FurBall by Plutonium Powered 2020-05-09T22:30:38Z ♥ 0
I adore the visuals, it looks like something out of a Nick Jr. cartoon. It's unfortunately let down by a lack of polish. The animations are a little broken, how high the cat goes when you hit it feels inconsistent (I'm sure there is a system behind the scenes, but it *feels* inconsistent where one swing might make it hop, and another swing will send it soaring for miles), and I never saw a reason to use the underhand swing (S is also an awkward button to put the underhand swing when I need my finger free to press W to jump at a moment's notice).
LD47 — Stuck in a loop (4)
Train Wars by Lintfordpickle 2020-10-08T21:27:02Z ♥ 1
I enjoyed this! It's nothing amazing, but you've made something technically impressive and you've made something rather unique out of the theme (I really dislike the theme for this LD). It's a bit easy to abuse, though. There is a loop (around the middle, off to the left, it's got four trees in the middle of it) where you can get yourself and lock off all the tracks and they can never get to you.
That Dream Again by Bokonon 2020-10-06T21:48:14Z ♥ 1
This is really damn nice. It looks awesome, ad the movement feels awesome too. It's lacking some intuitiveness though. The path you need to take isn't clear. I think the camera would have benefited from being pulled back a little more so we can see more balloons.
Suicidal Boyfriend by Federico Giorgi 2020-10-06T21:01:42Z ♥ 6
There's a lot to unpack here.
I personally did not get anything out of the tone. If anything, I found it to be more dark humorous than depressing, because the timing of the suicide scenes, the way they come and go quickly, and the weird effect on the "You have been useless today" are all hitting the right beats to be a comedy game. Especially when my man Joey somehow crucifies both arms like a chad (I know it's a dream, but still).
You cannot have a dark game about suicide automatically win points for tone and capture the heart of its audience just by being a game that has heavy elements in it. Likewise the game's blurb cannot be "This is a serious game". Context is important; I know nothing about Phoebe and Joey and so their personal struggles carry no weight to me. That's more a writing thing than a game development thing, but it's important nontheless.
A game that wants a tone like this would benefit from being longer (which is obviously not within the scope of a game jam, which is why I don't think this is a good idea for a game jam game), where we get to experience Joey and Phoebe in a positive context, and grow to like them and care about them. If we're just thrust immediately into the deep end, there's no substance. And the way it ruins its own tone with jokey tips, the Kurt Kobain gag, and stuff like that makes its intentions wobble about all over the place. Is this a serious game or not?
Which is why I *do* think this is a good idea in general. The idea of learning who Joey is and trying to figure out what he is thinking based on what he has said, what he has done, and what he has left around the house is actually a great idea. It provides a lot of opportunity for subtext, and requires the player to pay attention to dialogue in the game. But as it stands, the game is too arcadey and fast paced.
The game's scale is also all over the place. Sinks are too tall, rooms are too big with too much empty space, the car is *huge*, there's no reason for there to be a stamina mechanic, and the default mouse sensitivity is way too high.
That said, I am still impressed by what you managed to achieve in Unity in such a short time. I think Unity is horrible for quick projects because of all the bells and whistles, so whenever someone is able to make a game-jam game that's more than just a single room with a single mechanic, I think you've done a good job technically-speaking. The programmer(s) should be pleased.
There's a good idea for a game in here somewhere, the execution just hasn't been great.
The Infinite Ark by SaraJS 2020-10-06T20:07:30Z ♥ 2
This is pretty fun, which is all one can ask for with jam games, really! But I did encounter some frustrations, particularly bugs. Sometimes the mouse double clicks when I click once, causing me to choose an option before I had time to read the event (I imagine because the same click event is active when the new buttons appear) and sometimes when dragging resources, the click event will stop stop registering and the resource will disappear from my mouse. Something I like about the games you make is that you work a lot with the art skills you have. The ship isn't the prettiest, yet the pixel icons look nice, and the streaking parallax stars in the background are so simple yet so effective. And I like the use of colour, which I find tends to be lacking in games set in space. Something I think the design is lacking is an end goal. Yes, the theme is Stuck In a Loop (a theme I don't particularly like for this very reason), but even once you've settled on a planet, the score is inconsequential and forgotten about as you start the next timeline.