Brandon JS Lea

Deadly Delivery by Rogue Studios 2018-08-14T20:56:08Z

First things first, I'd highly recommend adding arrow key controls.

When analyzing this game it brings back that zero puntuation quote "There were so many bullets I'm not sure if I died from blood loss or suffocation". The idea of making a bullet hell turn based is quite innovative and a great way of working with the theme.

I do have a few issues however. The first is only minor but I think that on the menu the player should be able to use the horizontal directional buttons (A,D or arrow keys) to scroll through the selection. It makes so much more sense and makes navigation of the options easier. I almost didn't realise there were other options and assumed they weren't added or I needed a higher score to view them.

Another nitpick is with the boxes that spawn as obstacles. Having the obstacles be the same sprite as the collectibles is very confusing at first and bad visual design IMO. Even a slight palette swap would have helped.

The gameplay is quite clever in getting you to consider each move but whilst fun at first I personally found it got a bit tedious quite quickly. One reason for this could be lack of pressure. There's no tense music or timer to really push you and the games quite light on any juice so I never got a feeling of success or pressure. Perhaps if you're score was better enthasised and/or the milestones were presented on screen this may help somewhat. You could have a progress bar followed by some kind of rewarding announcement that you unlocked a new skin/area and even though this wouldn't change gameplay, it would make each situation more tense because what you'd lose is clearly presented, and each victory more satisfying.

I think another reason that I quickly lost interest was that there's not much strategy in this strategy game. The gameplay never evolves beyond "dodge these bullets". Whilst I'm not saying that should stop being the case, some variation in the obstacles you face would have made each more more complex and thought provoking as opposed to the same thing over again. Having different places for the boxes to appear might have also helped.

One other idea could be to add a real time turn timer as this would add pressure, though I could see how you may feels this goes against the core gameplay.

Whilst the game is solid and competently made, I feel it doesn't have enough variety to hold interest long enough for it to become at all challenging. The core gameplay is innovative and it would be cool to see it developed further.

Polygon Bash by josehzz 2018-08-19T12:04:01Z

The idea of shooting to propel yourself helps to intertwine mechanics which is nice but I'm personally not sure it's done to the greatest degree here. Whilst it's more fun and compelling to shoot yourself around at high speeds, I'd do best if I just sit in a corner and occasionally shoot of the enemies without moving much at all which seems very opposed to the fast paced gameplay you seem to be going for, judging by the fact you can shoot yourself around at high speeds and the neon look and music gives it an energetic feel. The game feels as though it should be fast and frantic but the mechanics encourage you to be resourceful with your shots which is feasible given the enemies slowly bumble towards you. Whenever I did tried to be more energetic I'd almost immediately die.

Everything else is done great; the visuals and music all go a long way to creating a strong feel, I just feel as though that feel is contradictory to the games core. The game seems to punish speed and instead reward slow and smart gameplay which whilst working for a strategy game, doesn't so much for an arcade shooter.

Destination: Earth by aviv871 2018-08-21T00:39:00Z

First off, I don't think escape should take you back to the title screen. I pressed it in an attempt to pause after enter didn't work and it was annoying to immediately lose everything.

Early on I felt a little out of the game. I didn't realise I was playing in 3d and instead thought I just had really jump space shooter controls but I quickly got used to the grid system. My first issue is that the warnings felt more distracting than helpful; even though that's obviously not the case, having them pop up so early turns it more into a memorization game than a dodging one, it can get quite confusing to have another warning before the object incoming has even struck. This was exaggerated when multiple warnings flashed on top of each other.

When restarting I also noticed there was quite a lot of very slow fading between screens which I think could have been lessened a little, else it makes any input feel slightly unresponsive.

All issues aside, I actually got quite into the game on the second play-through. The atmosphere combined with the tension of permadeath and simplistic and therefor clear method of progress all combined to create an experience that was quite absorbing, I think the space theme suits it well. I zoned out and died at around 90% mind which was quite unexpected, I think having the hp bar be a straight bar rather than segmented bar can be a little misleading and unnecessary given there's only 1 type of damage.

Couple of ideas for improving. Having a few more sound effects would have taken the immersion even further, I felt the game was crying out for some form of "woosh" sound effect when the meteoroids go by.

Secondly, I liked the feeling of progression and the occasional dialogue helped that; and I think taking it a step further would help the game a lot. One example would be the earth getting bigger (unless it did and I didn't notice it in which case perhaps make it scale more). More so I felt a little more could have been done with the dialogue; because of it and the atmosphere I felt a strong intrigue to keep going. This was lessened quite a bit when the lines of "humor" came out. Humor is very subjective, true, but like with games, even if subjective there are factors that can make it critically better or worse. Admittedly I'm not expert on humor by any means but it felt quite "lol random" here which was very out of place IMO. It would have been nice if these lines built on the core themes present some more instead.

Whilst I have nitpicks, I quite liked what was here for it's strong atmosphere emphasized by it's progress mechanics; it'd be cool to see it worked on some more.

Blockie by kamikaziuk 2018-08-13T17:04:21Z

First off, it would have been nice to have arrow keys as an alternative.

Onto the actual meat of it. The idea of falling blocks filling a room is one I'm sure many people had, myself included. However, having the blocks rise up and removing the jump is a smart way of getting around a lot of the issues present with that idea.

In terms of polish I have mixed opinions. Having it suddenly start feels really awkward, a quick countdown might have helped. On the other hand, I like the visual effects for the blocks coming in and the background.

I do have a couple of issues with how information is presented to the player. Firstly, the blocks seem to come up randomly but with an inclination towards the player. I understand why this is important, to keep up flow and to make sure the game isn't completely unfair at times. However in practice it can be quite confusing and annoying, because it's a mechanic determined by the players actions which they don't completely understand. It raises questions such as "Are blocks spawning in a radius of me or right below me? Is it me or some other bias that's making towers form?" ect. Then there's the "move + survive = top score" which I missed at first because it's presented so subtly. This raises more questions, "Does moving back and forth rapidly increase my score? Do I need to move long distances for it to count?" All this is made stronger by the fact that the image up top shows a high score of ~8500 whilst I could only manage ~2500.

I have a couple of suggestions for how this could be helped. The most general point being that the rules need to be understandable by the player and more clearly explained; I think there needs to be a better balance of understandable generation and randomness. Assuming the gen algorithms are in a form that's understandable for a player, you could just explain this in text, though it's a very annoying and unclear method when overused so I wouldn't recommend walls of text. Another way to do this could be to have mechanics that clearly reward the player with score boosts. So for example, if moving back and forth does help the score go up, this could be presented to the player in a way that's easier to understand and see the effects from. Additionally, perhaps the area where the blocks spawn relative to the player (if that is a thing) could be represented visually.

So whilst some mechanics could be better presented, the game has a strong core along with some fairly strong visual polish.

defrag/delete by inventroom 2018-08-12T23:38:37Z

I agree with @lakso that it was quite confusing. A smoother introduction to the mechanics would have gone a long way over the wall of text. I almost quit after my first round of not really knowing what I was doing, but I gave it another go and now seeing the timer, running through knowing mostly what I was doing was more fun in a frantic sort of way. Though sometimes it did feel a little under-pressured relative to how behind I was, perhaps if the timer drained quicker but gets refilled at the end of each round (to a degree at least) this would help boost that frantic feel; or so I thought. I went back to check and noticed this is a thing so good job, perhaps making it pop a little better would help.

I think there's also a problem with deleting "unnecessary" files. What is and isn't necessary is rather opinion based. I'm guessing I was meant to delete tmp files online but I'm still not sure post playing.

The game did have a nice feel to it and I think that's largely due to the sound effects, though given that they're the windows sound effects I'm not sure how much credit I can give for that; they're used well at least.

Line 42: Space Subway by isubka 2018-08-21T23:07:42Z

I'm going to get my complaints out of the way first.

Firstly, and what got in the way most for me, was the lack of explanation. I still have no idea after playing for 20 minutes what order things happen in, IE how mind control spreads or which side will be chosen as a snack for the eating one. For mind control, I assumed it was the order you place them down which makes most sense IMO but instead I'm now thinking it's left to right which really screwed me over and seems a lot more arbitrary than the order they're placed. To make matters more confusing, the hungry one triggers when the ride starts whilst the mind controlly starts immediately which makes finding any kind of consistent rule even harder.

Secondly is the lack of any goal. It would have been nice if there were levels or score milestones that unlock stuff. As is I never felt as though I was progressing. When I reached a point that I knew I was about to game over I lost all motivation because A. I wouldn't reach my destination/reach a mile stone if I just kept going B. There was no method of recovering passenger madness. If milestones are added I think a progress bar would be good just to help visualize that milestone and give the player more intensive to push on.

Thirdly is the lack of an undo button. I personally feel an undo button would help a lot, especially when some of the earlier mentioned mechanics can be a bit confusing. I know this holds the threat of making it too easy but I don't think it would, you'd still need to be smart about how you sort the aliens and it's not like you would be able to undo the previous stations. I think it would help remove the annoying side of the difficulty (the confusion) and help focus the strategic parts. A good example of this in practice would be Into the Breach.

Final complaint is the "music". I found the constant hum incredibly annoying, perhaps an option to turn it off or lower the volume or just some simplistic music would help. I get how the lack of music can help enhance the atmosphere but I think music can help a lot more of done right whilst also adding a lot of feel.

Now that I've complained about the game for 4 paragraphs straight, let more clarify that I actually really really like this game. The annoyances stand out because I can see just how close this game is to being absolutely amazing. Sound effects (bar the rumble) are great and alien, visuals manage to be alein and cute at the same time, and gameplay-wise this probably has the most potential out of any other game I've played at Ludum Dare. Were the issues fixed I would call this a certain winner and would love to see it built up into a full game.

The game quite strongly reminds me of plants VS zombies in an odd sense, I think if it were to be level based, introducing a new alien each level, it could work really well. One idea being a childish alien that runs between available spaces. Alternatively, this could work quite well as a rouge-like, it'd be harder to keep it fresh but it would certainly incentivize the player to keep going, introducing aliens randomly would also feel less predictable than the PVZ model.

I think some attempts at dialogue or narration would be nice, the aliens have a lot of seasonality but I think this could be taken a step further. It would be cool to see these beings that feel like living entities come and go, would also be a nice way to get a glimpse into the worlds they come from which would strongly help immersion.

My overly exited hopes aside, as is this is a very cool game. Whilst it's problems and lack of any motivation to continue/anything to work towards is a big issue, were these to be fixed I think this could very easily be a fantastic game. Are there any plans to work on it any more and if so, do you have somewhere I can follow development?

Camp Snuggle by Scott Steffes 2018-08-20T00:51:57Z

I think the circles in the middle of the men could have been a little better explained (I wasn't sure if it acted as HP or something similar) bu aside from that minor issue this game's good all across the board! I like that it isn't just a funny concept w/o any humor in the game (a mistake I see a lot), instead the visuals, sound effects and physics gameplay go a long way to build something funny and enjoyable beyond the simple concept.

Block Caver by Bearmask Studios 2018-08-21T22:09:49Z

The idea of pushing around blocks to make room for yourself is quite innovative and on theme. However, the physics got in the way a bit too much for me. Pushing around the blocks feels very awkward and so I very rarely felt in control. Perhaps having the blocks also be tile based (as in when you push them they sort of jump to the next tile) rather than this mish-mash of tilebased meets non tilebased would make deaths feel less random and not my fault. Also, the wall slide doesn't feel natural, like I'm not even sure if it's a bug because the animations seem to change as I'm sticking to a wall. I think part of the reason for this is that in a game where the floor is rising up beneath you, clinging to a wall never really serves you, especially since I couldn't find a way to jump off of them. Complaints aside, there's a nice idea here mixed with some pretty good art.

Small Circuit by Brandon JS Lea 2018-08-24T05:02:25Z

@coda-highland That isn't an issue on my mouse wheel as it clicks each scroll, I wasn't really aware there were sorts that don't. Thanks for letting me know.

A blob with a destination - LD42 by Dries Vuylsteke 2018-08-13T15:55:58Z

Where this game shines is in two places, the innovation and the amount of levels. The way items are short term modifiers to your movement is quite an interesting idea and not one I've really seen before. I particularly liked the phase mechanic.

I think where the game falls flat is it's lack of polish. For starters, I found the audio to be quite grating. Even after I muted the music there was still what I think is the spinning blades sound effect which is quite unpleasant.

Secondly, and most notably, is the control. Launching yourself feels more like a guessing game than a skill game, particularly when in air using the double jump. For some reason my launches seemed to be less accurate and less powerful in double jump mode as well. When the bouncing blocks are introduced then it really feels like luck, and if I mess up I just have to watch myself bouncing around hoping to accomplish something. I know the restart is an option but when failure is uncertain, it feels mean forcing the player to impose failure on themselves. I'm not sure how the blue blocks could be improved to help this though, perhaps if they gave you a double jump?

On the other hand, I can think of a few ideas for how the launching mechanic could be aided, fixing the inaccuracy with the double jump being most obvious. Perhaps if the player could slow down time by holding the mouse and then releasing to launch, this could also be tied with a shown trajectory, though I could see how you may feel this goes against the core game; personally I think it could work better.

Lastly, is just the small things that add up. Having to push space when most of the game can be played with one hand feels off. Usually I would go to click to get rid of text only to find my player launch off randomly after I press space. Also I think there should be some way to ease the player in rather than suddenly starting, like the lava only rises once the player launches for the first time or waits until after a 3 second timer.

Overall, the game is quite unpolished and this dampened my enjoyment quite a bit. However, I'm glad I played the game because it has some really interesting ideas which the levels seem to use quite well from what I played. Personally, I probably would have enjoyed the game more if less time was spent on levels and more on testing and polishing.

Arrows by JimmyC 2018-08-16T23:23:45Z

The idea of having ideas stack up over time is quite innovative as it leads to a natural ramp up in difficulty simply as a result of the gameplay. Additional, it has variety in the kind of arrows you face.

My first critique is the music. Music is not everyone strength so I understand it not being great but here it didn't fit at all and sounded quite grating so perhaps no music would have been better, instead replaced with more sound effects (though I do think good music would boost a game like this a lot).

My second issue is that I very quickly had no interest in continuing. Not that the game is bad, it most certainly isn't from a mechanic stand point. I think this issue may result in part due to the lack of music but there are other stronger elements too. Most notably, the game lacks any feel, and this type of game really suffers without it. Take super hexagon for example, everything flashes, changes colour, rotates, pulsates. With this, the only juice I noticed was the trail behind the arrows.

(A video that helps define and showcase "juice" if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy0aCDmgnxg)

Finally, the game feels very slow. Whilst I would get caught off guard, fail to react and die (proving there is challenge) it still feels easy and I think that's because of how slow it is. A lot of the game is a waiting game which brings the pacing to a complete halt. Perhaps difficulty modes would help, but in this type of "quickly die, retry" game, I think a certain level of difficulty is important from the get go. It's gameplay is suited to being fast paced and frantic which goes well with a strong challenge IMO.

Overall, it's an innovate mechanically designed game that could be great with more juice and polish.

Shrinkage by woubuc 2018-08-13T00:24:58Z

The problem with imitation is that the thing you're imitating is probably pretty good, so trying to do what it already does well is that the comparison between it and the imitation will probably be quite unfavorable. Especially with tetris where the game has been tweaked and iterated upon. I bring this up because compared to tetris, the controls feel quite slippery here. I'd often be wary about moving side to side because often my pieces would go too far.

All that said, this game is surprisingly good. I'd find myself going to causally clear a line because it was easiest at the time when suddenly I'd realise what I was about to do. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm familiar with normal tetris or if this is an actual smart innovation upon the formula, but as of right now this feels like a genuine mechanical improvement rather than just a gimmick. I see people say that the genius of tetris is that the difficulty adapts to your playstyle, which is all right but having that extra pressure there makes this a lot more interesting.

I do have a couple of issues however. Firstly, I think you should start with more lines to get back or some intensive to over achieve from the get go. As far as I can tell, there's little pressure/use of the new addition if I'm already at full screen so the mechanic feels a little under utilized. Then again, you do lose a line if you only break one line so perhaps this is a non issue.

Secondly, is the hold. There doesn't seem to be one which is a slight shame.

Finally is the rather big bug that my piece disappeared. Literally, it's gone and the games softlocked because of it. I think I glitched it through the wall or something.

All in all, whilst very unpolished it has a clean look and the mechanical addition is very interesting and actually effective.

Slay The Slime - Too Much Loot by Virtu 2018-08-19T12:26:32Z

Having to throw your inventory out at the enemy is a very cool idea and is built upon by the need to loo your inventory.

I think the issue that held the game back for me was the lack of any conveyance. Nothing really has any impact. I don't think there's any sort of sound effect for hitting the enemy or any sound of getting hit or any numbers flying off enemies to make it clear how much damage I'm doing. Because it lacks this feedback I don't feel as though I'm winning or losing, just that stuffs happening. Furthermore, not much is explained. I had/have no idea if the damage I'm doing is determined by a way I throw or just completely random, though it feels random. Can I use potions? If so, how? I tried dragging then onto my hp bar and that didn't work. Then when the looting popped up I wasn't sure if I was meant to drag the items down to my inventory because there was no sign to, and dragging a potion to my hp bar didn't work so why would this. Then when my inventory was full, I didn't know if that were the case or if I just missed with my dropping or something because there is no sign that it's full.

In terms of it's idea the game is interesting, the music is good, and visually it's quite stunning. However, mechanically, as much potential as it has for fast paced strategy everything just feels so random which I think is the result of so much confusion.

dropboy by torcado 2018-12-05T07:13:07Z

A really creative use of the theme and there's a good amount of visual polish, particularly with the characters movement.

A couple of issue do bring it down for me. Firstly, pressing down scrolls the page down. Secondly, even the slightest sound would add a lot. Even some okay sound effects created in BFXR in 5 minutes would add a tonne.

The difficulty curve also feels very slow. Like the first 5ish puzzles are just the exact same puzzle in different arrangements which, combined with the scrolling issue, made it feel like a bit of a chore.

Despite the issues, this is still a nice idea well executed.

SOMtHINGa from NoThINGa by Jimbly 2019-10-06T23:51:11Z

NoO2.PNG

Hi, I'm a little confused about something. I seem to have "O", but it's not registering for victory. Is this a bug or am I just being dumb?

Ammodillo by Jeremy Ryan 2019-10-07T00:27:59Z

Quite difficult, even from the start, but this is really well made.

The theme was quite a difficult one so the fact you tuned it into a mechanic that serves an actual purpose in the time limit is really impressive. Great back-forth gameplay.

My only real gripe is with the enemies. Having them follow you means all the bullets come from one place which isn't the best IMO, plus it gives you very little wiggle room. Plus a lack of indicators for when they attack feels a little bit unfair. Having more warning could lead to more thoughtful gameplay. Having them fly down onto the arena might solve the other issue.

Overall though, fantastic entry. Plays great, sounds great and art looks great, especially for 48 hours. Perhaps try experimenting with having the rollout stun the enemies, could add an extra layer of strategy plus it feels a bit odd to have the player roll over the enemy with no interaction.

A shroomy adventure by thetatautau 2019-10-07T06:05:47Z

I died and didn't respawn....sorry there was something addicting about launching myself down. Might have been the combo of the spider + the pit at once? Though I was some distance above the pit so.... Game looks nice, physics are fun to mess around with.

Come to your senses by MarkoPoloDev 2019-10-07T06:14:09Z

Even if it's lacking in gameplay, this one was quite interesting and well polished. Mouse parallax on the level select was cool.

Ludum Dare 45 by Trypants 2019-10-06T23:46:13Z

Didn't realise at first that I was meant to pick up ores after destroying them, figured they were added to my inventory. I tried picking them up but it feels very tricky to actually position yourself right to pick up the ore, so I figured you couldn't. I've fed the core a little and whilst it played sounds, it doesn't seem to be doing much to kill the enemies, even going at optimal speed. I'm sure a lot of the technical problems just come down to the time limit which is understandable, so design wise I'd say try to figure out where you want the challenge to come from. As in, is it from strategy or from acting fast, seemingly the latter. If so, you could do more to indicate that such as a countdown or faster music. Overall though, I'm sure you could have done more given more time. Art style is quite pleasant.

Nothing Does Matter by joqlepecheur 2019-10-06T23:31:25Z

Quite a confusing little game. The first level gave me the impression that each level was about trying to spell words or play with words or something. Like, we'd have to move letters around and try and line them up, sometimes using other letters as barriers ect. Then for the new few levels I was quite confused. Using the letter to control the letter is still interesting, but it almost feels a little tangential to the "baba is you" style puzzles. I won the first couple of levels without ever realizing what was going on, still under the impression it was about spelling "nothing". Perhaps I'm just worn out from the jam, but as is it feels a bit too intuitive to really understand what anything means, like I have no idea how to carry a strawberry. Musics nice and atmospheric.

HEARTSCAPE by ZakAmana 2019-10-15T20:22:56Z

More often than not, it felt like I was just biding time. I get that that's a part of the game but I felt the ratio of turn killing to actual progress was a bit too slanted. Like, it was more time killing than strategy.

Overall though, interesting ideas and very charming.

Appeasing the Quadopus by dk5000p 2019-10-07T03:55:00Z

Feels really messy and botched together and yet it's still works! Had fun with this, great job!

Unstable Ground by Brandon JS Lea 2019-10-07T05:07:36Z

@diaonic You enter the controls yourself on the opening screen. You must have entered them by accident without realizing. I probably could have made it clearer.

Unstable Ground by Brandon JS Lea 2019-10-08T05:53:38Z

@peachtreeoath I tried making a game where you play as a fish in the sea on Saturday, it didn't work out so I restarted on Sunday. I was low on time, liked the squid graphic, it worked for the topdown shooter perspective and I've heard people call squids "alien like" so I figured I'd reuse. Happy with the results.

The Life Spirit by Cobear25 2019-10-07T03:41:06Z

Something really interesting here, and I like the art too. Right now I'm not sure the game brings out it's full potential. Like, there's some room for some really simple but engaging strategy, but instead RN it feels more like a game of "place random tiles as fast as you can until the RNG comes in your favor which misses the mark IMO. Whilst I think a turn based model could work well, I'm sure a real time model could still work. I think part of the solution might be to have the next couple of catastrophes pre-broadcast so the player can plan and adapt. I also think there needs to be more steaks to each piece, as well as perhaps a placing limit so each placement is more thought provoking. As is, I see little reason to worry about pieces being destroyed. Overall though, the main reason I like playing jam games is to see inspiring and experimental gameplay ideas, and this game certainly lives up to that!

Nothing Wars by CalLavicka 2019-10-07T00:10:09Z

Interesting game. Quite liked the upgrade each turn mechanic, though it did screw me over whilst I was still figuring out how to play :sweat_smile: Overall though, quite nice. Perhaps just a little more into on how to play in game.

Egg Problem by Bry 2019-10-07T00:17:26Z

Nice game. Was this by chance inspired by TowerBag from the GMTK jam?

Really like having a more active tower defense and it's quite a charming game, just enough dialogue to understand.

Only real issue is not having some kind of break, or at least I didn't reach one. Not having a wave system meant I was basically always overwhelmed by my performance at the start of the game when I was still figuring it all out.

Would also be nice if there was a little more leniency to play strategically. I decided to tank a few hits earlier on to save up for the second tier bird but that basically screwed me the entire game, though again a round/wave system might help there.

Start with WHITE by IanTyf 2019-10-07T04:08:54Z

Got to level 13 I believe.

Never imagined a bullet hell where I'd have to evaluate the pros and cons of getting hit by a bullet, bl**dy brilliant.

Perhaps there might be a balance issue in slight. I found level 1 to be one of the hardest levels.

Besides that, only advice I can really give is perhaps more movement polish and perhaps a secondary gameplay loop.

Great game.

Shape Invaders by GeruGames 2019-10-07T00:00:48Z

Real nice feel to this one. Simple but elegant.

Gameplay wise it's very very simple, but still works fairly well. My only real "issue" was that I seemed to lose for no reason, perhaps an enemy spawn on top of me?

Overall, good. Would have be nice to see some more interesting mechanics/something to set it apart, but I suppose that's personal preference.

Shape Invaders by GeruGames 2019-10-07T00:31:49Z

@gerugames "I’ll fix that tomorrow" Are you allowed to fix bugs once the compo periods over?

Tumble Baby by 01010111 2020-04-20T17:17:05Z

Controls could really do with some indicators, like arrows that appear when you hover over the boxes. I spent about a minute trying to drag the boxes and thought the game was broken. Overall though, this was good. I've seen similar concepts but this is probably the best execution. The one thing that could do with some work is that most of the puzzle pieces felt unused, so it was more of a "guess I've done it" rather than "IVE DONE IT!" feeling.

Another f****ng escort mission by dodormeur 2020-04-20T17:43:35Z

Very simple game is easy to get into whilst still has enough to it to be fun, voice over elevates it to something great.

Love the Baby by Myles McCoy 2020-04-20T18:13:55Z

Confusing, had no idea what the middle button does or how to get rid of the radio, but it was genuinely funny and charming.

up in the sky by stuffed wombat 2020-04-20T23:49:39Z

Forgot to add in my newgrounds review, it'd be nice if you didn't have to use the keyboard to restart when everything else is mouse based. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why you need to do anything to restart when it could do so automatically.

A Data Story by beetracks 2020-04-20T04:08:54Z

Short and sweet. Would have like to have seen it introduce some more challenging/interesting puzzles, but enjoyable and charming regardless.

Adventure Watch by blearn 2020-04-20T03:55:57Z

Feels very RNG based right now, although I might just be missing something. EG I'm not sure weather the grey things do anything other than ending the minigame, like if they effect the top game. Plus I was never not playing the minigame, which i guess makes sense, but the pay to play thing seems odd in this case. Overall though it's a cool concept and I did have fun figuring out what to prioritize on a moments notice.

Solais by dragonxvi 2020-04-20T04:03:19Z

Biggest issue is that by the time I make out the spikes, I'm already dead. It looks great, but I can't tell anything apart. Also not sure text is a great fit for a pico 8 game given the low res.

For Ducks' Sake by GaryS 2020-04-29T10:18:49Z

Quite charming art and sounds and concept. My only real complaint is the controls, just not being to aim 360 degrees whilst still using the mouse feels real awkward. Either aiming using the keys (WASD move, arroys aim) or having 360 aim, either would feel significantly better, even if the sprite doesn't quite line up. But pointing at the thing and shooting somewhere else, it doesn't feel right. Other than that, I have a cruel urge to suggest that you can shoot the ducks by accident, though perhaps spattered duckling wouldn't suit the cutsie artstyle (perhaps it just stuns them or something.)

Tyson Lee: KEEP IT ALIVE EDITION by CPTN-B 2020-04-28T15:40:12Z

There's some cool ideas here, but even as someone who understands logic gates I have absolutely 0 idea what I'm doing. Like, if I were given a goal I could probably accomplish it, but RN I have no idea what "it" is. Without reading the hint, how anyone is meant to know what to do on say Mal 3 is beyond me. Am I meant to have it tigger when either buttons are pressed, when both are pressed, I haven't a clue. Am I missing something?

The Blobbysitter by jbasinger 2020-04-20T05:22:47Z

This was an experience

Wavering Divinity by Brandon JS Lea 2020-04-20T04:26:04Z

@forevertrash The idea is to balance how many enemies get past. Stop them all and you lose. Let too many though and you lose.

Wavering Divinity by Brandon JS Lea 2020-04-20T17:57:14Z

@klaus-peter Do you mean you can't predict accurately how many buildings you will need to pass? You can build/destroy during the invasion, it's just much slower.Though yeah I agree, I would have liked to convey more info to the player about the enemies.

Wavering Divinity by Brandon JS Lea 2020-04-20T18:19:20Z

@wuceng If it felt more luck based, you might have missed the fact you can create and destroy towers during the rounds, it just takes longer (I should have made it clearer TBH).

Reasonably Safe Working Conditions by CooperJKnapp 2020-04-20T17:35:20Z

This is the kind of game that makes me wish I had friends, good job!

Keep your heart alive by Wizart 2020-04-20T17:48:31Z

@edwin I was able to, that or I just got very very lucky.

HealWall by xart2012 2020-04-22T08:18:22Z

I'll be honest, I have no idea what's going on in this game.

Xtreme gardening 2020 by Loig 2020-04-20T18:05:35Z

Quite charming, and good easy to get tutorialisation.

A lot of the levels are very easy though, like did the spiral levels really serve any purpose, they felt more like padding. Also, it's quite hard to tell the tiles apart (broken from super broken) at a glance.

The dash definitely helped make the game more interesting though.

Keep Earth Alive! by ivn 2020-04-20T18:16:49Z

The sudden jump back to the sky was quite nauseating, also couldn't tell if I'd lost or not. One I got into it, it had it's charm.

Medusa by PrincessChooChoo 2020-04-20T03:49:23Z

I feel like the idea of tentacles growing out to form weird shapes is underutilized by the current mechanics, but it's a cool idea.

Medieval Messenger by Courtmac 2020-04-20T18:10:31Z

Found the mechanics a bit confusing, but they're graspable enough to still be enjoyable.

Cryoloop by Freya C 2020-04-20T17:26:18Z

Looks great. Some sound really would help the atmosphere.

Power Surge by Marston 2020-04-20T04:45:36Z

That got tense quick, I like it

Vital Signs by Houdou 2020-04-20T05:21:13Z

Really cool, nice atmosphere and interesting gameplay. Feels very polished. Only real major gripe is it's quite hard to figure out what I'm meant to be doing. Like, I assume I have to hit space to collect the hearts, but surely it'd make more sense to be pressing space periodically, if my heart beats that irregularly I have fundamentally failed to grasp human biology.

Vital Signs by Houdou 2020-04-20T17:21:33Z

@houdou You might be right, but it might also be worth giving it a shot. Hitting space periodically probably is boring, but much less so when you're doing everything else as well. It stops being simple when you also have to control temperature ect, so some of the games might be better off simple.

HELL deep is your love? by Villanelle 2021-05-09T04:56:06Z

This has probably been said before, but it feels weird not being able to drop from ladders/ropes. In a lot of similar games, holding down+jump would instantly drop you rather than making you jump, given the nature of this game and how much less lenient the upper boundary is than the lower I think this would help a great deal.

Slopes are a really great addition and work with the vertical nature of the game.

I like the style of the art, I'd say the only outlier are the spikes which look rather stiff and generic by comparison.

The demons that move back and forth were one of the weirder additions. Having them be tough, kill you instantly and be introduced half way through the level meant doing the first half feel more chorish.

Overall though fun. Had to call quits on the horizontal level.

Deepwell Safety Inc. by rock-gong 2021-10-07T16:32:11Z

Hey can I speak to the artist? (Tried googling the name, found nothing) My discord is Hashtag#1264 if that works with them

Hazmat Magic by Ismael Rodriguez 2021-10-05T04:11:09Z

Game looks kinda ugly so I wasn't expecting much but damn that was smooth as hell. There's so many little things like with the behaviour of the foot particles or the checkpoint rings that just feel polished to a degree I didn't know was possible.

Then on top of that mechanically it's elegant, having the projectiles act as fuel and then over-filling for the explosion, great job!

Only real criticism is it's still not a looker, I'm guessing the intention was just to see how "flow-y" you could get it feeling without focusing on fancy art though I still think it detracts slightly. Perhaps too easy also.

Un-Ren-Table by WegPast 2021-10-05T03:37:21Z

This was the most bizarre uncanny uncomfortable and confusing experience I've had in a while and I kind of loved it.

Falling Tower by Simpathey 2021-10-05T03:31:40Z

Think the "how to play" section could have done a better job explaining what exactly we were working towards. I went through a lot of it having no idea if I was doing well or not, it's quite a lengthy period before we get that feedback at the end.

Crazy Cauldron by Quite Good 2021-10-05T02:31:56Z

Really cool game, charming and nice mechanics.

I am sad the mechanics don't reach their full potential though (TBF expected for a jam game). I expected this to be a frantic management game about balancing inventory and mixing colours, but 99% of the time it was instead just "1 customer is at the window, grab the 1 colour you need then you're done".

I think to better take advantage of the core mechanics maybe the secondary colour ingredients shouldn't exist or should be rarer so it relies more on mixing. Secondly and thirdly, there should be more customers at a time and the cauldron shouldn't automatically clear. I think if done right this would give the player more agency regarding the order in which they approach things and would raise the skill ceiling dramatically. As is, I never felt the need to stockpile of plan my ingredients because I'd just get what I needed when I needed it.

Overall though, for showcasing a cool idea it does it's job well!

Crazy Cauldron by Quite Good 2021-10-05T02:33:20Z

Forgot to say I think the SFX volume could do with a boost.

RadioFrog by Dylen 2021-10-05T02:45:30Z

Hi who did the music?

Shotgun King: the Final Checkmate by benjamin 2022-04-11T00:14:53Z

Cool in every aspect. My only major gripe is that I found the damage system very confusing.

The Last Church by sawtan 2022-04-04T22:57:39Z

Demonic feel of this really brings it into it's own. Only gripe is that early on I feel like there's more decision into how to place towers, but after a while you might as well place them everywhere, and it's harder to care at that point.

Lazer Bean by johnnysix 2022-04-11T00:55:36Z

It feels like there's a lot of complexity here (like with the different layers and gun dropping or even jumping for that matter) that doesn't come into play that much when the gameplays mostly "Is asteroid coming from left? Shoot left. Is right? Shoot right". I think that's why a lot of people seem confused with such a deceptively simple game. All that's to say that if the game had actually been more complex, like these elements served more of a mechanical purpose, it might have actually clicked more.

Negativity aside, I dig the atmosphere of this game. Love the big bold numbers that come up for the final countdown. I think the colour palette could do with some more variance in tone/luminosity (particularly separating the background from terrain) but otherwise it works well.

Also the character looks great!

Ghost In The Washing Machine by foxxy 2022-04-14T23:45:52Z

"You've done amazing work on these washing machines", this was the approval my parents never gave me

Flailing Motion by Brandon JS Lea 2022-04-06T05:59:25Z

@ohsnapitzsean Were you in full screen mode? Personally, I find the hover controls quite smooth but I just tried it w/o full screen and I can see why it might be more of an issue. Agree on needing better warnings.

@smiley For sure, sadly just ran out of time.

@ikilledkenny121 There's monsters comming from all 4 directions so I expect one of the others got you. RN it's not clear from where you're gotten so I do wanna try figure out a better way to indicate that without something as out of place as a "minimap".

Thx everyone for the feedback.

Energy tower defence by John llyod Apolo 2022-04-10T23:15:45Z

Having to lead the purple ones with tower placement was interesting.

Extreme Plant Sitter by suvi 2022-04-10T22:52:35Z

First game that really made me laugh.

Reminds me of a story my nan told me. When my Dad was younger he tried growing weed when he was still living with her. Obviously, she was against this knowing what trouble this would get him into. Anyway, one day he asked her to water them for her whilst he was away, so she did, with bleach. He said when I was growing up that he never had green fingers and it wasn't until I heard that story that it all clicked.

Road Rage Mage by Pious 2022-04-10T22:24:40Z

Really nice looking and some interesting concepts.

Mechanically I think a better intro might have helped. As is I thought "I'll play once so maybe the description will actually make some sense to me", but jokes on me cos I won by a mile by spamming boost and nitro boost.

Dilate the time! by milq 2022-04-10T22:11:17Z

Not sure if it's just me but I had no idea what was going on. You could have removed the time dilation mechanic and I wouldn't have noticed the difference. Like, I get that as you go, the time difference between the person you're trying to save and you changes, but I don't see how that relates to my actions as a player at all. Am I missing something?