slowed the player down, it could really help sell the idea that this thing is heavy. Having to do it one step at a time wasn't too bad, but when it came to doing it backwards, I kept stepping too far away, so I'd have to move forward to get back into range. So it was a bit of a finnicky dance there. It also meant that I wasn't looking at the devil for most of that area, which is perhaps a bit of a shame. - I would have loved it if high-fiving the guy at the end was also a button to click (with an approriate voice line if I ignored him).

I think smoothing out those interactions I mentioned (button presses, carrying) would improve the general experience. Then the player's not distracted by little things, so they can focus more on the positive stuff, like funny dialogue.

Helevator by bemmu 2021-05-12T00:02:06Z

@bemmu Ah alas, that's how game jams go, isn't it? Well done for only 12 hours! :)

Enter the Cubegeon by xatulu 2021-05-18T05:32:26Z

It's neat how even with the simplest of mechanics, it's still kind of fun to have numbers go up until you one-shot a cube.

Storyteller by Fadex 2021-05-12T01:32:08Z

Really like the visual style. It's eye-catching but pleasant at the same time, somehow. Audio could really push the mood further, in my opinion -- even just a simple page turn sound. And then with some extra sounds, like for the people and the trees, it would be great, I think.

Gameplay-wise, things clicked for me after a couple pages, but I was kind of confused at the beginning because I'm a big dummy and actually did not recognize what I was supposed to be describing (I didn't look at the screenshots on your LD page beforehand), so most of my notes are actually about that opening page: - The biggest issue (which I learned on a subsequent run) was that I wasn't looking at the screen when the sun rose into position. If I had seen that, I probably would have understood. This is arguably my fault for not paying attention. - But once I was looking at it, I couldn't really tell if the yellow circle was part of the picture, or just a UI thing highlighting a specific part of it. I'm not good at art, but I would have expected the window to be blocking parts of the sun, if it's in front of it? I don't really know if moving the sun into the background like that would help or not, though. - Another thing that might have contributed to the confusion is the "What is this" text being "inside" the window. To me, that text feels "meta", like it's an instruction to the player, so it ought to live "outside" the gameplay picture -- so the fact that it was inside subtly confused me about whether or not the window frame was actually part of what I was supposed to be looking at. (I probably didn't explain that very well, sorry) - The most prominent feature of that picture to me, is the knob-cross thing in the center of the window, so I was wondering if I was supposed to name that. But I don't know if it's a cultural/regional thing, but I've actually never seen a window that looks like that, with a handle-like thing in the center, so I was really at a loss.

It's a minor thing, but for the tutorial text that appears afterwards, seeing "to fill in that" up above the "Use it" text is a tiny bit weird, I think. I wonder if having the upper text appear first, like "Fill in this..." and then the bottom text "..using this" would read better.

For the page with the door that gets referenced later on the portal page, I think the sentence is a little strange. The portal says "managed to open one ___", which really sounds like it wants "door", but that would make the door page say "I think I'll just go and explore the door", which doesn't really make sense.

A couple quality-of-life things: - I couldn't find any way to choose a different word after I had already picked one. I think it would be nice to be able to change your answer before hitting enter, in case you change your mind, or you just misclicked/fat-fingered. - Having the pages remember what I typed previously would be nice, especially since it didn't seem to actually overwrite my previous answers (though maybe some did, and others didn't?)

All in all, nice work!

Stories in the Stars by GregoryBlomquist 2021-05-18T05:08:21Z

I like the idea and the mood was nice, but echoing some other comments, I think the execution could be improved a bit. The main things for me were: - Guessing at the proper connections isn't really that fun; maybe if the name of the constellation showed up beforehand, that could help give the player some hint as to what shape they need to make? (Though, I know constellations often don't look like their name, so you'd probably have to be careful otherwise it might make things worse... just an idea.) - I don't really see what the size mechanic adds to the gameplay. For me, it made the connecting more frustrating because when a connection failed, there was no feedback as to whether I got the size wrong, or if it just wasn't a correct edge. So I had to go back between the same stars multiple times. And I found it pretty easy to lose track of which star size is which when the biggest one wasn't onscreen. I just felt like I didn't have a clear reference object to be able to tell how big a star really was. - I think the hint mechanic could just always be on? Having the stars glow a bit seems natural, anyway. - I wasn't able to connect the big blue stars. Not sure what they were about. Was hoping there might be some big payoff when the camera finally zoomed out.

All in all though, I think there's potential for a nice little touching game! I think if the gameplay is tightened up, then the story can really shine. Nice work!

Meltdown by Roka Josh 2021-10-16T20:21:38Z

Nice game! The voiceover for the tutorial+story is a nice touch.

I like that the border changes colour around each module so I can tell what needs attention, but the Smile module didn't seem to have any feedback for when it was about to escape, so I just had to keep revisiting it between every other task. It seems like that's also true for the juice one, but at least that one is easier to manage.

I unintentionally blew up the reactor on the Devil's Advocate day, but I didn't actually realize it. I think the ending screen may have covered up the usual screen that tells me why I lost. What might have happened was that I didn't send a 2nd email in time; I didn't actually know I had to send a second one because nothing told me, and I didn't notice the "1" change to a "2" in the task list.

Well done overall! I got all the endings, too :wink:

Gecko's Chronicles: The Miserable Men by RAFFE 2021-10-19T01:10:33Z

Unique-looking game! Everyone else has already touched on the main issues I had (not being able to jump, and subtitles for the card voiceover). In the first level, the jumping issue was exacerbated by having to restart on the bed each time. I'm glad the card progress was saved, at least.

The music on the main menu feels a bit more upbeat than the mood set by the rest of the game.

Finally, I felt like the lines saying "oh look how *unstable* things are becoming!" were a bit on-the-nose, but that could just be personal preference for subtlety.

time.PNG

Ecna Lab Breaker by Marvin Chong 2021-10-16T20:54:18Z

I was able to read the instructions by going fullscreen, but it seems like the text at end the of the level is still cut off:endscreen.png

The movement mechanic is kind of interesting, but feels a bit out of place in relation to the rest of the game. Once you learn to keep your character at a reasonable speed, there's not much more to it. More focus on the tethering/balance aspect would fit the theme more, perhaps. Or if the way to defeat enemies was to knock them over somehow, too.

The instructions mentioned that faster speeds would do more damage, but without any feedback, I didn't know if I was taking advantage of it or not. (Maybe if the sword glowed a bit? Or the enemies had visible health, or damage numbers appeared? Different animation? etc.) Similarly, a bit of feedback for when I'm about to fall over might be helpful.

Nice job getting the walk animation to look nice. The attack animation looks like the player is hitting themselves though, heh. I think there could be a bit more feedback for when I hit an enemy -- the little stagger animation they play is quite subtle, and I'm not sure if the audio is related, or just random. (But also it seems like my attack actually has huge range and always hits? Convenient, but not really what I would expect.)

Crysterra by Teto 2021-10-20T01:44:56Z

Most of my issues were small quality-of-life usability things: - I felt like I wanted the ability to pan the camera, rather than just rotate it. Sometimes it was tough to get an enemy in view. - A few times, I didn't realize that my character was out of AP. I think auto-cycling to the next character could be reasonable. - Similarly, sometimes I didn't immediately know when the enemy turn was over. Auto-selecting a character might help there too. - I was having trouble attacking the enemies -- turns out I was just clicking on the tile beneath them rather than their actual sprite. Selecting the tile they're on should probably count as selecting them, and conversely, hovering on their sprite should probably highlight their tile? - I expected the "end turn" button to just pass the current character's turn, not give control over to the enemy.

I know game jams are always about making concessions about what you do and don't have time to implement, so it's understandable that a lot of the above isn't there (sounds like you were quite busy already). Good job getting in what you did, though! I particularly like the animation when the terrain changes -- it's so smooth and lively.

Mudball by JD_Isaac 2021-10-21T16:25:10Z

It's cool how the simple mechanics result in something with a bit of depth! Thinking about whether or not to go for a mud-drop, weighing whether it's too risky to go far out, or if you want to let it to hit for the counterbalance, etc... it makes for a more engaging experience than you might initially expect. And it all feels natural and intuitive, too -- no contrived mechanics or anything. Nice find!

Like others have said, it didn't really feel like there was a big enough difference between each level. And it does get pretty difficult by the end. Would be interested to see if there are other ways to expand on the design beyond ramping up the challenge.

Oops, I'm Sinking! by Criobite 2022-04-21T00:46:48Z

Nice for a simple start to a task management game. I think that with a game like this, the fun doesn't necessarily come from the tasks themselves (just bailing out water over and over is a bit on the tedious side, imho), but from having to flip between them under pressure. As it is right now, I didn't feel that much hectic pressure, but I could see this being fleshed out with more tasks to deal with, and maybe with a bit of couch co-op thrown in!

I found myself wishing that I could see what was ahead just from the deck, rather than having to go all the way up to the steering wheel. I also found that the camera angle used when steering made it kind of hard to tell whether or not I was actually going to avoid an iceberg. I think some clarity there could help the player make super short-term plans (e.g. "ok the path should be clear for 7 seconds, so I'll go bail some water in the meantime, then come back"), and stringing those small plans together while adapting to a changing situation can be pretty fun.

The Inevitable Relay by Papaver 2022-04-21T00:17:15Z

Nice! This kind of game brings out a sort of speedrun/optimization mentality, haha, which can be fun. With each new run I tried, I realized another small thing about the mechanics that I could try using to go farther. The only small issue I had was that at the beginning, I didn't realize you could double jump, since the controls shown on the walls didn't hint at it. Didn't take too long to figure out, though.

The Inevitable Relay by Papaver 2022-04-21T00:31:04Z

@papaver Yeah, I just interpreted those as "you need to go this way" rather than hints on what buttons to press, since the icons for the controls have that square around them. Another part of my confusion was that since I didn't know what the other 2 people were for yet, I thought that maybe I was supposed to jump off of their heads to gain height, or something like that. I think I made it to just under 7k, failing when I got to a new part with a tricky jump I hadn't learned yet.

SpaceShifting: Deady or Not by Anuradha 2022-04-21T01:31:45Z

Nice entry! Having any part of your surroundings be a potential enemy is interesting. I like how the player's health is represented at the screen borders, rather than having UI for it.

As other people have brought up, the issue that stood out the most to me was the pacing. It felt like there was a lot of downtime between enemy spawns, and it was exacerbated by the fact that I was incentivized to stay in one spot (on a tile that had already entirely turned into monsters) to avoid getting hit by an unlucky enemy transformation. Maybe if there were some other objective or reason to be moving around, it would make the overall experience more engaging. Or maybe the monsters could actively hunt you down.

Growth Spurt by Cole and Jordan Studios 2022-10-21T02:10:50Z

Funny game! Being to able to stay low and just eat the respawning trees made it so that I basically never worried about the obstacles until the very end. Maybe if the energy consumption increased each time your neck grew, it would mean the player would have to go for the higher ones and dodge the obstacles.

Sushi Bushi by Frozentape 2022-10-14T01:15:01Z

I didn't know you could gain too much weight, so I lost on my first attempt. I was able to find out how to lose weight since the opening instructions called out the Sushi Bushi attack, so then I beat the game. It seems like weight is the only way to lose -- I tried a run where I just let all the sushi pass, and nothing happened. The instructions say I need to prevent them from reaching the end; not sure if that's a bug?

The weight mechanic is a neat idea in terms of having to manage it vs. energy so that I can't spam eating, but in practice I can just spam the attack as I eat to avoid becoming overweight. It doesn't seem like there's any other reason for me to use the attack -- knocking the sushi around doesn't seem to do anything to help me (though it would if sushi reaching the end caused me to lose). I also noticed that weighing more slows me down, but there's no need to move anyway. It would be interesting to see some levels where movement and attacking and eating are all relevant, so that managing them all can come together as a truly hectic experience.

Having to press a different button each time to eat is a nice touch to keep the player on their toes just that little extra bit. A minor issue is that it's kind of hard to tell the difference between lowercase I and L, especially if you see L first and don't know that all the letters are actually lowercase.

I like the animation of the character, how the chopsticks open and close as he moves, and how he grows as he eats more. I appreciate the variety of different sushi dishes, too. The music is quite fitting for the gameplay and theming, and the dings and the sushi bushi sound effect are great.

Nice job overall!

Mecha Walker by Le Don 2023-10-09T20:08:30Z

I like the concept; well done getting a full game loop implemented with some variance in events and mech parts!

I know it's a jam game, so this feedback could be solved with just having more time, but: I felt like I didn't have many important decisions to make as the player. Without feedback or insight into how the events/jobs work (is it just a damage check and nothing else?), I just blindly bought the highest stats I could and accepted every event/job. Maybe if there were events that cared about different stats, (e.g. a shortcut that checks how big/heavy your mech is, saving on fuel/food if you're under the threshold, maybe even with the option to throw stuff away), or regions of the map were different (e.g. short trip, bandit-heavy vs. long trip, difficult terrain) that could improve strategic depth and tradeoffs etc.

Euclid's Manor by DarkWolf 2023-10-20T17:01:48Z

I like this kind of game (Antichamber fan), nice job on the implementation! When I got to the part with the window saying "A door has opened", I couldn't really tell what I was seeing on the other side. Maybe some extra decorations to act as landmarks and make rooms more memorable could be a positive addition.