alzhu1

Raft Blaster! by Alchemic 2023-10-07T21:55:11Z

Pretty cool take on the match-3 style of games, I like that there's a character you have to control to move pieces into rows/columns of 3 to get an effect. The character felt really sensitive though, so it made it hard to be accurate with moving around. Also, I thought that the controls with the spacebar felt a bit unintuitive; I was expecting to be able to move around while carrying an item, but instead I just placed items down after picking them up, which felt odd. The switching with an item was also kind of weird too.

I just played the easy mode, but even then I felt like I was getting overwhelmed with items really quickly; maybe the easy/normal modes could be better balanced so that you don't get too many materials all at once, that way it would be a gentler introduction to the game and mechanics. Overall though, very solid submission and I had fun with it, good job!

The Cauldron Coven Coalition by Sarah 2023-10-07T19:14:24Z

Pretty fun tower defense game! I liked trying to defeat the villagers, though I found placing the witches to be quite cumbersome since you have to go through multiple button clicks to select your witch and place it. Also some things could be conveyed better in game; for example, I didn't realize that re-placing a witch would move them away from the position, I thought the witches were "infinite" in a sense. I also didn't realize until too late that I could place witches in space, which seemed odd.

Overall though, I had fun, so great job on this game, especially with using Godot after moving from Unity!

Burglary Bonanza! by kasperhangard 2023-10-07T19:24:14Z

Wasn't expecting to play a stealth game in this jam, nice choice of genre! Personally, I found the controls to be really tough, as my character felt kind of unresponsive. If I pressed a WASD key, it took about a second to move, and the character moved a lot more than I expected, so it was hard trying to avoid cameras or breaking windows. Also I think it would've made sense to keep all actions on the same button, instead of E to interact, G to steal, and T to escape; that felt strange to me.

I think touching up the control scheme would make this even more fun to play that it already was, so great job with the submission!

49 Days by Compasslg 2023-10-07T19:01:51Z

I think the combination of a sliding puzzle/2048 style game with elements that have a weakness system sounds pretty cool, though the implementation made it confusing when starting out. For instance, I didn't realize it was actually a "sliding puzzle" in that when I moved in a direction, the strong elements would destroy the weak ones in the direction I moved; maybe an animation to show the tiles moving would make it more clear.

The other thing is that this game felt too difficult; I got to around day 38 before all my tiles disappeared, so I think lowering the required day count would make this more accessible. Would love to see this get expanded upon though, it's pretty unique!

A Better Place by SvenErik 2023-10-07T23:02:53Z

Like this one a lot! I enjoyed the challenge of trying to sort the trash into different compartments, and it's cool that there's a scoring difference with the crane, using a risk/reward system with time and points. I can see how this relates to the theme, though personally it didn't feel like it fit with the gameplay, since it felt like these trash compartments could fit as many things as it wanted.

The art is excellent (great pixel art style), and the music is quite nice too. Overall, great submission!

Low Memory Rush by Magnanix 2023-10-07T18:54:02Z

Fun battle royale game! I like how the shrinking play zone works well with the theme, and it's pretty fun to try and last the longest. I don't think I found out what the coins did, so maybe having a shop or something to spend coins at could be a good way to make each round more dynamic. I also liked the art, and the music wasn't bad, though it got a bit repetitive. Great job overall!

SpaceRaft by Bytomancer 2023-10-07T19:41:39Z

Really cool take on the theme, having limited space on your ship and deciding what to put on it! I liked this a lot, personally I found the ship a bit hard to maneuver even with a couple of warp reactors, but it was fun zooming around space trying to dodge a bunch of bullets and shoot down the enemy ships. Stages also take a while to complete, so maybe making waves start and end faster would improve the game's pacing. Great job overall!

Mecha Walker by Le Don 2023-10-07T19:51:00Z

Neat idea for a game, I'm guessing that the theme is mostly related to weight/inventory limited space. It reminds me of the Oregon Trail with the random events that occur as you travel from town to town, though I think the heavy text-based approach makes it tough to stay engaged. The body/leg/armor parts didn't feel super necessary, I got to the end with the starting equipment, and spent the rest on ammo/money/fuel. This game could be super cool with a few more balancing changes, but it's a great start and submission!

BULLETERO - - -🔫😐 by MEGA Marlon 2023-10-07T20:02:06Z

Really cool take on the theme, and just as a game as a whole! I like the size changing mechanic with the mouse scroll, and the 3d effect of the walls as you approach corridors looks really awesome! I thought it was fun to try and go down those corridors, taking my time so as not to immediately die when encountering new enemies.

For me, I think I would've preferred a button to shoot the projectile, so that I could control my rate of fire (for balance, maybe the larger balls do less damage?). Also I think the health scaling could've been looser, as when you're tiny it's really easy to accidentally die, so having a bit more health would've gone a long way. Still, I quite enjoyed this, so great job with this submission!

Island City Builder by AlexTengu 2023-10-07T21:28:46Z

Pretty cool management game! I liked trying to figure out the optimal way to distribute building to get money, and build up technology/attractiveness. And the limited space theme is well applied here, since I have a limited set of spaces to place buildings. I also like that it's quick to pick up and start; in my first run, I didn't realize that attractiveness/technology only counts at the end of the 50 days, so I was pretty conservative starting out, then tried other strategies.

I guess one nitpick would be the camera movement, as it felt a bit clunky to move; maybe a free-form camera you could move with the keyboard or drag with the mouse would feel better. Other than that, excellent job!

Astro Bastion by Soul Grinder 2023-10-07T18:42:56Z

Pretty cool mix of a sokoban-style game with turret shooting! I think the clash of genres can work, though some quality of life features would make it feel better to play. For example, having an undo button for the turret-pushing, or making the turrets turn faster (when I move my mouse, the turrets turn slowly and are inaccurate when I start shooting for a bit). I definitely enjoyed this though, great job!

Shattered Spirits by Tobius 2023-10-07T21:35:29Z

Very pretty/beautiful game, I love the art and the visual style, though I will admit I found the gameplay to be kind of confusing. I didn't totally understand the defend/capture mechanic, though I eventually realized I was trying to capture more squares than the opponent, and there wasn't actually any combat or fighting. The concept is cool, but maybe a longer/more drawn out tutorial would help convey the mechanics and make it clear what the goal is, and how each mechanic works. Overall though, great submission!

Space Cristo's Bizarre Adventure by MaximPes 2023-10-07T22:04:15Z

It's cool that you were able to make a visual novel for the game jam, especially with great art and voice acting! Unfortunately I didn't quite understand the plot (I played in English, so I may have just missed some details), but the ending felt very abrupt. I feel like I didn't learn much about Space Christo, aside from him being in the military (?) and getting married. It would be cool if the story had other branching paths and story beats, but for a game jam, what you already have is very impressive!

Infinitum Labyrinth - Space Un-LIMITed by AweSkyBear 2023-10-07T22:22:29Z

This was a very trippy game, in a good way; I like the random dungeon approach, where it feels like you can keep diving in to rooms/levels forever. Personally, I felt like there were mechanics that could've been mentioned in the game itself, instead of in a bunch of text before starting the game (i.e. the hint system was hard to discover on my own, and putting it in the row of buttons that control settings like audio/dark mode was a bit strange). Maybe adding some more signs to read that directly say "Press H to get a hint" or something would go a long way.

The "infinity" of this game also mostly confused me, as I didn't really know if I was making progress or not. I feel like there's not really a good way to "undo" your path easily in order to go back to the start and do the correct solution. I know you can technically go back out of the path you originally took, but if you're in really deep, it's a bit cumbersome to backtrack the whole way, so maybe a quick reset button like pressing R to take you back immediately would be a great quality of life change.

Overall though, I really like the idea, and it's super cool that you were able to build this in a JS framework instead of the typical Unity/Godot/game engine approach, so awesome job on the submission! Would love to see this expanded!

Cat Games by alzhu1 2023-10-07T19:28:11Z

Well, I am dumb and accidentally opted-out of ratings initially, lol. Re-enabled the ratings (hopefully?), so feel free to rate! I do appreciate all the feedback here so far, as well!

The Freakency by khofez 2024-04-30T04:20:27Z

Interesting idea, I like the atmosphere and the ambient tone, it definitely adds a nice touch to the game feel. For me the main gameplay felt pretty unintuitive, and I didn't really understand the controls. My guess as to what was happening is that clicking the button made the slider reverse directions, but I feel like the tutorial paper wasn't clear in describing that behavior. I think a more direct tutorial (i.e. click LMB to reverse slider) would help a lot with this. Pretty neat idea though, nice job!

Age of Research by ping78 2024-04-20T04:51:50Z

Love the RTS game, it's really impressive you were able to make it in such a short time! I think the research angle was cool, needing to place those research beacons on the volcanos and protect them. I think the camera felt a little too zoomed in, and would've liked the ability to adjust the zoom level. It was also pretty easy, the game balance felt a bit too favored towards the player. Overall though, it was really enjoyable, I like this a lot!

The Summoner, serving justice by tinykidtoo 2024-04-19T05:23:47Z

Pretty cool parkour game, I played it in browser and it felt kind of weird; the mouse was too sensitive, and I think the jumping was supposed to go higher the longer space is pressed, but quickly tapping space made it feel like the jump ended too quickly. The parkour parts were great though, I really liked gliding across the platform.

The AI of the opponent seemed pretty simple like it was on a predetermined path, I think a cool twist or addition would be some dynamic AI where it could see me coming and move in a different direction. Overall a pretty solid game, and especially impressive given you made this in such a short time. Well done!

Necro Riot by gold.daniel 2024-04-20T18:29:25Z

For a game made in 12 hours, this was really fun! Super short and simple, but effective; just running around and trying to summon minions and collect the blood/flesh/souls was entertaining. Art and audio were pretty simple, but it got the job done. Nice one!

Sum Monsters by eonarheim 2024-04-30T03:38:33Z

This was super fun, I loved the math puzzle gameplay and it got pretty tricky nearing the end; had to do a lot of guess-and-check, but it was enjoyable trying to figure out certain states based on if it could logically happen. Some more levels would definitely be welcome; the art was good too, and the music fit, even if it was kind of repetitive. Nice job on this entry!

Faust's Big Deal by Shugor 2024-04-17T04:30:00Z

I'd really love to see/know what other features were planned, because like you mentioned, the game loop is a bit lacking (just a bit bare bones). I personally like collecting things in games, so that was fun, and seeing what kinds of demons I could summon was kind of neat too. Glad that there's an HTML version, too. One thing I think would be nice is a way to play without the mouse, at least for dungeon exploring, because I didn't really want to click everything around me to collect stuff.

Overall though, I'm impressed with what you were able to do in a short time, great job!

Courtroom Conjurer by kalibrated 2024-04-27T19:48:11Z

This is pretty cool, I like that it's kind of like a memory-matching game where you want to avoid matches; I think I only got past 3 or 4 cases (got stuck at 6 jurors/24 score), as I had trouble memorizing what I already picked, but this was a really cool idea. I think having a bit more leeway for the score requirement would be less punishing, as when the number of jurors goes up, it becomes really hard to remember all your choices, so easing into it a bit more would help. The art is fun and wacky, so it was never boring seeing what came up on the streets. Nice job!

Imp Unsummoning by riv-roy 2024-04-27T19:32:20Z

Interesting take on the theme and the gameplay in general, I liked that it was kind of like a golfing game (take your shot and fire). I think the levels are pretty fun, trying to figuring out how to kill all of the imps. For me the biggest improvement could be to the rune system, because personally I didn't understand what some of the symbols meant and how combinations would change things. Maybe some kind of in-game text or indication of what the runes would do could help, so players don't get too confused. Nice job with this!

Phoenix Delay by aeveis 2024-04-24T06:18:45Z

This was fun, I got a time of 2:39, for what that's worth. The game looks and sounds great, and plays pretty well too. I didn't realize I had to hit the flying things (not sure what they are exactly) to gain speed, and crates seemed to slow me down. The sense of speed was great, just some better conveyance on the obstacles would be good (and if they were meant to be a joke, like you mentioned perhaps everything just speeding you up would be funny). Really great job overall!

Farmageddon by ThiefViolinist 2024-04-27T04:38:59Z

Interesting take on a management style game, I was barely off (got to 1953 crop yield). I think this game has some interesting units and events/ideas, but the issue is conveyance, as I had a pretty hard time understanding what the units did and micro-managing everything. It was hard to tell when certain fields were being attacked, or under control by invaders, so maybe more color-coding and telling the player explicitly when something is happening would help a lot. Good job on this!

Loyalty by Erik Tate 2024-04-17T04:56:18Z

Really cool concept, I like how the skeleton dog is summoning the wizard in a neat reversed idea. The controls felt kind of unintuitive, and I think a more explicit tutorial would've been helpful; for example, I didn't realize that barking again would get the wizard to stop, so I was stuck on one of the earlier levels. Also I didn't understand why some objects had physics attached to them (i.e. the boxes. It was weird when I noticed it had momentum from pushing them)

The art is excellent and the music isn't too bad; really liked the presentation of this game. Great job!

Shards by mechanicallife 2024-04-23T02:13:49Z

This is a pretty in-depth card game, really impressive given the amount of time we had! I like the idea of these different shards and effects contributing to a summon amount, and trying to reach a target number. I guess I would've liked to see more tutorials in-game, so that I could play the game and learn while playing. As it was, I got pretty confused on what shards did what, and had to keep checking the description for the controls.

The atmosphere is really great, super dark and haunting, and the finger dismemberment was a cool touch. Nice job!

Diago - A Ludum Dare 55 Gmae by givit-game-studios 2024-04-23T02:51:43Z

Pretty simple roguelike, I thought it was a bit bare bones and didn't know what the ultimate goal was (maybe a timer to see how long you could live would be good). Shooting stuff felt pretty good, but I didn't understand the point of the chest. Once I died, the game crashed as well. I think some more unique ideas could be added to make the game more fun, as right now it feels a little generic. Pretty fun though!

Chicken Slayground by Zettelkasten 2024-04-30T04:10:01Z

This was really fun, I liked the shooting mechanic and it was really satisfying shooting down the waves as they come. I really liked the aesthetic you used with the cardboard cutouts, it was very charming. The upgrades were simple yet effective, I found that the shotgun upgrade and run speed were the most helpful. From a balancing perspective, it felt like all I needed was the shotgun, so maybe it could be nerfed or the summons could be buffed. I ended up making it to the end (chikeriki!), and had a blast playing it. Great job!

Runic Summoner by freamdev 2024-04-24T05:40:49Z

Pretty fun shooter, and pretty tough too; I enjoyed the challenge of trying to summon and kill the 3 bosses. I was able to do it, but I had to retry 2-3 times before succeeding. I think the gameplay loop is solid, but the player movement felt way too heavy and made it kind of hard to dodge bullets. I also think knowing where the dash/teleport would take me before using it would be good info to know, so I could utilize the ability better. Overall though, I had fun with this one, great job!

Call of Aether by Coda Highland 2024-04-18T04:26:03Z

Very cool visual novel style game! I mostly agree with some other feedback here, like how it felt a little too based in trial-and-error, and the speed of the page turning being too slow if you're flipping through it often. I did need some spoiler hints, but was able to complete the game. Some ambient music would be great to add to the experience, but overall I enjoyed this quite a lot, it's very unique!

Summon Island: The Robot Pirate Invasion Was Today?! by JasoonMargoon 2024-04-26T05:55:07Z

This was a fun defense game, I liked how snappy the movement was and deploying towers to kill the invading robots. I ended up getting around 15000 points and lasted about 6 minutes before getting a little bored, so maybe new levels or layouts could spice up the gameplay a bit more. The art is great too, nice job on this!

Franz Bardon's Practice of Magical Evocation by kr4ft3r 2024-04-17T05:21:27Z

Cool concept with the match-3 approach and rolling the dice on which blocks I could try to remove. It felt like sometimes when I got 3 or 4 in a row (or column), it didn't wipe the blocks, so I wasn't sure why that was. Personally, I found the sound effect of the falling blocks a bit overplayed, and would've also liked the blocks to fall faster (or all at once), to speed things up.

Great submission though, nice job!

Summonion: A Legal Tale by dxk2294 2024-04-23T03:13:51Z

This was pretty enjoyable, I like tower defense games so this felt right at home. The silly take on the genre is fun, with fighting letters and mailmen, and having different elements like ink or dogs. Maybe I was playing poorly but it felt like the balance was a little skewed towards being difficult; I was struggling in parts of level 2, so perhaps some more gradual scaling could help ease players in. Art and music were also both great; nice job!

Summoning the Gienie by ajpl 2024-04-19T05:41:54Z

Pretty interesting "I Spy" or "Where's Waldo" type of game, looking for the right lamp was a pretty fun idea. It gets a bit repetitive after a while, so maybe some kind of twist on the lamp searching would make it more repeatable. Nice job!

Monster-Maker Pro: Home Edition by Tad 2024-04-26T05:46:24Z

Interesting idea of a courtroom setting and monster summoning; I liked summoning a poop when the ingredients were wrong. The art of the monsters is cool, though it does clash a lot with the weirdly happy music. The premise of trying to scare the defendant is neat but after summoning one monster, it seemed like the game ended, so I think adding some more restrictions/conditions on the monster you summon and adding more levels would be cool. Nice job!

Cards of Angels in the Manor of Demons by JustMars 2024-04-27T19:58:43Z

This was a cool card-summoning/tower defense kind of game. Summoning angels with cards and defending the archangels was a neat idea. I found that I wasn't getting many more cards, so it felt like I was getting kind of overwhelmed in the 2nd wave because the amount of enemies was too high, and my archangel would just die. Maybe some more card spawn/less enemies in the waves would help alleviate this. Solid job!

Panpidech by Jeffez 2024-04-28T22:20:50Z

It's a cool treasure-collecting game, but I had trouble seeing how it related to the theme. Also the ship upgrades seemed a little pointless, or at least I couldn't figure out what they were for. Dodging the bombs underwater was kind of fun, but since the game's pretty short, it wears off quick. Maybe a larger level or more levels will make it more fun/replayable. Nice job on this!

Snack Summoner by Air Dinghy 2024-04-24T05:21:33Z

I like rhythm games, so it's cool you were able to make one for this jam! The take is interesting too, with summoning food. I think the rhythm timing is pretty strict, so I got very few Perfects, so perhaps relaxing the timing a bit would help. Not much else to say, it's pretty short and sweet. Nice job!

The Cauldron!🧉 by mr.kvinter 2024-04-26T06:13:25Z

Pretty fun, I like the summoning mechanic here where you combine different ingredients to make monsters and have them fight. I think some feedback for when the ingredient actually goes into the cauldron would be good, so that it's very clear. The summoning is interesting but the gameplay feels a little bare, since you're just combining a few different ingredients to make monsters. I wasn't able to get very far either, it felt like I was hitting a wall by stage 4. Definitely interested to see any balance changes or new monsters/summons added.

Unstable by Tomáš Selmeci 2024-04-23T03:01:27Z

Pretty interesting take on what's basically a mashing game, I liked that the code written in the research project was C#. I didn't really understand what the reason was for having multiple upgrades, though it was cool how the monster started to reflect those changes (i.e. lots of muscles, or large brain). I think I won because I got to the "I control the world" screen? Wasn't sure what the win condition was, if it was to beat the other research stations or to create the monster in general. Some more clarity on those objectives would help; otherwise, pretty nice entry!

Chess Summoner by Azathothep 2024-04-23T02:25:38Z

Love the chess-summoning combination, pretty unique! The mechanics offered an interesting choice between drawing a card/getting a coin, and moving or summoning a unit. I found that starting with the knight and going immediately for the opponent was pretty consistent, so maybe some other units or strategies could make the game more replayable or larger in the future. Nice job!

A Long Hello by gamebuilder 2024-04-21T21:11:07Z

Pretty short and simple adventure game, I thought the idea of traversing through all these rooms was interesting, though some rooms/pathways didn't seem to make sense (i.e. going through a door would take me back to an earlier room). Perhaps some ability to look around the room would make the game more interactive. I didn't totally understand the story either, but I liked the art and music, it gave a very melancholy feel to the game. Nice job!

Labyrinth of Fiends by jcbeaureg 2024-04-24T06:38:41Z

Very simple but enjoyable game, I liked the art style and the procedurally generated levels; the summon mechanic is neat though I didn't really use it much, and the level progression got a little repetitive after some time, so maybe having different objectives randomly selected per level could spice things up. Overall, nice submission!

Arcane Outlaw by jordantanner 2024-04-19T05:05:11Z

This was really fun, I liked the gameplay of trying to dodge as many bullets as I could and shoot down the cowboys. Summoning the hydra was a neat twist too, like trying to balance hydra summoning with dodging and shooting. I agree with the above comment generally that most targets felt like they had a lot of health, what didn't help was my accuracy being quite low. Also I think having some kind of rapid-fire mode would help, cause my hand starting hurting shooting bullets. Overall though, very fun entry!

Deckmancer by The1 2024-04-27T05:12:00Z

Really fun take on the summoning theme, I like the card game angle a lot. There's a interesting trade-off between getting high-value cards that use a lot of MP, vs using lower value cards that you can spam. I was only able to get to level 4, and it felt like my cards were not strong enough to take on the larger enemies, so I think it could use a bit of balance. Overall though, this was a really unique card game and I really enjoyed it, great job!

My succubus girlfriend by NinjaCatz 2024-04-20T19:40:48Z

Fun game, I like that you did a point-and-click game, which isn't that common nowadays. I enjoyed it! I needed a bit of help on the second and third pentagrams, but the help text was nice. I did encounter the image freeze bug when checking, so I had to restart from the beginning, and given that the game completely restarts, I was a bit scared to check, so I tried to be thorough.

I think the biggest improvement would be on the pentagram drawing, as it feels too strict. It wants me to fill in a lot of the circle, but not overfill/draw outside too much, and that's hard on a computer with a mouse. Some kind of simplified pentagram drawing would make it much less tedious, especially when the pattern gets super complicated at the end.

Overall though, I enjoyed the game, and the art/music was really good! Nice job on this entry!

Spirit Stone's Summon by Ausstein 2024-04-24T06:01:25Z

Interesting mix of a third-person perspective and tower defense game; I'm echoing most of the other comments here on things like game balance, lack of clarity in some objectives, and personally I think in-game, the orbs either being collected by you or going to the stone for exp was not clear to me. It's pretty enjoyable overall, but just addressing a few of those points would make this much stronger for me. Nice job overall!

Phantom Escape by S1l3Jamal 2024-04-21T21:52:33Z

Cool stealth game, not a lot of these so I'm glad you made something pretty unique! I found it a little hard to understand what was interactable; maybe some kind of highlight on things you can interact with would help a lot. The phantom abilities are cool, and you could definitely add more abilities if you wanted to expand the prison escape idea. I also ran into the same bug others saw, of being detected twice, for what it's worth. Really great entry!

Summon' Right Up by Chauwizaud 2024-04-27T05:07:53Z

Nice job on this! I liked the challenge of trying to draw the summoning circles quickly and accurately; the best grade I could get was a B. I do feel like the gameplay is pretty repetitive, since you're just drawing a bunch of complex shapes. Maybe new scenarios or abilities that introduce challenge to drawing the circle could spice things up. The art was really good too, and it was cool to see some story/lore, though I'm usually not that invested in lore details.

For Democracy by Paulsams 2024-04-27T04:30:07Z

Fun take on the theme, and pretty cool control scheme of pressing a combination of buttons to summon things/activate abilities. I liked that there was some lore thrown in, and the art looks pretty solid. Unlocking abilities was cool and I liked the button combinations to trigger different abilities, though the overall gameplay style felt a little repetitive. I also think the mouse could've been replaced with a different set of keys, maybe WASD for combos and arrow keys for movement? Either way, this was pretty fun, nice job!

The Adventure of Seeker by Ben Yazi 2024-04-20T18:05:19Z

Pretty fun tactics/RPG game, the dice rolling mechanic is an interesting approach! I found the minigame timing to be pretty tough, I kept getting X's and doing damage to myself. It was also a bit overwhelming, there were so many enemies on the map and the first enemies I tried fighting felt too powerful, even when they had around 10-ish HP. I also felt like an in-game tutorial would've helped, I know the description has explanations but I think having the tutorial in game to explain what each thing did would be super helpful.

The art is quite good, and I thought the dialogue was pretty fun. Nice job on this game, you did a lot in the amount of time we had!

Midnight Mage by SparkyDoc07 2024-04-18T04:07:39Z

Pretty interesting idea of using the plains (grid) to conjure spells and kill the enemies that way. I personally found the web build to be a bit hard to play, namely that turning around was difficult because my cursor didn't focus in the game, and trying to press 1/2/3/4 and Esc and E back to back was tricky. The expensive spells didn't feel super helpful either since for me, the recharge time on setting the magic fires felt too slow.

Another thing that would also help is an in-game tutorial, as I had to keep reminding myself what the keys were by scrolling down to the controls in the description. It could use more polish, but the base foundation is pretty neat, so I'd love to see this expanded based on the feedback here so far.

Sorcerer's Army of Summons by Rendow 2024-04-20T17:44:56Z

Pretty cool cross between a tactics game and Vampire Survivors, with the grid-based movement. I felt like I kept getting stuck in places because enemies would surround me and I wouldn't be able to do anything. It's also hard to know at a glance which units are mine and which are enemies. I think if the grid movement could allow me to somehow get past enemies and not get stuck, it would be a bit less frustrating.

I like the RPG mechanics, where you can unlock other units or spawn more, definitely would be cool to see more unit types/different upgrades in an update. Great job!

WORD EXORCIST by MarcoDeevil 2024-04-30T03:44:13Z

Fun typing game! I made it to 119 demons killed, 598 letters hit and a max combo of 88. This was tough because of the unique demon names, so there was an added challenge there; especially the upside down letters. Might be a nitpick but I would've preferred the upside down letters to also be typed from left to right, as that felt more natural (but that might be an unpopular opinion). The art looks great and it has great atmosphere; adding voice acting is cool too. Nice job with this entry!

Defend the kingdom by martonel 2024-04-28T22:38:09Z

Short and sweet, this was a fun entry, I liked the different summons and it was funny seeing the final cutscene when you get the right summon. Not much else to say, it's really simple but works for what it is. Good job on this!

Alakazamazon! by Xeltide 2024-04-20T03:57:30Z

Interesting game with the search/delivery mechanic, it was kind of cool being able to magically move stuff around and send it to the door. Personally I found the first couple of requests kind of fun when throwing the items to the door, but it got a little tedious after a while; maybe if the camera was zoomed out a bit, the wizard moved faster, and the request amounts were smaller/easier to do quickly, this would be a pretty fun game to chill with. Nice job on this!

The Summonee by theheheo 2024-04-21T21:37:43Z

I liked this a lot, it was fun trying to see how long I could survive for and how many kills I could get. It got a little repetitive after a while, so maybe some new stages/levels or different enemies could spice it up. The art is really awesome too, excellent job!

Summon Get It! by Chrispy977 2024-04-19T05:46:49Z

Pretty interesting beat-em-up style game, I like the different biomes and it was cool seeing a priest punch enemies. The depth perception is kind of weird, I wasn't able to easily figure out how I'm hitting the enemy. I also feel like the attack could've been a button, instead of a mouse click, so my hands are just on the keyboard (same for switching/summoning different forms). Characters move pretty slow, too.

I think with some polish, this could be a really solid game, would love to see this expanded. Great job!

Ritual Realm by mhorth 2024-04-20T18:57:25Z

I had a lot of fun with this, it felt like a series of minigames that were all pretty enjoyable. I definitely got a little annoyed when the enemies kept punch the orbs out of the circle in the hard ritual, but the difficulty increase fits well. I found switching spells to be a little hard, my fingers kept getting confused moving up to 1/2/3/4 and the scroll wheel felt too sensitive.

Art and music are both simple but work. I think if you wanted to expand this, you could add more spells or ritual types. Nice job on the game!

Sigil by Wuppos 2024-04-18T05:06:30Z

Fantastic puzzle game, I really enjoyed it! It feels like a cross between Picross and Sudoku, and it was really fun trying to solve each one logically. I wasn't able to finish the 9th (I think last?) level, it was getting a bit tough for me to solve. But the logic mechanics are excellent (candles, red/blue numbers). Some ambient music would be nice, but overall I greatly enjoyed this; well done!

Unholy Cow by oligue 2024-04-27T19:41:54Z

Pretty fun game, I wasn't that great at it (got 342), but I really liked the variety of the spells and the level up system of using bones to light the candles. It would be cool to see new types of spells past the 4th one as you level up more. It's pretty tough, and I think the default resolution on itch could be bigger, since you have a much smaller window size if you're not fullscreen. Great job on this submission!

Summoner's (photography) Apprentice by Ansible 2024-04-27T19:52:50Z

Cool potion brewing game and idea here, I do agree with some other comments on how the hand drawn art is really charming, but the lack of instructions being really confusing. I didn't really understand what I was supposed to do, the potion brewing/summoning/picture was not clear to me. I think adding more explanations of what each step of the game was for would help a lot with conveying what I was supposed to do. Solid job for your first solo entry, good job with this!

Fashion Demon by Zoeluci 2024-04-17T04:16:10Z

Pretty fun game, I liked collecting the different clothing and trying to get them all within the time limit. The collision detection is kind of weird, I kept getting stuck on the side of platforms and it didn't really make sense. Controls were a little slippery too, took a bit of time to get used to. But great job on finishing the game!

Star Seed: Apocalypse by paloobi 2024-04-27T19:22:10Z

Really cool entry, the art/music fits the tone really well and I like the idea of landing in an infested area and trying to kill off the plants invading. I didn't really understand what the win condition was though; if it was to kill the enemies, or to explore and find some UFO to go in (I tried to go into a few but nothing happened). Also, it was a little frustrating switching screens and immediately getting hit. One other note was that I felt like the attacking/combat was really stiff since you get locked in place for the whole animation, maybe a faster animation would make it feel snappier. Nice job!

Summoned at 2 by WeeFairyFabi 2024-04-28T22:45:22Z

Pretty interesting visual novel, I liked the angle you took with hating work and wanting to destroy the office; both endings were pretty funny. The minigames were a nice distraction, though it would've been cool to see more interactive elements in the game. One nitpick is that I wish clicking would advance the current text box to its fullest, before showing the next one, because I was reading it faster than the text was appearing. Other than that, it's short and sweet, a nice simple game. Good job!

Demonic Whim by LianaAvk 2024-04-19T05:36:29Z

Great visual novel! I liked trying to see different outcomes of the demon's deal, and the Skip feature was really nice in knowing when I'm seeing something new. The art is excellent and really pretty, it works well with the style. If you have more time later, it'd be cool to see this expanded with more scenarios or endings. Great job!

Kobold Pet Shop by Gawain Doell 2024-04-20T04:25:39Z

Short and sweet, and a pretty fun matching game! The intro cutscene was pretty funny, and the gameplay is simple yet effective. I think adding more traits/kobolds and mixing and matching could add some more difficulty if you were to go for a longer game. The art was good and sound effects were very charming. Nice job!

A-BONE-mination by Erivas_Soulares 2024-04-17T05:08:03Z

Really fun game! I like the puzzle aspect of trying to fit together as many shapes as you can on the board, and trying to maximize the space you have. Very tetris-like in that, with the shapes you have to make. I guess for me it started getting a little repetitive, even with the additional shapes to make, so I stopped after a few rounds, but it was a fun playthrough! Great job on this!

Soul Technician by Nathan Franck 2024-04-24T06:09:26Z

It's cool that you used Zig to create this game, not often you find games made without a dedicated engine. I think for me, the biggest issue is the difficulty; getting through the first 2 levels is not too bad, but the last 2 levels are a huge jump in difficulty. The best strategy I found was repairing something for a bit, then moving to another one in a circle pattern, but it wasn't clear when things would start breaking, so maybe a health bar above each machine would be more alerting to players.

The art looks good, though it feels a bit empty without sound. Either way, nice job on finishing this!

The Grand Summoner ... of Lifts by Arti Dev 2024-04-20T18:34:11Z

Super simple clicker game yet oddly satisfying, getting a bunch of upgrades and speeding up the elevator. Not much else to say, this was short and sweet. Well done with the game!

Bring on the Blocks by alzhu1 2024-04-21T21:23:30Z

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone! Glad people are enjoying the game.

@tugaryn @ohfiddlediddle The grid suggestion is interesting, I hadn't considered that. Might make an update later (if I can find some time) to add that grid, if it helps with the gameplay experience.

@denismarasan Yeah, I had thought of doing a turn-then-move control, but it would make the 3rd level trivial; that's why I like the turning-with-moving, because it created a kind-of interesting puzzle opportunity.

@coda-highland I've been making games for about 1.5 years now, I started before that but lost interest, then got back into it around Dec 2022

SUMMONERS WAR by Bollatix23500 2024-04-19T05:50:55Z

I think this is a cool game idea, though it was really hard to play because I couldn't really see the left and middle lanes well, there was a lot of UI in the way. The controls were tough to handle, I think simplifying the rock-paper-scissors idea and selection would've helped a lot with the playability. Definitely would love to see a second version with some of the feedback here, but for a game jam with limited time, well done!

Big Fire Restaurant by DuduBertolDev 2024-04-20T18:14:59Z

Pretty fun shooter, it was neat running around and shooting down food. I liked that I could rapid fire by just holding the button, way better than having to click each time. For me the biggest difficulty was the movement; I didn't really like the momentum that I had when trying to move, as I felt really heavy and slow. I noticed shooting the gun had recoil too, and while it was a nice touch, I personally would've liked the character to just move quickly/almost instantly, with little to no momentum.

The other weapons were cool, I liked the cabbage gatling gun. The art is nice and it was a pretty fun playthrough overall, I think I got a score of around 10000. Nice job!

How to summon your lost dog from the space between spaces by SodaGummy 2024-04-23T02:45:48Z

Congrats on the first Ludum Dare submission! This game has a pretty neat idea, and I thought the storyboards were pretty heartwarming, especially at the end. It gave a good motivation to try and complete each level.

For me, the movement in this game feels super awkward, and personally I wasn't a fan of the movement system of rotating and switching gravity. Not that it can't be done, but I found the actual movement a bit frustrating; for example, sometimes holding a direction would make me spin in circles, and it didn't feel super graceful. Perhaps a system where you're sticking to the wall would feel a little more natural, that way the left/right keys just move you along the wall.

I played this in browser and saw the same thing as the comment above; I couldn't see my health bar, so I was just hoping I didn't take too much damage. Overall though, it's impressive and awesome you were able to finish this submission and have a workable demo; great job!

Splinter Self by Chronicpain 2024-04-20T04:19:07Z

Really excellent entry! The puzzle gameplay was really fun, I was able to beat the game and I enjoyed pretty much all the rooms. I missed the part in controls on how right clicking switched the weapons, but once I got that it was pretty smooth. I played on web which had that interesting bug where the first clone didn't move, but funnily enough I was able to use that to solve one of the levels easily.

The idea is pretty cool and well executed, and the art/music was quite nice too. I wasn't really paying attention to the dialogue, but the overall experience was really solid; I was very impressed with how many levels there were! Great job!

Summon to Kill the Skeletons by Joua 2024-04-19T05:12:30Z

Pretty fun take on the typing genre! My best score/time was 6800 and about 2.5 minutes. Really simple game with a fun gameplay loop. I personally would've liked to see more normal words, and having them switch every couple of spellcasts, as the weird words were a bit tough to remember and I kept confusing myself when quickly typing a spell. Really fun overall, great job!

Star Stone by UngarBlapp 2024-04-18T05:12:35Z

Cool cross between summoning things to attack and platforming, I personally thought the character felt too heavy and was awkward to control when jumping around platforms. The bat summoning is a bit funny but felt kind of forced in, since the main objective was collecting those 7 stones. I also didn't really understand why it said episode 6?

I think the game looks and sounds pretty good, just some more polish on the gameplay and adding more to do would be great additions. Nice job!

Adiego by cascadee 2024-04-28T22:59:29Z

The golem combining is cool and I liked experimenting with different material combinations to make golems. But I couldn't figure out how to give them to the customer; there's no cage icon on the golem creation screen, and every time I tried putting the golem in the circle it kept rejecting it. Not sure if I was missing something, or if the game's resolution was hiding something from me, but I wasn't able to get very far; cool concept though.

Ice Wiz by Monkeyasaurus 2024-04-26T06:20:53Z

I played the browser version, it looks like the camera is too zoomed in and I can't see most of the edges of the game. I could only beat the first two levels because I felt like I was missing some info in the third for things around me. Also I'm not sure why the mouse click has to summon blocks, it seems like a button could've been all that's required to summon, so this could be a keyboard only game. The concept is pretty cool where you can summon ice blocks, so maybe another version where the camera is fixed and controls are tweaked could be good.

By Royal Decree by Zhirui 2024-04-27T05:29:45Z

This was an incredible alchemy game, I loved the idea of putting together ingredients based on a blueprint and trying to solve for the different combinations. The main frustration I had was that the scrolling on the ingredients felt really weird, maybe it could've been less sensitive or the scroll was widened to fit all possible ingredients. The different combinations of items you could create was fun though, and trying to figure out the missing ingredients in the blueprint was interesting (even if I had to brute force some of it).

As a final note, the art in this game is really phenomenal, I loved how detailed the spritework was and the animations were pretty smooth too. Overall, this was a really fun game, and would love to see a followup/more like this!

Divine Harvest by Carolinus 2024-04-26T06:06:24Z

Pretty unique that you made a browser game in Nuxt and Vue, that's pretty interesting. I found the game itself to be really confusing, all I did was put seeds in the middle, wait for some numbers to go up, and click them to sell? I also didn't understand what the "invocations" were doing, I ended up just clicking a bunch of them to get them. I also found the notifications that popped up whenever I got new seeds/money to be kind of annoying, as it kept updating as I sold my crops. I guess it feels close to an idle game, but the goal wasn't clear to me and I just clicked stuff.

I think having some clearer conveyance of the mechanics would be good; maybe you could convert this idea into a level-based game where the beginning levels teach you how to make money, what the invocations do exactly, etc. That would ease the player into the mechanics more gently. I'm interested to see if this gets updated in the future with new mechanics/ideas.

Peter Piper in A Rats Tale by Rockers 2024-04-28T22:31:46Z

This was really fun, I liked the take on the theme and crossing it with the Pied Piper. It was cool to see RPG elements where you could improve different skills, and it was really satisfying getting a bunch of rat followers all at once and bringing them to the docks. I think the city looked really cool, though it was a little hard to navigate with all the alleyways/dead ends in the city. It also felt like the number of rats would increase forever, which works well for this kind of game, though having some levels with goals (i.e. X amount of rats killed) would add some challenge too. Nice job here!

Summoning by TheMotleyBrit 2024-04-20T18:25:05Z

Had a lot of fun with this entry! The progression was not bad and it was cool seeing my character get stronger over time. Pretty short and sweet, but fun; I liked trying to lure the enemies into the spawning explosions (which I thought harmed me at first, but trial and error disproved that), to do as much damage as I could. Art is simple yet effective, nice job on this!

Also, it's cool that you used Rust to make this game, I'm in the process of learning the language and want to try making stuff in it soon. Definitely going to check out Bevy sometime soon, but it's really neat that you built your own framework for this game. Really great stuff!

Chimera Combat by P3ngui 2024-04-17T05:15:49Z

Pretty cool game, I like the idle battler concept and the wacky combinations you can make with the chimeras is pretty neat. I wasn't that great at it, got up to round 11, but still pretty fun. Maybe some boss encounters or more variety in body parts could add to the replayability of this game. Either way, great submission!