Gardenovena

Carpentangle by Jimbly 2022-04-09T18:08:57Z

Really nice puzzle game, I love to see them in LD! I had a lot of fun with this, I think so far, this is the game I will be most likely come back to—I definitely have some ideas on how to develop a wee bit of strategy.

There were definitely times where I was wishing I could rotate pieces. I had several times where I had 2 turns left, 4 or so holes in weird places, one huge piece that, due to my rotten luck, couldn't quite cover the empty holes all at once, and a bunch of small pieces that were rotated at every possible angle except the one I needed. 😔 But after reading what you have said in your responses, I can definitely see why you didn't want to add rotation, in order to preserve the feel of the game. I'm not sure what a happy middle-ground would be, maybe limit it by using a power-up to rotate? Idk, that might be clunky, and change the game a bit too much, as you've previously mentioned.

Really great game, super polished, clever and innovative, I could go on! Kudos to a good job, I expect to see you high in the rankings!

Down with the Ship! by Yellowscope 2022-04-09T17:05:00Z

Hey there! I just tried to play this game, but it seems to not be loading. Sorry if you're not done and I stumbled across this page too early, lol. Here is the console:

Screenshot_6.png

To Build A Fire by ugly_robot 2022-04-08T00:18:27Z

I really like how this relates to the theme! Maybe I'm biased because we also made a fire-fueling game, lol. But really, I like the theming and I really think it's cool that you worked in some classic literature, it really enhanced the mood.

A lot of people are comparing to surgeon simulator, which I never played but I get the concept. I have, however, played QWOP, of which I was immediately reminded—both make you use more bits of your brain to keep track of things. The controls did get quite frustrating, but mostly due to webpage chaos before I found the fullscreen option. Still, quite difficult to master, though impressive enough considering the complexity and time limit.

Also, love the fabulous manicure :nail_care:

Five Knights in France by Pixelydian 2022-04-07T23:51:22Z

Hey, this was super cute! I do love a humorous history reference. Big props to the art and music, they were really enjoyable and pleasant to look at/listen to. I also liked how you set up the tutorial, to have the controls disappear once you successfully use them, but also having the option to bring them up again whenever. I've definitely permanently clicked past tutorials in jam games on accident, so I really appreciate a way to double check them.

I quite like stealth games, and I think the mechanics were fairly well implemented and balanced for what was intended. For your map design, I liked that there was plenty of furniture to dodge behind, and relatively few "dead end" rooms that make you backtrack to get where you're trying to go. It's so annoying how in many stealth games when you get cornered in a dead end and have nowhere to hide, and you get frustrated because you feel like you'd have been screwed no matter how much skill you had—I didn't feel this way at all for this game. I do feel that the map could have been shrunken down or the movement speed increased (though I think the former would preserve the sneaky mood better than dashing around at high speeds!) The text speed could also have been increased—I did eventually find that you could force it by pressing E again, but I think that a faster speed by default would keep up with the action more and decrease unneeded button presses.

Overall, nice game with a lot of good quality-of-life choices, and quite lovely music and art! Kudos!

Soon To Be Roadkill by captainexpo 2022-04-09T16:52:46Z

Nice take on the theme and the QWOP-like genre! I really love this idea of QWOP but for wings instead of ultra-toned athlete calves, and I wouldn't mind seeing more development on it! In my opinion, this type of game is made so fun and compelling by forcing your brain to work extra hard by having to account for multiple controls at once, and more specifically, managing how those controls interact with each other and the game's physics.

The main suggestion I would give is to implement more visual feedback when you "flap". For me, I struggled to keep track of what was happening when I performed an input, because pressing the buttons mostly just made the bird kinda "pop" up into the air, and otherwise stay in a bird-T-pose, unless I went too far and it suddenly veered off to the side. In these types of games where fine controls are used—as in, tiny input presses cause large reactions—visual feedback is important so that the player can keep track of how their input is affecting the game. By learning the game's reaction to how long an input is held, a player can adjust accordingly and do better in the future. If the individual wings had rotated in accordance for how long I held the button, I think that would have been a step towards making the game feel more like something you could master with skill.

You might take the above feedback with a grain of salt, because I happen to be a certified Bird Nerd:tm:, so I might just be more picky about bird physics. My partner agreed when he played, however. He also almost immediately found a way to get stuck eternally and rack up a high score, but I didn't encounter this bug once, and I played several times.

Overall, a stellar and innovative concept with good promise, great relation to the theme, very fun, and quite funny (though perhaps not so for the bird)!

High Score: 13.27 seconds

Totally Cheating High Score: ♾️

Nice B)

Dragua by Hawkin 2022-10-07T02:17:58Z

I really loved it!! Other people have already had great ideas in so far as criticism (re: hitboxes, controls, ways to improve weapons). Additionally, I thought the music was lovely, I only wish it was a bit longer before looping, I really like the instrument you used.

Someone mentioned it being a bit disappointing when chests dropped the machete or the scythe a lot when you already had it. This is something a lot of games tend to do, so, not the end of the world to me. However, perhaps a way to make it a bit more satisfying would be to have the chests drop a spark if it detects the player already has one of those in their inventory. I definitely think you should still be able to pick up multiple teleports, those were life savers! :sweat_smile:

Overall, super fun jam game, kudos!

Dragua by Hawkin 2022-10-07T02:58:36Z

Oh, that is really cool about the music being a special time signature!! Also, I totally forgot that I wanted to mention, 10,000 bonus points to you for basing the premise off of more obscure (at least in the English speaking world) mythology, I adore when people do that, thanks for sharing!! :hearts:

It's balling time by Linus Szokody 2022-10-07T02:53:57Z

I think this is a pretty interesting concept and has potential to be tweaked and expanded. I quite liked the idea of throwing in different-shaped "balls", like with the hexagon, and while the gravity mode was indeed frustrating at times, I think I liked having to adapt how I predicted where the ball would go on the fly.

The most frustrating moments, I noticed, stemmed from when current modes interacted with previous modes. For instance, I got the ball caught going straight up and down on the edge, until I reset, twice. Additionally, I once had gravity activate, and right when it switched to the next mode, it was accelerating at a very, very slight upward angle—meaning that it was bouncing between the walls, away from the paddle, gaining altitude very slowly. It took 4 cycles (so about 40 seconds) before it drifted to my final brick. :sob: I know this can technically happen with the other modes, but since the gravity mode often ends with such small bounces, I imagine it happens more often.

With some tinkering (perhaps more tinkering than a 72hr jam would allow, to be fair), perhaps you could find ways to polish these out with programmatic solutions (i.e, perhaps during gravity mode, give the paddle a bit of a trampoline effect, to give it just a little upward-oomph); I also would be interested in seeing more shapes, like a triangle, maybe? Though that might be pure chaos! :sweat_smile:

I also appreciated the offer of extra lives, that is super kind and I love it when jams include forgiving stuff like that. Overall, nice concept, and kudos for the completing with a solo team! Always super impressive. Cheers!

RogueDungeon: A Deck Builder by thedude3600 2022-10-06T03:47:34Z

Love the concept, and as others have said, it has a lot of potential if a bit more time was spent with it. I actually got pretty engrossed in the fast-paced decision making for awhile (until, I think the game got annoyed at me for trying to strategically go back and forth between rooms to smack some orcs, that it phased me into a wall for 3 turns and then errored-out. I probably deserved that for trying to be sneaky, ha ha).

If you were to develop this further, I actually really liked having randomized cards for movement and having to plan my next maneuver quickly, so I don't think you should remove it or even deemphasize that part of it too much. It was exciting and suspenseful, there were times that I wanted to go down, but did not get a "down" movement card, so I had to strategize super quick for the second best solution.

I agree with what davidtheginger said about not having an incentive to pick up/drop movement cards. When FastAndBlast mentioned separating movement and attack into different cards, I agree with your response to them in that regard, but it gave me an idea of how else this could be approached. Perhaps movement and all other card types could be separated into two different decks, sort of? Maybe with each draw, four of the cards are from a "movement deck" (or just randomly generated), and one or two cards are from a special deck, which would contain potions or other buffs. Additionally or alternatively, you could have a feature like Slay the Spire's relics, which are separate from cards and act passively, so you can focus on playing movement cards from turn to turn.

Everything I just wrote was just random garbage I thought up here at nearly midnight, they might not really work, but my point is, I had a lot of fun playing this and I think you have some options, were you to tinker with it further! Huge congrats for getting all of this done on your own in such a time restraint, cheers!

Here is the fun error, in case you are interested:

RogueDungeon Error.png

Phemie's Fable by Austin Law 2022-10-05T02:00:35Z

Graphics are ADORABLE!!! Seriously, I am a sucker for cute little dragons, this one reminds me of a plushie I had as a kid so I'm sold.

Music is lovely and well made!

I loved the weapons, the sword was super satisfying because it kinda felt like I was sweeping the spirits like dustbunnies, Phemie's tidying up!

I loved the mechanic overall, It reminded me of a fast-paced version of the mechanic in roguelites like Slay the Spire or Hades, where you have only a few choices between each level of what new tools to add to your repertoire. (I'm sure there's a better comparison out there, but my point is, I am a fan!)

The only critique I have has already been mentioned. I agree that some sort of take-damage animation would help, perhaps also have the health bar blink when hit. There were some moments when I couldn't tell what enemy's hitbox damaged me, it was a bit harder to learn and react in that case. But certainly not the end of the world! As for the confusion another commenter mentioned about the weapon/stat swap—I was able to figure out that the weapons changed when the timer turned over and that the green box indicated which was chosen, but as I played, I think the pace was quick enough that it took a bit too long to glance away and check where the green outline was. Perhaps if the line was thicker, or it gave off some other visual cue (like pulsating), it would be easier to spot and refer to throughout play. But again, a pretty small detail!

Overall, EXCELLENT! I love it, you all should be proud!

Infant Interceptor by voidraizer 2023-05-18T01:26:56Z

Hilarious and fun! While this somewhat a straight-forward driving game at its base, a lot of good choices were made to make it super enjoyable. Obviously the humor is great (audio especially). I was really grateful for additions like the buildings disappearing, arrows, floating directional symbols, these types of things are often low priority for jam games but really decrease frustration and improve enjoyment. Cheers!

Train Sort by Max S. 2023-05-18T17:15:43Z

Super addictive, as everyone else has said! I also had screen issues, still had a lot of fun. Would love to see this developed further, I think this would make a really fun mobile game. Thank you!

Moon Kiss by jepjoh2 2023-05-18T02:04:42Z

Fun! I usually suck at games like these, but I was determined not to give up. I was pretty pleased with myself for being able to figure out the solutions. Side note, I really really like the art on the start menu, very cute and cozy.

Absurd Packing in Outer Space by Paul-Maxime 2023-05-18T17:58:26Z

I WANT MORE LEVELS!! I seriously loved this simple little game. I might be biased because I love packing/arranging puzzles anyway, for some reason—I've been trying to convince my teammate to make a game about arranging charcuterie boards for several jams now, to no avail (yet). I think this zero-gravity version is an excellent innovation, I had so much fun, 11/10

Thou Lines by VeniTheRich 2023-05-06T01:16:57Z

Love it! I am a nerd so I like the theming, particularly the pseudo-tarot cards. I agree with CalicoBubbleTea, I think this would be extra fun with a keyboard option. I also agree that the levels were a good ramp up. I did find in the earlier two levels, there were a few times that I dropped the correct card on the correct person, but it gave me an x. Maybe I missed the hitbox? Fortunately that didn't happen later, so I possibly just got good.

There was also once in the beginner level where no one forgot their line at all!...Which, I think, froze the game...haha. I assume that means the player was let go because their services were not required! 😂

Overall, I love it!

Alien Postal Service by Corrupt Spaghetti 2023-05-19T19:43:13Z

Omigosh, this was super charming, I loved this cute little guy and his squiggly arm! Through rain, snow, lack of a skeletal structure, or hail, he'll deliver your mail! 🤣 Anywho...

I really liked this short experience. The physics def needed polish, the slow acceleration made jumping tough. I liked the music, it would be nice if it persisted rather than restart each level, so I could hear more of the track :)

I had a lot of fun trying to balance the package on the guy's head and hopping around 😊

Very fun and cute, thank you!

Alien Postal Service by Corrupt Spaghetti 2023-05-19T19:58:34Z

Oh—I just asked my dev teammate for what advice he had to make the movement while jumping feel better. He said the problem is that the horizontal velocity isn't being added when the character is in the air. He also says to beware of physics libraries, if you used one, they tend to emulate real-world physics rather than what feels good in games. Not sure if this helps, thanks again for this cute game!

packet.Breach() by Celtican 2023-05-07T01:29:26Z

@lisek-gagatek Thank you so much for playing! We really appreciate constructive feedback, so don't feel like you're ranting.

I did some of the graphics (wanted to do more, but had final exams during ludum dare :upside_down: ). I think you're totally right about the enemies/bullets not being super visible. The design of the enemies is more or less the same as the early dev art, as we ran low on time we just stuck with them, but pretty quickly after publishing we noticed this problem too. Definitely, this was a good lesson to prioritize clarity for important game objects earlier in the process.

Slight tangent, someone else above mentioned confusion with the clockwise/counterclockwise towers. We discovered in early playtesting that this rotation of velocity was difficult to mentally calculate at speed, even with a visual aid. I spent a long time trying to find a way to depict this intuitively in the art, I still don't think I achieved that. I am wondering if we should have just scrapped those, leaving just the Gemicorn/splitter? :thinking: Ah, I don't know, but I am looking forward to maybe polishing this game up!

Thanks again for playing!

Anvil Express by Zykra 2023-05-19T18:37:32Z

In the arms...of...an anvil...

ANVILASCEND

...It seems that the anvil can clip into certain walls, and trying to "attract" to it launches you. Curious!

In all seriousness, I agree with other commenters, this is a clever concept—a very clever concept, actually, and I hope you continue to hammer out (pun intended) some of the issues. For me, I experienced many of the physics bugs mentioned by others, it was difficult to get anywhere. Very impressive what you managed to do in 23 hours, I would love to see it polished!

Medieval Package Delivery Company by Link270 2023-05-18T17:46:20Z

This looks really nice! You guys definitely took on a big project for this jam, I am impressed that there are just three people on this team. You all seem to have talent/skill, it seems time was the biggest hurdle. My teammate and I have definitely learned the hard way (multiple times 😳) how important it is to start with a very narrow scope for jams. I look forward to seeing your future games!

PuffyCats by Iacopo 2023-05-06T00:53:34Z

Beautiful visuals and audio, as others have said! I really like the idea for this game, I had fun and eventually got a score I was happy with.

It was definitely a bit tricky to get a hang of, I'm not sure if I ever did. I really like the concept, but I started to get a bit frustrated because I felt like I couldn't reliably hit anything. I think this is mainly because of the lamp and those darn seagulls. I don't think it's a bad idea to involve those as obstacles to increase the difficulty, but perhaps a bit intense to throw those in from the start.

The aiming mechanic is interesting enough, especially with those puffers bouncing around, I think those together are a tricky-but-satisfying challenge. The gulls being moving obstacles doesn't really gel with that dynamic, in my opinion—typically with moving obstacles, you want to skillfully wait for an opening, but when the puffers you're aiming at are franticly wiggling about, the player has to calculate more variables at an unfeasible speed, so at least for myself, I ended up just aiming and praying.

I'd be curious to play a version of this that lets the player get some practice without those to start, I really like the concept and theming, and overall really enjoyed this game!

Paper Boiii Menace by Aravell 2023-05-18T20:49:35Z

Nice! Great humor, I am impressed by the graphics. I was definitely disoriented by the camera, controls, and motion blur. I think it would be interesting if there was an optional objective system. I think the music was really fun.

Frantic Folding by J4cko16 2023-05-19T19:29:41Z

This was hard! I definitely cheated at some point...I never would have thought to do so on my own, but my teammate @celtican saw me playing and suggested keyboard smashing, so blame him 😈

The polish/gamefeel was SPECTACULAR! Everything moved so smoothly, absolutely lovely. I agree with another commenter that the arrows could have been clearer, maybe they would have benefitted from being color-coded. Overall, I loved the graphics, music, and atmosphere, very fun!

POSTLORD by zimonitrome 2023-05-18T01:13:07Z

Nice! Others have mentioned the controls, so I won't rehash that. I loved the design of the grumpy postfellow, I loved how I would chaotically cartwheel sometimes, the music was whimsical and I had a lot of fun overall, a satisfying little compo game.

13Hour Shift - Idle Game by ScriptMage 2023-05-19T19:16:17Z

I'm a simple woman...I see idle game, I play it. This was pretty fun, simple and straightforward, the graphics were cute, and I love to see them numbers go up 😎

I'm On My Way by KorionArt 2023-05-19T20:11:40Z

This was so unbelievable beautiful!! Thank you so much for making this lovely game, the graphics and music are stunning. I agree with many of the other commenters about tweaks that could be made, I really wish I could have gotten to the end to see more of the beautiful art :hearts:

PS!! You still need about 8 ratings in less than five hours. If you want your game rated, you probably want to increase your smart balance. You might be able to do this in time, the key is to get karma points by writing comments that get liked. This is pretty important for getting your game seen, if you go to the "games" tab and sort by either "smart" or "danger", you're likely to get your comments liked by active devs.

If you want a headstart, I think you already rated my game, packet breach. If you throw down a comment, I can like it to get you started. It makes a huge difference!

Doggo Delivery by Quobbel 2023-05-18T01:36:04Z

I agree with all above, very cute and chill with room for growth. You've got an excellent foundation for both art and game, you should keep adding to this!