Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → HexStart
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 60 | Old Tech | 👥 | Snake Age | jam | ||||||||||
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | 👥 | Captain Distress | jam | 252 | 3.82 | 3.52 | 3.55 | 3.83 | 4.02 | 3.89 | 2.50 | 3.94 | |
| 2025 | 58 | Collector | 👥 | Deep Space Lawn Mowing | jam | 50 | 4.13 | 4.21 | 4.02 | 4.17 | 4.38 | 4.28 | 3.21 | 3.88 | |
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | 👥 | High Pressure Arena | jam | 144 | 3.94 | 4.03 | 3.52 | 4.29 | 4.50 | 3.18 | 3.97 | ||
| 2024 | 56 | Tiny Creatures | 👥 | Grablin Battle Festival | jam | 72 | 4.14 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 4.17 | 4.38 | 3.80 | 4.10 | ||
| 2024 | 55 | Summoning | 👥 | Mammon & Sons | jam | 226 | 3.91 | 3.59 | 3.72 | 4.24 | 4.27 | 3.70 | 3.99 | ||
| 2023 | 54 | Limited Space | 👥 | Tableflip | jam | 53 | 4.22 | 4.20 | 3.96 | 4.58 | 4.36 | 3.83 | 3.89 | ||
| 2023 | 53 | Delivery | 👥 | King's Sandwich | jam | 127 | 4.08 | 4.13 | 4.20 | 4.37 | 4.04 | 4.10 | 4.01 | ||
| 2023 | 52 | Harvest | 👥 | Hivesters | jam | 57 | 4.09 | 4.09 | 4.14 | 4.25 | 4.13 | 2.76 | 3.88 | ||
| 2022 | 51 | Every 10 seconds | 👥 | Void Timeline | jam | 28 | 4.29 | 4.30 | 4.17 | 3.55 | 4.26 | 3.71 | 2.11 | 3.89 | |
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | 👥 | The Ultimate Martian Roulette | jam | 111 | 4.06 | 4.02 | 3.93 | 4.31 | 4.17 | 3.96 | 4.28 | 4.08 |
HexStart leaves an average of 9.2 feedback comments each event.
I got stuck near the end for a moment, but figured it out eventually. A tiny bit of additional feedback would help I think, like sparks that keep coming the more you do the thing maybe? But other than that it was exactly like the guy on TV said! Something amazing.
Also love the horse riding technique 😂
Top marks from me. Cheers https://youtu.be/6epzmRZk6UU?si=wx1r-meU6JnT9wii
The first time I picked up a chest, I was like, no way I can find my way back now. So it was definitely a relief to see the return path laid out on the floor. I managed to beat the game on medium. It was quite stressful, but listening for the audio cue was enough to get to the end. The scanner mechanics paired pretty well with search&run gameplay. The visuals could use some more love, I think that picking some kind of dominant color and tinting the scanner points and ambient (darkness) with that color would go a long way to make the game feel more aesthetically pleasing.
That was fun! I gotta be honest, I barely paid attention to the characters, I was too focused on the icons. The game works well and it feels good to lock in and hit multiple emotions one after the other. I enjoyed the speed-dating nature of it.
My third eye opened and I could sense the signal.
All in all, it's a solid game that executes on its core idea really well. I particularly liked the god ray highlighting the antenna whenever it ends up at the correct spot. Nicely done!
Those guys are some notorious yellow light runners. The acceleration/deceleration dynamics is what sets the difficulty in this game. You need quite a bit of leeway to actually stop the cars, or have them pass before the incoming traffic. I think that quicker responses from drivers would really benefit the game. I do appreciate that tailgaters don't seem to count towards lives lost though. Here's my attempt:
I enjoyed the color palette and the overall vibe, also the title was pretty funny. I struggled a bit while playing though. 90% of the time I was looking at the top of the screen, at the inputs I have to press. So the fact that those only register after the smoke reaches the top made them quite hard to follow. Didn't manage to pay attention to the seagulls at all, and I was just "resetting" myself every time I started making errors, regardless if those were by mistake or due to obstacles. I did like the single button controls though, and felt like I managed to get into a pleasant "breathing" rhythm with them. Anyways, here's my final attempt ^^
Damn that's crazy, both the game itself, and the way it was made. I think it turned out great, it kept me engaged by adding mechanics or *twisting* them in unexpected ways, it had that focused+intense mood, elevated by the music really well, and also lots of visual polish. It was challenging and I definitely felt that I'm probably on the final level when I got there. Impressive work all around.
Wow, that last level really was a challenge, but I pushed through. I think it was also the first one I actually started cutting anywhere else than right by the wire, to try and buy myself a bit more time before an upcoming section. The core gameplay is simple and effective, but it does suffer from scrolling issues that others mentioned. I was wondering what if the scroll wasn't handled on the window level, but within the game itself. On one hand, it'd allow for much smoother controls, on the other - the game would lose some of its charm of "real" scrolling. Nevertheless, even though you're fighting with how your system handles windows and scrolling, you can still get better at it - and feel fulfilled after completing the game ^^
I really like the core concept, both as a gameplay loop, as well as a unique take on the theme. Cutting crops is fun, and it works well with upgrades and focusing on shapes as the ultimate goal. I was a bit confused about the upper bar (was it my capacity? or how well my shape matches the goal?), and why a round ended before I run out of fuel sometimes. Anyway, I hope that the cows are doing well, wherever they are.
I really like the physical nature of the game, as in - having all of the user interface represented and laid out on the table. It's a good fit for a card game, it felt natural to drag cards to different areas. I didn't fully get the prices in the shop though - energy felt like the main limiter at the start, but it was only $5, whereas additional breads were like $50.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I was confused by the survey notes, so I made my own 😄
It seems the colors are wrong. Green is supposed to be toxic, and blue benign, right? The same tag even changes colors from plant to plant.
Anyway, I managed to finish the whole thing! Didn't get more notes though.
I love the art and the overall idea behind the game. The concept is solid, it just needs to communicate the player's findings better. Maybe confirmed tags could even display a toxic/benign icon, so you can see them at first glance, and focus on the new ones?
I liked how the game moves along a path through a level as you win encounters, made me curious about what comes next. I didn't get to the end despite a couple of tries (watched the ending in the video though). I'm usually not great at rhythm games mind you. Here, I mostly alternated between two highest-damage spells in my disposal at any given time, only paid attention to keys and not really to elements themselves. I found that I'm doing worse when I'm trying to focus on the beat icons, and better when I'm just trying to listen to the beat. Not sure what to make of it, but thought I'll let you know. Congrats on your game, an icy rave party is a pretty cool idea!
Completed the whole thing. Finding the correct paths was pretty satisfying (especially with elements to spare), although it took me a moment to understand that not entire buildings block signals (even though it was explained I think). I appreciated the tutorials painted on the levels themselves. As already mentioned, there's this old school vibe, and the characters were fun. [F] and [R] are a bit to close to each other though 😅
Hey, I'm getting this error trying to run the game, both on firefox and chrome: err.png
My fav Steve game to date. I think it has just the right amount of things that you need to keep track of. The changing sign actually makes it easier to manage the frog (which is a good thing) - because it either makes you stop earlier, or comes up too late so you decide not to risk it. The only thing I'd add is some sort of feedback after clicking positive/negative/very-negative points - maybe showing a color border around the screen on every click? Right now you have to pay attention to the score to know if you're clicking wrong or not. It's not an issue after you learn the game, but it'd help when you play for the first time. Also, the frog getting mad is a welcome feature for me, because it gives you time to rest a little bit.
I like the silly art, and the music too ^^
Gotta say, this is really well done - from writing to the overall level of polish. Even though it's mostly a text adventure, it still looks, sounds and feels pretty good. The story is engaging, especially thanks to a couple of moments when the stakes suddenly escalate. And the way it's written makes it quite fun to read. Overall, that's some high quality stuff, congrats!
I was really vibing with this game. The artstyle and music+sound really made it a pleasant time. I also enjoyed fitting the item categories into different tables, and the little flavor text on the items themselves. The kids event was a bit annoying near the end, but in mid-game actually pushed me to rethink me setup, and I was better off as a result 😄
I didn't really give that much thought to item stats beyond value. All I was doing was essentially just grouping categories of highest-value items together, which seemed to make stats increase over time. So I feel like something could be simplified there for a more focused experience. I think it'd also be helpful to display the value of items at all times, or have a togglable overlay that displays it. And/or remove appear delay on tooltips.
Anyway, the game definitely stands out as polished entry, congrats on making it happen ^^
The visuals are great, good choice of a color palette and impressive work on portraits there! Enjoyed the music and voice acting too. It's fun to see characters react to different heads as well. I think that the main area to improve would be damage feedback - both of damage you're dealing to enemies, and damage dealt to the player - I think it could boost how good the combat feels. Other than that, it's a high-quality and consistent entry, well done!
Wow, it's impressive that you added over 300 titles to this game. Although I'll admit that the amount of content also made it a bit overwhelming for me 😅 I think that negotiating could be limited to, say, 3 tries per game? So that you cannot cheese it by simply going one by one from the lowest number.
It was nice seeing some familiar titles in the store 😌
Hmm, either I did something wrong, or the inventory doesn't allow me to view collected cards? Looked the same no matter how many I bought. I played the webgl version.
I liked the elevator to switch between locations, and the walk-around-the-pole job, it was a proper amount of silly 😄 Good voiceovers too!
Saw this on a stream and had to try it. Such a cool puzzle! The fact that it's inspired by a real-world collection makes it so wholesome. I enjoyed it very much, and I only have criticisms beyond the jam scope. Those being that it'd be cool to not have random bottle openers simply fall off the wall, but always have them preceded by a puzzle. That would be a lot of puzzles probably though. Anyway, I definitely enjoyed those that were there ^^
That's some stellar voice acting work, and I imagine it was a huge production challenge too. Good job pulling if off. Chad's delivery, coupled with the stupid faces, just keeps cracking me up. Everything else is nice and polished too, impressive work on all fronts!
A minor quality of life improvement would be to be able to see the 2nd part of your line without picking the 1st part (even though there is a back button already).
Lovely game, I enjoyed the time I spent with it. I think it's a good setup for an incremental - pretty visuals, some light exploration, and dialogue that doesn't pause the number going up 😄 If it was supposed to go for a long time, then maybe there could be some more decision making or challenge involved, but as it is, it's a short and relaxing ride. Well done ^^
Hi there friendly surface clearing experience 😄 I had quite a bit of fun with this game! I like how with each subsequent upgrade, more spaces around the house become accessible. And it's satisfying to clean the place up, although some audio would make it feel even better.
It's a small thing, but at the start, it was really confusing to me that the bot looks at the camera - felt like I was going backwards. The bot is definitely cute though!
I've been searching for this last speck of dust for a while now, so it's time to call it a day and settle for >almost< 100%-ing it ^^
I like it, I think it's a really clever idea and it feels good to play, due to audio and visual feedback. I assumed that it's not really possible to perfect the paintings beyond the first ones, but only to make them "somehow" resemble the original. So in that context, the similar colors mostly contributed to how funny the game was, in this setup of "I gotta fake my art collection quickly". It works 👍
Zen mode was definitely more relaxing, as the name implies. Although I've also given up on searching for the rogue pixel 😄
It is a good game, as long as you're in the right mindset - to not rush things and wait for an opportunity. I got there eventually 😅 Still hate bubblingtons though.
Definitely enjoyed both audio and visual side of things, and text effects were a nice touch. Well done ^^
There are some good ideas in there, I liked the "hole fast travel" system. On the other hand the camera was a bit wonky, and I couldn't tell when I was taking damage and how to avoid it (I saw the birds, but that's about it). I was thinking that maybe there could be a requirement to collect the notes in a certain color order (to make a melody)? It could boost the fast travel system a bit, but I'm just spitballing here 😄
Gotta say, swinging feels pretty good, especially since it doesn't block your movement. Is there a difference between light and heavy attack? Heavy attack is fun to use, but the dmg number is the same. I appreciate the smooth camera, but it needs some lookahead, otherwise you can really see the way you're going. Although I did run from orcs for a considerable amount of time, so the camera did frame those scenes pretty well after all 😅
Puppy avenged
Wasn't sure what the letters meant at the start, but got it eventually. The building system was pretty cool, and I just wished it wasn't on a timer, so I could play around with it a bit more, and a bit less stressed 😅
Looks and sounds great, with trails and music being an obvious highlight. Gameplay felt good too, although I wonder about that continuous damage mechanic - maybe it'd be better if skulls dealt damage once on impact, with a forgiving collision radius? I dunno, I enjoyed playing it either way.
Didn't really affect my experience with the game, but the last level seemed to kill my performance as soon as skulls filled the screen, I started taking damage randomly and couldn't pick up ghosts or powerups, so I couldn't complete it. Just letting you know.
I've collected a moderate amount of taxes. Congrats on finishing it solo, well done <3
I really like how good the line drawing feels! I think it's the kind of feature that could easily end up janky, but the way it splits into segments and snaps to points really makes a difference. I enjoyed the game in general, although at first I thought it's going to have multiple, puzzle-ish levels instead of a single high-score level. The speed of the game was appropriate for the most part, although it did drag a bit in the final 20% sometimes, if I missed some pollen. Pretty good job overall. Also, it's quite impressive that you have your own engine and language.
Katamari definitely works well with the theme, and I liked rolling it around. I feel like the level had too much of little items, although it was clever to lay them out in paths leading to different parts of the scene, I appreciated that. In general, the small, self-contained level with the trophy to climb to at the top - pretty good setup for a jam game. I'm not sure about the upgrades though, they didn't seem to make that big of a difference for me (I mostly noticed jump getting higher), yet they popped up so often as to be a bit distracting.
I gotta say, this is a great concept, even though it wasn't fully realized during the jam. I just really dig the idea of a library for ghosts, that you can fly around in and manage as an owl.
I'd say, drop the voxel digging part, possibly even the construction mechanics, just have a library-level with unlockable shelves, rooms etc - and focus on book organizing and interacting with ghosts.
The fact that all books are real books that you can read - while I think that it'd probably be easier design-wise to go with custom books (well, titles+abstracts rather than full books probably), it is impressive and sort of inspiring that the game supports loading in real-world works.
Good stuff right there, definitely made an impression on me 💜
The controls feel good, and I like the atmosphere, although the monsters' sounds are sometimes a bit out of place. The game is also very pretty. Upgrades invite you to retry after you finished a run. That's a pretty good job overall!
Saw it on stream, days later I suddenly couldn't get the music out of my head, so I finally found it and played it myself. It's awesome, and for me personally, 50% of it is due to soundtrack. It fits perfectly, develops so well and just kept me going, I love it. Can you post it somewhere maybe? 👉👈
There's more goodness obviously. Controls felt good, I liked how you can slide on angled obstacles, and voice acting is a cherry on top.
Saw others mention the lack of progression, and I guess that's true, but I found my limited focus to be the progression 😄 Although it could use some more variety, in terms of color, or different obstacles.
Anyway, gimme that first spot drop.png
I was definitely engaged enough to retry it a lot of times, didn't get to the end but pretty far I think? Going fast is fun, but I'd probably make lava hurtboxes a tiny bit smaller (to make the game feel less punishing). Maybe there could be an unrated mode with checkpoints, to make it easier to learn the more tricky parts. Also, desperately needs audio, some speedrunning music to keep the spirits up ^^
I really enjoyed the challenge, the variety, and I also found the abrupt cuts after each game pretty funny ^^ minigames.png
The art is very pretty, and I liked how the color slowly restores over the course of the game. Gameplay itself is a bit janky, movement and shooting/getting hit could feel better. Here's my attempt
The ending was cute 🌙
Wanted to play it since I saw it on stream, finally got to it. All 5s, no notes. The primordial need to drain the lake.
Appreciated movement upgrades very much, I was only missing being able to do quake-style strafe jumping 😄
The only things to improve would be imo: - not pausing time while in menus, - being able to swap already bought upgrades.
But that's minor. Awesome game, with a lot of little touches that make it pretty funny too. Congrats!
Good stuff there! I love how it ramps up after the black hole gets big enough - you really made it an awesome moment ^^
I loved almost everything about this game. My only issue was that some abilities would get a bit convoluted, and it wasn't really possible to track how effective they've proven in combat. On the other hand, I didn't mind taking a bit more vibes-based approach to strategy.
Audio is perfect ^^
I know it'd make the game in the current form much easier, but I'd loove to be able to grapple while in the air - I think that would feel pretty good. It was unexpected and sort of impressive, that instead of reloading the level you're actually pushed up and always end up on top, even if you took a different path.
Awesome entry. Impeccable visuals, and very well complimented by audio. It was a good choice to have powerups boosting you up also give you temporary invulnerability. I think I'd actually make enemies a bit less deadly still - by reducing their hurtbox, or giving the player a couple of lives. Anyway, here's my best attempt cavees.png
Walking around definitely had me waiting for a jump scare or something, and the giant rat did give me the creeps at first. I think some environmental puzzles would fit well in there, with all of the writing on walls.
Starts off a bit slow, but as soon as you get the ability to double jump it becomes quite engaging. I think that falling into the lava could use up one of your lives (and boost you up) instead of killing you instantly.
The game overall seems like a complete package, with a lot of polish, congrats!
It's simple and has potential, it could definitely have more levels. I broke the path at the start somehow by clicking on a tile instead of dragging from the worm. Managed to finish with 80 steps left.
Simple, but fun and well realized idea. The only thing I'd maybe add, would be that if you hovered over an object, it would show its value - so that you could easily check which items are worth the effort.
I liked the idea and the atmosphere, and the way controls are presented. At first I was trying to get to the first aid kit, but I guess it's a background prop? Not sure what spamming F did. I think that making the left-right sway feel a bit more "heavy" would make it fit better with the rest of the game. You'd need some warnings for the falling rocks then for sure.
This is a stylish and polished game, with some great atmosphere. The mechanics are simple, yet allow for clever puzzles. However, it was too much of a challenge for me. I managed to get through level 2 in just under 100 tries, and then gave up on level 5. If I were to simplify one thing, I'd probably avoid having to do precise corner hits.
But aside from the difficulty curve, all of the pieces fit together pretty well!
Made it! tide.png
The game is put together super well. Audio, art and gameplay compliment each other perfectly.
I particularly liked that since most buildings balance each other, a larger tremor does not result in an unstoppable catastrophe, but is sometimes able to even bring your balance up. Yes, I played very light on radars 😅
Happily I played my fair share of cookie clicker back in the day, so I know how to do this 😎 I liked the art style, and clicking feedback in particular, although it took me 3 refreshes to notice that I'm supposed to click the button, and not the door/anywhere.
Played the jam version. During the intro it appeared like a rage game about platforming higher and higher, so it was a fun surprise to see it flip to a different setup. The world switching between two different states is definitely a cool concept, although out of platforming and falling - the latter engaged me more.
Wasn't sold on the character controller at the beginning, due to floatiness, but came around to appreciate it in the context of doing *sick plays* with the grapple. It's fun to get around fast, after you learn how to do it. Also, it's pretty impressive you managed to pull this game off alone, congrats! And yeah, put-your-UI-on-the-character gang represent ^^
That's a stylish and clever game. I particularly liked the pheromone mechanics and how they can be used to coordinate groups of bots. An expanded version would need some improvements in terms of "board editor", so that you could move terminals or whole sections of the board without redoing it. But for a jam game that's not an issue imo.
The background and characters are fun. Combat needs work. Wouldn't need to be that complicated even. Maybe if attacking also dashed the character forward, so that you'd have to weigh that against obstacles or near enemies.
This is extremely impressive. I finished it like 5 times noticing something new every time and getting stuck on some other thing again. The fact that the solutions change every time makes it so much more replayable. The art and overall vibe are spot on. The only nitpick I have is that the movement controller could feel a tiny bit better, it seems a bit rigid - but that's really not what the game is about so whatever.
Anyway, that's all 5s from me.
A bit rough around the edges in terms of controls (especially camera controls) but I got HOOKED either way. Really enjoyed the worlds and trying to find the best route through them. The artstyle and color palette are lovely too. Boing. 1.png
Kinda want to do a golf game now, damn it.
Awesome idea and execution - everything fits together very well! Really the only complaint I have is the S key for a spin/flip - I couldn't get used to it (I'd probably prefer it to happen on pressing jump mid-air). But other than that it's very polished and feels complete, congrats!
Got it rather quickly and enjoyed it! The UI could use some visual polish obviously (especially tooltips - transparent background sometimes overlapped with units on the level, making things hard to read), but the elements themselves were laid out quite sensibly - and over time everything was clear to me. I had fun making the decisions about unit placement. Good job!
Hey there fellow flinglike game 😄
I appreciate the overhead icons to remind you of needs that need to be fulfilled, although the imminent death makes it somewhat difficult to focus on other tasks sometimes. Maybe if there was less consequence for not meeting them, like a hen falling asleep for a while or not being fed enough to lay eggs? I dunno.
Otherwise it's a consistent system of flinging things into things, and pretty funny too, trying to get your chickens out of the way of incoming cars. Congrats on your entry!
Love the quirkiness and visuals (cursor/hand art in particular). Getting what the game wants me to do on my own was also pretty fun! My only issue was that colors of mite spawners, request/deliver lamps and target portal all seemed a little bit inconsistent - same color value in all those places looks different I think? But not sure. Otherwise, being a mite wizard sure sounds tempting ❤️
Creative take on the theme, with lovely audio and visuals. It took me until Manat to engage a bit more with the battle system. Not sure if I'm fully sold on it though, but I also can't put my finger on what could be improved. Maybe a bit of an extended moveset for the player? Or ditching the grid and allowing for continuous movement. Having said that, the whole package is definitely appealing, great job <3
Damn that demon is hustlin' A shirt with their logo and all that. The player model and the portal effect are quite nicely done!
I feel like I stumbled through early puzzles by trial and error and didn't gain enough understanding to tackle the later ones. Maybe the game could use a couple more "onboarding" levels? I liked the overall idea and the way audio cues were implemented.
The lil dudes are lovely and I enjoyed the overall vibe. It's an unconventional idea with pretty visuals. If I'd change anything it'd be to make the mana counter more prominent - it seems like the most important value at any given time (even more so than the timer).
Very aesthetically pleasing - artstyle stands out from the crowd, and I was really vibing with the music. Pretty visual for the wind too, though it was sometimes unclear if it's going to affect the ship. The collision shapes for islands and friendly ships could maybe provide a bit more room for error. Overall great compo entry.
finally samloning.png
So clever, and fits the theme perfectly.
Enjoyed it very much, missing only a couple UX improvements - like having undo and menu accessible with mouse aside from key bindings. I've also sometimes marked text for the wrong color, though I'm not sure what my confusion stemmed from exactly (undo helped very much here). I felt like the level progression could be improved a little bit and it could use some more onboarding - hints were helpful, but the text-based nature of the game would allow for more explanation built into the levels themselves. On the other hand - there was a lot of aha moments while discovering mechanics and solutions, and that was pretty satisfying. I got that the palette takes space by itself, but the exact numbers weren't clear for me and I was just clicking around trying different approaches - though that's not a bad thing tbh.
Overall though - the game is so well put together, and also quite stylish - both in its minimalism and the little touches like particles for the score stars. What's also impressive is the number of features, network functionality, high scores, custom levels with likes etc.
Great idea and well executed, good job <3
Felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of guests at the beginning. Maybe the game could start with a pre-wedding party with a smaller number of guests? It got easier after a while though.
Really enjoyed the switch in level 2, it's clever to make you do the opposite after you already somewhat learned the game. I also did better at making a mess of a wedding, not sure if that's through in-game experience or just simply a greater appeal 😅
It's a cool idea that could be expanded upon with more kinds of "box conditions". Snappier rotation controls would definitely go a long way in terms of enjoyment. I also found myself fixating on "maintain vision" boxes. While it's a fun horror element, I could probably focus better on playing with other boxes if it wasn't for those.
Couldn't really test it properly (the multiplayer part) but I do like the promise of the game. The driving part is pretty fun, even if a little unsteady. Found it difficult to keep the truck upright while going fast, though I imagine the resulting chaos ensuing in the kitchen would be a highlight of the game.
Definitely liked the ferryman character. Luckily, looking for interaction points wasn't that difficult due to the art style, as they do stand out from areas of solid color.
I do like myself a receptive audience. The laughing track is definitely a highlight and "missing a beat" as a metaphor for botching jokes is a clever connection.
Loved it, I'd only welcome a bit more than 10 seconds to deliver the best face I could possibly deliver ': )
Timelapses were a nice touch too.
I have a fair bit of nostalgia for the old settlers games, so the idea really resonated with me. It's pretty cool to see the gameplay running as soon as you enter the main menu, explains the game before you even begin.
The visuals are lovely, I like to see the little items appear beside the buildings. I'd even stick to using item models everywhere instead of having separate icons, but I'm assuming that there was not enough time for all items.
The gameplay is solid, I could see myself playing that for much longer. The little upgrades to drones really help, because you can optimize the plan without redoing all of it.
The only aspect I think could use a general rework is the UX of making a plan. It would be more convenient to just click and connect buildings on the main screen instead of going back and forth between the drone window and the map. Overall a pretty legit entry, good job!
Liked the models and the overall color scheme of the city. It could be fun to have a little more inertia to the movement and rotations. I also often lacked just a bit of distance when jumping between buildings and instinctively wanted to double jump, I think it would fit the game quite well.
Since I've played a lot of Catan, I had to check this one out 👀
I like the familiar mechanics, and the relaxed vibe of it all. The lack of other players trying to beat you to a good location contributes positively to it. The art is consistent, with the animated ship being a nice touch.
The downside to being the only player is that depending on your luck, nothing might be happening for longer stretches of time, if you're getting poor rolls. It's an issue in the original boardgame as well, but you can at least negotiate/trade. But I suppose that's kind of part of the course, and expected, not a big deal.
What could definitely be improved though, is the storage system, at least in my opinion. When you hit the cap you're essentially just waiting for a 7 to roll to be able to do anything else. The boardgame does punish players for going over the cap, but leaves them with a bit more options.
Anyways, I did enjoy it for a while. Also, good job on making it in your own custom engine ^^
Damn, the speed after 50 points is a bit much for me, got to 53.
Always nice to see a pico8 game! The visuals here are clean, but the sound in particular is very satisfying. I also liked the music and how it fit the gameplay.
If I were to suggest some sort of improvement - at higher speeds grabbed carrots flying over other holes sometimes made it hard to notice if that's another carrot coming out of the hole. I suppose they could just disappear, but maybe it's just me 😆
The elements of this game fit together pretty nicely! Minimalistic visuals work well and the audio is satisfying. I could maybe use a different sound effect for when you're pressing a button which doesn't do anything on the current screen, just as an additional hint.
I honestly wasn't able to remember and keep track which button combos did what, just spammed everything that appeared on the screen. While I like the single-color aesthetic, maybe having time/gb/etc stats colored differently and then adding the pop-up colors to match them would've emphasized the connection.
Anyway, here's my score 😄
Managed to complete the game in 26 days.
I liked the UI, it's pretty, clean and has some stylish transitions. There is a couple of helpers getting the player to notice they have to act somehow, which I appreciate. I mean things like the "collect me" hint when you miss some juice, or an alert about having not enough juice for the tax.
I've only missed that for the delivery time, which I sometimes forgot about and went on harvests straight after buying. Broke a game once by entering the level with 0 units available (couldn't get back to world screen).
For some reason I initially thought that you keep units placed on the map for the next level and it took me three levels to notice that it's not the case. That obv makes sense design-wise, I just didn't notice at first.
A quality-of-life feature I'd appreciate would be shift-clicking to place multiple units.
The game feels very complete, with a solid structure that one can easily imagine be expanded upon. It seems quite polished, especially for a solo project. Good job bringing it all together!
When it comes to battle gameplay itself - I feel like I overused bombs, they kind of carried me through the game. Often I wouldn't place units but just ride the 10 sec timer and wait for enemies to get into good positions.
I think part of my focus on bombs was that I'd prefer units to be more accurate, e.g. always (or at least mostly) going for the closest enemy. Especially since I've often deployed a minimal number of units to save on juice (therefore every "weird" behaviour was particularly impactful).
PS I do like the >historically accurate< shapes of countries :D
The audio and visuals sit really well together, and the voicelines are perfectly goofy. I appreciated that you can kind of fast forward your movement by pressing the keys repeatedly and used that a lot by the end of the game. The animation timings did make this process a bit wonky at times though.
Nice to see another timeline-based game around :D The general idea obviously resonated with me, though it was a bit rough around the edges in terms of UI. Personally I'd also prefer if the timeline reset and autopaused the moment new enemeies appear, so that you're not stuck with your leftover plan that doesn't really apply anymore.
I'd prefer if it was a bit slower-paced, but maybe I just went in with "farming game" expectations :D All in all I liked the tight controls (and the throw arc!) and the audio-visual style. The blade could be a little more forgiving when it comes to collisions, at least in the center.
omg the fucking DIRTY CODES
I like that over time you find little ways to optimize how you use all the different mechanics that are at play here. Cans costing more were a clever difficulty modifier too. Also who puts the codes in different places on the same products? I suppose they're playing a similar game of their own, sticking codes while trying not to get fired T_T
That's a lovely, though a bit stressful game!
The pinball-like mechanics definitely have potential and I liked the chaos that unravels in the background. And the setting is fitting too.
The controls could use some improvement though. I'd personally try out smoothing the character movement so that it's easier to make tiny position adjustments and also maybe have the mouse control the relative character rotation instead of direct aim at the cursor.
I find the idea of a tree-based clicker quite evocative. Great atmosphere.
It's the *vibe* that makes this game really shine. And when you get in the zone, it feels pretty good. I love the rush, and for me it scratches the same itch as quake defrag's high-speed traversal.
However, the physics-based movement makes it difficult to feel in control. I suppose the floatiness might be intended and it creates a unique experience on its own - but I'd very much like to try out the exact same game with more precise controls.
It might be a personal preference. The *vibe* definitely got to me though.
Btw good choice on including the tunnel sections - they work very well as the breather between high-stakes platforming.
Very elegant and relaxing to play. The +/- indicators are a welcome addition, though they might also include a face of the class to make it easier to follow what actually changes. Love the visuals.
Loved it and replayed it multiple times. Had some doubts at first regarding the random spread of the bullets and how it's going to fit into a grid-based game, but the whole package remains elegant and very engaging. My only criticism is that the theme itself is not really explored that much. It still inspired a quite unique game though, so I can't really complain ^^
LD60 — Old Tech (8)
T.O.R.Q by BadPiggy 2026-10-22T22:21:50Z ♥ 0
Even though the game punishes you for mistakes pretty quickly, it's also quite rewarding when you're doing well. It definitely gives you that sense of speed, when you finally get a good timing on your jumps. I do appreciate that there's some tolarance to the edge of the track, in the sense that it doesn't always make you fall instantly, but you're able to just barely hold onto it instead. There could be some sort of wall here and there though, to make finishing a race for the first time a bit easier. That would also be an opportunity to include an effect of the gear grinding against the wall 😄
Anyway, here's my time:
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Blokia Designer by titos2k 2026-10-22T13:37:47Z ♥ 2
Very impressed with the amount of stuff you managed to fit in that game, and how well it all works together. The visuals and audio are flawless, and the writing entertaining. I struggle to think of anything that could be improved. Well, maybe an ability to pull a phone from development (with some penalty) after you noticed you forgot about something, or if new trends suddenly emerged.
Got fired right before the C-suite, what can you do. Just couldn't really live up to the level of the original Grindpad. Sometimes you just happen to be at the right place, at the right time.
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I Was...? by ColeSlaughter 2026-10-22T01:01:38Z ♥ 2
For quite a bit of time at the start of the game, I felt like I didn't know what exactly was I doing. I figured to zoom on things, and sometimes they switched places and played a sound cue. Then the milk in the fridge got moved to the bathroom, so I understood that the point is that objects sometimes end up out of place. But I was often still missing the reference to what was supposed to be the correct placement. I did get better over time, but in the end I suppose that I got around 50% of anomalies kinda randomly. Sometimes I got the sound cue, but couldn't spot the visual difference at all.
I also totally did not get that I'm supposed to tag objects with post-its, to make it easier to spot when something changed. So I didn't really use them at all.
Despite the above, I was pretty engaged in the game, and more often than not rather uneasy. The moments of tension were pretty effective, but also kept me curious about what happens next.
In regards to visuals and audio, everything is very well done. The "prerendered" rooms seemed weird at first, but they definitely added to the atmosphere, instead of being simply a production constraint.
The game bugged out a bit near the end, as I mentioned on your discord, but I still enjoyed it.
Across The Meridian by Frib 2026-10-21T22:16:49Z ♥ 1
Nearly bounced off this game at the beginning. I was like, damn I don't really recall the names of the stars, I gotta get some sort of a helper page to aid me with that. Then I noticed that ok, I only need the north star, and then to pay attention to marked/larger stars.
So I did that, waited to use each token at a proper time, and just took in the atmosphere. It's night time here irl right now, so I got pretty immersed.
!> When the line started moving off-center, I assumed that it's for some added challenge, due to wind picking up or something. Well, it wasn't the wind, and since I was drawn in - it was a very effective, foreboding moment.
So in the end, I found the game to be quite unique, and likely experienced it in the best possible conditions.
Out Of Frame by Malte Hedenstrom 2026-10-21T19:06:39Z ♥ 4
Oh the confidence of putting a guy on a case of your own doing. Truly something to aspire to 😄
The main mechanic made me think of Return of the Obra Dinn. I liked the effects you used to implement it. The dense fog was a good choice, as you couldn't see everything that changed in the room at a glance. Although it also made me go through the whole hotel in "scanning mode".
When it comes to the mystery itself - I wished there was a bit more to uncover. I felt like the main piece of evidence came from the telephone, instead of the camera. Although I did get the telephone at the very end, because I tampered with it early, and after I got the code it only worked after I left the hotel and came back in.
That said, obviously the scope had to fit into a jam, and I had a good time. Enjoyed the writing and character designs, and the audio side of things was quite pleasant too.
Oxidize by purpledeni 2026-10-21T12:11:20Z ♥ 1
Finally managed to beat all the levels and got the
!> pretty flower ^^
at the end. Phew. That was some developer-level difficulty for real. I might've been hitting my desk multiple times, but I persevered. I know other people already mentioned this, but you probably won't hear the end of it 😄
The movement mechanics felt pretty good though! I don't think it was jank, it just required precision. The walljumps controlled well, and the speedups made for some cool moments. They should just be balanced in a way that doesn't fail you at the slightest mistake.
I really liked the environments, visually. And while the sound was minimal, it fit the rest of the world. So all in all, the game was really well done, just a bit too hard.
MegaPrint by Blue Pin Studio 2026-10-20T22:26:44Z ♥ 2
I love it when my slimy boss compliments me!
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Love the "old tech" artstyle and music. When I maxed out all the upgrades, I liked to let the paper pile up for a bit, and then slowly clear the whole screen for max satisfaction. But honestly, the drawings are where I had the most fun. I definitely felt more engaged with them than upgrading my printer empire.
That said, the game world as a whole was great. Everything fit together well, in a positively weird way. The fact that it's your drawings that get printed on paper was a really nice touch.
Bonk to the Future by SoVes 2026-10-20T17:35:24Z ♥ 1
Took quite a bit for my first attempt. The second one was 47s, though it seemed longer? Then I spent like 10 more minutes trying to remember the name of the song this melody comes from 🌍😇
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I struggled to get a feel of the driving, and even though I got better, I still think it could be slightly less punishing. You do feel good after making a couple consecutive turns though, I give it that.
I liked that I was able to understand what I needed to do without much explanation. The sign was very effective communication 😄 Also enjoyed the art style and audio work - that music really is a vibe (listening to it as I write this comment).