Jofish

Seeds of the Future by Timothy 2020-04-21T15:09:52Z

The whole art style and presentation is wonderful! Gameplay-wise, I would have liked to be able to see my cursor, and also maybe move the camera? I found myself making a lot of shots blindly off-screen, or by just throwing a hundred seeds at a moving platform until one got me where I wanted by chance. Also some sound effects would have been appreciated. I did have a lot of fun though - the concept is interesting, and you have explored it well. I hope the new flower village grows and prospers!

blob by PaperAeroplane555 2020-04-24T11:34:33Z

I didn't get that far with this, I think it could do with some more precision in terms of, in particular, knowing in advance where the blob is going to land. Either that or maybe slowing the character down a bit so you can make adjustments once blob has started hurtling towards you. That said, I really like the style of this, and the jump up from underneath mechanic is really satisfying when you can get it. Nice interpretation of the theme, too! Cheers.

Hive Preserver by _for_science 2020-04-21T15:30:32Z

Easily one of the best LD46 games I've played - it feels like it was made in 72 days, not 72 hours. I love the look, I love how it makes you feel like an alien, with the humans glowing and the fact you're about 2 feet tall. It's fast-paced, it's smooth, the sound effects are very half-life-y (in fact so are a lot of the visuals). Only one problem, which is the lack of an invert mouse option. I didn't feel like I was very much in control, and only the fact that the game is quite easy/generous about what counts as an eaten head coupled with the game's short length allowed me to finish it. Fantastic effort overall though, well done!

The Drown by Simon Rahnasto 2020-04-24T11:46:31Z

This is great! I really wish you could move while shooting (that was pretty unintuitive and led to a few deaths) but apart from that I only have nice things to say. The story is intriguing, the mood is spot-on, and the voice acting and particularly the voice effects are really high-quality! Well done!

Cloudy With A Chance Of Pain by ProdigalSon 2020-04-22T15:26:03Z

I didn't realise until well into my second attempt that you could right-click to rain water, so the first time I played I set fire to everything and felt a little cheated that I could do nothing to stop it spreading. A little prompt or popup might be helpful. I did make it through the second attempt though, and the reason I stuck with it is that this game is hilarious. I love all the dumb noises the sheep make, and if there was a category for best title then this would (should) win. Thanks!

Lich Clicker by Fictions 2020-04-22T20:31:37Z

I didn't play to completion/failure unfortunately, since the screen shake was a bit much for me and I was getting a headache. Apart from that though, this is a really really polished game! I love all the squash/stretch on the souls (I think that's what they are) that are being eaten (either by me or the bloke in the middle of the screen, I wasn't sure which it was meant to be), I love how many layers of particle effects are in use, and the art style is really compelling. Nice work!

Perish alive by Lyrcaxis 2020-04-25T14:57:39Z

I'd love a downloadable version! I'm still yet to complete it after 4 attempts. I'm not sure what the coral deposits do, I couldn't figure out a way to mine them. Apart from that, this is one of the best LD46 games I've played! There are so many wonderful ideas here, and such a good art style. If I were good enough to, I'd love steal a lot from this. The increase in difficulty feels fair, even though I've still not managed to beat it. I love the struggle to save up for the toilet while also having to use the same resources to just stay alive. I also love how you're trying to keep your cogwhale alive (by the way I love the word cogwhale), but at the same time, you're doing damage to the environment around you - that's a nice take on the theme.

I do have a couple of minor nags though: * I found the camera to be quite awkward, especially since it zooms in when I want to buy things, causing me to miss the arrival of jellyfish until they'd already started attacking. * It's part of the same problem with the camera, but I wish the heal and shoot buttons were either on the HUD or bound to dedicated buttons. Or, as @hectorid mentioned, have an upgrade to make them automated. * Maybe have some way to gain more workers, or to partially automate each room without any workers in it. You could have an upgrade that makes the room produce very slowly with no workers in there, that way you don't end up pausing progress towards the end of the game while just trying to survive - that became a bit of a downward spiral since I had all three workers healing, shooting, and only one left over who had to spend half their time producing energy. Production of coral or pearls ground to a halt, so I was getting more and more enemies spawning but had no way to upgrade to counter them or complete the game. I'm sure I could plan better to win, but it feels a little too unforgiving.

Anyway, I absolutely loved this game, it's exactly the sort of thing I wish I could make. Great work!

Laser Evaders by Charlez245 2020-04-21T15:47:36Z

I'm not convinced that mouse control was the right choice for this. I could never get the box to go where I wanted it to, and I could never look around enough or see enough to make an informed decision about where to drop. It's an interesting idea though, like a reverse Kerplunk.

JamIt by jrf 2020-04-21T14:40:54Z

I really like the mood of this - the vignette and the way everything is drawn give a really nice vibe. Gameplay-wise, I feel as though the game doesn't give enough information or feedback to the player. I could have done with some sim-like thought bubbles from the party guests, or a warning that the neighbours were getting annoyed at the noise (I didn't realise that was a game mechanic until I came back and read the description). I also didn't realise there was a limited amount of food or drink, so just kept topping them up without any strategy. It's a really neat idea though, omnisciently controlling a dying party.

Chromasphere by Vladadamm 2020-04-21T15:20:16Z

The chaos is great, and I love how you can shoot enemy bullets - that fits the theme really well. It feels quite unresponsive though. I ran out of ammo or something at one point and didn't realise that I'd stopped firing until much later. Some more prominent sound/visual effects might help. Thanks for creating this though, it's a really nice thing.

Save The Egg by Sunblast 2020-04-22T17:06:16Z

Very strange that the egg appears to decelerate horizontally, rather than moving in a parabola. I also don't see why the springs are controlled with two clicks, rather than a click and drag sort of system? I must say though, completing a level in this is incredibly satisfying. On level 2 I actually bypassed the final spring, and felt like a total genius. Thanks for making!

Chaincards by Federico Giorgi 2020-04-22T17:56:18Z

I don't really understand what this has to do with 'Keep it Alive' but the combat mechanic is quite neat. I think some sound effects for when the cards are played would really add to it. The 2D sprites are amazing, of course, and the mood is quite effective. Well done!

Deforestree by Azo 2020-04-22T16:44:28Z

I checked this out after your lovely comment on my game. It made me think of the Doctor's little speech about a perfect ecosystem in Orphan 55, if you saw that. Otherwise, I think it's very peaceful and cute, with the slightly twee aesthetic and the minimalist style. Well done on getting it finished, and good luck in the future.

Necromancer by krakadushka 2020-04-22T15:53:18Z

It took a bit of work to get into, mainly because of a lack of an invert y-axis option (a problem I've encountered in a lot of these jam games tbh) and also because I had to quit and check the itch page to find out how to actually resurrect people (some on-screen prompt explaining that might have been helpful, maybe on the tab screen that explains the HUD). Once I got into it though it was very impressive. I love the attention to detail with the various people you can resurrect, and the art style and atmosphere are amazing. I think this is a serious accomplishment for only 72 hours, so well done!

Just One More by Double Top 2020-04-21T14:56:00Z

i found it really compelling - i was kinda sad when i beat the parasite and it finished. My only negative points are that it has the D&D problem where the only real challenge comes from groups of enemies that swarm you - i didn't get hit by the parasite at all, just held down the bow shoot button and walked around it in circles - and also I didn't really like how much backtracking there was considering that you're on a ticking clock - maybe having enemies occasionally respawn in areas you've already cleared would have solved this? I had a lot of fun though, and the visuals and mood were very sweet. Thanks!

Protect the Sand-Worm! by Jofish 2020-04-21T16:03:28Z

Thanks for the feedback.

@nothing The comment about aiming up is interesting, and not something that occurred to me when I was making it. I wonder if limiting the vertical aim angle would be better, or just frustrating. Certainly with the arrow key controls I expect it would just feel even more clunky.

@peterfiftyfour I realise now that mouse controls would have been much better - at the time, I was laying groundwork for gamepad support, though I didn't end up having time to implement that.

Protect the Sand-Worm! by Jofish 2020-04-21T21:40:17Z

@double-top The comment about the jump button is interesting. The reason for it was because you would have to jump over the fully broken sand-worm segments, but I think you're right that it's not strictly necessary. Thanks for your feedback!

Protect the Sand-Worm! by Jofish 2020-04-22T18:13:38Z

Thanks for all the feedback!

@maskrosen Originally, the power button and fire button were actually combined, but I found that you would line up your shot, then tap fire, and the aim would jolt slightly before shooting, meaning you could never be totally accurate. I think combining them would make sense with a pull-back mouse-aim system, however, which is something I plan to add once the jam judging is over.

@polarfuchs I'm really sorry! My arrow keys are nice and beefy so that wasn't really at the front of my mind.

Protect the Sand-Worm! by Jofish 2020-04-25T18:36:49Z

@wolfier that's an interesting idea. Making the rocks do damage wasn't something I was totally sure about, so a different punishment is something I've thought about. I honestly think that it's more of an extension of the issue with the controls though, since anything else would be a little contrived and wouldn't fit the theme quite so well. I don't think it would be quite so annoying with mouse or gamepad controls. That said, I may just not have thought of a good enough punishment. Or perhaps no punishment would work. I was worried that without it the rounds would last far too long, but it seems like it gets hard enough to deal with them past round 15 or so. It's worth investigating. Thanks for playing!

Shiny by LeGoLaZ 2020-04-22T15:18:02Z

The controls felt a bit sticky and sluggish, and I think the icons aren't clear enough (some written text might be nice - took me a little while to figure out what 'E' did and when I could use it), but it's a very pretty game with a great atmosphere. I also think there's a lot of potential in the story. It's a really impressive accomplishment in such a short time, so well done!

Magic Lettuce: The Adventure Begins by Neg99 2020-04-21T14:48:08Z

I found the visuals and mood really charming! I also think it's an interesting idea to have the camera follow the snail - it make it feel as though the snail doesn't really give a damn about what the player is doing, and makes all the player's actions feel quite naive and frantic and full of personality. It is a little annoying not being able to see off-screen though. I don't really have a solution to suggest, but I'm happy this exists. Thanks!

Cloudin' Around by kingofthestack 2020-04-21T16:36:31Z

Very pretty game, although I'm not sure what I'm meant to be doing beyond tractor-beaming everything from the farm into the cloud. I wonder if there's some sort of sustainability mechanic where you can take the crops you eat to grow in size, and then rain on the farmland to grow new ones, in a sort of idealised ecosystem. Interesting idea, and charming to play. Well done!

LD46 by Zivfo 2020-04-22T20:59:40Z

This is really brilliant. It's a neat and new concept, and the story and art support it really well. I understand this is your first LD entry, and it's a bloody strong start. Good luck with your future projects!

Pass it On by Ryan Jung 2020-04-21T01:53:58Z

i wasn't sure what i was meant to be doing at first, but once i figured it out i had a lot of fun!

Social Distancing For LadyBugs by mehrdadsh 2020-04-22T18:18:20Z

This is brilliant! Something about slotting the very edges of your panel into a tiny gap just next to the ladybugs to get rid of one or two bugs scratches a really specific itch. Maybe in some later version you could have differently-shaped paddles and different kinds of bug with different behaviours, for added complexity? I also love the topicality of it, and the splat sound effects. I scored 1335 on my best attempt.

Overheat by SlimmerBurger 2020-04-21T01:47:25Z

really good spin on the old top-down shooter. the visuals are about as good as unity default shapes get!

Life of the Party by KC_Shiftyyy 2020-04-22T15:39:46Z

I think it's a little too abstract for me to understand the context. Am I the bouncer? Does the party just periodically catch fire? What's the meaning behind there being two different colours of people (that one in particular seems a little strange)? That said, it's really nice and polished, I like the general vibe of it, and the gameplay itself is super compelling. I got quite into it. This is a really cool thing to have made, and I wish you luck in future projects!

Ruins of Waste by Arinyl 2020-04-21T15:59:15Z

This is absolutely wonderful. The lack of music and the lovely art style give it a very peaceful feeling, like these noble rock creatures shouldn't be disturbed by the modern world (or something). It's a perfect jam project in terms of scope and style. It might be nice to highlight the litter when you mouse over it, since I found myself missing occasionally when I really thought I should be able to click on them. Also, when I first launched it, the window was square and had cropped out the bin, so I wasn't sure what to do until I resized the window. Thanks for making this, and I hope your future projects go well!

Aftermath by xeno-software 2020-04-22T19:49:46Z

I was fighting the camera about as much as the zombies, but I thought this was a really nice effort. The blood splat effects were nice and cartoonish, and there's a certain charm to the simplicity of 'run to screen right and shoot zombies' Well done on this, and good luck for the future!

First Love / Late Spring by Lateralis 2020-04-21T16:30:32Z

I'm fairly sure it crashed, and it made me sorely wish for some ability to skip the titles. I do love the aesthetic, the subject matter, and the mood (although I think some softer music might fit the tone a little better). Well done on getting this released, and good luck with your future projects!

Modern City Survival by AFKGroup0 2020-04-21T02:03:08Z

I think I see what you're going for. Not one I can play for a very long time, mainly because of the very quickly looping music, but I do really like the concept.

Keep your heart beating by trucverte 2020-04-22T17:25:44Z

I didn't actually do any fighting in my run of this game. Took me a while to realise you have to double-click to attack, so at first I thought the sword was just bugged, but the age-old method of sprinting past everything worked perfectly. None of the enemies could catch me. I also think the art style is a little thematically confused - you play a robot inside a painting-version of your heart fighting what look like werewolves? With all this said, just getting a game finished and playable in 72 hours is a great achievement, and there is a really good game in here if you develop on it. I agree with @christianaufiero that the combat could do with being a little more crunchy. Good luck with all your future projects, and thanks for making this!

One Tough Flower by SophieMae0 2020-04-22T18:07:40Z

You have my eternal respect for making such a playable game in pygame, of all things. I think the pixel art is wonderful and the voices are hilarious. My only trouble is that I didn't really understand how I was supposed to be strategic about my placement, partly because I wasn't totally clear on the actual effects of each plant. I think a little more feedback to the player might be helpful, like an effect every time a plant performs its particular action, or a number popping up each time more seeds are produced. It's still a very impressive thing though, and I found the story aspect strangely compelling. Thanks!

Block Runner 2049 by LandoSystems 2020-10-07T17:16:15Z

The blade runner theming is spot on, but I think my favourite element of this is the altered version of Korobeiniki you have playing - it took me a few seconds to realise what it was and it made me very happy. Very nice game, I like the metacommentary at the start, and finding time for a global leaderboard in a game jam is no mean feat! Well done, and good luck in future!

Colorful Memories by Ayxs 2020-10-07T17:02:04Z

I'm not on a particularly powerful computer at the moment, so bear in mind that my experience was hampered by fps issues a bit, but I really liked this regardless! I thought the mood and tone were spot-on, the odd colours really worked, the slightly dreamlike effect achieved by the colour bleeding/abberation at the edges of the screen was well-used. Good job! (also a mouse invert option would have been appreciated)

Rock of Ages by nervous-composers 2020-10-07T16:55:28Z

I appreciate the mythological reference, but I suppose fruitless and monotonous tasks don't really make for fun experiences. I also found the visuals really discordant and messy - having the lovingly shaded pixel art sisyphus pushing a perfectly round boulder up a hill dotted with flat shaded, lower-res pixel art trees and vector-graphic rocks, with a unity skybox and yet more different resolutions of pixel art in the background really didn't work for me, it was pretty distracting. In any case, though, it's a huge achievement to get a game finished in such a short space of time, and I wish you luck on your future projects! Well done.

Loop by Papaver 2020-10-16T20:33:04Z

wow, i'm bad at this one. i really liked the original concept (or at least i've personally never seen it before) and i thought the single-button control was really nice. very satisfying to play too, and i imagine a future version where you have extra fine control like choosing which way to rotate or how fast or what radius could also be really cool. well done!

Jump 'n Loop by invader 2020-10-11T17:56:30Z

Not much variation, but I think it's well-polished and very atmospheric. Good job for such a short time, and good luck in future!

Home Sweet Home by mediyaz 2020-10-07T16:39:01Z

Ok, before I say anything, I do have some colour deficiencies and I accept your apologies. This is a really beautiful game and a very nice idea. I had a few problems with it in practice (colour perception notwithstanding): It ran very slowly on my laptop, which hindered things a bit, and I also found the ship controls slightly unintuitive. I think since it rotates rather than moves absolutely, I would expect there to be an accelerate button, which moves you in whatever direction you're pointing, and two rotation buttons. The cardinal directions you've used here were a bit tricky to get used to (this was compounded a bit by the fact that when you're in similar colours to your ship, it becomes very hard to see what direction you're pointing in so you just feel like you're slowing down for no reason, though I suppose this is part of an undulating difficulty system you have?). Overall though, a very nice little art project, and a very good-looking and well-polished one considering the time constraints! Very well done on getting this done, and good luck on future projects.

Purgatory Hospital by riwmd 2020-10-11T17:39:59Z

I was hindered a lot by the lack of an invert mouse option, but I thought the idea and execution were pretty good. Well done!

Light footsteps after the rain by Chocolat-Endive 2020-10-07T16:30:36Z

I love unapologetically arty things, so I was really pleased with this. I love the tone, I loved the photography, the mood, the atmosphere. Only minor gripes were things like a lot of the UI options being unintuitive (the opening "start exploring" text had me confusedly pressing standard movement buttons before it occurred to me to try and click on it), but that really doesn't detract all that much. You should be super proud of this.

(Also those photos are Crisp)

GOING FOR TAKEOUT WITH MY HOT WIFE by nicozzard 2020-10-07T16:43:44Z

For some reason, the thing that stood out most in this was the car crashing noise? This was certainly a unique experience. Good job!

The Serpent of Scorhill by Jofish 2020-10-07T17:03:29Z

@nazorus thanks for the feedback! As I say in the description, the original plan was to make it a puzzle game based around forming shapes, but sadly I mismanaged my time. If I do work on this in future that will be the direction I take however. Thanks for playing!

The Serpent of Scorhill by Jofish 2020-10-07T17:09:31Z

@aurath I did think I ended up using the verbose tutorial text as a bit of a joke, since if you turn off the flavour text it argues with itself, but I do have a feeling that even with that, it's still not too clear how to actually play. Interestingly, it hadn't occurred to me about the default speed setting - I just set it that way because I wanted the 'thoughtful - frantic - no' joke to make sense. Thanks for pointing it out, and for playing!

The Serpent of Scorhill by Jofish 2020-10-10T14:23:29Z

@battlerager thanks for the feedback! There are a lot of problems caused by the tall snake segments, for sure. I don't think them being taller is inherently an issue, but I failed to solve all the non-inherent ones in the time I had, which as you've said can be confusing.

The Serpent of Scorhill by Jofish 2020-10-16T22:41:22Z

@sli wow, respect for managing to finish it! I thought it might crash when you get to that point, so I guess that's your victory fanfare

Slime Boi by noakishere 2020-10-11T17:51:02Z

This was cool! I love the art style, I like that the backgrounds change, I think the idea to have the camera constantly pushing up was neat, even though it often led to me either forgetting about it and falling offscreen or jumping because I had to but hitting rocks and losing health anyway. This is really impressive for such a short time, so well done!

Hyper Hamster by Nazorus 2020-10-11T17:45:40Z

This was good! I liked the neon theming, I liked that the loop let you see really far ahead so you could plan your moves. It felt like there were some places where it was impossible to avoid obstacles and the distortion sometimes made it difficult to judge distances properly, but overall this was really impressive. Well done!

Loop Cure by pedrocoden 2020-10-10T16:35:49Z

I had a few problems with this - the camera controls just didn't work, the pills would vanish and reconfigure randomly (often when I was just about to reach them) and the hitbox for picking them up was really unforgiving. I'm also not sure what this has to do with being stuck in a loop, even with the brief tutorial explanation. Anyway, it's a really impressive achievement to get a game finished in such a short time, so you should definitely feel proud. Well done, and good luck going forwards!

LooperJumper by kidbiti 2020-10-07T16:48:55Z

This was interesting. I find a sort of inherent joy in trying to precisely control very imprecise things (shopping trolleys, that sort of thing), so the controls for this were weirdly satisfying to try and wrangle into position. Other than that, I've not got much else to say. Good job and good luck in future!

Stealth Line by HippolyteA 2020-10-07T16:22:07Z

I think this is a really interesting idea, although it could really do with some quality-of-life improvements. Once I worked out the controls I found that my main problem was basically this: since I had to draw out the whole path all at once, then had no way to stop and wait on the way, and couldn't see where the zombies are planning on going, my success (or lack of it) always felt like it was totally up to chance. This could definitely be solved with a bit more fine control, or requiring less precognition from the player (or, if the zombies follow a predictable path, maybe give the player more indication of this like having them leave footprints or a trail or something), but like I said I think this is a really original concept and a surprisingly polished game for the time limit. You should be really proud of this, and I hope you keep on making games in future! Thanks for submitting!

Sleepy Hamster by Karl Erik Saks 2020-10-10T21:13:27Z

I love the art style and the theming here. I found the controls felt a little unresponsive, and the angle of the play area made it unintuitive to control and very hard to line yourself up and avoid hitting things. It's really polished for such a short time though, well done!