DarkWolf

Volcano Crisis by LeReveur 2022-04-17T01:54:53Z

I managed to save all 120 people. The idea is something novel and pairs really well with the minimalist style. It took me a minute to figure out the game, but once I made sense of the graphics it was a really elegant interface.

Massive props to you for using your own engine. I've previously tried my hand at making a ray-casting engine (like Wolfenstein 3D) though I haven't finished it enough to use for any projects, so I know it takes a lot behind the scenes to make any engine usable. From the looks of it yours is far more finished than mine. Amazing job there.

Beach Breach by eonarheim 2022-04-16T22:38:17Z

This is a really fun game. The difficulty curve could use a little work (see the comment by @zachsbutt) but that's not a big deal in a game jam. The two tweaks I would make are to turn down volume of the sand pickup sound effect and add a way to remove buildings you no longer want. Overall a really fun concept and execution of the theme.

Wizard's Chores by mmason 2022-04-05T01:57:56Z

The main part of the game window looks pretty good, but the animated rainbow background and the static rainbow background are hard on the eyes. Its been a while since I've seen this sort of text based puzzle game and it was fun, if a bit rough around the edges.

PS: I think how you get the dragon's breath is particularly funny. It *is* technically heartfelt...

Godspeed, Boundless Abyss by PeteyWoufes 2022-04-17T02:49:30Z

This game is a bit simplistic but it tells a surprisingly compelling short story. It is interesting piecing together details about the world from the dialog. Nicely done.

ESCAPE VELOCITY by Quackqack 2022-04-07T03:26:37Z

My best so far is 4900 humans saved. I think that typing the codes is a really fun element. It's error prone if you are rushing too much, but it feels great when you get the hang of one of them and launch something without really thinking about the code, especially a salvo of last second short ranged missiles. Great job!

Desktop by eyedromeda 2022-04-16T22:05:44Z

This is a really unique entry and a surprisingly compelling one. The mistakes in typing give so much character to it. Also, it wasn't fancy but the sound design was on point. Overall really nicely polished!

I Know What You Did Last Ludum Dare! by TentacleMax 2022-04-06T03:05:02Z

This is a fun concept! I like having one of the killers be a similar color scheme to the characters, easy to tell apart at first but also easy to lose track of.

The biggest issue for me was that the characters felt really unresponsive to control. I think it kind of added to the atmosphere and mood of the game, but I'm not sure that it's worth the trade off in how satisfying the game is to play.

Duct Tape in Space by DarkWolf 2022-04-05T02:58:12Z

@lighty-the-light - Thanks, fixed the bug.

If you're curious it was caused by the code trying to use the negative first delivery in the list. I had put protection for invalid selections on the arrow keys there but forgot to fix the default selection, thus leaving the code to try to parse an invalid value when drawing every frame.

Duct Tape in Space by DarkWolf 2022-04-16T23:00:49Z

@eonarheim FTL was definitely an inspiration for the tone of the humor, though I think I got a fair bit of my own style in there.

Funnily enough, all of those suggestions were part of my original idea, but I knew that would be too ambitious. The plan was for the player to be running around the ship to the different systems dealing with a mix of random breakdowns as well as events. This would have also worked as a visualization of the ship and the damage. I knew I was far too inexperienced to get all that done in a weekend though, so I scaled it back to a UI game.

Time DashKing by Tryston 2022-04-05T22:20:51Z

This is a really fun concept! I did find it really hard to avoid running out of time though. I only got to the speed upgrade twice and that was the only upgrade I found out of the 5, but from what I have seen it looks great.

The Dam Repairman by CasualNothing 2022-04-06T03:42:20Z

This game has a solid foundation (unlike the dam). I particularly like the art style in the intro. So far my best score so far is 1153.

The one critique that comes to mind is that pressing E so often and so quickly whilst also using WASD is uncomfortable. Maybe make right click move the ladder like @callicou-jack suggested?

twicoban by mgmarlow 2022-04-05T21:57:41Z

Some of the puzzle are pretty tough, but all of the levels I've played feel good. I am definitely saving this to come back and play more later.

Trebuchet Post by zgragselus 2023-05-07T00:19:55Z

Despite missing the majority of my launches, the combination of blueprint loading screen, white void, and calm music somehow made me feel like I knew what I was doing. My one bit of feedback is that the camera seems very sensitive to rotation, but not enough to zooming. Overall a fun game, nice work!

T.E.M.P.S (The Enchanted Multitasking Potion Shop) by salyon 2023-05-06T23:20:55Z

I had some issues with the game slowing down to about 5 fps when fullscreened or whenever I zoomed in with the browser. It seemed slower on my larger monitor (2560x1440) but still had significant issues with full screen on a standard 1920x1080 monitor. Other than that technical issue, the game was nice and simple, but still fun and engaging. The soundtrack seemed a little too simple compared to the level of polish on everything else, but it was perfectly functional. Nice work!

Aunt Emmas by gagapete 2023-05-02T06:09:00Z

A good concept and nice art, but I found the path finding to be annoying. It seems to favor going to the side of something instead of the nearest spot or staying on the garden paths. Another tweak I would make it have the orders hover over the baskets at all times instead of needing to hover over them with mouse, as it took me a good few minutes to realize why they would seemingly appear randomly for a moment before disappearing.

Zero gravity delivery by island-jam-2-group-3 2023-05-07T21:15:28Z

A very fun game concept. A few things felt pretty unfair, specifically collisions with boxes were happening even though the graphics didn't touch, and sometimes boxes would spawn inside of or *very* close to another of the other color, making them impossible to safely pick up. It is already fun, and with a few small tweaks it could be a great game. Nice work!

FredEx by ScrapMetal 2023-05-02T05:12:33Z

The concept is fun, but I found that the physics felt very bouncy and it was nearly impossible to get more than 2 items delivered, usually losing half the load at the first bump. If you tuned the physics to be a bit more fair then the game has a decent bit of potential as a novelty, flash style game.

Spider Sorter by the_martijn 2023-05-02T05:07:45Z

~~Itch.io is saying that it can't find your page, nor do I see it on your itch.io profile. Let me know when you get that fixed and I'll take a look at it!~~

Edit: Link was fixed and game has been played. I left feedback in a new comment.

Spider Sorter by the_martijn 2023-05-06T23:32:31Z

This is a nice concept. Using QSE for controls felt awkward and I would have preferred something like QWE or arrow keys, but it works. I like the spider theming and I think the concept could be great if you expanded it a little more and had bigger levels. Little tip: adding symbols in addition to color coding is a relatively quick and easy way to make this sort of thing colorblind accessible, but missing that in a game jam is not a big deal. I like the game!

Pizza Time by Macbarette 2023-05-11T23:17:51Z

This is a nice idea for a game. At first I didn't think much of the timer, but as the levels ramped up in complexity, it really made you stop overthinking things. The music is simple but nice. The graphics for the background could use a little work and I wasn't a fan of the animation for the jump, but otherwise I don't have anything to complain about. It felt like a fast paced version of the code.org hour of code. Nice work!

It did seem like there might have been a bug where it drove past a portal once without going through, but I may have have made a mistake instead.

G.E.L.D - Guild Express Loot Delivery by Lucas Taniolo 2023-05-02T05:48:33Z

A fun little game that is surprisingly difficult. A few bits of feedback: the dart trap projectiles felt oddly slow and the throwing distance seemed inconsistent on occasion, though I suspect this was due to it using the player's momentum in the calculation, or something similar.

I found 2 bugs. The simpler one is that if you press up against a wall and throw a piece of loot it wall launch out of bounds. I have not figured out how to reproduce the second one, but I fell out of bounds twice, both times landing on top of a corner if that helps.

WEB in AIR by Yizao 2023-05-11T23:29:02Z

With the movement and sound effects it is very satisfying to bounce around the map and a fun game. A button to dump all held balls would be nice, but otherwise I don't have anything to add. The mechanic to change the color of balls by dropping them on the generator of a different color is a very cool mechanic that adds a nice bit of subtlety. Well done!

I did run into two bugs while playing. At one point I got a few balls stuck that I could not fire effectively ending the run as I couldn't get a different color. A different time there were a few balls stuck floating outside of any platforms but this one didn't really affect gameplay.

Mr.AdBar by eddynardo 2023-10-03T03:46:15Z

This is an amazing concept! It absolutely fits the theme and is an amazing way to stand out. You mentioned 1D vs 2D but have you considered 1.5D? Also, it's funny since I guess my game is technically 4D and my favorite so far (yours) is 1D. Regardless, I am seriously impressed with the game. Nice work!

Arcane Echoes by Krassenstein 2023-10-03T08:03:07Z

The concept is great, though there were a few issues I ran into. It says it is intended for controller, but as far as I can tell the end wave button is only clickable with the mouse. I also had everything except for enemy spawning freeze when replaying from the game over screen. The projectiles also felt a little clunky being offset from the player when shooting up or down, when the enemies move towards your center. This led to a few moments of standing directly under an enemy but my shots missing to the side. I would have liked to see a little more variety with the upgrades, maybe splash damage, chain lightning, etc. Overall though, this is a great game concept, good execution, and excellent audio.

Hardcore Overload by FiveCyclops 2023-10-20T07:56:17Z

The game is a great idea, but the controls feel like they need a little work. The feature of doing a clean 180 when turning while reversing is cool, but it felt like it got in the way more than helped. Maybe that could be on a separate button? The other thing is that the edge feel surprisingly punishing. All of my death happened by falling off before I lost any tiles. I'm not sure what the solution would be, but perhaps having the camera follow the player would give more intuitive control and a better sense of space? Overall a fun game but with challenging controls.

Slither Space by croze 2023-10-20T05:37:26Z

I know in your Roblox description you mentioned "otherwise controls may feel very unnatural". I thought they felt perfectly natural, it just took a lot more practice than I expected to stop crashing into everything after a successful turn, lol. After a few minutes I suspect the thing that threw me off the most is how gravity seems to change a little near the edges of the map. Despite not embodying the jam theme particularly strongly, though it is still there, you managed to really nail the feel you seemed to be going for. I like it, nice work!

Hoarding Simulator by huga 2023-10-03T01:06:35Z

Nice game! When I played I was trying to only get good deals, and so I lost due to rising stress in the background instead of running out of space. The only problem I had was that the scrolling in the market felt super slow and hard to control. Adding a scroll bar would probably help fix that. Only other suggestion is to add more variety for pictures and stuffs, but you probably expected that. Love the concept and you had solid execution!

Mechanical Mutiny by simex 2023-10-07T22:42:58Z

Overall I'd say its certainly not perfect, but it is a charming take on a classic genre. It might just be that I'm bad at the genre, but the first few rooms felt surprisingly difficult. Also, the later rooms seemed to get easier, scaling slower than I was upgrading. The upgrades felt good, although it was a little unclear which upgrades would add abilities or just be a passive upgrade without spending turns trying them out. Also there were a few times that I would try to switch to a different ability and forget to cancel the current one, resulting in shooting the wall. Still had fun though!

Blind Caver by Blueman 2023-10-20T05:24:39Z

One of the more unique games I've seen this jam, not quite the top spot but very close. As a fully sighted person I was amazed at how much easier it was for my brain to process the game looking at the very minimalist (albeit nice looking) graphics than with just sound, even though it is the same information. There were a couple times that I felt very clever for correctly guessing the solution before exploring the whole level just based on sliding puzzle conventions, and an equal number of times I went "Wait what‽ Oh..." while exploring. I think your level design fits the feel you were aiming for very well. It felt slightly less connected to the jam theme, but more than made up for it with a unique concept and the right touches of polish. Nicely done!

Euclid's Manor by DarkWolf 2023-10-07T20:49:16Z

@xlores-liang That's an interesting comment. I guess depending on your point of view, this game can fit the theme pretty well (everything is nested in one little room, even though it's a whole manor) or be the opposite of the theme (without needing to follow the rules of space then there are no limits). I hadn't really considered that angle enough, thanks!

Euclid's Manor by DarkWolf 2023-10-07T21:44:10Z

@xett Thanks for playing!

For implementing non-Euclidean spaces I used the more standard approach of seamless portals, unlike the more mathematically accurate games such as HyperRogue and Hyperbolica. Once I had working portals it was pretty straightforward to create these spaces, other than learning a new game engine, but getting the portals to that point involved mashing together at least half a dozen tutorials and discussions. Shoutout to the Sebastian Lague video (youtu.be/cWpFZbjtSQg) for the math and several reddit comments for the shader code.

I did actually run into an issue that I don't know if its a bug or rare documentation issue, but I need to look into reporting or fixing. For some reason viewport cameras weren't using a WorldEnvironment node no matter what I tried, so I ended up just disabling some of the engine's more advanced lighting features by not using a WorldEnvironment until I needed a skybox for the ending courtyard. That way the other side of the portals wouldn't look different when rendered with the main camera instead of the portal camera.

Overall it ended up being pretty manageable fixes to get stuff working, just difficult and time consuming to track down the issues because some of the features I used are relatively obscure. Also sorry about rambling on, I hope it was interesting.

DONTPRESSSPACE by Nikaiaa 2023-10-08T04:44:18Z

I'm not sure if the game crashed or I just reached the end so it closed itself, but regardless this is a really cool idea. For reference she had just explained the bit about the Ludum Dare theme and wanting to make a game. I would have liked to see one or two more things try to trick the player, but the ones you did have were very well done. Also, the glitch effects were maybe a little strong near the start of the game (I would have prefered them ramping up more over time) but they were very well done!

Mosh Pint by Dan Miller 2023-10-07T20:37:37Z

It seemed a little unclear what bracing did, but otherwise a nicely polished game! It seemed a little odd that the arrow pointing you where to go would seemly show up after a random amount of time. Looking at the other comments here apparently the music would get louder the closer you get, which is a really nice way to do it, just a detail that I missed.

The graphics end up creating a really nice, cohesive look even with a lot of the elements being pretty simple. It's fun and fits the theme well, nicely done.

Also, @cardboardmoon there is indeed a force on level 3 pushing everything into the middle eventually, but the moshers start off to the sides with only you and your date on the center line. Once you figure out the strategy it is a pretty easy level.

Spacekeep by the Kickin' Big Phroggy Shovel Toasty Malone Dogs by kickball 2023-10-20T06:07:37Z

The graphics look nice, and some aspects of the game seem nicely polished, but it has some issues. After a few minutes it seems to devolve into go break a few rocks, do fiddly item grabbing, add more lasers to your impenetrable wall. The start of the game is solid, but it just needs more variety in challenges as well as tools. Right now it seems like the laser is the only thing you need to build more of, leaving no room for strategy past the first few minutes. Don't get me wrong, *the core gameplay has potential, it just needs more variety to hit the point where it can sustain engagement past the very early game.* Two other minor issues, the thruster sound effect is a bit overbearing, and both the item and inventory slots felt small and more precise than they needed to be.

Overall, it looks good and starts strong, just needs a little more to keep that momentum going.

Sidenote, did I feel a little bit of Cosmoteer influence? If you're not familiar it might be a game worth looking into as something you'd enjoy playing.

You Can't Take It (All) With You by Derek Glennon 2023-10-07T19:29:42Z

I definitely agree with all of the comments loving the visuals and the concept.

I have two notes about the hats though. For some reason when I tried to go without picking anything/anyone it counted it as being all hats and unlocked the void hat thing. Also, I would have loved to see some sort of further Easter egg if you went with all four hats plus the secret hat blob.

One other suggestion would be to have the transitions move in the direction that the rooms are, instead of always going the same direction. Overall a nicely polished though, and a cool concept.

One does not make jam without breaking pots by SimonCarter 2023-10-18T06:06:39Z

I would have loved to see a few other levels, but overall it is a very satisfying and concise game. The challenge of fitting 5 types into 4 boxes is a great take on the theme and not one I immediately saw coming my first playthrough. Also, despite not being anything fancy, the audio cues are very effective. Nicely done!

Mushroom Conundrum by auxC 2024-04-21T03:52:18Z

I like the game, though it feels more like a crafting system than a summoning system. Controlling the mushrooms felt a little bit jank due to them always picking up stuff when I just need them to wait, but otherwise worked pretty well. The only bugs I encountered were that a mushroom managed to put a piece of wheat in the river making it inaccessible, when it was only supposed to be set down near the river, and there were a couple issues with sprite layering hiding selection arrows be hind a few things, any anything hiding under the dragon. Overall a surprisingly polished game with excellent level design!

Call of Aether by Coda Highland 2024-04-21T03:09:58Z

I like the concept and all of the art you have fits with the game very well and looks good. Like others have said, turning the pages feels a bit slow when you are trying a lot of combinations. The two bugs I found were that if I didn't have the confluence circle and put something in the offering slot, it would summon the basic fire spirit with an empty center circle. The other bug is that everyone says that the alchemist's stone would be better for another spirit, but there doesn't seem to be one that will accept it. I might be missing something, but otherwise I would suggest making them say that the player should keep the stone, or something like that.

Despite the lack of sound, it seems nicely polished and with maybe a quick reference for the runes and some notes on what you've tried it would make for a great puzzle/social game.

Shenanigans at Schmendy's by Cope 2024-04-21T04:22:42Z

The concept is funny and the effect sweeping has on the garbage is great. The thing that bugs me is the lack of a sprint button, or any similar mechanic. It feels like you don't have a chance at keeping on top of the mess and instead are stuck clearing one side then the other. If you had another movement option it would feel more like you have a chance instead of doing damage control. That might be what you wanted the game to be, but that's just my thought. Overall feels great getting a chance to hit problem customers with something.

DemoNoloGist by Neon Glass 2024-04-16T08:30:58Z

A really clever take on the theme. Starting with the few issues I noticed, a couple of the letters look really similar (G/C, O/Q) and in the last level I saw a T get cut off in the inner ring so it looked like an I. The menu button also was a little finicky with where I clicked. Otherwise it seems really solid.

A fun project, nicely done! (and thank you for the easy mode)

Necrohold by Tricky_Fat_Cat 2024-04-16T08:15:03Z

A fun little game, though there were a few quirks I noticed. It feels a little annoying that you can't just click outside a menu to close it, and instead need to press the actual close button. Something that might be a bug, I got a huge hoard when starting a round, but it became just a slow trickle of enemies for a while, leaving me waiting to have something to test my newly upgraded combos on.

As for the game design, it took me a little while to realize I wasn't spending a currency to summon units, but instead working within a cap for them. After realizing that it became an interesting little puzzle game to figure out what each unit did and how to combo them effectively. Also, I love the transition effect between scenes, and great job with the screenshots and Itch.io page theming, they look great.

Overall a fun idea with a lot of visual flair and polish. The UI/UX could use a little work, and a simple tutorial would go a long way, but overall a really solid entry.

Summoning Circuits by DarkWolf 2024-04-16T02:27:27Z

=== Puzzle Hints === ##

Level 2 ###

Timing matters, splitting is possible.

Level 3 ###

Split earlier than you think.

If anyone knows how to do markdown for spoiler tags please let me know.

Summoning Circuits by DarkWolf 2024-04-16T06:42:04Z

@universeflow I did mention that you click the paths in the game description, but I wish I'd had time for an in game tutorial. Also, thanks for noticing how the blue pops. I figured a good way to show magic or something otherworldly would be to use neon color in an otherwise old school LCD look. Sounds like it worked!

Desktop Daemon by Jon Topielski 2024-04-16T07:51:36Z

It's a cool concept for an entry, and it fits the theme really well too. One or two more ways to interact would be fun, but it is an interesting start on a project already. I did just encounter a bug where it wandered off my screen, so that might be something to fix in future versions, but given it shows an icon in the taskbar that you can close it with its not a huge deal right now. Overall a really unique idea!

Sky Dudes by osh.studio 2024-04-16T05:50:02Z

A fun little game, but there were a few annoyances that stood out to me. The camera seems weirdly zoomed in for a game about exploring to find stuff, and this is amplified when nothing is in sight and you are waiting for your wind to recharge. This means that you can also accidentally add stuff to your island with larger islands. Another thing, though minor, is it feels a little weird to not be able to fill in little nooks and gaps. Other than that it seems like a solid foundation for a game. The only bug I found was that dudes can walk over holes in your island.

Overall a simple and fun game, I just wish the camera could see more. Nice work!

OverSummoned by Adam Probert 2024-04-16T06:10:01Z

Looks like your HTML5 version is broken or missing.

The lack of pause menu and mid game quit option is a little annoying, but should be a pretty easy fix if you continue working the game in future. The biggest issue with the game is that starting every round with some guess and check just isn't very fun on a timer. My suggestions would be to do something like what @def-mane said and show the parts by each orb at the start, or instead have something that remains consistent between rounds so players can learn, such as the orb color or something.

A great concept, but needs a bit of tweaking to hit properly fun. Certainly fits the theme though, and that catalog of monster parts is entertaining to look at.

Symthesis by ollie_d 2024-04-21T07:06:03Z

A nice little puzzle game. I feel like there is a lot of potential you could explore with more meta cards, such as moving things, doing more complex interactions, more incentive to automate things, etc. As it stands the game works nicely. My only nitpicks are that I would sometime try to drag a card out after a thing I needed appeared, but while the cards were still processing. Greying out the hand a little while it is processing would help communicate that. Other thing is that I kept reading it as "Ime" instead of "Imp" due to the font. Both of these are super minor though. Nice work!

Trial by Combat by Gravityflip 2024-04-21T03:25:37Z

While the art itself isn't anything too special, all of the transitions, camera pans, match-up cards, etc. really add a lot of visual polish to the game. As a non-fighting game player, movement feels a little slow and the attacks lack a sense of impact, but otherwise it is pretty fun. The concept is great and I like the humor. Only issue I ran into is that you can't press escape to view the controls when Itch.io interprets that as get out of full screen even if you aren't in full screen. Nice work!

The Cleansing by henk 2024-04-21T04:09:00Z

Nice game! I like the art style and the concept. The only issue I encountered was that the camera would sometimes jump, which I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it made the maze much harder to figure out. I liked the antichamber inspired non-euclidean section (its actually something I've dabbled with myself) but because of how big that room and hallway are, it took an annoyingly long amount of time to execute the part of the solution I'd figured out so far. Given how claustrophobic the maze feels, I'd maybe shrink that room down or add a sprint button. Overall a nice game with *great* atmosphere!

The Cleansing by henk 2024-04-22T23:35:53Z

@outstar Yeah, in the maze it felt like my position was jumping (perhaps by an invisible teleport gone awry) but I think it was actually just the camera rotating a large amount in one frame, probably 90+ degrees in some cases, nearly 180 in others. I played part of the game again to try an replicate it, and it happened way more often this time around and in more locations too, to the point the game was almost unplayable in the maze. It is definitely a camera rotation issue. It only seemed to happen when I was moving the mouse. Using arrow keys to look around seems fine. I'm using up to date Chrome (*"version 124.0.6367.61 Official Build 64-bit"*) on Windows 10. Hopefully this helps you track down the bug.

Also, I had a quick look at your source code and while I don't understand everything, it looks like you are working without an engine which is an awesome accomplishment! If you want another rabbit hole to explore in order to do the rendering yourself, there is an old school technique called ray-casting (not ray-tracing) that can give you similar visuals. There are [a few](https://permadi.com/1996/05/ray-casting-tutorial-table-of-contents) great [tutorials](https://lodev.org/cgtutor/raycasting.html) on the subject if you don't mind the examples being C code from 1996 or 2004. It's not particularly relevant now-a-days but can be a fun hobby or game jam project.

Demonic Summoning Simulator by _luceoon 2024-04-16T06:36:54Z

Couple of technical issues: The Ludum Dare embed is broken (site is missing the features Cross Origin Isolation and SharedArrayBuffer aparently). The Itch.io page doesn't have an embed despite being tagged as such, but I think you just need to check the box saying to embed it next to the zip upload spot. And lastly you Godot build is labeled as a debug build, so I think something went wrong with the project export.

As for the game itself, it is definitely an interesting crafting simulator. Without a goal, it seems interesting more than fun. I like the ideas behind most of the recipes and steps (nuke excluded) but some the ingredients need a little refining. It seems weird to keep a pile of anvils in your drawer and use one per spell, perhaps you could use an iron nail or a horseshoe. Maybe for some of the more magical ingredients, especially the soul essence, you could craft them with a ritual, then use the ones you crafted in more advanced rituals. Some sort of progression, or at least unlocking, would give the player more motivation to play.

I appreciate the keyboard shortcuts, with my only controls suggestion being to make the book lower with any input instead of just space.

Overall its interesting, immersive, and very atmospheric!

Catomancy by Grigorii Bondarev 2024-04-16T07:21:31Z

I like the idea, but the controls didn't seem to work right and the developer console was spitting out errors every time I clicked. (NullRefferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object). For some reason it also wanted permission through the Windows firewall, which I assume is some metrics code or something, but it looks suspicious.

I wish I could give feedback about the game design, but the main mechanic of directing units around didn't seem to work right for me.

They Ran Out Of Flying Spells So Now I Summon Platforms by Gaverion 2024-04-21T03:17:29Z

A decent concept and a great tagline, but the implementation needs some work. A lot of the levels were able to be cheesed, having the timer in the top corner feels awkward especially on a larger monitor, and the whole death system needs some polishing. You have a decent foundation, it just mostly needs work on quality of life stuff.

Not bad for a first jam entry though!

Insecticide Express by Quackqack 2024-10-23T06:13:56Z

Simple but effective. I like the art style, the sound effects are satisfyingly crunchy, and the core gameplay is super simple to pick up (with one exception). It wasn't intuitive for me how to get the powerups. At first I tried shooting them, but since that didn't work I assumed that they just activated when getting to the city. It took reading a few comments here to realize that wasn't it, though using the train to catch it was the first idea I had after going back to figure it out. I agree with the feedback that the last speed upgrade is almost too fast, though after a few waves it started to feel nicely responsive, just a little unpredictable. Only other design feedback was that I needed upgrades start, heals at the end, and instead largely got the opposite of what I needed at both extremes of the wave count, though the middle waves were nicely balanced.

The only non-insect bug I encountered was that the bullet spread would eventually get offset from the train's angle. The left edge of the fully upgraded shots were just to the right of the cannon's centerline.

Score: 1392 on Wave 13 (attempt 3, the first after understanding powerups)

Boggling Poker by DarkWolf 2024-10-09T08:24:16Z

@mdsalomon and @damien-black , I wanted to add a hand reveal at the end of each round, but my time management failed me and I'm kind of amazed I finished enough to submit.

@damien-black I absolutely *love* your description of that round! Also, there isn't a proper end screen, you just a point where all of your opponents have left due to lack of chips which you hit.

There is actually small blind and big blind bet that cycle around the table along with who is the dealer, but I just tested and it looks like it is bugged, I'm guessing something with counting from the dealer's position not wrapping around. There also should be a max of 80 chips in circulation so something is going wrong there too. I'm going to take a look at those.

Just looked into the bugs. The lack of ante was a missing modulo operation in that function and the player being seat 0, so doing dealer_position+1 was effectively telling an empty chair to ante up, rather than wrapping around to the player. For the chips it seems if you raise the first chance you get in a round, it bets a negative amount because it was calculating stuff based on last round's required bet due to a missing "=0", so the player was just pulling chips out of thin air to raise people. The hand evaluation code is still jank, and I have no idea who gets a tied pot, but the ones you found seem to be the most prevalent ones and the easiest to fix. Thanks!

Both of those are tiny bug fixes so I think they are allowed per [the rules](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules). **Fixed version is live!**

Boggling Poker by DarkWolf 2024-10-09T08:52:10Z

@oren-hope The eyes do a little wiggle right when they are dealt a pair, or when a table card is dealt that improves the type of hand they can make (such as: pair → three of a kind). It only happens when they first see a card, so you do need to pay attention, but it is there in my testing.

Leafling builders by Kotolazer 2024-10-09T06:48:14Z

I love the atmosphere of the game, and it is a charming artstyle. I especially liked how just about everything had some movement to it.

My only critiques are that the camera felt too disconnected from the character to be entirely comfortable, but not enough to for it to feel separately controlled, that the parallax on the background has a couple issues, and that a few leaves at the bottom of the screen were hard to see. For the camera control, I think that either making it more closely follow the player or giving it independent movement in an area around the character would fix it. With the background parallax it looks like it is tied to the player's position not the camera position, and also it moves way to fast when you jump. I think that fixing the camera controls would also make leaves near the bottom of the screen harder to miss. Overall these are small issues in a really charming game!

Tiny Trails by Custodi 2024-10-10T00:31:33Z

I like the concept, the character designs are fun, and the levels are well designed. It reminds me of kind of the inverse of that old flash game Meeblings, where the different creatures respond differently to the cursor directly, instead of using different abilities of each creature type as a tool to work with the others. The main issue that comes to mind is just the lack of sound. The only other tweak I can think of (beyond just adding more levels) is automatically restarting the level a second or two after it becomes impossible due to not enough creatures. Overall a nice entry, I just want sound to go with it. Good work.

Quantum Swarm by Damien Black 2024-10-10T00:09:32Z

Amazing work for a game jam, especially for your first jam. I have definitely made the mistake before of neglecting sound for more content, and this time around I was surprised by just how much of a difference a couple sounds made for my game. I am definitely coming back to play with the sandbox mode. In playing through the campaign the only things I would suggest are adding sounds, and its a little thing but maybe slap some custom colors/theming on the itch.io page. Overall the pixel art for the circuits looks great, and I want to explore what all you can do in sandbox mode. I might have some more quality of life suggestions once I mess with the sandbox more, but for now as a lover of this type of puzzle game, this is so far one of the most satisfying games I've played from the jam.

In the Depths by Zebonny 2024-10-11T07:01:55Z

Its a very cool setting and atmosphere you've created here. I was definitely unnerved when I realized "that's not a rock, that's moving!", only to then realize "that's not a monster, that's a whale!". My only critiques are that I thought that first text of "..." was a loading screen for a good thirty seconds, the bubbling sounds seem a little out of place for the middle of the ocean with it sounding more like a mic held underwater than what I expect a fish would hear, and that the physics on the player fish felt off due to it overshooting then wobbling back to center. Real creatures don't tend to overshoot by much at all, so it seemed more mechanical than fish like.

Overall a really cool little experience, especially having the whale for a sense of scale!

Little Chef by DERRIXX 2024-10-09T07:17:27Z

I like the concept and the controls feel pretty good in game (I'd tweak the keybindings but that is personal preference, and I'd make grabbing a held action instead of toggled). The art is cute and the music is charming. The only problems are that the kitchen seems to missing all of its chili peppers, and there are a number of bugs in the game. One time I couldn't cut anything after going to a different tab and back, another I was somehow cutting without holding the knife, and another I cut a bell pepper but got back another slice of the tomato I previously cut. While the bugs tank the replay value of the jam version, I'd absolutely come back to play an improved and expanded version of the game. In fact, I'm almost tempted to make my own game with the same controls, just different theming, if you wouldn't mind.

I think the concept could definitely be expanded to a bigger game, it mainly just needs more polish and more interactions with things. I see the rat holes, what if you could interact with them? Maybe you have multiple appliances and need to juggle a lone power outlet. If you mess up a soup you should be able to dump it out somewhere. The list goes on.

For controls I'd either make the number pad be 8-way movement instead of just the four arrow key equivalents, or make 7 and 9 move you side to side like q and e.

Stolen Colors by The Spinning Sofa 2024-10-10T05:56:29Z

I really like the concept of the game, but it is deceptively difficult. It took me a couple tries to get past the first fight due to learning the game, and I still haven't beaten the first fight of level 2. I agree with the feedback above about how the time based prep phases encourages faster drawing instead of smarter, and how some way to judge your army's stats would be nice. For other suggestions, I think that it would be nice to make the spawn symbols more distinct. Right now you have to waste time hovering over the symbols to learn if the sword, the sword with a plus, or the other sword with a plus is the add fighter symbol.

I think the artwork changing as you take back colors is a really cool idea, and nicely executed here. The music wasn't a wow for me, but it got the job done. The only potential bug I ran into was one where some fighters stood basically still for a few seconds, then moved forward for a few, rinse and repeat, while the rest of the army moved at a steadier pace. Overall I like the game a lot.

Spud Customs by Lost Rabbit Digital 2024-10-09T04:57:38Z

I think its clear that the work here wasn't inventing a whole new game, just putting a comedic spin on every last detail. Overall a solid amount of content for the time constraints, and a good attention to detail. I even like that you mirrored the layout of the whole game for your parody. Not a lot of replayability even with what looks like randomly generated rules, but a fun couple of minutes seeing your spin on the game and basking in all of the different potato puns.

Only technical feedback is that the crunched potato photos feel out of place with the otherwise clean art style, and I had the same confusion with the stamp controls that @bitluderrb7804fr did. I think its just that clicking both mouse buttons at once is rare enough that I assumed you set down the stamp, then stamp it. This is also probably made worse by Papers Please having you pull out the stamp rack, then interact with the stamp. I think a touch of tutorialization there and it would be fine. Overall a good time.

#Deep by HitchH1k3r 2025-04-26T00:49:14Z

A fun little game. I love the classic roguelike ascii graphics for things that are outside your view area. It's not super clear how some of the mechanics work, but overall a fun little game.

Archeologic by auxC 2025-04-08T07:21:52Z

This is a really fun and charming game, though a lot harder than it looks! I enjoyed playing it, but I wasn't even close to beating it until I got a lucky streak of bombs that let just barely get to the bottom. Once I hit the bottom I was able to clear everything out and win relatively easily thanks to the camera not advancing further. It took until probably at least my 10th attempt to get that luck though. Art, music, sounds, and surprisingly the itch.io page were all superb. Only bug I encountered was that volume settings seemed to reset at the start of every run. Gameplay wise my it could use a little balancing, and depending on the style of game you want it to be probably some sort of catch-up mechanic. Thanks for the fun game!

Escape from the Depths of Hell by yohadams 2025-04-08T07:57:03Z

The idea and graphics are fun, but needing to just spam AD seems a touch out of place. I like the suggestions of making it a rhythm based thing, potentially getting faster with your speed the more you get without mistiming a press. Your ideas for items also sound like good additions. Only bug I encountered was that adjusting the volume levels at all seemed to turn them off entirely. It's nothing too fancy, but a fun couple of minutes. Nice work.

Belly Flop by DarkWolf 2025-04-08T07:26:32Z

@yohadams @notredamstra @rustywolf

I've fixed the itch.io page if you want to try the game. Thanks for letting me know about that.

I suspect itch might have automatically put it back into draft mode when I reuploaded the web build to fix an issue during submission hour, but I'm not sure. Anyways, it's for sure public now.

Belly Flop by DarkWolf 2025-04-09T00:58:31Z

@notredamstra I'm glad the silliness of the character came through. I think when there's an obvious interpretation of the theme the most out of the box takes are often the most interesting, even if not the best.

@rustywolf Thanks, that's what I was going for with this take on the theme. I had a couple pretty good game ideas for the obvious directions, but after seeing multiple takes on those already I'm glad I went with this.

@indiealesha The ragdoll actually cause a fair bit of trouble due to not being able to get the angular limits working correctly on Godot's pin joints. The solution I found was just make the ragdoll stupider by not bothering with the limits, and that turned out to be funnier too in my opinion. Thanks for playing.

@jonasolsson I'm impressed. The glass was a late addition that I didn't test very thoroughly, just trusting the comedy factor to be a good enough ending. Apparently, it will dive. Thanks!

@angry-fridge The respawn button (backspace) should unstick you from situations like that. In hindsight I should have made the control prompt pop up any time the player fails a dive and needs to retry, but I only mentioned it in one of the tutorial levels. Sorry about that. The original idea was that you would need to land differently to not only hit the water first (what the final game checks) but also land so your ragdoll doesn't hit anything with too much force. That would encourage the titular belly flops as a way to reduce speed and deal with shallow water. As for the text blurbs, it will pick a random one out of a category based on how you land. Vertical gets 10/10 or Perfect. Horizontal gets Belly Flop, Perfect Flop, or Miraculous. A cannonball (arms and legs in regardless of body angle) gets Cannonball. Anything else gets either Good Enough or Nice. Hitting anything other than the water gets Ouch, Medic, or That looked painful. Apologies about the wall of text, but thanks for playing.

Belly Flop by DarkWolf 2025-04-15T03:12:12Z

@verttixpertti The last level wasn't intended to be possible, just a humorous way to end the game. I tried to signpost it well enough with the message "that's all folks", but I can see how that could be miss interpreted. Thanks for playing my game!

@jacobingalls I spent well over an hour trying to prevent the propellering and nothing worked completely. The spin was destined to cause chaos, but its funny so its fine. Love that you shared a gif!

@jtap If you press Backspace it respawns you on the current level. Landing outside the water won't count as beating the level, and the original intention was to also not count it if the ragdoll its anything too hard, but I ran out of time for that part. In hindsight I should have made the tutorial text for it pop up every time you might need it instead of just mentioning in the tutorial levels. Still though, thanks for playing!

Dig Down by Rustywolf 2025-04-08T07:45:43Z

Nice clean graphics, snappy controls, juicy sound effects, and a simple gameplay loop.

It was a funny little surprise what was waiting at the bottom of the world. Only bug I found is that most of the game resizes itself if you zoom the page in or out, but the UI listing the controls does not. Overall a straightforward but polished entry. Nicely done.

Depths by robertino 2025-04-25T06:13:24Z

A nice take on a mini-metroidvania! Didn't encounter any bugs, though it would be nice to be able to see the player's health somewhere. The pixel art looks great, the character animation is smooth, and I especially love the color palette for the bricks. I can see where time limited what you were able to do, but with this much style in a weekend, you could totally expanded it out into a whole indie game!

Red Finger by KenForest 2025-04-08T06:28:27Z

This is a very cool little game. I like that you have a strong visual style, well defined core mechanic, and great atmosphere. Only critiques are that it feels like there could have been more events coming out of the darkness than just the giant head (though I imagine that was a result of time constraints), the menu opened by escape should also be able to be closed by escape, and in one or two spots near the start the combination of texture and screen space dithering threw me off. Ending it the way you did was a great idea. Overall a very strong entry.

A Squire Acquires by HexyVexy 2025-04-25T22:28:46Z

Very cool! I haven't stumbled across any Ludum Dare games before that are actually for a retro platform instead of just retro styled. Really impressed with how much flavor you packed into a few of those text blurbs, particularly "a grim place that hangs suspended among the stars" and the description of the skeletons. It was little tricky starting out when you lose to most things, but once I got a few stat increases I got a hang of how the game works.

I didn't encounter any bugs, and the only design decisions I would tweak are adding a way to skip the intro after loosing a knight, adding some more variety to the music, and better explaining what is meant by items being lost with the knight. At first I took that to mean things like a sword that you buy or what not would be lost as well, but it was just the "consumable items" I guess you could call them.

Overall an impressive entry given the platform! Also, loved the solution for getting rid of the pesky knight.

K1937 by LogovoStudio 2025-04-25T05:57:09Z

The pixel art is gorgeous, but it's hard to figure out what to do with such a short time limit. I was able to figure out how to top up the meters using the machines, but if there is an overall goal I didn't find it. I would have liked to see some sort of feedback that pressing the button on the machines was doing something because the beep sound could be interpreted as saying you can't interact with this right now. I did like the voice and the couple of comments about the other objects around really added to the tone of the game. I would love to see more of this art style in the future!

The Atlantis Protocol by LianaAvk 2025-04-25T06:36:06Z

That is some great character art for a game jam! I played it in English and some of the dialogue felt a little stilted and awkward, but the fact that a story based game jam entry is in two languages at all is impressive. I didn't encounter any bugs, and the only major design flaw I found is that I had to use Google Lens to translate the main menu to find the language setting. A language icon next to the settings menu or as a separate button would help.

Depth Protocol by Bimpyton 2025-04-25T05:41:19Z

An interesting little game. The different floors with a variety of puzzles is a nice idea, though I found a few bugs and game design issues while playing. The cover image is awesome looking and really helped set the tone for your game, but carrying that style throughout would be even cooler. Also, an etiquette note about putting game jam games on itch.io, turn off payment entirely instead of leaving it on the default of chose your own price. A game jam is all about creating and playing games, but it feels awkward when itch.io asks if you want to pay for a weekend prototype game.

As for bugs and design oversights: you can't change the volume or mouse sensitivity from in game, in the first level you can walk through the closed door to the control room, in the first level I could only jump once, the player's jump felt very short compared to the gravity and the height of the boxes, and the player's walk speed felt slow compared to how much you need to traverse the environments. For move speed I'd suggest adding a sprint button.

Stars In The Deep by angry_fridge 2025-04-08T18:33:13Z

Well that was an ending! :laughing:

Not a groundbreaking game, but a game none the less. Only issue I encountered was that the mine colliders seem bigger than they should be, but once I realized that it was easy enough to avoid. The pixel art looks good, only thing I'd want changed with it is just adding more variety, but thus is the nature of jams. A future version could have different types of floating debris moving in different patterns, hostile creatures stalking back and forth, etc. I couldn't figure out what the collectables were doing, if anything, but overall a nice little game.

Record Depth by Indiealesha 2025-04-08T06:45:36Z

Huh, someone else made a game about ill advised diving, though yours managed to be a fair bit more brutal than mine.

You're right about the lack of interesting gameplay decisions, but it was still an amusing concept and funny execution. I'm very impressed with the surgeons and physical therapists in your world! Only issues I had were that the pure tone beep from the TV seemed significantly louder than everything else, and in one of the dives there was about a meter of terrain that the character just phased through instead of digging out. Overall both issues were pretty minor. Overall a funny idea.

Trial Protocol by cx1 2025-04-25T06:57:39Z

It feels like the combinations of the retracting platforms, turrets being crushed if they land on each other, turrets being able to shoot each other, hiding behind turrets protecting you from damage, and the turn based system should come together to create some really interesting emergent gameplay, but the player just doesn't have enough tools to manipulate the mechanics to make that happen. I think that some way to move turrets, a placeable shield/barrier, a teleporter, or something else along those lines would really help make your systems come together into an interesting and cohesive game. As it is right now it's fun for the first half of the level, but the difficulty doesn't really scale up unless you get an unlucky miss that puts you on the back foot so to speak. It's still a nicely polished game, it is just so close to being great!

Side note: I encountered a bug where one of the characters can get stuck off screen due to the last few platforms never retracting. You can't move off because the spot you need to click to do that is off screen leaving only the skip button for that character.

Caws & Effect by A-Flat Miner Studios 2026-04-25T08:22:19Z

I see what you were going for concept wise and the art looks great, but the movement and interactions feel a little rough.

I think the art looks great in this game. The title screen, the landscape with the tower, and the tower diagram are all standouts for me personally. Throughout the whole game you have good use of color, and as far as I can tell all of your pixel art maintains a consistent scale. The title screen does a great job at setting the tone for the game, with all three birds looking appropriately derpy.

The high speed of the player combined with no acceleration and no change in animation makes movement feel rather abrupt. I think making it take a couple frames to reach top speed and making the bird face the direction you are going would make a big difference without changing much. The tractor beam is a fun idea, but it needs feedback to show the player what it's doing. I played through the whole game thinking it was supposed to pull the ball, (and the special platforms) but was bugged to only work sometimes. It wasn't until I saw Euler's comment here that I realized it activates the fans. Playing through again knowing that made the game feel a lot better. I'd suggest maybe making the fans light up or start emitting wind particles when they are activated to tell the player that they've done something.

The music is a good neutral background that fits the theme of the game without getting in the way. Some sound effects for the beam, collision, and bird caws would be a good addition in future versions.

Overall, a fun little game!

@euler-moises I think the mention in the description about "cheat codes & message from space" not being finished in time is talking about those Signal and Code boxes being unused.

Air(ship) Traffic Control by DarkWolf 2026-04-22T20:52:20Z

@viktor-kovachev You give the whole sequence of directions that the ship will need to follow, then tell it you are finished (high-low). After the finished signal the ship will fly off and try to follow your directions. Hopefully you'll give the game another shot?

.

@david-best Thanks for checking out the game.

On my computer it takes about three seconds to open the game, so I'm not sure why it would take a long time on another computer. I used the default Godot export settings, and I think project structure wise it's a fairly typical 2D game. I'll look into it, but I'm not sure I'll find anything to fix.