Deliver to Whence you Came by JUSTCAMH 2023-05-18T10:00:56Z ♥ 1
Whoa! This was one of the most original takes on a platformer I think i've ever seen in a jam. Crazy concept and it's insane that it works so well.
I LOVED the kicking mechanic. It was super fun to do and felt skill based throughout my playtime. The reveal of the worm-platforming was mind blowing. Something I always find invaluable in a jam is being able to create moments like that. Seriously, amazing props for handling that so elegantly. I enjoyed the music and atmosphere a lot as well. Super well put together.
My only gripe with this game is that the level design tended to fall a little flat when the challenges weighed in favour of populating the screens with more worms rather than creating discrete puzzles for the ball and the player. Tight level design that increases in complexity is hard to do in a jam at the best of times, but especially when the mechanic is as fluid as yours. At its worst, this lead to scenarios where I felt like I broke the level without knowing what I should have done in the first place. So my only feedback there is to lower the number of moving parts so as to showcase your level design chops especially in the later levels.
Outside of that, this was a really special entry. Props for making it, and best of luck in the jam!
LD54 — Limited Space (19)
Sip & Slime by JakJak 2023-10-20T06:49:38Z ♥ 2
Wow so cute! I really liked your take on this genre. I felt at first a bit overwhelmed by the systems, but that's kind of par for the course in a jam context. Once I understood how to play, I felt like the UX and feedback was actually very well considered and could really appreciate the pacing of the game and the way you added diversity with new vegetable on additional levels.
The graphics and music were delightful, overall just a lovely experience. Thanks for sharing!
One does not make jam without breaking pots by SimonCarter 2023-10-20T06:33:20Z ♥ 1
Hey! This was a short but sweet entry. I thought the gameplay was pretty well considered, but maybe could be improved with some way to scale up the play session such that with correct play, the score could go up indefinitely.
I think some music would have also been a nice touch, though I respect the choice to have none over rushed music.
The game's difficulty was nicely scaled in that I did feel like putting effort into matching the jars was worth it, and I could see a little personal system building as I played my second session. I would have liked a couple more boxes to get every kind in, but I understand the choice to force the player to finish boxes early or burn instant deliveries on stray jars.
Overall, a brief game but well-considered.
Thanks for sharing!
Flob the Bloing by Branquelo 2023-10-20T06:24:07Z ♥ 1
Heya! Thanks for sharing to the discord. I appreciated the level of fidelity you put into the game's effects and little things like the background leaves. The music was a bit repetitive after a while, but the SFX were quite good. I felt that the colours and setting were gentle and satisfying though the gameplay was perhaps a bit too difficult by comparison. For the most part the game was implemented well, mechanically, but I would say the tuning of the level design, buoyancy and camera control were too finnicky to really get a good flow going in the span of my time with the game, especially in the later levels where the goo lasers would appear on screen with no time to react.
Still, I was able to finish and I did feel like the amount of levels and diversity among them was well scoped.
Thanks again for sharing and good luck in the jam!
Crime Critters (Rob the British Museum) by Pen Island Games 2023-10-20T06:04:44Z ♥ 1
How is it possible that you made this in such little time!? Seriously, the level of polish in this entry sets an uncomfortably high standard for the rest of us haha. I was a little disappointed that the Jam version didn't have any sound. IMO you could definitely have cut back on some of the presentation values to get sound in there and made a bigger impact with the same amount of time spent.
I didn't get to play with a friend, so I think my impression of the gameplay elements might be more speculative than justified, but I could see the level of thought you had put into the dynamics of things like doors and weight of objects requiring cooperation, which is really great to see for a game requiring two players.
Very few other negatives or criticisms I could come up with. This is really just impressive, congratulations!
Bit Golf by badcop 2023-10-19T06:38:05Z ♥ 1
Whoa! What a creative (read: nerdy) game! I honestly don't know where you came up with this, but I had a really fun time getting into it. The difficulty was maybe a little high at first, and I think a gentler tutorial would have helped quite a bit, given how unfamiliar the concept of compression algorithms might be to those unfamiliar.
Great entry, looking forward to playing your future games.
Hot Drills by CodeRaurus 2023-10-19T06:21:30Z ♥ 1
Hey thanks for sharing! I quite liked the dynamics of the monsters occupying the same space as the player and the risk in mining more space and connecting paths. I also liked that the resource points became heat vents, that was a cool repurposing that added some challenge.
I have to admit, I did feel like the pace of the game was particularly slow. The music and rumbling of the engine SFX added to this a little bit.
I think overall, my feeling was that the game's tension is a little bit loose, mechanically. It always seemed like the optimal way to play was slow and steady, and that I could always return to a safe state by dropping back off at the terminal. I wonder if the game's level design was a lot smaller and tighter, and the monsters a bit more aggressive, if there would have been space for a "turbo" which allows you to escape them but at the cost of adding heat to the system. And particularly if this was more of a "rogue" style mechanic where time is measured in distance moved, this would create tension in calculating "how many steps away the monsters are" vs "how fast I'm able to get away". I suppose this is all to say I think a more discrete set of properties of the game might have made it feel more tense and strategic, while also adding purpose to the level design, which did feel mostly quite same-y.
I really appreciated the option to skip levels, because I was able to then see how much content you packed in, and get a good sense of the whole game. Thanks again, and good luck!
Whiskers in the Dark by Diego Teran 2023-10-19T05:59:20Z ♥ 4
Hey! Thanks for sharing to the discord. I really liked this idea, especially in the ways that you diverged from just making it a platformer and embraced the cat aspects of the game (knocking buckets over to break lights or obscure them was really nice).
I felt that the visual presentation was a little on the rough side, though I think the elements were all there. The procedural lighting with normal maps were definitely the way to go, but the way it all came together was a little inconsistent (hard v.s. soft edges, high vs low contrast areas. mostly compositional things).
The light mechanic was a little bit overtuned, difficulty wise. I would definitely have appreciated a bit of "grace" on some of the timings where I really only had a foot out of place for a fraction of a second and still got caught. Particularly in the later levels where there was very little warning about when certain lights would appear.
Overall though, I thought this was a pretty solid entry. I really appreciated the cutscenes, music and SFX, which all helped immerse the player in the world. Thanks again and good luck!
Card Hexchange by Arnazian 2023-10-18T07:12:04Z ♥ 4
Wow! This game has so much juice for a jam entry, I can't believe it. I loved the art style and the visual fidelity of the UI interactions. Super important for a card based RPG. It did take me a little while to get to grips with the various mechanics (health, initiative, damage, cooldowns) but once I got into it, I felt like the combat encounters were nicely balanced with a lot of diversity, which is impressive in its own right.
I did find the UX a little confusing, finding myself wanting to drag cards onto enemies but then having to target them afterward. The "skip turn" hit area could definitely have been the whole candle. Little things like that were marginally disruptive, but I suppose worth mentioning given how polished the rest of the game is.
I felt like the game was maybe a little longer than I expected (brevity in a jam entry is appreciated), not too overboard but I definitely felt like things were dragging slightly towards the end. I understand there were many more card variations than I saw, so perhaps that would have changed things up for me.
I like the idea of endless gameplay. NG+ is a great idea, though I think a little "thanks for playing" or similar would have been great after the boss to give the player permission to exit knowing they experienced all the content.
Overall, still, this an immensely impressive effort for a jam game, and I really appreciated you sharing it with us. Best of luck with your results!
Space Freight Ltd. by Chartle 2023-10-18T06:44:25Z ♥ 3
Wow! So much depth in just a few days. This is one of the more impressive jam entries I've ever played in terms of sheer scope and polish. I loved the visuals and sounds, and felt the game itself was intuitive enough. The controls for dragging and dropping were a little bit sensitive, I would have appreciated some lenience from the system there.
My biggest gripe came down to the punishing RNG, which got in the way of really getting a good feel for the game as I frequently either didn't have an obvious pathway to making money or access to the right store options to keep playing. I think making certain amenities like a store and an initial trade option at the start of the session deterministic rather than randomised would have gone a long way towards a more addictive loop. After 5 attempts I still don't think I got to see everything the game had to offer, which is a unique problem to have for a jam game.
Really solid effort for the most part, I'm so impressed! Congrats and good luck on the next one.
Parry Hotter and the Stilosopher’s Phone by osh.studio 2023-10-18T06:15:05Z ♥ 1
Hey! Thanks for submitting to discord, I thought this concept was pretty wild, I have no idea how you came up with it. It's impressive that you put together an RPG in such a short span of time. I thought the gameplay and production values were all pretty straightforward and suitable for a jam. It was easy to get into the action and make intelligent choices based on my dice rolls.
I did however find the overworld a little bit lacking, as there wasn't really any clear reason to choose one fight over another, and I never knew how far I was from my destination. This made the experience drag on somewhat, and I did drop off around 10 battles in when things got too repetitive to retain my interest. A "distance to wogharts" counter would have helped build some anticipation for the ending.
Short of reducing the total encounter count to reach the ending (which I think would have been the most practical option), adding some additional twists to the combat might have helped keep things interesting. stacking dice for double attacks, for example, would have helped with the multi-enemy battles. Just a bit more diversity of gameplay choices to mix things up. Different enemy types could have been interesting as well.
Overall, a really impressive entry given the time it was made in. Thanks for sharing again!
Burn Beetle by Pious 2023-10-18T05:58:26Z ♥ 2
Heya, thanks for submitting to the discord! I really liked the presentation of this one. Every little touch served a purpose and I didn't feel like you overstepped on any one production value. Music, graphics and effects were excellent for a jam game. I loved the spotlight effect with the tiles selectively losing detail with distance.
The game was easy to pick up and fairly straightforward to play, though I do have some criticisms in regards to the dynamics of the game. Mainly, I felt that there were very few sources of tension to guide my play. The distribution of berries and the shape of the maze made the middle section of my playthrough a little stagnant as I went through a process of elimination just churning through the paths. Here, the addition of enemies or some kind of greater strain on player resources may have added some excitement. I was also curious as to whether this was a procgen game, which would have led to a little more replay value, though it seems to be a set maze layout, which kind of defeats the purpose of a scoring system since every subsequent play should be faster once the solution is found.
Overall, a very well scoped game with great presentation, with the need of an additional gameplay twist to reach its potential. Best of luck with future dev!
Killstreak by wiru 2023-10-16T07:06:28Z ♥ 0
Hey thanks for sharing! I think this was a pretty ambitious goal for a jam game, given how many different inputs and mechanics there were. I really appreciated that you managed to fit them all in (shooting, running, jumping, double jump, dash, wall slide, wall jump) though I did feel like the game's difficulty curve was too steep to introduce these things with friendly pacing. The level design let you down here a little bit, being so punishing that a missed jump forced the player back to the beginning. I did like the way that the force fields retreated when enemies died, giving the player incentive to not just run away from enemies.
I liked the music and some of the polish touches in the camera movement on death and the retry button, making it tempting to jump back in on a loss.
Thankfully, I did have a PS5 controller on hand because I found the keyboard controls quite prohibitive. Dash, in particular, would be a far better fit on the shift key than E, as would be the typical control scheme for a game like this.
Overall, a really solid effort with potential for improvement with small adjustments.
The Big Crunch by Ategon 2023-10-16T06:38:39Z ♥ 4
Heya! Thanks for sharing your game. I really liked the minimalist art style and the funky music. It felt a lot like a WarioWare game or Rhythm Heaven. I thought the mini games were a little hit and miss, with one or two being kind of hard to learn how to interact with given just the intro cue, which I felt was a little too fast and cramped to read clearly at least at first. I would have loved for a chance to recover health, though I don't think that not having one let you down at all, just that this might have given a bit more incentive to try harder on some of the more skill based games.
To be honest, there's not too much to complain about since the game is pretty tight as is. I think given what you produced here you could probably look to innovate with your next entry to push the boundaries a little harder.
Thanks again!
Mitch's Budget Movers! by SephoWepho 2023-10-16T06:22:39Z ♥ 1
Heya, thanks for sharing your game with me! It wasn't quite as buggy as you let on, and I was able to finish without any major issues. I thought the gameplay loop was pretty deep for a 72 hour jam entry, there were a lot of little things to do and it did seem like the gameplay mattered in judging the outcome (though, I did only play once and I assume the player always ends up in the red). My biggest issue would be that the three different screens seem to thin out play experience. The packing mechanic felt like the best part, and I think the game probably could have stood on just that one mechanic, giving you more time for polish and to create a bit more tension over more in-game days, which might have felt more dramatic by pushing the player's packing skills to the limit. But I did appreciate that the game didn't overstay its welcome. The runtime is perfect, currently.
I thought the graphics were suitable, but a little difficult to parse sometimes just due to the art style / font rendering choices. The sound was implemented well and didn't get tiresome at all.
Overall, I think this was a fair entry with clear opportunity for improvement with a bit more time / experience. Looking forward to your progress in the next jam :)
Suck it to Them! by AmberFall92 2023-10-10T06:23:21Z ♥ 2
Heya! This was a really inventive little entry! There were tons of little creative touches that help expand the gameplay on its own terms, like the dash jettisoning ammo, and being able to suck up enemies at the cost of ammo slots. These go a long way in a jam entry, so I feel like you nailed it there.
I thought the graphics were lovely and the sound was excellent (the wobbly pitch shifting when taking damage was *chef's kiss*). On a gameplay design level, I thought the curve was a little slow at first and a little steep at the end, and slightly repetitive overall, but these are things that could be resolved quickly enough.
If I had to nitpick, I'd say the theme could have been integrated into the gameplay a little more tightly, though I can see there was thought there with the limited ammo space and the limited arena in a wave based shooter.
Solid entry overall, thanks for sharing!
DARQY by Euler Moises 2023-10-09T07:00:21Z ♥ 2
Heya, thanks for sharing! I didn't understand the concept at first but once it clicked, I really liked this idea. I think the core design is pretty good, but struggle with some of the execution choices. Particularly, I think the levels could have been a lot smaller, with fewer enemies. As it is now, it's very hard to have the patience to explore a whole level looking for the key. One alternative could be to show in a very dark grey the areas that the player has visited, just to help eliminate the remaining space.
Other than that, I really enjoyed the sound design and the "jumpscare" element of running into a monster. Thanks again!
Six Floors Under by maxededo 2023-10-09T06:48:18Z ♥ 4
Heya! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed the vibe of this one, with the anthro animal characters and general murder mystery tone. I thought it was an inventive approach to the theme, and an interesting take on a familiar puzzle format. I liked the way the turns were counted in floors, though I really missed an "undo" option to rewind the game a few steps. With puzzle games I feel the fun is more in finding the solution than executing it, so a rewind probably wouldn't have hurt the fun for me at least. I did find the controls a little cumbersome at first, which could be fixed by merging buttons and adding contextual behaviour to others (e.g. walking, turning and pushing could all just be the arrow keys in the relevant contexts).
Overall though, I think you delivered a pretty well-rounded game with a satisfying amount of content and polish. Definitely a strong entry, so thanks again!
Critical Core by Benjamin Halko 2023-10-09T06:23:03Z ♥ 1
Hey! Thanks for sharing. Your game is really well produced, with excellent music and visually striking effects. I liked the simplicity of it, and the way you tackled the theme.
I do have a few nitpicks mostly around the core balancing factors of the game. I felt like with both the ball and the core growing, as well as the food balls, and the shuriken thrown into the mix, it was a little bit overwhelming to try and manage those factors outside of the frantic moment-to-moment repositioning. I did come up with a few strategies to survive longer and got to round 8 in my playthrough, but I would have enjoyed my time a bit more if it felt like there were incentives to play with particular strategies to manage the chaos a bit better. Often times, games like this include a dodge mechanic with i-frames, or some other resource the player can use to mitigate the times when the RNG is being unkind.
Outside of that concern, I really enjoyed the attention to detail with things like particle systems and the pulsing elements, as well as the high score system of course. You scoped the game really well for the jam as well, which is always worth commending.
Great job!
The Carver by Cymusi 2023-10-09T05:58:56Z ♥ 2
Hey! this was a nice little game. With a simple art style and controls, I felt you did a great job of creating a full experience with very few elements. I really liked the way you worked in the theme with the central mechanic and the balancing factors it placed on the gameplay.
Of course, more polish around animations and visual feedback for hurt states on enemies would go a long way, but I think the tweened animations and BFXR sounds carried the game a fair distance. You should be really proud, especially for just 24 hours!
Good job!