Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Deprecat
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 52 | Harvest | 👥 | Pulling Teeth | jam | 372 | 3.54 | 3.12 | 3.68 | 4.11 | 3.94 | 3.01 | 3.69 | 3.42 | |
| 2022 | 51 | Every 10 seconds | Pet the Damn Cat! | jam | 92 | 4.07 | 3.73 | 3.92 | 4.20 | 4.50 | 4.37 | 4.27 | |||
| 2021 | 49 | Unstable | Perilous Potions | jam | 543 | 3.67 | 3.29 | 3.26 | 3.84 | 4.38 | 3.40 | 3.83 | |||
| 2019 | 44 | Your life is currency | Arm & A Leg | jam | 68 | 4.05 | 3.63 | 3.82 | 4.39 | 4.23 | 3.41 | 3.84 | |||
| 2018 | 42 | Running out of space | Get to Work! | jam | 64 | 4.04 | 3.48 | 3.48 | 4.29 | 4.23 | 3.68 | 3.66 | |||
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | MiniGame Racing | jam | 594 | 3.45 | 3.64 | 3.32 | 3.61 | 2.13 | 2.85 | 2.95 |
Deprecat leaves an average of 17.2 feedback comments each event.
Very realistic, especially with my ADHD just picking up whatever is closest to me lol.
I wasn't able to beat it because I just couldn't find the last two clothes for the life of me but I got close!
If you wanted to pick this up into a full game, I say add even more chaos. It could be fun to have an absolute catastrophe around you as you're trying to keep in touch with your boss.
Really solid work! So impressed you got all this done for your compo entry especially.
I played both the compo entry and post-jam entry, my ratings were based on the compo entry but my comments here are on your post entry.
I love a lot of your animations, the spin as you jump off the wall was a welcome addition after playing the first version and not having any feedback on the wall jump or how many are available.
The destruction of the level is great and adds a ton of tension that works really well for the verticality of the level. I do think the screen shake is still a bit too aggressive (it was scary in the original lol) and too disorienting to be fair. The camera also gets pulled away from me and forced further down which is both distracting and probably a bit unnecessary if the intent is to show the player "Hey there's acid". That could be handled with an opening cutscene, but also the pouring acid in the background handles that as well.
But overall a very nice base for a tense platformer. I wish I had a controller atm as it would probably feel way better that way but I'm on my laptop just doing my best, so I don't want to comment too much on the feelings of the controls. There was a marked improvement on the updated version however and I enjoyed my time with the game!
I'm happy to see all the different types of levels you've fit in here! Definitely helps elevate the mechanic to cause you to constantly switch between play styles.
Some thoughts if you expand this out into a full release: * This is one of the few games where 10 seconds feels insufferably long instead of way too short. That's partly a good thing as I'm doing my best to survive in that time but also very disempowering and can be very frustrating at times. Giving more time drops or other things players can do to add to the risk/reward gameplay while allowing them to speed things up a bit can be a good way of rewarding skilled players and letting them pick up the pace a bit. Parts like the vertical platforming level felt this the hardest where I just start the level waiting to charge up and I'm not immediately getting into the action. * Those eyes made me very mad lol. That's just a personal note it was always cathartic to kill them but maybe they're a bit too smart? Idk might be my own bias.
Overall the music and sounds are nicely done and you have a lot of ideas here to make for a full game already that can just be expanded on! Nice work
Admittedly spent more time playing than I expected so now I'm writing this before I go make dinner lol.
Really nice entry! I'm not sure how I feel about the level switching after flailing too long. On one hand - it does give me a change in scenery but on the other it makes me feel really crummy for the game to be like "You suck, let me just take this work your doing and throw it in the bin so you can try on another level idiot". Just feels a bit too punishing for inexperienced players and that may turn them away before they really get to do much.
The level with the goal in the center was where I almost quit (which I'm glad it does flip to a new one then). The pucks will eventually find their way to the wall and they are hard to knock off of into the center. Feels so counter to all table hockey/pool games. Maybe it could be improved with bumpers that knock the puck off the wall somewhat so you can get behind them better.
Really nice entry! Could see myself spending way too much time with this on mobile
Was genuinely not expecting a typing game but I do enjoy them!
I have some thoughts if you plan on expanding this out further: * I don't know if it's necessary for the player to move with the mouse. It mostly just led to frustration with them blocking the prompt and didn't feel like it added much to the gameplay aside from a distraction * The timing of the bed initially messed me up so bad I had to stop playing and come back. I'd rather be able to decide when to get out of the bed than have it eject me and possibly get me killed because I jumped in a little too soon. * Sometimes the prompts let me do them when I was away from the interactable (in bed) and some didn't. I think it makes sense that you can't keep doing them when you're hiding but if I'm able I'm gonna cheese it lol * I really like the concept overall but the limitation of the jam having a 10 second theme made this game almost impossible without your walkthrough. I didn't feel encouraged to explore the nice space you created because I was stressed as all hell trying to just do the next thing. If you plan on expanding this idea out further, then easing up on the timer or giving the player other ways to hide (e.g. a mask or disguise that can work a handful of times before the enemy catches on) could make things more interesting while still letting the player see all the cool stuff you made
Overall though a really cool entry!
time.png Not too bad on time! Though I definitely didn't go for butterflies.
A sweet little entry that I think could do well if you expand it out. Here's a few thoughts I have for if you look to build this out further:
* The art is super cute but I feel like some visuals could be pushed further. My first time encountering ice I didn't even notice it was there and just assumed the controls were slippery. Exaggerating some of your special pieces like ice or spikes can help telegraph the danger to your player better. They only have 10 seconds so being as bold and obvious as possible will make things feel more fair.
* The platforming was a bit fiddly for me, mostly due to some platform placement. In later levels I didn't feel like I was conquering the stage, I was just trying to squeeze myself into impossible crevices that could have been structured in a more unique way that feels better to get through. Missing a jump is one thing, but banging my head as I try to fit into a small space is very frustrating
* I really didn't care about the butterflies personally - which isn't really a bad thing. I just wanted to get through the level as fast as I could, through damage boosting through enemies and even just killing myself if I messed up and not wanting to wait out the timer. I feel the butterflies are asking the player to test themselves by going out of their way but I feel like there needs to be more of a reward for them that's telegraphed to the player early. Similar to Celeste's Strawberries. But since the player is fighting a time limit - my anxiety wins out over collectables.
You guys did a great job! I hope to see if you decide to build this out further
The cat theming and difficulty reminds me a lot of Cat Mario and it's brutal tricks, but this feels more interesting than cruel and I was very curious to see what was coming next.
I agree @beetlebox that the jumping off of items felt odd and I wasn't 100% whether it would work or kill me. I feel like having an auto-bounce when landing on pick ups can solve for this while also creating unique puzzle challenges (ie. sometimes you don't want to bounce so landing on an item could lead to your death).
I'm not sure whether your goal is to make a rage game or a relaxing auto-runner but I think this could develop into either! Nice entry
I really enjoy how the 10 second limit allows you to fit all the fun of plant ownership/bonsai into a nice bite of a game! The limitations really help make plants seem way more fun than they seem (but I love plants, they are fun, just very very slow)
My only issue was just how tiny points were to click and it requires a lot of precision that I'd imagine anyone with any shake to their hands wouldn't be able to manage, but I think you could solve for that by allowing people to zoom in to the plant and get really granular with their decisions, and would make it feel even more like you're a bonsai artist carefully studying your plant.
The game feels like it could be very meditative but if that's the goal then I wonder if the timer is even needed anymore. It could be interesting to play with allowing players to make their changes then allow them to progress time when they're ready to see the results of their work. That way the anxiety of time pressure isn't undoing all your cozy work you've created in your theming and design.
Really sweet entry! I love that others have made "cozy" games with a theme this frantic
Even reading the description I wasn't prepared for that first switch, but it's a pleasant surprise! A cool twist on familiar mechanics.
I noticed you mentioned that you've added animations to the timer which I do find nice but I would recommend experimenting with the placement of that timer. I found that it was too high up and my eyes are focused on the bottom of the screen trying to find the best placement, so I didn't even see the timer until my second playthrough. You have lots of space under the high score menu (which I'd argue is less pressing information than your time left) and it may be better suited there. But that's something you can playtest to confirm if players find it better.
Otherwise you have a really solid spin on traditional Tetris that I think people would really enjoy! Great work
Feels like you make a game just for us to decompress after the jam - very sweet :P
I agree with some of the UX suggestions, just making mouse-based buttons or keyboard only (or both but either can be used in isolation) would work best.
It would be nice to have additional voting options for prompts too - sometimes a prompt is not a good idea but it makes me laugh regardless so it would be nice to reward those players for making me giggle with a reaction you can give out
I am such a sucker for RPGs with unique fighting mechanics and this is no exception. A really cool idea and the art is just adorable!
I hope you decide to take this into a full build because I would love to play it. Some thoughts on how to potentially elevate some concepts you have here:
- At the moment there's no punishment for getting things wrong and just gives you a simple reset. I like the low-stress of this but it does take away from the danger of the situation. Feels like I'm just beating the poor things up. Having the enemies fight back seems like a natural next step.
- I like the idea of time being able to pause and rewind rather than just play on a loop. The constant playing of the game doesn't really give me any additional information and if anything just kind of distracts from the task of putting items on the timeline. Being able to place my cards and press play to see what happens can also have a nice surprise element to it - I've just played a new card and I don't get to see it in action until I've put everything down and just get to find out.
Overall I really dig this concept and the art is adorable. I love the UI design and it feels super natural to someone like me that works in timeline-based video and animation software all the time, though I would suggest testing the game with people who have no experience in those kinds of tools to see how well that translates for them.
Great work to you both!
Super cute idle clicker! Makes me want chickens even more lol.
Like others have mentioned picking up the eggs got really difficult over time as my farm grew. I do like that I can hold left click and just scribble all around, but some cool upgrades like clicking and selecting a section of the map to collect what's there could really add a nice progression once the eggs get to ridiculous levels. But overall a really nice base for an idle game already!
A really nice concept - I'm a big fan of detective genre games so the story was very appealing to me. And the play on Memento Mori is super clever!
If you're looking to take this beyond a jam build I have a couple suggestions: The movement mechanics felt very weird to me up front as there's no visual indicator on what direction I'm facing. This could either be solved by a visual change (i.e. the sprite rotates in 4 directions to face the position, or arrows display pointing where you are going) or just omitting the jump button entirely and just have players jump when they click the direction they want to go. The latter feels more natural and I'm not sure if there's a specific reason to just change the direction of the player without moving unless you played it into a mechanic of tricking the reaper into spawning at a specific location.
The movement of the reapers I feel could be telegraphed a bit more as well. Maybe even going the chess route of reapers can only move in specific patterns, and showing the pattern visually as well as the flashing spot where the reaper will land. Then you could mix up levels by having reapers with unique patterns that can trap the player if they aren't careful.
Overall though, a simple and sweet story!
Cute art and a nice concept for switching control types on the fly! It keeps the action going and switches the player from feeling either empowered or vulnerable. I was pleasantly surprised at just how many gameplay styles you fit into this one entry and the multiple music tracks were also a nice touch!
Some thoughts if you expand this out:
You've done a lot here to make the sprite changes and environment color help show that the controls have switched and give a general idea of what's changed - I feel like you can go even bolder here with more extreme shifts. Potentially changing entire backdrops, tones, color palettes, etc. We all definitely learned from this jam that 10 seconds is not enough time for much of anything, so making those changes even more bombastic can help instruct your player on not just that the change has happened but exactly what they need to do next. Examples could be: the entire arena looks like a golf-style minigame when the golf club comes up, switching to a DOOM style environment with metal music when the player gets a gun, to a space theme when the player gets the jetpack. I think going all-in on the spectacle of the genre switches will help sell the changing action.
It could also be interesting for players to get a tetris-like prompt on the next powerup and the ability to skip that ability for another random one. This can give players a moment to get themselves in a good spot for the mode switch and strategize, or get a free skip to another gameplay style that may work better in the position their in.
A very polished experience! The controls took me some time to get used to and I wouldn't say I'm great at them yet but I like this concept and the presentation a lot.
I like that there's a constant switch with periods of calm and panic. The calm moments allow you to prepare and relax a bit but also elevates the tension of the survival section. Feels like a lo-fi horror experience with that kind of tension-release cycle
Man I love the color choices and bits of animation you fit into this. The animation especially does a great job expressing exactly what is happening with the hourglass and how it's impacting the world. Really good stuff.
The job functions did take me a moment to understand, simply because it wasn't as responsive. It feels more like telling your sims to eat food and hoping they actually do it. I don't find anything wrong with that mechanic but a future build of this would hopefully invest some time in explaining that piece further to players. I never really had to change the jobs until the first enemy showed up so by the time the threat had arrived I wasn't sure what to do right away. I could have sped stuff up of course but that just makes me feel ill prepared haha.
Really solid work here! Would love to see this expanded.
The humming! 😍 What a sweet little experience. Honestly no notes I can think of at the moment, just gonna hold onto this link for some cuteness again later.
I'll need to try this on mobile later but it definitely works great with my clicky-clacky keyboard adding even more juice to an already very polished experience! This scratches my brain in a very satisfying way.
I also like that you went a very different way with the 10 second prompt, since most of us (myself included) went for a spawn-based direction. I like the creativity here
Dude this is so cuuuute - albeit makes me a little sad cause I'm not very good at keeping myself alive and healthy. A great little life sim with so many nice details and personal touches. If you expand on this, I think the selections could do with a little more juice to help emphasize your choices. It took me a second to even notice the meters up top because my eyes are pulled to the bottom buttons. A nice flash and maybe a particle effect on the bars as they raise could help draw the eye upwards some. This is so dang cute <3
I definitely need to come back to this game after the post-jam fog has left me. This is a super smart puzzler that I really dig the vibe of. The time paradox idea and watching previous iterations of myself collide after I make it away safely makes me think I'm probably sacrificing other iterations of myself to make deliveries which having worked at an Amazon warehouse is accurate. I really really like this
This is hilarious and I would really love to see this polished into a short, unfolding style game. Just keep ramping up the absurdity as it goes. Good stuff
A super cohesive little experience that I am not very good at lol. I really like the vision here overall! I was very confused about what the clock hand was supposed to be doing until I read the description below the game. I feel like visually it could be helped with some graphical juice like a small pulse when it activates an object, and also making it a gray tone so it's more obvious when it's passing above/below an object. The music choice works super well with the theme you have too
Such a wild theme that works surprisingly well! The art is very cohesive and really fits the vibe overall. It did take me a while to click that I was trying to collect flying pollen when there were other particles in the air at about the same depth of field. But I can't say I've seen an entry like this before!
I love the theme of having a demon attacking science-folk, it adds a fun twist to the standard possession plot. I think some possible improvements would be to either add unlockable abilities/pickups to increase your demonic powers as you wander through the facility. Also - with the camera as it is, it's hard to tell where the others are in the room. Maybe adding a detection pointer either around the player or somewhere else that points to the nearest 3 people or so could help provide more spacial awareness without revealing the entire room to the player.
Nice work!
I love how you make the game unfold overtime and slowly reveal new mechanics! A really clever way to use a short amount of time to onboard the player. The little revelations made this such a treat and forced me to change my methods as I played. I really really like this
I very much wanted to not disappoint the kitties but I was not very good at this one haha. Super cute game! I like how it feels like I'm a very overworked cat-cafe attendant.
I'd love to see the addition of some more treats, some cute munching sounds to add feedback to feeding time, and bigger particles to show the eating state a little better. This could make for a really cute idle game title!
I absolutely love the way you approached potion creation! What a cute game.
I loved that you had to gather ingredients from the wild. It feels organic and adds to the tension.
One thing we both did on our games is color mixing. I wanted to share the advice with you that I also realized that this may make the game unplayable to color blind players. So if you guys expand on this, you may want to find a workaround or add an accessibility option. Maybe instead of flat colors, the potions could have unique symbols inside which signify the colors.
Great work all around!
I love the art style and navigation of the home! But you've already heard that a ton.
There are some immediate fixes for a post jam build. Your witch standing in front of items that obscures where to click to pick them up can be solved by just allowing players to pick up items regardless of where they are in the room.
The cat acts as a great tutorial, I think expanding his role further for a full release would help players get over the initial hump of getting started. Rather than having a cheat-sheet, the familliar can offer cryptic clues when needed.
Very cute entry! I hope to see you expand on this.
This game has an adorable style and I love the blend of genres!
I do echo the same difficulty issues that others experienced. I typically feel I'm pretty good at auto-runners but found the jump arcs so hard to discern. Though I can't exactly determine why. It could be because the arc is so high that there's just more room for error.
I think this could be solved for by having a variable jump rather than a static arc. Allowing the player to take tiny jumps when just clicking the jump button, and taller jumps when holding. It would give players a chance to realize they misjudged their initial jump and try again closer to the obstacle and make things feel more fair.
Great work!
Really solid entry! I'd love to see the prompts for what to fix be implemented in a more diagetic way, such as a troubleshooting AI or an issue map for the player to refer to.
Friggen adorable, I loved it so much.
As far as feedback goes, I only have two thoughts:
- The AI pathfinding can get a bit difficult at times. Which is to be expected with this amount of physics puzzling going on. There were lots of times that I started spamming items hoping the lil turnip would figure out that they should really not be so picky about where I put the board and start moving cause there's a dang earthquake nipping at their heels
- The items themselves could do with some theming that fits the turnip and his journey. At this point they feel a little random and don't really gel with the rest of the aesthetic, but at least they translate to the player immediately what they're functions are so it's hard to say exactly what you could do to make them fit better. Maybe just keeping with the plant theme? Using garden trellises instead of ladders, use beanstalks. I'm not 100% on the solutions but it's something to consider!
You guys should be really proud of this entry! It's super well done and I'd play more of this if you make a full version.
I think there's a cool concept here that needs to be fleshed out more as far as mechanics go. It reminds me of those auto-mario levels that are there just to play music but you actually get to control it for once, which is cool!
I personally feel that you would benefit from either removing the mouse controls entirely, restricting them much more than they are, or moving away from a musical game and polishing the mouse controls.
The music note platforms are incredibly tight and require very precise movement, which by itself is fine. But with the extreme velocity and jump length you can get Ludwig up to with mouse controls, I very often would accidentally skip one or two notes and lose the effect of hearing a song play. Not to mention how unforgiving platforming challenges completely kill the pacing of hearing the music play out.
I think as a developer you would benefit by choosing exactly which of these two mechanics speak to you more and choosing one to polish and perfect. As it stands now, developing levels would be incredibly difficult for you because of the wide variety of movement you've given the player. Especially if the intention is for the player to create their own music. Consider the kind of pacing players expect from rhythm games and platformers and compare them. If you want to combine the genres, it will take some balancing to keep the game from frustrating your players who may want more of one experience than the other.
I hope this helps!
I'm glad you spent the time to polish a single level over adding a bunch more, I think it helps show your concept much better to have it that way.
The art is incredible (though I wish I could have seen the jam version, I didn't see where I could see the original) The sound is nicely done, and everything feels good.
My only complaints are that he feels a bit slow, but the powerslide helps with that somewhat.
Great work!
This is such a cute game! Unfortunately did not get the good ending but I can see myself picking this up again to try for it.
The art and UI does a great job at guiding the player without a lot of tutorializing needed, though if you go for a full release with this, then it may be a good idea to have a "starter planet" tutorial to explain some of the more intricate mechanics, as they weren't as quick to pick up naturally.
The way you have to collect rocks to build the planet gave me Katamari vibes, which I think could lead to an interesting concept for progression. Like building bigger planets for new civilizations with their own technologies to support you.
Really great entry here! Hope to see if you guys flesh it out further.
A super challenging game but one I could see myself playing more of with a full release. I personally would love controller support, as I find balancing mechanics and such much more manageable (which then means you can scale up the difficulty further).
I wonder if you could even try out Switch motion controls/mobile phone gyro controls for balancing as an optional playstyle. I'm kind of a sucker for those lol.
I love the art! I enjoy the simplicity of everything, though man is it hard to get very far lol. I think the hardest part is the "slurp strength" which I felt like I could never get quite right and stole my focus a little too much from the other pieces.
Great work!
I'm such a sucker for Yahtzee lol.
I love this spin on the game! The addition of RNG makes it feel similar to a DnD fight system while still accounting for strategy.
The card option also adds a good sense of strategy as well, giving you the feeling of an "ace up your sleeve".
The art is nice and suits the theming, the music is good and audio leveling is well done. I like the little overworld map, it reminds me of Bust a Move 2.
Very well done! Excited to see if you take this concept further.
Another potion brewing game! Honestly glad I wasn't the only one lol. We actually had a lot of similar thoughts.
So I have some thoughts that are somewhat influenced by the fact that we both went similar directions in a lot of ways, so hopefully this helps you flesh this out further if that's what you're looking to do.
- I was honestly confused a lot of the time. I struggled to convey what makes a correct recipe myself so I understand how difficult it is. I don't have a very clear end-goal that makes sense aside from seeing the progress bar go one way or another, but how I got there was unclear. Even just adding some additional tutorial text to your page would help users who are testing your game.
- There's some buggyness you're probably already aware of. I couldn't get the potion list to open when I wanted it to, tooltip text would be stuck on screen and make some of the item names I'm hovering on innacurate, etc.
- I like the idea that potions are lost to time and you need to piece together what is missing. Maybe this could be further influenced by giving the player more information on what is included and why it works. In my game, there are 5 different potion types and ingredients have flavor text hints to tell you which they would be suited for (poppy flowers for sleep potions, etc.) If I had a better idea of what kind of potion I'm trying to make, the puzzle would feel less like blind luck.
- Some additional thoughts: > - The meter on the cauldron made me think it was a temperature gauge. It would be cool to have to control the heat for the potion as well > - You have a good start to the graphics here, I think it would benefit immensely from some animations as the potion becomes progressively better/worse > - A button to dump out the potion and start again could be helpful (I should probably consider the same for mine lol)
Hope this helps! I think this is a strong effort that could be made better with some polish and additional playtesting.
Edit to add: I played the HTML5 version. I know bugs can be platform specific so I wanted to be sure I included that info.
I really would love to see this fully realized - the concept is so cool and I think it's worth pursuing.
Also I'm mad at myself because at one point I spammed buttons and managed to win but I have no idea what I did to get there. So apparently when I try to hold a convo with a cosmic force I'm rubbish, but when I don't really care I can get through just fine. Kinda why I need alcohol at parties, I suppose.
I'm a simple woman: I see cube I sling it around like a football except I'm not very good at football
Absolutely hilarious. The dancing queen part gets me every time.
I think the attack could do with a bit more polish to make it feel meatier. Maybe even having a light/heavy attack that I can weigh my choices when fighting her so I can either deal more damage or have more mobility.
Great job!
We actually had very similar mechanics! I also had features where you can sacrifice eyes, ability to hear, and the like. It's cool to see a different take on similar mechanics!
The graphics are really nice and I enjoy the core concept (It'd be weird if I didn't) but I do have some notes:
- Remap the keyboard or, in the future, let your players remap the keyboard. X and C felt awkward for me to use personally. I And having Shift be my dash had me turn on Sticky Keys if I pressed it too many times
- Fighting enemies should have a little more feedback. I felt like I wasn't doing much to them (I had a similar problem. I tried including knockback in my game but didn't have time to correct the major collision issues that caused). Maybe just having more of a visual indicator on the hits would help
- The motion blur felt like a lot to me. I'm not the type to feel very sensitive to those kinds of things but I felt it a bit here. Some people can feel ill with too much motion blur, so it may be a good idea to allow players to toggle it on/off
Really great work!
Really cute story and art! Having custom music is also a huge plus and added to the overall feel.
I did encounter a couple glitches, mostly from clickable options being unresponsive. I dealt with that mostly on the hidden hatch, but after a refresh I was able to get through just fine!
I like the premise a lot, and I think there's a lot of fun stories you can tell with these characters! Can't wait to see if you guys keep going with this idea!
I loved all the little bits of narrative sprinkled about. It makes every playthrough feel unique, which is hard to accomplish in a jam game!
The graphics are lovely and the sounds are very cute. Would love to have a way of seeing what you were able to accomplish each playthrough, maybe by having a timeline of your actions at the end
Really awesome work!
I really love the narrative coupled with the ominous music! I especially loved when the other instruments would kick in as you reached parts of the story. Everything creates a really amazing atmosphere.
A small note - I love dragging the text in place, but sometimes it got a bit cumbersome as I was going backwards and collecting words to drag them back in place. I feel like it could be helpful to let them return to the right panel with a click rather than having to drag them back.
Awesome work!
This art is so cute I could cry. Amazing work!
The first time I accidentally flung a coin out of view I felt like I just threw one of my babies into orbit. This is adorable and kind of meditative. Nice work!
Really cool game, and super impressive that it's all ES6! The movement feels really fluid and responsive even with it being mouse-based. The sprites are adorable, and even with them being so small they're so distinct from one another you can attribute a lot of personality to them.
Great work!
Both the 2D and 3D art are really nicely done! The sound is also well done and gives good feedback when playing.
I do wish I had a moment to breathe when dropping into the levels. It felt like the level would start and I immediately take a cheapshot from an enemy. That could be a simple fix, either starting the player in a hallway that leads to the open range, or a 3-2-1 countdown.
Great work everyone!
I tried to turn my finger around to poke myself in the eye, but it wouldn't let me. Immersion broken 0/10
(Jk, this is a lot of fun)
I'm in love with the colors and stippling effect over everything, it really adds to the overall somber mood. Great work!
Awesome twist on tetris style play! I think my only thing is, I wish I either didn't have control over when the blocks moved (perhaps based on a rhythm timer when the block raises up?) Or just always when I jump.
Otherwise, really nicely done! Can't wait to see how you flesh this out further
A cool spin on one of my fave kinds of puzzles! I like that you have the drop mode and wire mode separated, though I feel like I had a hard time transitioning between them. Maybe because one of them is a click to activate, then drag and drop, and one is just drag-and-drop. I keep getting mixed up when switching between these two functions because I can never remember which I click and which I click then drag.
Overall, an awesome little puzzle game. And the fact you fit in an unlimited mode on top of hand crafted levels is impressive! Well done!
Really nicely executed! I agree with @bradleypollard I feel like the controls could have benefited from being a little more structured. Since you've established that you're playing as a robot, I think the game would feel really good with a more precise movement system. Even grid-based movement would feel good and fit with the robotic feel of the character.
I also enjoy that you have multiple ways of getting yourself killed, so it allows me to make a series of possible mistakes to get a game over. Overall, very nice work!
Nice atmosphere, and I like the freedom to check emails and navigate the screen. Like you've said in other comments, the issue just becomes lack of content (which is understandable for a jam). If I had more reason to look away from the screen, and more events happened, then it would motivate players to hang in there longer. Even just adding some small game options to the desktop would be neat. I loved the spam popups too, those could be their own mechanic.
Nice work!
Really cool puzzle concept! I like how you have to prioritize and make snap decisions in the moment. It has a great sense of tension and a great difficulty curve. Awesome work!
The art is gorgeous, I'm so impressed you were able to knock out such polish in this amount of time. I can't add much else to what others have said. The game does suffer from a lack of achievement. I made a top-down driving game before and I know it's hard to create that motivation. I did find just simply having a lap counter that ticked down helped a lot, and letting a player know when they're on their last lap helps.
I also feel like the bombs create a byproduct of why you're running out of space rather than a consequence of your own decisions. Maybe if in a future build, you include enemies that you can drop bombs on to slow them down, but as a consequence you sacrifice a part of the level which could backfire on you later.
Great work!
The concept is good overall and I like the art in isometric perspective. I don't know why, but when I first saw the screen, my instinct was to click and drag the characters I wanted to use to their positions rather than click them, then click the screen. If you're working on a phone version for this, you might want to play with that to see if it feels better than clicking twice for the same command.
I think the balance is too tough for this build. I don't even know if I made a dent in the enemies while playing. I think starting with much weaker enemies while the player gets a handle for the controls, then scaling them to be more powerful the longer they survive would help the feel overall.
Nice job!
The text crawl working as a tutorial was a cool idea to keep the tutorial simple! Nice work
I think this would be pretty fun against a human opponent, but man is this AI tough. I played with a mouse, but found it almost impossible to match it's speed. I think the AI could benefit from a difficulty setting.
I like the sabotage item, and I think it would be cool to add even more. Especially if you make a 2 player mode. Good work!
Nicely done! A good start for your first jam. The art is very clean and I like the color choices.
If you decide to flesh this out further, what this game can benefit from is scaling in difficulty and skill required. In it's current state, it's just slashing until the thing dies. I think having the "catch" of enemies you kill becoming walls is a strong start, but with enemies spawning so slow it takes so long for those consequences to catch up with you. Maybe if enemies spawned at increasing amounts, and you could utilize skills like dashing (which would become harder to use as your room becomes full of walls) and powered attacks to balance the skill to difficulty ratio.
Overall, great work!
Oh my god these coloooooors <3 The art is incredibly powerful for the short amount of time it was built. The included music track is also insanely good. I loved this a lot.
Really cool, simple game! The moves very smooth and it's really fun to just smash into other cars until I get a parking space (that's how it ends up going anyway) I think making the time limit a little longer would help overall. Gives the player a little more time to really make a mess of the parking lot. Awesome job!
The pixel art is so polished! The UI and art assets feel completely cohesive already, and there's a lot of polish. Great work!
The graphics are nicely done and the game has a lot of polish! I think the only thing that I noticed is that the camera shake is a little much. Makes my eyes vibrate, haha. I think the camera shake would work better if done when the items get past you, rather than every time you successfully hit one. If you're playing well, it turns into the camera shaking all the time and it's hard for my eyes to focus.
Great work!
I really like this concept a lot, though I think it may require more guiding so players don't get confused. I picked to play the judge first and was incredibly confused by the note brought to me. I managed to click the right person on accident.
It clicked when I chose to play the police officer, and I was excited to play that perspective. However, the typewriter seemed to break on me and I couldn't move the typewriter down to the next line. I still really like this concept, but unfortunately I couldn't get far in the jam version.
The concept is really cute and the sprite work is a lot of fun. I think what took me the longest to understand was the UI, a lot of times I ended up clicking things I wasn't supposed to because it was initially confusing. I didn't realize at first I was clicking the small/medium/or large seating when a customer came up. I think just being able to drag a character to any of the seating would probably feel better, and reduces the amount of clicking the players would have to do. The seats are visually distinct enough that I can tell where I'm dragging them without having to have the available seating of that size highlighted.
Overall, great work!
You guys already know my feedback on this, lol. I'm so impressed with you both for pulling this off in the time you did! The models are incredible and the card movement feels natural.
I do wanna call out, that removing the original card bank you had made some hands impossible for me to work myself out of. I would have to turn my card red, and be dealt no red cards at all. I know you were trying to plan out how to make the UI more intuitive by removing the bank, but it helped add a sense of strategy when you save a card for yourself, then get to a hand where it was absolutely worth saving that card.
Very clean and nicely done! It has a sort of "pet your head and rub your tummy" feel to it. Nicely done!
I'm so impressed with how much was done in such a short amount of time!
I would agree with the others, a tutorial for later builds would make a world of difference. The only reason I knew what the razor blade was for was because of Rocky movies and watching boxing with my dad. Otherwise, I would have no idea why I'd have a razor blade in my surgery kit. I had to learn the others by trial and error too.
I also love the surgery part way more than the boxing part. While I see why it's there, I think I'd rather just keep doing the surgery portion and at most see a cutscene of the boxing. It's just not as engaging as what you have with the surgery and it feels like I have to wait to get back to it.
Beautiful game! Really glad I got to play it.
While I can only rate to the single player experience (infer from that what you like) this game is very simple and elegantly done! As stated before though, it does have an issue where there's a strategy balancing issue where you can easily out-think the computer by forcing them in a corner and limiting their ability to escape and you can consistently deal a hit in the corner. I can imagine that playing with 2-player this would be the case as well.
Perhaps this could be solved for by having a jump option that allows players to jump over opponents, but it could also potentially be balanced by taking an extra turn so players don't abuse the jump.
I would say to not overthink it though, the simplicity of this is what makes it work! I would say just focus on making sure the elements you have work together in interesting ways that create a deep system.
Great job!
The minimalist graphics are nice, and the idea of blending platforming and turn based RPG's has a lot of promise!
Though I have to agree with @superpokeunicorn that these elements just seem to separate from one another. It would actually be a pretty simple fix to blend what you have. Perhaps the health in combat and platforming could be shared, so your performance in one phase has dramatic consequences in the other.
I also think the jump can use some work. As is, the jump height is very high but the gravity is way too heavy. You have almost no time to correct yourself in air to reach the next platform because you're being pulled down so fast. It honestly might feel better to reduce the jump height and the gravity. It would make the jumps have a longer arch and give more control in the air. Either that, or a short double jump can let players recover in air. Players that enjoy hardcore platforming tend to prefer forgiving controls but brutal level designs.
Overall a very clean build, would love to see where you take it post jam!
Such a cool concept! It definitely tests the players ability to remember the room and I like the spin on accessibility.
Another feature that could be cool would be a sort of sonar ability, where a sound wave reveals the whole room very briefly. It could be just a one or two time use item that prevents your from just spamming it, but would be helpful in later levels that become more complex.
Amazing work!
This is so cool! Definitely one of the most polished games I've seen made in the time given. Clearing a room is super satisfying and the arts beautiful.
A couple thoughts if you expand on this (and I hope you do):
I feel the bloom lighting is a tad much. While it works well around the neon signs and during the attack sequence, it seems like a bit too much to also have bloom around each sprite, especially when there's also a cone of vision that's about the same color as the bloom for certain enemies. It took me a moment to realize there was a cone of vision. Not saying it shouldn't be there at all, but with bloom less is more (especially because I love your pixel art, lemme see dem pixels!)
I also noticed some moments where I was detected because the ghost strike lifted me up into an enemies vision. While it's not the end of the world, it can be a bit annoying to have to reset because I floated in their view. If the design of the room was to force you to make a quick decision I would be understanding, but it happens in locations that should be safe from enemy detection.
I would also love to see some extra objectives for players that love being efficient. Perhaps a style bonus for least amount of clicked targets, times attempted, how many you hit in a single row. distance from one target to another, something like that. It would help add more replay-ability to the individual rooms to essentially have a "par" that people could attempt to match or beat.
all in all, a beautiful submission! I can't wait to see if this continues further!
The idea around the concept is pretty funny, especially having been a late-night snacker as a kid.
I think one of the hard parts of stealth games is balancing out those moments of avoiding detection. Where the game (and honestly any stealth game) loses it's fun is when I'm just forced to walk away from my my objective to wait for suspicion to die down, which isn't as fun.
Maybe instead of just having to run away, you could add humorous ways of avoiding detection based on the environment, like distracting the dog with pepperonis, cramming yourself into a cupboard, wearing your mom's bathrobe and a showercap. Little things like that may help give the player more agency in sneaking around vs being forced to wait.
There's definitely a good theme here (I love when games are based on real life experiences rather than just other games) and I'd be curious to see where you take it post-jam!
This is pretty neat! I like mobile games that are fast to pick up and can be played quickly. I don't feel I can add much more to the suggestions that hasn't already been provided here, so I just want to say good work!
I can't say much, cause I also made what basically turns into a rage game, but omg I was getting frustrated playing this!
This game is executed very well, definitely one of the most polished of the jam, and the narrative is cute as heck. But I'm bad at both Tetris and Flappy Bird so now I'm just gonna rant at you to make me feel better about my own shortcomings.
(In all seriousness, great work!)
As someone that really loves dice, this was a cool concept! The idea is instantly recognizable and is very easy to jump in and play.
If this was built out more, I think I'd personally like to see more unique level design that plays off your movement limitations and makes things a bit more puzzle-like. At the moment, enemies don't really feel like much of a threat because it's easy enough to just duck out of the way, position yourself, and then go on the offensive.
Perhaps designing more levels where your movement is limited by bridges or hallways, and you have to quickly maneuver to get into position before approaching enemies reach you. I think keeping the very free and open movement in the very beginning is perfect though. It gives the player enough time to just mess around and get accustom to the controls.
Awesome job!
I had a similar issue with the down key platform function (thank you for adding to the page description!) I think my confusion came from my bias of other platformers. I tried just holding down as it's done in other platformers. I think as long as that's clear in your tutorial later, you'll be fine though.
The platforming feels really tight and precise. The items are a good collection and it's interesting to experiment with the ones you use.
There are some things I noticed that * Defining a clear goal * Tweaking the enemy spawn rate early in the level or decreasing the amount of hits they take. I feel overwhelmed pretty quickly and I don't feel like I get a lot of time to learn the controls before dying (or maybe I should just git good)
This is really great work! Would love to see this fleshed out into a deeper system
@Redhatto has the same issue I do (I'll hold off on rating your game until I can play it how it's supposed to be played).
While it may be impossible to get your HTML5 game to run for every machine (for context: I have a windows 7 laptop that's a corporate computer with a firewall that can dramatically slow down content. Also, I played in Chrome because it refuses to load in IE or Firefox for me). If you're interested in what it looks like from that view, I took a screenshot
The art is super cute, and I can't wait to play it how it's meant to be!
I think the challenge for me is the restriction in my movements when I'm "petting". I feel like giving the player more free roam would feel better overall. A control scheme that could be easy to implement could be having the player follow the mouse pointer to aim and move, giving you more full range when attacking.
It's a good call to keep your project simple, this is my first jam too so it was hard to reign in my crazy ideas and stick to basics so there's enough time to get everything done. Good job!
Ok so this game made me remember a game I played as a little kid called Rodents Revenge and I have so much nostalgia at the moment.
I did encounter some bugs where food or mice would get stuck in walls. RIP mice boys.
Really creative blend of ideas! Great work
Parts of the platforming mechanics feel very tight, the wall jump for example I love the feel of, but as others have mentioned there's a sort of sliding effect after letting go of directional keys which cause some unnecessary deaths.
Because of the simplistic colors, sometimes there are moments of confusion, such as when I'm in front of a door in a room with multiple doors, I blend in and it's not immediately apparent where I am until I start moving and it takes me a moment to process. This could be solved by possibly even giving your player character a black background so there's never elements showing behind it. Normally, that would be silly, but for ASCII, characters wouldn't overlap so it makes sense for your theming.
Also, I encountered a potential bug where collecting a key, then dying, spawned me back at the door I started with the key, so I was able to skip a challenge through dying.
All in all, a beautifully made game for the time limit you had, and I think keeping the art clear and simple really adds a lot to the experience. Great work!
The concept is really funny, and the music is so cute!
A couple thoughts, I think having the hearts pulse as they come to the center make it harder to tell whether you've made a hit or not, it feels like a little too much visual feedback. I think that animation would best be used if it's a hit to make hitting the note feel more impactful.
Also, I have a hard time focusing on the top half of the screen with my attention sucked to the bottom and keeping up with the notes, so I felt like I wasn't able to focus on what was happening on the top half of the screen.
I love that hitting the notes completes the song, even without a score I was incentivised to do better to hear more of the song and that works well.
Great work!
This is really cool! I can tell a lot of care went into the level design, in how certain blocks are placed in ways to prevent my slow typing-self from losing all of my progress from one mistake, and it felt like a clear ramp of difficulty, and any mistakes I made were my own not from the game.
Great work!
I love, love, love the art (And trying to seduce Jeff, It's like you read my diary or something) and the music is very fitting.
Despite the controls being very clear, the lack of feedback from characters felt a bit confusing. For something that's taking the elements of a shooter, I was hoping for a little more kick when I shoot cute kisses. I think a small animation recoiling or responding to the kiss attack would feel better than right clicking to see how they feel. That being said, the amount of work your team was able to do in the time limit is amazing, and I'd love to see this fleshed out more!
Really cool concept! I had the same reaction as Zyuxis, the way the blending of genres sneaks up on you creates its own funny moment.
I think with some more time devoted to balancing, enemy variations, and maybe some punchier animations to signify a hit, this could be a fun infinite content game
LD52 — Harvest (13)
Salvage City by StormCat 2023-01-21T04:18:37Z ♥ 1
Honestly wasn't expecting this take on the theme but I liked it a lot! I jumped in pretty blind so having destruction followed by a building of my own was a nice surprise that I enjoyed.
Thoughts if you expanded this further: - Really could do with more audio feedback. Some nice rumbling sounds in the dirt and maybe screaming when you surface - It would be fun to have actual people to chase down and imply you're gobbling them up, but you just spit them back out into a nice, new town very confused - Additional items you might find in a city, like some trees, bus stops, etc. Something to just fill in the gaps between buildings and give it some more texture
Really nice entry! I enjoyed being a worm
Soul Trapper by Yahel Dooley 2023-01-20T03:13:08Z ♥ 1
A cute little game that I unfortunately can't beat, haha. Once I figured out the alt key switch up it felt like the game was messing with me and just stopped spawning wolves. I think it has to do with me trapping the first one to spawn and for whatever reason that just stops the rest of them? I can't be certain but it happened twice.
The bones are there, and I love the limitation of having two traps and needing to circle back for them. The swarming feels like an opposite-day Vampire Survivors mechanic where I'm being completely mobbed. I think a small jump/flutter could feel nice to allow me a bit more mobility to outsmart the wolves and could allow building in some verticality to the levels.
Nice work!
Gummy Gobs by Kirsten-Lee 2023-01-19T23:14:45Z ♥ 1
Another teeth game! I love seeing other ways this concept can go.
I love how simple the game is - I get to just jump right in and have fun. The graphics and UI design are also really well done and I love the abstract design of the map.
If you plan on taking this further, some additions like power ups or more fluctuation to the level as you progress could take things up a notch.
Great entry!
Harvest Roar by vivyhasadream 2023-01-19T23:04:01Z ♥ 0
I'm such a sucker for alternate control games, and the fact you got one made in the jam time frame is so impressive! The art is adorable and the music in the menus was really nice!
If you plan on taking this further, here are some thoughts: - I get the reason for no music and audio during the gameplay, but I miss it regardless. Especially when I have to hear my own voice, blech (lol). Rather than hearing my own voice, it would be cool to hear a roaring sound that maybe shifts in pitch to match my tone so there's still feedback on what I did? And of course some music would make things more exciting - I think offering some visual guidance on how to use your voice could be helpful. My immediate impression was that I could only shout once to shake things lose and the volume of that one shout was it. It would be cool to have prompts to do things like try to hit certain notes or make the player sing without realizing. At the moment it's completely up to the player and sometimes players aren't great at making their own fun (me included)
Great work!
Chop Crop & Drop by Simon Rahnasto 2023-01-15T01:47:12Z ♥ 2
Super polished and a fun spin on the theme! I also really love that I could play with just a mouse for the most part - don't know why but it's how I prefer it. It took me a while to understand exactly how to play because for whatever reason my brain just wasn't clicking with the tutorial info (though that's just my ADHD, I prefer to have guided tutorials which is a huge ask for a jam, but certainly a good place to look to for a post-jam build.)
I love the isometric map and the art was very cute. I feel as though traversing the map doesn't have much strategy to it in it's current stage as only being able to move one block at a time doesn't give you much room except to run if you need to heal.
I also think the dice rolls could use a bit of balancing. They may be "true random" but honestly true random never feels very good, especially when I keep missing an attack on an enemy with 2HP. Many strategy games tend to fudge the numbers to make things feel more fair than they are and I think that might be something to consider here. You could always have an option to turn off those buffs for the hardcore players.
Also don't ask me how I did manage an item duplication glitch by getting my seeds returned to me after crafting a tier 2 seed. Tried to replicate it but couldn't. If I'm able to get it to happen again I'll let you know!
Oh and the music and sounds are lovely. Made me nostalgic for Yoshi's Island in some ways though I couldn't pin down exactly why. Lovely work!
Betty Raba - Don't Be Harvested by mcechinatto 2023-01-13T22:31:17Z ♥ 2
This is a nice entry! The scope feels really right for the timeline you had to work in while getting to really polish up the art and details.
I definitely agree that the squeaking walk cycle noise is not fun. I think just a very subtle sound of crunching dirt would make more sense for the character and the environment. I also wanted to mention that the GUI for planting seeds could stand out a bit more as the dark green blends in very heavily to the environment. I think a brighter color and some flashier animation would make that stand out better. I think more animations and flashy prompts would help overall to really sell things. The goofy nature of the game lends itself to going a little wild and fun with the feedback.
Really solid entry! Great work
Warden of the Woods by arzi 2023-01-13T22:03:19Z ♥ 3
Man you all managed to add so much! While there's room for polish in a few places, this game feels very fully formed in both the gameplay and overall identity.
I agree with the that the movement speed is just a bit slow which, in a game that focuses on more cozy things like potion crafting and harvesting I think is actually ok, but the combat is going to add a need for responsiveness that goes against the slow-moving atmosphere. Not to say those two things can't go together, but it definitely changes expectations in some aspects.
The environment design has a lot of personality that I really enjoy and everything feels very cohesive. The music is super impressive as well! I appreciate you sharing the SoundCloud as well because I could just vibe to it.
Blood Harvest by SmelJey 2023-01-12T04:59:47Z ♥ 2
Really impressive that you developed AI systems within the time since that's definitely a taxing process, even with a team! As others have said the AI can use tweaking, but that comes with testing and time.
It could be cool for the day sequence to be more about avoiding the sun, essentially being hunted by the sky and needing to move to shadows until it's safe to come out at night and start the hunt. Could make for a good push and pull.
Nice work!
They Hide in the Fields by Hawkin 2023-01-10T22:48:44Z ♥ 1
A nice little horror game! The atmosphere was wonderful and the graphics were nice and crunchy but without limiting the information I need to progress too much. The audio is very nicely done, and I deeply appreciate the extra effort put towards it (especially as I was listening to horror podcasts while working on my own entry haha).
Making a corn field is legit brilliant for working within the limitations of 72 hours. Makes for an interesting environment to explore without too many unique assets or building complex levels. It works super well.
Really nice work!
Reap What You Sow by alpharock6 2023-01-10T22:37:23Z ♥ 1
The graphics are so cute which really works with the grimness of the job you've taken on. And man I love the navigation on the mouse with being able to use my scroll wheel, it's a well-appreciated touch.
I do feel like the soul decay is unnecessary if this were to be a full project. A part of me wants this to be a cozier experience than it allows with the time pressure put on it. I wanna watch the squirrels grow a little and have nice squirrel lives before I harvest their essence, lol.
Really cute concept and could make for a nice, addicting game with some tweaks
Menagerie Street by Evan Charfauros 2023-01-09T21:16:29Z ♥ 4
Adorable art, but man do I get social anxiety from it lol. Just in that sort of "neighborhood politics" sort of way. It does a good job of portraying that sort of thing.
gatherAI by Keksls 2023-01-09T21:01:30Z ♥ 3
I love the atmosphere of this. Just feels like playing a nice visualizer. The music was reminiscent of Royksopp and the sound effects were satisfying without being overbearing. Good work!
Bewitched Boomerang by Ragenord 2023-01-09T20:46:00Z ♥ 6
Ok first I adore the art. The characters are very well designed and have unique styles to help me tell them apart. The room itself has nice details and it's all very pleasing to the eye.
The boomerang was neat and I like the trade off of attacking and being vulnerable, though since the bad plants weren't a hazard to me and only impeded the boomerang a little I didn't really need to worry that much as-is.
Also, the hitboxes could be a little more forgiving. I kept getting caught on corners of the fence posts and such.
Great work!