Jim's Quest for Birthday present by Sobigdrasil 2026-05-08T23:03:58Z
The visuals are gorgeous!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Kirill Balak
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | š„ | PING! ATTACK! RUN! | jam | 122 | 4.00 | 3.85 | 4.04 | 4.29 | 3.79 |
The visuals are gorgeous!
2026-04-23_22-39-29.png
2026-04-23_22-41-50.png
There wasnāt enough onboarding at the beginning. I didnāt immediately realize that you can spin, and that it requires a certain number of coins. At first I just tried pressing Q and nothing happened š
It also took me a while to figure out the gates ā I didnāt notice right away that youāre supposed to look at the emoji above them. Around my fourth run I finally understood how the game works and managed to reach 68k meters.
It felt pretty exciting at the start, but it got a bit boring fairly quickly. For the most part, I could already ignore almost any obstacles thanks to the upgraded jump. When you can jump four times in a row and launch yourself into the air, nothing really feels dangerous. You can even recover from falling off a cliff by jumping mid-air. Gates appear less and less frequently the further you go, and you can just jump your way to the right ones anyway. I even tried to intentionally die, but ended up just misusing my jump a few times in a row and still didnāt make it to a gate. By that point, though, I was already getting a bit tired of it.
I expected enemies to be able to shoot at me too, but they donāt. That would make things more interesting, though it would definitely need balancing.
On the plus side, besides the strong initial sense of momentum, Iād also highlight the interesting use of the spin mechanic in this genre. And itās great that you managed to implement a progression system during a game jam)
Funny enough, I was thinking about a similar idea myself š
Really nice take on it
So beautiful! šÆ
The project looks very interesting. Itās clear that the mechanics were carefully thought through. However, this genre isnāt really my thing, so I canāt evaluate it objectively.
Thanks for the tutorials both in the game and on the page. I still had to figure things out through trial and error to understand how it works in practice, but itās convenient that you can always go back to the description if needed.
As I understand it, thereās no way to attack the martians ā you can only avoid them. Iām missing an attack option)
I like games that combine 2D characters with 3D environments š
P.S. Cheers from the Game Punkz conference! š
Atmospheric!
Very interesting concept with the music! The finger-cutting part surprised me :)
Interesting visuals and atmosphere.
I didnāt immediately understand how to get past the first enemy. At first, I ran into a wall when I followed the green signal, so I went back and tried to sneak around him whenever he looked away š
In the end, after several attempts, I tried following the green light again and finally understood how the game is supposed to be played. I finished it completely
The explosions feel really powerful! Awesome!
I didnāt immediately realize that youāre supposed to click the arrows with the mouse buttons. Also, sometimes in the browser the control room screen shifts out of place, which makes the arrows impossible to click
Interesting concept, and I liked the visuals. At first, though, I thought being able to go outside the boundaries of the field was a bug. Sometimes the round would also reset when that happened. I was also wondering why there were leftover cards. Only later did I realize that the note about zooming out was there for a reason š
It might work better if the whole game fit on a single screen.
And even with the tutorial, Iām still not sure I correctly understand how matches are determined.
Very interesting concept and beautiful design!
But I didnāt immediately realize that youāre supposed to follow the rhythm (yeah, I didnāt read the message on the wall).
Itās also frustrating when you clearly hit the rhythm, but the game doesnāt register it. Maybe thereās some kind of synchronization issue. I played the downloaded version.
Š”Š½ŠøŠ¼Š¾Šŗ ŃŠŗŃŠ°Š½Š° 2026-05-08 235014.png
Looks like Iām the only one who got stuck right at the beginning š
At first, I couldnāt understand what I was supposed to do. I interacted with the terminals, but everywhere I didnāt have enough resources. Then I started trying to use items. I managed to place a satellite dish, and resources started coming in. But I incorrectly remembered that unlocking the fields in both cases required several thousand resources. So I went to explore the ship, crawled through it, and ended up outside. At first I thought it was a bug, then I started doubting myself, because it seemed like there was nowhere else to go. I was even looking at the later areas through the gaps š
I reached the giant snail and then fell down. Since I had spent so long trying to figure out what to do, I went back there again and fell down a second time. After that, I tried searching for resources by attacking the walls with the starting weapon. I thought maybe some script hadnāt triggered properly. Then I started trying older versions of the game. In one of them, I discovered that one of the fields could actually be unlocked with a very small amount of resources. Finally, I managed to progress a bit and gather some resources =)
The game looks good and surprisingly large-scale for a jam project. I might come back to it later
Š”Š½ŠøŠ¼Š¾Šŗ ŃŠŗŃŠ°Š½Š° 2026-04-26 172942.png
When I launched the game for the first time, the build menu wouldnāt open for some reason ā neither with B nor with 2. I ended up clicking the icon instead. After the first loss, it started working.
The first time, I got confused with the upgrade ā I pressed the icon with "U" and upgraded the tower itself. Only later did I realize that turret upgrades are in the build menu. I had to earn more money in the following waves just to get through the tutorial š
I still donāt quite understand how "Income" works. Also, itās a bit odd that the character can walk on water š
It would also be more convenient if, when a code needs to be entered in a tower, there were some kind of sound cue and the message above it was highlighted more clearly ā I didnāt notice it right away. Maybe it would be better to show this kind of warning in the center of the screen so itās more obvious.
Overall, itās surprisingly fun to play š
I played a few times but havenāt finished it yet. Might come back to it later
At first, I didnāt understand the rules at all. I read some comments, tried a few things, and eventually got it š
But I didnāt get past the first word I guessed.
The main issue for me is the onboarding ā having to spend a long time figuring things out is off-putting.
I agree with the comment @el-chivo-vivo about adding a line break after "rule:". That might make it clearer what relates to what.
And the "5" in the font is indeed confusing š
The web version took a long time to load at first, so I decided to download it on PC. I launched it, didnāt even have time to figure out what was going on, and I was already getting shot at.
At first, I died almost immediately. Then I tried running along the right edge. I managed to reach the entrance with the tower, but by that point I had run out of ammo. Another time I did pick some up, but I still got killed.
Thereās an issue with feedback due to the animations and enemy behavior. And most importantly, the lack of sound makes it hard to understand whatās happening ā at first I even checked whether my PC audio had stopped working.
Overall, making a shooter for a game jam is already an interesting choice š
I like this minimalist style!
This isnāt my genre, so I canāt really evaluate the gameplay, but it feels very well made. The visuals in particular stand out. I liked how the screen is rendered, the effects on it, and the items at the bottom.
Not my genre, and I didnāt really understand how to play, but it looks interesting š
It actually turned out really funny š
I finished it completely. Despite the simple mechanics ā or maybe because of them ā it makes you want to reach the end
Looks great! But I havenāt figured out how to play yet :)
Thereās potential to make the gameplay really addictive :)
Very good minimalist visuals and gameplay!
A very interesting use of the jam theme!
Good design. I didnāt immediately realize that youāre supposed to react to the flashes of light and their sound. At first, I imagined the monsterās approach sounds differently š
The game is tense at first, and the ambient audio and footsteps really help with that, but you can walk for a very long time without anything happening, and it starts to get boring.
P.S. The game only launches on itch.io ā the LD page gives an error. The Google Drive link is private and requires access permission
Š”Š½ŠøŠ¼Š¾Šŗ ŃŠŗŃŠ°Š½Š° 2026-05-06 154841.png
Very good design ā not just in the game itself, but in the menus as well.
Thanks for the tutorial and the translation. Finally, proper onboarding! š
The gameplay is conceptually interesting, but the arrows at the bottom of the screen confuse me. When the beam is pointing downward, pressing A moves it to the right, while D moves it to the left, but the arrows seem to indicate the opposite
Oh, I had a similar idea! Interesting implementation
Finally, a dynamic game! š¤
The way enemies fly apart is really fun. But I do have some issues with the camera placement ā most of the action tends to happen somewhere far in the distance.
There are also occasional dead zone issues. When there are few enemies left, it becomes hard to hit them. The car just spins around them, and the wheels seem to get stuck
Looks ambitious for a game jam. The atmosphere is great, and I liked the visuals. But on the second day, I canāt catch the signal.
I also noticed that the kHz display has been shifted downward from the very beginning ā you can see it in the screenshot
Š”Š½ŠøŠ¼Š¾Šŗ ŃŠŗŃŠ°Š½Š° 2026-05-06 172125.png
The tutorial at the beginning feels overloaded, but the game looks like a genuinely complex system
The mechanics and onboarding are very well done, but the levels themselves are too easy. Some can be cleared in a straight line even after the basic tutorial. In the end, I only died once.
This could already be turned into a full game ā the main question is level design.
I noticed a minor issue: sometimes after using the signal, objects get highlighted that werenāt visible within the circle when the signal was used.
An interesting concept ā I havenāt played anything like this before. The waves reminded me of my own game, but in mine you direct them, while here you defend against them š
Great visuals!
But the game is missing sound and music.
Once I fully understood the rules, it actually became too easy. I didnāt need to use flares at all. Even the level where this mechanic is introduced can be completed without them. I only tried them once during one of my runs on that level, just to see how they work.
It felt odd to me that enemies pass through the ship. At first, I thought it was a problem when an enemy was moving toward the ship. When I started, I even tried to move it.
It would be nice to add some animation to the ship in the future
I couldnāt figure out how to play. I read the description, but it still doesnāt make sense to me. It seems like a lot of effort went into the mechanics, but the game lacks proper onboarding.
I tried to plan my route, but my eyes just got lost in all those squares š
Interesting concept and beautiful visuals, but I only figured out how to play after reading the comments. For some reason, the tutorial screen at the beginning doesnāt show up for me. I played on itch.io