DESUMMONER by segfaults 2024-05-04T01:01:04Z ♥ 0
That was a tight sequence! It felt well designed, in that there was enough searching to make it interesting without being frustrating. I liked that the mirror became something different every time I approached it.
The art was clear and simple!
The biggest critique is the lack of sound. Even some sound effects for clicking (the player input) would add a lot of good feedback.
Hm, I never did figure out how to get to the door at the top of the stairs ...
Also, sad that you didn't rate any games!
LD56 — Tiny Creatures (32)
Three Tiny Toblins by NightmaresDev 2024-10-24T19:11:32Z ♥ 1
I really loved the character and ingenuity of this three-way control puzzle! The voice acting was very endearing and comical, and the pixel animations were really well done. Very expressive!
I must admit that, even after reading that Stor could throw, I didn't remember in game. Both Kort and Lagom and visual indicators of their ability (crouching and punching), but Stor didn't appear to do anything when I pressed F. So I was very confused until I went back and read the game page again. I think Stor should attempt to grab any time the player presses "F", even if there is nothing there :)
Otherwise, this was a very fun puzzle! Well done!
I should also report that I managed to squash Kort into the ground by Lagom punching the block onto him. This locked him in the floor XD
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AquariumHunter by Jcourt 2024-10-24T18:56:15Z ♥ 1
When I was in school years ago, there was a popular Flash game called Fishy. You started as a small fish, eating fisher smaller than you and growing until you were the largest fish. I loved that game. One of the satisfying things was when you grew the largest, and just immediately ate everything you touched. It was satisfying, but it was also a very quick ending.
I love how you've extended this idea with evolution. Using generational evolution to increase the challenge is brilliant.
Here are some ideas you might consider: * It wasn't clear if the character got any stronger by consuming other creatures (like, more stamina). That would be another dimension to experiment with. * What if the other fish could also eat me (taking an idea from another favorite: Spore)
Paper Russula by Revetoon 2024-10-21T19:04:43Z ♥ 2
Very nice graphics and animations! The strategy was pretty deep, as others have pointed out. It does seem to require a lot of experimentation, which I think is fine.
I wish some things were better explained with in-game feedback. Not all of the defenses seemed to fire each round, even when they were powered. The reason for that wasn't clear, and I felt like that hindered my experimentation.
Otherwise, all of the different types of tiles were neat and fun to play with to try build a solid defense. It was definitely a unique take on the tower defense style, which I like!
Are you listening? by Sockenpuppe 2024-10-21T18:49:03Z ♥ 1
I remember seeing your sketches in progress! Very cool! The two-tone palette and the style were very effective. I could feel her sadness in the environment and the anguish in her expression. The audio was also very good at making me feel unsettled.
The story paths were also nicely done! The added bit of having to click away the depressors was a nice touch to symbolize the added effort to do "what we know we need to".
I must admit that I wasn't able to find the third ending!
Squeezlings by Rongo Matane 2024-10-20T18:30:28Z ♥ 2
I really LOVE this! There is so much to play around with, and I will flag it to come back to once my beefier PC is set up. But the graphics alone really sell the feelin that these are tiny creastures.
There are so many great systems you've implemented -- automation, breeding. This is really an impressive submission. 5/5!
(Maybe) bug report? I dropped one of the first berries in another bowl, and then tried to pick it up -- the game crashed. But maybe there was something else happening during the night that caused the issue. The game is not very performant on my laptop XD
Nights in the cozy shack by Gastar 2024-10-20T10:36:25Z ♥ 3
This was really satisfying to play through! The final night was definitely tough :D
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It all felt complete! I think you planned the scope well, which gave you time to focus on player experience. The title screen was very well done and an awesome introduction to the mood. The lighting and the sounds helped maintain the mood throughout the game.
My only feedback is small. The start of the game could use just a touch more of help, like some text that explains what left and right click do. Without any other guidance, my first instinct is to left-click, which already uses a bullet. If you have time for others to playtest, it is really valuable to see how someone new interacts with your game (their assumptions and experiments). But this is really small feedback, because it was easy enough to reload the game once I learned the controls :)
Grablin Battle Festival by HaaYaargh 2024-10-20T10:24:47Z ♥ 4
This was a lot of fun! There was clearly a lot of technical achievement with the combat mechanics. It's the sort of thing that doesn't really take centerstage, because the player is mostly focused on managing troops, but I wanted to point out that I noticed and appreciated it!
I also really liked the "prestige" mechanic for goblins that survived, and it gave me yet another thing to focus on during the battle (how to preserve and best leverage them). My first playthrough, I made it to Round 5 before getting wiped out :(
Combining the micro-managing of an RTS with a battle simulator is unique! It is definitely more fast paced than a traditional RTS. I had trouble keeping track of my units, because of how much they bobbled around and how quickly combat moved. For me, that evoked more reactionary gameplay than preparation. On the second playthrough, the challenge really came down to keeping track of units. I think you could try a few things to make them more visible, like larger health bars or somehow cleaning up the battlefield so that the living ones stand out more.
Cheesy Escape by Fiiction 2024-10-20T09:56:42Z ♥ 1
This was solid puzzle design! I'm always too nervous to try making a puzzle game for a jam, because I'm not confident I will be able to come up with enough challenging levels. Great job! I liked that it was more than just a block-pushing puzzle. The increase in size (and strength) required me to make more calculations. Very good job!! Look at this cute lil chunky mouse XD
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Burning Bells - Lilleborg 1259 by xand 2024-10-16T19:36:05Z ♥ 1
What an unexpected and touching story. That was beautiful :)
The pixel-drawn art style was very well done. Everything felt consistent and integrated.
The gameplay was also very smooth. I found myself wanting some sort of dash or dodge, but it really wasn't required for this version. It reminded me of Hollow Knight in some ways. Every enemy provided a unique challenge that forced me to build my skills. I think you were also kind with restarting the current level after death :)
The scene transitions were smooth, as were all the camera movements. Someone really put effort into the pacing and narrative!
The final battle was epic. To be honest, it felt a little oddly scaled. There were so many enemies that I first tried to fight my way through them, but then I realized I could mostly tank their attacks and just focus on the big guy without really dying. Maybe that was your intent. Maybe there was some symbolism in that.
In any case, thank you for sharing this!
VHS Wave First Game by SrisriCactus 2024-10-16T18:57:22Z ♥ 1
For a first entry, I'd call this a success! Dying by a single hit was a strong choice, but I think it worked well: every missed shot was therefore punishing, but not unrecoverable. It really increased the intensity. I think you also used simple effects well for maximal impact: the blood spurts and the gun shots. All very satisfying. I would even suggest a bit of screen shake on the shot or impact (just one -- see which feels better).
I am okay with post processing effects, like the VHS effect, but less is more (in my opinion).
Like others said, I don't feel like you used the theme much, but that is just one category. Everyone is going to see that matter differently.
Really, this was fun to play! You won't get many points for innovation, but that shouldn't be your focus for your first games. Make what you know, and do it well! You can add even more polish like a custom cursor for aiming. Find some free music on sites like opengameart.org, and it will add even more juice. And most importantly, keep developing!
Cosmic Critter Chess by tomrijnbeek 2024-10-16T18:47:47Z ♥ 1
Despite the troubles you confessed to in your dev log, the polish and the gameplay are great! The pieces really were interesting and unique, so the strategy was satisfying. I'm surprised you also got in some nice progression with upgrades as well.
While I'm not sure the rock mood is what I would have chosen myself, I was def jamming. So I can't fault you there! The controls felt polished, as well as explainable, and I appreciated the funny bios for the pieces. Telegraphing the enemy moves was nice of you, too!
Well done!
Buzzfight by Stracker 2024-10-15T18:45:09Z ♥ 1
You _nailed_ it. Three-dimensional TABS with stinging insects. Love it! And it ran surprisingly well on my laptop. Respect for using Godot!
I liked the progression of levels to teach which units were effective against other types. That made the following levels feel so much more tactical.
Bumble Gang is OP!
TinySlime by H1soka 2024-10-15T18:34:22Z ♥ 1
You have a solid start here! I really liked the organization of the main screen, with navigation to different scenes like shop and battle. It was cute that I could name my slime :D
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The main improvements I would recommend are: 1) Some more feedback in the battle: what is attack versus skill? How effective am I? Having to compare the two numbers and the changes is not as effective as something as simple as damage numbers rising up from the slime. 2) Fewer shop items: the food all seemed to do similar things. Why three different colors and three different sizes? I would simplify that, especially for a game jam. I don't think having more options was really necessary for my experience :)
Just some friendly suggestions! I enjoyed what you built. Thank you!
It's spreading! by bashem 2024-10-15T18:26:45Z ♥ 1
This was hella fun! The intro definitely had me laughing. I did not expect that.
The gameplay was frantic and fun. All the different patients added good variation to the game.
The left-/right-click was a little hard to keep track of at first, since it was pretty arbitrary. I think I would have rather had another way to select that was a more obvious, but it eventually stuck with me anyway.
Another improvement might be to put more of the stats on the player character (like syringes), so that my eye had to travel less to keep track of inventory versus dangers. The amount of resources dropping was pretty forgiving, though, so I really never ran out of stuff :D I think you found the right level of challenge for a jam, especially implementing a leader board!
Fuel Metal Jacques by grena 2024-10-15T18:16:24Z ♥ 1
What have I done? D:
You scoped this so well! It felt complete, even if it was short and simple--perfect for a game jam. It was especially effective because of the slow realization of what I was doing to the environment and the inhabitants D: very nicely done! The tree felling felt slow for a moment, but I got distracted by all the cries for help on the console. It felt like you were aware of the pacing of the story beats :)
There were so many small details to appreciate, too, like the exterior camera inside the ship showing Jacques.
Happy Bees by Lunaria Rava 2024-10-15T18:07:33Z ♥ 1
Honestly, I could have kept playing for a long time. With some music, something calming or even upbeat, I would have no problem staring at my growing colonies for an hour!
I really liked how this all progressed. At first, the challenge seemed simple enough, but it scaled nicely. I pulled myself out of a jam around card 42, and I saw that I really had to start planning my placements. The graphics were simple to understand and well color-coded. Really, I have no complaints. Well done!
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- from a fellow hex-tiler :D
Tribal Tribulations by multiplexor 2024-10-14T19:29:11Z ♥ 2
These are unique mechanics! I like that a lot. It was definitely a fresh take on a platform/puzzler. Also, the intro was full of mood \*chef's kiss\*
One improvement I might suggest is to implement a simple reflection logic for when the followers bounce against a wall. They seemed to immediately bounce back at me, even though I would expect them to bounce onward (like a billiards ball).
By the way, it was possible to get the followers stuck by jumping and then throwing them close to the ceiling haha. asdfadsf.png
Tiny Colony by MrEliptik 2024-10-14T19:17:49Z ♥ 0
This game had so much polish! I'm amazed that you had so much UI and effects on everything. I'd love to hear about your workflow!
The gameplay was a lot of fun, and it was a good challenge (the second level really was tough training). I would have appreciated a reminder of the last trajectory I used, but I suppose that would have made it a lot easier :D Also, the tiny people looked more like candy that I wanted to eat haha.
Fantastic job!! This deserves highest marks.
(You should know that the particle effects, like the confetti and the explosions, briefly froze my game on WebGL the first time they played. Maybe there is something you can preload or cache to reduce that effect?)
Tiny Apple by epicSpeedTurtle 2024-10-12T18:03:08Z ♥ 1
This was a treat! It is evidence that graphics don't need to be expensive to be effective. Simple and clean is just as good, and everything you included communicated something. I liked that the palette was B&W except for the pink hearts.
The game design was really effective, too. I liked that I had two things to click at: resolving disputes, and upgrading the city. It was cool to see it all grow. Well done :D
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Tiny Creatures Master by tenshi42 2024-10-12T17:43:05Z ♥ 1
@tenshi42 you should be really proud of this! It was genuinely fun, I couldn't help but smile. I think the idea of using bugs to overcome obstacles is really neat. You already had different types of bugs with clear uses, and I can see there being many more.
Like others have said, there was an issue with starting the bridge too close and triggering their fall. Maybe wait until the player stops holding the button, or add more of a delay before they fall.
Obviously, there were some issues with state persistence also (restarting the level, but no more bugs, but the total counts still going up). Think about what data should be global (persistent) and what should be local (transient). Add some methods that handle resetting necessary data when a level loads. With a bit more formal practice, your implementations will be less buggy :) Keep going!
Death Harbor by f1tzy 2024-10-12T17:27:44Z ♥ 3
The artwork for this is inspired. I mean, that octopus with 8 guns? Brilliant!
Working from scratch, this is impressive! I feel like it's a great start, and with a little bit of polish, this would be even smoother! I definitely don't feel like it is missing any core content, but here are some examples of small improvements: * A health bar would be a lot easier to keep track of than a number. At least, make the text larger so my eyes don't have to move so far :D * Being able to shoot radially rather than just in eight directions would make the gameplay a lot more flexible. * Balancing is always tough. One example is that the rabbits seemed to fire much too quickly. It just became a bit of a chore to sneak in a shot.
I eventually realized that bullets blocked bullets. You could implement a filter to ignore like-objects, but also I appreciated having a way to block the bunny shots XD
SnackAtack by LegendOne 2024-10-12T17:13:58Z ♥ 2
I liked the art style! The animations on the weights were fun :D The controls were smooth, and the UI was clear. The music was a good choice, because it fit the cartoon vibes.
I think the attack phase could have had more feedback. To show that the equipment is blocking the enemies, maybe the enemies could bounce back and fly away. And it would be nice to have feedback that the equipment is being damaged and will disappear. Also, knowing how many hits the sleeping guy can take before losing.
These were all surprises the first time playing, and in my opinion some small feedback could help the experience :)
Bacteria Bashers by UnitedFailures 2024-10-12T15:04:30Z ♥ 3
This felt pretty polished! Also, I like that you got mobile support in there :D
The written tutorial was helpful in explaining how the resting and aggro mechanics worked. It still took a little bit of feeling out, so I wonder how else you could communicate those zones in the game.
I also found myself wanting some other form of progression, whether it was a different kind of enemy or a different kind of ability. A second dimension like that helps keep the game interesting!
Nice job!
Relics Return - Point and Click Adventure by Cassreads 2024-10-12T14:47:16Z ♥ 2
The 3D photo scans were a great innovation! It made a perfect backdrop to explore this short tale.
All the characters and voices were cute. And I liked that you used different ambient sounds when moving from area to area.
My only feedback is that I didn't expect Escape to end the whole game :( But the good news is that I got to speed run the beginning ;)
EMERGENCE by ccollider 2024-10-10T19:43:05Z ♥ 0
I really like what you are starting with! I personally don't think the theme needs to have so strong a presence in the final result, as long as it has good inspiration.
I actually liked the pace of the game. I had time to think about what I was doing, and I didn't feel rushed.
The radio comms babble was hilarious lol.
I eventually figured out what the UI was trying to communicate after some experimentation. The relationship between "production" and "cost" and all that. It took me until about the very end of the second playthrough to realize that the red progress bars were actually timers counting down to my deadline to achieve the request ... but by that time, there was no hope for me to produce 999 souls in the compound :P
I'm a Porter for the Worst Dungeon Party in the World by cpaz 2024-10-10T19:25:42Z ♥ 3
This looks magnificently silly. Unfortunately, it is not optimized for my laptop (which I used to create my entry). I was getting about 1 FPS XD It is Unreal, after all 😊
Hopefully I have my desktop PC up and running again in a week, and I can try it properly :D
Tiny Terrarium by dnich013 2024-10-09T20:04:57Z ♥ 1
Thank you for sharing such a lovely experience. It is always nice to have a change of pacing, slow down, and just enjoy something meditative.
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And @aleux it was supposed to be RELAXing and COSY XD
Tiny Tiny Tribes by James Wilson 2024-10-09T19:52:43Z ♥ 1
48 hours and solo dev? This is impressive!
I think the design was really solid. The loop was short enough to not get tiring, and building my team was satisfying, especially because of the variety of units you were able to add. I truly enjoyed playing this to the end, and I felt encouraged to think of strategy for which units I wanted to commit to.
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I understood what you were trying to achieve with the auto-moving and auto-shooting (basically, preventing the player from sitting and camping the campfire). That part was probably the least fun out of everything. Maybe there is an alternative solution that solves the same problem, such as encouraging the player to leave the fire for some reason (other than strictly removing their control).
The shop system was really slick and overall intuitive. The things that were not immediately clear to me were 1) what "upgrading" a team meant, and also 2) how I was able to "level up" the units. Eventually I understood what each meant through experimentation. I might suggest more meaningful names, like "New slot" (instead of upgrade) and "Bonus" (instead of level). Those still might not be better, but you get the idea hopefully.
G-news by Aune 2024-10-09T19:28:13Z ♥ 4
This is FANTASTIC. Not only did the music and the art create the perfect mood, the game play was also well designed. I felt like all the tasks I had to manage were well balanced and just challenging enough.
Seriously, that song is so catchy. And I think my favorite ~~gnome~~ was the paragliding, bare-bootied one XD
Tailor Arena by DeerCat 2024-10-08T19:20:24Z ♥ 1
There is SO much to love about this game. Even though you call it a tech demo, I feel like it contains the perfect scope and scale for a jam entry.
First off, the artwork is so charming and well implemented. The patchwork stitching of the characters, and the little toy theater, make this feel like some child's cruel stage for a game. And the music is very whimsical and adds a nice touch.
The stats of the attacks were a lot to take in, but it just required some study and experimentation. I loved the mechanic of immediate reward for attacking a limb: it gets disabled one turn. Likewise, losing the associated attacks (or permanently when a limb was detached) made for great strategy.
The only thing I didn't understand well was missing attacks. It seemed like the chance was pretty high (maybe 20% of my attacks hit?), but it wasn't clear how much I effect my decisions had. I noticed some attacks had accuracy modifiers, but what is my baseline? It seemed a little low, to be honest. If you made hits more likely to hit, the fight might be over more quickly, but I would find that more satisfying.
Anyway, I am blown away. Instant favorite, and I would love to see more!
Squirrel puncher by eerongal 2024-10-08T19:05:05Z ♥ 1
I love the banner art style! This was so silly and zany.
My feedback for some things that were a little unclear: * Somehow telegraph when the squirrels attack, because it was hard for me to judge how closely I would be hit. * The intro said that I needed to scale the tree and find the nuts, but even after exploration I could not find my target. If the nuts were somewhere, maybe revealing it to the player somehow would clarify the objective. The challenge would be simply getting there, not also finding it.
Monster Maze by Matt Swieboda 2024-10-08T18:50:15Z ♥ 1
You have an effective game design! Losing light while exploring, and wanting to search for oil but not run into critters, were all different axes of competing challenges. It was very satisfying to play!
I really liked the retro style of the title menu. I would love to see a version of the game art that follows the same retro pixel style!