justalocalhero

Mortal Decisions by KunoNoOni 2018-12-03T21:51:17Z

I like the idea, it fits the theme well.

I wish the actions didn't take so much real time with little feedback. Eliminating some of the waiting, or at least adding a progress bar or something else of interest, and getting back to making decisions might improve the experience.

All of the choices that I saw seemed to be of a similar format. Maybe I got unlucky or didn't play long enough, but a bit more variety might be good.

Making difficult risk-reward choices is a good core mechanic, accentuate that as much as possible.

The M.O.N.K. by arkiruthis 2018-12-03T16:30:01Z

The animations are awesome. The gameplay is a lot of fun. The sound doesn't seem to be working for me. The screen drag is a little intense. Really great work overall, feels great to play.

edit: I also sort of wish the screen drag was invered, but i guess that's personal preference

Resist and Persist by conrad123 2018-12-05T04:17:02Z

Fantastic. The movement feels crisp. The art looks really good. The overlay adds a lot. The music is ok; the sound effects are a bit of a weak point. It might have been interesting to spread the planets out a little more to really drive home the need to sacrifice, but i'm just quibbling.

Really enjoyable and polished entry!

Slime Laboratory by Jimbly 2018-12-07T05:52:24Z

Usually this style of puzzler isn't for me, but the management aspect, and using the puzzle as a means rather than an end, adds a lot more depth and strategy. The slimes are adorable (am I a bad person for spiking them all?). The resource management is simple and effective.

I think it could also work with a more long term gameplay mode. Setting up whole production lines of potions and building up high stat slimes. Deciding whether to focus on selling the slimes or the potions. Whether to make lots of generic potions or a few specific pure ones. There's just a lot of gameplay to be had out of the mechanics you chose. I really like what you've done.

Pew! Pew! by sorlok 2018-12-07T05:15:56Z

Had a ton of fun playing this. The movement and shooting feels polished and satisfying. The enemies are nicely varied. Having to choose between dodging and firepower adds a lot of interest. The sound effects, art, and music work perfectly for the retro arcade style.

Really nicely done.

Humanscape by firellon 2018-12-09T11:51:13Z

Can you say ambitious? This is a lot of fun already and it has worlds of potential. Actually walking and laddering around a ship careening through space and taking on different roles is such a more personal take on a space shooter.

I could see really playing up the character development of the crew who are all trapped together, reacting to deaths or various events in different ways.

Really nice to see this. Can't believe you took on so much in a jam.

One Life One Tear by Jungle 2018-12-05T18:35:16Z

Really nice job. All the decisions feel tricky and impactful. The character portraits look great, and the background sounds are immersive. It does feel like medkits are always the limiting resource and there are always excess beds. The UI when you click on a patient feels a little bit slow to respond. I spent most of my time clicking on character so that got just a little bit frustrating.

Really nice and polished game overall.

SATIATE! by Secretmapper 2018-12-03T03:17:30Z

Really cool concept. I liked running around and grabbing people and putting them where they were needed, very field general feel. The font was a bit tough to read and I didn't have any audio (before or after clicking the button that mentioned no audio). Quite a nice game, good work!

Free-Bug by egos 2018-12-03T16:03:35Z

This is a really neat concept. It works as an arcade/puzzle style game where you optimize a strategy for how many to keep and how quick to cut ties with them if they don't grow fast, with just enough randomness to keep it interesting on multiple plays. It would be nice if there were different bug types or characteristics to allow more decision making. A bit more work on the aesthetics might have gone a long way since the player is often just watching for long periods of time.

Oxygen Levels Critical by deathray 2018-12-03T04:56:42Z

The very first thing I did on my first attempt was to accidentally send myself out an airlock. The camera was a bit rough (or else i've been awake and staring at a computer screen for way too long). I really like the concept and the cute little enemy faces.

Hello operator. by cowa 2018-12-03T19:27:33Z

I adore this idea. Engaging core mechanic. Sets the mood well. There's a ton of design space left to expand into. Really well done.

Dungeon Runer by Andrea 2018-12-03T17:31:00Z

The first time i tried it, it seemed like any time I hit any button I died. I'm guessing I got softlocked before figuring out what to do.

Space and the arrow keys scroll the page, which is sort of frustrating.

I really like the look and feel--ascii-chique.

Obscuring the language adds to the feel of adventuring and disorientation, it's a really nice idea.

It took a while (and a reset) to figure out how to proceed, but once I did, I liked it a lot. Nice work.

Faces by baknik 2018-12-03T04:15:52Z

Took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out how to make progress. Simple, well executed, a lot of fun.

Occupational Hazard (HTML) by legavroche 2018-12-05T03:43:40Z

The character swapping is a great mechanic. It's a really interesting the way you shift importance onto an npc and make the player expendable. This game subverted a lot of expectations: moving towards bullets, jumping on grenades, and so forth. I could see something along these lines making a really great full game. Well done.

Ethereal by foodzilla 2018-12-05T05:09:30Z

Wow what a great little puzzle. This is superbly polished and fun to play. The music sounds fantastic and really sets the mood. There are so many nice graphical details. I love that you get to learn by exploring with minimal hints.

I really can't say enough nice things about this one. Congratulations.

hiJack by SecretPocketCat 2018-12-09T23:12:54Z

I absolutely love this. The minimalist look is great. The hijack mechanic and the ship variety provides a lot of freedom and strategic decisions. The particles and screen shake feel nice and juicy. I finally got to live my dream and play as an asteroid for a change (nice touch allowing that).

The difficulty is maybe a little on the low side--hijacking seems objectively quite powerful and feels more like a sweet thing to do than a sacrifice--but as a showcase for the mechanics, this is fun and polished.

hiJack by SecretPocketCat 2018-12-10T19:33:45Z

@secretpocketcat I didn't take note of my top score. I'd guess I killed in the ballpark of forty enemies and stopped to play pong for a while with the ship that reflects shots back ^_^.

I thought I'd seen all the content when I didn't see any new ship types to try for a while. I guess I didn't notice them spawning faster or else I should have played farther first.

Defuse by Andrew Garcia 2018-12-03T05:09:49Z

Looks gorgeous. Fun to play. The font could be a bit tough to read and the cutscenes were a bit slow.

The Eternal Cold by Roka Josh 2018-12-10T01:00:44Z

This game is absolutely gorgeous and has a great atmospheric feel. Struggling to survive is a lot of fun and the events that I encountered all seemed interesting and meaningful. I do wish the screen transition was a little bit quicker, especially since you need to trigger it every time you want to take an action. Really great work overall, I had a lot of fun with this one.

TrickyShot by William Derksen 2018-12-03T19:13:13Z

I love this. Great main mechanic. Great victory condition. Great use of screen wrap. The time dilation when you get close to a bullet is a nice touch.

It doesn't epitomize the theme so much as graze it gently, but you made a great game and that's way more important.

Bravo!

Behead by wdelvi 2018-12-03T04:49:48Z

This is a lot of fun. I wish the hitboxes were a bit more forgiving, but it's a great arcade experience.

Triumph Tribute by guilhermesouza 2018-12-05T05:10:40Z

Really love the music and the graphic novel style intro. Minigames as combat is a really interesting mechanic. The art look great.

My only real complaint is that the combat is probably the most enjoyable part of the game, but you only access combat if you have ostensibly made a mistake. It feels a bit like you are punished with character loss for having fun.

Really nice work.

Tropical Shaman Ultimate Carnage by Drakncel 2018-12-03T17:47:32Z

Dashing around feels really good. The intro sets the tone well. The graphics and animation are simple but they don't get in the way. It could use some more user feedback and variety, but it's a really fun arcade experience. Well done!

Sacrifices must be made - Ludum Dare 43 by great-bobleny 2018-12-08T20:10:04Z

I like the management/supply chain aspects, but it gets a bit unwieldy the longer you play. The timers seem to speed up until it becomes impossible to even gather the resources, much less add and remove farmers as they are dying off and being born.

It also seems possible to place buildings on top of each other and render them unusable.

The mechanic of sacrificing resources in order to delay negative events is interesting.

It would be good if the different resources had multiple uses so that there were more trade offs and decision points.

This concept could be developed into a fun game with some work.

Non-increasing 451208114412965 by vilix64 2018-12-03T17:08:55Z

This is a masterpiece. Art style, music, mood. Everything works together perfectly. My only complaint is that I'd like to be able to hold space or forward or something to move instead of just clicking the text.

Pyre of Vigil by Teapoly 2018-12-03T04:01:52Z

It took me a bit to figure out what I was trying to do (after I burned all my cards for several turns in a row), but once I did I really enjoyed the gameplay. I love the play vs burn mechanic. The music is great. Really nice aesthetics.

Downgrade by Vasco Freitas 2018-12-03T04:31:50Z

I love the look. I love the gameplay. I love the sound. I hate the slow, unskippable cutscene.

keiki mōhai by Raphael Maia 2018-12-03T15:33:34Z

I like the concept. It gets a bit repetitive, making one circuit around the huts over and over until you need to sleep. The control indicators are a nice bit of polish. The music, while simple, fits well and contributes to the overall theme. Physically carrying the baby up to the volcano adds a lot more impact--although, with the crying sounds, I'm not sure that I felt bad about tossing them in exactly.

Stjarna Höfuð by gamebuilder 2018-12-05T06:03:22Z

Congratulations on completing the jam, and keep at it, it's a daunting task.

I'm struggling to evaluate your game because it is fundamentally about moving around, but I find it very difficult to actually do so. I tried five or six without apparently having even two stars spawn within a radius that I could collect them before running out of mana. It seems as if you have to collect stars quickly, but also need to plan your trajectory far in advance, with the slow acceleration time. Either option could work, I just don't think that they work in combination.

Lost In The Flames by WongKongPhooey 2018-12-03T21:58:50Z

I died on my first playthrough because I got to the door, then turned around to go pick up a penny. Good job dev, you beat me.

This is a nice little game. I enjoyed the mounting sense of panic as the fire spread and took away my path. I was a bit confused at one point when I had to step on a tile that wasn't fully on screen in order to proceed.

You Get Two by justalocalhero 2018-12-05T17:48:16Z

Thanks for playing and for the feedback everyone!

@lastleaf @arkinrev @joh @foodzilla @jhell @jimbly @aplite @pukami @exper105 @somewhatInfinite

Thanks for pointing out how easy it is to find two cards that can be swapped infinitely. I realized that this was a problem early on and meant to add a staling mechanic to the cards (they would automatically swap out if they were active for three turns or something similar) but ultimately I didn't prioritize fixing this because it sort of feels on theme. Sure you can pick two activities and tread water forever, but you will never experience new cards. You can sacrifice (heh) security and routine for the chance to get farther down the tree. Obviously not the best for gameplay.

You often get to the point of never seeing new cards because new cards are only added when using a card for the first time. There was a fallback deck of only bad things if your main deck was empty. I tried to indicate this with icons floating down towards where the cards come from. It's not really enough feedback. I could have explained better but I tried to do it all without text as best I could.

@sky-coding

There is a small tutorial page if you hover over the question mark. I'm not sure if you meant that there should be more (you'd probably be right).

@mcovert @imer

Balance could have been greatly improved. I would have liked to layout the card tree in a way that guarantees more interesting and tricky decisions. Especially since that is basically all of the gameplay.

@sargonius @foodzilla @jimbly @raphael-maia @squirmonkey

I debated putting some text on the cards. I should have put the art next to the text on the final screen at the very least, if not a hover tooltip on the main screen.

Trials of K'zhak by DrEvilBrain 2018-12-05T05:42:30Z

The background art is pretty sweet. The sound fits well and gives an ominous feeling. Sacrificing stats between waves is a nice way to implement the theme although I never really got a good sense of the value of the stats as they changed.

Dodging around feels nice, but I struggled to identify the hitbox on the attack. It seems much smaller than the animation (especially vertically) and a bit inconsistent. Sometimes I could spam attacks, or possibly only the animation, and other times not. It seems like you can dash and attack at the same time, but I could never connect this way. Probably more emphasis could have been placed on making attacking feel great since it is the core of the game.

With all that said, it's a solid concept and I had fun dancing around and chopping up some baddies.

Warlock Quest by Serious07 2018-12-03T17:22:09Z

This mechanic is so great! With a bit of love to the platformer physics I could really see an effective full game out of this. Nicely done!

Goblin Quest by Pellanor 2018-12-07T06:06:40Z

Really cool, simple execution of the theme. I love distilling gameplay down to pure decision making. You did a great job of making the game feel different through multiple deaths. So much fun from two little buttons!

No Step Back by Zetorama 2018-12-09T23:00:38Z

Such a fun and original idea! Simple and effective, fits the theme well, looks good. There's a fair amount of strategy involved in deciding whether to advance your furthest soldier or preserve the maximum number of soldiers. Really impressive effort.

Noah's mARK II by Arthur Baars 2018-12-03T16:51:25Z

Really great core mechanic.

The gameplay was a bit random. Sometimes I could shoot a huge asteroid out of my way and sometimes a tiny one wouldn't budge. Sometimes I could kill an enemy in one hit and sometimes it took a hundred.

I could imagine there being a lot more things linked to the population size (bullet spread, bullet size, hull repair, etc).

Now excuse me while I throw myself out an airlock again.

Paper Space Program by Jared York 2018-12-05T03:35:15Z

Really great look. Love that you can watch your station orbiting earth. I'm sure I wasn't playing optimally, but it seemed a little on the tedious side, just waiting for the numbers to slowly tick up so that I could afford the next launch.

To The Slaughter (LD43) by snakemuho 2018-12-03T18:03:58Z

I like the way that the two resources interact with each other. The graphical effects were really great. It seems like there were a lot of spells to try that all felt varied and interesting.

Unfortunately the controls made it difficult to experience all that it seems the game has to offer. I was often getting stuck on enemies which pile up quickly, stack on top of each other, and attack really quickly. It's difficult to focus on fighting and also see what resources you have available.

I think it would have been a better experience if I could have acted a bit more quickly(There's already a cost for using abilities so it would seem to self balance).

A lot to like, if a few issues could be ironed out. Really nice entry overall.

Dungeon Clicker Crowler by HowlingShame 2018-12-03T04:43:42Z

I sent three people through the open door but still didn't seem to progress in level. Not sure if there is something else to do. I like that there was a bit of exploration and that you added more interesting mechanics to the clicker archetype.

Elder Loop by cyriaque 2018-12-05T18:02:59Z

Fun game. Like the way you handled the fog of war. Sometimes I got locked out of a room if there were several enemies at the door and had no chance to progress. I would have liked to be able to hold down click to shoot. I like that you can search rooms for some easy targets to build up your strength while you try to avoid tougher enemies.

Really nice entry.

Penance by Blodyavenger 2018-12-03T15:52:15Z

Awesome. Feels great. Looks amazing. I love the critters bopping around on their own. It can be a bit tough to slide around objects, but that's my only real complaint. Really nicely done.

Sanity Wars by JoshAnthony1990 2018-12-05T04:41:59Z

I like the idea of incorporating spellcasting into platforming. The fact that you can choose whether or not to access spells is pretty interesting, it could lead to options for challenges, achievements, speedrunning, etc.

The color scheme and the floating eyeballs add some nice atmosphere.

The controls are responsive, but the relative vertical and horizontal speeds feel a bit off.

There are lots of ways to improve the plain old parabolic jump to make the character feel more weight(variable gravity, variable jump height or fall speed if you're holding the button, and so forth).

Good concept, plenty to improve on.

My Little Daily Sacrifice by Gludo 2018-12-05T03:55:24Z

Looks amazing. Music and sound effects are great. Gameplay seems fun. Very polished.

Expendibots by pandan 2018-12-03T03:29:42Z

Love the idea of the synced controls. Really great take on the theme. Camera can be a little dizzying.

Sacritech by SandLantern 2018-12-05T18:17:37Z

Really neat game. Love the minimalist look. Energy conservation is a nice mechanic that leads to interesting playstyle decisions. The controls and relative difficulty of the movement add a lot to the gameplay. Is it worth it to try to cruise through a section at max speed and dodge bullets, or should you spend some precious energy killing enemies. The level design highlights the game features well. The only thing that I didn't really enjoy was the laser sound effect.

Really nice job overall.

Reactor Overdrive by JUSTCAMH 2018-12-03T17:15:29Z

This has a great look. Shooting feels great. I like the aiming mechanic though it's certainly on the difficult side. Good use of the theme. Really nice job.

Stones by jihem 2018-12-03T20:49:07Z

Fun little puzzle. Looks great. Well polished.

I'm not sure that it evokes sacrifice exactly; giving up keys to get through a door is pretty common practice in this style of game. Perhaps if the stones had more emotional weight(e.g. melting the companion cube in portal) it would fit the theme better without changing any actual mechanics.

The camera is a little bit disorienting, it seems to pan pretty far away from the character in a way that I don't intuitively understand.

The old-school blips and beeps fit well with the visual style. Moving around feels nice.

Great work overall!

Creepy-Crawlies by KaunisPoika 2018-12-03T17:00:02Z

This is a ton of features for a jam. The gameplay seems pretty deep. The bugs look nice.

I wish I could tell how many resources I have, and that I could select what I want to build by hotkey. Otherwise this seems like quite a polished little strategy game.

Very well done!

A dangerous situation not to wear shoes in by wie_ 2018-12-03T16:05:52Z

I'm getting 404'd on the web version.

A dangerous situation not to wear shoes in by wie_ 2018-12-03T16:20:23Z

I like the concept. It can be a bit tricky to get the item you are holding to interact with the world as expected. An indicator when an item is able to be used might have gone a long way. The art style is quite nice. Really quite fun, I'd like to see a more fleshed out version.

Hazardous Cleanup by owl and jackalope 2018-12-05T04:05:18Z

Really creative concept. Very clean, polished look, especially the UI. Nice sound effects. Nothing to complain about.

The Price of Crops by Nakami 2018-12-03T16:42:07Z

I absolutely love the look. The controls are a bit iffy; It's difficult to tell if i'm grabbing the farmer I want. The music sounds nice but is a little bit repetitive. A really nice showing overall.

Would You Rather Adventures by Frippe 2018-12-03T19:55:51Z

I like the idea of making difficult choices to gear up your character and then going off to fight. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work properly for me.

I'm not sure if i'm damaging enemies or if there's just no feedback. Clicking a button seems to take away my ability to control the character and he runs off screen. It asks me repeatedly what kind of sword I want, Am I getting sword upgrades after the first time or just replacing them?

Solid concept that could use a bit of bug fixing and polishing.

Evil Cult Managment System v1.0 by Kszaku 2018-12-03T17:41:05Z

I wish the UI were organized a bit better. Not everything fit on screen, it wasn't so efficient to navigate.

The ascii-art looked nice. It was well done to inject so much mood and paranoia with relatively simple effects.

The gameplay seemed appealing but was set back by the ease of use.

Elementalist by RMiranda 2018-12-03T05:28:55Z

Neat little puzzle. It would be great to have a little more feedback when the orbs are consumed or combined. Great way to implement the theme.

Typeless by Naihto 2018-12-03T05:04:30Z

What a great concept! I love the look, all the little animations. It honestly captures the feeling so well of having something to say and somehow not being able. So well done.

Cultist Clicker by TheseusInABottle 2018-12-03T03:52:57Z

The theme is a bit on the nose (Not that that's necessarily a bad thing). I like that you made sure there was feedback on all of your relevant actions. The layout is simple and effective. Still, clicking as a mechanic isn't very satisfying, so it needs something special to make it feel worthwhile.

Forests of Xahil by unpronounceable 2020-04-20T12:51:36Z

Love a good roguelike. Seems like there is a ton of depth with different behaviors as parts get damaged. I like needing to decide what to prioritize in repairs. Really polished overall.

Life of the Party by agentparsec 2020-05-11T06:59:49Z

What a realistic simulation of a party. I pissed everyone off, ran out of things to talk about, and they all left unhappy.

Really interesting use of the core mechanic. I love that the music changed with the game state, great piece of feedback.

The disorienting perspective and the tone of the chatter added a lot to the sense of tension when things weren't going well.

RestoPlane by GlacierEclipse 2020-04-20T10:30:44Z

The art style is gorgeous.

The best iteration of the lunar lander control scheme that I've encountered.

Adventures in the taiga by senior_sigan 2020-04-20T15:37:10Z

Everything works great. I like that your options pop up as they become available, it promotes discovery and avoids ui clutter.

There isn't enough in the way of goals to be a really complete game yet, but it's a nice launching point.

Although I did walk off the map and get lost, so that qualifies as danger I suppose ^_^

Space Ship E.V.E by silkworm_sweatshop 2020-04-23T17:05:12Z

What an awesome immersive experience.

The narrative and the music established the tone well.

The art style is really creative.

Lots of little pieces of polish like the asteroid tracking lines.

My only complaint is that edge pan for camera control doesn't work great in browser, it's too easy to go out of the canvas. You could lock the mouse or choose a different camera control scheme.

edit: on second look, I have one more small complaint. The stars in the background don't quite reach all of the visible space, and the base image is a little small so you can see the tiling at a glance. Picking nits. Something that could be improved without too much pain.

Really enjoyed the game. Bravo.

Cell Defence by bongo227 2020-04-20T12:25:22Z

Fun idea. I like the mix of action and base building. Controls felt really nice. You could move fast without losing control.

I'd love to see an expanded version, securing more territory, building up a strong outpost, moving your attention somewhere else, different cells/cell parts to generate resources, defense, and upgrades.

Mom, I Started a Cult! by oller125 2020-04-20T11:59:32Z

The core idle gameplay works, but I would have liked at least one novel feature to grab some attention. Maybe your cult members convince others to join, or attract law enforcement attention if they get too big, forcing you to expand somewhere else. Some benefit from having more members other than just direct contributions every day.

Not sure that it fits the theme since your cult seems guaranteed to grow.

The currency could be formatted so that the box doesn't flicker every time the number changes.

If the UI for a town opens when you scroll over it, it should probably close when you scroll out of the box.

I do like the idea of spreading out over a map, especially if it were fleshed out to allow strategic decision making and benefits for being embedded in different areas(transport hubs, factories, radio towers, etc).

Rise of the Purple Slime by NateTheGreat 2020-04-20T10:19:45Z

So cool. So ambitious.

Love just flying around the planet.

My major complaint is the delay between figuring out a winning strategy and actually winning.

Conservation Inc. by Sharks 2020-04-23T18:01:13Z

The idea of combining a macroscopic strategy game with minigames to provide action is a lot of fun.

I think the gradient shading in the dinosaurs and the ms paint spray can(?) of the ground don't look as good as just the solid colors like the clouds. It could be an interesting art style if it were a little more consistent.

The dodging section is quite long and doesn't pause your income. Dodging for a long time gives you a ton of money and trivializes a lot of the strategy about what to buy.

Given the size of the hitbox and the keyboard controls, it seems easy to have an unwinnable spawn, with no way to buy a second attempt. Losing without having any say feels bad.

A little odd that the popup for surviving a hazard has two different close buttons.

I'm pretty sure I got softlocked while trying the tutorial when I clicked the button to start the hazard while a message box was up.

With snappier minigames that matched the hazards and some more strategic depth, this could be a lot of fun. Very ambitious for a jam game, cool theme, fun idea. I enjoyed it, despite all my complaining.

Conservation Inc. by Sharks 2020-04-23T23:58:41Z

"...spend money on a second life"

Yeah, something like that. It just seems a little unfortunate to lose the larger game on a single failed minigame, especial when luck can be involved.

"...copy-pasted the Game Over menu"

I thought that might be the case, not the biggest issue of course, just a quirk.

"...issue in the tutorial"

There was a prompt telling me to start the minigame, but when I clicked the take action button, the prompt stayed on the screen on top of the minigame window and no asteroids spawned (although I didn't know they were supposed to until later). I couldn't figure out how to make either go away so I just reloaded and jumped to the main game. Not sure if it was unlucky timing or something else.

"Minigames that matched the hazards"

Yeah that would have been a lot to do on a deadline, more wishful thinking on my part than good jam strategy.

"...more strategic depth."

Currently the macroscopic portion of the game is sort of linear: buy income which lets you buy research which lets you buy defense. The major decision point is when to flip the switch from buying income to buying research.

To make it a little less one dimensional, research could unlock different upgrades which are bought with money. Money could be spent on other types of improvements. Maybe early warning of what the next disaster will be, more nimble dinos for the dodging section, bonuses which affect research and income globally. Really anything that allows your purchases to interact with other parts of the game (and with each other) and gives the player more decisions to make that feel impactful. There's a ton of design space. (I realize complicated systems aren't necessarily for jams. Again, more of a thought of how the game could have been improved in a vacuum)

And a big congratulations on getting everything you hoped into the game in time. Always an achievement.

Vegetablist by Flightless 2020-05-11T07:08:24Z

Fun little juggling act. Took me a minute to realize what the fertilizer and its icon were. I really liked the combination of placing the plants on the correct tiles as well as bringing fertilizer to the plants.

It felt a little clunky at times to grab and place things in the slots that I wanted, particularly under time pressure when I was trying to cut corners.

With a little more variety of challenge and some more long term goals, this could make a nice mobile puzzle game. I played the web version but I imagine it controls great by swipe.

Wandering Star by twigames 2020-04-20T15:46:37Z

Really cool use of this mechanic. Unique art style. The controls and the gravity feel great. Swallowing another star has some nice chunk to it.

Do the different em field lines have different effects? I wasn't able to tell. Cool atmospheric effect regardless.

The spawning seems to go haywire occasionally and just fill the screen with massive stars. I played five or six times and it happened in three of them.

ECHO by MartianSteve 2020-04-20T14:27:10Z

Beautiful. Immersive. Sounds great. Parallaxing stars are gorgeous.

It took me so long to figure out how to accomplish anything. Holding up makes you stop and making noise prevents your sound eating friend from finding you. Controlling your speed in general is tough to get used to.

I still don't really know how to advance. I assume collecting some set number of shapes does it?

It's like everything I'm trying to do is wrong but the atmosphere of being adrift and out of control is so enjoyable somehow.

Crop Time by nicksmaddog 2020-04-20T09:59:53Z

Cute little game. Like the music, simple as it is. Could have used a way to tell when the plants were in danger of withering.

Mostly I want to figure out the mystery of the tree. It haunts my dreams.

Last Fortress Left by ConnorThompson 2020-04-20T13:06:58Z

Fun concept. Looks clean and sharp.

Could have used more challenging puzzles.

I kept waiting for the different colored tiles to come into play somehow.

Maybe something as simple as having enemies that hop two tiles at once or do two hearts of damage would have been a starting place. You need some kind of interaction besides tracing the lines and counting to two. I'm struggling to think of any new challenges with only the towers and enemies as they are.

Don't Lose Familiar by justalocalhero 2020-04-20T11:18:04Z

@lcstark I wanted the familiar to be a just a little bit annoying. Sounds like I did okay ^_^ The first time the fireball explodes is a bit unfair but I hoped that it being big and slow was a clue.

@ghostonline You're right, I tweaked the speeds a lot and couldn't find a perfect balance. I wasn't quite able to get around to warning bubbles when a projectile is incoming. Glad you liked the art.

@bloham I was trying to keep feature creep to a minimum for once in my life ^_^. Juggling a couple of objectives could be fun though.

Don't Lose Familiar by justalocalhero 2020-04-23T23:17:44Z

@sharks

Tremendous feedback, thank you.

Some of the issues did come down to time, as you said, but killing the audio when your familiar took a hit would have been a great improvement with no cost to implement. Ahh well, something to keep in mind.

Now that you mention it, focusing the camera the wizard character might have given the player another strategy to play around with, jumping ahead to scout and then back to protect. Didn't really think of it despite thinking the screen felt a pretty claustrophobic by the end.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to play and give such specific feedback.

Outpowered by LCStark 2020-04-20T08:59:51Z

Needing to return to base for power is a cool way to add a little tension, especially in spots where you don't know whether the path you are on will loop back around or dead end.

The minimap tracking your progress is a really nice touch.

I liked the music. Was there a second theme for when enemies were inbound or did it just seem to line up that way?

KingdomKeeper by BGameDev 2020-04-20T12:38:00Z

One of the better implementations of the swap/match mechanic that I've seen lately.

There's some good strategic depth with managing the quests, even just having two options for how to pay adds a lot.

It would have been nice if there was something to do with the different resource types.

Maybe there should be a reward for finishing quests early, otherwise it seems optimal to just let them stack up and pay in the last week to make a more informed decision.

Ultimate Planet Habitat Support Tester 2020!! by mikouaji 2020-04-23T19:00:43Z

Love the idea and the simulation aspects, but it could really use some ways to make incremental progress.

Most game states seem doomed from the start (maybe not the case on a larger planet size with enough knowledge, I couldn't say). I tried dozens of restarts without any configurations that seemed close to stable. If I did find a winning state, it would just feel like luck more than anything I did.

A good first step might be to invalidate spawns that are impossible, like a planet with only plants or only carnivores.

Maybe if there was an option to tweak stats for an energy cost instead of only randomly re-rolling and hoping things work, or to add species in addition to replacing the ones you have.

It could be a lot of fun to work your way up from plant life to herbivores to carnivores if there was a little more player input in the process.

I love that you went for a whole ecosystem simulator for a jam.

To the Moon and Back... by ETdoFresh 2020-04-20T15:26:02Z

Cool interactive story. You bit off quite a lot, with the sheer number of scenes, trying to tell a story.

It'd be interesting if each scene had some little challenge that you had to fulfill in order to make it to the end safely.

Making all the characters interactive doesn't do too much if it's all just filler dialogue.

I got a kick out of the fact that you could slide the rolling chairs in the control room. I think there's a hidden game there: the player stepping into all these momentous times and just trivially messing with things in the background.

Late Medieval Network Engineer by MisterKeefe 2020-04-20T09:45:13Z

So much to love about this one.

The theme is clever and funny.

There's a ton of strategic depth from such simple mechanics. Should you go to a weak network and repair it or a strong network and heal yourself. Should you take damage now to move to the center and open up more options.

There's a nice balance of information. You know which cards are bad and which networks are failing based on the art, but you have to internalize exactly how bad.

Really great job.

Star Buffs by MAJK_FL 2020-04-20T12:14:23Z

Looks really good. Feels smooth. Pretty fun after the initial learning curve.

It felt like almost all of the danger was in the first moments after an enemy came on screen. Maybe a farther camera angle would help. I guess I could have stopped to check the map constantly to dodge things off screen but that feels against the spirit of the game.

Maybe the heal should be disabled while you're at full health. I used it up quite a few times at first because I wasn't sure what it was for.

Spamming click to shoot isn't the most fun mechanic.

It'd be nice to know a summary of your buffs. Mostly the ships I took over felt similar to the one I started with, but maybe I never got far enough to notice.

Save the station by Alexander Termer 2020-04-20T10:37:19Z

Looks beautiful. A small set of core mechanics that work perfectly.

Could use a way to build multiple buildings faster. I'd love a version designed around building bigger or with more interaction between different building types.

Space Station Alpha by kjscott 2020-04-20T10:46:03Z

Just oozing with flavor, even the instructions. It takes some work to decipher but somehow that adds to the horror/survival feel.

Really great work;

floweressence by yamgent 2020-04-20T16:45:10Z

Really fun twist on tower defense. There's good depth, deciding when to speed up and slow down your targets and how to balance colors. The fact that you're keeping your targets alive really turns the whole genre on its head.

Love the art style as well.

I was having some issues with the audio spiking and getting quiet, although I did enjoy the music when it was working.

Spiders and Sports and Plane Crashes by Seothen 2020-04-20T17:09:58Z

Hilarious.

Love the mechanic of retrieving your soccer ball.

Wish the hitboxes were a bit more accurate, weaving in and out of oncoming spiders would have been fun.

The sound effects made me laugh every time.

Soul Cube by nikor 2020-04-23T18:10:42Z

What a cool concept. Multiplayer in a jam is so ambitious.

The core mechanic creates a lot of strategic trade-offs. I wish there was some incentive tied to surviving or killing.

The Last Ship by Harryu 2020-04-20T11:33:21Z

The theme is a lot of fun. I like the idea of scrambling to patch up a your ship, having pressure from multiple angles, having to decide whether to let your machines take a little damage while you repair, or let the oxygen vent while you fight.

You could improve the immersion quite a lot by fitting the collider bounds to the sprites so that you don't get stuck on invisible corners.

Switching from wrench to weapon feels a little odd since they're on different inputs already. Either click to use selected tool or click to shoot, r to repair would make more sense to me. If you really want switching tools to be part of the challenge, you could have players pick them up the way you do with the metals.

Virtual Fish Tank by Jay Berlin 2020-04-20T13:13:30Z

"Total poop" is a tracker I wasn't expecting to see today.

It's a neat little simulator. I love games where there are a lot of little visual interactions happening in the background.

Is there a way to recoup resources, or is it just trying to optimize how long you can survive with the resources?

Could be neat as a tycoon type game, keep fish alive long enough till you can sell them and use the resources to buy more food and fish.

There isn't a ton of decision making or strategy as is. Still neat to watch the fish swim around and interact with the environment.

Harvest Season by singleshoe 2020-04-20T09:17:18Z

Such a fun game. A ton of potential to be expanded: adjacency bonuses, different shape and size crops, maybe deckbuilding elements.

Took some time to nail down the mechanics, but it was fun figuring it out.

Wish I could have seen the max size of the crops after they were planted.

Some crops didn't seem to work in some tiles and I wasn't able to figure out why.

The art style is charming.

Really impressed.

Bullet Blocker by Doenerti 2020-04-20T08:39:48Z

Using the same projectiles to heal and hurt you is a cool strategic element.

Could have been improved a lot by checking each input button and then calculating which direction to move so that some directions don't overwrite others.

The endless level takes quite some time to ramp up and it seems like most of the projectiles don't have a chance to hit the target. Maybe all or most could have been launched with a trajectory that is at or near the target? You were suggesting that sometimes you'll have to decide whether to block a bullet or not, but there isn't much of a sense of danger.

If there's no audio you should opt out of being judged in that category to save everyone some time.

Big congratulations on your first submission, hope you're back for more!

Snake 99 by TheConfusedCyborg 2020-04-20T17:13:30Z

Doesn't seem to be working for me. All I see is a button that says to view instructions but doesn't do anything on click.

I'll hold off on rating.

NWO Simulator - World peace is an inside job by herzig 2020-04-20T14:36:36Z

Fun mechanic.

Whenever a dialog window pops up it shifts the screen (I assume because of using space and arrow keys as controls?)

It could be a bit smoother if the focus radius on the cities was a little larger and if you didn't need to hit space in the same city twice in a row: to end a dispute there and then again to focus on it.

Elite Beat Zombygons by Archimagus 2018-04-24T05:06:43Z

"congratulations you died" why thank you! ^_^ Great game. So clean.

Survivin' Type by recursiveanomaly 2018-04-24T04:52:33Z

Clever and gorgeous too

Turn-based Bullethell by Azargaz 2018-04-24T21:41:44Z

You chose a great them and executed it so well. The movement circle is beautiful design. I would love to see development continue on this one.

Dropship: Orcs in Space by Ben Hopkins 2018-04-24T05:44:46Z

Am I SlayerS_boxer now? Beautiful game. Great concept. I love the idea of playing from this supporting perspective. The controls were difficult but it still felt good zipping around.

Gradioid by BeamKirby 2018-05-08T06:38:24Z

Oh my god you can turn around. The whole time I was playing I was taking mental notes, "Nice visuals. Feels nice when you hit an enemy. Health drops on kills make a nice risk/reward when you are getting low. Don't like mashing to shoot. Wish enemies couldn't shoot me through walls.," and so forth. Then I reached the first dead end and had a really terrific moment of awe. Love the idea of adding exploration and item collection to this style of game. Nice work.

Ready, Deck, Go! by Cheesey Bob 2018-04-25T22:52:22Z

Really interesting. I love the idea of using deck building and card game mechanics to influence minigames or arcade games. I could see this growing into a really great game.

Dance Ceasar Dance by sinemual 2018-04-24T21:35:56Z

Fun concept. Love the graphical style. Music sounds nice. I'm curious if you tried different timings for the input. I'd like to see how a level might play with a more frantic pace.

ClickerDefense by PhoenixofForce 2018-04-25T23:31:10Z

Had a lot of fun with this one. Loved the art style. I like the trade-off between resource buildings and defense buildings.

GolfZ by smiley 2018-04-24T22:24:16Z

This is a masterpiece in every sense. Can't find a thing to complain about. Going back to play some more!

Goal Defense by Mau 2018-04-24T21:27:54Z

Looks nice and well polished. It might be nice to start out with less cannons and work your way up. Or perhaps have the goalie extend his hand towards the direction he's moving to add a little bit more impact to the movement. Fun little arcade game, could see it eating some time.

Cropping Up by AugusteTheClown 2018-04-24T05:33:06Z

It's great the way resources have dual purposes. You get a lot of decision making and planning from just one mechanic.

Speed Card by DanielM 2018-04-25T22:43:22Z

This is really cool. I love the draft and the use of time as a resource. The controls were a little finicky, and I would have to learn more about the cards to really appreciate all of the decision points, but there seems like a ton of gameplay depth. Nice job on this one.

NEED FOR DEFENSE by trulyspinach 2018-04-24T05:16:35Z

Really great concept. Satisfying popping the baddies. Trying to "Cooperate" with the other car led to some interesting gameplay.

CWF: Card Wrestling Federation by sprngr 2018-04-25T05:46:56Z

I like the multiple victory conditions, although I was confused at first when I won despite my opponent being at half health. This theme is really interesting and the sound and the art style fit together well. I'd love to see a more fleshed out version with more interactions between the cards.

Pilgrimage by Kevar 2018-04-25T23:11:06Z

The music, the visuals, and the theme all worked to capture the feeling longing and isolation. This works great as a little visual story. I'd love to see what a version with a little more gameplay and decision making looks like, learning about the background of the narrator as you go along. It's hard to call this fun, but I was intrigued and emotionally invested throughout.

Flight Deck by Kovakomes 2018-04-25T05:34:04Z

Surely you didn't manage to design all these cards in one weekend. Nifty game, loved all the little jokes. I'm not sure that I fully grasped all of the rules and mechanics at play (without studying the tutorial too closely), but I was still able to get through it. Really nice job overall.

Flight Deck by Kovakomes 2018-04-25T19:40:24Z

@CaryStringfield @Mister_Kweh Very impressive work. I'll be honest, I was trying to set you up for a softball after I saw all the Airplane! jokes ("I did design all the cards, and don't call me shirley")

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-25T19:19:49Z

@Badical Ahh, sorry it wasn't more clear. Glad you liked the music at least

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-25T19:20:10Z

@DangerousFat Thanks. I had a lot of fun wearing different hats

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-25T19:22:59Z

@Team Orange Pop Yeah. Probably would be an improvement. I was a bit worried about not being able to balance in time and locking players out. Should have added at least a bit of danger though.

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-25T19:23:51Z

@Poorwill no doubt. I had a few other bits of feedback in mind that I just completely whiffed on at crunch time.

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-25T19:26:18Z

@Sibi I probably should have given some more thought to resource costs. I'm glad you enjoyed some of the aesthetics.

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-25T19:28:51Z

@Autumnotopia I'm glad you enjoyed it. No doubt there could have been more varied content. I did want there to be a pretty relaxed pace. I'm glad you got a fair bit of gameplay out of it.

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-26T00:48:27Z

@HPMNK Just wait till you play the sequel "Frogs of War." That'll really impress you. Kidding aside, thanks for the feedback. There are a lot of improvements I would have liked to get to.

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-04-26T19:13:29Z

@Kovakomes be a kind overlord please

Grow Germinate upGrade entanGle by justalocalhero 2018-05-07T12:52:59Z

@Beebo Studios Quite a lot I didn't get to unfortunately. You can fight against the weeds by building next to them and choking out their resources. The mushrooms will try to spread spores to random tiles within a certain range before dying off.

Had I made it a bit farther, the baddies would have been able to harm you and hamper your resource growth; you would have had defensive growth options.

Thanks for taking the time to play and give feedback.

TnT: Tracks 'n Towers by TheCze 2018-04-25T23:43:52Z

I had a lot of fun playing this. I also learned that if I ever accidentally drive my car into a crowded parade it's ok because I won't manage to hit anything. Your vehicle getting bumped and jostled and eventually bogged down felt nice.

Mud and Pixels by Hare Software 2018-04-24T06:14:19Z

Looks good, sounds good. So much fun to play. There was a constant feeling of tension, right up until death. I'm eager to go and give it another play!

The Diligent Idle by Nightmark 2018-04-24T21:06:38Z

I love the way the mechanics oppose each other. Building more buildings (even taking time to select and place them) gives you more ground to defend. I also love the art style; that campfire looks amazing.

Bullets of Insight by notgreat 2018-04-25T22:36:00Z

So much fun to move around. I love all the decision points based on the direction of your character. Reminds me of lining up shots in pool or snooker. Really enjoyed this one.

Helsing by davidsheadgames 2018-04-25T06:11:27Z

Are you kidding me? this is unreal, good. The wooden stake as a health bar is brilliant. The music, lighting, and art style perfectly set the atmosphere and the mood. There is tension and discovery and fear and frustration. I never knew that I wanted to play a horror roguelike until now.

edit: I had to come back and say more once I finished the game. The enemy design is great. Something as simple as the enemy moving two squares instead of one made me feel like I was running for my life and losing the race. The way the level design showcased the differences in the enemies (nooks to duck into to see the guy hiding in the walls, long corridors to run from the fast moving enemies, etc). And the feeling of power getting to the end and flipping the script. I really feel like I can't overstate how much you guys accomplished in this little game

Deadly Coin Demo by John Timora 2018-04-24T22:01:25Z

The mood is great. I think it could benefit from a bit of background parallax. The grappling hook is so much fun; using it to control your momentum feels nice. I had a real moment of awe when I jumped for the first time and went flying off into space and had to hook back to one of the platforms.