HuvaaKoodia

MULTIVAC by Nikteddy92 2013-05-10T12:29:00

Judging by the source there is nothing else than the dialog.
That is not a problem on its own if the story is interesting enough.

A few technical problems though:

-Grammar. At times it's difficult to fully understand the intended meaning of a sentence.

-No instructions anywhere. At first it seems there are no controls to speak of, but the number, arrow and enter keys all have functions depending on the situation. Too bad I had to snoop around the source to find out about some of those

-Weird progression. First there is an unskippable intro sequence. Then it jumps into a dialog system which requires player interaction. After that it's time for yet another cutscene.

It would be more consistent to have all the sections skippable, by pressing enter, and giving clear instructions on the use of other keys, as in "Arrow keys to scroll", in the game or in a specific controls page.

Manually controlling the character in the first area would have been quite nice a touch as well.

The music is wickd awsum.
That is all.

IceBreaker by pentaphobe 2013-05-03T20:32:00

Rather solid effort, although I think the game would have required more tactics and strategy as a turn based game.

Plus a few ideas:
-While breeding extra vulnerable
-Breeding reduces sizeclass by one, must wait to grow back or breed for a even smaller unit.
-Maps with varied topographies (Randomized).

Now all it takes is to:
Select all -> breed
Repeat until enemies appear then:
Select all -> attack and destroy one by one.

Growing Energy by scorder 2013-05-06T22:04:00

A simplified 4X, brilliant. Some of the mechanics need tweaking though.

Generation is OP. You can generate power anywhere on the area and distribute it right into the frontlines. This means I never had to used a 1 point generator and steam rolling was way too easy.

I'd fancy a mechanic for having to transfer energy through the owned tiles. One would have to use the generators closer to the frontline to get reinforcements faster.
This could be automatic via some path finding or manual by setting up the transfer route in before hand.

The exploration could be toned down too. Now multiple tiles can be revealed at the cost of one energy and turn.

It could be an exchange of one energy for one tile once or many times per turn instead.

Minimalistic PotatoPeople by goerp 2013-05-09T15:22:00

I like these kinds of games quite a lot.
Unfortunately the clunky interface hampers my enjoyment of it. I could get over that if there just was a 'Restart level' button.

I do think it needs a visual drag and drop interface though.
So work on it a bit will ya.

All Fall Down by lambomang 2013-04-30T22:17:00

It's got the mood and theme right and the audiovisuals fit together nicely, but the gameplay itself is the age-old Find item->backtrack->try it on everything->Find another item->backtrack->...

If that is the intended core progression mechanic then the in-between moment-to-moment gameplay should step up, in this case, movement. Let the character fly, glide, roll, bunny-hop, sprint or just give him a skateboard to mess around with. Anything to break the monotony of slowly marching back and forth.

All Fall Down by lambomang 2013-05-01T15:05:00

@lambomang
Sneaking sounds good. Got a way to try that game as well?

Amulet Of Zarygar by TuxedoFish 2013-05-04T19:51:00

A solid simplistic RPG.

The core systems need some work:
-Stats (health, mana)
-Character types (levels, skills)

And, like you said, it lacks content:
-Quests
-Items
-Enemies & allies

There is potential for something interesting.

Minimalist Dungeon by EatenAlive3 2013-05-01T20:35:00

An enjoyable simple dungeon crawl, very much so.
I, for one, appreciated the musical choice, while the sounds could have used a bit more work.
The only tangible problem for me was the special key "\" which on my keyboard is behind a function key, so another key, say Control, would have been a better candidate.

Don't Hit The Core by TheSarcastic 2013-05-01T14:06:00

Solid idea yet without any additional mechanics there is little the keep me playing.
You could try some of these:
-Score system
-Time limit
-Randomization
-Speed alteration
-AI opponent

Less is More by Joror 2013-05-02T20:12:00

The graphics remind me of Outcast and First contact Planetfall.
There could have been some ambient sounds to heighten the mood.
Otherwise a spiffy production.

Random Objects Smash by Moist 2013-05-01T13:33:00

The first LD26 shmup I've played so far and It fits the theme, but it really needs more work to be worth over 13 seconds.

If you want to keep it minimalistic, come up with a fancy core game mechanic rather than increasing weapon & enemy variety.
Here are a few ideas:
-Shooting enemies makes them move around.
-Enemy bullets are slightly attracted to the player's position
-Bullets ricochet from walls, other bullets or certain obstacles/enemies
-Gravity effects that bend bullet paths
-The player can die from her own bullets
-A repulsion mechanic of some sort
-Slowdown mechanics
-Consuming enemies to get their powers
-The classic ikarugan polarity mechanic (there could be more than 2 colors used)
-Enemies that transform over time/when colliding with each other.
-The player mutates over time/when hit by bullets (% chance to die)
-Randomized bullet patterns for enemies and powerups.
-Shields

Also:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object obj_Flame:

Fatel Error: Can not create vertex buffer
at gml_Object_obj_Flame_Draw_0 (line -1) - <unknown source line>
############################################################################################

Rectangle Iinvasion by Aksami0 2013-05-17T08:04:00

You'll have to come up with some sort of a goal to the game as there is none at the moment.

At first I thought the green cubes were gonna infect the magenta ones as in Infectionator and I'd have to stop them from doing that, but no.

It doesn't work as a shooter either as the player character cannot be hurt for some reason.

So add elements to make the gameplay challenging/interesting and it'll become a fine game.

Priorities by hissssssssss 2013-05-17T18:40:00

TOTAL -526587
I fail at Zenism.

Minimaloon by StMatn 2013-05-04T19:23:00

The control method and difficulty level were to my liking.
I breezed through the game on one sitting (and life).

Luckily there is an editor so I can create some devilish caves to test my skill.

Nicely done.

Minimaloon by StMatn 2013-05-07T19:15:00

@StMatn
Well that would be quite splendid.
It's not that big of an inconvenience at the moment, but please do.

Pixl by JaviCepa 2013-04-29T18:53:00

+Nice aesthetic, reminds me of Edge.
+Randomization.
+2 player mode.

-Movement bugs a bit. The cube gets stuck on ground when changing lanes, especially when very big.
-Random paths at times impossible to pass.
-The paths in front block the view rather fast.

save the bunnies by arrowthefighter 2013-05-03T20:54:00

There should be less constants to make this work.

-Have multiple boulders fall down at the same time, with variable speeds.
-Distinct keys for all spike traps and/or different delays for each.
-Multiple levels and/or customizable trap positions.
-Moar Bunnies!

Peacemaker by Jod 2013-05-02T21:42:00

An enjoyable and well put together entry.

Nonetheless I felt like missing something vital as none of the choices I took seemed to make a difference in the end.

Then I rummaged through the source and Lo! There was a timer! I don't quite approve... although it suits the situation.

Coder by RealyUniqueName 2013-05-07T20:44:00

Well as a Tetris derivative, I'm going to have to compare it to the real deal. Tetris wins. Here is why:

On slow speeds the game is too easy as there is enough time to move every row optimally (this is partly true for Tetris as well), but when the speed rises above a certain, not that high, level, planning flies out of the window and a frantic disaster of a defeat ensues.

This is because to succeed in refactoring one would have to utilize the core mechanic which, in theory, offers limitless reconstruction of the current terrain, to a high degree.

Attemts at this are foiled by the keyboard controls which add another layer of complexity to the game.
You'll have to think about the incoming block, the current situation and the current position of the selection, in a too small of a time frame. This is made worse by the fact that every new block spawns into a random position with no indicator of said position.

So, there are too many variables to think about when time is nigh and one of them is even based on luck.

In the original Tetris one only needs to think about the next tile and to which positions it fits on the relatively slowly changing terrain.
This data can be attained with a swift glance and maintained vigilance over the terrain and speed, allowing for a more flexible difficulty curve and thus a more enjoyable experience for me.

Coder by RealyUniqueName 2013-05-07T20:54:00

An here are a few suggestions to boot:

To combat the issue raised by keyboard controls try the mouse. Dragging and dropping a row would work especially well on a touch screen, but it would significantly boost the speed at which a player can react on a mouse as well.

Gamemodes based on maximal refactoring, rather than block usage, timelimit or increased speed, would also help.

Earth Defender by Hellequin 2013-05-07T18:33:00

I see the appeal of the looping idea (played it through on all difficulty levels [potato was too much.]), but it's not perfect:

-Aliens start spawning immediately. There should be a delay and maybe even a countdown timer before the round starts.

-All aliens spawn at the same time. Why not introduce them in smaller batches of one to five? That way there could even be a larger overall alien count.

-Enemy pattern always the same. A completely randomized appearance or multiple prearranged wave patterns would spice up the gameplay.

Maxwell Rush by lanz 2013-05-01T13:01:00

Really challenging, but having to restart from level one every time got a bit tiresome.

The Sentient Cube by Omiya Games 2013-05-10T10:32:00

The post-combo version fixes a lot of the problems present in the original one, so good job on that.

My suggestion is to allow the player to adjust the rolling speed with the mouse wheel, because the movement is still a bit unwieldy when big enough.

WALK by Nonameghost 2013-05-02T19:20:00

What is beyond the colored keys?
Now I'm intrigued for more.
Good job.

H48SJ4, the MINIMIZING robot by Aifryz 2013-05-01T13:49:00

At the moment there is a whole lot of nothing of interest in the game, but it's a good starting point.

It could become an action game where there is a time limit or hostile entities trying to shutdown the player before she can minimize the computers.
Or.
It could be a puzzle game with limited turns or a certain order/color code to go about minimizing.

AbbrevsMaster by davidB 2013-04-29T19:42:00

+Music
+It's minimalistic alright.

-I'm not sold on the idea, but at least it's quite original.

Fire by killerstarbunny 2013-05-07T19:34:00

Good and simple design.

On the topic of control suggestions I advocate these, more or less, already mentioned ideas:

-WASD+MOUSE
Left clicking a tile close by picks it up, while right clicking on a vacant spot next to the player creates a block.

-WASD+SPACE+ARROWKEYS
Space changes the create/destroy mode, while pressing an arrow key either picks up or creates a block in its direction.

FFFFFF- by Metamist 2013-05-01T14:56:00

It's a competent platformer especially for a 48h job, but it has no original ideas of it's own, which is a shame.

Also:
-I found the music to be quite annoying and there was no mute in game.

-The first additional mechanic should reset every time you touch ground rather than after a timer, I think.

-Respawning could be manual, rather than automatic, so that one would get a better idea of what the character just smashed into.

-I think I found a potato as well.

Ginnungagap by kyyninen 2013-05-02T19:05:00

I thoroughly enjoyed the mood and theme of the game.
The simulation aspects are well conceived as well.
Also the sounds, while rudimentary, gave a distinct feeling of futility. Wood chopping everywhere! Pesky humans.

MiniCrawler by Nezzhil 2013-04-30T22:26:00

I gotta go with the others on this one. The controls really need tightening up.
Otherwise, music notwithstanding, it's proper.

Clone Colony Frontier by HuvaaKoodia 2013-04-30T20:27:00

Thanks for the comments.

I'm already working on a new extended version where I'll iron out the bugs and hone the gameplay balance, so more suggestions are welcome.

Clone Colony Frontier by HuvaaKoodia 2013-05-01T15:45:00

@Jod I didn't have time to implement many of the social interaction ideas, but I'm extremely interested in it, so that and other content coming up.

@Joror The idea is that feedback is based solely on the clones and Hal. So if they are messed up -> little feedback.
In this version the Clones don't talk that much though.

There are some things that work well on a spaceship and some not so much. I really don't want the game to be about combat like FTL for instance, but maybe as a additional part of sorts.

@Lerc Hahaa. I noticed that bug as well. I had a check in the code for that not to happen, but it was in the wrong place. Coding when tired -> great results.

@Tokken18 I've been looking at Opensource implementations of XNA recently. So hopefully in the future there will be Linux and Mac versions as well.

Clone Colony Frontier by HuvaaKoodia 2013-05-02T18:33:00

@Egonor & Kyyninen
I intend to keep direct feedback relatively low key, so that the player has to rely on the reports and possibly outdated data.
Obviously there will to be a lot more of said data available. For instance a clone might report about the current repair task and give a time estimate every once in a while.

ATM education increases skills faster than working, while recreation helps to decrease some negative attributes which affect relations and work rate.
Proper instructions and tutorial are a must though.

Clone Colony Frontier by HuvaaKoodia 2013-05-08T15:18:00

Thank you for the kind words people.

@acro There are a few bugs in the drag and drop system, but you should be capable of moving a clone from one occupation to another with no additional hassle.

Skware by tankete 2013-05-07T19:49:00

Enough criticism has been leveled already so I'll just say Well done.

1BtnBounce by Fnkee 2013-04-30T19:29:00

Challenging and fun.
Also the music is mighty fine.

Super Shooter by harleylaurie 2013-05-06T19:52:00

Sound programming effort but I'd say the game falls short of being compelling for a few reasons:

-The enemies start spawning in a tad too fast
-They spawn randomly (sometimes right next to the player)
-They shoot too often.

So rather than skill, one needs luck.

A few ideas:

-Have a spawn animation/icon in the spawn position for a few seconds before the enemy appears
-A few different enemy types, so that not every guy has the fast burst shot
-Slowmo ability

Physix-Breaker by Kashi 2013-05-06T20:13:00

The game isn't very exiting at the moment, as it's not extremely challenging, yet it takes ages to clear a single level.

I hope those weird twists you're working on are really ground breaking.

Basically just adding multiple OP powerups would suffice.

Ethical Spud by wrongcoder 2013-05-17T18:34:00

And it is possible to get to day 30?
I cannot manage it.

More options such as Marketing/Advertising to bring more customers (and protesters) would have helped to keep my interest piqued.

Save the potato! by loxo 2013-05-07T18:56:00

When it comes to fun this is my favorite so far.
Because of the fixed level layout it became extremely addicting trying to get into the zone by memorizing the past and reacting to the new.

A few alternative ideas concerning the mechanic popped into mind while playing (just don't change the game, ok):

-The potato could bounce from vertical walls, and only smash into horizontal ones.

-Rather than flying in the middle the potato could travel on the side of the passage and pressing space would just reverse gravity.

Ascent by HybridEidolon 2013-04-29T20:07:00

+Challenging core mechanic.
+Trippy backgrounds

-Jumping a bit sticky
-Moving the window around glitches the game (in a partly useful way I might add)

Path Breaker by kyru 2013-05-04T19:05:00

It's a simple working idea that leaves a lot of room for further development and iteration.

Two things annoy me quite a bit though:
-Sometimes a cube spawns very close to an adjacent wall and flies directly to it over and over again.
-Moving the mouse outside the game area while drawing a line doesn't create the line, but rather does nothing.

The first one could be fixed by:
-Setting the spawn direction away from the nearest wall
-Randomizing the spawn direction
-Spawning always in the middle of the wall

Flashpants by Egonor 2013-05-02T19:31:00

Quite an interesting theme for a game like this, I have to say, and the execution isn't bad either.
Shame about the timers though, but do keep at it.

mungeon by Tokken18 2013-05-02T19:43:00

Add a few simple mechanics, like spells and ranged attacks, with enemy variety and maybe even a boss or two and you'll got yourself a fine game.
The gameplay is a tad dry at the moment.

The Quest for Minimalism by Arkazon 2013-05-04T20:40:00

I would have liked a "Level Minimized" screen with Bob sitting down (on thin air) and eating some potatoes, before cutting to the next level.

Otherwise a pleasant puzzle platformer with a whole lotta levels.

Gut Buster Zombie Dash by zairon 2013-04-30T20:51:00

I like the design and how it plays, but, like said by others already, the execution is a bit rickety in places.

RogueOut by badlydrawnrod 2013-05-01T20:15:00

A splendid mashup although I have some gripes nontheless.

The paddle mechanics are a bit off. In my opinion the direction of the ball should be affected by on which side of the paddle it hits, so that controlling it becomes feasible.

Without this possible the classic breakout problem, trying to hit the last tile, becomes quite the task.

Randomized levels, as is traditional amongst Roguelikes, would have increased replayability.

The paddle and the ball don't move in the grid. What is this? The Future!

# by Kitch 2013-04-29T19:26:00

+Audiovisually pleasing.
+Well polished.
+Fits the theme spot on.

-Needs a slowdown button (movement or time).
-Could have a few additional mechanics for keeping it interesting.

Noise by Diventurer 2013-04-30T21:39:00

Here are a few pointers to make the gameplay feel less frustrating:
-Bigger initial hitbox, which shouldn't diminish overtime (like it does now). It could even get bigger when there was more noise around keeping the game flow intact for longer.
-The rainbow-thingies could give speed boost when in proximity without having to pick them up (relative to distance).
-The rainbow-thingies could be attracted to the player when close by.
-Stopping shouldn't reduce points so fast or at all, but rather make the darkness catch up faster.
-There could be a usable "light bomb" which resets the noise, but eats about 30-50% of points per use. (also with a cooldown timer maybe)
-Slowdown button (Less score, more control, noise catches up faster)

Samus Regrets by Tifu 2013-04-30T22:45:00

Most impressive.. A Metroid game in 48h and the idea is novel and fitting.
Also Super Metroid Nostalgia points awarded.

Less is More by FacticiusVir 2013-04-29T20:59:00

+Screenshot reminded me of MOO2
+Simple and effective

-The interface is a bit clunky.
-FPS oddly unstable
-No fullscreen support
-Weird resolution

Backwater Rider by Dyn 2013-12-19T17:58:00

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

As a fan of space exploration games this one is right up my alley. It’s overall a competent build and worth further development but the ambitious scope shows as some issues.

Star map:

Some stars cannot be clicked very easily (the hitbox seems to be a bit off). This makes it impossible to select stars very close to each other. Stars under the hud cannot be selected either. I also find it odd that in a 2d representation of space two stars close to each other can have wildly different distances from your position (e.g. 48 parsecs & 186 parsecs).

Gameplay:

The cave exploration is a tad bugged. Sometimes the droid flies through walls, doesn't go to the selected direction or is lost when there still is an unexplored direction to go.

Interface:

There should be a summary for acquired parts, fuel and money after the action turn. I found the automatically scrolling text to be annoying as it goes on too fast. I'd rather just have next and skip buttons.

World generation:

It seems the game uses a randomized event based system for generating the interactions in the galaxy.
This causes a severe discord between the properties of the planets and the events taking place there. It would be nice to be able to deduce the best choice of action based on the planets appearance and stats. For instance a planet with volcanic activity wouldn't have much sentient life on it and a planet with signs of an ancient civilization would always have ruins.

Easiest way of achieving this is to tie events into planetary stats. A harder path is to introduce more complex simulation elements into the world.

Let's end on some high notes.

The graphics are quite nice with a fancy galaxy background and moons orbiting planets on the planetary screen. The menus are sleek and functional as well.

Master Thief by Kareemroks101 2013-12-21T21:59:00

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

A fine concept, but gameplay, to me, is too simplistic.

Take some pointers from games like N, Mark of The Ninja and Stealth Bastard.

Predictable enemies which are relatively easy to bypass on their own, yet in combination with each other create interesting and challenging dynamic situations.

More interactions with the world (Doors, switches, airducts, traps, keys, robots... You name it) which can be tied to overall objectives (go there, steal that) or to sub-objectives (how do I get past this turret?, how do I open this door?).

A more refined and complex movement system (sliding, crouching, running, wall/roof-climbing, etc.) and/or gadgets (grappling hook [ninja rope], stun/emp. devices, smoke bomb, hacking device. etc.)

And possibly stealth, even if the main character is a master thief only in sarcastic sense.

Untitled Jam Game by HuvaaKoodia 2013-12-20T23:06:00

@archaeometrician Working on a beta. Might take some time though.

@Pixelfan Games & @JALgames Future versions will have instructions and rebindable controls. I promise you.

Alien Plant by internetpaulicy 2013-12-18T17:40:00

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

The controls have a few issues.
They should be rebindable and the gun could have autofire to spare my poor mouse.

The gameplay itself isn't very exiting after the thrill of flinging tiny people around subsides. This could be mended by adding some challenge, as currently it's relatively non-existent.

Have the enemy/human troops behave more aggressively by moving around. Mobilizing the airforce could also bring some dogfighting action to the scene to spice things up.

A Cup of Christmas Fear by Toby Simone 2013-12-22T18:54:00

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

Extra points for the mood. Really freaky non-Xmas vibes going on.

The mechanics at play need some work. If I can destroy a random amount of the zombies once every turn, what is the best time to do so? The beginning of the turn, always.
That's when they swarm towards me and using it later has no positive effect as the amount is random no matter what.

Another weird gameplay conflict is the fact that I need coins to win, but they can also be used for a short invincibility powerup.
Why would I ever use the power up then? The game is only going to get harder with time. Better collect 8 coins as fast as I can and leave.

Also the moment to moment gameplay revolves around kiting the zombies and running in circles. Not very exciting after a while.

Here are a few ideas:

-Have the amount of zombies destroyed by pressing E grow over time resetting the value when the power is used.
-Don't reset everything when a new turn starts. Just throw in more zombies from the edges of the screen.
-Have the amount of used coins increase the duration of invincibility or trigger a more potent power. (e.g. 3 coins -> invincibility, 6 coins -> destroy zombies on touch/make them attack each other/become invisible/etc..)
-Winning could be tied to survival (20 round to go!) or just scrapped completely (a little bit of winter depression eh!)

Watch Out for Bears by bakpakin 2013-12-21T23:13:00

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

In fact It's a very well polished game, apart from the hud text glitch and the audio assets.

Gameplay wise I find the adherence to the jam theme to be a hindrance. Having only one tool at hand meant that I exclusively used the berry bucket and dodged the bears with superior agility (a bear would catch a man in RL no doubt).

Another annoyance is the classic "Only one collectible left. Have fun trying to find it!" problem.

In short the gameplay should be more interesting in some way.

I suggest adding light and dark mechanics. Raiding the berries at night with a flash light, which attracts bears if turned on, only having to collect as many berries as you want, for a score, in a bigger forest would solve aforementioned problems. Carrying multiple tools is something to consider as well.

Light and Mirrors by Pantzar 2013-12-15T01:07:00

A neat little game.

I would have liked the gameplay more if the mirror could be rotated while the laser is on, but that would have ruined the lasers fired scoring.

And I know I shouldn't say this but there might just be a few too many particles.

Power Ball - The Cube Apocalypse by bananaAndGames 2013-12-18T16:29:00

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

The first two gamemodes are way too easy. I can survive in the second one for as long as I want thanks to enemies making too little damage and an endless supply of bananas (that's a bug right?).

On the other hand the third mode I'm a fan of. It's more hectic and doesn't suffer from the infinite bananas.

The highscores should be separate for each gamemode and they don't seem to be saved anywhere outside the application.

2 Potato or not 2 Potato by PsychedeliCanary 2013-12-18T17:55:00

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

Great music and funny surprising dialogue.
Tad short, fugly potatoes (they look more like nuggets).

ScubaBear by _Rilem 2014-05-01T14:21:00

The general level of polish and competence are worth repeating.

My major gripe is the lack of a map. Going to look for the last piece of treasure really didn't entice me enough after finding all the others.
Another point is separating the inventory into two parts: Items and treasure. It wasn't entirely clear to me, in the beginning, that only the first row gives me abilities.

Apart from that the game is also a bit uninspired.
It's a 2D Metroidvania with regenerating health out of all things! (it makes sense though, the player being a bear and all!)
Nothing really made me jump out of my seat, spewing out sentences like "Wow I've never seen that before!".

I'm just raining on the parade here.
Overall it's an extremely well done and fun entry.

Hot Diggity by DragonXVI 2014-05-01T14:54:00

A Motherload and Captain Forever mash up on steroids, I approve.

And now I've gone and player both of those splendid games again.

Not much else to say. Good work!

Cases by blackcode 2014-04-29T18:37:00

I've played a few games like these before and they are always a nice little brain puzzle.

This one is simplistic, but the only problem per se is the murder weapon. I think it's based on the type of noise and the location, but I don't think a real detective would jump to such conclusions with only hearsay.

I'd like to see a more complex version with figuring out personal relationships and other connections between people as well as some crime scene investigation to fix that murder weapon problem.

Some bugs/tweaks:
-Skipping/FastForwarding dialogue would be ace.
-Resizing the screen, while nicely rescaling the graphics, does break the gui button hitbox offsets.

Prison Digger by fingerspit 2014-05-03T12:08:00

Nice idea and solid execution, but one little change would make the game more bearable to me.
Instead of having to spam j to listen through walls the character could listen automatically when pressing/walking towards a wall.

Alien Infiltrator by HuvaaKoodia 2014-04-30T16:57:00

Thanks for the positive comments everyone.

I intend to rewrite the AI code specifically for this game, now that I have a few holidays, hopefully ironing out all the kinks in the process.
I'll see what I can do about the lag and speed as well.

Whether I do any additional gameplay code is up in the air at the moment.

Nothing to Declare by GarrickWinter 2014-05-05T19:59:00

The base gameplay is similar to FTL, so let's look at other things worth lending from it:

-Pausing and giving commands. This is a must. Currently the most effective strategy is to pick one item of the best yielding sort and move it around. Multitasking will constantly end in failure without liberal use of pause as shown by FTL.
-Race differences (faster/but weaker, slow/more menacing, etc.) also for the inspectors (using race weaknesses to your advantage [if the inspector is hydrophobic, put your stuff in a room with water. {your spaceship has a jacuzzi right?}])
-An outside world. It doesn't need to be a complex one. Just a node based map, where you move between planets, buy cheap, sell at a premium and try to avoid inspections, taxes and other such government meddling.

You have a good amount of additional features already lined up, but a few more won't hurt.

-Legit goods. Less profit, less risk of confiscation. Hiding illegal material withing them and other similar actions.
-Interactions with the inspectors. An inspector might call out and interview with the ship medic concerning hygiene, too bad she is currently trying to relocate some hidden goods. Maybe you don't even have a medic on board. Try to fake it or just pay the fine?
-Goods based on planets. Poor planets require basic goods and supply emigrants. Rich planets take in quality goods and drugs while supplying tourists as well as other shady characters.
-Moral decisions. Do you want to profit from selling guns to a war zone with high risk or do you rather haul in medical supplies for less income?

Operation: Adhesive Surface by osthekake 2014-05-13T20:31:00

Thank you. It was fun.
Or at least funny!

Gameplay-wise it's a point and click without any pointing or clicking. I would have preferred to use a mouse coupled with fast character walk animations as currently the keyboard movement is janky and doesn't add anything to the overall experience.

The web version also seems to suffer from severe lag which further intensifies the sluggishness of the controls.

The world and characters are interesting enough for future development.

The big letdown for me is the strict adherence to tried and true adventure game traditions. Take the crowd in the arc for instance. You can expend every choice over and over again starting the situation from the beginning for as many times you want. The crowd disperses, gets together immediately and they don't even seem to remember you from few seconds ago.

What I'd like to see, on the other hand, is interactions with consequences. In this example once the crowd has dispersed they don't come back. That was your chance to interact with them and now it's gone, hopefully you got what you needed. This way I feel like I'm an active part of the world not just a sightseer.

Obviously linear adventure game logic might not work anymore, but thinking outside the box is worth it every once in a while.

Tentacle Rails by javifugitivo 2014-05-01T22:31:00

Well this is the most unapologetic on-rails-shooter I've ever played and it's not bad!

The gameplay is hectic and fun, but I do have a few complaints.

The player hitbox is a tad too big. If enemies come outside of the screen, around corners or spawn right next to you there is too little time to react before they collide into the cart.

I'd prefer a secondary single shot attack which only hits levers, or something similar, as accidentally shooting a lever multiple times is annoying.

Health pickups or, I can't believe I'm saying this, regenerating health might also work to reward skillful play even more.

Depths Beneath by Stals 2014-05-08T19:34:00

There are many similar entries in this genre, unsurprisingly taken the theme of the jam, and thus far this is my favorite.

Top reason: It's not just a grind, there is legit challenging gameplay in here!

The good and the bad:

The quick diver skill is a great boost to cut down the early level grind time. I haven't seen something like it before in games like these.

I hoped the hook would be an active ability, but alas that was not to be. Some active abilities would keep the gameplay fresh once the upgrade system settles down to just offering plain passive buffs.

The upgrade system in itself is a bit basic. The items are tiered very similarly cost-wise so I mostly purchased them in sequence tier after tier. One way to change this and allow more player decisions in upgrading is requiring different mixtures of resources for every item.

In other words the level has varied resources instead of only cash: gold, silver, jewels, shells, starfish, you name it. Each upgrade then demands their own resource, meaning I can prioritize collecting those resources which give me the upgrades I wish to get.

Also good job on using xml files. Allowed me to decrease the hook upgrade costs to a more reasonable level. An automatic save system would be a nice addition.

Bug report: Using escape to close the upgrade screen spams the launch sound rather disturbingly.

Bouncer by TGL 2014-05-13T21:22:00

Nice satire, although I do prefer the final version.
Luckily, source code!
If only modern AAA games gave you the privilege to change things around.

Moletube by johnhackworth 2014-05-03T12:33:00

A solid proof of concept with a lot of potential.

Consider the following, if you decide to build an extended edition:
-Ability to remove stations and lines.
-Ability to see worker traffic paths, either by clicking on a building to see all in&out traffic (as in SimCity4) or by showing the paths of all current workers.
-Another possibility is to show average in&out amounts based on city blocks/areas on the map as an overlay of sorts (0 apartments, 25 workplaces in this area)
-Workers should seek nearby stations on a known radius (they might already do this but it's not explained/show anywhere)
-Ability to pause the game (just to be able to click on those bloody moles!)

Basically more useful and easy to understand information for the player as well as interface improvements.

Her Majesty's Royal Nautical Expedition by diemer 2014-05-13T20:43:00

I took the dive down with only 36 seconds to live.
I saw a huge tentacle and ran.
I got lauded as a hero!
Stupendous?

One gripe of note: Running out of air outside the ship does not trigger a gameover screen of any sort. Inside the ship it does though.

They Came For My Mushrooms by D2FXRayG 2014-05-10T16:19:00

A simple and effective arcade game, I like it.

The idea is that the faster you collect the shrooms the more you get as the worms gobble them up as well. It's risky though, as you become slower the more you carry. This risk versus reward gameplay is fine on paper, but falls a bit short in execution.

On later levels the amount and speed of the worms as well as the small level size cause most of the mushrooms to be eaten within the first second or so.

This in conjunction with the floaty, imprecise controls and the rather large player hitbox lead to levels where you only get to a few items in time before they are all taken. This is not very exiting (you still need to get to the ending door through the worm ridden land, which is kinda fun on it's own).

Possible fixes to the problem:

-Slower worms with a clear indication of their direction (head shape for instance).

-Worms don't eat the shrooms in one go, but rather it takes multiple times for a mushroom to disappear (a mushroom might change color every time a worm touches it). This way the player can prioritize and plan routes in advance.

-Worms don't eat the shroom at all. They move them from place to place. This would go well with a time limit (after which the shrooms rot and the ending door appears) and the ability to drop items you're carrying.

ResourceDivers by Rock48 2014-05-03T13:25:00

Disclaimer:
Cookie Clicker and its ilk really aren't my thing and if that's exactly the genre you aimed for feel free to disregard the following.

The moment-to-moment gameplay, that is everything between the upgrade screens, is overly simplistic and without challenge hence a bore.

Luckily there is a game already from which to draw inspiration out of called Motherload. If you haven't played it before, do so now!

In Motherload every time you go drilling there are a lot of things to think and worry about. Is the path up clear? Do I have enough fuel, cargo space and one-use items? Hopefully I don't accidentally run into lava!
Basically rather than being a mechanical exercise of grinding more materials it's compelling as you never quite know what to expect.

The good news is many of those features translate nicely to an underwater setting.
- Air acts as a fuel (not getting back to the surface before air runs out should have consequences)
-Pressure is like heat (you can go deeper if you want but it's super risky without quality equipment)
-Underwater creatures are the environmental hazards (Sharks... SHARKS EVERYWHERE!)

The upgrade system is rather neat already, with some unlocks hidden behind others, but they are mostly passive though. Some active abilities would freshen up the gameplay as well.

PEEL OFF THE PLANET by berunu 2014-05-16T21:10:00

A neat concept.
The only thing it really needs is a penalty for missing a target. Currently I managed to get a score of 52000 just by holding left and spamming up.

TIT for TAT by vicious_br 2014-05-06T20:19:00

The concept has potential, but the gameplay is sloppy and not challenging.

There is one surefire way to beat the game with minimal input.
Increase the fire rate of both of your towers to the max and collect money until your armour is nearly gone.
Then just spam the everliving crap out of the alien mother ship.

Why is this so? Let's have a look.

-The tower upgrades aren't well designed or balanced.
The most potent upgrade, that being fire rate, is also the cheapest!
Power is a nice bonus, but as it's quite expensive there is no reason to take it over fire rate.
Range on the other hand is completely useless as the weapons already fire far enough.
Accuracy would have been a better fit for that slot as the turrets seem to miss a lot.

-The economy is borked!
The shooting cost increases to a cap of 200, but the upgrade costs don't.
Especially fire rate should have a cost increase or other limitations.

-Too few gameplay decisions.
The only input turrets need is upgrading and as revealed before there really isn't any meaningful choices in it.
Shooting down enemy projectiles is only required if your armour is down and at that point
you have enough money to defeat the alien anyways so there is no decisions there either.


Those things said. Here are some possible venues of development:

-More in depth turret management as in many tower defence games.
The ability to build and repair the towers and turrets myself alongside upgrading them would go a long way in ensuring tactile gameplay.
This also mitigates the cascading failure effect caused by losing too many turrets on one tower allowing the enemy swarm to completely overtake it.

-More active abilities.
For instance shields and different bullet types and patterns.
The powerful single shot weapon is fine on taking down the mother ship,
but other offensive abilities would allow sending smaller enemies against the player base as well.

-No health bar only the eye, or vice versa.
Currently the health bar is quite unnecessary because completely losing a tower is basically a gameover as you profit is effectively halved.
I would argue getting rid of the eye instead.
This would allow for the whole ground to be filled with towers and remove the need for specific enemy lanes.
The alien could also attack other targets and send enemies in every direction.

Other possibilities include:
-Only the eye no hp bar. Defend and build around it.
-The alien only sends enemies or only attacks with projectiles.
-Different victory states altogether. Time limit, kill count, money amount, you name it.

Water Golf by Jaenis 2014-04-29T19:20:00

Very nice tech (physics and level generation) for 48 hours, but it's not much of a game yet.

SubFlight 2075 by JTJones853 2014-05-01T13:39:00

The Theme, mood and audiovisuals are terrific.
I really like how the sound becomes more and more intensive when accelerating.

Gameplay-wise I find the standard first person shooting to be unresponsive and a bit of a bore. I would like to see a submarine game focusing on exploration of sunken ships, ancient ruins or similar.

If you wish to stay on the FPS route, mouse controlled shooting would a a nice feature to have. Something similar to the control system in AquaNox 2, I seem to recall that was pretty fluid.

Overall an impressive early prototype.

Thirst by TeamPurpleDolphins 2014-05-02T10:32:00

The premise is compelling and well realized, for the first play session as least. I took the wrong direction right away and died a slow, painful death.

The unskippable dialogue and long intro started to annoy me the second time around. Now I initially went down the right path, but took a wrong turn later and died a slow, painful death.

At this point a third session didn't compel me anymore. I sort of, maybe, know where the underground caverns should, probably, be but I can't stomach to go through the slow and painful intro yet again.

Possible fixes:
-Skippable dialogue (it's an AI, surely I can silence it somehow)
-Slightly faster movement
-Slower water consumption. Currently if I'm in shadow with 39 degrees heat. The hydration level decreases faster than the body temperature, meaning that staying in shadow is less useful than moving on.

Technical notice:
The webplayer correcly calls lockCursor when starting the game (which is more than many other first person entries do), but if the page looses focus afterwards the lock is irreversibly lost.
Fix: Call lockCursor also in OnApplicationFocus.

COVERUP by SFBTom 2014-05-02T10:59:00

A solid turn based framework for a compelling game, but i's not there yet.

There is no interesting payoff linked to the original premise. The aliens just don't do anything for you to have a sense of urgency or danger.

The aliens could do any of the following things, if you let them out of your sight or don't reveal and terminate them fast enough.
-Kill civilians
-Kill agents if threatened enough
-Convert civilians to aliens
-Shapeshift into things (both inanimate and animate objects)
-Destroy/steal property (depending on their precise goals)

These changes would require a bigger map with building and other objects with additional mechanics in order to be effective though.

Epic Galactic Conquest by madk 2014-09-04T21:51:00

It sure is simple. I like it!

Few ideas for the PostLD version:

-Turn based gamemode. Points for using as few moves as possible.

-AI Opponent(s). Quite obvious, but even a dumb (random) one could make a big difference.

-Victory conditions. Even more obvious. You can get clever with these.

Also the world generator seems quite similar to mine. Hmm. Simplicity for the win!

Cosmic Conga by Almax27 2014-09-15T21:01:00

A great, simple, real time tactics puzzle game, that's the genre I'm going with.

The balanced version was a bit too easy for me so I gave the original a shot. Oh boy what a challenge. It took a good few dozen tries but when I finally cracked it the elation was tangible. The trick is play just like the AI except a bit faster!

What it lacks is difficulty options, preferably multiple tweakable values, for instance;
- AI decision delay (to mimic humans)
- AI decision type (random, tactical, strategic [Define those as you want])
- Game speed (how fast the resources are replenished)

Other possible avenues of development include, but are not limited to, multiple map types, scenarios or even procedural level generation (the buzzword of the day).

Good job overall. Hopefully you'll take this one a bit further. I will personally back your Kickstarter.

Void Space by HuvaaKoodia 2014-08-27T18:23:00

@vulpineblazeyt
Glad you liked it. Even in its current state.

@cstudios
The gameplay will be about choosing sides rather than playing as one of the factions themselves. Ain't gonna be giving anything else away yet.

I'll update this page with any new versions for now.

Void Space by HuvaaKoodia 2014-09-04T21:34:00

@invade

I though some people with wheel independent mice might have a problem with the zooms, but don't the + and - keys work either?

Space Pioneers by Vudu 2014-08-31T22:18:00

As someone who has worked on similar "indirect influence" projects I hope I have a few pointers to give out.

Actions

The actions of the player and the AI entities drive the simulation and shape the world.
Needless to say they need to be in balance.

-The main mechanic is simple and intuitive.
Unfortunately the AI cultures can also use it and quite often the allies fall into strife by creating multiple connections between themselves.
This wouldn't be a problem if burning bridges was cheap, but it's not. Another possible fix would be clear maximum amount of connections a planet can make. This would allow one to stop certain planets from expanding.

-The simulation is in real time, but a pause function would really help when trying to figure out optimal connections.
A turn based structure is also a possibility.

Feedback

It has to be very clear how your actions (and inactions) affect the world.
This doesn't need to be displayed as exact numbers.
Audio visual cues and text messages can also suffice as long as they provide enough information.

- In the beginning of the game the allied cultures are not self sufficient.
They will die out fast if the player fails to act accordingly. Thus inaction leads to rapid failure without clear indications of the cause.

- The exact values don't add up.
Even if an ally culture has the highest tech level and more than double the amount of strength and intelligence they are seemingly incapable of invading the enemy cultures planets.
This AI handicap effectively renders these values unusable as a form of progress feedback.

Effects (consequences, not snazzy graphics!)

The effects of actions have be powerful enough to push the state of the world forward.
If individual actions have too little effect the gameplay falls flat and becomes boring.
Too powerful actions on the other hand remove any nuance and make the gameplay too easy thus boring as well.

- Trying to uphold a diverse pool of cultures isn't worth the trouble. It's more difficult and doesn't seem to have any positive effects.
A clear energy boost would help as well as some cooperation from the poor sods.
Trying to bring multiple cultures to a high level of technology is at times impossible as they can only share neighbouring planets. A single Uranium source in the corner is only useful to a single culture.
As such the top strategy is the let the other cultures die which is a shame.

-Spontaneous culture creation/change is an intriguing prospect, but here it seems to be rather random.
A strong culture with a dozen planets might just change in an instant. More annoying are single planets amidst war zones changing cultures.
They are easy pickings for the enemy as they loose all the main culture benefits and protection.
If culture changes are to happen they should be caused by actions in the world, not by random.

Conclusion

Overall indirect influence is quite difficult to get right. It requires a lot of balancing and well made support systems build around it. You did a rather fine job and I hope you'll take the idea further in the future. This applies to every other developer as well. Indirect gameplay is a worthy pursuit.

Invasion by Ogniok 2014-09-06T11:48:00

Thank goodness for the config.data file. Otherwise I wouldn't have even gotten the entry to run on a decent framerate.
A draw distance setting would've been a nice addition though.

The game itself as a single player experience, unfortunately, is not very compelling.

The main reason is that the warrior and ninja characters while efficient at fighting have very little use for the
money they collect. Repairing the tower, that is it. The geek on the other hand can use money to build gadgets but
is so woefully inadequate at dealing damage that I never got around to building any of the more expensive (and useful) gadgets which is a shame.

These problems could be fixed in multiple ways, here are a few suggestions:
- Give the fighter classes some skills/abilities they can purchase.
- Give the geek a low power ranged weapon to make fighting a little bit more tolerable.
- The cost of repairing the tower should be proportional to the damage it has taken or even free but slower.
- Faster health regen or a station to refill health (free or low cost).
- More impact on the melee weapons, both as a hit effect (animation on enemy), but also as a momentary stun. This would give the player an advantage that is surely needed when the enemies pile up.
- Difficulty scaling to the player amount or a difficulty slider. Even with the warrior getting to wave 3 is quite the feat atm.
- Redesign blocking. Currently the enemies seem to deal damage after the complete attack animation rather than when the attack connects. Communicating the right moment to counter attack by having a block hit animation would do the trick.
- Less sluggish attack & block animations, for the player at least. The derps should stay derpy.

Universal Information Superhighway Connectivity Simulator 2014 by egdob 2014-09-06T13:34:00

Overall I enjoyed playing through the game, but balancing the stats is a bit arduous as the rating value is rather arbitrary for a few reasons:

- Why 16:4:1 ratio? Why wouldn't everyone just want to use the tier 3 exchange?
- Who is keeping track of this rating value. Is there a Universal Telecom Council who terminate companies that hit the bottom. Wouldn't threatening with termination be a more effective option. After all it's going to be real big hassle to deal with all the infrastructure and workforce left over from the termination.
-Why is there only one company in control of the Superhighway project. If this was the case there would be a project deadline rather than an arbitrary rating.

So keeping these things in mind here are a few suggestions.

The rating value should be indicative of how well the populace perceives your corporation and how willing they are to stick with your services.

Otherwise they'll change to a competitors service, driven by AI opponents.

The rating is based on:
- Connectivity (how many planets/people are connected)
- Speed (the less congestion the better)
- Price (you can set it to whatever you want!)

Upgrading hardware only increases the speed but has no other effect on the rating. Choosing between copper and fiber isn't really a question for most people.

Annex Kharon by headchant 2014-09-04T20:15:00

Brilliant entry. I'm very fond of the Hack-Rogue/Brough Genre and this is spot on.

Managed to find one slight error in the level randomizer though.
It jammed my ship in between 2 asteroids fields making movement (without the teleporter, which I didn't happened to possess) impossible.

MEDIUM by SaintHeiser 2015-04-27T15:25:00

The mood and the graphics are great, but the gameplay is a bit lacking.

* Creating an illusion, possessing a mind and shooting a weapon would all be much easier and fluid with mouse aiming.
* The beginning, before the player has any powers, is the hardest and most annoying part of the whole game. Consider allowing the player to restart in the room that they died in or just increasing the amount of checkpoints.
* +1 for enemies reacting to being shot!

Avian Days by esayitch 2015-04-21T21:39:00

I strongly urge you to focus on the puzzle side of the action-puzzle-platformer genre. The bread crumb throwing and using flocks of birds as as tools are very interesting mechanics that the twitchy, slippery, imprecise movement system and extremely fast death machines do no justice.

In other words, the ratio between figuring out what to do and pulling it off is lopsided.

On a more specific note, consider making the bird nonlethal from the get-go. The speed of the projectiles and the delay it takes for enemies to recover from bird attacks are also too fast. Controlling the bread crumb tossing with mouse would come in handy as well.

Alien Crab in the Ghostmaze by Xaychru 2015-04-25T14:51:00

I played through hell and got a lame congratulations screen, the screen shake gave me a headache, the extremely fast and slippery (ice! Really!) movement induced quite a few annoying mistakes... Anything positive? Some of the levels were somewhat enjoyable at least...

High points for presentation and humour though. Allocate a few more hours to game design in the next Jam, ok?

Viral Mutation Manipulation Simulation by HuvaaKoodia 2015-04-20T19:10:00

@jthistle
After cursing at Google Drive for a moment I remembered GitHub pages and gave it a shot. Works out of the box. Look in the project files section at https://pages.github.com/ if you're interested. Other than that, I'm out. Not an internet tech wizard me.

Viral Mutation Manipulation Simulation by HuvaaKoodia 2015-04-21T15:52:00

@hercludes
Thanks for the feedback. I certainly have a lot of work to do on the interface and bug fixing.

Viral Mutation Manipulation Simulation by HuvaaKoodia 2015-05-08T16:25:00

Thanks for comments everyone.

If the HTML5 webplayer is giving you any problems, try the desktop builds. I've updated them to version 0.32.

Vac n Smash by SteveSalmond 2015-05-01T12:43:00

"Well Done, you're a recycling MACHINE!"
What have I become!!!

ForgeCraft by Stals 2015-04-22T15:28:00

An enjoyable match-X puzzle game with a sleek matching mechanic.

The pressure created by the client requirements is a smart mechanic, especially having to maintain the optimal forge temperature, which forces the player to juggle between different goals.
It's a bit disappointing that once you've gathered enough money for the 'max 50' upgrade the clients cease to matter at all, as I can just keep mining resources on my own.
You could introduce a periodic maintenance fee or property tax for the shop in order to keep making money as a game mechanic.

The interface is clean and effective. I would have liked hotkeys for increasing and decreasing the temperature though.

Calling Mr. Blacksmith by Junber 2015-04-20T19:44:00

An enjoyable streamlined roguelike, now with crafting!
I wouldn't call the weapons very unconventional though, weird maybe?

The heavy reliance of RNG is the source of undoing here.
15hp left, spawned in the middle of monsters, closest health item not even in sight!
Though luck, try again? Not after the Nth time I won't.

The Nameless One by raulincze 2015-04-23T11:49:00

The main mechanic has a lot of potential and the self writing book and the setting are very mystical and intriguing.

A too ambitious of a project for 48 hours, yes, but I do that same mistake every time as well.

Nature's Assault by Ptolo 2015-04-20T17:54:00

I love world simulations. Yours is very compact and functional, that is to say, lacking in areas of interest.

Watching the world bustling with tribes and settlements is neat, but the absence of interactions between the tribes and the world wane that excitement soon. This also plays into making the player actions feeling quite powerless and redundant. Sure I can raise mountains and force whole tribes to relocate, settle and even fight, but as there is no personality to the tribes, apart from their names, the potential for drama is minimized. War! the most dramatic of human endeavours is rendered uninteresting by not knowing the participants on a low enough level.

Differentiate the tribes with cultural and racial traits, make them act accordingly and drama ensues.

Interface-wise hotkeys for the actions would be nice.
I also vote for map zooming. I know graphics scaling in Java is a bit expensive (this might have changed by now) but in a turn-based simulation that shouldn't be a problem.

Keep up the good work. The more simulations the merrier.

Navennni by leffe108 2015-04-23T20:49:00

I'm sorry, but I have to break it to you. This is not a game.
There are absolutely no decisions to be made in the whole affair. Here's the only thing you can do:
- Spam end turn until you have enough resources to build something
- Build that something
- Rince and repeat until you've build everything.

Being robbed changes nothing as the only thing you lose is some time. Real life time I stress, something which shouldn't be wasted.

The only reason Catan works is other players. Competition forces you to start thinking about how to spend your resources and which risks to take.

You've probably already guessed what I'll suggest.
That's right, artificial intelligence. Even a simple AI opponent that steals available land and roads would introduce decision making back into the mix.
It wouldn't be challenging to beat, but you've gotta start somewhere and I promise you it's not hard to implement at all.

Game Project Warrior by Maxxim 2015-04-23T18:32:00

Working on multiple projects at the same time would be ace. Needs some other way to adandon projects too, it's kinda weird to press the finish button and receive 0 monie$.

The simulation needs more depth as well. Employees need to sleep, eat and take some time off at times. Their morale is also affected by the task they're forced to work on and who they have to work with. There is a lot you can do with the subject.

GraviGone by Rialgar 2015-04-23T16:44:00

Delicious trick jumps ahoy! I found the gameplay quite enjoyable, but mouse and right stick aiming would make it even more so.

Stain by KaiseanGames 2015-04-23T21:47:00

You said it yourself, more design, balancing and testing are required. I agree with the assessment.

The main thing you need to implement is outside forces that change the state of the battle field. Enemies and gradual decay have already been suggested, both valid approaches. I'll throw in a few ideas:

-Color spreading. Colors will take over adjacent tiles with a certain probability and delay based on their location on the color wheel.
- Color bombs. A bomb appears on the a random tile, which explodes if even a single enemy reaches it, coloring nearby tiles a single color. It'll disappear after a lengthy period. Or an enemy appears with a bomb on top of it which will explode if the enemy isn't dealt with soon enough.
-Plain old randomization. Some of the tiles start flashing at times and change color.
- Global color effects. All the tiles will invert color for a time and then revert back.

I have no idea how these and other ideas balance out, but I'll leave that to you.

Cheers!

Robot Restores Nature by shrapx 2015-04-20T18:23:00

Let's tally up the points!

- It's not a game, as there is no victory condition among other things. (-1 pet peeve nitpick point)

No mouse controller water hosing action (-1 interface issue point)

Character movement is based on cardinal directions while the world is isometric (-1 perspective distortion point)

The tile graphics remind me of the original X-Com (+1 nostalgia point) for whatever reason (+1 that definitely counts point)

The plant growing mechanic is novel (+1 neat mechanic point) and visually pleasing (+1 pretty pixels point)

The mood is tangible (+1 suitable audio point)

Final score: 2 / potential infinity

Armory of W.A.T. by dallonf 2015-04-22T16:06:00

The second weapon is hilarious, but other than that it's a standard 2D shooter and as such I have very little to add.

You could continue developing this into any direction. I guess that's a positive.

Shaman War by k8n 2015-04-27T15:51:00

The combat mechanic is suprisingly novel and challening, but at the same time it's somewhat frustrating.

When an opponent is targeting you it should be apparent. Right now there is no indication of this which means a lightning bolt might just appears out of nowhere or there is such a cluster of shamans on the screen that making sense of the situation is just hopeless.

I advocate adding a few GUI elements:

1. An aura around the opponent who is currenly targeting you and/or a small arrow that points to them.
2. Their dance moves should be of different color and bigger and maybe even duplicated on top of your dance moves so that responding to them is more easier.
3. An indicator on who you are targeting. This might clash with the prior points so it's not absolutely necessary.

HYPER DELUX BINGO QUEST STORY by 23 2015-05-08T18:40:00

Pretty nice. Pico-8 seems like a charming little thing.

One gripe though. Whenever I restart the game (refresh the page) the numbers are all the same. The random generator seed number doesn't seem to change at all.

I have no idea if changing that is out of your hands.

Myland by Kardamom 2015-04-24T15:28:00

An interesting, well put together abstract propaganda simulation.

A few pointers on the interface:
- The automatic news feed adds to the atmosphere, but isn't extremely useful. Clicking on it should bring up a page with all the news visible.
- The start of the turn statistics popups disappear automatically after a second or two. It would be more helpful if I could study them for as long as I want and dismiss them with a button press.
- The population approval symbols seem to be the wrong way around. The progress bar goes from left to right, 100% meaning total approval, but the happy face is on the left at 0% and angry one is on the right at 100%.
- The pros and cons of each media type should be explained. TV, for instance, is the most costly so why should I invest in it? Does it spread propaganda to other nations the fastest?

Giant Insects by calrk 2015-04-23T16:18:00

The next time I go giant insect hunting I'll remember to bring a flashlight.

Tree Trunk Trooper by OmnipotentPotatoDEV 2015-04-20T18:44:00

The main mechanic is extremely unwieldy due to the fast and slippery movement system married with enemies attacking from non-cardinal directions. The directional keys just aren't made for to handle that combo.

How about playing as the tree flinging leaves with buttery smooth mouse control, raising saplings to act as turrets and recruiting rocks to shield your forces. That's unconventional as well.

When it comes to simple score-based arcade games gameplay-feel is king. Annoy the player and it's gameover man.

Clashy Clouds by NCBRdev 2015-04-23T11:21:00

Doesn't load on Firefox for me, but worked just fine on Chrome.

A solid arcade game, with some minor gameplay issues.

I would like the wind direction and speed to change in a less predictable fashion to spice up the gameplay. This would require a wind direction indicator though, so that planning where to go next was still possible.

Some of the pink clouds could spawn outside of the screen at a random interval, as currently there are very few of them and most of the time they are blocked by pollution and/or get pushed outside the area by the wind very fast.

It's a tad odd that while you have a functioning health bar the game also ends automatically when the pollution's gotten too severe. This is not communicated in anyway and comes as a total surprise before figuring out the magic number that the city pollution should't go beyond.

I would rather have the overall pollution have a periodic effect on health meaning that the player could easilly see how close they are to their doom, based on the cloud size and their health bar.

Pebble's Bakery by simon.parzer 2015-04-23T17:19:00

I would like to see a few minute timer on the shop portion of the game. Right now it's quite easy to keep milking the gullible customers for money ad infinitum without loosing a single roll.
In Pebble's world money buys you nothing, so that really isn't a good incentive to keep going. After the timer ran out Pebble could eat all the delicious rolls himself and gain a few seconds of extra time per roll for the baking section next morning.
This would also allow you to ramp up the difficulty on the shop section as the week progressed (or as you had more rolls to lure in hordes of people) making it harder and harder not to loose a single roll to the greedy customers.

Some use for the money would be nice as well.
You could, for instance, throw in a police officer who, if hit by an egg, would end the work day instantly and give you an expensive fine for assaulting an officer of the law.
Bakery upgrades as well, of course, but you probably have many of those already planned out.

Color Backfire by Kostyan1996 2015-04-21T16:11:00

Seems like a solid foundation for an action puzzle game, but I can't say for certain as the enemies stop spawning on the 4th level after dying and restarting.

Seismic weapon city destruction by tito2b 2015-04-25T13:45:00

The overall puzzle game mechanics are functional and even enjoyable, but there are too many user interface problems in the way:

- You need to work on your spelling and tutorial explanations.
- The timer messages aren't very nice. It's a puzzle game, calling your players slow isn't a smart move.
- A dragged bomb should be dropped when the mouse button is released not when the cursor stops moving.
- The escape menu doesn't block or pause the game and it's drawn under text elements in the game. The volume sliders are also quite hard to use.

There are a lot of levels, which is fine, but next time I'd urge you to work more on the interface making it extra smooth and easy to use.
If the user interface doesn't work you're going to lose most of the players before they get to the later levels to begin with, turning the effort you put into making them rather moot.

U no take Loot! by Orni 2015-08-24T21:42:00

A competent entry. There aren't enough hero driven tower defense games in the world.

Unfortunately the gameplay balance is a bit off here:
- The most effective trap is the spike trap. It always hits and does good damage. The problem? It is the cheapest as well.
- When the enemies get to the money pile they just stand there waiting to be killed. As such they aren't much of a threat even if they get to the end.
- Keeping the enemies back is way too easy. Fireballs can be spammed infinitely and dying is only a temporary stun. This is especially true when the money pile is in the end of a corridor. Just stand on it and spam away.

Suggestions:
- Enemies shouldn't drop money if they haven't stolen any. This way using traps would require more though as the money you start with doubles as your health.
- Enemies should run away once they have stolen some money.
- Enemies should be able to walk past traps they know of. So when the first knight dies on the spike trap the rest don't just mindlessly do the same.
- Less potent fire attack. Maybe with a cooldown period.
- A short period of time where the player can prepare traps and look at the map. It is kind of ridiculous that the dragon hasn't set up any defenses beforehand.
- More minions like the goblins. They are great.

Tactical Superiority by HuvaaKoodia 2015-08-25T06:13:00

Thanks for comments everyone.

@Sam Twidale
That is an unfortunate side effect of the Unity WebGL player being embedded into this site. Now that I think of it, I might be able to fix it. We'll see.

@aberdeenphoenix
Yes, you won!

@bclikesyou
The ground is most certainly unfinished. I mean, you can see the end of the world at the top as well.

The Congress of Monsterdom by Artylo 2015-08-24T20:04:00

I've only got one major complaint: the mouse cursor more or less disappears into the trippy graphics, meaning precise aiming is more difficult than it should. I suggest you add a custom cursor/crosshair to the game itself.

Other than that I like the premise, audio-visuals and even the gameplay, repetitiveness notwithstanding.

Shape-Shift Escape by keyboardmonkey 2015-08-26T20:11:00

A mercifully short point and click (I'm terrible at them!).
You should have used the shape shifting mechanic more. Couldn't the monster also turn into inanimate objects? Change size? Shape shifting is great for stealth. Not sure how you'd do that in a P&C.

Found a few bugs:
- The shape shift animation has a slight glitch.
- The guard at the security rooms says "hands off" even when the coffee has been spilled and while unconscious.

Writhe: The Thing from the Omega Sector by DragonXVI 2015-08-24T21:01:00

The audiovisuals are ace, the gameplay not so much.

To me it feels like I've seen this before. It's a sci-fi hazard based obstacle course and unlike other similar games there is no platforming, puzzles or exploration. This is a long way of saying there is no challenge. Kind of like a mix of N and Kirby, with no ability stealing and less dangerous hazards.

Here are a few suggestions to make the gameplay more challenging:

If you want to keep the slowly floating around and slashing things with tentacles mechanics, you'll need to make the adversaries much more formidable and rely on stealth to take them out. This would keep the stakes high at all times.

Another options is to go with a more action oriented model, but this would require redefining the game mechanics to include faster movement abilities and different kinds of attacks.

The current environment hazards play into both of these suggestions. They force the player to rethink their strategies based on the context. A group of enemies next to a few turrets require different tactics than the same group within an anti-gravity field.

Electro Magnetic Purge by Kuchalu 2015-08-25T21:26:00

Very cool concept and execution. Partially at least.

Technical foibles:
- You should lock the cursor to the center of the screen with the Cursor.lockState variable.
- There should be a key to toggle fullscreen. The right click menu just about works, except if you need that for something else.
- Fullscreen should be supported. At the moment the HUD is cut in half in fullscreen mode.
- The thruster sound is way too loud and annoying.

Design and gameplay:
- The first few enemies near the spawn are very annoying as they constantly shoot at you (and make an annoying sound to boot) and you cannot shoot back right away.
- This might just be me but I totally missed the fuel canisters the first time around as I was running away from the aforementioned enemies. They could be mentioned on the HUD alongside the other components.

Apart from these complaints I really like it, don't get me wrong. I'd love to see an improved and expanded post jam version.

Devil Love Cows by Praron 2015-08-28T17:07:00

The task becomes impossible in the end, but I guess you can't avoid the wrath of the Heavens for too long when farming humans and all that.

Overall a very nice absurd multi-genre game.

Yeti Scent by Nanolotl 2015-08-27T20:32:00

Pretty great this!
I died of starvation 5 meters away from my bride with the third skull in hand, brilliant!

I would play it again except for these few problems:
- Carrying only one item at a time. I can understand if a yeti can't figure out how to carry three items, but he does have two hands for a reason!
- The rabbit meat could have been slightly more filling and/or the hunger slightly less severe. There wouldn't be a single living thing left in the forest if yetis were this rapacious!
- The fade to black didn't quite work in full screen at least. It only covered part of the screen.

I'm telling you, brilliant!

Disturbed Mind by guldlock 2015-08-25T18:14:00

I was horrible at being a dictator... So now you know absolute power wouldn't corrupt me! Gimme, gimme!

Found a little bug. Spamming a speech button gives and error of sorts and ends the game abruptly.

Otherwise a solid effort, leans on trial and error too much though. Big points on presentation.

Disturbed Mind by guldlock 2015-08-25T18:34:00

Whoops! Disregard my earlier comment, that was meant for another game. Here's what I'll have to say on topic:

The premise is interesting, the execution a bit lacking.

The GUI would need some work.
- Clicking on an empty tank still brings up the "Talk" and "Execute" buttons.
- Clicking "Execute" kills all of the creatures. Not quite what I expected taken that it is an action directed towards a single subject. Maybe change it to "Approve" instead.
- Clicking a button that is over a tank selects the tank rather than uses the action.

Gameplaywize the "choose a subject based on description" mechanic works, but isn't terribly exciting after you've read the same descriptions a few times. It is also possible that two of them call me a monster, meaning I have no way of knowing which one of them is the target (if the third one isn't the target, that is)

Like I said, the premise is very interesting and the graphics support that. You'll just need to work on the interaction mechanics and GUI quite a bit.

Minotough by Knatt 2015-08-25T15:39:00

A simultaneous turn based 1vs1 fighting game is a compelling idea, but so far I have not seen a lot of success in the field.

The problem is randomness. If I cannot see what my opponent is doing, the gameplay devolves into a glorified version Rock Paper Scissors. Your game unfortunately falls into this category.

The only good example I can remember from the top of my head is Book of Mages: The Dark Times.

In that game you have 3 resources to worry about (health, mana and special) all of which are used to cast magic and defend against it. Both players take turns attacking and defending and the defender can see the attacker's move before reacting. Also the same move cannot be used twice in a row.

In the end the game comes down to figuring out what your opponent can do and how to use that knowledge against them to drain their resources. All the information is public so different kinds of strategies are viable depending on your character build.

You should try it out, it's a rather clever system.

Monster Truck Rampage by Denis347 2015-08-25T11:35:00

Any small faults the game has (The controls are slightly sluggish, the civilians don't even trying to avoid the monster truck) are more than made up for the fact that the police tactic for taking down a crazed driver is to just ram him and explode on contact.

Someone stole the Princess! by Donpastor 2015-08-26T16:49:00

A clean, simple roguelike.

I would have liked to see the following things:
- The ability to wait a turn.
- Different enemy types with varying dmg and hp.
- Challenge. At the moment all I need to do to win is to walk the shortest path towards the exit, bumping into any enemies on the way, and I don't even need to pick up any potions.

Rogue-likes have a lot of interactions and seemingly random events to create an environment that breeds challenging decisions.
See: Net-Hack, ADOM,

Another path you can take is the rogue-lite where a very tight gameplay design offers a similar, but less deep and random, framework for gameplay.
See: 868-HACK (freeware version: 86856527), Hoplite, Desktop Dungeons

The Baby Eater by sararyCow 2015-08-25T21:02:00

Goofy and fun, as much as child eating can be I guess.

The keyboard controls could be refined bit.
Pressing left, towards the monster, should eat, while pressing down, towards the floor, should discard.

At the moment I keep discarding babies on accident. What a waste!

WAYWARD by cowboycolor 2015-08-25T20:43:00

An audio-visually pleasing entry with competent gameplay. I like how you can avoid confrontation with the wolves for the most part by studying the environment.

There are a few technical issues though.
The trees have some serious pop-in trouble in certain areas. They disappear and appear while clearly on screen.
You can also exit the level in a few places and just walk into the ever expanding whiteness.

Tickle Monster vs Suits by dos 2015-09-12T20:24:00

Pretty great entry.
Kids who were tickled too much should have turned into clowns.
CLOWNS WHO HUNT YOU DOWN!

Ahem, the tickle monster.. they hunt down the tickle monster.

Oozin' in Space! by bclikesyou 2015-08-24T18:33:00

The basic gameplay is solid, but also repetitive. This is mainly caused by there only being one game mechanic (oozing) and the level consisting only of rectangular rooms with one or two spacemen each.

With a few more mechanics like jumping, dashing or changing shape (you don't need to hide in a closet if you can turn into an innocuous fern!) and more varied level design with multiple passages around the place and exploration (try Metroidvanias and Gunpoint for reference) these faults could be rectified.

I like the graphics and music (too bad audio isn't one of the rating categories). Overall a good job for a first go.

APT - Advanced Persistent Tabby by MagnusFurcifer 2015-08-25T20:56:00

Those pesky humans sure keep their laptops in the weirdest, inconvenient places possible!

Sounds like a job for Tabby the CyberKitty!

There should be an animated series set in this universe. It would make millions.... of GIFs.

Destroy The Love by Madsj 2015-08-27T20:05:00

My favorite game of LD33 so far. All of the mechanics just feed so nicely into each other.

It's all about collecting hearts, then the hearts turn into enemies, but you need them to advance and even to kill those same buggers, and then you jump a few too many times and you're out. Brilliant!

It is exactly the kind of quick thinking reaction driven balancing act that I like. The third level is a killer though. Hot damn!

A few non gameplay related issues:
- The graphics are crude. Many people only look at the icon and screenshots when deciding whether to play or not (even more so in a real marketplace).
- No web build. That's the second hurdle for many potentials players.
- 170 megs is way too much for such a simple game. Did you use uncompressed audio? I'm genuinely curious. Surely it's not just Gamemaker being daft.

Make as good a game next time, while pay attention to these technical issues and you'll have solid gold in your hands.

The Dictator Simulator by Simonaiso 2015-08-25T18:16:00

I was horrible at being a dictator... So now you know absolute power wouldn't corrupt me! Gimme, gimme!

Found a little bug. Spamming a speech button gives and error of sorts and ends the game abruptly.

Otherwise a solid effort, leans on trial and error too much though. Big points on presentation.

Xonatiuh by dementor561 2015-12-14T13:25:00

The presentation is great, but unfortunately in this case adherence to the theme is a hindrance rather than a strength.

Having only two buttons makes the gameplay very limited.
Staying alive on the harder difficulty is as easy as spamming the dash move.
The ability to jump and dash in mid air would have allowed for more variety in enemy attack patterns and made the gameplay more interesting.

Another victim for the button constraint is the gameover menu. The moment it pops up it closes down again because it uses the same keys as the game.
To be honest this could be fixed with a delay of some sort like a death animation, but with more buttons there would be no problem to begin with.

On other news, while there most certainly is a way to lose there's no way to win.
You could implement a highscore system based on the time survived to give the player a reason to keep playing.

Realm by Vadinci 2015-12-14T23:29:00

The presentation is great, the idea of an empire management puzzle game hybrid is also great, the randomization is not.

The main gameplay problem is not getting the right buildings when needed due to RNG. There are multiple ways to tweak this:

- Refresh all buildings rather then just those used.
- Refresh all buildings but one (the oldest one).
- Refresh all buildings except those that the player wants to keep.
- Allow discarding one building every turn.

There's also a bug concerning the building costs. The farm, for one, don't cost anything to build even though the card begs to differ.

Also, building a mine should not cost any iron.

Ecosystem by AtkinsSJ 2015-12-14T12:57:00

A neat cellular automata simulation. I especially like how seeds travel on water.

A few issues:

Water should even out horizontally a lot faster.
Right now it's possible to create a mountain of water, which looks a bit silly.

Turning a fully soaked ground tile into stone keeps the moisture level intact.
This means that the stone tile is blue, which is not normally possible, and a plant can grow on it as well.

Plants can grow through tiles above them.

Cacti can grow underwater as long as it resides on a stone.

The Crunch by HeyChinaski 2015-12-18T21:12:00

246! My old skills at the Super Sheep training level in Worms Armageddon finally pay off.

Super simple, lot's of fun. Good job!

CyberMayan by dx0ne 2015-12-18T16:19:00

That's some pretty programmer art you got going there.

The game mechanics are solid, like Pac-Man with puzzles. The two button controls are well implemented to top it off.

Too bad there are only a few levels; I would have loved to play more.

Arkanika by DrZanuff 2015-12-18T14:43:00

Surprisingly fresh despite the age-old inspirations (Arkanoid and Strika. Come on people, it's right in the name!)

Good job.

RITUAL by RGB Games 2015-12-18T15:03:00

As Bumblepie pointed out earlier, nothing happens if the player breaks the rules. The story is always the same no matter what the player does. What's the point of interactivity if every action yields the same result?

Some suggestions:

- If the player breaks the rules on the first day, the parents should scold and warn the kid of the dire consequences of misbehavior.

- If the player breaks the rules on the second and third day as well, the forest should not protect the kid from the bandits.

- Also there really is no need show the three rules on the screen at all. It's not difficult to remember them. In fact it would be more interesting if the rules were complicated and harder to remember causing reckless players to err accidentally.

Swarm Hunter by HuvaaKoodia 2015-12-14T15:09:00

Thanks for the comments everyone. It seems I'll have to tweak the controls and communicate better on how they work.

@SvenFranson
I tried opening up the source as a new project and it works for me. I'm using Unity 5.3.0f.4.

Swarm Hunter by HuvaaKoodia 2015-12-18T00:07:00

@alpha_rat
Thanks for the input. I'll certainly work on clarity and conveying the objective in less a tedious way in the Post-Jam version.

@intXparts
You're one of the few who liked the 6dof controls as much as I do, high five!

@SSJMetroid
Thanks, good recommendations. Mouse sensitivity is something I can most certainly adjust within the COMPO update rules. Progress indication I'll look into in the Post-Jam version. Rolling stays... I love it!

Swarm Hunter by HuvaaKoodia 2015-12-19T11:35:00

@nunesbarbosa
I had no time to implement in-game help unfortunately, the post-jam version will have it of course.

I reformatted the description a bit to make it seem less like a wall of text and easier to read. Still not cool, I know.

The theme is not reflected much in gameplay. The tree grows when the flies have collected enough nectar (don't ask me why) and a bigger tree is harder to defend against the mosquitoes. That's about it.

Skill Clicker by XtremePrime 2015-12-20T16:14:00

Usually I just break out the old automatic mouse clicker when dealing with clickers (or time wasters as I like to call them), but here even that is unnecessary.

The save file is a plaintext document. It really highlights the uselessness of the endeavor to jump right into level 100 on everything and notice that you missed absolutely nothing.

The one redeeming feature of clickers is uncovering new features (some of which require clicking, some of which don't) and hidden content (usually funny in some way). This one has neither.

You should invest in the payout for clicking. If a player is willing to mindlessly click away for minutes, give them something in return.

Another possibility is to take it into a direction where time (or amount of actions) is limited and the player needs to invest & manage their clicks (currency) carefully.

yaschiki by nuprahtor 2015-12-18T12:19:00

This is quite brilliant; the tone is off in just the right way. Unlike some, I do like the tank controls, reminds me of Fatal Frame. The reloading mechanic is interesting as well.

What I don't like is restarting from the very beginning, having to replay all the basic fights, just to give the boss another go. I nearly got it on the second run, but couldn't stomach going for a third.

Here are a few suggestions:
- Checkpoints, notably just before the boss.
Or
- Multiple pathways to the boss. Make the level into a bit of a maze where, if you know where to go, you can avert most fights.
And
- Less HP on the rotating four eyed beast. If every eye only took two shots, a skillful player could take that thing down with just one clip. That would be cool.

Zolander Bebop by ellipticaldoor 2015-12-20T17:10:00

The camera angles are cool, the graphics are pleasant as is the music. That's the good stuff.

The gameplay is silly in a bad way. I'm not sure if you have any "lore" justification for the space adventurer to only turn clockwise, but it shouldn't be down to the controls.

Many other entries have figured out novel ways to make two buttons count. Here's an example:
Button 1 - turn right
Button 2 - turn left
Hold down both buttons - move forward
Double tap button 1 - Dash right
Double tap button 2 - Dash left

ZORC by Andrew Deem 2015-12-15T20:50:00

The audio is soothing, I give you that.
Everything else.... Oh boy.

This doesn't work as a game because there's no way to lose.
This doesn't work as a puzzle because there's always only one thing to do at any given time and the two actions required to do that are obvious.

Here's a short example:
There's a locked blue door to the right and a blue lever to the left.
What to do?
There's only one thing to do -> hit the lever.
Which two actions to choose to do just that?
It's obvious -> Go right action & Activate lever action.

Every level is like that, apart from the "guess the two actions required to activate the exit" level, which is not obvious, yes, but rather arbitrary.
When it comes to puzzles arbitrary is even worse than obvious.

To make functional and interesting puzzles you need to:
- Have more than one possible action to do at any given time.
- Have a system that encourages thinking about which actions to do to solve the puzzle, rather than spamming every possible action.

Keeping those things in mind, here are a few things you could try out:
- A variety of interactable objects in the levels. Every area should have multiple levers, keys, hazards, doors, etc.
- The objects could have interconnected effects e.g. opening a door creates a hazard somewhere else.
- Limit the amount of times the player can change the two button actions, this forces them to think carefully about their choices before acting.
- More actions e.g fly, shield, dash, teleport, shape-shift, travel back in time, etc. Go crazy with these.

ZORC by Andrew Deem 2015-12-16T12:30:00

@Andrew Deem
Fair enough, I made my own assumptions there.

I'm going to open up a can of worms and delve into definitions. Historically speaking there is no such thing as an objectiveless game. Every non-digital game has a way to win and a way to lose. The usage of "game" as an all-encompassing short-hand for all forms of interactive digital media is an unfortunate side effect of language usage, i.e. laziness.

It is useful to use precise language. I, for one, would not have made these assumptions about your title if it was labeled as an interactive short story for instance.

Here are some labels I use for all kinds of interactive digital media:
- Digital Game (rule-based system with objectives which requires decision making to win)
- Digital Puzzle (rule-based system with a predefined solution which requires logical deduction to solve)
- Interactive Simulation AKA Simulator (rule-based self supporting system which can be interacted with. e.g flight simulators, first person walking simulators, etc.)
- Interactive fiction (general purpose term for interactive forms of fiction)
- Interactive movie (type of interactive fiction)
- Interactive story (type of interactive fiction)
- Interactive short-story (type of interactive fiction)
- Interactive poem (type of interactive fiction)
- Interactive multimedia (when in doubt this one always works. It is very general, but also not misleading)

As for the examples given here's a break down:
- Stanley's Parable - Non-linear first person interactive story.
- FEZ - Digital puzzle
- Thomas Was Alone - Story driven digital puzzle

Plantagone by Gins 2015-12-24T00:27:00

Checkpoints would be a good addition with such slow movement speed and uncontrollable swinging. I got to the level with spike balls and elevators and didn't feel like replaying after dying right before the end.

Graphically well polished, the physics are also sleek. Overall a good job.

Deflext by Adam Gould 2015-12-15T23:34:00

The game design is perfect.
The music is perfect.
The difficulty is nearly perfect...

Completing a level makes me feel like a master and the next level makes me feel like an apprentice again. That's how it should be.

Some of the fireballs are BS though.

I got to level eight and that white wizard on the left side sure loves to aim right next to the hilt. Deflexting a shot like that is a crap shoot. Is it going to land on the left side or the right side of the hilt? Who knows! The angle of the projectile is too steep to parse in the heat of the moment.

Another needlessly unfair shot is one targeting the very tip of the sword arc. It even seems that those shots don't hit the sword at all, but that could just be a sore loser talking.

I'd suggest you designate the area around the hilt and the area at the very end of the sword arc as a no target zone.

Those are some mean wizards, but even evil has its limits!

Still, loved it and I will keep trying to crack that black wizard a new one.

Eda by alpha_rats 2015-12-17T13:13:00

For a relaxing procedural bonsai tree generator this is quite good.

However, right now there's nothing interesting to do after creating a pretty enough tree. Here are a few ways to make it more engaging, if you are up for that:

You could make it into a simulation by adding in elements like water and nutrient requirements; insects, both useful and harmful; and environmental changes such as humidity and temperature. This, in itself, would be compelling to watch for a while (similar to what Mountain did, sort of).

You could then make it into a game by giving the player tools to maintain and shape the tree while it grows. Using the right tool at the right time would differentiate between winning (having a resilient, beautiful tree) and losing (having a dying, pest ridden nightmare).

Technical issues:

- The hit boxes on the branches seem to be a bit off. It's quite hard to make specific smaller branches grow due to this.

- The web player still has console errors, as pointed out by others.

- The Data folder in the windows version has to be renamed in order to work, which is kind of a hassle. Even then it only works with the x86 exe, not the x64 exe.

Legendary Legionnaire Massacre 2 by banana4life 2015-12-19T12:22:00

I really like the real-time swarm strategy genre and this one is a good addition.

The (alien) graphics reminded me of Infested Planet (a great real-time tactics game) while the gameplay is closer to Eufloria (the quintessential swarm strategy game, for me at least.)

Some suggestions:

- Restart button and/or a back to main menu button.

- Optimization. Spawning hundreds of unit at once when moving them causes lag even when using the standalone player. There are multiple ways to fix this:

* Having one unit represent more than one soldier (the super-unit idea you mentioned.)

* Object pooling i.e. reusing the soldier objects so that they don't need to be instantiated again all the time.

* Spawning units one (or a few) at a time until all of them have moved. This requires some logic changes so that you cannot send the same trooper twice, but it's doable.

I would love to see an optimized post-jam version.
No pressure!

The Lost Wanderer by The Vall 2015-12-16T13:29:00

Disclaimer, I've never been a fan of mazes.

To pass a maze all you need to do is to visit every area once and eventually you stumble upon the exit. The challenge thus is that of memorization.

The problem is that the maze looks the same all across the level. This makes remembering which part of the maze you've already visited a pain. This frustration is multiplied by the ever rotating camera angle, which makes it even harder to remember which way is which.

Having some landmarks and tileset variation would help quite a bit.

The breadcrumb idea proposed by jackrugile is also fitting, we are talking about mazes after all.
This would require an additional button however, which is forbidden, so here's a similar proposal.

Have the player character unspool an infinite ball of yarn, leaving a trace where ever he goes. That would indicate which areas are all ready explored and also create a new aspect to manage. Walking around all willy-nilly would leave a tangled heap of yarn which is hard to parse.

Winter Wilds by Bastienre4 2015-12-22T12:45:00

Overall a good entry with some technical hiccups and loose design.

Issues:

- The level has some invisible walls which glitch the movement of the entities. This is most prevalent near the edges of the map.

- Animations sometimes don't blend properly causing entities to slide around and such. This could be due to the "Has Exit time" variable in the Animator.

- The hunter is a bit lame. It too easy to run him over and then notice that you cannot kill him. I'd change him to always spot the wolves way in advance (he could have a dog that starts barking or just keen eyesight) and then start shooting with his weapon. This way you could kill the hunter with a big enough pack, but you'd end up losing a few wolves.

- The pack mechanic is a little arbitrary at the moment. Why do you get a new wolf when catching a deer? I would start the player off with a big pack and have a few stray wolves patrolling the level who join you if you find them. Losing wolves will have a bigger impact if it is harder to raise and maintain a big pack (more wolves require more food).

- More survival mechanic would be nice, for instance finding shelter when a blizzard comes around. There are a few winter survival simulators out there from which to get inspiration.

Sushi Roll by adsilcott 2015-12-24T11:02:00

A well executed and polished entry. There are a few issues however:

- Sometimes there's a cat right after a tree or right in front of a tree. In these situations there's nothing you can do to avoid dying or slowing down so much that you're caught. You should make sure that cats are not spawned in such places.

- The chef should slow down when traversing steep hills. Right now if he's close by when going down such a hill, he'll run down faster than the fish can fall and waits there to catch the fish.

- A restart hotkey would be ace.

Hyperdemocracy by Dreyan 2015-12-18T13:47:00

It's an interesting dystopian setting for interactive fiction, but at the moment it's not very interactive.

The only interaction, the voting, has no effect. This is to drive in the point that a single vote alone has no power, I presume, but I inferred that from the chat messages alone so what's the point?

The one motion where a single vote does get a reaction from the chat is also scripted to always have that one vote no matter what I choose, why take a way the only vestige of agency?

That's one thing I really dislike about this kind of interactive fiction writing. It's all a smoke-screen easily revealed by replaying with opposite choices. Reading this as a novel or a visual novel would have given me the same content in a more compelling form, i.e. not as a slow chat drip feed.

Some suggestions:

- Make those few close-call motions matter. Don't force the outcome.

- The moving around bit is completely unnecessary and could be replaced by an image of a room where clicking the computer would start voting, clicking the window would look outside, etc.

- Come up with more ways to interact with the chat and people outside the chat, after all that would totally happen in this kind of world. Branching dialogue trees, hazy pattern matching, relationship simulations... There are a lot of tools to include meaningful interactivity.

earth defense by wavegunner232 2015-12-16T13:00:00

The basics for a wave defence game are there, but the execution is far from inspiring.

Here are a few suggestions:

- Emphasize precision aiming over spamming. It would be quite nice if the amount of enemies was smaller and the bullets were slower meaning the player would need to lead the target a bit. This would play well with the movement of the moon, requiring small aiming adjustments based on the current position.

- Attack waves. The harder difficulty is, quite frankly, impossible because the assault never ceases. If only one group of enemies appeared at a time, even four attack directions would be manageable.

- More enemy types. Faster enemies, armored enemies, evasive enemies, partly invisible enemies, etc. Combining enemy types with different wave compositions would give you a lot of options to add variety and difficulty to the gameplay over time.

Lightreach by cadaeibfe 2015-12-22T12:55:00

A good puzzle mechanic with solid tutorial progression. All it needs is more levels and some indication on what those switches do. Trial and error quickly becomes a bore.

Homeworld by Bumblepie 2015-12-18T15:16:00

I concur with many of the prior comments, having only one button for movement makes is needlessly hard to aim.

Shooting could be automatic leaving both buttons for movement. In this case the weapon power-ups should function based on a timer rather than ammo.

One of the weapon power-ups does nothing. The laser and three-way shot work, must be the last one then.

Soup by utgarda 2015-12-20T16:52:00

I've always liked cell-agent simulations and the idea of indirect control. The main challenge when developing games based on these attributes is creating interesting and compelling gameplay.

The main problem here is the "neutral" purple cells. No matter how actively I keeps spawning fighter cells, sooner or later, one of the big ones is going to appear off screen and hit my base or the enemy base.

Losing like that is infuriatingly random and winning like that isn't an achievement in the slightest.

I feel relaxing the two button limitation and allowing the player to choose the cell spawning direction would go a long way in alleviating this issue.

You could also try to redesign the purple cell to act in a different role, for instance not as a menace but rather a small hindrance in the beginning or as a tactical obstacle between your base and enemy cells.

Growing Gordon by XbooperxdX 2015-12-14T14:59:00

You managed to use both themes which is laudable, even if the growing mechanic only serves as a time limit.
As such it's a shame that imprecise controls and faulty hit boxes kill any enjoyment to be had here.
Platformers, particularly endless runners, live and die on those faculties.

Most of my deaths were due to the aforementioned issues which makes starting all over again, every time, even more aggravating.
Checkpoints at the start of each level would at least allow people to get though all the levels.
Perma-death is not a useful feature without randomization, challenging mechanics or both.

A restart from checkpoint button would be a nice user interface improvement as well.

Phantom Cell by Suui 2015-12-17T16:57:00

The gameplay is good fast paced fun.
The music is also great. I'd like to know the artist and the song.

In other games I've seen with a similar radar mechanic the camera and the radar follow the player character. This combined with a level that wraps around the edges gets rid of the corner problem.

Astel's Journey by Dasky 2015-12-21T14:22:00

The constant stuttering killed it for me. It even crashed once. Get these technical problems sorted out and you have a foundation for a solid space game.

Space Exterminator VS Shape Shifters! by OrangeeZ 2016-04-22T17:33:00

This is one of those titles. The idea is marvellous, but the design is a bit all over the place.

First the good news; the presentation is great. The shadows need some more work, but that's about it. The atmosphere is excellent as well.

Unfortunately the gameplay clashes pretty bad with the simulation. Hunting down the enemy is arduous, random and finicky. Here's why:

- Only one weapon charge at a time. Why would anyone create a weapon like that, let alone use it against a menace like this? Just give me an assault rifle or a shotgun. Do they still make those in the future?

- The shapeshifter can move though vents. A cool feature on its own, very Alien, but it makes the enemy pretty much impossible to eradicate effectively (which is what the Exterminator is supposed to be good at!)

- Different departments of the ship control different parts of the ship. Once again a cool idea which makes sense in the setting, but in its current state renders the game impossible to finish. The sonar is your only chance of locating the enemy, but it's gone in a jiffy (the guys in security seem to be incapable of defending themselves). All doors locking down with the bridge takes the cake though.

These problems are relatively easy to design around, so no worries:

- Add more weapon charges and a melee attack just in case. The exterminator is supposed to be a tough SOB. The fact that you cannot be everywhere is the problem, not crappy equipment.

- No more vents. The shapeshifter's special ability to turn into any object should be its only ability. If you start shooting up the furniture in a room, all (or most) shapeshifters will run away from the room possibly attacking civilians as they go. They only fight you when cornered. Eradicating the enemy should be easy, figuring out where to shoot and what (and being ready to deal with the consequences) is the problem.

- The sonar should not go down with the security department. Maybe they could have camera access and give you hints whenever they see the enemy move around instead. This would be a nice bonus, but losing it is not the end of world. Another possibility is to make them patrol around with guns. A bit of help goes a long way.

- If the doors lock up there should be a manual override (or a blowtorch) you could use to get through. Doing this is very slow to balance it out.
You should also be able to request the bridge to lock down doors to quarantine areas (if the bridge is functional, that is). The downside is that enemies locked into a room with civilians tend to kill said civilians with ease and the room cannot function while locked.

- Less shapeshifters, more civilian activity. The enemy is willing to wait for the right movement for as long as needed. With people walking about, working, eating, etc. there are bound to be many avenues for the beasties to go for the kill. Stepping or sitting on a shapeshifter is a death penalty of course.

With chances like these the gameplay becomes much more manageable and, dare I say, interesting. After all games are about decision making so choosing which areas to secure first and how to do that become the key questions.

I love ideas which elicit lots of analysis. There's potential in this one, so I hope you continue developing it.

OGLA by egos 2016-04-29T14:09:00

A cool simulation. The game is not that interesting, but that doesn't really matter now does it!

Great job.

Operation SHIFT by SiM2SiM 2016-05-07T11:07:00

Exceptionally polished presentation, but mechanically underwhelming. I got a strong case of "Been there, done that".

The biggest issue here is the lack of thematic exploration. You could have gone with shape-shifting abilities, weapons, enemies, environments; there are so many options. Yet here the theme is only seen in the backstory blurb, which is to say not in the game proper. Disappointing.

Then again, maybe you just wanted to create a simple game that feels good to play. Who am I to judge.

IT Ninja by Brian Mayberry 2016-04-29T14:02:00

I'm glad someone had the same idea as we did. Shapeshifting + stealth is such an obvious mix.

Good job on the graphics. The controls are also responsive, even the dreaded click to move.

With more levels and audio this would be excellent.

shape shift tycoon by numero15 2016-04-19T11:36:00

Neat idea and pleasant presentation, but the strategy and management aspects are lacking.

All you need to do is to spend money building new "machines" based on which type you have the least. Even then there is no optimal strategy as you might just get unlucky with the randomizer throwing 5 squares at you in a row.

Here's what I'd change, if I were you:

- Rather than walking away immediately when there is no vacant machine, the shapes could stick around and wait. Problem is, after a short grace period, they get annoyed and your reputation starts slowly going down based on how long you let the shape wait.

- You can choose to dismiss a waiting shape, but the reputation cost of that is huge and scales with how long they have waited already.

Bonus ideas:

- Multiple like minded shapes increase the reputation cost of waiting (you are clearly discriminating by not having enough machines of certain type!)

- Some shapes are VIPs (VIS'?) which further augments their reputation cost (both negative and positive) and payment amount. As such dismissing a non-VIP shape already undergoing treatment might just make sense (that also has a reputation penalty, but the media doesn't care about nobodies that much really)

- The media. After every level there's a news report about your business practices. Unethical treatment decreases your starting reputation in the next level, but you also keep your (ill gained) money to balance it out.

- Enough negative reputation will attract hooligans and bombers to your "clinic". You can hire guards to deal with them.

- Competitor clinics will take your customers especially if your company is mired in controversy. This can be offset with aggressive advertisement campaigns and slander.

- You can hire lobbyists and utilize blackmail to influence the political landscape which might yield benefits and tax cuts.

- If all else fails cut quality, globalize and evade the law through loopholes of vague legality.

I'll stop here, this is getting out of hand...

Maelstrom Mayhem by OttersDen 2016-05-05T15:29:00

Absolutely amazing stuff this one, I'm hooked.

Can't find anything to complain about the gameplay. About the only bit of criticism I can think of is the use of the default fuzzy particle texture. It doesn't really fit the otherwise sharp and distinct art style.

Now excuse me, I'll be going for that highscore...

Maelstrom Mayhem by OttersDen 2016-05-07T16:07:00

Finally did it! And loved every round.

I did find one rather serious bug though. If you're green and happen to attack just as you're going to turn blue, you will end up killing yourself. This happened accidentally rather often, even after noticing it.

The Black Crystal by Horsed 2016-05-01T08:08:00

Visually striking and distinct, the audio is also great. On the other hand the gameplay is very basic and thematically you didn't get much out of shapeshifting.

I would have preferred shapes with varied abilities allowing the player to traverse and interact with the environment in different ways. Maybe the entities in the world could even change their behavior based on certain shapes.

Another point is lack of direction. I only figured after looking at the source that you are supposed to enter the field of anomalies and not avoid it as advised. Oh well.

Shpaceshifpt by crucknuk 2016-04-19T13:14:00

The idea is not bad. A bit cliched maybe, but it fits the theme. The presentation is ok, although one of the rooms is super bright ("Hurts my eyes" bright). So far so good.

The controls are a nightmare though. Finding the right shape, rotating and properly lining up the ship are all fiddly, which adds up to a royal mess.

Here's one way to fix the issue:

- Constrain the movement of the ship to the same grid that the randomized walls use.

- The IJKL keys should change the shape rather than the rotation.

- Rotation is handled with U & O then or you could just remove it altogether.

- Experiment with the grid size. 3x3 grids might translate to snappier gameplay. With a smaller grid the ship can be accelerated to much higher speed as well.

- The invincibility powerup should not be time based but rather have an armor value. Say, it breaks immediately after three walls. At the moment it sometimes stops right before a wall, resulting in an unavoidable collision.

Keep at it.

Revamp by tayl1r 2016-04-19T10:34:00

This is hardly a mistake! The beginning is a bit tough as the place is littered with spikes (that second jump in the first level). A few more checkpoints in the first level wouldn't go amiss either.

Now, the two one-room challenges in the second level are great. You really need to master the controls and abilities to get through those. Hungry for more (blood)!

Noble Sacrifice by Kharza 2016-04-23T10:22:00

I applaud the effort of trying to build an ARPG in 72 hours, but that's not so say it's a good idea.

I'm not going to criticize the entry as it's unfinished. Rather I'll give you some pointers on rapid development based on the timelapse and the postmortem.

- Smaller scope (features? kill them!). In this case 3D world & graphics, real-time battle system, inventory/loot system (with GUI) and audio creation/implementation turned out to be too much to bear. Rule of thumb: there should only be at most one system/feature you are unsure of, preferably none. Having made all sorts of systems before and being able to reuse knowledge, code and assets from previous projects is a big bonus (which only comes with experience unfortunately)

- The most important thing with a tight deadline is to have a fully (80% at least) functional prototype ready at the half way point. If you can't achieve this either the design is over-scoped, you under-performed or external forces ruined everything (power outages and the like, you know the stuff). Cutting features and focusing on bringing the prototype up to speed can still save the project, but it’s not going to be easy.

- Creating and implementing graphics should start after the prototype is finished, not one moment before. Up until that point everything should be using temporary "programmer graphics" (i.e. default cubes and spheres). There's no need to create temporary graphics that sort of resemble humans/animals/etc. They look just as bad as cubes (maybe even worse) and take much more time to slap in.

- Audio last. If the main output method of your entry is not completely audio based (which is usually the case), then audio is your last priority. Creating audio yourself also eats up more time than just downloading some off the internet. The jam rules allow this and it is much faster. The internet is full of royalty free sound effects and music. Researching a few good sites before the jam is beneficial.

- Teamwork is a big boost. A well managed team can pull off truly great things (this is a skill of its own, of course). Teamwork also allows to parallel process tasks. If someone only wants to work with audio, they can do that from the word go (and it’s not away from the programmer’s time). Basically some of the above rules can be circumvented with more hands on deck.

That’s about it, hopefully this advice is helpful. Keep at it and you’ll do great!

Shmupshifter by blackbird806 2016-04-23T13:14:00

A fun little shmup, I'll give you that.

The jump from medium difficulty to insane is very steep. I would like a difficulty setting where you do die from one shot, but the enemy patters aren't quite as insane.

TRUMP: Political Shapeshifter by Brice 2016-04-19T12:43:00

I can't believe there are only two Trump parodies in the whole jam (and the other one is about reptilians...)

Great presentation, great message (political elections are most certainly a game). Using real quotes is the masterstroke here.

My only qualm is the old-school Unity web player, which many browsers don't support anymore. You should look into the HTML5 WebGL build option.

SEMILUCID by curtamyth 2016-04-30T06:21:00

"Watch out, nightmares of my past, for soon I will become a beautiful butterfly of DEATH!" Now that is a high concept I can get behind. Unfortunately the outcome is a bit hit and miss every step of the way.

The effects are fittingly rather trippy, but the overall quality of the pixel work is sloppy. The nightmare eater sprite is an exception, a really well drawn and designed piece of pixel art that.

The audio is nice, apart from the transformation music (hunting down nightmares). That didn't click with me for some reason.

To gameplay then. It holds up for the first few levels, but after that the cathartic power trip becomes more of a chore (bigger levels multiply the issue). You could mend this by making the second form vulnerable to some of the harder enemies (who shoot projectiles), meaning you would still have to think a bit.

Procedural generation is an effective idea, but, as many have already pointed out, the algorithm does like producing very tight corridors all around the place. Those features don't really support the enemy dodging mechanic. The trinket placement is also very random, sometimes they are right next to each other.

Overall a great job with some small issues.

Doppel City by Green Soda 2016-04-23T14:22:00

Highscore! Noice, except the highscore TextField only takes 8 letters! I would have needed a few more.

In the end the jittering issue spelled my downfall as well. No way to distinguish between shapeshifting and plain old smushing & spazzing out on the streets.

The camera rotation mechanic also raises a few questions. Where are you sniping from? A helicopter? A drone? We may never know, but I find it rather odd that a planarshifting sniper would discriminate against shapeshifting pedestrians.

Bloodbearer by emielboven 2016-04-19T18:23:00

The graphics are pretty good and the idea is great. I can't see the theme applied at all, but that's not a biggie. It is gameplay that bothers me.

There's no sense of weight to your movements or attacks. The character is always sliding around no matter the facing direction. Even when attacking there's no slowdown.

The skeletons also move at a constant speed directly towards the player, getting stuck on fences and obstacles in the process. You could use the Unity pathfinding system to avert that. It's not difficult to set up, look it up.

Another issue is taking damage. There are no invincibility frames after taking a hit meaning a group of enemies can slice you to pieces in an instant. The enemy attack animation should have a slight delay before inflicting damage to indicate that harm is on its way.

The ghost is a rather neat adversary, but really hard to dodge without a dodge roll (which would be a nice feature).

The boss monster has telegraphed attacks and is slower than the skellingtongs so good job on that.

Is this a dog? by elghinn 2016-05-02T18:56:00

Played the 1.2 version. Quite a bit of fun this one.

We have a similar mechanic with different shapes attracting different enemies, although I think you took it even further by making it into a constant gameplay element.

The audio visuals could do with some polishing up, but the game itself is great.

Pentagon by Bookworm31 2016-04-23T13:42:00

Not a bad little puzzle.

It would be nice to know what which doors the switches affect just by looking at them. Especially if you intend to make more and bigger levels later.

Mouse controls wouldn't go amiss either. Conversely hotkeys for restart and next level.

With a Pinch of Liver by simex 2016-05-07T07:10:00

Turning your enemies into allies is an interesting concept and the potion throwing aspect works pretty well. Unfortunately in its current state there's no challenge at all.

I got to wave 25 before giving up as it doesn't seem to get any more difficult than that. Even the toughest enemy can be defeated with a single level 4 potion (and I had loads of those already).

I think a 2 dimensional battlefield would have worked better in this case. Imagine playing from the first person view at the top of the tower with enemies advancing in waves from all directions.

This way you need to consider each front individually and save the best potions for the toughest foes. Keeping an eye on all enemies while trying to brew more potions would also be much trickier (in a good way, I reckon). The potion throwing mechanic works from the first person perspective as well.

Apart from the lack of challenge its a well made entry, don't get me wrong. Decision making and challenge derived from that just happen to be two main contributors to gameplay, so keep those in mind next time and play test a lot.

Controlled Shifting by Gemcc 2016-05-01T07:27:00

Had to play through the source. Not the most convenient way of doing it, especially for those who don't have Unity installed.

Overall it's a solid entry for a first timer.
The music is pleasant and fits surprisingly well.
The gameplay itself is quite relaxing and forgiving, yet tricky when the mass of the player blob increases.

Good job, keep at it.

Alieniced by seveca95 2016-04-20T16:30:00

I'm not so sure about them awesome mechanics.

I've played puzzles like this many times before. To solve one all you need to do is to think backwards from the ending and that's that. Because the grid is so small I didn't even need to do that most of the time. Just randomly trying different directions yielded as good results.

Portals are nothing new. You could have chosen different colors at least.

Not sure if it's a bug, but the ice blocks seem to break by just hitting tiles around it. The ice block puzzles are the easiest of the bunch anyways as you can just break your way though them.

I wouldn't be a good sport without parting with a few pointers now would I, so here's a few:

- Break the static puzzle mold. Introduce moving walls, doors and other shapeshifting terrain (where's the shapeshifting to begin with!)

- Buttons, switches, traps, etc. Stuff to interact with. Opens up possibilities for all sorts of shenanigans.

- Add enemies with different behaviors. Some move towards you, some move away from you, some try to get a line of sight and hurl nasty things at you. It's all turn based of course so there's enough time to figure out ways around these beasties.

Here are some titles you should play to get a feel for different kinds of turn-based puzzle, and puzzle-game mechanics: DROD, Mummy Maze (an old PopCap Classic. Not online anymore, but there's a demo), Hoplite (Android), 86856527 (just look it up, ok), Desktop Dungeons.

That's all I can think of right now. Good luck.

The Unreal Odyssey by cushycode 2016-09-11T09:35:00

I love the idea of navigating using only the stars and you pulled it off. The graphics are stylish, some audio would seal the deal.

It is a bit too easy after getting the hang of it, especially if you happen to spawn right next to the target! You could add in some challenges like changing weather, sea monsters, pirates, etc. to spice it up a bit.

Glad to see you already got a post-jam plan. There's potential here!

PALEO by RIPPorkins 2016-09-07T05:51:00

A competent management simulation. Fits the theme nicely.

A few suggestions:
- The turn end log should mention any settlers who died and for what reason.
- Settlers collecting meat should always visually carry something back to the village. Now it seems like they are doing nothing, while in reality the food amount does increase.
- Sometimes the settlers die on a longer trip seemingly out of no reason, i.e. they had enough HP for the trip. Do different tiles and actions cost different amount of HP?
- Played for 35 (simulation) days and the mammoth just didn't show up. Had enough supplies for the kill, but not enough HP to explore further. An explore command could solve that (costs less HP to move) or some craftable item with similar effect. The mammoth could also have a movement pattern.

I really enjoy these kind of simulations (reminds me of my first LD!). Good job.

Fall of Babel by walkupandaway 2016-09-02T10:51:00

The concept is great and the production quality is top notch. The problem is, at the moment the puzzles are trivial. Some more mechanics and trickier levels should mend that.

I'm not sure what kind of ideas you got brewing, but here are a few more:
- Injured/trapped people who need to be helped by someone who speaks their language
- Doors and keys
- Tools to break down doors and obstacles
- People who hate each other and will have a fight if they get too close
- People in love who won't move too far from one another
- Animals who move erratically and attack/block people if too close by

Keep at it, load of potential here.

Emily Morrison's Garden by Ludipe 2016-09-11T15:22:00

The plant growing and seasons changing are well implemented. The visuals are also top notch. To the bad news then.

At the moment it is pretty much impossible to survive for more than 180 days. The culprit? The planet only regenerates when seeds are planted and the regeneration amount is minuscule. Even with 20+ seeds, constantly planting new trees, I couldn't keep up with the rate of deterioration!

Here are a few suggestions:
- Increase the amount of regeneration per plant (tricky, as too much regeneration makes the challenge trivial)
- Decrease the deterioration rate of the planet (similar balance problems here, also makes the playtime longer)
- Base the well being of the planet on something else than just planting, for instance, planting and blooming, the total number of trees alive at the moment, the total lifetime of the trees, etc.

Simply put, the challenge should come from deciding on which seeds to plant at any given time, not from inevitable attrition. One potential mechanic is randomizing the available seeds every 5-10 seasons or so. The seeds would still have to make sense though.

Talking of making sense, how on earth do you use Anemone Capensis? It takes ages to grow, but cannot be planted before the blooming season or it'll just die!

Apart from these problems, good job!

Bot by oab 2016-09-02T09:53:00

Hardly a walking simulator, the bot doesn't even have legs! Physics puzzle maybe?

Neat little thing this. The visuals are good, especially the door opening animation, and the puzzles are well implemented, if a bit too easy. The only negatives I can think of are, unsurprisingly, the short length of the experience and that annoying tracktor beam sound.

Good job.

Invent the Wheel by Delicious Code 2016-08-31T15:01:00

This is the dumbest idea I've seen in a while and it just works! Loving it.

I managed to make world records on all three tracks and the second one, well, good luck trying to beat that!

Invent the Wheel by Delicious Code 2016-08-31T16:38:00

@Delicious Code
I either hacked your servers or the code bugged out... Let's assume the latter and here's how it went:

The wheel started moving just fine, but after 1.54962 seconds the code erroneously considered my beautiful wheel a failure and ended the run. Only the wheel didn't care. It kept rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling like the U.S. Marshall and his 3 daughters and after 20 odd seconds crossed the finish line, breaking the world record, smiling like a champ, while everyone in the audience knew the truth.

Don't break the rules kids, drugs are for losers.

Any Person's Planet by comatomatoes 2016-09-15T19:42:00

Interactive fiction! Glad to see more of that.

I like the idea and the world. The randomly generated natives are neat and the language system deserves special commendations, although it would be nice to learn a new word with every probe.

Unfortunately the interaction design is a bit simple and devolves into rote repetition quite soon. Likewise the prose is limited and even buggy in places ("You find nothing and nothing!"). The ending is also a letdown.

The only fix I can think of is churning out loads of content, which, of course, is an impossible task in the limited time-frame.

Any plans for a post-jam version? There's potential here.

MECH_FOX by ProgramGamer 2016-09-02T09:42:00

It's always worth posting about unfinished work. I'd be interested in hearing about the ideas you were going for.

It is solid work. The controls and visuals feel great. You should make a post-jam versions with a few levels and challenges.

Burger Cave by Resolute 2016-08-31T18:44:00

It is a sad state of affairs when the only comment you have is spam. This one is legit, trust me!

Right, you are right. Incomplete most certainly it is, but not all is lost in the land of the hopeful. Potential is present, I can feel it pulsating like the throbbing cow (nice animations there).

I can only imagine the grandeur of the burger, as none are coming out of the stove no matter how many cave men I sacrifice to it (it really looks like throwing men into the fiery machine, except they come back unharmed).

If you do decide to continue this project I can at least give a few serious suggestions as well:
- All the 10 cavemen should be in the middle of the room at the same time. The caveman dispensing button is just plain weird.
- The cavemen workers should be visible when they work. As mentioned before, them disappearing looks just plain weird.

Two is a few right?

Way of the Gear [Unfinished] by HacksawUnit 2016-08-31T12:36:00

Brillian visuals, I love how the gear flickers when it moves. The idea is also good, if only there was more of it.

I did find one bug. If you move right up to a wall, stop and press the jump key, the jump will fail.

More levels pretty please?

cityglitch by ciaodavinci 2016-09-03T17:39:00

Nice puzzle. You managed to mix tile pushing and behavior driven entities for great effect.
The presentation is also neat.

Merlins Dungeon by friedfishstudios 2016-08-30T10:08:00

The idea is solid and the graphics are ok, but the execution is not quite up to par. Blipi already outlined the major issues. No need to repeat them.

I also agree with PeachTreeOath about special movement actions like rolling. Due to certain level designs and erratic dragon movement patters avoiding death is at times down to luck rather than skill. That dodge roll would be a saving grace in such situations.

Good effort overall.

The Boulder by Assimby 2016-09-05T06:48:00

yeah so, mixing Katamari and Patapon. Slight plagiarism there, going against the spirit of the jam, but then again it's not against the rules.

The intro is funny, the mechanic works, but there's no way to lose. In other words, there's no challenge. If you could fall or lose some of the boulder's mass and maybe compete for a highscore in a time trial mode this would be worth a replay or two. In its current form, not really.

It's well put together. I'll give you that.

No Pyramid's Sky by DiegoCTorguet 2016-09-06T09:02:00

More challenge please. Also there were loads of flying space amoebas (?) spawned on top of each other, not that it makes any difference whatsoever.

And yeah, other people already made these points so there's that.

Into the Pyramid by Galan 2016-09-01T16:54:00

The graphical style is radical, the controls sluggish and the overall difficulty fiendish... Needs a few more patches I reckon.

Mo'ai Dance Party by tweetzzzzz 2016-08-30T13:44:00

I enjoyed the challenge of appeasing three different Mo'ais, but having to restart from the first level every time didn't jell well with me. A "Restart current level" button would fix that.

The level ends quite abruptly. A clear indicator of level progress wouldn't go amiss either.

The audiovisual are nice, good job on that.

Blocky Hill by SweatyChair 2016-09-12T12:51:00

A solid Tower defence, with a few novel features amids the standard fare.

The good:
- It works! No serious bugs.
- Some neat traps (boulders, rotating axes)
- Gets crazy in the end with the enemy boats!

The bad:
- Some small bugs (you can place a block in the staircase, weapon gets permanently stuck on the mouse pointer if the game ends while dragging, vertical camera panning is extremely slow)
- No way to remove traps
- In the end, the thematic weapons don't really change the basic TD gameplay

Overall quality work, but you should put more emphasis on the thematic design next time.

The Time Traveler's Cat by veridis.quo.book 2016-09-11T13:07:00

The idea isn't bad, a little choose your own adventure in time, but there's a deluge of technical issues weighting it down.

Here are the big ones:
- The music resets after each scene transition (look up DontDestroyOnLoad)
- The scene transitions animations are not fluid. Rather than using separate scenes for every piece of dialogue you could use a single scene and simply move the dialogue panels around depending on which one you need.
- 755 megabytes! How? Don't say each slide (image and text) is a full HD picture of its own.
- Some text (notably the mini challenge instructions) are in Russian only, not that it takes a genius to figure it out. The ending slide is in Russian as well, so that's something I missed.
- There are some typos and grammar problems here and there; legible, but annoying nonetheless.

Tower of Egypt by DespiteSoft 2016-08-31T13:14:00

The overall presentation, apart from the menus, is fine and the music fits the setting well. Showing the whole tower in the end is a nice touch.

The interactions are well thought out, a little balancing act between precision and brute force, but after a while it becomes a chore. The difficulty should ramp up faster by, for example, having multiple construction areas to juggle between.

Also a single dead slave ends your career, but outright murdering another worker is just fine for the first two times? What kind of justice system are these people running with?

Conveyor belts by ObscenelyTrue 2016-09-06T08:44:00

It is diabolically difficult for one player, but works well for two players after the blue boxes start popping in. Unfortunately the keys aren't exactly laid out for two player consumption.

3D in java is something you don't see everyday, so points for that!

Crossbow VS Cops by dawi 2016-09-05T09:39:00

It's a classic design (not the shooting cops bit!), but the implementation brings it down.

The crossbow is extremely fast and as a result avoiding damage is trivial. The enemy waves don't really become any more difficult as you play and in the end they completely stop. Even the road ends after a while.

You should create an enemy wave generator script which keeps increasing the difficulty slightly every wave. At some point the player is going to take a hit and lose gaining a highscore.

Also the .pdb files in the build are completely unnecessary, they only increase the build size.

The Mystery of the Maniac AI by reheated 2016-09-03T16:08:00

It's always nice to see some interactive fiction around here. It is a medium which deserves more recognition.

Mixing IF with a puzzle in this way (having to solve a puzzle to make a choice) is something I haven't really seen before and I'm at two minds about it. The situation is similar to games which have an unrelated story, in other words the the story has nothing to do with the gameplay but rather happens in between the levels.

I think the puzzle alone would have been boring as it is, in the end, rather trivial; which is to say it benefited from the story. The story on the other hand suffered from the puzzle as it simply made choosing actions take more time and add nothing to the story. Having to complete a puzzle every time felt arbitrary, not thematic or integral.

If you do intend to continue experimenting with a mixture like this, I'd suggest you concentrate on one part over the other. Either a kickass puzzle with some light story elements or a complex branching interactive story with some thematically fitting puzzles thrown in there. This way the end result has greater flow and focus.

Later down the line you'll get them both just perfect, I have no doubts about that.

Spear the sun by lightsoda 2016-09-05T08:28:00

I'm just going to be regurgitating what other people have already said. In essence, due to lacking constraints there is little challenge: only spam, spam, spam...

Also if you intend to continue the project, the graphics could be scaled up and use thicker lines as, currently, they don't stand out. This is doubly true on mobile devices.

Trials of Daedalus by NightShadow0 2016-09-03T14:54:00

Overall I like the design and presentation. It's endearing in a sense, but the visuals do remind me of those old bible games. Probably just the mythical setting messing with my head.

The collision detection has occasional glitches, which is weird taken that it's made in Unity. You did use standard colliders and rigidbodies right?

You should also get rid of the default blue background.

My house is over there by kyyninen 2016-09-07T06:33:00

The atmosphere is amazing, the virtual world is well made and then there's nothing to do.

After going through all of the green teleports I found my house and got prompted to fill up the tank of the car. Couldn't find any fuel unfortunately. That's the end of that then?

Exploring the level was enjoyable as always (jumping into the void was fun as well), but I was waiting for something, anything, to happen. Maybe the world could become a little bit weirder every time you teleport? Sneaking and avoiding detection could also work, taken the late night setting. You did run out of time and lose some progress of course, so I'm not really complaining. It is a solid effort.

Also I'm pretty sure I saw a flying car at one point… Might have been the darkness playing with my eyes though.

Desert Strife by HuvaaKoodia 2016-08-31T07:40:00

Thanks for the positive comments everyone.

@cushycode
That is indeed weird. You should try updating Firefox or using another browser, the music especially is worth it.

Desert Strife by HuvaaKoodia 2016-08-31T17:23:00

@kyyninen
Every weapon has a hit chance: low for melee, rather high for rifles and bazookas and extremely high for the tank. Hence battles between similar groups can go any way and even a well armed force can get unlucky at times (the wrong times!). Showing the calculations could be an option for sure, consider it considered.

The tank is a vehicle, if the fuel runs out the driver will come out to fight.

@DespiteSoft
Marking the ruins somehow is a good idea, after all the AI never forgets so why should us humans! I'll think of something for the Post-Jam version.

Desert Strife by HuvaaKoodia 2016-09-01T14:43:00

Thanks again everyone!

@Digitaldude555
Added the song link to the description. We had a teensy production issue with art assets. You can read more about that in the up coming post-mortem (hype, hype!).

Desert Strife by HuvaaKoodia 2016-09-02T11:04:00

@komill
Thanks for the feedback. I intend to improve the battle visuals in order to make it easier to understand why one side won over the other. Another planned improvement is notifications in the GUI to show when resources (ammo and fuel) are spent to make it more explicit.

The tank is one of the possible technologies you can find in the ruins. Finding another tank with the same group is highly unlikely, but if you do find fuel you can walk back to the old tank and start using it again.

Bricks for Anubis by jscottmiller 2016-08-31T14:14:00

Here's the thing about clickers. If they are nothing but a linear progression from no resources to X resources, with zero thought or interaction required from the player, then they are a waste of time, quite literally.

The only interesting bit in these kind of clickers is seeing what comes next. In Cookie clicker, for instance, there's a lot of content to unlock. In Candy Box 2 there's a whole world to explore. The idle mechanics are the backbone of these titles, not the whole dish.
Here you already gave away the whole thing in the screenshots!

More interesting to me is how little the economy makes sense. The worker houses are more efficient than brick presses. For the price of one brick press (15000) you can buy 1500 houses. 1500 houses generate 6000 bricks in 20 seconds. Over 4 times more than a single brick press! The ratio is even worse when compared to the pyramid building.
The only reason to buy the more expensive buildings is to spare your index finger. Yes, that is right, the GUI forces the player to make worse economic choices!

This all may sound a bit harsh, but I'm not trying to bring you down. It looks great and for what it is (and idle clicker) it is competent (apart from the economy!).
All I'm asking is why? This is an interactive medium, so what are you trying to say or achieve through interactivity?

Now if you are interested in making a game instead of an idle clicker then here's a plan.
First fix the economy, then concentrate on interactivity with meaningful decision making.
Examples:
- Building and maintaining an army which protects the workers from bandits
- Some kind of a battle system for when the bandits arrive
- Managing the workers, giving them orders
- Trading with neighbouring cities for food and other goods you cannot produce
There are a lot of options here. The interesting bit about interactive media, especially digital games, lies in decision making and the consequences of it.

One more "fun" fact. For some reason running the web player crashes my Firefox. Chrome works just fine.

Tribal Termination by Hero7785 2016-09-14T18:42:00

The audiovisuals are rudimentary on purpose, I would hope, but the same excuse doesn't apply to the the movement controls. If the enemies can move smoothly, so should the player, taken that they represent the same type of entity, a tribal man.

The upgrade loop had the impossible task of keeping me playing after the second round. You'd needed to come up with some proper ingenious abilities to overcome the crude controls.

It is an old idea, but upgrades which improve the visuals and gameplay features, in a 4th wall breaking manner, are a possibility. Imagine buying a "smooth movement" upgrade; now, that would have made me give a few more goes.

Cursed bricks of the Ancient by Lt.Emi 2016-09-05T07:43:00

The audiovisuals are most impressive, the interactivity not so much.

I'd prefer some kind of a challenge, be it a game or a puzzle. Another possibility is to expand and concentrate on the fiction, this premise could be taken into a lot of directions.

Crazy Car by mactinite 2016-09-05T06:30:00

Fun little arcade driving sandbox. All you need in order to make this into a game, is a timer. That's it, if you fail to reach the next way point in time you lose.

There are other possibilities as well, for instance the Crazy taxi formula or a race mode of some sort. The one I would prefer is a more fantastical environment with loops, bounce pads, boost pads, etc. where the objective is to reach the highest point on the map somewhere above the clouds. If you fall, well too bad try again!

Even without a goal, this is a well made entry. Good job!

Endeavour by ErikU 2016-09-05T06:13:00

Simple, linear and funny. The twist makes sense thematically, but a mummy with a computer really doesn't.. make sense.. at all.

Nice use of regex in the command system though.

Alchimancer by vicious_br 2016-08-31T08:53:00

First off, this looks and sounds great. Props for that. Sadly, the gameplay is uninspired and not very challenging.

Here's the deal:
- All the action happens on a single line. It is trivial to repel the enemies because there are only two directions of attack.
- The starter weapon takes a little bit of timing to use efficiently, but the later weapons are simply overpowered and take away any sense of danger.
- The Engrish would be genuinely funny if it didn't make the alchemy instructions needlessly complicated. In the end all you have to do is to spam the buttons, it really doesn't need that much exposition.

Still, competently put together despite the design issues.

Chadwik the Charismagnetic by SkullPixel 2016-08-31T19:34:00

I was doing just fine, expertly guiding Chadwick around land spikes and other assorted hazards, killing dinosaur mobs with spiky poles (that's their official name, right?), when suddenly, after Chadwick grasped yet another mellow emerald, a third spiky poles materialized out of thin air right on top of poor, poor Chadwick!

Expertly guiding his limp body around land spikes and other assorted hazards, killing dinosaur mobs with spiky poles, bumping him into mellow emeralds... It just isn't the same any more.

Was a wicked good chap that Chadwick, he shall be missed.

Chadwik the Charismagnetic by SkullPixel 2016-09-01T07:42:00

@SkullPixel
In order to offend the last of the poles, yes you should. Just don't typo like I did, still gives me the shivers that.

Also thanks for the comment concerning my comment. Much appreciated!

Steam Heart by SinclairStrange 2016-09-11T16:13:00

What a great level and how many bosses was that six, seven? Commendable amount of content at offer for 72 hours. Your expertise in these kind of titles really shines through.

However, I got to mention a few minor faults:
- There's no way to close the program. Escape does nothing.
- There is little challenge due to the massive amount of health. A few difficulty modes with varying amounts of health would do.
- The movement system could have been tightened up as it feels just a wee bit too fast and floaty at the moment. Maybe a slight delay and a transition animation when changing movement direction would fix that. Also, air-dash anyone?
- Loads of weapons; many of them too similar: two flamers, three standard forward shooters; the “fire boomerang” is useless and, lastly, the homing drone weapon is simply OP. No need to aim at all.

Minor things, I assure you. More of this kind of thing please.

Avastory by Devark 2016-08-30T13:17:00

The audiovisuals are great, but the interactions and mechanics are not that interesting. It is just walking, talking and a boss fight. No exploration or meaningful interactivity.

The boss at least is sufficiently challenging, but after beating it there's no way out of the room. Not sure if that is where you ran out of time or just a bug. Some kind of conclusion after all that walking and talking would have been nice.

innerTemple:episode 1 by dmi3iy 2016-09-11T13:28:00

It looks and sound good, but I gotta be honest with you, first person platforming is the plague of our times. If you really want to do it you gotta do it extremely well, with ample room for error and only small penalties for mistakes. Having to retake the whole course due to a single failed leap is not fun or challenging, simply frustrating.

Platforming itself is also not exciting, you jump and jump and jump some more. One old student project springs to mind called Tag: The Power of Paint. It has loads of first person platforming, but also a cool gimmick. It is great, you should try it out if you haven't already.

Mirror's Edge also has some nice first person parkour features, but you already knew that I reckon.

Needless to say, I didn't get to the end so I have no idea what your plan is for this, but I do wish you luck. You'll need it.

Pillars of Fate by Anabir 2016-09-11T17:03:00

The physics are pure, the visuals virtuous and the audio blessed, but not all is well in the holy land.

Challenge; where is it? Winning is a matter of spamming building parts into the highlighted area. There's no need for precision as bricks are never going to fall off as long as you don't build outside said area.

God doesn't seem to care about design either. A completely box like cathedral is a-ok, windows and roof tiles in a mishmash jumble. It would be more interesting (and challenging) if the aesthetics of the cathedral played a role on the judgement day; negative points awarded for broken tiles, flat rooftops and non-symmetry!

The devils are the closest we get to a jolly good time, but there are way too few of them to even make a dent in the architecture, if you let them slip by that is.

The pilgrims are another odd bunch. Their death is inconsequential so what purpose do they present? I even managed to get a negative "pilgrims spared" count. Not sure how that happened.

And this is what pains me. No amount of quality and polish will save a trivial game. You’ll need to re-balance the hell out of this.

Crossbow Assassin by Doppp 2016-09-11T10:13:00

This is right up my alley; Janky in all the right ways.

Unfortunately, due to spotty collision detection and lack of checkpoints, the difficulty is sky high. There's no way I'm willing to go through all the boring levels again (level 3, for one, is a grind).

So here is my suggestion: either allow restarting from the current level; or make every level beatable in ten some seconds if you are good enough. This way the annoyance of going back to the first level works as an incentive to git gud, rather than a discouragement.

The Puzzling Pyramid by AlexLamarche 2016-09-01T07:36:00

Nice puzzle, enjoyed it thoroughly. The last level is far from impossible, but rather a good old challenge.

Having no conclusion is a bit of a letdown. I would have also preferred a drag and drop interface where any two tiles could be swapped, not just adjacent ones. The current interface is not bad by any means but it does take more time to move tiles from one end to the other.

Well done.

The Forgotten Pyramid 2: Rememberance by dotGame 2016-09-02T11:43:00

The art is good, the programming is shoddy.

Arrow keys don't work in the menu, the movement animation doesn't always trigger, you can fall off into the abyss by walking left in the second level and finally, items can merge together if picked up too close to each other!

The pickup problem is the major one and there's a simple fix. Pressing E picks up a single thing (never more!) and pressing E drops the currently carried object. Done!

Without that issue I would have gotten to the end and I don't feel like playing again due to it either.

DaDaDaDa by Aerohand 2016-09-01T13:25:00

A super simple idea like this needs a lot of polish and/or content to impress. As such I'm not impressed.

You should allocate more hours into polishing next jam.

Witch Stuff? by Mali 2016-09-05T07:04:00

No wonder there are no legit comments. The download is a 2k jar with no code in it! You should upload a complete jar. I'd be more than happy to try it out, looks interesting and all.

Also
@steph88
Finally proof that you clearly haven't played any of these entries, simply spamming left and right! On the off chance you read this, use the Dare to Play LD36 link on the LD main page. You're welcome!

Battle Room by dragosthealex 2016-09-05T07:33:00

This seems like a cool idea leading up to a grand battle, but something is seriously wrong with the controls.

The instructions say you can pull yourself towards a surface by aiming and moving forward. Unfortunately it only works once, leaving the character floating around endlessly. Either I'm missing some vital info or a bug of this magnitude really wormed into the release build.
Either way it is a no go.

Contraband Crate by WolfkingW 2016-09-11T09:09:00

Nice presentation and solid mechanics. Quite addictive as well. If only there was an automatic highscore system (local or online).

I can confirm the bugs laid out by @blackcode. The most annoying one is the fact that sometimes a tile is reserved by an item next to it, not on it. Eats a few seconds that every time.

Conveyor belts going out of order is an interesting idea, but currently there doesn't seem to be a clear reason for it. It's based on a timer I reckon?

There are also a few small time wasters. Grabbing an item when it is moving on the conveyor belt is finicky. The rotation speed could also be a bit faster.

In the end I managed to get 7.00 sharp (goo.gl/5pLovo). Didn't rotate or rearrange items much, just jamming them in as fast as possible.

 The Mighty Stick by mitya1234 2016-09-02T11:21:00

This is amazing! Got the message sent just in time, walked into the light and then major Tom got sent into the sun! (you should probably check for that)

There is only one issue, for me at least: motion sickness. The FOV is criminally low. Would like a setting for that in the pause menu.

And yes you are the best player!

Relics of Karnage by AM_Games 2016-09-14T18:20:00

Got a surprising amount of fun out of this. The challenge drops considerably once you get the rocket launcher (the homing missiles are cool!) and the medkits start appearing. The levels also begin looping at that point as far as I can tell.

In the end I got 3075 points (dunno if that's any good), fell off the left side of the screen to an earlier level and couldn't continue no further.

Overall an ok job. It's a bit buggy and repetitive, but solid fun for a while.

Lost Artifacts by rynti 2016-09-02T08:22:00

Competently made, but I have to agree with QwaKlak, there's no challenge after a few upgrades.

A linear power creep like this only works if the late stage enemies also become orders of magnitude more dangerous, which is not the case here.

Another possility is limiting the maximum effect of the upgrades. Rather than 10x castings speed at lvl 10 make that 2-3X. Each level gives a less visible boost, but the player will feel the change and you evade power creep.

A third option, the most preferred yet most expensive, is making each upgrade into its own skill/action. This is what ARPGs do to great effect, but of course 42 hours probably isn't enough to create enough interesting, well polished skills.

Birdology by Peringo 2016-09-01T16:07:00

A big world to explore, loads of intense finger cramping action, a cool ending, there's a lot to like here. And then there's the glitches and quirks, but, quite frankly, they just add to the charm of it.

Good job!

Clock Chaos by Venneque 2016-09-11T08:07:00

The graphics and sound are competent and the idea, while simple, is not terrible by any means. Too bad everything else is severely broken.

First off, explaining the controls in the description is a common practice. Hiding them into a pause menu (which most entries don't even have) is not.

The hit detection and collisions are all over the place. Half the time the bullets don't hit the target and the other half they collide with an invisible wall.

Apparently there is also a boss of some kind but I couldn't get to it as the path near the lake is blocked by yet more invisible walls...

You should allocate more time into play-testing next time. Fixing the level colliders would have been a 10 minute job, tops. Keep at it.

Party Co. Inc. by fabbyrob 2016-12-17T15:49:00

I find this quite a problematic entry. You see, it doesn't work as an simulation, because it is so simple and transparent, and it doesn't work as an game as there is no decision making.

I'll stick to game design from now on, and not simulation design, as that is what most people taking part in LD care about and it is also simpler.

Games need decision making. Decision making requires multiple balanced actions, which change the state of the game, for the player to choose from and challenge, i.e winning cannot be trivial.

The problem here is that some of the actions are objectively good (more food, more drink, boost happiness gained from dancing, etc) and the rest of the actions are not that useful (change music, change music volume.) These are called neutral actions from now on.

Objectively good actions are of course always a good choice, so there's no decision making there, and the neutral actions simply alter the state of the game in a way which doesn't affect your chances of winning. For instance changing the music track doesn't help, because at any point in time the musical tastes of all the partygoers are pretty much evenly numbered.

The deck mechanic is another problem. The good cards get used immediately so after a while all your five hand cards are neutral. The only way to get more good cards is to get rid of the neutral ones. It becomes nothing but a spam fest.

The effects of all the actions are also very indirect and as such feel impactless, even when they do have an effect in the end.

The last problem is the real-time nature of the game and the GUI. To gather data about the partygoers you need to click on each and every one of them and memorize their stats. Do this for 15+ people and the party has already moved on with new people in the mix. In other words it is impossible to get up to date data about the overall state of the party to base your choices on.

I wouldn't be a very good sport without giving a few pointers so here they are:

- You need an economy attached to the action usage. In simple terms using an action should cost something like money, time or happiness. This reduces spam and makes each choice more meaningful.
- All actions should have clear positive and negative sides to them. Food and drink cost money, certain music tracks increase dancing while reducing conversations, etc.
- The deck mechanic needs to be revamped or removed altogether. One solution is to reshuffle the hand every X seconds so that the player only has to use those cards that they want/need to.
- Show averages of all the stats (food, drink, social, music, dance) in the GUI so that the player doesn't need to calculate them.
- Slower pace. It is impossible to make decisions if everything is happening too fast. The speed can increase over time or it can be tied to a difficulty mode of course, but it should start at a manageable level.

Hope this helps, keep at it.

Little Lab of Horrors by TeamMonumental 2016-12-14T19:59:00

Great graphics. The musical choice, not so great.

As with many other entries I've tried so far, here too we have a chronic lack of challenge. Choosing what to do is already decided for you by the rules. Only certain plants can be used in each season (no choice there), each successive plant is outright better than the last (still no choices to be had) and there isn't even any major consequences for planting too late (the one, silly, choice you can take). All you lose is a little bit of real-life time.

Interactive media thrives when interactivity is utilized in interesting ways. For games decision making (overcoming challenges) is the way to go, for puzzles deductive problem solving is the key and for interactive fiction exploring a non-linear story is the meat of the experience.

Without interesting interactivity you are left with something boring and that is the biggest crime of them all (apart from real crime, of course).

Nexus Qoph by hellfridge 2016-12-13T19:14:00

I gotta be honest with you, I couldn't get past the second level, but then again I never was any good at puzzles.

The big problem for me is the controls. Even once I figured the puzzle mechanic and the first level solution, it still took my many tries to execute it successfully. Touch screen precision is nothing compared to the all mighty force of the standard PC mouse.

So there's my suggestion. A PC version with some hints on what to do. The audiovisuals are already mighty fine.

Loop of Eternity by Khud0 2016-12-13T13:26:00

Using ready made art and sound assets for the compo (royalty free music included) is indeed cheating. I'd suggest you turn off the audio rating category. The auto generated sound effects are nothing to write home about, so you won't really lose anything.

I do like the design quite a bit. It helps that it is challenging, unlike some other entries I've played so far.

The only issue I have with it is the controls. "Enter" is used to select menu items and "Esc" is used to open the menu. To use these keys you need to move your hands away from the main keys, that is not optimal. I'd add "Space" as an alternative key for menu selection and "S" as a new hotkey for opening the shop directly.

The shop GUI is also a bit weird. Pressing left and right scrolls between upgrades, but the upgrades are not on a horizontal line, but rather in a grid. I would keep the grid, but allow the arrow keys to select up and down as well. In this new scheme, "Space" purchases an item and "S" closes the shop.

Overall a good job, with minor UI issues. They don't break the experience, but do make it slightly annoying.

Furni-Chore by AgentParsec 2016-12-21T08:04:00

A pleasant puzzle. The graphics are competent and I love the music, it fits like a glove. The theme doesn't fit that well, but I'm in no position to judge that!

The placement rules are well thought-out. Unfortunately only one of the levels (level 14) requires some out of the box thinking. The others, especially the last one, can be completed easily by simply slapping down furniture based on their placement rules.

More challenging puzzles and this one will be a keeper.

Portal Hotel by ezolotko 2016-12-17T16:04:00

The atmosphere is deliciously ominous and the main mechanics are robust, even if quite simple.

The weapon is a bit weird though. It looks like a gun, but seems to work as a close range weapon. It also clips through objects in the world, which can be fixed by drawing it on a separate camera.

Good work.

Perfidious Albion by Ysty 2016-12-18T10:47:00

The theme and writing are great. It starts subtle enough, for me at least.

The conversation mechanic isn't very interesting due to the excessive randomness. A system where my choice of topic guided their choice in some way could work. Learning about the world through the conversations would be more compelling than just reading the messages as well.

Remote Operations Team - Tactical Extraction Action by HuvaaKoodia 2016-12-12T08:39:00

@vini60
I guess some of my jokes were good at least!

@Kris with a K
Ouch, I didn't think of that. I've added a warning in the description for now.

Ouch again! I specifically made each level short and simple to avoid that. Trying to sneak around might take longer of course (I didn't really playtest that).

Remote Operations Team - Tactical Extraction Action by HuvaaKoodia 2016-12-12T09:16:00

@conradte3 @jcmonkey
Thanks, I also think there's loads of potential here. I'll most certainly keep working on the design. Whether that materialises in any new versions remains to be seen (too many things on my plate atm)

@Cosmic-Hawke
Yes! Efficient Extraction Achievement Unlocked!

@slimabob
Glad you liked it. My plan was to make stealth even more pertinent by making the guards react to sound, but I had no time for audio to begin with so that idea was canned.

@kidando
Thematic inspiration spotted! Any guesses at the interaction inspiration(s)?

@wscones
It can be toggled on and off! I should have explained that better. I'll change it in the bug fix version.

Remote Operations Team - Tactical Extraction Action by HuvaaKoodia 2016-12-12T12:36:00

@admicos
Chrome! Didn't think of that. I'll add an alternative extraction method in the bug fix build.

@moomoomang @Mik3 @Mattmatt @d3uced
Big thanks for playing!

TILT Service by Birke 2016-12-21T09:03:00

Funny interactive short movie I'd say. The graphics are also neato for the most part. I think you'd be better off using traditional 3D modeling for certain, box-like, objects, but for natural, curvy stuff Tilt Brush seems to do the trick.

You could/should work on the interactivity some more next time. Non-linear storytelling is where the money is at when it comes to interactive movies and stories.

Looking For Heals by JayProg 2016-12-14T21:20:00

I've never played an old-school MMO, so for me this was a new experience (supporting a bunch of dumb tanks).

At first I thought the party members weren't that stupid as they seemed to do a good enough job at hacking away, but in the end they sure showed their true colours. Standing around not dodging clearly telegraphed attacks! Bloody 'ell, do I have to do all the work here! Surely real people aren't that dense?

Enjoyed the exercise. Took me two party wipes, third time's the charm it seems and there's an infinite amount of dwarves just waiting to try their axe at the boss monster around the corner, so nothing of value lost there.

One little suggestion: Using right mouse click to move could work better than the current control scheme as now you need to reposition your left hand from the spell hotkeys to the movement keys in those few instances where movement is required. Not a big problem this, though.

Challenging and funny to boot. Good work!

Ukhu Pacha by fishbrain 2016-12-18T08:54:00

The audiovisuals are great, really feels like a blast from the past.

The hitbox could indeed be a tad smaller, but the biggest issue when it comes to damage is the fireballs. They sap your health in an instant. Dying to one of those and going right back to the beginning is frustrating to say the least.

Patience is the key. I did manage to catch all the treasure and find the throne room in the end. Only 266 hp in the last room, quite nerve-wracking in a good way.

Well done!

DMG CTRL by SidewalkSleeper 2016-12-12T22:03:00

Little Timmy has a whole lot of toys, or at least he used to.

Now, when I read the description and saw the intro I expected to be acting as the toy Roman Emperor, giving orders to my toy legions to hold off the toy barbarian invasion while my toy slaves rebuild the toy walls. I mean... What happened?

Where are the massive toy armies clashing against each other? What's up with all the clicking! And most importantly, the bear from the intro? I wanted to fight him, that backstabbing snake of a bear!

In all seriousness. The graphics are neat; the audio, while fitting, get old faster than you can say retro; and the clicking.... so much clicking!

The interactivity needs to be a whole lot more compelling than this. Some kind of a balancing act between attacking and rebuilding while the enemy gets stronger and stronger would have been sufficient, but the rebuild speed is too slow, the challenge doesn't ramp up much at all and, you guessed it, the amount of clicking is excessive!

The graphics are indeed nice though.

Cardinal Cell by Vertigon 2016-12-13T11:26:00

This is quite splendid! The graphics are more than enough for a title like this. The backstory is funny and it gives a reasonable explanation for this crazy place to exist

Got 70 kills and 54 gold in the end. It would have been nice to see the amount of perished drinking buddies as well, as I did lose of few of them along the way, much to my dismay.

There is the issue of challenge and randomization. For most of the time not taking any hits is quite easy, albeit pleasant. Yet quite frequently it is borderline impossible to keep everyone alive when a host of new enemies spawns in.

Of course winning only requires the main character to survive, but this is a trivial task through out the day as there is ample room to manouver around enemies in the beginning while there's always a large posse of drinkards around him in the end.

I challenged myself by personally vouching for the wellbeing of each member of the party and as such I was quite annoyed by the RNG.

There are a few solutions I can think of:
- Keeping the party size smaller (reduces the amount of impossible spawns) and making individual members tougher (makes the HP potions more useful as well).
- Another possibility is to spawn in less enemies at a time or to spawn enemies at specific locations so that the player can move their comrades out of harm's way even before the harm gets there.

Of course this issue applies only if you wish everyone to survive, but as I said that is the only way to make the experience challenging in the long run, i.e fun.

Found one bug as well. The archers can see through walls, which locks them in place for quite a while at times.

Overall a well made entry, I'm nitpicking.

eCubed³ by flwns 2016-12-14T07:50:00

@GameGrape Gaming -Cut the spam please.

Right, the entry then. This is a technically impressive first person puzzle. The platforming sections were short which is good. The shader usage requires special mention as the portal effect is quite wonderful.

Now, as a puzzle I do find the solutions way too easy. Simply put, trying every portal in a given level is all you need to do. You could have added timers, triggers, environmental hazards and such to test the observation and logical deduction skills (and maybe even reactions) of the player.

Other than that, good job.

Aperta Corporata by amras0000 2016-12-13T12:22:00

A neat simulation, but sure enough this doesn't work as a game as there's no way to win or lose!

On the technical side the graphic are simple yet competent. The performance isn't great though. Fullscreen is pretty much out of the question on my computer.

Turning a profit takes a while, but of course it doesn't really matter in this case. The real-time profit per hour counter is great. Someone goes for a drink of water, the profits plummet!

Lastly, I would like to be able to hire and sack staff as I see fit. At the moment there's a lot of empty tables at Torture & Cookies ltd and Jennifer is getting on my nerves!

Arm's Reach by adsilcott 2016-12-14T19:26:00

Technically and visually an extremely well put together entry. The dynamic tentacle mesh system is quite an impressive feat on its own.

The negatives then. There is no challenge. Blocking the corridors with your tentacles is way too easy and the enemies have no way of attacking you afterwards. As such picking them off one by one is a rote exercise, rather than an exciting time.

You should concentrate more on game design next time. Games are about decision making and overcoming challenges (fun). A trivial victory is a hollow one.

Alone by Big Cow 2016-12-21T12:20:00

'Alone' is a short, barely, interactive story; That's more like it. I've got nothing against interactive fiction as long as it is interesting and, indeed, interactive. You've probably guessed where this is going already.

The story here got quite atmospheric in the end and I do like the transition from the cabin to the cave. It would have been even more poignant if it started from a room in a city with an Xbox and other niceties and then transitioned to the cabin and lastly to the cave.

All is good, except for the lack interactivity. This would have worked as an animation just as well, I'm sorry but it is true. If the level of interactivity is that of turning the page then quite frankly something is amiss.

So what could you add then? Well here are a few ideas:

- Preparation for the trip. Starting in the city apartment you could pack a certain amount of items with you. Some of which you would have to leave behind on the way to the cabin (useless and heavy) and others might even come in handy later (flashlight, pocket knife, etc). This kind of interactivity doesn't have to change the outcome of the story, but it adds a layer of personality to the story for the player. For instance, if you choose to take the XBox with you, your friend will find you a bit weird.

- Choices on the trip. Once again, in the end you will make it to the cabin, but the way there might contain some excitement like fishing down at the lake, a confrontation with a bear or nothing much at all. Variety like this adds to the uniqueness of the story, which is one of those things only interactive media can achieve.

- What happens in the cave? You could write multiple scenarios for the two protagonists to split up. Cave in, broken leg, wolves? There are a lot of possibilities and the choices taken so far can lead to different endings.

Now, of course, these kind of additions require a lot of work and there isn't necessary enough time in a jam to implement them, but I would say that they are necessary for doing something novel and interesting with interactive media. Linearity is done much better by non-interactive media to begin with.

Another issue might be programming. I've never heard of Adventure Creator, but if using it requires no coding skill whatsoever then I cannot say if features like these are doable or not.

Don't take this the wrong way, for what you ended up with is well made. It just could have been much, much more.

Alter Void by fafastudio 2016-12-21T08:44:00

There are enough mechanics here for a solid puzzle, but the limitations of the very first ability are not explained well enough, which is why some people, me included, had trouble figuring it out initially.

Here's how I would change the UI to overcome this issue:

- Add each GUI element one by one when the correspoding ability is introduced. So in the first level you have no visible GUI elements, in the second level the rewind and the translate elements are added, etc.

- When an ability, like the translate, is used without sufficient energy (or whatever you'd call it) the energy number needs to be highlighted and a special error sound played. This way it becomes extremely obvious that there's a limited amount of uses per ability per level.

Other than that you did a good job. There's plenty of levels as well, which is impressive.

Room One by callym 2016-12-13T12:49:00

This looks stunning and sounds quite interesting to boot!

Unfortunately it is unplayable on the computer I'm using atm. There's terrible lag even on the lowest resolution. It sure doesn't help that the only graphics option is Fantastic!

I'd suggest adding in a few less intensive graphics options. I'll give it another go on a different computer later.

Room One by callym 2016-12-14T19:02:00

I tried it on another computer and still couldn't get more than 15 fps. As such I did what every self-respecting programmer would do, made my own less intensive version from the source.

I ended up with around 30 fps by reducing quality settings, turning off camera effects and removing reflection probes.

Now if you really wish to optimize the project properly, without sacrificing graphical pizazz, you need to reduce the triangle count of most of the meshes as the cost of reflections, shadows and many image effects grows with each object and each triangle.

The terrain, the dome, the dome supports and the character model are the worst offenders with over 20000 triangles a piece. The moonflowers are also costly, due to their numerosity.

Once I got the project running well enough I, of course, played it. It is rather relaxing in a way, once you get used to the clunky controls. Unfortunately there's no challenge as dropping down to zero food doesn't seem to change anything, so I gave up after a while due to boredom.

Anyways, the visuals are great and I learned a few graphical tricks looking at the source, so I'm content.

INFINIROOM by Patacorow 2016-12-13T21:22:00

This is brilliant! Great work.

I do of course have a problem to point out, as usual, and maybe this time it is just my brain playing tricks on me.

For some reason when I use the super jump I expect the robot to keep running in the same anti-clockwise direction that he starts with, but it flips. Every single time you super jump the direction flips...

This means that the hazard in front of the robot, I was trying to get away from, is still in from of the robot just seen from the other side. That's not helpful, at least to me.

Any chance you could add an alternative jump button where the direction stays consistent after the super jump? Not a fan of the flip, no sir.

W.R.L.D. (World Reconnaissance eLite Defense) by TerraCottaFrog 2017-04-30T08:25:28Z

Splendid audio-visuals and veeery challenging gameplay (i.e lots of fun!)

The design is just perfect from the player turning radius and bullet lifetime to enemy placement and behavior.... Just perfect!

Now excuse me, I'll be going for that highscore :ok_hand:

W.R.L.D. (World Reconnaissance eLite Defense) by TerraCottaFrog 2017-04-30T08:25:28Z

... *bloody double post* ... Well, at least I got the highscore!

Timeless by Chaseplays 2017-04-29T08:54:41Z

Fun and slightly innovative even. I have seen these alternative timeline/universe types before, but not in such a small world. The apples are a nice touch too.

Generally speaking I'm not a fan of puzzle platformers as often times I get stuck on the platforming part long after already having figured out the puzzle. Here the actions isn't too tricky and the reset is instantaneous, so that's not a huge problem.

A well made entry, although: :man: + :clock: + :apple::apple::apple: = :palm_tree: :sheep: :sunflower: :pig:...?

Cosmic Chaos Crunch by MrTroy 2017-04-30T09:31:36Z

That was funny! Not that much fun though.

You see the world is most certainly **not** small enough. It is trivial to stay away from the planet muncher. Even colliding with other planets is very rare. As such I managed to complete all the difficulty levels on the first try. Having a smaller level would make this much more challenging, i.e fun.

The idea, presentation and humor are top grade gravy, so points for that!

Solitary Freedom by CMLSC 2017-04-26T19:55:16Z

Well, I don't have a lot to say. The audio strangely reminds me of the SNES, that's a positive I guess.

The mixture of a puzzle and realtime movement is a bit weird to me. Having to time your movements with such precision after already figuring out the puzzle itself doesn't really tickle my fancy.

Then again I cannot even figure out the second level so.... Have a :snail:

Calor by stevenjmiller 2017-04-28T14:25:26Z

Mighty impressive work for 48 hours when it comes to scope and execution. I really love the rotating planet idea, even if using massive turbines to rotate it is somewhat silly.

One major problem: What is the point of it all? I fought some aliens, kept dying but not losing much and it just continued as if nothing had happened. Life on this unnamed planet orbiting Calor is very violent, but in the end mundane; Rince and repeat. A countdown to a final battle or to the arrival of reinforcements would have solved this problem right away.

A pretty sweet accomplishment. Have a diorama: :sunny: :globe_with_meridians: :rocket: :anger: :alien: = :boom:

Savannah by TheMadStrauss 2017-05-04T07:38:04Z

Beautiful presentation and once I got the hang of running it was even surprisingly tense. Until I realized that I can just stay near the starting pond and not be in any danger at all...

There are other related issues too. The running controls, very tricky as mentioned, cannot be practiced in peace! You need to be in danger to try them out which means I ended up dying a dozen times practicing. Going out of my way to find danger is an *antithesis* to the whole experience!

There should also be some sort of a goal to push me forward, to make me move and take risks. For instance you might want to join your peers over yonder. The only way to them is through the danger filled Savannah... That would also work thematically.

Solid work. A few tweaks here and there would elevate this to a whole new level!

Space Travel 15 by jk5000 2017-04-26T09:25:36Z

Looks and sounds good, plays pretty well and there's a nice challenge in the end, before the inevitable conclusion.

The very beginning is too slow. You should add the third station after just a two trips, not 8 as it seems to be currently. The GUI is also problematic to the degree where I stopped using the station panels altogether.

One potential solution to the GUI problem would be to move the UFO panel functionality to the station panels. Each station panel would have a GO button, except the one where you are currently parked. The current panel would have the + and - buttons for adding passengers. The UFO stats still need to be shown in the separate panel, but this is not an issue as it would be a non-interactable element.

Good effort overall, have an :alien::airplane: (the 🛸 (flying saucer) emoji is so brand spanking new that it probably won't show up yet, too bad)

REDBOW by PixzleOne 2017-04-28T12:52:20Z

A functional entry, relatively bug free, the rolling animation looks neat and that is where the positives end.

The movement system is sluggish. The shooting has no weight or feeling to it. The enemies suffer from similar anemia. A dash of particles and improved animations combined with faster movement speed would have helped.

The main problem is this: it is way too easy! I got to level 10 without taking any damage and didn't bother playing anymore. All it takes is more slow moving projectiles per square pixel. Bullet hell or high water! Alternatively more active and intelligent combatants, but that would be a tough task in a procedurally generated level.

Eh, you already know this stuff. Good luck with the post-jam project. :fingers_crossed:

Humanity Simulator by RabbitTortoise 2017-05-02T15:18:05Z

IN THE GRIM DARK PRESENT HUMANITY IS DESTROYING ITSELF! Gee, thanks for the morning optimism...

Driving around in a bulldozer, reaping the benefits of capitalism, sure is *funny*, but not that much *fun* really. The number one problem: Why do I need to keep picking up money? In fact where does the money come from? The :evergreen_tree::evergreen_tree::evergreen_tree:?

I'd prefer a streamlined version. Felling trees yields :moneybag:, which automatically goes to your bank. Factories and such spend the planetary resources and convert them to sweet, sweet :moneybag:, which also directly goes to your bank account.

The ever increasing toxicity of the planet could start spawning in mutant species which attack your company assets. Invest in turrets and other defenses to smite them devils... Uh, I'm feature creeping again it seems.

Fine work, for the most part.

More Room! by Skosnowich 2017-05-06T15:45:25Z

I love swarm strategy, so this is right up my alley (to criticize!).

I second the automatic troop sending feature. It is a must and a mainstay in similar titles. Another nice mechanic is setting the troop sending percent to anything from 0% to 100%, the scroll wheel is fine for this purpose.

I can recommend two swarm strategy titles on Android: Starlink and Auralux. They are both extremely well designed and fun. (It seems Starlink is playable in the [browser](http://starlink.tasharen.com/) too, with the old Unity Web Player plugin)

Good work!

Virus hunt by KerelOlivier 2017-05-05T18:54:25Z

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV-Virus stands for... You see the issue?

Pedantry aside, the game, apart from the graphics which are a-ok, is also less than stellar.

Pac-Man is a proven concept, a true classic which has stood the test of time. It is still fun, that is. Your version has some issues, starting with the controls. Pac-Man cannot stop *ever*, he does not get stuck on walls, he cannot turn on a dime and if you do change direction while Pac-man is moving in a corridor, he will remember that and take the next turn in that direction.

Next, the design. With a proven concept you might not want to change anything, like to implement a life time timer? Why not simply add in more and more HI-viruses over time. Eventually the player will hit one and lose. You should also show the score on the *Game over* screen.

So, yeah. The effort is there and it is functional, props for that. Unfortunately the movement issue and the new design make it unfun.

Transistor Soup by stuntddude 2017-05-11T16:52:52Z

Had to look up the solution for XOR, *not* used to hardware logic me! The rest was much easier, even if my bit counter is a *bit* messy...

BitCounter.PNG

A solid, fun and educational puzzle! Edutainment anyone?

Abaddon by Geckoo1337 2017-05-02T09:56:37Z

This is a technically impressive entry, although the excessive transparency in the projectile particle effect tanks my frames on higher settings.

Designwise you are on much weaker ice. It is very similar to Devil Daggers in style and idea, yet falls short on the gameplay front. The shotgun attack is way too weak to be of any use and simply circle strafing around enemies is more than enough for a competent score. There is no incentive to stop, collect the health pickups or try any daring jumps amidst the enemies. You'll just get hit.

Ok entry this. Too much of a clone for my taste. Some sort of a unique gimmick could have saved it.

Psycho Paul by Raphael 2017-04-26T21:01:48Z

The idea of blending in with the plebs to assassinate a target is a functional one, just look at Hitman, but here it doesn't quite work, for a few reasons.

There are too many similar looking people and the protagonist is holding the picture covering most of the target. Both of these were very confusing in the beginning.

Not enough ways to eliminate the target. The store is full of all sorts of items, why not allow throwing or dropping them on people, using bananas to make them slip, radios to distract them, expensive items to lure them to an alley, there are lots of possibilities. Allow me to demonstrate: :anger::angry: + :knife::hammer::gun::bomb::radio::syringe::scissors::fire: = :scream:

Eh, you probably just didn't have time for any of that, right? Running around being Psycho Paul was more entertaining than it has any right to be so... Here's hoping for an extended version.

SittingDucks by Iak 2017-05-01T08:00:36Z

Ducks! Glad to see more of them, although this time in much more violent circumstances.

The graphics are ok, the audio strangely eerie and a bit off.

I don't think I got very far. Had very little time to lay eggs as jumping seems to be a rather effective measure against the asteroids already. The egg laying is a bit tricky too, there's no indication on when an egg has been laid as there's a delay of some sort. An audio cue would do the trick.

That floating hat probably has something to do with them secrets, but I had no time to deal with it due to them ig bass asteroids.

An ok job, I think.

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-04-26T11:59:04Z

@jk5000 Thanks for playing. There aren't any puzzles really. When you request something from a duck (info about a party or a meeting) they respond based on their relation to you. In other words, it is a weighted die roll!

The original idea had more mechanics for affecting their relation to you, like spending money to buy presents, but those were cut in order to focus on the audio-visuals.

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-04-26T21:27:15Z

@amras0000 Hey, thanks for playing (and elaborating on the strangeness of the world turtle).

There sure are times when skipping a day would be faster then chatting with your mates, but I didn't allow it as even the lowly ducks take part in events with the celebrity, in other words chatting is not wasted. Except, of course, if you've already maxed out the relations or know the celebrity. You were probably talking about these cases I take it... Well, in a more fleshed out version I would allow skipping, why not.

The main LD site doesn't seem to notify about replies yet, but [Feedback Friends](feedback.ld.intricati.com) does.

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-04-27T07:31:41Z

@richard-michael-smith Why not both? Thanks for playing!

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-04-28T10:50:12Z

@raphael & @m-1 Thanks!

The resolution is certainly lower in WebGL than in the desktop builds. Going fullscreen does at least alleviate the blurriness. I have no way to test on Mac unfortunately.

@remco Individual dialogue would have been nice indeed, some pirate jargon for Gonan for instance, but alas time was our mutual enemy. Thanks for playing!

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-04-28T12:23:11Z

@xmatos

I agree, the current version is a bit bare-bones. There were a lot of ideas cut due to deadline pressure, so sure, if I can find the time to work on an extended version there will be complications a plenty.

There are at least two thematic links at play here. The first one you already got. Basically it is "Six degrees of separation" in a smaller scale. The second is simply the fact that it all takes place in an itty-bitty duck pond.

Thanks for playing!

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-04-28T20:41:50Z

@maggardjosh That is, indeed, a good idea. I'll implement it in the next version. Thanks!

@binaryferret @sheep42 @Saurabh Thanks for the kind words and for playing of course!

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-04-30T15:49:26Z

@automatonvx Genuinely heartbreaking? Wow! I mean, let me fix that for you :broken_heart: -> :ambulance::hospital: :pill::pill::pill: -> :sparkling_heart:

@for-science "Steve just invited me to Steve’s surprise party" I didn't even think of that! One more thing to fix. There are two phases every day, Morning and Evening, which can be used to making calls or taking part in events.

Thanks for playing everyone!

Starstruck Ducky by HuvaaKoodia 2017-06-05T09:47:27Z

@TerraCottaFrog

Cool, thanks! It was a lot of fun competing.

Flatland by fabsy 2017-05-01T20:06:05Z

This is pretty cool! I'm a sucker for swarm strategy games so that explains why I can see through the lacking features.

The only "real" omission at the moment is a proper challenge! The current level is way too easy. It might be the AI or just the initial population numbers. A set of increasingly difficult levels, up to nigh on impossible, would have been nice.

Do continue working on this if you at all have the time. This could be great!

Cell Division by steve 2017-05-02T19:25:42Z

251 seconds! Kind of tough, couldn't sustain more than 5 cells at a time, very aggressive assault all around.

Quite a different take this, when it comes to technology and design. Organic shapes and behaviors aren't usually explored much, neither is C++! The graphics are neat-o indeed-o.

Good work!

Earth, 3568 by BoltKey 2017-05-01T14:07:09Z

A simple and clever idea. The music is very relaxing.

Calculating the trajectories manually is very challenging and if the mouse controls worked this would even be proper fun. Right now it is rather annoying and frustrating due to the controls bug.

Tested a bit and it seems that the mouse position is calculated from the top left of the browser window, not from the top left of the drawn area. Resizing the browser window to the drawn area size fixes the problem....

This is pretty great. You should still fix the mouse issue though.

Supermarket Sneak by Rick 2017-05-03T10:15:03Z

Great idea and graphics! There's always room for more stealth entries. :spy:

I couldn't get to the end no matter what I tried as whenever the camera moves the character becomes very slow... on Firefox that is! Tried on Chrome and managed to finish the first time around as there's no slow down at all. Weird that.

Good work otherwise!

Age of Utan by Yetikatt 2017-05-19T19:40:30Z

So this is what the Monolith did before retiring on Jupiter...

Chill pace, smooth music and a neat little *plane*t simulation. I build a utopia for the rascally imps; they frolicked peacefully and everything was bliss... Until I got bored that is. An ice age took care of them there creatures.

The problem: lack of challenge. Sure shooting down asteroids becomes slightly more difficult as the size of your plane grows, but that is too little too late. *Moar asteroids! MOAR!*

*Ahem*, Fine work on the presentation front. Couldn't find any bugs either.

Mini Shaders by bestnickname 2017-05-03T07:27:15Z

I'm pretty sure there is a bug in the comparison operator or the plus operator or my head... When I have the following commands: X + Y R < 3 SET

The whole screen becomes green! Except when it doesn't. Sometimes the value of R gets reset to 0 or the assignment just doesn't work.

Then I restarted the program and managed to complete all the levels just fine. That is a *bit* weird in it?

Other than the bug I really like it! Good work!

Icarus Isolation by King Kujito 2017-04-28T14:45:47Z

Oh man, such a beauty let down by awkward controls.

You use the mouse to close menu panels, but not for anything else? This desperately needs proper 3rd person camera and movement controls to be enjoyable at all. Trying to land on a small pillar is an exercise in frustration rather than awe and delight.

Keep working at it. This here is a very rough :gem: indeed.

Space Hummus by dietzribi 2017-04-30T18:35:06Z

How do you kill a space god? Moon sized spiky balls will do the trick nicely. Funny stuff all around :tada:

The physics are a bit weird, you can :cheese: your way through most levels with the *horizontal no gravity jump*. At least they are consistent and not buggy.

Great graphic and audio too. Well done!

Group Traffic Control by comatomatoes 2017-05-15T07:53:18Z

Multiplayer is always a tough sell in a jam. Online multiplayer especially due to how much time it takes to get it up and running in comparison to local multiplayer. You need many people to play at the same time and like everyone else I wasn't lucky in that regard either. There's little point playing this alone, but I did anyways.

Some technical points. The roads exhibit a lot of z-fighting, i.e they flicker due to being too close to the ground. The GUI isn't super clear about constructing buildings. Basically it should show a grayed out button for buying a house with the price show too. In fact the price should be visible at all times. It is important information.

I do like using the road network and the traffic lights for competitive antics. The opponent has a direct route to a workplace? Add an intersection or two to force them to deal with the traffic lights. Then add a house next to theirs so any traffic optimization they do also benefit you.

Cool idea,but making an AI would have been a better use of dev time I think.

Planetary Defense Force by TeamMonumental 2017-04-30T07:39:04Z

"interactive tower defense game", games are interactive *by default*, just FYI.

Impressive graphics and the audio ain't bad either. The idea of rotating your turrets to face your adversaries is fresh, if only the controls weren't this finicky.

Selecting a planet zooms in on it. I'd rather keep an eye on the enemy at all times, zoomed out as much as possible. The rotation input is reversed. Pressing right (D) rotates the planet **counter**-clokwise, i.e. *left* in relation to the sun! Having to manually collect metal from the fallen enemies means that there is little time to sell and buy better turrets. This makes level 3 near on impossible to complete. I had 1400 metal, but the sun just died in a few seconds...

Tweaking the controls would be a start, then re-balancing the waves to said controls.

Fine work otherwise. Have a :sunny: :globe_with_meridians: :earth_africa: :globe_with_meridians: :globe_with_meridians:

Rocket Roller Space Polo by pkenney 2017-05-01T10:04:29Z

Man and Machine weren't created equal! One relies on high-tech weaponry, the other on common-sense (more the merrier!). This asymmetry is a solid basis for a ~~blood~~ sport. :soccer::runner::robot: :robot:(I can't believe :football: turns out to be a handegg!)

Loads of fun, addictive even! Trying to get the ball onto an orbit around the asteroid is very challenging, but the benefits speak for themselves.

The graphics and audio are simple and effective, more than adequate really. The focus is on the game and that is all that matters.

Brilliant work all around!

Galactic Dwarfare by jirrev 2017-05-17T08:17:00Z

Another solid swarm strategy entry. I like these a lot, so don't worry about it!

More challenge would be most appreciated. Simply ramping up the AI thought process would be enough I wager.

Audio could be really interesting taken your *space dwarves* theme. :beer: :smile: :beer: :meat_on_bone::beer: :angry: :beer: :anger: :beer: :skull:

Well done.

Caelium Alpha by jishenaz 2017-05-05T18:27:23Z

Is it a digital game? Is it a digital puzzle?! No, it is a digital orrery! The first one I've ever seen and, by default, the best one I've ever seen!

Pretty cool really. I'd like the camera zoom and movement speed to be faster (or even adjustable). A "Follow orbital" button would also be quite neat.

Good work!

Satellite Bash by Elemental Zeal Game Studios 2017-05-12T07:37:07Z

The graphics are fine. The physics based gameplay reminds me of Hammerfight, while the theme is very different of course.

I'm not too keen on the progression system. It is a jam title, people want to play it and have fun, not to grind for the good stuff. In this case the good stuff is also way too good. The satellite lazors kill any challenge whatsoever.

Solid entry. More physics based shenanigans, less easy mode lasers plz.

Space Migrator by jackyjjc 2017-05-09T17:48:24Z

Great idea and solid execution. Way too easy and short, but that is expected for a jam title.

My major complaint this time, as usual, is the controls. An age old problem really, if the house is below the planet the controls seem reversed i.e. pressing right moves the house left. One way to go around this problem is to use the mouse instead of the arrow keys. This would also be a mobile friendly input system.

Good work overall.

Moon Dozer by sararyCow 2017-05-01T21:27:12Z

That GIF!

Funny idea and the music certainly elevates it to a new level..., but there is no challenge of any sort.

Well, I guess I can chalk it up to *experience* and be done with it. This is a funny and enjoyable short experience. Good work!

Small World Sim by pyokoanarogue 2017-05-09T18:15:03Z

I quite like the presentation. The dithered night and day animation has proper retro appeal. The GUI could be much prettier and less verbose, but that is a minor complaint.

The major complaint then: The stats make little sense. Why does the birth rate go up every month? Why are the *prizes* for the goals mostly negative? How come the population can grow indefinitely?

There are also many typos and less than stellar grammar...

Pretty good work, despite the negatives.

Gravity Wars by highlyinteractive 2017-05-19T05:39:58Z

The presentation is neat (and funny!), but the effects look much better in the screenshots than in actual motion. There's an odd delay to the gravity well effect and the movement of things in general is very... floaty? They don't seem to have any mass at all.

I'd prefer to use the gravity well to fling the bombs around as physics based shenanigans are more interesting than the usual *pew pew* nonsense, but the area is too small rendering it finicky to use at the moment. Lasers are a much safer bet, except when they wrap around the world and hit you in the back side. I do like that idea!

Overall an ok entry. The interactivity in this *highlyinteractive* production is lacking unfortunately and I find that disturbing.

Bumble Jumble by bram_ve 2017-05-01T20:42:46Z

The atmosphere is very mystical and eerie thanks to the vibrant graphics and the music, although I found the glitchiness of said music somewhat distracting.

Eh, the gameplay itself is... ok'ish. Finding, collecting and moving honey around within a timelimit is certainly functional, but I did find the lack of enemies to shoot (you know, with the shooting mechanic!) a bit of a missed opportunity.

The :keyboard: and :mouse: controls are just fine, btw.

Pretty good work this.

Solar Smash by blacksheepza 2017-05-02T11:32:11Z

Simple and functional. Not the most exciting entry truth to be told, the novelty wears off quite quickly. The gods seem to like it though.

World Conqueror: Rule the Seas by MCjammydodger 2017-05-08T10:46:38Z

Neat old-school idea and solid execution. Reminds me of Desert Strike and Return Fire, except on the high seas of course.

One user interface problem though. So... much... clicking. An under-powered rapid fire weapon should keep firing when the button is held down.

In fact I even tried to make a version with auto-fire, but your source repo is missing all the prefabs and the whole level so that wasn't really feasible.

Ok job in all.

Fixville by vladik-plays 2017-04-29T17:04:50Z

Those bug-eyed villagers will haunt my dreams tonight...

Right-o, the intro is mighty impressive. All it needs is some audio really. Unfortunately the things you end up doing are veeeery mundane: walk, pick up a thing, walk some more, drop the thing, repeat 3X...

The setup called for a charming adventure, but its not there yet. The change of scale is interesting, but underused. Going inside the computer was somewhat funny on its own right. More inventive use of smallness, please?

42-Mikronikus by Cambryx 2017-05-01T13:17:39Z

Neat little action score hunt. Well themed, the audio is great and the graphics cute and consistent. The graphics remind me of Kurzgesagt, but that might just be a coincidence.

The shield didn't seem to always block the asteroids, could be the size of the shield collider or just my eyes playing tricks on me.

Fine job!

Small World Mining Company by paulhocker 2017-05-03T06:33:34Z

Neat idea and competent execution. The graphics are nice and simple. The audio is less nice, but simple at least.

The challenge doesn't exactly ramp up much. The random AI is more annoying than anything really.

Also after dying a few times it booted me back to the first level. I would have liked to continue playing, you know.

An ok job! More emphasis on challenge would have been nice.

Binary Glitch by JOrbits 2017-05-01T10:26:41Z

I only got to around 1300 at best, although I think one could get pretty ace at this due to the healing grid. It is a great idea, which theoretically allows for really high scores. You'd need to be a wizard to pull it off though.

I really like this one. The graphics are plain thus sharp and easy to follow. The movement could have been off the grid I think. It is somewhat tough to get used to, but it is not terrible by any means.

Good work!

Tiny Tony by Firewill 2017-04-26T10:27:38Z

"Get inside their house" I tried getting up the stairs, oversteered and promptly fell into the ocean.... Needless to say I didn't try again.

The graphics and music are great. The steering is a bit....you know, a bit. It probably doesn't help that I never liked them wooden labyrinth puzzles as a kid.

Anyways, good work, but not for me! Have a :confused::corn: (there are no emoji for mazes, labyrinths or puzzles it seems).

Caturday is today by DemyHallar 2017-04-30T16:08:58Z

I don't get it. All I can do is select a random combo of two actions and hope that it creates the "right mood" for the shot that, which for some reason I cannot even choose?

The graphics and audio are top-notch, marvelous stuff, but the interactivity is so random and pointless.

Maybe that is the point, maybe this is an accurate portrayal of a day in the shoes of a social media personality. In that case I'm glad I'm not one of them folk.

Thanks for the reality check at least.

Bullet Wrap by Chao 2017-04-30T17:20:34Z

Arbitrary points 123!

I like it. Gets very hectic in the end. The size of the world being your health pool is a clever idea, didn't realize it on the first playthrough.

It seems every type of bullet hell enemy archetype is available, no small feat.

With audio this would be quite something special, now it is just plain vanilla special. Good work!

Polar Protector by AlexHoratio 2017-04-27T19:40:19Z

"You are a modern day Adonis", good to know!

Quick and technically competent, yet the gameplay left me cold.

In the end you cannot keep up with the increasing amount of enemies as the two monuments are, indeed, on the polar opposite sides of the planet. I'd much rather have a single point to defend and ultimately succumb to the enemy hordes than lose due to the fact that I simply cannot be in two places at once.

The enemies are rather anemic too, after all they don't attack you directly. This gravely limits any kind of evasive action potential. It is all just too simple really.

So, yeah. Not a lot of positive thing to say beyond the craftsmanship. No bugs either, that's mighty fine.

The Czar, the Demons and the delicious Midnight Snack by Dagegen 2017-05-05T06:46:29Z

Funny intro, always a fan of anthropomorphic veggies me! :eye::carrot::eye:

The gameplay is simple. It works, but doesn't seem to get any harder as time goes on. It is a bit on the dull side due to that. When death finally comes, it is a completely random mixture of all the hazards trapping you to a corner or some such nonsense where you have no way of affecting your fate.

I think the main reason for the lack of a steady challenge, apart from the random hazards, is the mouse controls. The planet is so fast and responsive that dodging slower, less random, dangers would be trivial. With a maximum speed and some inertia the dangers could be toned down and increased in number over time, resulting in a less chaotic and random experience. Maybe you want it to be chaotic (it's the :smiling_imp: we are talking about after all), in which case disregard the previous comment.

Some juicy effects, like particles and camera shake, would have gone a long way in increasing the feel of the core loop too.

Competent entry overall.

Yours by binaryferret 2017-04-27T15:38:09Z

A neat planet generator + tribe simulation. Some interaction with the tribe could have been interesting, but as you say time is a tough mistress. I'm most certainly hopeful for an extended edition.

The world as we know it: :mountain::ocean::house::man:

You Are World. by amras0000 2017-04-26T11:51:29Z

The ambience is brilliant. You put a lot of effort into the assets and it shows. I also like how every land hex has a unique name and statistics, even though the naming does bug out for the suns and the god, which segues nicely to my gripes.

"Get God!" echoes the command. God turns out to be a blue orb that does nothing, what a surprise! Later when you are instructed to destroy said god nothing happens to them, but the super helpful turtle bites the bullet. What is this, I don't even?!

The broken English doesn't make understanding this weird theology any easier.

Overall an interesting atmospheric experience, with some issues. Have a :milky_way::turtle:

Small Planet Tycoon by Querk 2017-04-30T18:18:36Z

A solid simulation, but not quite a game yet. You see, while there's a spectacular way to lose (and I did many times before getting the hang of all the stats) there's no way to win! A few different kinds of goals would have been nice, like get to 500 population, 50 ecology or 10000 industry.

I got to two skyscrapers in the end, adding a third blew up the planet again... :boom: How careless of me!

COSMOMOMOMOº by NueboMundo 2017-05-06T16:48:43Z

Took me a few tries to get the idea, but managed to finish all levels once it clicked. The *reunion* scene has a nice atmosphere to it.

Now there are two issues, both of which have been pointed out before; but let's recap anyways, why not?

The first impression is not clear. It all feels very counterintuitive until you figure out what is going on.

Secondly there really is no challenge after you do figure out what is going on. Shoot everything in the same general direction, move to the side and wait... easy!

There could be all sorts of things to spice this concept up, for instance gravity modifiers, more enemy types, immovable obstacles that the bullets bounce off of, multiple cosmomomomos to keep alive (as in the last scene)... Stuff like that!

Otherwise very innovative and well made. Congrats!

Goo Game by koreus7 2017-05-12T14:53:37Z

This here is quite an innovative puzzle. The graphics and audio support the design brilliantly. The GUI graphics are the only blackmark in the presentation front.

I really enjoyed all the levels. Then I hit a surprise *Game over* screen all of a sudden. Not sure if that was the last level or what? The level transition is also just an instant cut. A small delay and audio cue would improve the experience I reckon.

Splendid work!

Dr. M Little's Planet Mass Overdrive by slimabob 2017-05-01T12:43:01Z

That was funny! The "true" ending was quite something :hole:

Some sort of challenge would have been nice. Sure the population count kept dropping, but it is trivial to get to 1000 in that time. Not that I have any ideas, so....

A well made entry.

Ultra-ninja VS falling zombies by gaspard 2017-05-02T08:07:24Z

If you want more people to try out your entry you need to make it easy to run on as many platforms as possible.

I, for one, am not going to install a bunch of programs to play a single LD entry, there are so many others running directly in a browser for a start!

Infecteria by LiquidBrain 2017-04-29T15:41:40Z

So why is an Xbox controller needed in order to play again? Is there some kind of a unique gimmick which absolutely requires such a controller to work? It would be nice to know.

Supporting both :video_game: and the :keyboard: + :mouse: combo is super easy in Unity, so if you can make it work you should. Right now many people won't give your entry a try simply because they *can't*, me included.

I'll give it a spin and a fair shake the moment I *can*, pretty promise.

Supernova by Veralos 2017-04-27T09:49:32Z

The aesthetics amaze me, it all just jells together. Reminds me of Star Control, without the alien encounters sadly. The controls are tight and the idea/design simple and effective. So what's wrong then...

Well, here's one way to put it. This is like a 2D No Man's Sky: a grind to the center of a vast system with way too little content, randomly spread way too thin. The lack of challenge is unfortunate. There is absolutely no reason to play this again, in fact I nearly gave up after 4 planets as they had no challenge at all!

Another title which randomly sprung to mind just now is Redder, an old Metroid inspired flash game. Highly recommended, if you can stomach flash that is.

In conclusion big points for presentation, small points for interactivity and challenge. Don't fret, have a :robot:

Superbugs by Breadmower 2017-05-04T12:22:46Z

A well designed and enjoyable puzzle. With bigger levels and larger effect areas per drug this might become very challenging and tricky indeed.

Thematically the current levels are fine, but they do get less challenging as they go. The last level is jam packed with viruses, yet it is much easier than the previous levels because there are less positions to put drugs on and each position is more obvious.

Good work!

The Infinitely Small Room by kroltan 2017-05-03T15:19:31Z

Interesting idea this. First time I've seen a functional level editor with global uploading in a jam! Mighty impressive.

I tried to make a level, I really did. I got the hang of the interaction system looking at the examples and even got close to finishing one, but then I tested the level, walked into the exit and it automatically loaded a new level erasing all my work! :scream: Not the best user experience design pattern that there.

Enceladus by mgoadric 2017-04-30T10:20:25Z

It is a puzzle all right (deductive logic only). I find the mechanics fresh and interesting, but also somewhat arbitrary. It is very hard to envision where the astronauts are going to land after a collision with each other. Most of the time the situation just randomly resolved itself, leaving me unsatisfied.

The move counter should count downwards, rather than upwards. The max move count seems to be 4 every time, but I also needed to test it every time to find out, which is a waste of time.

Inventive work. I can applaud that. :clap:

Water Bear World by Aviland 2017-04-29T17:48:37Z

I only got a handful of points per level, but thanks to the rather tricky controls and the spot on audiovisuals the struggle for survival couldn't have felt more real. The icy pond especially is very immersive. Reminds me of flOw quite a bit in that regard.

Fine job, although such a control scheme won't win you any favors with most people I'm afraid.

:ocean: :bear: FTW!

Trapped Inside by Baconinvader 2017-04-30T16:50:25Z

Feedback, well gee. A picture on the entry page would be a start. The controls should be told to the player, preferably in program, but here would have been fine too. It is rather ridiculous that someone had to write them in the comments (thanks for that @mdacoffee).

Talking about the controls. Why are there so many? You could easily combine *Pickup item*, *Use item*, *Activate terminal* and *Select menu option* into a single context sensitive general purpose activation button, while the *Inspect object* and *Inspect held item* would also work as a context sensitive button.

I don't really like these "adventure puzzles" as I like to call them. The problem is that, often times, they grind into a halt due to an arbitrary puzzle solution devised by a, presumably mad, designer. The solution: use every item on everything and hope for the best; and Lo! I had to do it here too with the security chip. I didn't get past the melted fuse though, so even my solution has a limit: how bored are you willing to be?

The door passwords are randomized, that's good.

Walking around is sooooo sloooooow!

Not my cup of tee this. If you absolutely, positively have to continue making these types of titles, do invest in a hint system of some sort. Me, personally? There are all sorts of other type of interactive media to create.

Giant Steps by Lennart Jansson 2017-05-14T06:38:46Z

It's a puzzle alright. I found the levels to be quite easy to solve logically, but not otherwise. That is to say I too will moan about the controls.

Basically all of this has already been said, but it bears repeating. Every puzzle ever should have an infinite undo function. We are not talking about games (inductive logic challenge) here, we are talking about puzzles (deductive logic challenge) so having an undo feature doesn't ruin anything (unlike, say, racing games with a reverse time mechanic **Shudders**)

Another issue, a bigger one I reckon, is the keyboard controls. Why keyboard to begin with? With mouse controls this would be a cinch: left mouse button to move, right to pick up and drop. A mouse control scheme would also translate to touch devices much easier. Puzzles are great on touch devices so choosing the control method is a very important development decision indeed.

The design and the graphics are fine. Some audio would have been nice, surely there must be loads of freeware jazz out there. Good work.

Gate Breaker by GrassWhopper 2017-04-27T08:44:54Z

The graphics are quite reminiscent of a few old school arcade titles, namely Galaca and its ilk. Some sound effects would have sealed the deal for me presentationwise.

The lack of challenge disturbs me the most. It is a cake walk from the beginning to the end and once you know the password speedrunning it is just a matter of seconds. A randomised password with properly challenging enemies would elevate the experience to a whole new level.

Small tweaks is all it takes, it's a fine start. Have some :star::bug::bee::beetle:

Conquer Earth by Lars DK 2017-04-29T08:36:32Z

Competently made and a surprisingly ambitious design. The music is great, the map and menu graphics clean an eloquent, but the character and spaceship art is simply amateurish. My condolences to the artist...

The game then (post-compo). I played twice. First time smashed a few AIs, bought a super weapon and nuked Earth. That was easy!

Next time played as the protector of earth. Had a rough start as I concentrated on economy rather than weapons so I got beat by the AI multiple times until I got hold of some proper firepower. Turtled the rest of the time on Mercury mining Titanium, bought the Death Star from Venus and nuked every AI to oblivion, but it didn't end? Apparently I needed to alert the Earthlings to win, oh well. I count that as a success nonetheless.

I find the world to be **not** small enough! It is mostly trivial to stay away from the AIs' path and they don't seem to pursue higher level tactics like trapping players on their home planet. An even smaller world would force the players to deal with each other often resulting in more conflict and drama.

A fine job. :earth_africa: :shield: :rocket: :anger: :rocket:

Protect by M-1 2017-04-28T11:30:05Z

Fun and challenging. Although the hard mode is way too challenging for me and my poor low quality keyboard! The music is great and the highscore server is a big bonus.

Not a rhythm game aficionado me, so I cannot offer many pointers, but I do agree with @boats on the timing problem. The blocks coming from the sides show up earlier than those from the top or the bottom even if they are going to arrive later. I think this is the reason for the issue. Maybe completely covering the sides with black would work.

Good work, have some :notes:

Suds of War by James Dunlap 2017-05-03T20:15:48Z

The graphical theme is cute and the assets themselves simple and effective. The audio doesn't work for me at all, had to turn it off pretty much immediately.

Played one round against the AI. I moved my ships cautiously in the mist. The enemy got to us after a few turns, but not quite to attacking distance. Next turn I sank two of their ships winning us the war right there. They didn't even shoot back!

I think that last bit is the biggest problem here, the massive bonus to attacking. Usually in light strategy titles, for instance Advance Wars and its freeware sibling Battalion: Vengeance, the defender also gets to attack with a diminished force. To offset the attackers advantage even more long range artillery units can be strategically placed to deter rushing.

Ok job in all. With some tweaking this could be pretty darn fine.

The Bugs World by gagapete 2017-05-11T19:47:48Z

A functional real time swarm tactics title. The graphics are fine, some audio would have elevated the presentation to a new level.

The design is *overly* simple. There is never any reason to attack the enemies before all the food has been consumed. As such winning simply comes down to quick clicking rather than any interesting strategic thinking. **Rush, my pretties!** :ant: :ant: :ant:

Well put together, but you should revise the design.

Escape from Sytlanta by Gundatsch 2017-05-07T18:01:32Z

*Turn-based*, *hexmap*, *treasure hunt*, *low-poly graphics*. This was made for me! (I choose to believe)

Played both versions. The graphics and audio are neat in both.

The post-jam certainly has many improvements which I agree on (auto search, thank goodness!). There's still one GUI feature which doesn't make a lick of sense to me. The *This hex has already been searched* checkmark only shows if the hex has not sunk at all. Why? This defeats the whole purpose of the checkmark.

The map size is also a bit big for being *a small world* on paper. I'd prefer a small enough map to fit on a single screen; with fewer, more impactful decisions to make.

Good job overall. The mechanics could be tightened up is all I'm saying.

Blocknauts! by EndlessPlumber 2017-04-27T10:40:18Z

Flying around the place is enjoyable and everything looks nice even if the graphical style is somewhat unfocused (the voxel stuff is a bit out of place). The way the tethered parts jitter around is also rather funny. I couldn't find the last two hull pieces, some kind of radar/locator tool would have been nice, but this is not the biggest issue by any means.

The biggest issue looming over everything that is good and just is --** \*drum roll\* **-- the camera controls! They function unlike anything I've played before. A standard 3rd person camera rotates around the player, it never rotates around its own axis. In other words, moving the mouse forward always moves the camera up, around the player. Here if the camera is looking at the player from the side, moving the mouse forward instead rotates the camera around its local forward axis. This is most unusual behavior.

Other than the camera, you've put together an enjoyable exploration and gathering experience. Some challenge would make it into a game proper, but you can't have everything on a tight deadline. Good work, have a :rocket:

Plutus by Apostate Games 2017-05-05T14:45:45Z

Funny premise, neat graphics and solid design. Yet there's one user interface issue that got me killed 3 times and I simply could not stomach the slow beginning crawl for a forth time...

The issue: No indicator for the sun! I could not elevate Plutus to Grandeur, I only managed to hurl it to the sun...

The glow around the sun should be much bigger and there should be a menacing burning sound attached to it. To add insult to injury the collider of the sun is much bigger than the graphic. Sunshine and happiness to all! :sunny:

Other than that, I kind of like it.

RSV Resourcer by Brandon Diaz 2017-05-04T07:09:18Z

It is a great idea this, the graphics are neat and clean and the VO is funny. Reminds me of Startopia that last one. Unfortunately the bugs and lack of feedback totally deflate the whole experience.

For starters it doesn't work on Firefox, that is worth a mention in the description.

The RAM fills up, with no given reason. It could be interesting if a situation elsewhere required the AI to use up a part of its resources for a time, but no. This is merely a bug.

Another idea for the RAM issue is to make it into a *fake memory leak*. In other words, you'd need to reboot the processing unit and flush the RAM every once in a while due to *faulty programming*.

Building new units, when the RAM is full, gives no warning sound or effect. It would also be nice to see which constructs and agents, if any, each mental grid has on the cryopod screen.

Lastly there's the issue of progress. There doesn't seem to be a goal of any sort. When does my shift end again?

This needs work, but there sure is potential.

Colonized Panda by Pashok 2017-04-29T12:51:39Z

I get a definite Futurama vibe going on here. Decision simulation is a rather apt name, although interactive fiction is what I would go for as practically it is a non-linear story structure where the simulation simply triggers events based on faction headcount. *Labels*, who doesn't like them... Moving on.

The typos are slightly distracting. There's also a faint, buggy looking, shimmer effect around the panda (in WebGL at least), which I don't think adds anything, but it kept annoying me once I noticed it. Some snail activity on the panda between the events would totally make the downtime less boring, but would not solve the issue of waiting. I would outright have a fast forward button, quite frankly.

The ending doesn't end anything either, which is a bit weird. I was first made a constellation by the aliens (or something like that) and then after the end panel closed the panda ran out of oxygen anyways? The next playthough resulted in a military coup. Lovely!

Smart idea and neat execution. Good job! :milky_way: :panda_face: + :snail: :snail: :snail: = ???

Lead the Ants by matita 2017-04-30T10:04:30Z

The idea is, indeed, clever, but it doesn't carry the experience for long.

I was waiting for additional challenges to appear, like competing :ant:hills, :ant: warfare, :bird::bird: or :man: :runner:! But nope, this is it. If the food supply is right next to your hill, it all basically boils down to: release pheromones, wait for 2 minutes... That is not interesting.

I also get a lot of slowdown on the WebGL build once 20+ :ant::ant::ant: are marching around.

This is a good base for something bigger. Keep at it.

P L A N E T O R U S by cottontshirtz 2017-04-26T10:48:33Z

I didn't even think of using a torus shaped world (when immediately discarding the "you move around a 3D shape in space" idea) so bonus points for that. The graphics and effects are pretty, the enemy designs interesting and the nightmare mode.... something I've never seen before. More bonus points!

It does lack challenge as mentioned by @robotsoulsgames, but this time I'm glad to have played this for the novelty value alone.

Great work! Have a :doughnut:

Murder Mitosis by _for_science 2017-04-30T11:53:35Z

Fun, fast, beautiful, inventive, well designed... What else is there to say?

It would be amusing to see the kind of strategies a vivid multiplayer scene would come up with for something like this. Especially in a 2 vs. 2 match.

At least against the AI it always ends up in the smartest player (me!) using the secondary action at the right time to smother everyone else amidst their own minions. Those merry blobs are adorable and deadly at the same time!

Outright splendid work!

Momma ZILLA by Sean M 2017-05-04T06:38:35Z

The babyzillas were pretty eager to eat missiles...

Simple and competent. A bit too easy really. Would have liked the Mommazilla to have less HP, or the missiles to deal more damage. Healing is so effective that challenge goes out to window at the same time.

Pretty ok this.

Planet Bash by killerkun 2017-05-04T07:55:55Z

A challenging (i.e, fun!) entry. Bashing is very enjoyable due to the sweet, sweet juiciness. Quality looks and sounds too!

A few niggles of course: - Keeping the bash button down should bash again and again. Timing your bashes is a rare choice used in dodging. Most of the time I just want to continually bash away.

- Missiles should always be build on the surface of the planet. It is a risk trying to destroy them before launch and as such a compelling choice. You should always give the player those.

Good work!

Colorfly by Zelos 2017-05-02T08:26:12Z

The graphics are fine, they look much better in the stills than in motion. The poor :butterfly: has a serious impediment in its left wing. The audio is also quite good, fits the mood to say the least.

I missed two trees and got the *bad* ending I guess. I simply cannot be bothered to play again. It is a slow and mostly trivial experience, when it comes to challenge. There is no decision making, no quick thinking required, just these small dexterity challenges between the even simpler flying around stages.

I can see what you are going for, but it sure could have used some more thought on the interaction side of things.

LD-38 SUPER SMALL WORLDS by elZach 2017-04-29T10:35:16Z

This is very ~~Japanese~~ strange in a good way. The aesthetic, the audio; everything all awesome.

Too simple though: **jump!** then **jump!** some more. Glitching the goal music is funny and the journey is definitely worth the trouble; _very cool, very cool_.

I wuv you too. :sparkling_heart:

Small Kingdoms by anarbitrarymustache 2017-04-30T09:07:50Z

Nice presentation, but the gameplay is too simple. I'm not sure how a better AI would even function based on these rules. The rules, man! What is going on with the rules!

What does strength do? A lower strength hero beats a higher strength hero most of the time, but not always. Is there a hidden die roll? Why does the attacking hero *sometimes* beat the defender and conquer the enemy hex, while at other times the defender is simply pushed back and the hex stays untouched? What does the number on the hex do? A hero can *sometimes* conquer a hex with a big number in one swell swoop. (Observations based on the :man: vs :man: mode)

It is really hard to play a game when the rules are so obscure. An explanation would suffice, if these are not bugs, that is.

Influenza: The Game by longchamps 2017-04-28T11:40:39Z

Luckily viruses aren't this smart in real life!

The gameplay is a tad too simple for my liking. Adding in different types of white cells would help a lot. One slightly faster, one slowly homing towards the player, one bigger, one smaller, etc.. Small variations like these are easy to make and very effective.

The music got on my nerves pretty quickly, maybe that was specifically composed to spread the headache?

Taking your predicament into account this is alright for what it is. Hopefully your next jam will be less :thermometer_face: and more :sweat_smile:

Adventure Owl Meets the Mole Men by fenwick 2017-05-10T09:06:34Z

The graphics are nice and the music great even. I enjoyed the progression too. It seemed impossible at first, but there was a nice little surprise down in the caves!

A few complaints: The WebGL version is rather sluggish, a bit of optimization would do it good. The owl itself doesn't quite look like an owl to me. More of a hawk with that beak... Have a reference :owl:

Other than that, good work!

Tiny Planet by Matt Fabius 2017-04-30T08:44:21Z

I tried the WebGL version. It ran really badly and got an error once I selected a player with the multi selection rectangle and moved them to a position. I tried downloading the windows version, but it lacks the Data folder that it needs to work.

Also you should contact Mike (link at the top) to get those glitch comments removed.

Planet Taxi by Marin0104 2017-04-30T09:50:24Z

I was the :taxi: driver the planet deserved, not the one it wanted... or needed... It's complicated.

The money certainly kept flying away :money_with_wings: :money_with_wings: :money_with_wings:. Even after memorizing all the hotspots I still could not make any money at all with these rates. This is not how a :taxi: service works. You pay more the longer the trip, not less.... Oh well, there must a lot of competition I'm not seeing then.

The difficulty could use some tweaking, is my point. This goes from Crazy :taxi: to Impossible :taxi: pretty quick.

Warpy's World by Nilanjan 2017-05-04T18:59:32Z

Positives first. The presentation is rather neat. Hand drawn art has that genuine jam quality to it. To the negatives!

The cloning mechanic is rather buggy (even in the post-jam version). No matter what, the *clone* :cat: always spawns on top of the *real* :cat:. Pressing the key down does nothing special.

Trying to solve the levels then become this weird glitch movement fests where I try to position the clone somewhere else by repeatedly falling and moving at the same time... *Doesn't seem like the intended behavior to me*

The *clone* :cat: can also walk through walls.... Kind of makes sense as it is a ghostly apparition of sorts, but once again... *Doesn't seem like the intended behavior to me*.

After all that glitching a "Congratulations!" screen would have been a sight for sore eyes, but I guess I'll have to do with perpetual rain.

The Little World by JayTord 2017-05-01T21:50:28Z

Intense! Mostly for my index finger unfortunately... The idea is, in all honesty, brilliant. An ever increasing challenge testing your dexterity, quick wits and carefulness. The problem here is many fold.

Selecting the right tool for the right job is really easy, thus the carefulness aspect is a dud. If you needed to change the tool in between a task, for instance clean :rose: twice then water once, carefulness would play a much bigger role in the proceedings.

Quick wits aren't really needed as each task clearly signals its urgency, meaning the order of doing things is obvious. This is good UI design by the way so challenging the decision making part of the brain should be done some other way.

We are left with dexterity and, boy, that sure is required. Got to around day 30 and at that point, trying to click a :volcano: 5 times in a row is a bloody nightmare! Maybe the complexity and amount of tasks could increase instead of the rotation speed of the planet. After all, why is the speed increasing in the first place?

Well, I do still like it due to the strong idea and competent execution. It could be really something special though.

Down the Rabbit Hole by those-30-ninjas 2017-05-02T10:44:49Z

The :rabbit: :rabbit: :rabbit: might not have the smarts, but they've got the numbers! Funny how going in to find a single wascally wabbit ends up in the systematic termination of a whole bunch of them. What is this magician up to really!?

Neat retro graphics, the music is splendid. Hit my nostalgia bone pretty hard that.

Quality work!

Petri-geddon by kyle-smith 2017-05-11T20:21:08Z

Neat theme and graphics. I also like the turn based tactics design, except it is veeery slow to play. Each microbe taking a turn at a time, slowly ambling about and then it *crashed* :boom:

I had about 10 microbes sitting around, not one being able to terminate an enemy. Growing fat and complacent and then it *crashed* :boom:

It also *crashes* a lot, and I mean a lot. Could not finish one match completely. :boom::boom::boom:

Place Them All by Yami no tenshi 8 2017-04-26T16:05:34Z

Brilliant idea! Reminds me of the Grow series, although with random generation there is more replay value. The random generation also limits the viability of certain planets, but that is the price you have to pay to the RNG gods for their help I suppose.

One thing that I don't get is why the resolution phase always starts from the same location. Couldn't it also start from the first tribe, from a player chosen tribe or always in the same tribe order?

Nonetheless I do like this a lot. Have a :smiling_imp:. It is about the only one of the tribes supported by emoji (humans don't count!).

The New Kid by Saurabh 2017-04-28T13:34:44Z

Yes, social networks! An idea worth development.

Trying to diversify my subject affinity was the last thing on my mind. I made 8 art student friends easily with near 100% chance every time after the first few. The only issue was simply running out of art lovers, so I had to lower my standards for a few scientists.

The mechanic is overly simple and taken that there is no personality to anyone or any dialog between people, befriending them turns to be a very drab process indeed. You should have allocated time to making/finding some audio-visuals to fit the theme.

Once I reached about 12 friends (in the WebGL version) increasingly terrible lag started cropping up. I'd be interested in knowing what exactly is going on in the graphics drawing routine. It is just a dozen balls and lines on the screen after all.

It functions and the idea is fine. Have a :school:

Strangeness by philomory 2017-04-28T12:04:07Z

I played the bug-fix version. It is a puzzle alright and a competent one at that. I found the levels quite easy, but then again I've played a lot of these *push rocks, avoid enemies* puzzles.

The audio visuals are most certainly strange, if that is what the name is alluding to. Unfortunately I also find them rather off-putting.

The only annoyance I have with the mechanics is the inability to wait a turn. Having to waltz around, trying to line up the right moment is just plain silly.

Other than that, it's a fine entry. Have a :space_invader:

Lazy Taxi by nineliiife 2017-05-05T19:18:27Z

Interesting twist. The timer going down while driving without a passenger and going up when driving with a passenger is very nice design!

The passenger anger rises somewhat erratically, It should rise more when you are close to the target so that you couldn't simply drive right next to the target and slowly joyride around it until the anger level tops out.

The driving mechanics could be improved too. Drifting! Where is it?

Also it is not really an *ANGER BAR* if all you have is a number. *ANGER LEVEL* maybe? ANGER BAR sounds like a very unpleasant place :angry:

Yourselves by Kloki 2017-05-17T11:40:05Z

The graphics (cor, shaders!) are mighty pretty and the design, while tried and true, is well realized.

Unfortunately the user interface commits the oldest sin in the book of UI design: It wastes my time at every opportunity. Let's have a *sin list* shall we:

- When a character reaches its goal I still need to wait for the rest of the characters to finished their movements. This downtime should be automatically fast forwarded so that I can start moving the next character right away. - When a mistake is made, the only thing to do is to restart the whole level. An option for restarting the current character would be much more efficient in cases where the previous characters are already doing the right things. - Traps! Why are there areas that a character cannot get away from? Falling into these is an instant restart. - Jumping! The window for making a successful jump is somethings very strict. In fact, you have to jump when the character is already hovering in air over the edge. Took me a while to get used to that.

Note that the second two issues are problematic namely due to the first two. Basically, once I've already figured out the logic of the puzzle, completing the level should be a breeze not a slog.

That might sound like a lot of negativity there, but no worries. They are relatively small things in comparison to the rest of the project which is just fine. Good entry overall.

Crater Creator by navot 2017-04-29T09:22:41Z

Yup, gotta agree with other people. Well made and designed, funny intro (that is exactly how they'd communicate!) and fun gameplay. A proper victory condition would have been nice, got to 86% in the end. How 'bout a failure condition too, like running out of fuel?

The movement system is just fine, and the colored trajectory indicator is a very nice touch. Sure enough some additional challenge would have been welcome. These kind of titles always remind me of a few old school titles, such as Solar Jetman, where you fly in caves, gravity pulling you down, where each collision is potentially leathal. Fun times!

Anyways, quality! :globe_with_meridians::boom::comet::comet::rocket::boom::comet:

Soleil by JoyFired 2017-04-30T09:17:21Z

3rd person platforming, this is what hell must be like....

I could not even get to the first item. That small green platform is just an evil, slippery, frustration generator. Even the top down camera doesn't bloody help...... Raaargh! :angry:

Pece to you too.

Aliens vs Rng by Valicitor 2017-05-01T13:29:32Z

A fine random generator & random event machine. It's not much more than that, but hey it does what it claims to do! The audiovisuals are great too (third on the Kurzgesagt bandwagon).

The only bug I can find is the same event conclusion message sometimes repeating for multiple different events.

Those aliens sure were aggressive. A 0 population planet is much more peaceful, my job here is done.

RNG FTW! :game_die:

Cartography by Zorg 2017-05-08T11:29:27Z

Cartography is *a first person puzzle (plus walking simulator) game*. When you make something you should call/label it using the most specific terms possible. I was rather intrigued by that description, but what I ended up trudging through was a *first person maze*.

I'm not a fan of mazes. It is the one puzzle genre that I really dislike. The reason? Mazes are mostly an exercise in patience, memorization and very little deduction. They don't tax the logic part of my brain much at all, which makes them boring (*to me*).

In other words I'm just going to talk about the rest of it. The graphics and mood are rather nice. The colored fog is a neat touch. The structure itself is needlessly big and you cannot sprint. There should also be some other sights to see I reckon, the dull grey corridors get dull indeed.

Taking your inexperience with the tools into account this is a solid entry.

Globe Trot by Richard Michael Smith 2017-04-26T10:07:10Z

Fun! I really appreciate the fast difficulty buildup. The effects are also strangely satisfying even if the performance drops a bit once there are a bunch of enemies on the screen.

When I first started playing I expected the movement and shooting controls to function the same way, i.e left arrow shoots left and A key moves left, but this is not the case. The ship rotates instead and the camera rotates with it. This is even worse when moving downward, the whole camera flips.

It took me a while to figure out that the movement controls are relative and even then I didn't fully get used to it or like it much. I don't know how Geometry Wars does it, but a simple directional movement system combined with a fixed camera would have worked just fine here I reckon.

Pretty good work overall. :peace: on :earth_africa:?

Rise of the Termites by Togis 2017-04-29T21:42:54Z

An ambitious project. Plays really well, the music is surprisingly enjoyable and the graphics... Well, they are functional at least.

The main missions are a bit on the easy side and always end very abruptly. The user interface is ok, but missing some important features already outlined by @joyfired.

Good work. Have some nearly appropriate bugs :ant: :ant: :ant:

Chuck and Bull by CheesyMoo 2017-05-12T06:36:29Z

A relaxing experience all right. It is not everyday that I get to roleplay a hillbilly farmer with a hot wive, one stud of a bull and my very own floating isle.

Some sort of a purpose would add a lot. Here are a few ideas: - The *prize bull of the year* competition is coming up. Groom Ben the Bull to top shape. - Your loans are due. Figure out a way to earn enough money or to wiggle out of them somehow. - Just survive. It is a floating rock, how often does the trader visit again?

Nice work on the audiovisuals. Interactions are next!

Entropy by SleepyStudios 2017-05-05T16:17:42Z

Online Multiplayer in a jam is not something you see every day, props for that (although I'm unsure if I was playing against humans or bots... No-one but me was calling out for attention!) The audio and graphics are neat too.

The exercise itself (as a twisted fire starter at least) is rather pointless and boring. The should be some kind of a build up of tension over a match. A simple, say 6 minute, timer would have sufficed for a start. Rousing and dowsing fires could have a resource cost as well, meaning you couldn't simply spam away.

Solid effort.

More than a Pixel by CAREFACE 2017-05-03T06:40:05Z

Haha! I like the *twist*. I didn't read the description so it came completely out of left field.

The platforming is simple, but surprisingly enjoyable. Somersaulting over enemies as a Ninja is rad!

The boss battles could have used some work. They are very, *very* easy. More projectiles on the screen, please. A checkpoint just before the boss would be nice too.

Good work!

Tetripolis by kasarun 2017-05-02T12:56:28Z

A well thought out puzzle this one and I even enjoyed playing it, to a point. There is one design aspect that I don't exactly agree on though.

There are two separate challenges in each level. How to fit all the puzzle pieces together to win and how to maximize your score? Problem is these two challenges don't overlap much at all. You first need to figure out how to fit enough pieces in, memorize the order or write it down and then play again this time matching the best scoring pieces in the right order. The scoring itself is a massive optimization problem as well due to the vast amount of possible combinations created by the rotations.

I'm not a big fan of brain melting puzzles. Managed to get 1300 in lvl. 10 which is most certainly enough for me. Otherwise a well made entry, some people will like it more no doubt.

SUN GOD by palemachine 2017-05-01T13:04:37Z

A cool idea and well designed to boot. The audiovisuals are pleasing too.

The controls could be simplified a bit. There is never a situation where I want to fly over a planet without landing. This is to say, having to press E to land is both unnecessary and error prone. Taking off needs a separate key though.

The tutorial is indeed long'ish, but well written and funny enough to make it bearable.

Good work! All hail the :sunny: :dog:

Glade in the Sky by AdroitConceptions 2017-04-30T17:33:12Z

An acceptable platforming puzzle. I feel like I cheated with the moving boxes problem by walking on the roof, but then again I guess that is just thinking outside of the box.

Having to climb the same ladders three times in the challenge on the right was a bit boring.

Neat graphics. The audio has a lot of hiss and static, distractingly so.

Fine job overall.

tinyArk by knexer 2017-05-12T15:28:21Z

Oh man, the idea is great. The execution not so much.

Two issues:

The GUI isn't intuitive. I tried everything in order to clear the capsule and ended up restarting the level from the menu. It turns out you can cycle each organism back to zero it you click it three times? A *clear all* button and right click to reduce the amount of organisms would be nice.

There isn't enough feedback. I finished the second level by filling the planet with so much stuff that everything died and then sending in the required organisms. Not sure if this was the way to go, **but it worked!** The *consumes* and *requires* fields aren't exactly clear either, especially due to the icon colors. Some hints here and there would do really.

This could be something you know, but it requires work.

Odd Ball by mikeware 2017-05-19T19:57:21Z

This is not really a puzzle as there are no deductive logic problems to solve, in fact it's not even a game as there are no inductive logic problems to solve either. I'd call it a *pattern matching challenge*, plain and simple. **Nitpick end**

I like it. I'm not very good at it all things considered, but that just means there's room for self improvement. I wager you could use these kind of challenges to rehabilitate patients (of some ailment, not sure what exactly). *Health tech*... Hmm, there's money in that right?

Anyways, good work!

Pong of Gods by OptimusCrask 2017-05-17T08:39:16Z

Splendid idea and solid execution.

It is rather easy to get carried away by the planetary combat, forgetting that you also need to play pong! I really like the level of challenge involved in keeping tabs on two concurrent problems.

Good work adapting an old classic to the modern, *violent*, age! :ping_pong: :rocket: :boom:

Planetary Infestation by IDidGame 2017-05-01T21:18:58Z

This is great! I'm a *big* fan of Descent style *six-degrees of freedom* movement systems so *big* points for that.

On the first stage I kept thinking that there should be some caves on this planetoid. What a nice surprise you had in store for me!

It is not all :sunny: and :rose: :rose: though. The turrets get a bit boring in the long run. They are truly challenging only in the last chamber where they are all around you. Some sort of moving enemies in the first two levels would have been neat-o.

Proper good work this here!

Landshift by undefinist 2017-04-28T21:19:22Z

Cute art style, pleasant to play, well designed and crafted puzzle mechanics, this has it all! Yet there is one thing that I don't quite get.

Why is it that sometimes you can add a new block from both sides of the grid and other times only from one side of the grid? This oddity kills any kind of long term planning for me as once I finally get the piece I need I cannot add it from the side that I needed to add it from. Surely this must be a bug, right?

Other than that, a solid brain teaser. Have a :confused:

Quantum Catburetor by jushiip 2017-04-29T15:21:46Z

56300, that .. was .. clawsome!

The shrinking visibility mechanic is purfect design. It creates thematic mewments of tension and urgency aplenty. The purrty colors and mewsic fit like a mitten on a kitten.

Radical cattitude! More of this kind of thing, pawlease. :cat:

This Plague of Mine by Mega Munch 2017-05-04T19:19:29Z

There truly is no salvation for these people!

I'm completely in the dark when it comes to the meaning of all this. Most bizarre entry I've seen so far, no doubt about that.

Got to 1803 in the end. Getting a 2-3 bird combo and then impaling the poor sod onto the tree of woes did the trick. The South Park :cow: did nothing of use. What a valueless :cow: that!

It does what it sets out to do. No bugs, not problems....If only I had the faintest idea on what the actual is going on down here. Good work?!

Limited Space by Vidinu 2017-05-02T07:57:09Z

The idea is intriguing and the presentation top-notch. Unfortunately the design leaves a lot to be desired.

That timer, what is it for? The timer is completely arbitrary and unnecessary. You already have 4 resources to limit the time flying in space and gathering resources on land. Here's my suggestion.

Traveling in space doesn't consume a lot of food or water, as most/all people are in hibernation, but flying consumes fuel and shooting consumes metal. If you run out of fuel the ship will just keep drifting forward until it hits an asteroid and blows up or hits land, a last chance for the crew to collect resources.

Being on land consumes food and water for each working astronaut. Idle astronauts consume no resources at all. This gets rid of the annoyance of having to quickly order the workers to their posts if the resources started draining the moment you land.

With these modifications choosing when to land and when to fly is a much more natural and compelling decision, me thinks. More asteroid and junk floating in space would also add to the risk/challenge of flying, consume more ammo making metal collection more pertinent and just make the whole thing more fun and thematic (in relation to your own *the sun has exploded* idea, that is)

So, good work on putting it together. Some more design and play-testing would have helped.

Bounceball by DusteD 2017-04-26T07:37:42Z

Super simple and even fun (in the end). The trail effect is very cool too.

I do have a few small issues. The difficulty rampup should be faster or there should be higher difficulty options. It is so slow at the moment that I just kept collecting shield power-ups until I had around 10 health. A bit of a bore until the pace picked up, at which point I slowly lost all my health and it became properly challenging.

One more niggle: the end screen is dismissed by pressing any key including the movement keys, which is to say I accidentally skipped it. I have no idea how long I lasted, too bad.

Good effort, have a :cookie:

Cooldown Odyssey by CdV 2017-05-05T18:09:16Z

I don't understand French, but that only adds to the alien feel of it all. Now I'm here to COMMENT, so let's get to it.

The graphics and audio are nice...

There's no way around it, I have no idea what is going on!!! Hovering over the gauges shows their current level. That is bad GUI design, except if it is used to emulate the fact that Zoé there can only look at one of them at a time.

Clicking some of the icons with the left or the right mouse button increases the gauge level. Unfortunately this doesn't work for all of them. So that is where my journey ends. I now how to increase visibility :eye:, but not how to stay on target :x:

A translation would be nice, is what I'm saying.

2M2V by GeonPi 2017-05-06T06:58:57Z

An interesting tech demo. The graphics are fine too.

The gameplay front is lacking though. It is really hard to see the bots for a start. The movement system is a bit janky too. You can get stuck on the pillars mid-air and the camera jerks in an annoying way when landing.

A solid beginning for a arena shooter, or something like that. Good work.

Deja Vu by jdmazz 2017-05-03T10:27:10Z

The graphics are cute and tidy. If only the witches did something more interesting than just say *"HI!"*.

The challenge is valid, but ultimately boring and, of course, at times infeasible due to the RNG. The only way to find out if the level *can* be completed is to try to finish it at which point you've already wasted your time...

More interactions please. Witches can use magic for a start, so how about teleportation, shape-shifting, flying....?

Incidental Dimension by wildmusketeer 2017-05-01T10:49:55Z

I did not expect a box pushing puzzle based on the description.. Maybe there is some mind-bending stuff in here, but it takes a too long to get there and the restart puts you right in the beginning, so I have no idea. Checkpoints please!

I tried again and went for a walk in the ocean. That was different at least.

The graphics are neat though.

A Mote in the Dark by Kirenio 2017-05-12T06:29:21Z

A competently made entry. The graphics are fine and together with audio contribute to a strong mood.

Unfortunately I do have a massive problem with the design, you see I'm allergic to *clicking*. The less *clicking* I need to endure the better. So how could you reduce the amount of *clicking*?

For instance, the motes could attack and collect the orbs automatically at a speed relative to their energy level. The player's job then would be to manage the energy flow between the motes, diverting the flow when the situation calls for it. Just an idea.

Ok job in all, but not for me!

Talkies by Bernhard 2017-05-06T16:10:47Z

**196X - LA, USA** Ladies and gentlemen! We give you the internet, a series of tubes which will connect every human on the planet!

*HUZZAH!* **Everyone joins up**

**The next day** No sir, I cannot dial you up just now, there's a blocking connection right over there you see. Could you move right next to your friend please, then we are in business... What do you mean you don't need our services anymore? Talked to them face to face, *you did what now!*

**Later that day** Gents... We need to rethink our strategy, technology and lives.

**Humanity reverts back to the stone age**

...

A nice puzzle. Easy but pleasant. Fine work!

Space Honey: The adventure of Little-Bee 🐝 by thiagowaw 2017-04-29T14:57:43Z

It is a neat idea alright. The execution? We'll get to that in a bit.

So I start gathering honey and think that there's a beehive on the planet to dump it on. Nope, "Gameover", there's a massive one in space apparently. Take two, I get a haul into space and to the hive. Great! Let's do it again. What was that! A massive wasp just swiped all the honey from nowhere! Wut? Third time, the same hyper fast bugger did it again...

And that really is the only challenge here, trying to react to those non-telegraphed insta-sap attacks. Not a fan of that.

The graphics are pleasant and the controls not that bad, taken that downward movement is hardly needed at all. You should work on the challenge part, preferably a fair challenge at that.

Time to leg it... :runner: :bee: :bee: :bee:

MITOA by xmatos 2017-04-29T16:18:10Z

The music is pleasant and the graphics ok, although the main character looks somewhat out of place with its flat shaded color and :neutral_face:

The puzzled themselves were not hard to figure out. It is the execution of said puzzles which made me honestly annoyed. The fruit moves in steps, but it still lands in most unfortunate positions. Why can't the fruit be pushed to the pressure plate both from the left and right? Why are the elevators not in sync with each other, so that moving the fruit from one to the next would be easier. Why does the fruit land on the very edge of the second elevator? Why is there a high tech teleporter in this jungle?

So many :question::question::question:

Journey Of Gonan by Jaakko 2017-04-28T12:08:51Z

Surely Gonan should be wearing a pirate hat? He **is** a space pirate after all :skull:

This is Cutopia by Heinrix 2017-04-29T17:26:53Z

*Cuteness overload!*

Nasty :rooster: :rooster: :rooster:, abducting us :rabbit: :rabbit: :rabbit:. We should have put more effort into the war preparations at peace time. The :rabbit:-mobile is an unwieldy, inaccurate patch-work-hack! Luckily it is bloody fun to use and the :rooster::rocket: goes down with just :carrot: :carrot:

It could have been nice to fight a big :rooster: as a boss, but you can't have it all. Adding a highscore system is within acceptable bounds, by my book at least.

Quality work this. If only there was audio... :worried:

Gold N' Steam by juan 2017-05-04T15:22:27Z

A neat simulation, the graphics are clear and stylish.

It only needs one more aspect to be a game, if that's what you want that is.. **A timer!** Try to get to 100 points as fast as you can. Well ok, you also need a highscore (lowtime?) system, but that's besides the point.

Fine work!

Amoebros by Spinaljack 2017-04-30T11:28:57Z

A very impressive simulation this. Artificial selection at work.

The speed and travel traits are somewhat annoying in that while they make the little critters faster, they also make their targeting skills really bad. Many a generation was lost to those amoebros circling around food, unable to steer into it due to the high speed.

Selecting the best specimen is also tedious due to there being 21 samples to choose from. Less choices or better tools for sorting samples based on favored criteria, please.

I would also change the *Terminate Batch* button to a *Speed up* button.

I was very proud of my bacterial minions when they managed to off a :space_invader: for the first time. Good work!

Pond of Doom by symmsaur 2017-05-05T16:25:06Z

Heh, HD photorealistic pseudo 3D. Respect for the effort, but why?!?!?!?!?!

The game itself is simple and even fun after a while (so many hostile :duck::duck::duck:, why?!?!?!?!?!)

Even more respect for the :duck::duck::duck:, btw. The render is very cute, you don't happen to... **looks at source** Bloody 'ell, I just knew it wasn't a 3D render! This time I really should have believed the PR hype machine. (Don't take this the wrong way, but I made [this](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5WlmwXeslACQXFzazlRRGJtV3c) just for fun!)

Great work!

Masked by fpwong 2017-05-19T20:25:37Z

Absolutely murders my computer this: 15 fps at best. Not your problem really, I've yet to play a U4 jam title which didn't do the same...

Seems alright based on the small segment I played before it dipped into single digits. The weapon are a bit anemic, more effects and recoil would fix that.

New God in the Town by erdiizgi 2017-04-30T17:06:08Z

The idea is fine, but there are many lacks!

Sometimes people get stuck going back and forth a small section of road, no matter which commands I give them. Other times they won't continue in the selected direction in the next intersection. I think every character should have a small, inconspicuous, arrow denoting their future turn direction constantly visible.

The HUD is also a bit buggy. It keeps showing information about people who have already left.

It's decent, yet bland.

Power Planet by mactinite 2017-08-05T07:37:32Z

Splendid cel shaded graphics, on the flipside the music is annoying (thanks for the options menu!)

The level is very impressive. I love verticality and massive structures and you have both! The first jump after the generator should be telegraphed better as @kornel remarked earlier. I tried it once and failed, then after a while came back here to find out that you can run and even then it is a very close jump indeed. There are a few more like that later too.

The secret is pretty funny :banana:. I would have liked to see more such hidden gems around the level. I managed to sequence break the bit after the Proto Gel bridge. You can walk around the pilar to the right and drop down to the purple door. I though it was a secret and got a bit disappointed when the lift went up to the intended path instead.

Fine job in all. Thematically it is not a good fit, but I certainly don't care.

Planet Nanadoo: Quest for the Powered Fruit by MrTroy 2017-08-09T14:36:17Z

Time to repeat what everyone else has already said before, positives first:

* Neat, cutesy, voxely graphics * The audio fits, while not being very complicated * Clear concept and goal

Then the bad:

* Aiming is a pain * Enemy and bullet hitboxes are too small * Movement speed is just a little bit too fast, could have a movement ability instead * Health can go above 100 (not all bad this) * Calling for help with the SOS beacon isn't explained anywhere

That's about it. Not bad, but the negatives do annoy me immensely.

Cryozia by Flipsy 2017-08-08T07:23:08Z

Wow, this very challenging thus a lot of fun!

At first I didn't think there was any progression, but all of a sudden there were red crystals and walls. Then the edges were blocked too! *Those treacherous masters of the Ludum-verse!*

Mastering the movement controls was a blast. Trying my hardest to not use both thrusters at the same time, weaving around conserving energy.

The random level generation works pretty well. Sometimes the level was real tough, other times a cake walk. Not a big issue and there isn't much you can do about that anyways. RNG is RNG.

Excellent work!

RIP Jasper :dog:

Electro Evac by Remco 2017-08-11T08:21:21Z

First impressions

Your help page is very hard to parse. The red text alone is unpleasant to read, but the real issue is having too much information on a single page. Splitting the different concepts onto separate pages would solve the issue. An interactive tutorial would be even better of course.

Starting with a smaller level first would be a smart move too. There's a lot going on in the current level and it is difficult to get a grasp on the mechanics as everything is running out of power all the time. Hurry! Do something, but what right now? Loads of choices, which is good in the long run, but you shouldn't start with that.

The good stuff

There is a lot of cool tech here. Power propagating through items, the way conveyor belts function, the lighting system, very cool tech indeed.

Managed to save 15 light bulbs on the second try. There's a lot to keep tabs on at the same time, which, like said, adds a lot of depth and choice once you get used to it. It is challenging thus *fun*.

Suggestions

There could be some more active elements in the factory floor messing up your flow, like cranes moving around or other robots doing their thing. Yes, I know. More features, but now you have ample time, right?

About the only bug I have is not being able to drop batteries or light bulbs on the conveyor belts. That would have been useful in hauling multiple light bulbs from one end of the factory floor to the next.

Conclusion

Good work in the design and simulation departments. The first impressions weren't very impressive, that's worth fixing so that people won't bounce off immediately.

The adventure of Dotty by Erkberg 2017-08-11T15:14:52Z

The absurd, tongue-in-cheek plot and presentation are marvelous. The dialog and voices are very funny too.

The typing meditation mechanic is less to my liking. Having to take my eyes off the screen and look at the keyboard (as my hands were not in their proper typing positions due to having to use the arrow keys for moving) makes dodging bullets nigh on impossible. Not that you need to dodge them all, but that is what I always strive for in any *bullet hell'ish* type of deal.

I would have enjoyed the controls more if it was all typing (quick time events basically) or if it was all bulled dodging. Now that I think about it maybe if the key prompts were only WASD and QEZXC then it would be possible to press them without having to take a peek. You should test that at least.

Good job otherwise.

Once Upon a Spaceship by PixzleOne 2017-08-19T18:21:42Z

Simple, too much so. Dodging asteroids is enjoyable for only so long. The lack of energy power-ups doesn't help.

The graphics are neat, audio rudimentary.

Ok job, could be more exciting with more mechanics.

CHAINED by Mr. Chelnoque 2017-08-18T17:11:04Z

Broke all the chains, died a free soul at 4.44. Has a nice mythological feel to the audio-visuals, although *edgier*.

The controls are fine and the challenge up there. Going on an *AFFECT* rampage is always very cathartic.

A little bug. When restarting after death the HUD disappears.

Great work!

Robo Drainer by Hjalte 2017-08-21T08:11:57Z

Solid design. Platforming works, but it is very basic. Some special abilities would have improved the draining robots part, like distracting or reprogramming them in order to be able to siphon their power. It is all too easy at the moment. All of a sudden a "She is fine" message just pops up. What a surprise!

I agree with @prodigalson on requiring energy for the main character too. At the moment its fine to run out of energy. It should turn off your oxygen flow too! (or something similarly grim).

In the end I tried to end it all by jumping off the left side of the ship. That didn't quite work.

Ok entry. (Needs audio!)

Captain Pixel Vs The Round Invaders by Junber 2017-08-18T16:35:29Z

I don't have much to say in addition to what has already been said.

The third level should have been completable with the shotgun and pistol combo. Currently neither weapon has enough ammo or damage output to take out the high HP mongrels. It is kind of lame to succumb to old age right in the beginning of the 4th level.

I like the civies running around. Gives you a nice *alien invasion in progress* feel to it all.

Good work. With tweaking and polish this would be great work.

RagooP! by Igor KinGamer 2017-08-14T12:03:18Z

Very tricky indeed. The controls are suitable for basic platforming, but the character does start sliding around once jacked up on power making some of the jumps harder than they should.

There is a very small window for survival once you charge up on energy. Take just a bit too little and you cannot make the jump, a bit too much and you are dead. I think that window should be slightly wider so that the levels weren't as punishing as now.

Ok work otherwise.

Power Plant Manager by Josh6680 2017-08-20T06:26:58Z

It works, more of and idle experience than a game at the moment, but more development time would have helped there.

The wire frame graphics are ok. Kind of like looking through an old power plant control terminal. Not that I have any knowledge of what those really looked like. It is the illusion that counts.

The program update certainly should not be affected by the computer processing power. I think that is the reason why I needed 6 Cooling tower 3.0s around a single nuclear power plant. Delta time is your friend there.

Solid start for something more fleshed out.

Shut Everything Down by Skosnowich 2017-08-12T18:08:00Z

More of a stealth puzzle than a stealth game this, as there really is only one way to *solve* each level. Due to this it is annoying having to replay the beginning of a level when failing right at the end, but it ain't that bad.

The graphics and audio are ok. The ending is predictable, yet somewhat inconsistent. Why shutdown a coal powered robot after switching back to coal power? Eh, coal powered robots are a bit of a stretch to begin with.

The main menu image also looks as if Coalie is giving the evil rampant robot a back rub or doing *something else* altogether.

Ok job.

Sunpoint Salvage by Mike Cullingham 2017-08-08T11:55:56Z

Pretty good puzzle this. Funky physics too!

Even more post-jam levels would be nice indeed.

Good job.

Modular Destruction Labs by SecondDimension 2017-08-09T14:10:17Z

I'm not so sure about energy efficiency, but it sure can wreck things. *The military will take it!*

Solid production values, funny physics based shenanigans and a good amount of content.

There wasn't enough challenge for me in the long run. I could finish most of the levels with the very same design and having to rebuild it every time certainly didn't make the later levels more enjoyable. I never ran out of energy either.

Right click should remove robot parts in the editor too.

Well made, just a tad samey after a while.

Abstract Demon by Knowledge 2017-08-15T18:21:33Z

:dizzy_face: That *"congratulations"* screen!

Solid puzzle. Neat graphics.

The user interface is hampered by the simple presentation. There should be names over the characters (spazzing cubes). Another GUI nicety would be different looking arrows pointing from character to character denoting from who you can haunt/possess whom.

Possession is OP, but then again it is only required once. Audio is severely lacking. Some sufficiently unnerving ambient noises would have been ace.

Good job on the design, but there are many ways to improve the end product.

Ads will tell our Story for us by Nicso 2017-08-05T09:37:27Z

Sweet audio-visuals! The main melody stuck with me for quite a while. The ending is clever a way to get a bit more mileage out of the level assets :sunny: I'm certainly going to use something like that in a future project.

On the interactivity side there's nothing special to note. Basic platforming with a fuel system, because everyone is doing that now. I would have liked to see something special here too.

Great job!

Lights Escape by Antiwrapper 2017-08-11T13:05:11Z

It all starts so simply. A bit of running and jumping, some spikes, wait a minute? What's up with the *lights*?

I get some N vibes from the enemy design, if only the movement physics were as funky too.

Level 5 is already pretty tough, having to blindly jump over the spikes in front of the exit, but level 7 has you running completely blind down two dangerous corridors without even knowing which one if either has the exit. Needless to say I skipped that level (good call having all the levels unlocked right from the start).

The rest of the levels are doable at least and the ending is pretty great. I'm pretty sure I've heard that music somewhere else too.

Good work.

Slowbot by LeviDSmith 2017-08-11T20:47:56Z

For being called a *Slowbot*, the Slowbot sure is quite zippy at full power. **A few mines will change that!**

Dodging mines is fun for a short while. Played 10 odd levels, but it was already stale at number 5. You see it is a maze, which you run though in the dark, with a 1 meter view range, over and over again. Yeah...

Not sure how to make it more exciting without changing the concept altogether. There was another similar entry where you had to conserve energy by turning off your radar and lights whenever possible, that could work. Another idea is environmental hazards, but taken how dark it is those might just turn out to be very annoying indeed. Eh, I tried.

Ok job. The intro is neat-o, nearly forgot to say that.

Tellus 13 by Frederika 2017-08-09T11:59:02Z

The text is hard to read and the graphics aren't very pleasant to look at.

The movement speed is agonizingly slow. Realistic maybe, boring also. Didn't get far as the energy ran out already on the second rock. That was that.

The concept of controlling a rover in a hostile environment is solid. Your take on it is less than solid. Sorry to say.

Super Starcade PANIC by Ellian 2017-08-21T06:59:57Z

Absolutely spectacular presentation! The concept of managing an arcade is solid too, but interactivity is sorely lacking.

Here's what you do everyday: * Pay the bills * Buy more max power (if you have money), * Buy more cartridges (if you have money and power) * Turn on the power * Plug in all the machines again, one at a time. * Wait...

That is all, for 5 days. It is the plugging in and waiting bits that make no sense to me.

The machines that I've already plugged in (or activated as is the case with the other entertainments) should stay plugged in. Why would the arcade owner unplug all the machines everyday when they have a master power switch? They would not. The waiting. 3 minutes everyday with nothing to do (plugging in everything again doesn't count as you shouldn't need to do it).

Here are a few ideas for a Post-Jam version, if you're going for that:

* Litter. Kids litter. You need to keep cleaning it up or the mood goes down. * Puke. Kids puke (give them candies and flashing lights aplenty, you'll see). Once again you need to clean it up or suffer a massive mood penalty. * Machine malfunction. Takes time to sort it out. Maybe even needs professional help, which costs money.

Basically, some things you need to take care of while the day ticks on. Importantly these tasks need to happen often enough that you are forced to make choices. Do I need that machine back up today or should I clean the floors?

Good work. Great if there was more to do and decisions to make.

Ardis Mobile Mission by Franklins Ghost 2017-08-20T06:06:36Z

Played the Post-Jam version.

Brilliant graphics, audio serviceable. The concept is great too, if only the design didn't have a fatal flaw.

Recharging... Why is recharging a possibility? While the phone is recharging there is nothing to do. The battery runs out in mere 35 seconds while it takes a full minute to recharge. This means that on my first playthrough I spent more time looking at the recharging phone doing nothing, than actually hunting for information. That is boring, lame and dreadful design.

Here's what I would have done, just for perspective. There is no charger, the battery has about 4 minutes of juice left after which the character has to leave (for some reason). Find the answers quick! Once the time is up there is an epilogue. Here the information found affects the rest of the character's life in all sorts of ways.

For instance: if you found 0 pieces of information the character misses the party, becomes a social outcast and ends up in a crappy job; if you only found out about the party, then the character makes a fool of himself loosing his confidence causing some terrible things to happen in the future; if you do manage to find all the data then everything is all sunshine and happiness. You'd get to do a bit of writing is what I'm going at. Maybe that is not your thing, it's fine.

Currently what you have is *puzzle* / *dexterity challenge*, the world is full of these. Shifting the focus to finding information to cause different outcomes would make this into more of a *digital experience* / *interactive short story*. I'd prefer that at least.

Ok work. I have high hopes, is all.

Bolt World by Linus 2017-08-06T10:49:25Z

This becomes trivial when using the attack roll. Agar.io has very subtle mechanics, splitting up and spitting mass, which you need to master to do well. Here you just need to roll in the direction of the green arrow.

On my third go I lost due to hitting a smaller ball and within the blink of an eye: expanding, eating another ball, expanding again, eating another ball, expanding again and touching a massive ball outside of the screen... That was a bit of an anticlimax. The ball should expand slowly, not instantly, is what I'm saying.

The AI opponents don't seem to care much for their survival. They don't flee or use the OP attack roll either.

It is functional, but the design requires some tweaking.

Neuropower by klianc09 2017-08-07T07:03:15Z

A slick physics based exploration/survival simulation.

I would have liked the world to go on forever. Survival has never been this *relaxing*.

Good work!

Charge by bemmu 2017-08-13T10:51:59Z

133.21 seconds two handed. Good multitasking training this. Fun, but having to spam the shoot button did become tiring by the end (very thematic!)

I think I ran of of batteries to shoot at one point, but it is hard to say as you end up constantly collecting new ones. I'm not even sure if there is such a mechanic in there due to lacking GUI elements. I would test it if it wasn't for the excessive amount of input spamming.

Good work!

Mr Mayor's Energy Crisis by HuvaaKoodia 2017-08-01T08:18:22Z

@zgragselus

Thanks for the words (and reading the words)!

I concur the music is amazing, but I didn't make it so receiving ratings for it would be against the spirit of the jam. I added a link to the artist's page in the description for those interested.

Mr Mayor's Energy Crisis by HuvaaKoodia 2017-08-07T16:23:54Z

@linus Thanks for the review! (Thanks to everyone else too!)

In my projects I tend to emphasise exploring a believable/consistent world over mastering skills and beating challenges. I'm not big into developing games or puzzles as *winning* and *losing* really aren't that important. What happens is important; seeing your actions change the world however small those changes might be.

Failing creates changes too, simply not the kind you might want right now. In this case it is possible to power through the energy crisis, but you always take a bit of flak from something in the end. It is failures in the beginning which mess things up in the long run and cause massive calamities.

I didn't put in a tutorial as I wanted to see how people fare with gradually increasing complexity one mechanic (and one input) at a time. There are only three concepts in all (power output, maintenance, public outcry) and it seems most people get them at some point on the first play-through. In a longer project I would put in some subtle hints though.

Mr Mayor's Energy Crisis by HuvaaKoodia 2017-08-08T06:29:52Z

@pixel-game-wizard Thanks!

The Nuclear events are indeed random. The chance for a nuclear meltdown, for instance, starts at 0% and once the condition of the plant falls below 40% the chance starts to rise rapidly, hitting 100% when the condition becomes 0.

The lake condition simply gets worse and worse as long as you are running the coal plant at a high output level.

I made the camera post effects (for the nuclear events) in the WebGL version stronger as they were not showing up as well as in the Win version. I also fixed an effect trigger for one of the disasters which didn't trigger at all. *Nothing illegal*, as Mr Mayor would have said.

Mr Mayor's Energy Crisis by HuvaaKoodia 2017-08-09T16:29:51Z

@pixel-game-wizard And I should have added a :wink: somewhere in there. All is good under the sun.

Mr Mayor's Energy Crisis by HuvaaKoodia 2017-08-19T17:11:57Z

@somnium Thanks for the entertaining review!

Ducks live in a state of uncertain flux. Did Ducky get on the tour? Did Gonan survive the lake pollution? Nonetheless they are bound by fate to reappear and affect our tri-monthly lives in mysterious ways. This is the prophecy of the Blackout cult.

@galaxstudios An awfully familiar comment.

You might save time by smushing together comments, but it sure won't make you a better developer. Get your priorities straight.

Jetpack June and the Tower of Power by geeitsomelaldy 2017-08-06T20:14:51Z

Whoosh!

Power lines down! by thaaks 2017-08-10T17:32:30Z

An addictive (in a good way) timed puzzle.

I lamented in a prior entry that speedrunning a timed puzzle becomes trivial once you know the solution inside out. Roll in procedural level generation and :boom: problem solved! The generator is rock solid too, which is nice to see.

Got to level 10 and could have gone on for a long time. The challenge doesn't seem to ramp up at all, or at least not by a lot. I would have liked to see the level generator add in some unnecessary powerlines to make it less clear which lines you need to rotate and use.

Also, how does a hacker scramble the physical powerlines themselves? Eh, I'm thinking too much into this. Good job!

LAMBDA-DASH by Flatgub 2017-08-08T08:15:41Z

I love the amount of control you have over the ship. Having to manually repair everything using the repair interface is less stellar.

I'd rather press the button of the system in question to repair it. For instance pressing shift should repair shields, if shields are down. This way the repair interface is only for checking the current condition of the ship, not required for repairs themselves.

There are so many enemies after a while that even a single hit taking out shields or one of the thrusters can seal your doom. I got through three big groups of enemies, but the forth group (dozens of fighters again) got me.

I think a hit from a lazor or asteroid should not wreck a module completely, 40-60% damage per hit would be more tolerable. Some checkpoint at the energy beacons would be ace too.

Small itty bitty graphical glitch: I ran out of energy in the very beginning, but luckily collected the energy beacon after that. Everything worked fine, but the lights of the cockpit didn't turn on again.

Great work!

Mars Mystery by wolar 2017-08-05T20:12:27Z

I love manually toggling systems and subsystems, be it in a sub, a mech or a mars rover. Having total control over a machine and knowing how to use it is a very nice thematic idea. I didn't even think of that in the jam, *the possibilities!*

Sure, it is just a maze under the hood, but the atmosphere and the controls really make it work.

Good job! :alien:

FIZZLE by djfariel 2017-08-04T07:03:48Z

A well made entry, no doubt. Moody too.

I've seen these types before, but usually they lack any sort of urgency. The power constantly running out really did help in that regard. I didn't have any close calls, but in the end I though I had lost one of the power cores. Luckily I found it in a close by room. Phew!

There are a few technical issues, such as the gravity beam area being very big making it hard to pick up single objects. The AI is also very dumb, which isn't all that bad as you can easily trap monsters in rooms you've already been to.

Some graphical glitches here and there too, like the gravity beam not shutting down when activating the last power core and things prodding through the side of the door sprite. Little things.

Enjoyed it more than I though I would. Good job!

Spincharge by DMajor 2017-08-08T10:36:08Z

Simple idea, but the physics don't quite work. The spinning looks weird for a start, as if the tops stopped spinning altogether at times. Secondly the spinning doesn't affect the movement in any way. I managed to get my top wobbling and even jumping at one point, but it didn't get out of control movement-wise.

The big issue comes from both combatants having the very same amount of spin and the same movement control. All you need to do is to park yourself at an energy charger and wear the opponent out. Another possibility is the edge trick as discovered by @will-walters.

There's potential here. With more players, trickier (slightly unpredictable even) movement controls, environmental hazards and maybe even powerups this could be quite something. Currently it is functional, but ain't very enjoyable.

I'm an (nuclear) engineer! by zgragselus 2017-08-20T14:26:39Z

An interesting interactive simulation. At first I thought this would be way too passive an experience to be enjoyable, but the one slider controls really work. Trying to maximize output by keeping the core temperature at optimal 280-290 degrees.

*I sure hope real life nuclear engineers don't optimize core temperatures manually!*

About the only issue I have is the lack of optimization. Runs pretty bad on my (granted, old) computer. The WebGL version especially suffers from bad performance. It doesn't quite look the part so you probably just have needlessly high poly counts in the 3D models or the terrain.

Good work!

LittleBots by Joe Cowman 2017-08-17T19:42:11Z

Bizarre and innovative, I like that.

Aiming is tough due to the loose physics and the fact that it is constantly raining little bots usually blocking your shots. That is a nice challenge, but I never quite got the hang of it to really feel good about the exercise.

The sudden ending is a bit aggravating. There should be some sort of an effect to show you that you are low on power and a small window of last moment opportunity before the power completely runs out (i.e. it should drain slightly slower when near 0).

Good work.

Discharged Automaton by Serval Games 2017-08-02T12:49:52Z

Some neat ideas there with portals, clones and the devil. Surprising amount of content with a neat conclusion to boot.

The controls are the weakest link here, which is very usual. The collisions are sticky and the animations bug out whenever changing directions or jumping, which is to say when doing anything at all!

In general platformers now-a-days need polished and interesting movement mechanics. It is hard to get excited about the same old "move right and jump" spiel.

Good effort, great mood too.

BATTER-E by Peredom 2017-08-01T10:59:08Z

The inspiration is clear, the graphics and audio are fine, but unfortunately you miss the mark in a few areas.

There's no challenge, ever. The level 3 spread shot you start with is more than enough to dispatch all and any enemies. There are batteries everywhere so I never had to use the level 1 blaster after trying it out. The lack of challenge only intensifies with every battery upgrade you find. The purple death lasers are so over powered that I genuinely zoned out of boredom and nearly died as a result. That should not happen!

On top of this the screenshake gives me a headache, seems I'm not the only one either.

Without challenge there is no fun, simply grind. Here are a few suggestions.

Power should be rare to come by. This creates a sense of urgency: find the next battery at any cost. To mitigate the frustration of not finding a battery the player could have refillable (costs money!) reserve tank which is automatically used should they run out of energy.

The super weapons should drain a lot of power, choosing to switch to a lower powered weapon conserves energy. Fighting enemies is a choice, avoiding them might save energy after all.

One excellent example of urgency and challenge from LD 38 is [Quantum Catburetor](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/quantum-catburetor). It has a shrinking level mechanic, which is fitting to the theme and more importantly works like a charm. Do give it a spin if you missed it last time.

In conclusion: Quality workmanship, yet the design is a bit lacking. Good work for 48 hours, don't get me wrong.

The Liberation of Liberatia by Somnium 2017-08-13T10:37:17Z

A functional passive (die roll based) interactive simulation this. The problem is that due to the clear cut random nature of the exercise it is not very interesting to play. Choosing an actions is always based on three points of information: the amount of enemy agents, the action with a bonus this turn and whether the overlord operations are disturbed or not. More on this later, now to the UI.

I like it! There color coding of the two sides in the buttons and icons works well. The audio cues for successful missions are a very nice idea indeed. In fact after a while I stopped reading the wall of text altogether and just listened to the mission sound effects. This might not be what you intended of course.

If you want people to read all of your writing then each event needs to have more gravitas. Currently you need to find multiple weaknesses per overlord in order to assassinate them so reading the success texts, even when different, becomes a bore. If a few weaknesses were enough and the text contained some important information too, not just flavor, it would be much more interesting to read through.

You already got some good pointers on the GUI concerning the wall of text so I won't reiterate.

Back to the simulation. To make it less passive you could add in a map. All operations would be taken in a specific area on the map. The population of that area would affect the success chance of the operation the most, the areas next to it a bit and the rest not at all.

You could do a lot more with separate areas too. For instance, overlord information could tell you that one of them has a summer cottage in a specific area. If you manage to build an underground rebel group there, suddenly you chance of assassinating the overload in summertime rises up a lot.

More information to base your choices on is my main point here. Trying to figure out which action fits the current situation the best and which actions you would like to do in the future is what strategy is all about.

The resistance fights more with information than weapons. Surgical operations go terribly wrong if taken in the wrong place at the wrong time. Accurate, up to date information is key! Basing some more actions on information gathering would be pertinent.

Good work nonetheless. There are a lot of places you could take this.

Mining Brothers: An Energetic Tale by bakudas 2017-08-20T08:34:43Z

"When the bar is completely full you'll can concerning just with jump things with the D key." *The best tutorial tip ever!*

Quality audio visuals, the rest is lacking in places.

I managed to break the jumping once, it just changed the direction of the cart. A restart fixed it.

Talking about restarting. There should be a quick restart button (R!) for quick restarts. Yes, it is important as death is everywhere and everytime all at once.

Seriously, it is so easy to die. Falling into a bottomless pit and hitting an electric fence are the worst. They both take away all your lives too! What is the point of lives again?

Ok work. More polish and bug fixing on the programing side would be great though.

Probe Abuse by minibobbo 2017-08-15T08:32:02Z

*Flash!* Here's hoping they get the HTML5 version running soonish.

Neat mechanics. Collecting upgrades and shutting down to help your future selves, well designed progression through the levels too. There's not a lot to complaint about really. Some ambient sounds and background art would have improved the presentation.

It is curious how you went from Mistreated Probes to Probe Abuse! Good work!

Yet Another Exhausted Day by Gao Ming 2017-08-02T11:01:50Z

A bit disappointed by the ending really. It should have been something trivial or useless to make it all *worth while*!

I love bizarre ideas so great job!

Dream Disc by mindfungus 2017-08-17T19:29:41Z

Relaxing and a bit of fun also, even if the challenge is optional.

The graphics area nice, audio fits too.

Good work!

Windup by kleinzach 2017-08-05T12:00:54Z

Brilliant audio-visuals. Winding down; the lights dimming, movement slowing and the sound effects changing; is done really well.

The controls (:keyboard: and :mouse:) aren't terrible, but the camera certainly could use a few tweaks. Mainly, not going inside walls blocking the view.

The big issue for me is that I simply have no time or interest in these *collectathon* type experiences any more (too old!). It is all about 3D platforming (not a fan) with very little reasoning or decision making involved.

The biggest sin, for a gotta-catch-them-all-fest, is resetting the items if you manage to die, which happens constantly in the second level. Collecting everything again all over again, again and again is simply not interesting or fun.

Solid workmanship, the design is not my cup of tea.

Lightbulb by somethinboutgames 2017-08-07T15:28:23Z

For me the words *idle* and *game* don't go well together.

Games are about choosing actions to win and not to lose. Sometimes taking no action is the right call, but to do that all the time? It all becomes trivial to say the least.

I like to call clickers and other idle software *time wasters*, but one of my more diplomatic friends suggested *passive experiences*. I'm fine with that. Watching paint dry sure is an experience, if you can stomach it.

I like the physics though.

Power Rod by sixteen 2017-08-18T08:27:40Z

Looking at the screenshots I expected more involved fishing physics where you move the rod rather than the hook. Having to swing the rod and pay attention to underwater currents to guide the hook would have been more enjoyable than slowly moving the *remote controlled* hook around.

It works of course. Juggling between fish and batteries is fine. Sometimes the physics go a bit wrong and a battery falls over such that you cannot catch it any more, but that doesn't happen too often.

Ok work, could be more exciting.

Mech Core by ShadowyXP Games 2017-08-02T07:50:30Z

Easy mode is easy indeed. Got to the boss a second time (and it managed to get stuck on the energy generator in its melee phase) and then the bots just stopped attacking. No congratulations screen, no nothing. Bots Demolished: 371.

Hard mode is also easy. What?! Once again beat the boss two times. Bots Demolished: 368, I must have missed some of the energy stealing bots this time. The only difference, I'm guessing here, is how much energy I lose when hit, but dodging bullets is just as easy as before. I expected more bots, more bullets, more everything! Hard mode should be *really hard*!

Other that the lack of challenge everything is just fine. A competent Smash TV :robot: reskin on a shoestring budget. Good work!

Magic Chase by Lenon Kramer 2017-08-08T12:22:45Z

I like the idea and the world building you got going on in there, even if it is rather generic fantasy cruft (I have a soft spot for that kind of stuff!)

Could not defeat a single Will-o-Wisp and they spawn in huge hordes.

Crystals are also found in big groups. I got more than 25 one time and then started searching for the portal. It was surrounded by Will-o-Wisps...

This could be a solid *turn-based-light-roleplaying-experience* with some more mechanics (magic man should be able to wield magic, man!) and a more fair battle system.

0|0|0|0 by infinitycore 2017-08-10T08:06:00Z

The graphics are very nice. The main character looks as if 3D, but it is all fake of course.

2 EZ as someone might say... There is very little challenge as you have ample HP and you respawn after death anyways. I would have gone with a single hit out system myself.

Not bad really, Ok entry.

Power Planner by Micito 2017-08-05T09:18:04Z

Simple resource management fun. The graphics are nice; music is sorely lacking unfortunately.

The difficulty ramp up, especially in the metropolis map is very sudden. For 3 minutes it gives me single tasks and then all of a sudden :boom: 5 concurrent tasks! Some tweaking there would be pertinent.

Great work for 48 hours!

I Need A Charger! by agentparsec 2017-08-21T07:31:06Z

The audio-visuals are nice. The design also works. Sure it is a bit silly that only one store in the whole city block allows you to use their power outlet.

The major problem is the movement speed. The music becomes borderline epic by the end, but you are still ambling about like there was no rush at all. The ability to run, which uses stamina that you can only recharge by buying trash food at trash stores, would have helped. Maybe even buying a skateboard from one of the stores to slide around with. At that point it would be pretty great to have cars in the city too. Dodging them, until you are distracted by the map and :boom: to the :hospital: you go!

Feature creeping. A slightly faster movement speed might just do it, easy and effective.

Good work!

The Last Stand by TeamMonumental 2017-08-07T14:25:50Z

Simple and effective wave defense shooter. The graphics are nice, audio passable.

About the only issue I have with the interactivity is having to spam the mouse button to shoot. I'm allergic to clicking so that elicited a reaction.

Bugs:

* You can shoot while reloading, meaning you never run out of ammo * If you die after winning you get both messages on top of each other * Back to menu button doesn't quite work * I was promised supply drops. *There were none!*

Ok job in all.

XenoSiphon by gamezero 2017-08-04T12:40:30Z

Opening a door to a xenosiphon nest was genuinely unnerving the first time around. Less so later of course.

I could not find the escape pod, even when playing again. The closest I got was a window to outer space. *Freedom so close!*

The audio fits like a facehugger and the graphics, while low tech, do convey the scifi horror aesthetic. That Nostromo spacesuit is marvelously blocky!

The only issue I have, apart from there being no clues as to where the escape pod is located, is the controls. Cane (surely that is a suitably off brand name for him) moves like a tank and the combat controls have no weight or desperation to them. More shakycam and xeno guts please!

Good entry in the Xeno series (this is just the first of many, yes?)

Quad and Cycl by ijzm 2017-08-19T16:26:28Z

Ok puzzle prototype with solid mechanics. I can imagine a *power running out* mechanic adding a lot. The graphic's are messy and unpolished, but not eye-searing.

It is a bit weird that the characters are colorless shapes, while the rechargers are colored yet nearly identical. This is probably an even bigger problem for colorblind people.

Keep at it, by all means.

BugsTD by TheMonsterFromTheDeep 2017-08-13T13:21:07Z

This is about as basic a TD can get. Sure 12 hours is not a lot of time, but you don't even have any kind of a thematic gimmick? There really should be one as Tower Defense is one of those seen-it-done-that genres.

What could that gimmick be though? A few ideas: * Constantly running out of power, having to generate more power with power cores which the enemies tries to steal or destroy. * Draining energy from the enemies with special turrets which do no damage. Having to balance the amount of weapons and energy drainers in the level. * Building your own robots to steal energy from an AI opponent trying to do the same thing. Closing on RTS this. * The enemy corrupting your turrets disabling (or turning them against you), having to send in repair troops to get them back online (or just paying for it directly).

Something like that. Ok job with the time you had.

The Wrath of Dracula by CSharp 2017-08-02T11:39:31Z

You managed to squeeze competent graphics out of Unity's standard assets, that's quiet a feat. The bat is suspect though.

I like turn-based tactics and in the end it even got a bit challenging, but I had nearly given up due to boredom already. The user interface makes playing very slow. You should have used the mouse for everything right from the beginning.

There is also a noticeable pause after every move, when the AI is is taking their turn. Their movement speed could be sped up a bit and the pause should be removed completely when there are no visible AI characters on screen.

Biting the priest froze the program. That wasn't a very nice end to my rampage.

The Last Miner by bluellama 2017-08-19T07:50:52Z

Managed to get to 16 points/power (one to one ratio, I suppose?). Using the thruster for everything is a nice piece of minimal design, but it does make mining somewhat arduous having to constantly spin the ship around.

I would try adding another functionally identical thruster to the front of the ship controlled with RMB. That might allow for some quicker/fancier moves around the asteroid as if dodging hazards and enemies *hint*, *hint*, *nudge*, *nudge*.

Quality work!

Final Factory Flux by Elemental Zeal Game Studios 2017-08-08T16:59:37Z

Graphics are fine and the lights shutting down one by one is a neat thematic idea. Too bad the interface and interactions are not very intuitive.

To make a hypothetical single material product you need to:

* Take (Press 'E') base material from right side to middle * Take base material form middle to the refiner * Refine material (Press 'F'). You cannot leave the refiner! * Take refined material back to middle * Tale refined material from middle to the builder * Start build process (Press 'E') * Wait until the build process has completed. You can leave the builder, but if you wait too little or too long the build fails. * Lastly take product through middle to the release basket (Press 'E')

There are two inconsistencies in the process which could be easily removed:

* Pressing 'F' for refining is unnecessary. 'E' would work just fine, reducing your button count to one (sans movement input obviously) * Not being able to leave the refiner. Why not? You can leave the builder to do something else so that would make sense here too.

A little :bug: You can accidentally drop items (batteries and screws) over the counter if you drop one on top of the builder.

Ok co-op concept, ok execution, some design issues and lack of polish. Put a bit more time into this and it'll be fine I reckon.

Carbón by dacap 2017-08-18T13:19:18Z

527.6 seconds. I could have gone on forever basically. It didn't seem to get any harder over time.

The audio-visuals are nice and the controls, while slippy, are fine. Hurling coal into the pyre is strangely relaxing. Now there is one issue with the controls due to the fact that attacking and throwing are done with the same key. If you spam attack a group of coalies next to wall and one of the dies and turns into coal, you end up constantly throwing coal to the wall instead of attacking.

Another bug relates to the bigger coalies. A few times I ended up smashing one of them indefinitely. They'd somehow become invulnerable!

Having something else to do alongside keeping the bonfire burning would make the overall experience more varied. Ok work this.

Last Hope by mintarcade 2017-08-21T10:04:04Z

Exploring the virtual spaceship is interesting for a while. Fixed the aux generator, but the main generator doesn't say which parts it needs. Even after fixing all the leaks and the *source of the problem*, no hints are offered. The random part I gave it did nothing.

Good work on the spaceship. Some more instructions are needed.

Despot 3900 by alxm 2017-08-19T09:18:40Z

Great presentation. The interactivity suffers from the loop you can get into with one of the groups at 0% approval and the other over 50%.

Maybe taxation of a group shouldn't work that well once popularity/loyalty drops below 20% or so with a random chance of terrible things happening right away. More groups (zealots, merchants, immigrants, etc) might work at making the balancing act more difficult.

Good work nonetheless.

Shadow Lurkers by nusan 2017-08-18T07:13:09Z

Brilliant idea! With audio there could be some very tense horror moments indeed. The graphics are clean, but they do look like default shapes in places. Some simple texturing and coloring would help there.

@nyri0 and @shinmera already came up with great ideas. What I'd like to see specifically is bigger, more complex, even maze-like levels. Exploring a space and managing limited light resources with nasties hiding in every shadow would be a dread filled experience.

Good work!

Power Ownage by Drury 2017-08-20T07:51:53Z

*NICE*

Reminds me of [Take No Prisoners](http://www.mobygames.com/game/take-no-prisoners), except actually enjoyable (tried replaying that and it does not live up to modern standards).

The dodging and fighting work fine. I too would have liked an incentive for targeting multiple enemies as it is a cool idea. Regenerating health based on the energy you have is neat too. At first I though it was plain old magic regen, but luckily that was not the case!

The energy beam broke near the end of the first level and it didn't show up until getting to the boss fight. It still worked, the graphics simply disappeared.

Good work!

Rise Shine Fall by ijona 2017-08-09T15:02:29Z

It is pretty 3D diorama with a few buttons to press, just in case you want to stay there for a bit longer.

I play interactive media for the interactivity. Seeing the actions I take change the world in interesting ways. Here there is nothing of interest to see beyond the trees and the inevitable night.

How about some insects living in the trees. If you help the green tree then the green insect population grows and starts fighting with the other insect species. Now that would have been interesting to watch, playing lord of the flies for a bit. Then the night comes and they all die anyways. Even a metaphor for life that, albeit simple.

Eh, too little to get me interested is all I'm saying.

Railroad Trucker by ZYXer 2017-08-20T10:16:04Z

Very high quality workmanship on the presentation and code (there are no bugs that is) departments. Feels like a proper finished product. The cheery music got on my nerves after a while, but that's just me!

A timed puzzle is what I'd call it. Although if you don't let the timer restrict you then it becomes trivial to beat each and every level one train at a time. I would have liked a more robust scoring system based on, for instance, amount of tiles or energy used. The energy mechanic also goes out the window in levels where you can place down your own energy stations.

Nice work overall.

3% | Power Saver by iseeicy 2017-08-18T07:47:05Z

When I had a *myPhone* they had a *DroneCall*, when I had a *DroneCall* they had a *myPhone* and when I had a *BlamazoonFlame* they had a *BrickPhone* out of all things! I spent the rest of the time insulting people and bathing in the fountain, half expecting security to pop up at any moment.

You managed to recreate the authentic *Mall Experience*:tm: to the bone, only the vendors themselves are missing. There must be a recession going on. I would have also liked to see some secrets hidden around the place, just for fun.

Apart from the inherent randomness of finding a compatible charger from a set of random people there aren't a lot of issues. A small visual feature that I would have liked to see is the expressions being part of the character, not the GUI. Happy people should have a happy face and so on (the emoticons would suffice). This way the interaction GUI could pop up only when getting the character's attention.

Another little feature, which would have added a lot, is cracking jokes. If small talk won't cut it, try a joke and hope for the best. Some people will take it the wrong way no doubt, but at least you tried. That would also be a nice avenue for some absurd/bizarre dialog.

The tutorial works, even if it is somewhat text heavy. The miniature model of the mall is a nice touch there.

Great work in the presentation department, a few tweaks here and there would have improved immersion for me at least.

Static Shoes by drkr 2017-08-21T07:56:26Z

Yeah, the idea is cool and the levels work, but wiggling around in place to gather static electricity is annoying. It is too easy to accidentally fall or hit a spike while doing it. You can hug a wall and charge that way which makes it tolerable. As such pressing down could change too. Having to move to charge simply does not add anything to the mix.

The graphics are what they are. You had little time, so it is fine.

Power Ring Facility by Herman Chau 2017-08-20T09:39:16Z

Simple, clean platforming dexterity challenge. Nothing I haven't seen before, but testing reaction times every once in a while is a worthwhile pursuit.

The last bit (before the outro text corridor) of the levitation chamber got me quite a few times as the horizontal movement of the ball has a slight slide to it. Not bad, but noticeable after sliding into the same spikes for the fifth time.

Good work!

The Zorvma Invasion by wdhg 2017-08-07T19:57:46Z

It is a strange idea, I have to say. Kind of works too, but it becomes trivial once you get the hang of it.

Shoot the walls a few steps ahead of you to keep the line of sight open and, TADA!, infinite energy. I got to 100000 and could have continued indefinitely had I the patience, which I sure don't.

How to make it more challenging? Maybe you could fluctuate the speed of earth or the spawning rate of the walls. Another thing you could easily test is varying the size of the walls and the amount hits they take. Not sure if any of that would work, but it's worth a go eh?

Ok job. *I guess....*

Rocket Rescue by automatonvx 2017-08-20T13:26:32Z

Yeah, the lives need to go. The 4th level is tricky enough on its own.

Other than that this is pretty ok. Certainly evokes some retro feels and controlling a *fat jetpack man* is certainly a first for me.

Clone Colony by tmpxyz 2017-08-11T11:49:57Z

I'm a **Strategy Master**?! *Nice to know.*

Played the 1.06 version and it is solid. The simulation is well though out. There are loads of actions, but all have a purpose. The same goes for stats, no fluff there. Each action has a direct effect in the world making it clear what they do and how. The only actions lacking feedback at the moment are those building something over multiple turns. The current project and its progress aren't indicated anywhere by the looks of it.

Now there is a big'ish problem though. It UI is slow to use. It took me 66 days, nearly 2 hours in realtime, to finish the 6 enemy bases. The slowness can be attributed to a few aspects of the UI:

* There is no way to quickly see which clones have AP left. You need to go through them all one at a time, if you forget who has already finished working this turn. * Clones often times end up with 1 or 2 AP which they simply cannot use. It would be nice if actions like mining and searching could be used with less AP for worse results. This would speed up resource gathering and as such speed up the whole experience. * No toggle actions. If I want one of my clones to simply stay put farming food, I still have to go click their farm action button each and every turn. Having certain actions, like farming, being a toggle switch instead would be much more pleasant. If I want the farmer to stop farming, that is when I have to click again. Otherwise they automatically farm when the turn is ended.

It is worth pointing out that, despite the slowness, playing is exciting. I only lost two clones, one to hunger early own and the other a civilian casualty in battle, yet there was always a sense of dread in the air when more and bigger enemies started spawning in.

Great work! There is even room for expansion here, so hopefully you keep working on this (or similar projects in the future).

MarsX by bomany 2017-08-01T11:59:17Z

Countless UFOs were not on my mind when I signed up for a trip to Mars. Well, maybe that is the reason they call it a one-way journey.

The audio-visuals are fine and the controls solid, except for the shield which is implemented in a rather curious way. If you repeatedly tap space nothing happens, but you end up losing shield energy anyways.

The theme doesn't really show up. Sure, you have energy to use, but it does not run out on its own. If you are really good at dodging, there's no power running out at all. Just a little observation.

An ok, dodge'em up in all. You could have done a bit more I reckon, taken the size of your team.

Leonardo Montes' DUNKIRK by Repusv 2017-08-02T13:54:23Z

Having seen the film in cinema, but not the real battle, and knowing a thing or two about aerial combat I have to, regrettably, inform you that your simulation doesn't quite hit the mark, old boy.

The controls are impossible on PC and tough even with a pad as there doesn't seem to be any way to invert the vertical movement axis, which my brain seems to require.

The AI planes exhibit erratic movement patterns, much unlike the smooth playable plane and such make for needlessly hard targets. The axis/ally indicator seems to be broken too. It showed 0 allies, but there were a bunch of them around.

Lastly I wasn't even close to running out of fuel when exiting the battle. That too was missing from the authentic **DUNKIRK**:tm: experience.

Valiant effort nonetheless. Top marks on visuals and atmosphere.

Trough The Desert by zyow 2017-08-08T12:47:08Z

The editor works, launching works and even flying works, but flight is most certainly the weakest link here.

I expected the plane to control as a glider. A glider gradually loses altitude. To gain altitude you need to pitch up, which drains speed due to air drag. That's when you'd use the thruster to gain more speed.

Here it seems that speed never goes down, so there's little need to use the thruster. Pitching also feels very unnatural, as if gravity didn't exist.

Unity Standard Assets has decent physics based airplane controllers, you should take a look at those.

Solid concept, doesn't follow the laws of physics. Ok job with the rest.

Power Rush by Mik3 2017-08-06T09:50:24Z

The idea is solid. There's a nice timed resource management aspect to it, having to choose which machine to power with each crystal. Unfortunately it is very finicky to play.

Crystal deposit look like rocks and they are also very small. When I tried mining one in the very beginning it didn't seem to do anything, so I tried the big rocks next and was stumped until I came back here to read the comments.

The problem with the drill is that it does not mine at what the cursor points at. It mines what the drill model points at. Either the drill needs to point directly where you look or the crystal ore should be much bigger making it impossible to miss accidentally. The deposits should also look like big lumps of crystal to make the difference explicit graphically.

Throwing crystals into the pipes is a funny idea, but then one of the crystals got stuck in the side of the blue pipe. That was the last straw for me.

Polish, polish, polish. That's what you need.

ABANDON SHIP by attrition 2017-08-04T07:07:57Z

Solid entry. I would have preferred dropping people too, simply because it makes more sense and allows for more choices to be made on the fly. Some additional mechanics for controlling the fire might work too, such as fire extinguishers or cutting the air to different sections of the ship.

Now that I think about it a different take on the same idea might work. A top-down view where you control the doors and multiple squads of emergency personel. You can vent the rooms to fight fires, but the air recyclers don't work no more so it is a risky move. The electric systems controlling the doors and other systems of the ship can break down at which point you can command some of your personel to hack fix the borked parts, but that means that they aren't taking part in resquing people.

Good work, dismiss my ramblings.

Remote by oab 2017-08-03T07:41:17Z

I killed the internet *and it felt good!*

Splendid animations (why no graphics rating?), pleasant enough dexterity challenge and ah... ???

There's not much more here, but sometimes little is enough.

Heat Death by Chao 2017-08-11T16:03:41Z

Brilliant concept. Well realized setting and atmosphere too.

Very tough and random tough. I saw a power core once and then got shot to pieces again. I'd like to be in control just a bit more, starting with a few more power bars might do it too.

The hostile robots are nearly impossible to beat, while the humans are weak, but even two of them coming from different angles can lock you in place as they have longer range than you.

A bit torn on this one, but I do think the positives outweigh the negatives. Do work on it, if you have the time.

Robogod by multiplexor 2017-08-07T15:09:00Z

The graphics are nice. I quite like the divine look of Robogod.

I echo @steve-johnson's critique. This is just busy work with a seemingly random outcome (*they all die!*).

You could double down on the fiction and world building: giving the player information on what the citizens ended up doing with the energy they received and showing that there are consequences to your choices.

Alternatively you could add in game mechanics or puzzle mechanics to test the logical side of your player's noggin.

Robobro, you shall be missed.

!SMARTBOTS by mechanicallife 2017-08-03T18:57:53Z

I generally aren't a fan of programming for entertainment as I already do it for a living and your take on the idea didn't change my mind.

There's a reason why the most popular production line management simulations have neat mouse driven interfaces and no cold hard programming. Figuring out the logic is the interesting bit, not messing with the interface.

Well I gave it a go and noticed that commanding the bots is very finicky, for a multitude of reasons:

* They push the ore around (through walls at times) rather than picking it up. * The bots collide with each other so trying to get them to work together is a hassle. * The robots always reset back to their original position when compiling. * Destroy() doesn't work on pressure plates. * The elevator bot falls like a brick when moving down. * Movement is in seconds, out of all things.

Lets roll with this. How to make it work?

* Robots pass though each other. * Robots pass through ore too. * Elevator are flat so that they can move other robots as well as ore * A Drop() command * Movement based on targets rather than seconds or tiles. Targets are set in the world by clicking. Each target has a name, so the movement command becomes MOVETO(TARGET1). This way each target can be used by multiple robots.

The node system you got already works well, good job on that.

Right, the effort is there, the ambition is there. Now make it work, yeah?

Wizard Out of Power by thiagofr 2017-08-04T07:57:37Z

I agree with @linky439 on pretty much everything. More polish is gravely needed and the controls could use more depth (jumping, sliding, teleporting, anything really) and tightening up.

Thematically it would be more interesting to be running out of power yourself. Why aren't we playing as the red wizard again?

Terminal Attraction by Aumbra 2017-08-01T13:37:19Z

Well that was an entertaining story. Sure it's about dating as usual, but the battery theme was a very funny take on it.

Now then, to complaining. Whenever I play interactive media, regardless of the medium, I have to bring up choice and consequence. If none of the choices change anything, then what is the point of interactivity in the first place. The story here is interactive, but it never changes based on what you do. There are no consequences to any choice and as such it would work in video or short story form just a well.

The thing is, there are a few obvious and easy ways you could add consequences to this very same story:

* Blowing a date, no not that way, as in making a very bad impression (those pick-up lines already exist) and causing the date to go bust. Someone hates you now, good job! * The bad guy should be a stalker who follows "promising" batteries who use the app. So after 2-3 dates the bad guy strikes and takes the player (I called him Mr Creepy and no-one cared!) to their lair. * Then when you have to message someone it suddenly matters how well your dates went. If you try to contact someone who doesn't like you, then they will dismiss the message (you could have a funny reaction scene here too). * With no help you are fresh out of luck. Try again with different dates this time maybe? Replayability!

That's what I would change at least. Eh, I was entertained anyways. Fine job on the story itself. Do think about interactivity and consequences next time some more.

Output by clutterArranger 2017-08-19T17:51:33Z

Starts of very promising and I even managed to lose once due to not building enough power plants. The second time I build so many power plants that I easily got to 200 days. The problem: simply building more and more is not interesting!

I had dozens of plants active in the end. Loads of clicking to get there, but after that each plant requires no actions. It would be more pleasant (mentally and physically, my poor index finger likes to point out) to concentrate on a handful of plants instead. Managing repairs, adjusting salaries, bribing inspectors, making press releases, quelling riots, etc.

The heatmap overlays are a nice bit of UI design.

Ok entry. Too simple for my tastes.

Sabotage by image_31 2017-08-10T09:10:37Z

Executing your plan is tricky due to the random guard patrol routes, but once everything falls into place it feels excellent!

The guards are very effective killing machines, but the ladder became their undoing. I picked them off one at a time when they were trying to reach the top floor.

Extra observation 1: You can jump with J! (not mentioned in the description)

Extra observation 2: You can fall off into *space* by jumping over (and through) the engine outside the ship!

Solid work!

Pokkie by tijmentio 2017-08-21T13:21:25Z

A rather faithful interactive simulation emulating a simplified mobile phone. Nice work there. I don't see the satire though. Sure the OS update doesn't want to leave me alone, but other than that there isn't anything satirical here. Pointing out that being bored and wasting time on a phone is not the best way to spend your time is just common sense (to me at least).

Also Flappy bird isn't/wasn't that easy in RL.

Good work nonetheless. A digital experience for future historians.

Away Team by Joe Miller 2017-08-03T20:20:44Z

A functional management simulation which leans heavily on random chance.

Now I can live with RNG, calculating chances is a big part of management. What I cannot live with is only having net loss actions, another big part of management is avoiding those.

In the second set of locations I ended up in a situation where each location took 4+ turns to explore, but the reward for each was on average less than 200 supplies. 4 turns costs 40 energy, 40 energy costs 200 supplies. Notice the problem?

You only had 48 hours to make this of course, so it would be unfair to expect loads of content, but the missions would be much more interesting were the any choices to make based on the team composition and the location type. For example: a rogue droid blocks the path? Fight it with small arms, blow it up (costs an explosive), sneak past, reprogram it, talk to it. Stuff like that.

Solid work overall. I simply have high hopes that's all.

Unit S-2 by duskpn 2017-08-07T11:37:09Z

Nice set of abilities. Shock is mostly useful once caught, which doesn't happen very often due to the ease of avoiding contact with running and cloak. Drain was an interesting addition, but it made each encounter even more trivial.

The enemies also lose your sight extreme quickly and don't seem to be able to search around very effectively. The :interrobang: icons work well though.

Solid entry; lacking challenge. I'll checkout the post-jam version, no doubt.

Island of Revolution by mikethewayne 2017-08-19T15:52:15Z

Great concept, solid production. The graphics are fine, too bad about the audio.

There are a few bugs and issues, though: * A police force assigned to seizing assets should have a different icon to show that the order was received. * There is no way to see the hours left on a bank without going there. * After a while all the police forces set to seize assets started swimming in the ocean. Maybe they wanted to leave the island the cheap way. * Bought the mid sized plane. They didn't charge me any money and 12/12 family members escaped?

Little things really. Good work!

Sky Sea by Zeriver 2017-08-04T20:19:38Z

A nice tranquil experience this. The graphics are neat and the ambient music sets up the mood well.

Currently none of the choices matter much due to the early ending; a bit of a let down that. I was getting invested in my choices though, so there certainly is potential here for a solid interactive and, most importantly, non-linear story.

Just a guess, is that mech based on the Page Delta-2 Peacebringer (I just looked that up) from the original Deus Ex?

Powering Down by jwin 2017-08-16T09:52:16Z

Excellent work!

The graphics are amazing, the controls just right and the power toggling system very thematic. I always turn off HUD elements whenever possible and here I even get a reward for it. Great!

Reminds me of Solar Jetman, a classic Rare oldie from back in the days. The only thing missing here, in comparison, is a grappling hook to haul massive :gem:s around and fiendish difficulty (hitting a wall should take away energy. *Ramp up the stakes!*)

Excellent work! (:bear: :bear: :bear:...)

Starship Alpha by Jessica Terrorized Games 2017-08-01T21:15:04Z

The idea is solid and there seems to be quite a few events in there, based on looking at the code, but this is just not very enjoyable to play.

I'm going to be blunt from here on out. There are *many* of issues with your entry. Due to the nature of the design these are mostly *user interface* issues, so I'll just give you a quick run down. Here we go:

* Stats update every 15 seconds. This should be every second or even multiple times a second. If the numbers aren't constantly changing, then the user doesn't know if anything is happening at all. **Immediate feedback** is *super* important in UI design.

* Teaching unimportant information. The user doesn't need to know how often events happen. Tell them they happen occasionally, that's enough. **The less you need to teach to the user the better**. Only give them the bare essentials as all they want to do is to start playing now!

* Vague information. The production bars give me a relative representation of production as in there is more food production than fuel production, but the stats on the right are absolute values. So how much fuel do I get every minute if my production is 5 bars? **Accurate information is required for decision making** so the GUI should relay this information.

* Loads of buttons, nobs and doohickeys. General rules: **less is more**, **concise is better**. All the 8 production widgets could have been represented as sliders, with the production name and amount on top of the slider. Unity has great built-in GUI sliders for this purpose.

* GUI scaling. The GUI does not scale with the resolution of the window. Unity has great built-in tools (RectTransform anchors) for this too.

* Noisy background image. It is supposed to look like a hyper drive effect, yes? Well, all it does here is make everything harder to read.

Keep playing different kinds of things for inspiration and reference. Keep developing different kinds of things for practice and fun! Eventually you'll get great at making things.

RavageR - The Lone Swordsman by Ethan Allwood 2017-08-09T13:23:10Z

/- - - ** *RavageR* ** - - - / I do like the name, if you can't tell! I was expecting more gore though.

It's tough attacking and not getting hit at the same time as the weapon swing hitbox is tiny. The character doesn't turn either, which make attacking hostiles to your right a swing and a miss.

The presentation didn't jell with me too well. Tiny pixel people rendered in three colors (+ alpha, you cheat!) and the audio similarly sparse. It is a stylistic choice of course and you pulled it off nicely.

Ok entry. A bit basic in places.

PowerPath by Robin Komen 2017-08-17T19:20:48Z

A simple memorization and dexterity challenge. Found if enjoyable enough.

The movement controls are ok as they are shown on the map. The transition from the shown path to the movement mode could be done on input from the player. Currently it starts the movement mode automatically after a delay, which means I have to spam the first direction key to not lose any energy which is slightly annoying.

Some groovy soothing music would really fit here.

Good work!

Power Earth Saver by wwwhizz 2017-08-04T11:00:39Z

Simple and effective. Dodging hundreds of bullets is always fun.

My controls went weird once I lost my shield, but I played again and it did not occur a second time. Probably my keyboard or something.

Good job!

Greenville Deliveries by Fred Aberg 2017-08-09T18:36:53Z

Dodging buildings is surprisingly fun. Technical issue mire the fun slightly though.

First, there's the level generation. Why doesn't it happen instantly? I can stomach a few second loading screen. Now I have to wait 5 seconds for the city to slowly materialize out of nothing. It looks silly too.

Second, there's the performance. The WebGL build does not run well (on my computer at least). Could it be that the MagicaVoxel models are not quite as optimal as handcrafted models? Or something else, who knows?

A desktop build would probably fix these issues.

Ok entry.

Hope Glider by Spotline 2017-08-13T11:03:49Z

Neat concept, great graphics and challenging controls. Managed to save humanity in 33 seconds, multiple times!

I am quite interested in the fluid (air) simulation you got going on in here. Is it based on a third party tool or is it all custom made? It is super funky.

Great work!

Electro-Brains by unit684 2017-08-12T08:58:23Z

Managed to electrocute 77 zombies before been bitten one too many times.

The electric effect sure is neat-o. It goes crazy if quickly swinging the mouse around, but it looks the part even then.

Sure, more time would have resulted in more features and you already have a list of those so I won't reiterate. One graphical feature which I would like to see is a running animation for the main character fitting the cheery tune, a gallop of sorts. You know what I mean (hopefully)

Good work all things considered.

Extend that cord! by Zirrrus 2017-08-01T10:05:41Z

Brilliant graphics, very stylish indeed. Looking at the screenshots I thought it would be a puzzle about connecting plugs into their respective sockets, but no. It turns out to be a game about shortest path navigation, which is where it kind of lost me.

Maybe with more mechanics (the oil is a good start) this could become interesting. You came to the same conclusion too so... Do continue working on it, if you have the time. The basis for something enjoyable is there, no doubt.

ErixStein 3D by ThatSnillet 2017-08-06T08:19:30Z

Using Qix (I like to go to the source) to generate fps levels. Quite an interesting idea this and it even works.

The shotgun is very inconsistent for some reason though. At times the images take a single shot to shatter. Other times good 5+ hits. Seems to have something to do with distance and whether the image has been activated yet or not.

Good work.

Crankship Courier by drprettypatty 2017-08-08T06:54:05Z

*"rapidly clicking"* oh dear... There isn't that much clicking thankfully, but, ah, not the most pleasant design that rapid clicking.

Neat and funny idea. Is it fun though? I'm not so sure. There seems to be a solid yet boring strategy which works well. Stay above the birds, crank up the engine, crank up the cannon, swoop down a bit, repeat. I guess you'd eventually get too close to the sun for real, but I didn't get to test that.

Instead I tried the courageous route. *Have at them, full speed ahead, man the cannons, en garde!* My ship went down pretty much immediately, there are that many birds.

The tutorial should be skipped when restarting. It is a good tutorial, but I don't need it a second time. The text sometimes skips forward before I could read it too, unfortunate.

Ok job this. Funny to say the least. The graphics aren't bad either.

Corrupted by Shess 2017-08-12T10:30:51Z

Very interesting battle system you got here. Node based abilities, position matters (most of the time), power management. It all clicks together nicely. Reminded me of one of my old ideas and now I want to get back to working on that. I love it when that happens, thanks!

The writing is good too. Didn't get to read the ending though, as the RNG barrier grew too high. Tried dozens of times and just cannot beat some of the crazier combos. Will keep trying though.

Great work!

Engines & Earl Grey by Temmy 2017-08-07T14:44:57Z

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, what kind of a name is that? (Holy Mr Moly, it's real!)

RNG gods were not on his side that evening thus Isambard spend most of it catching crystals. That rocket has massive idle power draw, not the greatest engineering there Isambard!

Simple, fun, charming. The music could have been a bit less low-fi for my taste. Fine job!

Running Out Of Power - A Ludum Dare Film by dynastic 2017-08-08T17:06:05Z

First video entry I've ever seen. Quite funny too.

That :cat: looks like it didn't care for your shenanigans one bit.

Superstuff by tddawson 2017-08-11T07:27:14Z

A very nice concept this. Even I, runners aren't my thing, found this fun to play. Power management adds a lot to the otherwise simple running and jumping.

The graphics and audio are the weakest link here. Neither is very pleasant so that's something to improve for the future version.

The superhero theme gives you a lot of material to work with. Eye-lazors and air-jumping are just the tip of the iceberg: teleportation, shape shifting, invisibility (to avoid enemy attacks for instance), shields; the possibilities for different mechanics and levels are huge.

Good job so far. Hopefully you take this far too.

Nyctophobia by mhaton 2017-08-15T18:57:27Z

An atmospheric maze (i.e. a puzzle). The graphics are simple, but fine. The audio is very fitting, except for the light sound effect maybe?

The darkness is a formidable foe, slightly unnerving and even scary once you are low on light. The lighting system also works well, especially the one frame flash when turning on a torch.

I've been ranting against mazes a few times already and here is the short if it: memorization isn't interesting; having to restart the maze from the very beginning and executing the same moves over and over again isn't interesting either, it is annoying in fact.

So how to get around memorization and endless retreading? More hand crafted levels or (at least partially) procedurally generated levels. This would also switch the project from deductive logic problem solving (puzzles) to inductive problem solving (games), which I'd prefer for one.

A little technical niggle: full screen does not work properly for me at least. The HUD does not scale, you see.

Good work. With some more polish and tweaking this would be a very moody experience indeed.

Power City by TheWGBbroz 2017-08-10T18:44:09Z

Here's my city. Perfect design for making everybody happy. LD39_PowerCity.PNG Could squeeze out more population with hotels, factories and less happy people, but I like my utopia the way it is.

The simulation is too simple to be interesting really. There should be some forces working against you to make building the city less cookie cutter. Some ideas: * Global events (climate, recession, war, new technologies, etc.) affecting population and happiness * Local effects (weather, powerty, riots, new building designs, etc.) affecting infrastructure condition and happiness

Thematically these seem like big complicated things, but they can be simulated in very simple ways (weighted die rolls with a bit of data tracking to make sure that successive events make some sense at least).

It's a fine start for a city builder simulation. Not complicated enough yet.

Candy Wars by Jason200101 2017-08-08T18:32:42Z

**CHOCOLATE!**

I'm glad to see some more interactive fiction in this LD. Your entry is structurally a classic non-linear story tree with one minor branch and one major branch. Not a bad amount of content for such a short time, really.

The 3 main branches aren't wildly different in their events, but that ties to the limited jam resources too (and you've already talked about that). Played through all of them and got the 16 "Achievements". *Worth it!*

The story is absurd enough to be funny. The graphics are what they are, crude yet kind of charming.

Skipping dialog could be even faster. Jumping into a specific chapter of the story is worth considering too, for future projects.

Good job. :candy:

BOOMRANGED by Narudgi 2017-08-02T14:12:47Z

Looks and sounds nice, controls well, the camera seems a bit too close for comfort and then there are no monsters at all.

All I can do is collect things and eventually run out of energy... Why is this?

@Narudgi

Let this be a lesson for you. Always test your project before uploading!

Trying again then.

Got to level 3; nothing much has changed. The colors sure and the layout a bit, but the challenge is still on the same low level as the previous two levels.

Every enemy dies in one hit and taking a hit yourself is not a big deal as every enemy drops more health. The only marginally difficult task was finding the ship sometimes when I had wandered off course for too long.

Pleasant, but too easy to hold my interest for long. Solid effort technically. I especially like the spaceship expressions.

PowerBot by Caffeinated Psychics 2017-08-02T19:23:29Z

Retro to the max!

Graphically reminds me of [MegaBot](http://www.acid-play.com/download/megabot), while interaction-wise [Janitor Dan the Spaceman](http://www.groovylime.com/janitordan.htm) is closer. Them's some genuine retro freeware titles for you (so retro that you need a virtual Win XP run Janitor Dan, unfortunately).

Quite liked it, even if ultimately it is very simple. Some more power based mechanics and this would be quite something.

Robit Needs Love by domrein 2017-08-18T06:45:01Z

Solid concept and production. The graphics are good and there are no bugs that I can find. The problem is the lack of challenge.

There is no reason to reach very high. The enemies close to ground give out just as many batteries as the ones on the top so risking it makes no sense. This leads to a very dull experience indeed.

Here's a suggestion for wrangle the difficulty curve. The power drain of the computer should raise overtime in increments with some sort of a gauge showing the current drain. The enemies on the top should give out bigger batteries or more batteries more often. This way the player is forced to reach higher and higher, taking risks.

Ok entry, needs some tweaking in the challenge department.

Robot Kernel PaniK by Le Slo 2017-08-08T09:46:58Z

**Micro-management hell!**

I finally managed to bring in some crops and clean the air, but nothing happened? I guess I should have opened the vault door too; but I simply cannot get the door, leading to the vault door, opened no matter which terminals I try. Do you need to use multiple terminals for that or what?!

The user interface is obtuse and hard to use. It is by design, by the looks of it, but that makes it no less annoying. The energy and life meter should be visible at all times, not behind a menu. *So much unnecessary clicking!*

Make it clearer which terminal opens which door (the power lines overlap a lot currently) and reduce the mount of clicking in the UI.

Ok job otherwise.

Captain Quark and the Search For More Power by LordKawaii 2017-08-04T16:02:03Z

Asteroids, eh?

Bog-standard Asteroids, eh? Where's the gimmick?! (fuel running out doesn't count, everyone has that now!). It is hard to get excited about Asteroids in the year 2017, it really is.

Do think about additional mechanics. Here are a few for free: Force push asteroids into each other, a slow-mo field, a grappling hook to use an asteroid as a wrecking ball, teleportation ability, homing missiles, stuff like that.

Solid work otherwise.

Car race without gas by morusque 2017-08-14T19:50:21Z

That was an experience alright.

For something so cerebral I do find it a large issue that you cannot hold the horn down. It is the key feature here, the hero of the show! Give it some love, eh?

:red_car: - :fuelpump: = :evergreen_tree: :notes: :bird: :evergreen_tree: :mountain: :sunny:

Sweet.

PARODIANUS II : 致命的な外国人ロバのリターン by knarf 2017-08-21T13:44:43Z

Solid shmup. The glitches really add to the home brew NES feel of it. I'm not sure the first boss needed to look like that. *Messy!*

The first three levels were very easy and then the Nuclear Plant boss just wiped the floor with my ship. I managed to destroy it on the third try, not taking a single hit as power had run out, in spite of the annoying warning sound. Then after 10 odd seconds the ship blew up anyways? Oh well.

Good work! I have a feeling you don't need me to tell you to keep at it.

Mobile Charger by cablay 2017-08-08T13:02:52Z

Physics based fun times, until the battery runs out.

Managed to break the physics completely once. All the limbs just shot off, with the torso hanging in mid-air wiggling away. Weird!

I would have liked to see the police come after you. You are stealing phones after all.

I wonder how well this would go down in court? "I only stole those 15 devices cause my own was running out of power and my BFF told me so." Yeah...

Good job!

Running Out Of Power Plant by oakus 2017-08-14T12:08:38Z

Funny physics based old man simulation. Basically happy wheels without the blood, yet more radiation. The graphics are good and the sounds fit well.

I heard a rumor that you might have added a few features after the jam. Generally speaking you are only allowed to fix bugs, not to add anything new. If you do work on a post-jam version it should be a new build specifically marked as such. People need to be able to play the original jam version for rating purposes.

Turn Out by Vovin 2017-08-06T10:08:54Z

A pleasant puzzle this. Nice progression of mechanics and I didn't get stuck on any level for too long.

I don't like the camera snapping back after rotating it, but I guess it was the easiest way to make the controls consistent. The controls were surprisingly intuitive too, taken the 3D nature of the levels.

Fine job.

Phil by Turncoda 2017-08-04T14:11:45Z

An ok puzzle this. You got a lot of mileage out of a the crystals, which is a sign of good puzzle design.

The last problem had me stumped for a bit, I tried a much more convoluted solution and couldn't quite get past the door in time. Then I noticed the tunnel next to the door.... Yeah, silly me for not using my eyes!

Would have liked some more levels of course, but such is the curse of the jam (most entries are content light).

Fine job in all. Puzzle design is something I tend not to even try so I gotta give you props for that too.

Exodus: Fleet Commander by Saithir 2017-08-21T12:54:57Z

Searched every single area, no fuel. Jumped, 95% dead. Gee!

Rudimentary. Do work on it if you have the time. Could be interesting with the features you've lined up.

Socket Punch! by simex 2017-08-03T08:05:06Z

Spectacular brawling this! Neat graphics, solid tutorial, fun for quite a while.

Unfortunately spamming the shoot button didn't jell with me at all. A rapid fire (maybe even spread shot) weapon which drains more energy would have been ace against the flying enemies.

Playing also gave me some motion sickness after a while, not much but enough to put me off in the end.

Another small issue is sometimes not noticing when the pylon I'm connected to retracts again. You could have a plugged-in icon next to the power bar when charging.

Great work overall! I always find things to nitpick about.

-simov by BSO 2017-08-18T08:11:32Z

Bizarre to the max! If only the interactions were more bizarre too, basic platforming is basic.

The graphics are the main deal here. Very innovative designs. The running animation takes the cake for me and the weapon particles are a close second. The music does become annoying in about 10 seconds though so that should have been worked on some more.

Good work!

ROOP (Running Out Of Power) by Spetsdod 2017-08-14T11:39:43Z

The controls are fine! Newtonian physics must have gone over their heads :smile:

The fuel runs out pretty fast, but that is thematic enough and keeps the playthroughs short which is fine and dandy.

Good work!

From the Shadows by MaybeLaterx 2017-08-01T18:38:35Z

Asymmetrical turn-based strategy game! Now this is right up my alley and after playing it I can say the design is indeed nice, but the execution does leave a few things in the dark.

The main problem in solo mode is not seeing the shadow turn. My people just die seemingly at random even when I *clearly* had them far enough from any lvl. 1 shadows. My only option is to blame the program as it doesn't show me what happened.

The other problem is related to the first one. Your instructions say lvl. 1 shadows can attack one space away, yet in reality their range orthogonally is two. That threw me off initially before I checked the multiplayer mode. Of course if the shadow turn was shown I would have gotten it immediately.

The graphics are neat and the audio serviceable. I really like the simple, yet effective animation of the characters.

With visible shadow turns and a solo shadow mode this would be just great. Now it's merely ok, so not a bad effort.

Vivid Sustain by faemir 2017-08-09T14:19:12Z

A top down shooter at its most base form. Ok, there's the obligatory energy mechanic due to the theme.

Hard to get excited about basic shooting no-more. You should have added in a gimmick of some kind, be it teleportation, enemy mind control, energy harvesting/absorbing, expanded movement mechanics (energy based of course)... Anything really!

The graphics are adequate, no bugs either! An ok job for what it is.

Alien Swarm by oxrock 2017-08-02T12:32:13Z

Turrets! Who doens't like them.

The difficulty should ramp up faster. It got a bit stale already at around 3 minutes. Then at 5 minutes things started happening so at least it didn't take longer than that.

Safe and simple entry.

Asteroid Scavenger by Blueman 2017-08-18T13:35:57Z

Using an impulse engine instead of a basic thruster is an interesting twist. Didn't see too may reasons to upgrade the impulse force too much though as that makes it way too easy to collide into asteroids in close quarters.

I did not realize there was a timer at all. It just slammed a *Game Over* screen on my face. I accidentally dismissed it immediately with 'J' so I didn't even get to read it... Oh well, I hope I did well. There should have been some sort of an alert there, similar to the power warning text for instance.

The graphics are fine, audio a bit basic to be honest.

Solid work, not a lot to complain.

Climate Clicker by Burgee 2017-08-12T09:43:29Z

I would call this an interactive simulation. There is no way to win and seemingly no way to lose either so it ain't a game for sure. Instead you play to achieve your own goals, for instance: keep people alive for 500 years, reach 100 population or get everybody killed!

This is most certainly not a clicker either. In clickers (or idle "games" or time wasters or passive experiences, whatever you wish to call them) things (numbers) never to down. You wait and click to reveal more content. Calling your entry a clicker nearly made me skip it all together.

*I'm glad I didn't!*

The simulation is robust. Little people live their little lives on a little plot of land. Weather, bears and age their only causes of grief. They even get married and have children, that is just *perfect*.

The player then acts as a god of sorts. Not omnipotent, but clearly in control and responsible for this land. Running out of power creates all sorts of nasty weather effects so this god is keeping the harm at bay.

The simulation update speed is quite fast. A bit too fast in fact. There's no way to pause either (escape hides the view for some reason) to take in the information and read the log. *That log!* It ain't very good at relaying information. There are only 3 rows of text and due to the high speed of the simulation it fills up way too fast. Scrolling with the mouse wheel only helps slightly as text just *keeps coming in*.

I tried to keep a single person (called Jared) alive as long as possible, but after three rebirths I had to choose between reviving him and smiting a rampaging polar bear... Sorry Jared, see you in the afterlife after party.

If you had ample power to save everyone this would become very boring very fast. Adherence to the theme really makes this *click*. That doesn't usually happen.

Great work!

Cosmic Influx by Bernhard 2017-08-15T16:59:02Z

It's a functional package all right. The audio-visuals work, while not being very pretty. The controls are super simple and work too. Lastly we have the interactivity, which is where I think the simplicity is a bit too much.

You see I half expected there to be a some sort of a landing mode where you have to move around the planet surface collecting fuel and dodging enemies, as in Star Control, but it was all just a die roll. As such the initial adventure feel wore off real fast.

The adventure is also very short and with a a few safe probability calculations very easy too. More difficult choices are needed, especially if there is no landing mode. Some sort of events where you can lose fuel, crew and other resources too, maybe?

Ok work, a bit too simple for my taste.

DefXagon by Rothens91 2017-08-13T09:33:53Z

977 points. Even managed to fight off some of the bigger hordes due to the increased amount of energy you get from dispatching more enemies.

Having to spam the shield recharge button is annoying. There is also a lack of content to keep me playing for longer, but you already have many things planned so I need not repeat them.

I didn't hear any audio even though the credits do have a listing for music. Is that a bug or simply a jam omission?

The graphics and lighting are quite nice.

Ok work this.

Save The Day ! by juan 2017-08-20T06:40:28Z

Cool graphics, simple and effective interactions. *Seen-it-done-that* sure, but the acceleration mechanic was somewhat novel. I'm addicted to speed so I spammed it way too much to my own detriment.

You could add some more abilities for the ship, like slow-down, slow-mo, shield, weapons, etc. Everything uses energy of course.

Ok work, what can I say.

The Unseen by Will_D 2017-08-13T19:56:24Z

Brilliant graphic, audio and mood. I especially like the lighting system and the :eye: sounds (how do they even make sounds???). Very smooth controls too.

The major issue: where's the theme? The light never runs out, I was expecting to happen any moment. You never lose control of the character or become hindered in any other way either, in fact by the end I was an expert in dodging eyesight. The theme just isn't here as far as I'm concerned.

Good entry apart from the previous gripe. Fine work.

(You gotta give more ratings to get more eyeballs, just fyi.)

BAT-BATTERY by cenullum 2017-08-05T13:56:07Z

I love it how everything goes :boom:. :battery: goes :boom:, :man: goes :boom:, even :sheep: goes :boom:

I got to a pilar of :cow::cow::cow: flinging :poop: at me when the program (HTML5) froze. Too bad, had fun until that point.

Why does a :bat: need a :battery:? Why so much :poop:? These questions and many more will haunt anyone playing this for the rest of their lives.

Well done, you!

Unleaded: The Story of a Van by Lino 2017-08-02T08:26:44Z

Why not call it Desert Van and start a fundraiser?

Joking aside, driving forever is surprisingly fun when you are going as fast as you can dodging invincible twigs. Playing it safe is less challenging and as such less fun unfortunately.

I got to 11km before giving up. I had a near full tank of gas as there were loads of pickups just next to the road. Driving on the road is the best strategy anyways as you can get stuck on ramps if unlucky enough (like me!).

The twigs and the cardboard boxes are made of strong stuff indeed. You should have put physics on the boxes at least.

Engine sounds, particle effects (smoke and dust) and some kind of a damage model (running headlong into a fence should affect the van a bit yeah?) would have been great additions in my book.

Currently this is ok for what it is.

Spaced out by Simon Rahnasto 2017-08-02T17:49:21Z

Brilliant audio-visuals, excellent in fact.

The controls are fine, yet driving is quite tricky as the levels are very narrow. Slowly floating back to the track is quite annoying. I'm not an expert driver so that might have something to do with it too.

The design is very basic, it's *carting in space*, but at least the "last one gets no fuel" mechanic is somewhat novel (I haven't seen it before that is).

Good work!

LEADER by carlosvVk 2017-08-19T10:37:18Z

I got the pope on the phone pretty fast.

Enjoyable for a while, but having to choose from three random cards every day does seem a bit off. Sometimes the best choice completely reverses a decision from just a few days prior. I'm pretty sure they could not have even put the previous law into practice that fast.

Played a few of these types before already and this is certainly up there. Good work!

Goo-Boy and the Maw of Darkness by Pandanym 2017-08-20T13:40:27Z

*That ending!*

Impressive visuals and blob physics. Jumping is just a bit stiff at times, but it kind of makes sense taken that you are a drop of slime (or something similar).

Good work!

Sunseeker by Surovyi 2017-08-01T19:15:11Z

The concept is interesting. Rather than having the player alone fight hordes of enemies, there are AI buddies and even a bit of resource management with the energy crystals.

In practice things quickly go south. Choose one you can't have both: distant overview camera or click to attack. Currently clicking on enemies in the heat of the battle is really tough, annoyingly so. I would outright use auto attack on the hero as it is positioning that matters here, not pinpoint accuracy or actions per minute.

Another problem is the AI allies. With AI you need to make sure it acts reasonably in the every possible situation it can be in. Here the allies protecting the king just stand there doing nothing until an enemy gets close at which point one or, at most, two of them go fight while the other two continue doing nothing at all. In the end they die one by one rather than fighting as a coherent unit.

The king could also position himself away from the openings, trying to stay behind his protectors. He is also alarmingly keen on simply doing nothing productive. The magician at least has an excuse for standing still.

So ah, it needs quite a bit of work this one. The graphics and audio are fine though.

Glitch by WhoDKnee 2017-08-14T17:24:07Z

The audio-visuals are great! The interactivity less so.

It's basic platforming, dodging bullets here and there. I can't get excited about these types no more. Some sort of gimmick is gravely needed.

The theme is only apparent in the setting and plot, not in the interactions. The glitches don't really make the platforming any harder, for me at least.

Ok entry, it works.

Nanni by Kristian Dixon 2017-08-07T20:24:55Z

Seen something like this before, you trying to play your gameboy in class dodging the gaze of the teacher. Can't remember the name of it though.

I could pretty much just stand next to a power outlet and play the cheap Asteroids clone for a long time. RoboNanny didn't seem to get up to the second floor at all so I went downstairs instead. Then **it** *assaulted* me from around the corner! *Yikes!* Let's not go downstairs no more.

Eh, the idea is interesting enough with switching between modes both running in real-time. Nanni simply isn't good enough at patrolling to make it tense or interesting.

BATTERY BLASTER by NoytroO 2017-08-04T08:57:13Z

**Metal!**

I managed to destroy two of the generators no problem. Finding the last one turned out to be a bit more difficult and that annoying :skull: followed me dealing chip damage. Destroyed the last generator and the cowardly :skull: buggered off right away! *The nerve!* At this point the enemies in the room also stopped moving and simply shot me from a distance. That didn't happen before and they managed to get me down to 10% health or so.

I'm quite sad to say that this is as far as I got. The grand finale was foiled by the doors to the boss room (the forth pathway from the start). You see, while looking for the 3rd generator I accidentally *nearly* walked into the boss room and the doors slammed shut right in front of my eyes. The :skull: forgot to open them up again when fleeing back to his lair.

An impressive entry in all. Could use more polish of course as does pretty much every other entry. Good work!

Manual Mech by Mikeliosus 2017-08-06T09:17:31Z

The controls are difficult for a reason and I quite like that. Jumping especially takes a lot of time to get used to which makes it challenging. The graphics and audio are good too.

Now, I could not finished the second level mostly due to unfair level design. Dying to a turret or running out of power never felt like I had made a mistake.

Turrets quite often cannot be seen before it is too late, so you have to memorize their positions which is lame. Running out of power is also more of a memorization problem. Play the level multiple times and eventually you know which is the most optimal path to the exit. I'm not a big fan of this type of *trial and error* design. I want to be able to make good enough decisions the first time playing, not the tenth time.

Being able to see further would alleviate some of this memorization. Checkpoints with an energy charging station would work too. Another possibility is to simplify the controls, but then you would start losing the mech angle which would be a shame.

Good work overall.

Ted Crashed! by Sebastian-M 2017-08-04T13:50:03Z

A pleasant (partly due to the lovely music) experience. Exploring the land, connecting energy crystals, it's all well and good. Some hostile forces, like animal life or toxic areas, on the planet would have improved the discovery portion for me. Currently no carefulness is needed when moving around.

The theme doesn't quite fit here either, you are running out of time and gathering power, not losing it. That's a minor thing though. The theme is there to get people started on a project, not to *ruin it!*

It is very good for a first timer. The *Thanks to* section is very sweet indeed.

Light out by Harrelix 2017-08-18T19:58:09Z

Pretty cool for a first timer! The flashlight works well and the zombie noises are very unnerving indeed.

Had a little scare with the first zombie jumping out from the dark behind a crate. The other attacks were less scary taken that they all spawned in from the same position (and eventually killed me!)

Next I tried the obvious tactic for a cowardly chap as myself: sitting in a corner knive out. The Zombies clearly found my superior stance disturbing as they started moving back and forth wildly barely attacking at all. Their path finding skills must have rotted away.

Some objectives to complete before the time runs out would force the player to make a move. Not a big problem really. Good work!

Ultimate by OnlySimple 2017-08-02T11:14:30Z

The design is very standard, but it could work if everything else was spot on. Unfortunately the controls leave a lot to be desired.

Usually in top-down shooters you can shoot independent of your movement. This can be achieved by using the mouse for completely free aiming direction, or by using the WASD keys for movement and the arrow keys for shooting in 4 (or 8) directions.

I'm so used to such input schemes that going back to Atari-aged "run towards enemy and hope for the best" controls is simply not acceptable.

Neat graphics effects though. Solid effort.

Universal Powers by Snowy 2017-08-04T19:01:59Z

It sure is funny, but not any fun. How could it be? It is completely arbitrary!

Played three times, got to situation 15 three times. Only saw one repeated question. That is quite a few events there; a solid amount of content.

Like said the irrationality of the questions is both the blessing and the curse of this project. Absurdity is funny, but it completely undermines the interactive side. Might as well flip a coin to choose left or right.

Destroying asteroids is very relaxing though.

Exponential Maintenance Engineer by nintendoeats 2017-08-04T18:24:29Z

First use of mathematical powers I've seen so far. *Numbers?* Rad!

Quite a bit of fun, trying to fit in as many blocks as possible, aiming to blow up the TNT and not to blow up the plutonium. Good stuff!

Using escape to start is pushing things too far though...

The Quest for the Mighty Battery Charger by Solah 2017-08-03T12:17:53Z

Short and simple, it just works.

The boss design clearly takes cues from the book of boss battle tropes. It could have been something more interesting is all I'm saying.

Pretty ok job all in all.

Despotism 3k by NikolayKuznetsov 2017-08-16T10:53:10Z

16:15 (just sacrifice 50+ people and lvl 10 is a cinch)

Creepy oppressive atmosphere. Apart from the *turning people into power and soylent green* part this is nothing but modern society in disguise. Alternatively it is a future society in plain view, us run by our robotic overlords.

The graphics are great, the GUI works and the resource management is solid if a little simple. This is all about keeping an eye on the stats and quick reactions. There are no decisions to be made, really.

The main issue I have is with the clicking. There is an excessive amount of it in the few later levels once your population reaches 40+ or so poor sods.

The music is great. Where is it from? (link plz)

Stellar work!

LD-39 - Cyborg Mattness by Rost 2017-08-03T06:35:50Z

A standard shooter defense mission with a *twist*! The twist being super fast bug enemies and a generator which keeps popping up after been destroyed countless times. Oh and an energy mechanic too, but that is par for the course in this jam.

The generator respawning is the most curious idea here. Usually in these sort of titles the generator has a lot of health and if you fail to defend it then it is the end, try again. I think that would have worked here too.

The fast enemies I can deal with, but maybe they should spawn from the edges of the screen not from a random position. Sometimes there is barely any time to react.

Having to spam the F button is another small issue. Holding it down would be much less annoying.

Ok effort this. More polish and playtesting would have gone a long way.

Energy Scraps by Royoyo 2017-08-03T07:00:47Z

I quite enjoyed this. For some developers exploration equates to simply walking around, but here you managed to create a hostile environment surprisingly effectively with some basic turrets and patrol robots.

I would have liked to play more, but once I died (tried only to upgrade my speed and energy harvesting rate, didn't work that!) having to start from the very beginning just didn't feel worth it. A simple solution would be to save the current progress every time the player visits the upgrade machine. That would have kept me going.

Good work!

Lost in the Dark by Schu 2017-08-09T09:37:06Z

354.42

The problem with timing a maze is that mazes are a subset of puzzles and puzzles are deductive logic challenges thus once you know the solution, in this case the layout of the maze, you can simply speedrun it. I didn't bother going that far though.

Solving (there must be a more apt word) a maze is also rather trivial. It takes patience, trial, error and memorization. The visibility mechanic and the lasers did spice things up a bit, but not enough for me.

There are at least two ways to make mazes more interesting:

* Procedural mazes. If the layout changes after each playthrough, memorization goes out the window. Now we are dealing with an inductive logic challenge. You have to sometimes guess which path to take, based on the little information you gathered before.

* Hostile entities. The stakes would go through the roof, if the maze was inhabited by enemies which chased you down upon visual inspection. The monsters (of course there are monsters in a maze) could make disturbing sounds, both helping you pinpoint their location through walls and attributing to the atmosphere.

Yeah, I'm not too much into puzzles, especially mazes. Inductive logic challenges, i.e games, are more interesting to me.

Only on Batteries by Silvae 2017-08-04T10:11:58Z

A test of patience. *I failed*. Is there anything out there in the great unknown? I will never know.

I would more often than not forget to look at the battery and shoot myself to death! Finding energy on the field or even more batteries would have increased the tension. Cor, energy pickup! Do I dare to venture further right away? Taking risks is interesting, you see.

The effects are very nice. Controlling a battery powered cake was also quite amusing.

Well made entry in all.

Inverteb by David Allen 2017-08-16T06:58:38Z

*Radical* graphics and nice music. The pixelating effect for running out of power is *sweet!*

The controls are a tad sluggish. Jumping didn't quite feel right and I ended up taking a dive a few too many times. Switching dimensions also has some lag/delay to it at times.

The overall speed of the character and the rising blood could be higher. There should be a restart button (*R*) for quick retries.

Good work.

Depths of Oceania by cnoble 2017-08-09T14:49:55Z

Neat graphics, the audio less so; it is all over the place.

The ship controls well enough, but the cursor should most certainly be locked and hidden to make the cannon controls clearer as mentioned by others.

It seems everything is scripted to the bone. I got the the shark bit, dodged right under the rockface, picked up some energy orbs, could no go any further down and then the eels came back for some revenge. Tried multiple times to get past that situation, but could not.

The idea is interesting, the execution not quite there.

Danger Forever by BLK Dragon 2017-08-07T14:09:55Z

Simple and challenging. Colliding with obstacles isn't very impactful; bouncing backwards with an anemic sound effect doesn't quite do it for me. Just plow on through with sparks and sounds of *trashing metal!*

The environment graphics are very dull and gray indeed. The ground texture especially repeats a lot. Not a graphics person me, so can't give you any advice there unfortunately.

Found a :bug: I hit one of the breakable walls and instead of it breaking the ship moved upwards and stayed above the action for the rest of the run. Could not pick up any energy there so it is not a very effective cheat, too bad!

Ok entry this. Could use some polish, graphical mostly.

@blk-dragon Meant to say dull and brown; the old brain is jamming again. Apart from the environment there sure is color. I also forgot to say that the enemy robot model is quite a looker. No worries!

Car jump by Samuli Salonen 2017-08-04T09:51:04Z

The physics are indeed wonky. Driving down a ramp should be the easiest task, not the hardest!

I would have liked to see some targets up in the air, like rings or stars, to go for. Crashing into boxes is a bit too trivial, once you do manage to clear the ramp that is.

Not a bad idea and only partially dreadful excecution. I'd call that a pretty good first jam.

Messy Getaway by RattyBloom40 2017-08-09T09:03:07Z

Forget electric cars, this is the future of personal transportation! *A stealoconomy!* Imagine everyone stealing gas from everyone else. No-one would be going nowhere no way fast; oh no, not on time, no sir.

Right. The car controls well, winning and losing both work (some entries didn't even get that right!) and the graphics are ok (the less I say about the *music* the better). A bit too easy to my liking, I could have gone on forever and ever, except I got bored of course.

Here are a few ideas: * Manual acceleration and deceleration to support higher, more exciting, speeds. * A zoomed out camera to help with said speeds. * Any police car witnessing your gas siphon in action should give chase and try to ram your car, until you manage to loose them (drive really fast and/or they collide with something)

Ok job. Just a bit tedious after a while.

Rats will kiss the gunner's daughter by Mr.Houdini 2017-08-04T19:54:14Z

Didn't get the mutineer the first time as I tried to figure it out the hard way, evaluation all the answers. Then I hatched a theory: how 'bout simply trusting their answers to the direct question on day 1?

So I played three more times, each time bribing the bribable looking person and manhandling the snitch looking fellow on day 1. Then I skipped the rest of the days by spamming the neutral question button, not reading any of the answers.

Every single time the person who got the most votes on the first day turned out to be the mutineer... You might just have a bit of an issue here.

I second @amras0000's suggestion of asking the direct question last. Why wouldn't you do that as the captain? That is when you've figured out who is the stern sailor type, who is the snitch and who likes money. Apparently you don't even need to know any of that, but you get the point.

The graphics, audio and mood are great, *so it is not all bad!* In fact it is mostly not bad; I'm being facetious.

They Attack At Night by randomphantom 2017-08-05T17:13:32Z

Very nice thematic mechanics you've got here to back up the basic shooting and tower defense. Not to say the execution is brilliant all around.

Absorbing the power of the city, it shutting down and the vision range dropping is marvelous. The enemy graphics are less great, but serviceable at least.

The turrets should be more powerful, their damage and range are very low. Constructing them is quite slow too. Maybe they could build up on their own after right clicking, draining energy from the main core directly.

Them trenches. I get the idea of lighting your path with "light spears", but that doesn't make it any less annoying. An old-school flashlight would do better in this regard.

Last little niggle: Runs pretty badly on my computer. The options you put in allowed me to get it up to 40 fps, looking very pixely though. More of a UE4 problem this.

Inventive stuff really. Good job.

Wrong Slumber by ick 2017-08-03T09:08:46Z

An interesting and weird setting, that's always nice to see. Fun too, but I do have one major input issue with it.

You see I'm not a fan on clicking. Holding down the mouse button to ~~shoot~~ flick, even if slowly, would have suited me a lot better. The rapid fire mode runs out *so quickly!*

Well made nonetheless. Quite enjoyed the strangeness.

Coffee Hero: Powered by Coffee by Guilb 2017-08-01T14:25:39Z

Pleasant to look at, yet the music is grating. That averages out nicely, doesn't it?

The task of brewing coffee for a bunch of devs doesn't seem like a nice job, to be honest. Especially if the equipment they got, four machines specifically designed to make :coffee: and nothing else, are slow, hard to use and loud.

Having to use each machine multiple times per cup really kills it for me. Why don't the sugar and milk machines simply add 2 slots per use and the coffee machine just fill up the rest of the cup. This way each different drink would only take a maximum of 4 machine uses. Of course a super fancy 4 machine combo coffee should boost the devs more than a plain brew to compensate for this system.

Another little annoyance is the info button. It should toggle the info on and off, rather than having to press it down. Unnecessary input should not be required to acquire or assess vital information; that's some UI design 101 for you.

Otherwise this works fine. There's even a rather tough 3 star goal for those who can live with the annoying machines, but I cannot. Sorry.

mind battery, mind debts by yishalee 2017-08-11T07:53:55Z

The treasure hunting is simple, but works. Having an increasing amount of enemies spawn in the more you dig does heighten the tension as does running out of batteries. Although constantly draining one of the batteries for your light would make this even more tense as would a proper lighting system, with a limited flashlight view cone and monsters lurking in the shadows!

The dept mechanic does incentivize replaying, but I do find it weird that you cannot simply repay the debt when having enough money already. The mystery box was a royal waste of money that. Is there anything useful in there? If so why not just have a shop where I could buy equipment?

There is a lack of visual feedback. Finding treasure should show up in the GUI as an icon or as a particle effect. Digging should leave a pile of rubble on the ground too.

As an additional challenge digging could stop your character for a bit and leave them exposed for enemy attacks. Having to fight off or shine your torch at the nasties to keep them away while you dig could be quite intense.

Solid concept, ok entry as it is. There's quite a bit of potential here for a fun light treasure hunt / dungeon crawl type of deal. Do keep working on it.

Battery-Powered Business by AlmostCthulhu 2017-08-02T14:55:19Z

The graphics are neat and they sure did a great job at luring me in promising city building, strategical thinking or at least some solid resource management fun. What I got is none of those things. I'm gravely disappointed and here is why:

I get the idea, there's no way to get more power because of the theme, but it makes absolutely no sense that a nuclear reactor, ** *a nuclear reactor* **, would only reduce the amount of power other buildings use. That's not how a reactor works, it could power the *whole bloody city*!

The power generators could instead be high tech labs researching power efficiency solutions or employee training centers, something like that. Sure this is just a visual thing, but don't underestimate believability. It is a very important aspect of immersion.

I have a bigger issue with the pipe fixing puzzle. It happens constantly and it is not interesting, thus it gets annoying quick. On top of this it too makes no sense. It's not my job to fix the power lines. I'm the company CEO, I can pay some mechanics to do it for me. You already have these random events popping up all the time, the electrical fault should be just one of them.

Talking about the events. They are random and there is no way to deal with them. No choices to take, no decision to make. Why are they there at all? You could have made them interactive, e.g. There are riots here. Do you yield, bribe them, scatter the rioters with force? Now that would be something.

That's about it. Nothing personal, I just had to get this off my mind. *Cheers!*

Dynasty Through The Decades by Jamie McClenaghan 2017-08-03T09:50:22Z

**Space Tsunami!**

This never ends does it? Like @matita I also ran it for 4000+ years doing nothing and there we are, still trucking to the far reaches of space with 0 power. That is not very thematic, my dynasty died thousands of years ago.

Tried again this time trying some of the actions proper and it hardly makes a difference. A whole lot of clicking with only guesswork to guide my choices. Then a few random events take it all down anyways.

In the end the things you choose are all for naught. What's the point if there's no way for my dynasty to crumble to the sands of time, as the voice over so eloquently puts it.

The idea and scope are ambitious, but the execution does not live up to them at all.

Dynasty Through The Decades by Jamie McClenaghan 2017-08-03T20:41:21Z

@jamie-mcclenaghan

I meant, the things (policies) you (the player) choose are for naught (due to there being no way to lose and no feedback). I criticize projects not developers.

It is distressing to hear about *internal problems within the team* though. All the best.

Cyberg by Stepan Shabalin 2017-08-21T09:28:13Z

You should use Dropbox or Drive to host the download links. Giving out an email address to download an LD entry is taking it a bit too far, for me at least.

SPU-1 by DoctorAlpaca 2017-08-17T14:21:52Z

Simple and fun. Not very innovative, except for the well fleshed out energy/time mechanics. I really like the different abilities and how they use and refill the power bar.

The bosses could have sped up as they lost health as it becomes trivial dodging their predictable attack patterns after a few goes. More (random) variation in their shooting and movement arcs would have amped up the difficulty too.

There are a few issues with the energy recharge stations/checkpoints. At times walking back to a previous checkpoint resets the current progress, for instance respawning a boss or blocking a path. Not a big deal, just odd.

Good work!

Blackout Z by Paulo Brunassi 2017-08-04T07:16:51Z

Simple, intense, fun! Those spinning blades are a rad innovation, better get more batteries often!

Neat *Mission Impossible* inspired graphics. Wait, that's *Hotline Miami* now-a-days. Thanks for making me feel old!

Fine work!

Low Power Spacecraft by XavierSeal 2017-08-03T07:11:37Z

What a blast! Beautiful Voxely art-style, tight controls, challenging enemies (and loads of them!).

There's nothing much more to say really. I'll go play a few more rounds.

Encounters by Valphera 2017-08-14T18:09:10Z

That magical moment resulted in *years of agony!*

I'd call this something along the lines of virtual story or interactive story space, both clunky terms but apt. There's a story in a (small) virtual world and you cannot change the story in anyway (only one ending, each interaction plays out the same way every time). The only thing you can do is choose the order in which the events happen. There isn't even any optional content hidden around the world (which is fine, there's only time for so much in a jam).

Because of the prior I have to say I'm personally not a big fan of your entry. I like interactive mediums where interactivity is the main deal (like interactive simulations and games), titles where choices have to be made and consequences of your actions change the world. That is interesting to me. Linear stories work just fine in non-interactive media, so why make an interactive one?

Here are a few ideas to make your actions matter here: * Time it. If you take more than 5-10 minutes, the date is off. * Change how people talk to you based on what you've already done. If you start with the fireworks then one of the other character doesn't like you as they hate noise, for instance. * More actions, some with clearly dreadful outcomes. If you rob the store to fuel the hobo's alcohol addiction, then the police arrives and takes you away.

These sort of things are still scripted, but at least your story would be partly non-linear now, with multiple (if sudden) endings. This way playing through your story becomes an exercise of exploring the possibilities of the world, probing for a sequence of events which you like.

Just a little rant this. You did well for what it is, I don't rate entries for what could have been.

ZETPACK-99 by verysoftwares 2017-08-07T16:03:07Z

Try the Zetpack? Ha, I'll rather jump off the cliff!

Uh oh.... *It doesn't restart!*

Amazing visuals. The music fits too, but it gets annoying after a while. It seems I have no ear for low-fi chiptunes any more. (I didn't rate it down, don't you worry).

Clever level design, brilliant mechanics. I'm running out of superlatives here.

About the only issue I have, is with the controls. Clearing up :small_orange_diamond::small_orange_diamond::small_orange_diamond: after yourself is at times finicky when the auto targeting chooses the :small_orange_diamond: in front of you, not the one behind or under you. (It seems @felixmcfelix beat me to the punch)

Best of all? It is a puzzle, but it doesn't *feel* like one. Spectacular job in all!

Hyper Battery Girl by Deke 2017-08-09T13:06:37Z

Fine job with the audio-visuals. Also fun playing, very tricky platforming indeed.

I got stuck in the level which starts with a super jump leading into a wall jumping section.

On the top there are energy draining platforms and right in the end a chasm, seemingly requiring a super jump to pass. Trouble is the small charger in the end of the platform does not charge at all. I have no idea how to make that jump, is it a bug? (this was in the BugFix version btw.)

Good work apart from the aforementioned.

ULTIMATE PROSELYTISM & MIRACLES SIMULATOR 2017: THE MOVIE THE GAME by Reuh 2017-08-02T18:34:16Z

I expected schlock based on the title and you delivered! The fact that the schlockiness extends to the interactions as well is where you start to lose me.

There's basic platforming, needless icon clicking and even a QTE piss-take. It is all pointless, boring time wasting. Basically this is not good-bad, this is bad-bad.

At least some of the jokes were chuckle worthy.

Mega Awesome Super Cool Battery Game by Fork0 2017-08-03T07:30:40Z

Sure, it's not a masterpiece or anything, but you are beating yourself too hard over this. I can see past the crude outer shell and admire the beauty inside. You see this, most importantly, is fun!

Gravity flipping infused with infinite ~~running~~ flying is a novel enough concept (although I'm sure I've seen it before somewhere). Three flips seemed about right to me. You can pass most obstacles with two, but having one extra just in case ain't a bad thing.

The running out of power bit works great when you speed up, but less great once you start slowing down. It is an agonizing death, trying to reach the next battery and getting so close, *so close!*

Fine work all things considered, really.

Mega Awesome Super Cool Battery Game by Fork0 2017-08-03T07:30:40Z

... Uh oh, double post butter fingers ...

The power of blood by Arknostik 2017-08-17T14:54:16Z

Challenging (i.e fun!). Got 95 after a few practice runs. It becomes increasingly difficult to stay alive once more and more aggressive villagers start showing up and that keeps the play time nice and short.

The abilities really are the star of the show here, they are all great. I would like the cooldowns to be just slightly faster, especially for the dash. The gore and ability effect particles are on solid second place for me.

The achievements and titles are a nice addition, but they could be less generic. *Kill X amount of Y* could be *Fry 3 fatties with dark magic*, or something like that.

Good work!

Batterime by Hadrien 2017-08-21T13:05:57Z

Simple idea, quality production. The music is great and the graphics good too. About the only nag I have is the player death particles. They look somewhat out of place.

Platforming with a thematic gimmick. That is a Jam classic, but as said works well here. I would have loved to play through some more levels. (Any chance for a post-jam level pack?).

Good work!

Times New Robots by Alex Tantum 2017-08-08T10:56:52Z

The trusty old Tommy gun does nothing! I am disappoint.

The turrets are much more effective, yet fetching batteries for them does become boring rather quick.

More management aspects might save this: repairing turrets, collecting scrap from destroyed robots, upgrading turrets, stuff like that.

The graphics are ok. Playing is just tedious; that's the problem.

Power Struggle by gmfk07 2017-08-02T10:33:52Z

Nice take on the Hidden in plain sight formula. Both sides have their weaknesses, but I would say playing as the resistance is easier in the end once you master the skill of blending into the crowd. A few small issues:

* It is rather easy to keep tabs on the spawn-points as the state and kill the operative right when they emerge. This could be alleviated by having civilians constantly spawn from and end their journeys to the same points too. The resistance player can always figure out which dot their agent is by timing their spawn correctly.

* The different colored doors are quite tough for colorblind people. Each door could be associated with a shape too, for instance: red square, green triangle, yellow circle, etc, to remove the problem.

Had a lot of fun with this. Great work!

Running From Power by MaiMai 2017-08-21T06:05:16Z

The presentation is pretty good and pretty too. Unlike @piotrek I didn't mind the mixed style that much. The camera being blocked I did mind though.

The super punch (or whatever it is) is kind of interesting, but you sure are not running out of power by any means. What if you started out with a set of energy. Every punch would deplete the energy a random amount and cause a random sized explosion. That way you'd be running out of power and not being in total control of your power.

Some consequences for accidentally attacking civies would have been nice too, for instance a short epilogue after the pirates have been dealt with. Something along the lines of "These peaceful citizens of Peaceville were mauled in the pirate attack: ...(list of names based on casualties)... Mick Fist (the hero) is being prosecuted for destroying property, causing third degree burns and indecent exposure. (list of crimes based on what you did)"

Ok work.

Runnerbot LD39Entry by Pixel Game Wizard 2017-08-07T12:40:25Z

Well made with some *proper* retro graphics to boot (reminded me of Supaplex for some reason).

It's been said before and I'll say it again, there's a criminal lack of challenge. I suggest getting rid of extra lives for a start, never needed them. Then reducing the amount of energy power ups.

Good job for a first timer.

**Edit** Just tried the Post-Jam version. It is much better. I was invested this time and even managed to die naturally (well, being mauled by a zombie :robot:).

I did manage to find one bug through (HTML5). I restarted the run and the abilities didn't work anymore. It simply spawned the "Shield" and "Pulse" popups without the effect... Strange.

Neopolitan Panic! by Phillip 2017-08-01T08:47:01Z

Great audio-visuals, they both fit the style perfectly. I mean, gangsta :penguin: how did you come up with that? The visual gag with the ice-cream loving penguin chicks is also brilliant!

The car handling could have been more loose for my liking. It is nearly impossible to drift or even drive fast without spinning. Maybe that is by design taken how rickety ice-cream vans are, but it doesn't quite feel good to me. Braking and reversing are also under powered. It is annoying more than anything to brake, hit a box and get stuck for dozens of seconds trying to reverse out of the situation.

Another issue, which is worth looking into now that the jam is over, is performance. Granted my computer is old, but it can only manage 25-30 frames full HD at lowest quality setting. There are also odd hitches regardless of settings, when traveling from one area to another.

Quality work overall, good job!

iPowerless by Norakio 2017-08-19T18:38:34Z

Short and simple. The graphics work well. The music volume should be higher in relation to the sound effects. The lazor sound drowns it out at the moment.

Would have liked to play through a few more levels. Now we will never find out what the rest of the abilities were going to be about.

Ok entry in all. Good for a first go even.

Cubed by SurfaceCPU 2017-08-09T11:32:35Z

The graphics are functional, simple shapes. The music ain't great.

Slipping around, as if on ice, made the whole show slightly challenging. The yellow cubes didn't seem to respond at all.

Adding more environmental objects/hazards would be a quick way to top up the challenge: Moving walls, teleporters, boosters, slowdown fields, jump pads, gravity reversal fields, lazors... The possibilities are endless. *Endless!*

It works, that's good. Unfortunately it is not exciting or interesting at the moment.

Power Defense by Daepso 2017-08-02T18:45:34Z

It's a start alright. The flashing lights are a neat too.

Eh... I ran out of things to say. This doesn't happen often.

The Color of Days To Come. by TheOneThatNeverWas 2017-08-17T10:04:29Z

*This is not a traditional game*

I agree. In fact I'd go one step further and say that is not a game at all. You said it well yourself, it is a *Narrative experience*. That's all you need! *Narrative experience game* has a redundant word in it.

Basically this is a video where you click to move the video forward, so ah, a mix between video and novel. You got to keep turning the page. Turning a page is interactive sure, but the content (story) is not. It is linear, always the same, with a whole bunch of clicking between the pages for good (bad) measure. You might as well remove all clicking and make it into a video, would something of value be lost?

Just some thoughts on specific use of words. The word *game* has already lost all meaning apart from *anything interactive*, but there is no need to actively drive it to the ground when a more specific alternative exists.

Cheers!

Super Charged by Manumeq 2017-08-18T16:18:11Z

The graphics are ok and the music good, but taken that you didn't make it you should have disabled ratings for it.

The idea itself is not half bad. I've seen these *upgrade-centric* types before (back in the days on the internet, mostly on mobile now-a-days) and as long as the core interactivity is enjoyable enough and the upgrades are frequent and poignant it can work. That's not quite the case here.

There are few choices to be made because it is all about timing and as pointed out by pretty much everyone and their dog, spamming works! Lastly the progress you've made isn't saved if the program is closed...

Good effort, unfortunately the end result doesn't live up to the potential of the genre.

SOMETHING IS WRONG. SOMETHING IS WRONG. SOMETHING IS WRONG. by Heather Flowers 2017-08-18T13:57:55Z

A digital experience for the ages. Future historians will study this piece to ascertain how the post-modern ~~man~~ person of the 21 century intefaced with constantly crashing, buggy, spyware they used to call computers. Thematically brilliant stuff!

Sure there isn't a lot to do, but that's fine with experiences. Locating the camouflaged teleporter could be the basis for some more involved interactions too, potentially.

GOOD WNULL NULLOD WORKNULLOOD WORETHING IS WRONG!

Borks Electro-Dungeon by Aphid98 2017-08-09T18:53:30Z

Yeah, it's the numbers that are all *borked* here:

* Energy runs out so fast that enemies don't even have time to close in, if you stand still * Enemies spawn in huge hordes. Trying to collect a battery is super risky due to this * Enemies take loads of hits, meaning the little energy you have left might not even last against a single enemy

If the numbers were ok, this would be a very basic shooter. At that point you could start adding in new enemy types, weapons, powerups, the usual stuff.

The HUD issue is probably related to UI anchors. They are critical for having a scalable GUI.

HOME IS DEAD by ahintoflime 2017-08-14T20:03:59Z

Cor, this is great! Until the main fleet arrived and sapped my home to a withered husk.

Fun for a short while. The graphics are neat. The music could ramp up with the action, it is somewhat low key at the moment.

The idea of choosing between high power shooting and more efficient melee is a good idea. It breaks down once the level is completely full of enemies of course.

Nice entry in all. Keep it up!

(Don't forget to rate more entries, you deserve to get to 20 yourself!)

AI Overlord Runaway by Agecaf 2017-08-04T13:23:37Z

Funny thing, I though about making a time bending dodge 'em up (using Unity's new Timeline feature) before the jam, but ended up scrapping it as the theme didn't seem to fit. Well, you found a way to make it fit!

While initially confusing, once I got the hang of it switching powers became a breeze. Conserve energy, switch to slowmo, back to eco, then a few seconds of time stop, now leave a ghost... Brilliant stuff! I'm not a fan of the "super powers", but hey you can sacrifice them later. If only there was a hotkey for sacrificing too.

Here's an idea for that. You can set a priority number for each power. When you press H it will sacrifice the lowest priority power. Maybe even do it automatically if you run out of energy?

Challenging (and as such fun!). I didn't quite manage the normal boss yet, but I will keep trying. And you keep working on this; it is an interesting project.

Leaf Runner by David Greene 2017-08-16T18:05:15Z

Nice concept and a rather ambitious design too. You managed to create a whole city, implement car physics and add in a basic trading system. That is a commendable amount of content.

Some issues and suggestions:

The reverse gear doesn't work as it should. In RL a reversing car will turn left when you turn the steering wheel left, not the other way around. This made it really tricky for me to drive on the thin streets.

The trading system is very basic and it is based on time rather than location. In RL rare things are more valuable than common things. So a drug only sold on the west side of the city should be more valuable on the east side.

To make it easier for the player to understand such a positional pricing system, buying (and maybe even selling) should only happen in specific places on the map. These places would be marked on the main map and the minimap (which is pretty neat-o) to make planning easier.

It is a shame you didn't get a proper police car in. Occasional car chases would really spice up the experience.

Good work; but, as you know, there are many possibilities and improvements to be made.

A SWELL BULLET-HELL by algu 2017-08-16T16:29:44Z

Nice graphics, the particle effects on enemy death are really inventive in places. Needs audio badly, of course.

The controls are very tanky. There is no way to dodge anything so it all simply boils down to shooting both barrels at anything around. I got to level 12 and there wasn't a single point where I had less than 90% power. Way too easy.

The lack of challenge is the bigger problem out of the two. Running around as the dog didn't seem to serve any purpose either, maybe having to fetch some items to recharge the mech would have worked.

Good work for a first timer.

Falling Down by helpcomputer 2017-08-20T09:18:24Z

271 days as a ruler! I managed to keep my approval rates high in 4 stats, while two were complete lost causes. In the end the middle of the road states all flipped to oppose me. It seems very random which side wins a state when both me and my opposition have around 45-49% approval in a state.

I would also like to know how the election debate tactics work. Knowing more about each state and the people living there might help. Info like average education, wealth, health, etc to base my demeanor on.

Good work. Some fitting audio would add to the mood.

Get Off My Lawnpocolypse by Nick Pittak 2017-08-08T17:34:22Z

The graphical style and audio are nice. The intro is well made, but you cannot skip it when restarting.

Mixing genres can work and I guess it works here too. If only the genres were not match-3 and tower defense...*I don't especially like either!*

Having to keep tabs on both the enemy advance and the resource icons is challenging to say the least. The power tends to run out pretty fast though so there is not a lot of time to concentrate on the tower defense side of things.

The match-3 part would be easier interface-wise if the different icons also had different colors. Currently trying to quickly match the icons I need is rather grating due to their similar look. Of course this wouldn't fit the style, but playability should trump style any day of the week.

Ok job in all. You should give out more ratings so that people can find your entry.

Mr E McPower by BeepBoopIndie 2017-08-19T08:35:05Z

Man, I would have loved to moan about the GUI design but @amras0000 got there first. Oh well!

I'll complain about something else, which is the instructions here on the page and in the program. They both say *You'll receive a bonus for keeping the regulators in check* and sure you do receive a bonus, but in actuality spinning the wheels is super critical for keeping the danger level low! This should be the first thing you tell me, not the last!

I figured it out after three quick disasters. Then I got to work proper and that is what it feels like. There are no interesting decision to be made, just spinning wheels and buying better equipment once you have enough money. The progression might have bugged out too as there were only a few houses and 35 demand on Tuesday? The progression is very slow, if that is not a bug.

In the end I had enough money for a hamster generator already on Wednesday morning, but soon afterwards I accidentally right clicked it and lost due to the danger level getting out of hand. What a nice ending to the 20 minute slog.

You already have a list of potential additions so I need not bother coming up with any more. Just make sure you add in meaningful choices (decisions) for the player to make. Simply managing power levels is a job, not challenging and by extension not fun.

Power! by Martyxgames 2017-08-07T10:37:03Z

Seizure inducing flashes :dizzy_face:?! Might want to add a warning for that.

It is a reaction test at best. Games required decision making, which there is none here. You could add different colored (and shaped, think of color blind players!) tiles with a multitude of effects, some positive some negative. This way you'd introduce a layer of decision making into the mix: which tile to click next?

Eh, what can I say. It is very simple, probably works better on a tablet. Not very innovative or interesting though. Ok job for a first jam.

You should rate more entries to receive more ratings, btw.

OnFuelDrain() by reizoukin 2017-08-20T11:11:54Z

I like the *damage into fuel* gimmick on paper, but in reality it turns out to work too effectively! There are so many enemies after a while that the only thing I needed to care about was health. Fuel was topped off constantly.

I think the problem with the ship thrusters is that there is no effect for them. Spawning some particles would help to see that the thrusters are actually doing something. They could also be more powerful in order to feel less sluggish.

There is some strange camera jitter when being hit. Is it supposed to be camera shake? On my computer at least it doesn't look very good.

Play testing and polish is what you need.

Almost Home by willvasco 2017-08-20T15:26:13Z

A serene experience with beautiful graphics and tranquil music. The presentation and mood are magnificent. The interactivity is not bad either. I do like flying in space among asteroids.

There is a big problem though, for someone like me who highly values consistency and believability. There is no air resistance in space! The inertia of the spaceship should keep it moving forever and ever (until colliding with something that is). I totally get why you did it as otherwise people would just fly directly for the planet (which is what I tried the first chance I had), but I don't agree with drag being the best choice to force players to go through the asteroid belt.

One modification is all that it takes. Exchange fuel for oxygen. Now we have a resource which ticks down on its own and works as a handy limitation to the planet problem. Try accelerating for the planet and you'll simply run out of air before getting there.

Another possibility, which is what I'd go for, is to have both fuel and oxygen. The clever bit here is having separate canisters for both. This way you need to make a real choice every time when targeting a nearby canister: do I need O2 or fuel more?

There are other believability issues too, mostly concerning the scale of the world, but those are technical issues more than design issues so they don't bother me that much. It wouldn't make much sense to have players fly around for hours.

Right. I like it as it is, but I would love it were it bundled with the tension stemming from oxygen management. Sure that would kind of change the mood of the piece, but with leniency on the resource management side it wouldn't be too challenging.

:rocket::zap:

May the power be with you by Kappalite 2017-08-20T08:15:48Z

There's nothing but walking around and reading some text, but the ending makes it worth while. Any longer and the experience would have started to drag on.

I usually don't divulge ratings, but what the heck! Big points for theme and humor.

Energy Raid by -FL- 2017-08-07T13:26:50Z

Invokes some early 90's design ideas this one: cheesy intro with lousy English, prerendered looking flat 3D graphics, loose controls, underpowered weapons, crazy fast unfair boss. It's all here!

Usually movement controls in shmups are super precise for a reason. You need to be able to dodge bullets, any kind of sliding or acceleration only mess up even attempting that.

The enemy weapons are much more interesting than yours: Bouncing bullets, energy snakes/lightcycles, super lazorbeams; good job on those. Why the player's weapons are such simple *pew pew* lasers made me scratch my head.

The energy mechanic I'm not so keen on either. All your powerful (yet rather anemic) weapons require energy, but when you run out you also die for good. You don't lose a single life, you lose them all?! Having both a life system and an energy system is weird.

Maybe the energy system should only be used for weapons and not for the ship. After all there is little incentive to use the super weapons, as then it is unsure if you can make it to the end of the level at all. The recharge stations, which area easy to miss, don't recharge that much either.

Strange 90's design. Did elicit some nostalgia for me though.

Dash Guy by Defratino 2017-08-01T09:27:12Z

It is enjoyable once you get the hang of the dash timing. I have to repeat some of the criticism already given. The first level should be randomized too, it becomes boring after a while. I only ran out of power once and then it felt like the input had bugged out, that is how rarely I had to look at the power bar.

With a bit more polish, tweaking and design this could be super frantic fun all around all the time.

KOCMOHaBT Spaceman by PjchardtTheSecond 2017-08-01T18:08:36Z

An enjoyable exploration experience this. Usually these types of "wander around and listen to audio logs" experiences are quite boring, but here having to conserve fuel and use a bit of reasoning to find the next satellite made it much more pleasant.

The visuals are really neat, I especially like the collage technique used on the planets. The procedural music is somewhat odd to say the least, which does help set an alien mood. The voice over is maybe a bit too muddled in places, but it's not bad by any means.

Yeah, certainly worth playing. Can't really tell that it was made in mere 48 hours. Good work!

The Visible City by Colestia 2017-08-03T10:17:57Z

I love the idea and the aesthetic.

The police squadron doesn't seem to affect the rapscallions at all. That surely is a bug? The maintenance team does work, and boy do they have to work overtime to patch up for the ineffective police force.

More (functional) police squads and technical staff would have been ace. Something along the lines of [Atom Zombie Smasher](http://blendogames.com/atomzombiesmasher/). Worth playing that, if you haven't already.

Good work.

Cyborg Apocalipse by VirtualAcademy 2017-08-12T18:43:28Z

It is funny to imagine a badass cyborg robot hunter fighting killer droids by laying down rocks in front of them so that they lose more energy having to travel on rough terrain. Even describing that takes much more time than the simpler alternative: Pick up rock, throw it at robot, robot breaks down. The combat is not very interesting, is what I'm saying.

The graphics are derivatives (not sure about the robot, care to elaborate?) of Unity tutorial graphics, which is technically fine in the jam. The problem is they are not very good derivatives. The environment tiles are straight up ripoffs, while the main character simply has an added robotic eye patch. You did disable the ratings for graphics though, so ah, why am I complaining about it again?

It works, just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You should have gone with something even simpler. The tried and true formula: Man has gun, man shoots robots, robot uprising foiled; is yet to fail any dev, honest guv.

Lichometer by Kade 2017-08-15T06:58:34Z

+1 to tricky controls.

Fine design and graphics. Not a lot more to say really.

Ok job.

Happy Chicken Farm by FrozenFractal 2017-12-19T15:28:43Z

Great audiovisuals and mood. The idea of running a chicken farm is solid and I do like the juxtaposition between the cutesy presentation and gruesome chicken slaughter. *They even have names!*

The big problem for me is how cleaning works. Repeatedly pressing space is *annoying* from the user interface point of view. You really should not annoy your users for thematic reasons. I would much rather have more challenge over more annoyance.

A simple fix for this is simply to allow pressing the button down for slowly cleaning the ground. Repeatedly pressing the button would clean faster for those situations where speed is needed.

A more complicated fix is reducing the amount of cleaning required and adding in other things to do. Currently there is little time for building new coops or even need to. Who is going to clean the second coop?

Potential additional mechanics: - Chickens get sick. Sickness can spread so you better move the chicken to a quarantine coop and medicate them there. Medication could be relatively expensive so it isn't always a good idea. - Hens lay eggs! Collect and sell them. Some hens might be more valuable for the eggs than meat. - Hiring helpers. For X money per month a helper will clean up for you. *Press that space bar, worker!* - Rooster! What do you do with it? *Dunno.*

*After ten years of hard work the farmer counted his earnings: 163.76 moneys; that's peanuts! Too bad the road leads to green nothingness and not Vegas.*

Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Bad (2.0)* Innovation: *Average (3.0)* Theme: *Below average (2.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Great (4.5)* Humor: *Great (4.5)* Mood: *Great (4.5)*

Crunch Time by gelisam 2017-12-25T19:24:20Z

After getting through the tutorial, this turned out to be a competent puzzle. The refactoring mechanic, going back to earlier phases and making sure the graph fits all the calendars, is quite novel. It is not without issues though.

Lets start with the setting. Software development is close to all of our hearts, but I do find it weird that you are fitting UML into a calendar. Is that a thing in bigger software houses?

The background ambient does not loop. The sound effects are lacking too and harsh on the ears. (Played Linux 64-bit, if that matters)

The refactoring works, yet the more phases there are the less effect each phases has. If the graph fits the first three levels, chances are it is just going to fit the next few too (happened to me with the last set of levels). I guess it is possible to design around that with clever tricks and maybe more mechanics, allowing to subvert the base rules.

Lastly the tutorial is not that clear. The second phase for me caused an issue as an important piece of information had not been said explicitly: The names from the classes don't need to match! The rules only say the symbols need to match, so technically they are not to fault, but the human mind works in mysterious ways making its own *"logical"* connections. I got another person to play too and they also found the tutorial confusing.

Basically a fool-proof tutorial should only do one thing at a time and explain it as succinctly as possible, without withholding information. A tricky task, yet doable. Here's my take on this:

**Tutorial start**

Phase 1: >- Select a class from the code area. - Click a class with the same symbol in the work area

The work area has two classes with different symbols and neither name matches the code class. The commit button can appear once the player has made the right (only possible) match, thus it does not need to be explained verbally.

Phase 2: >- Classes cannot overlap occupied tiles

The work area once again has two options: one with a blocking class/post-it-note below it, another without. Both classes have the the correct symbol and non-matching names.

Phase 3: >- If you cannot fit your code classes into the work area then you need to refactor it in the previous phase.

The refactor button appears in this phase. Going back to the previous phase the class can be connected differently in the same vein than in the current phase 1 (as in, above the matching class, not below it)

Phase 4 & 5: >- Put everything you've learned into good use.

A few more levels with some refactoring needed (if the player didn't get lucky of course)

**Tutorial end**

Not a big difference, but it does make it very clear that class names don't matter and assures that the player only needs to learn one thing at a time.

Solid effort nonetheless.

Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Great (4.5)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Bad (2.0)* Humor: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

One Final Task by HuvaaKoodia 2017-12-09T23:08:19Z

@nerketur **Point 1:** If I ever get to implementing some of the advanced mechanics I had in mind, then I will also consider a level editor. I don't believe I've ever made one directed at users so that would be a interesting for sure.

**Point 2:** I happen to have an AI system which could easily solve these levels. Problem is a human could not beat it. When it comes to deductive logic it is impeccable. Something akin to your suggestion could be faked though, but I don't think I'll be going there.

**Point 3:** !> There is a reason you can skip levels...

On another note, I will be adding a reset button. I decided against it (or forgot it, I forget) back in the jam, but now that I've seen people play the puzzle in real life (and heard your requests of course!) it is obviously a quality of life improvement worth adding.

One Final Task by HuvaaKoodia 2017-12-11T09:09:46Z

@benburgh Thanks for the thoughts.

I tend to make short and quick jam entries on purpose, because it is those that I like to play. There's one tutorial level and one proper level per mechanic. There could be multiple proper levels of course, didn't think they were needed. Implementing the mechanics and all the levels took only the first 6 hours of the jam. The rest was used for audiovisuals, testing, etc. I had more mechanics in mind, but didn't have enough time left for those in the end. Jam priorities.

I like to add some personality to my titles, you can see that with my prior entries too (not that they are puzzles, mind). I guess not everyone cares for that. As far as I know no-one has found the hidden ending either.

There is a *give up* button now, it pops up when a box is lost. Did it not work or is it not fast enough? There is a reason why skipping levels is an option every time. The next puzzle I make (and I do have some ideas already) will have more obvious choices so that undo and quick reset are a better fit. Infinite undo is the best after all.

Thematically pretty much every puzzle and every game fits the theme. More mechanics and/or more opponents means a worse time for the player. Sure enough its not innovative or anything, I just felt like making a puzzle this time.

Thanks again for the critique, it helps!

One Final Task by HuvaaKoodia 2017-12-13T22:32:02Z

@cubeeo

Thanks for playing!

The last level is a doozy! I might have gone too far in a few places.

It is, indeed, the yellow arrows where many, many players lost the plot! The first intuition would be that it chances the movement direction of the box for good, but no. It only moves the box once and after that the box will continued moving in its original direction. The tutorial level for that mechanic should be less easy to blitz through. Will have to remember that next time introducing a non-intuitive mechanic.

Lastly the stickers on the boxes are nothing but graphical variation.

One Final Task by HuvaaKoodia 2017-12-17T21:34:48Z

@pkenney Thanks. Your appreciation is much appreciated. Little things count!

@pvtroswold

The sounds were indeed made with my mouth! Tried to obfuscate that with Audacity effects, but a few of them wear their origin on their sleeve.

I' m glad to see the hidden ending is truly well hidden. Try not doing so well, the AI is learning from your successes after all.

Thanks for playing.

One Final Task by HuvaaKoodia 2017-12-23T15:43:38Z

@Somnium Thanks for the thorough review (again!) I guess I have to make an exception to my LD rules and try your entry in kind. I usually play a random('ish) set in LD for the sake of fareness.

Your analysis is pretty much spot on. If I hadn't come up with the robot character and the hidden ending then I would have implemented an infinite undo. I dislike puzzles which don't have that, for instance a limited undo makes no sense.

Now, I did not bother arguing about the **¡Warning!** with these other people, as I don't know them at all, but I'd like to throw a bone your way. Give it a fair shake.

Puzzles and games are fundamentally different: Puzzles are deductive logic challenges (you have all the data and logic available and as such can think through the whole problem before lifting a finger) while games are inductive logic competitions (there are some unknown aspects to the problem, for instance the thoughts of your opponent(s), and as such it is not possible to deduce the best possible action to take. Guesstimations have to be made.)

Due to this fundamental difference mixing the two is *generally* not advisable. Puzzles are deductive logic all the way through and as such the player can always get stuck. The problem is not going to solve itself and taking the wrong actions simply forces the player to undo or restart and keep thinking before acting. Yet if the player knows what they are getting into, they are not going to give up easily (the **¡Warning!** is there to set expectations too)

In games getting stuck is not an absolute implication. Each action taken is irreversible and by making thoughtless decisions the player is simply making it worse for themselves and easier for their opponent(s). Eventually someone will win and the player can restart the whole game, hopefully with new found knowledge on which actions to take and when. They are better at estimating.

Separating the two mediums (or categories, or types, the word doesn't matter) makes it easier to design puzzles and games. It is now possible to make very definitive statements about both (for one, the prior statement about getting stuck), which are not possible if the two are regarded the same.

Certain game design best practices don't translate to puzzle design at all and vice versa. Take infinite undo. Fits puzzles like a glove, yet a game with infinite undo is trivial to win. Made an obvious mistake? Rewind! Why would I want to play that! I'm not learning anything or getting better at playing the game, simply brute forcing my way through? Brute forcing works in puzzles too, but due to the sheer amount of combinations possible it is often times easier (and more enjoyable) to try to figure out the problem the human way instead (try brute forcing the Rubic's cube!)

The last thing worth mentioning is the way of talking about these two mediums. If puzzle is considered a genre of game, then the terms get muddled together in a confusing way. When considered separate mediums it becomes easy to talk about both in a logically consistent way.

Example of non-consistent sentences: *"I made a box-pushing game. It has 5 game mechanics, 8 levels and about 30 minutes of gameplay on average."* *"I made a box-pushing puzzlegame. It has 5 game mechanics, 8 puzzles, and about 30 minutes of gameplay on average."*

The same sentences, said consistently. *"I made a box-pushing game. It has 5 game mechanics, 8 levels and about 30 minutes of playtime on average."* *"I made a box-pushing puzzle. It has 5 puzzle mechanics, 8 levels, and about 30 minutes of playtime on average."*

This is how I think about these particular interactive digital mediums, which has been very useful to me so far. Of course there are other mediums too: interactive simulations, my favorite; the many forms of interactive fiction; and digital experiences. No room to talk about these here.

I'd like to hear your honest opinions on this topic. Does it make sense, does it not make sense? Take your time.

One Final Task by HuvaaKoodia 2017-12-26T10:11:25Z

@somnium I'm glad we can see eye-to-eye in a few ways:

- Mediums can be mixed. You can have game elements in a puzzle and puzzle elements in a game. Yet I cannot think of a single title where, say, extra puzzle elements genuinely improved my enjoyment of a game. Usually this type of mixup feels unnecessary and even annoying (getting stuck due to the puzzle elements, for one). If you have any successful examples of mixing mediums then do tell. - Chess is a great example as it is traditionally a 2 player strategy game, but you can also use the pieces and rules to setup 1 player puzzles. Will use that as an example in the future. - Non-determinism and randomness are indeed poison for puzzles, adding those does render the puzzle into a game (or something else, it depends!) E.g, Tetris is a game due to the random selection of pieces you get. If there was a limited amount of pieces always dropping in the same order then you would have a puzzle (with an added dexterity challenge, more on this later)

On the other points I have to politely disagree. Here are some clarifications:

- The way you learn something does not change that something. If I teach math to someone, it does not matter if I give them a textbook, a lecture, interactive exercises or one-to-one tutoring. In the end they learned math. To teach someone to play a game I could give them a list of all the rules or an interactive tutorial. This choice does not change the game into something else. To teach someone to solve a puzzle I could give them a list of all the rules or an interactive tutorial. This choice does not change the puzzle into something else. I could have given a list of rules for One Final Task, but decided that an interactive, non-verbal tutorial is more effective. That does not change OFT into a game all of a sudden, it is still a puzzle. - Extra context is not unique to games. Take stories, they are told in novels and movies so adding a story into a project clearly does not turn it into a game! If you take a simple game, like Pong, and add a story to it, does it stop being a game? What if you take the story away from a game, like Diablo, does it stop being a game? A story can be an enjoyable addition, but in both cases it is not a crucial part of the game. As such a puzzle too can have or not have a story (or other extra context giving content) and still be called a puzzle. - Interactive elements aren't unique to games either. It is easy to say that stories are not unique to games, but how about dexterity challenges. Imagine a game with a single level populated by the playable character and a lone platform. All the player can do is jump on and off the platform. Would you call this a game? I would say something is missing. Platforming elements alone don't make a game thus they are not unique to games.This platforming prototype could be developed into a game by adding game mechanics or into a puzzle by adding puzzle elements! There is no reason why you cannot solve deductive logic problems and have a bit of running and jumping on the side (as long as the running and jumping are purely for getting around the level, adding in death traps and enemies is mixing mediums again which I don't recommend!)

My short definition of a puzzle is *deductive logic challenge*, here's the long one: > A system of rules the player interacts with by choosing actions in order to solve a deductive logic problem.

The implications of this definition: - As long as these elements are present you can call the project a puzzle. Additional elements which don't remove these elements don't turn the puzzle into a non-puzzle. - A puzzle offers no active resistance. It waits until you solve it or give up. There is no way to lose. - Having all the data and logic available is needed to solve a deductive problem, but as said before having to learn those first is a separate thing altogether. - Infinite undo and instant reset are great UI elements for a puzzle as there is no losing.

I feel I'm getting better at explaining these things. I hope you can get something out of this too!

The burden by mathijs750 2017-12-10T18:42:47Z

Mighty atmospheric, the audio works wonders there. Great graphics, yet a massive lump of light orbs is way too bright for comfort. Then again it is the only thematic aspect at the moment.

It is a real shame you got none of your ideas in. The darkness chasing the player sounds proper intense. You might want to write about the lack of features in the description too. In this case I kind of expected it looking at the screenshots (too much like Journey!), but even then I found the experience disappointing the first time around. The laggy WebGL build does not help either.

Brace yourself for rough scores, I don't rate what could have been.

Overall: *Below average (2.5)* Fun: *Abysmal (1.0)* Innovation: *Abysmal (1.0)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Great (4.5)* Audio: *Great (4.5)* Mood: *Amazing (5.0)*

Please Let Me Die by chunkybrewster 2017-12-25T19:52:44Z

Great idea! Only having one immunity at a time is a great piece of design too, otherwise this would get trivial pretty fast. The problem is the controls: slippery, unresponsive, slow when you need to go fast, fast when you need to go slow. How did you manage to bring forth such ruination!?

The graphics are ugly. Completely functional, but ugly. The music is better, yet the lack of sound effects does hurt the experience.

While innovative the immunity idea does not fit the theme that well. Infinite lives being bad for you does make sense, but it has little connection with the interactivity.

Unlike @commanderstitch I did not restart after getting stuck between spikes and a platform (the character should be just wee bit shorter to avoid this). Thanks for the screen grab!

The controls drag this down... What can I say.

Overall: *Below average (2.5)* Fun: *Lousy (1.5)* Innovation: *Great (4.5)* Theme: *Below average (2.5)* Graphics: *Lousy (1.5)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Below average (2.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

What is Art: Things that can be Stolen by drzanuff 2017-12-10T10:55:58Z

Enjoyed exploring the world. It is well put together with verticality to boot. The audiovisuals are good too.

Dodging laser beams and stealing art is less exciting in the long run. Trying to steal more and more without tripping an alarm is a legit challenge, but redoing the same segments multiple times does take its toll. In the end I managed 7600 big ones, only left the two story room in the back and the massive painting topside alone on that run. Those are too risky ventures.

Could use some more movement abilities, crouching combined with a quick, short-range dash would fit well. Mastering the current set of abilities (can you even call basic movement that?) is too easy. Some gadgets are worth considering too. I find it hard to swallow that any bloke with a car can just waltz in and nick valuables left and right.

Good work.

Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Great (4.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Average (3)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

Work Master by asixjin 2017-12-23T19:48:29Z

Quick time events and button mashing do not a game make, a lame dexterity challenge at best.

My favorite part: the rad, catchy tune. For such a short loop it sure does convey the sense of urgency and doesn't even get that annoying (listening to it right now!) If only the sound effects weren't so drab.

The graphics are fine. A bewildered, panicking office worker running between the work stations would have elevated not only the visuals, but the mood too.

Keep the presentation quality, focus on design and you'll have a winner! This, not so much.

Overall: *Below average (2.5)* Fun: *Nope (1.0)* Innovation: *Seen it all before (1.0)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Bad (2.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

The Precarious Balance by Somnium 2017-12-23T17:31:18Z

This kid isn't very smart; solving Millenium Prize problems left and right, not claiming the rewards! The flavor text is great, although it repeats at times even during the same day.

Reminds me of [Klass of 99](http://retrospec.sgn.net/game/ko99), luckily with no unnecessary side scrolling ambling about. [Bully](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_(video_game) is another school themed title, one with unnecessary 3D running about.

The user interface is extremely clear and simple to use. As such the rules page, a wall of text, really doesn't need to explain everything in such detail. It could be condensed considerably. Not a big issue.

Activity deadlines are a neat touch and add quite a bit of depth to managing your limited action slots. Weekends are a relief (just like in real life!)

There do seem to be some random events, like concentrating in class and falling back in grades, which are only triggered if certain requirements are met. These are an effective way to reward good actions and throw in a curve ball every once in a while. There could be more of these.

I guess the important family event is similar, for me that one happened a bit too often. On the third week we had an important family evening every single day! I guess I was just unlucky (too much family stuff, *yuck!*)

Staying on the topic, it does seem weird to have a pleasant family event and skip chores receiving shouts a plenty. Mathematically it evens out, but does seem somewhat schizophrenic coming from a bunch of *loving* parents on the very same day.

I lasted for 66 days, had pretty much maxed out everything but Mr. Schneider's opinion at day 42. Then a few unfortunate mistakes (caught cheating!) cropped up. Tough luck, sonny Jim.

Some week or even month long objectives to work towards would help to keep the weeks more interesting and stop them from blending into each other. E.g: Parents: "Increase your grades by X this week and we'll go to the amusement park", Friend: "Help me build a tree house!", Teacher: "The school play needs actors. You'll be a tree Jim, join the practice every Thursday."

Great work in all! Mood takes hits due to the lack of (fitting) music. An extra layer of graphical polish and more events would push this to the Amazing territory.

Overall: *Great (4.5)* Fun: *Great (4.5)* Innovation: *Great (4.5)* Theme: *Great (4.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Great (4.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

The Beforlorne Wander by pvtroswold 2017-12-14T21:48:57Z

Oh man! This looked like a top down retro shooter akin to Robotron, but no... Side scrolling MetroidVania is the name of the game. It doesn't help that I'm sick and tired of MetroidVania. Been there done that.

Ok, fine. Let's not poison the well to the brim. The graphics are pleasantly retro, somewhere between Spectrum and early DOS-era. If only the movement was authentically jagged. Looks way too smooth, even through my rose-tinted glasses. The music is weird; parts of it sound excellent, parts of it trashy. It does create an interesting mood nonetheless.

The interactivity is simple and lacks punch. Meatier sound effects would have elevated the anaemic shooting on their own, let alone a few more weapons and movement abilities. Prying the best gun from the death grip of the second bullet spongy boss monster at the very end of the journey was a sour reminder of the lack of variety. The *secret* room at the top right corner of the map spelled out the same song mere minutes earlier.

It works, there are no bugs... If only it was more exciting, more retro, more anything!

The post jam version adds a bit of needed polish and more levels (which are nice!), but does not touch on the fundamentals. Scoring is for the original, obv.

Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Below average (2.5)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *What theme? (1.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Above average (3.5)* Humor: *Average (3.0)* Mood: *Good (4.0)*

Post Morton by nanolotl 2017-12-26T23:04:36Z

It is a simple simulation alright. I especially like how each neighbourhood seemingly has its own logic for laying down address numbers, uncanny! The map is well realized in other aspects too. Redding 17, that's where I'd live.

The graphics are neat-o, audio rudimentary yet in the same style.

The main issue here is the lack of a draw, at least for me. I don't exactly wish to roleplay as a virtual postman. The task is huge and going through the pile really does not get any more interesting even with the upgrades.

I expected the mail cannon to be more *spectacular*. It should have shot postage off screen directly from the van inventory, but alas it only uses those in your bag and requires near vicinity. I got down to 200 letters and gave up due to boredom.

The theme doesn't fit, it gets easier with more upgrades! If only there was any kind of challenge here...

Some ideas: - Time limits (deliver these before sunrise, etc.) - Pedestrians and their dogs *to avoid!* - Running over pedestrians and their dogs should result in a hefty fine - Hitting trees should damage the van, takes money to fix - Police officers! Speeding while one is about results in more fines, except if you can out run them! - Traffic! Take too long and the morning commuters rise to spoil your day. - Competitors! Light rivalry with your peers or a blood-thirsty struggle against another postal service. *Time to go postal!*

Stuff like that, not that you had the time in the jam to do anything like it, but how about now!

In conclusion: well made, but drab.

Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Trivial (1.5)* Innovation: *Great (4.0)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Great (4.5)* Audio: *Above average (3.5)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

Household Helper by awerar 2017-12-20T20:01:56Z

The graphics are adequate as are the sounds; the doorbell especially is a good pick. Fitting music would elevate the mood. The only technical issue with the visuals is the varying pixel size. You should keep that constant if at all possible.

The problem is that the interactivity is not enjoyable in any way. Using the dishwasher is nothing but waiting and using the bowl results in a quicktime event with 20 prompts you have to get right in a row, a single mistake takes you back to 0% *The dirt magically reappeared!*

There are many titles about menial work such as cleaning, cooking, trading, running a factory, building bridges, etc, which still manage to be enjoyable. The key word is challenge. You need a system which is not trivial or annoyingly boring. A system which rewards success, but makes complete success a tough challenge.

Here are a few ideas: - Washing an item should always work. Mistakes simply reduce the cleanliness/quality of the item, which results in less pay for the job. - Something to do with money! For instance paying the rent or the water bill. Money pressure introduces time pressure too, which feeds into the first point about mistakes. - Combos. Find a way to incorporate combos into the cleaning routine. The bigger the combo the faster you get or the more money you make. Players love trying to reach higher combos. (Recettear is a great example of this) - More machines, more mechanics. You already had these in mind though.

Solid effort. Sadly effort alone is not enough.

Overall: *Bad (2.0)* Fun: *Quicktime events! (1.0)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Below average (2.5)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Not feeling it (1.5)* Mood: *Below average (2.5)*

Danger Dolly by ambi 2017-12-18T14:20:15Z

Excellent idea, never seen one like this before! Sure, physics based stacking challenges are a thing (in real life too!), but the dolly adds a whole new dimension to the exercise.

After each successful haul came a *sigh* of defeat. Now, how am I going to pull this next one off? The sigh deepened with each task ultimately transforming into a *shocking gasp* at 8 action figures? *You must be mad!* The only way to manage that is to hook the figures to the top and the bottom of the dolly, a challenge very much down to chance!

Eventually I managed it after many tries and much gnashing of teeth. Not going to try that again... Surprisingly the action figures did not disappear upon delivery so I used one of them to help with the last 7 spinners task. A push over, not quite the finale I was hoping for. Was that intentional?

The presentation is adequate. A background image and a few effects would improve the graphics side of things. The music, while cute and appropriate, does repeat itself too often. The sound effects are also average at best, Sfxr is easy to spot now-a-days.

Good job!

Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Great (4.5)* Innovation: *Amazing (5.0)* Theme: *Amazing (5.0)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

Kingdom Savior by tmpxyz 2017-12-11T12:28:32Z

Reminds me of a niche, east-European, real-time-grid-and-party-based-tactics game from some years ago. Not that I can recall its name! This here is a very bare bones version of the idea of course, but such is the case with limited time, eh?

The two modes work well together in principle. Making decisions on who stays defending, how many workers can I spare and who goes on the offensive are all interesting choices. Surely the hero cannot attack alone?

Well, there we get to the issue of balance. It is way too easy to win. All I did was put everyone working, except a few guards, and attacked alone. Had 10000 crystals in just 7 days! The enemy didn't attack once! I tried again, marking all warriors as workers everyday and lo! Got through the whole thing in mere 5 days!

There is quite a bit of tweaking required to make this challenging, which is completely doable. The enemy should attack more often even if the threat level is low. That simply means their attack is weak. The hero should be much more fragile. Currently there is little incentive to attack in a group, the hero can tank a lot of shots and dodge most of them due to the high movement speed. Using warriors as meat shields is your intended design by the looks of it, but it is completely unnecessary.

The graphics are borderline ok, it seems the 2D and 3D assets don't exactly match. The crystals are coins in the attack level for instance. What is up with that? The environment textures are the worst of the lot, garish to say the least. I do recognize a few of the 3D models from Clone Colony, maybe trying a different style would work.

The sound effects too are at odds with the epic soundtrack! Seems to be a bit of a trademark of yours that!

Adequate job, more play-testing and polish needed!

Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Below average (2.5)* Audio: *Average (3.0)* Humor: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

Loot! by atmospherium 2017-12-22T15:38:43Z

It's a joke, a jab at Destiny 2 at least, and a short one thankfully, but did it need to be made?

Think about it. You could have spent the weekend making something *actually innovative and impressive* instead. (Maybe you did finish this in 2 hours and spent the rest of the time doing something *actually innovative and impressive* instead, do tell?)

The ratings will spell the rest.

Overall: *Lousy (1.5)* Fun: *Abysmal (1.0)* Innovation: *Abysmal (1.0)* Theme: *Lousy (1.5)* Graphics: *Average (3.0)* Humor: *Average (3.0)* Mood: *Abysmal (1.0)*

Loot! by atmospherium 2017-12-22T16:40:19Z

@atmospherium I'm being completely honest, not mimicking anybody or even being annoyed. If this was longer and required more clicking then I might have gotten annoyed for sure. Brevity is the soul of wit, so you got that one right.

In all seriousness, I really would like to know how much time you put into this and if you learned anything from it?

Loot! by atmospherium 2017-12-22T22:53:55Z

Trying out completely new development tools is risky and pretty *impressive*.

Cutting functionality is certainly challenging. I've found it helpful to write down every single feature of the design in a big list with the critical (core) features on top. If time is running out and I still haven't finished the core, then I'm in for tough decisions on what to cut. Otherwise I can just stop with at least a functional (yet ugly) project to show off.

Interesting read; I'm glad you learned new things. The risk paid off!

Toy workshop 2 by stmatn 2017-12-16T15:08:58Z

Played on Linux. It works, but the window popping up once the timer ran out didn't exactly do its job. It froze the program and the message was not readable. Probably an openjdk-8 problem, but it is not critical. Moving on.

Xmas themed gift crafting game, haven't seen many of those now that I think about it. The idea is solid, but the user interface leaves me cold.

UI issues:

1. The crafting recipes are not in the program, but relegated to the manual. You already have tooltips for the gift demanding elves, so adding these would not be a big deal codewise.

2. A worker who cannot build a gift will still go to the warehouse. Sure, it makes sense that they need to check the wares first, but that is not responsive design for the user. I thought that the elves were doing something productive, when in reality they were just going back and forth.

3. Cultivating the plants. This is nothing but extra clicking. If I command a worker to a plant then he should plant it, cultivate it and harvest it automatically without further clicks. *Say no to needless clicking!*

4. Audiovisual feedback on successful and unsuccessful actions. If a worker lacks resources to craft a gift there should be some kind of an effect or audio cue. Same goes for managing to build a gift.

The graphics are adequate, some sufficiently *wintery* music would elevate the mood.

Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Bad (2.0)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Bad (2.0)*

Kinder Potato GARDEN! by KirUn 2017-12-09T10:51:28Z

That was something. Very tricky, flinging potatoes around. Fits the theme well. It is not exactly the most exciting prospect, violently showing potatoes through the narrow corridors does get stale sooner than later. In the end I got to 11/12 and then in one swell swoop three of the ankle-biters kicked the bucket. Oh, sorry grandpa.

The graphics and audio support the interactivity well, adds to the humor too. Doesn't quite reach excellence, the last level of polish and detail is missing. Still great though.

Once the house starts filling up so does the amount of clicking. Herding the potatoes is part of the experience, but having to repeatedly click the fridge and the toiled to fill them is unnecessary. Holding the mouse down would work better there. It is the refill delay that matters, not inducing carpal tunnel syndrome.

Pretty good work in all.

Overall: Good (4.0) Fun: Average (3.0) Innovation: Good (4.0) Theme: Spot on (5.0) Graphics: Great (4.5) Audio: Great (4.5) Humor: Great (4.5) Mood: Good (4.0)

Match by GameQuester 2017-12-26T23:13:21Z

Rather innovative block pushing (and pulling!) game. The audiovisuals are adequate, there could be more pizzazz especially when clearing some blocks.

Once you figure out where the new blocks appear it becomes trivial to rack up points. About the only danger was posed by accidentally pulling a nearby block rather than pushing it.

I think some more mechanics are needed to keep things interesting. For once I'm stumped and have no suggestions to give. You'll think of something m'kay.

Tweaking needed, but the idea is sound. I can imagine this going to places (but not the places themselves...)

Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Average (3.0)* Innovation: *Great (4.5)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Average (3.0)* Mood: *Below average (2.5)*

Black Hole Star by wowa 2017-12-10T10:21:42Z

Tried the Linux version first. There is no fullscreen option and the ball of light is not visible. The windows version has neither issue. Weird.

The graphics and audio are great. The instructions are more than enough as the interactivity is simple. Problem is, it is all too simple. The only danger is posed by the black holes and even then chances are you are not going to be hit by one dead-on making them a trivial obstacle to sidestep.

Collecting stars is so easy that it becomes boring after picking up just a few. Having a cluster of creatures blocking the ways isn't a hindrance due to the light orb's power. They don't really matter at all, which is a shame as that is the only thematic connection here.

If the creatures stuck to you, pushed you around, or lunged at you occasionally they might introduce a slight challenge. They could also pick up the star and move it around to make things even trickier.

High quality production, the interaction design is too drab unfortunately.

Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Bad (2.0)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Below average (2.5)* Graphics: *Great (4.5)* Mood: *Great (4.5)*

Wormhead by elemel 2017-12-12T11:04:16Z

Neat little spaceship simulation. I like the worm tail, wiggling it around deflecting nasties. The flight physics are *"realistic"* to a fault. I would have enjoyed strong side thrusters to dodge projectiles and weave between asteroids with. The camera could also zoom out when gaining speed to facilitate high velocity manoeuvres.

The graphics are ok, the particles look much nicer than the plain sprites though. Some more detail and color would have gone a long way. Not a fan of the music. It is not terrible, but does get repetitive.

My major gripe is the directionless nature of the exercise. Sure there is a highscore, but I just didn't feel like playing more after reaching 7. Those future plans do sound mighty fine.

Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Average (3.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Average (3.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

Space Freight by KingMatthew 2017-12-11T12:29:26Z

A solid idea, I do like Scifi, and technically it works. The design and asset quality are suspect though.

Weaving through the asteroid fields at full speed is much more fun than slowly turning around terminating the pursuers. As such it is a shame that such a tactic doesn't really work for a multitude of reasons:

* The camera is very close to the action, no way to see the upcoming asteroids at high velocity. If the camera zoomed out based on current speed you could even have asteroid collisions deduct hull points (as they should!)

* Less agile bandits. Zigzagging works occasionally, but most of the time the bandits hit no matter what. Trying to trick them to hit asteroids would be interesting too!

* A distance calculator for the next station. Maybe running for it should not be completely viable all the time, but once relatively close to the station I might want to risk it. Currently these is no way of knowing how long it takes to get to the station, so no such decision can be made.

The audiovisuals are crude. Kudos for making it all on your own, but I'm not going to lie about the quality. Might as well list more issues, eh:

* Different styles for all the elements. The ships are pixelated with about 4-6 flat colors, the GUI is 3 flat colors, the asteroids have texture with even more colors, and the background is rendered in much more realistic style than the rest. It just does not jell together.

* Scaling and rotating pixelated graphics. It does not look good when sprites drawn in the same style are scaled differently. The pixels should have the same size for every object. Rotation can work, but then you need to make sure each sprite uses the same filtering method. It seems the space stations use bilinear filtering while the ship use point filter.

* The music and sounds use annoying, chirpy, 8-bit'ish instruments. This might just be me though.

Good effort and it works, yet more practice on the presentation front is needed. When learning it is useful to look at successful examples and try to mimic those, just to get the techniques down. Later you can then apply those techniques to create your own things.

Overall: *Below average (2.5)* Fun: *Below average (2.5)* Innovation: *Average (3.0)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Bad (2.0)* Audio: *Lousy (1.5)* Humor: *Bad (2.0)* Mood: *Average (3.0)*

The Adequate Shepherd by blubberquark 2017-12-27T19:51:07Z

Thematic idea and ok implementation too. Graphics are good and the few sound effects do strengthen the mood. Wolves howling and snarling in the background, when close by, would have been a good addition on that front.

Herded 14 sheep to the... helicopter landing pad? Had 20 more waiting, but did not bother doing the same thing all over again. That's the main issue here, no additional mechanics are added when saving sheep. Gets stale.

Good effort, more content needed.

Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Bad (2.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Great (4.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Average (3.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*

Caravan by iovorobiev 2017-12-09T12:50:01Z

Positives first. The audiovisuals are ok and support the strong Arabian mood. The writing is also fitting, but suffers from typos occasionally.

Played both versions. The original version is pretty much impossible. The second version is possible to complete, managed it once with a single crate remaining, yet it is still very arbitrary.

On each leg of the journey potentially 5+ events take place. The only thing you can do to reduce the amount of events is to travel light, which is thematic enough. Problem is some combinations of the events spell instant defeat, for instance sandworm kills your guards and bandits attack, so just two unlucky events per trip can be too much. If you guess wrong and buy too many resources then you are more than likely doomed due to random chance alone. This rapid rate of events also burns through the content really fast. Rereading the same events over and over again does get stale.

These issues can be fixed relatively easily. First set some limitations to the events. Special events like the jinn, the devil and the furry man, should only happen at most once per adventure. Repeatable events should be very simple and less severe as not to become boring to read and to reduce the impact of each event (less sandworms and bandits, more small issues with the caravan).

Next the UI could use some improvements. Estimations on how much food it takes to get to the next cities (with the guards you have) and what is the chance for bandits would be nice to have in the city menu. These could be plain numbers or verbal cues ("Chance for bandits: high", "Food needed for city A: about 25", etc.)

Lastly the amount of money you carry should not affect the amount of events. Currently a single lucky event netting you gold can completely ruin the rest of the adventure due to this. After all how would anyone know the amount of money you have?

A new feature that you should consider is weather. On the city page you'd get an estimation on upcoming weather and its effects (e.g. "A sandstorm is gathering outside the city: Lower chance for bandits, higher chance for accidents and getting lost"). Then if you have the money you can stay at the city waiting for better weather. The weather would be different per route too so a longer route might be more preferable in certain situations. This would add a layer of decision making currently missing.

Good effort, the design needs work yet there is much potential here.

Overall: Above Average (3.5) Fun: Bad (2.0) Innovation: Average (3.0) Theme: Good (4.0) Graphics: Above Average (3.5) Audio: Above Average (3.5) Humor: Above average (3.5) Mood: Strong (5.0)

Corruption by Veralos 2017-12-21T18:06:51Z

Solid platformer with appropriate abilities.

There is nice color and background variation in the tilesets, even though some of the backgrouds look like they were made in *Paint*. Some landmark assets here and there would have helped to differentiate the levels as they do end up blending together after a while. Where was that next locked area again? Dunno, better check them all again!

Going through old areas with new abilities is not all bad as you get to dispatch those hapless enemies in new ways. I really like how every ability serves dual duty as an attack and a movement boost (apart from the wings!).

Thematically this isn't quite there. Sure dropping down to one health did make the last set of levels harder than the first few (which were utter cake walks btw), but you aren't exactly worse off as a glass cannon demon. This world is inhabited by nasty black goo monstrosities after all.

Good work!

Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Good (4.0)*

Avoidance by Triastase 2017-12-14T14:36:10Z

Got 282 points sitting in a corner. Sure beats moving around!

At first I though the amount of enemies introduced a major slowdown, but it was all intentional! I'm not a fan of such artificial mechanics. If fire rate and movement speed go down with the amount of enemies on screen then my survival chances are limited much more by your design than my skills! I don't like that idea, feels very arbitrary.

I would prefer incrementally increasing enemy numbers and behaviours. Eventually I will lose, but it is up to my skill level only not to having my ability to fight slowly taken away!

The graphics are fine and the music is quite catchy in fact. Good job on those.

Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Below average (2.5)* Innovation: *Below average (2.5)* Theme: *Below average (2.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Nonexistent (1.0)* Mood: *Average (3.0)*

L.A.V.A. series L.A.M.P. edition VS THE WORLD by kazuo256 2017-12-07T18:11:45Z

Competent top down shooter: a solid chunk of content, nice audiovisuals, ok gameplay, but also sundry problems.

The Linux version works great, although the first time around I shot a knight with a tracer and it crashed the program. Didn't use tracers after that. Having an option for mouse or keyboard aiming is a good addition. Then again why not just have them both on at the same time. There is no need for a menu option.

The idea of binding keys to upgrades is neat, but not being able to rebind them later does cause issues: there is no way of knowing how many upgrades there are in total and which ones I actually like using before trying them so in the end I had many useful keys tied to abilities I didn't care for. I guess that is thematic, yet I'd advice against it. Being able to use the modifier keys (shift, control, alt) as bindings would have been great too, for the dodge move especially.

My second run ended on wave 15 and it felt cheap. You see, the enemy hitboxes are weird. Sometimes I could brush past them in a corridor, other times not. In this particular case a ghost hit me twice in a matter of milliseconds and it wasn't even close (or so it seemed!) There is other jank in the enemy implementation too. Their pathfinding bugs out occasionally getting stuck on walls or constantly changing directions when I move just a few steps in one direction basically rendering them sitting ducks for my attacks.

The skills! Most of them work. The teleporter is weird and more of a hazard for you than the enemies. Also frustrating as you cannot undo the connections afterwards. I would not have used it had I played a third time. The reason for not playing again is the slow pace of progression. Reducing the downtime between waves, faster enemies and a smaller map would have helped there. Increased content unlocking rate would be fine too, just throw in a new enemy/upgrade after each wave. It is a jam entry, it should be fast to play through.

Ok, that is about all this time. I approve of your work, don't get me wrong. Unfortunately there are many small issues which drag the experience down a few notches.

Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Good (4.0)* Humor: *Average (3.0)*

Food Fight by PonchoGuy 2017-12-21T18:31:22Z

Positives first I guess. The 3D models for the sweets are delicious and the audio assets aren't terrible... Eh, that's about it.

The design is as standard as it gets. A horde shooter with on the spot upgrades. It does not help that the movement and shooting abilities don't feel great to use. The default walking speed alone is enough to propel you across the map as if sliding on ice. The enemies simply cannot reach you when moving from one corner to the next.

The shooting is very anemic and requires constant clicking. *I can't stand clicking!* The damage upgrade is a must have yet it renders the weapon too powerful! From one extreme to the other within a few minutes.

The following things are needed: - Less clicking. Holding the button down should keep shooting, even if slower than when clicking. - *Juice!* Particles, camera shake, beefier audio assets, lights, explosions, etc. - Improved basic abilities. Movement should start weighty and slow because you can upgrade it later. Shooting could use some bullet spread (based on movement speed preferably), recoil (same) and reloading (maybe). - Enemy behaviour variation. Currently they all move forward at a constant speed, never stopping. How about shooting, lunging, jumping, flying, etc.

There are a lot of similar shooters to draw inspiration from. Keep at it, experience makes perfect('ish)

Overall: *Bad (2.0)* Fun: *Terribad (1.0)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *Below average (2.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Average (3.0)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Below average (2.5)*