Kovi

Dwarf Dig Deep by Lintfordpickle 2021-04-26T19:55:48Z

The fact that this was done with your own engine is pretty dang impressive in my opinion. It does have a few quirks as a result, like enemies hitting you through the corners of blocks and what not, but overall it seems to have worked very well.

The gameplay is definitely a lot more careful and methodical than I assumed it would be. Things like limited reach, low jumping, and dangerous fall damage mean you can't just sprint around like mad and survive it. It's actually kind of a nice change of pace versus the usual "as fast as you can go" style that platformer type games tend to have. I really like the TNT throwing mechanic which follows that same vibe, the explosion is very dangerous to you and it's hard to avoid if you aren't careful, so you can't just toss it out at random.

Given the restrictions and how punishing it can be I would probably scale the difficulty down a bit, probably by lowering the damages values quite a bit, at least on easy/normal. I still haven't actually reached the gold amount for the goal since one misstep is so often a death. That being said I do find myself getting steadily better at it every run or two as I get more used to hitting my attacks correctly and what not.

Also props for the art, the game itself has a nice art style to it, but I'm even more impressed you had time for loading and menu art during the compo. Well done!

Soil Surfer by bentglasstube 2021-04-28T04:37:01Z

There's definitely a lot of potential with this one. Using a hexagonal grid for something like this makes the movement really unique, and having the worm move slightly differently through different materials gives a lot of options for cool things to happen as you dig further down. If you wanted to take it further and add more distinct materials/areas, and more unique things to find in your worming adventures, it could really be a blast.

I think the only slightly negative thing that stands out to me in the current version is that the camera movement feels very chunky depending on your speed. I don't think this would be bad if it were matched a bit more into the gameplay, such as Keppersnapper's suggestion to make it in sync with music, but in its current form I think having it always smoothed out would just feel a little better.

Overall though I think this was pretty solid, especially as a compo game. We should totally have a way to add extra cool factor points for using your own framework too, that's fantastic!

Descentris by PhilStrahl 2021-04-27T05:31:55Z

I think this is a really cool concept. It's such a vastly different concept from Tetris, you have a lot more options and control, but it still creates that sense of tension when figuring out where a block can go as quickly as possible.

It's also made me extremely nostalgic. There was an old, underappreciated RTS from the late 90's called Netstorm where you had to create bridges between floating islands using randomized pieces to get around the map. The feeling of twisting around the map with the small, randomly generated bridge pieces felt very similar to your game, and I like it a lot.

The density of obstacles does feel like it transitions a little too rapidly. I feel like I go from still having a pretty easy time getting around to getting pretty solidly blocked in quite quickly. That may just be me being kind of bad though.

> I had a good start but **polishing** and data structures kept me busy for too long.

Yup, it's a Phil game. 😂 Looking forward to your post mortem!

Deadlift by slimabob 2021-04-28T04:56:12Z

This definitely has like... Duke Nukem meets Doom 3 vibes, with a hint of Serious Sam, and as a fan of classic shooters I am *all* over that. I would absolutely enjoy a longer, polished up version.

The only real drawback this jam version faces is that you can't really process it very well. The darkness is a little too intensive, the audio a little glitchy, the feedback a little lacking, which combines to make it a bit hard to really grasp everything that's happening. All of that is solidly down to polish and refinement though, and I have no doubt if you do decide to keep going with it the end result will be a blast to play through.

I think it's really good for a jam game, and a great start at something more. Awesome job!

Deepest Sword by Strega 2021-04-27T06:46:50Z

Oh my god, I love it. Everything about this was fantastic. The game mechanic was simple but quite versatile in its uses, the visuals were great (I love that the character gets winded from the biggest sword), the audio was solid, the dragon's sass about sword size was already funny and leads to...that end screen. Genuinely made me laugh.

I normally try to give constructive suggestions on improvements with every comment, but I'm honestly at a loss. I would say the only thing I want is for it to be longer, but the dragon might like that too much...

HELL by TheZingThing 2021-04-28T05:29:03Z

I liked this one a lot. Both the art and the music felt perfectly suited to it, and everything felt responsive and worked just how I would expect it to. I also really appreciated the level design, using your newly acquired bombs on a shortcut to a previous part of the level that also opens using the bombs was really smooth, not to mention the bonus heart for exploring.

Really solid compo game, and a great base to expand on if you ever choose to.

Dwarven Mines: Hunt for the Evergreen by mrtnldm 2021-04-30T17:35:57Z

What you managed to get in looks great! It's easy to tell there were bigger aspirations with this one that there just wasn't enough time for, which I can totally sympathize with, but there's clearly a lot of potential to do cool things with it.

You have a solid base to work off of if you decided to expand it further, but at the very least you definitely nailed your goal of learning to use 2D lighting.

Deep Dreams by Diebanez 2021-04-28T06:45:05Z

What a great little concept. The gameplay is solid and enjoyable, and the art is just lovely.

I think it's currently a little too easy to brute force your way through most of it, you can normally just hold down fire and manage to transition fast enough to stay alive with the exception of the final level. Other than that I think it really just comes down to needing more time for refinement and adding more content, everything that's there feels really good already and is ready to be built upon.

Excellent work to everyone involved!

Box Hunter by Sandra Jasionowska 2021-05-02T15:52:13Z

A fun little concept, and it's presented in a really pleasant way between both the graphics and music. The only real trouble I had was spotting the red button, as it blends in with the boxes pretty well. Swapping the color to something just a little bit further from that color would help with that part I think.

It's really fun to play around with overall though, even if the spin may be a bit too much for some people. I think just a tiny bit of extra polish on the player, like a subtle amount of bounce after a long drop and a collision sound effect, would really tie things together. Great work!

Deeper Into The Mind by michaelyount 2021-04-27T05:53:25Z

This feels pretty good to play, I think it captures that boiled down bullet hell shooter vibe quite well. I find something charming about the hand drawn art style as well.

There's definitely some room to refine things. It seems like if you manage to get yourself killed you no longer take damage, which is the only really major problem I saw. The audio when hitting the second boss also seems a little harsh/loud to me, and you can see past the edge of the level which causes the bullet sprites to tile around out there, but it's mostly just very minor things like that.

Overall I think this was a lot of fun, I definitely would have liked to played more past what was there which is always a great sign!

Chimes by Pohko 2021-04-27T02:35:02Z

As others have made clear already, this game is visually phenomenal for the time it was made in. Not only for the use of Unity's fancy rendering pipeline either, it has a great thematic vibe to it and I really dig the simple little character and his bouncy movements.

Obviously the actual game aspect itself is pretty simplistic, but even so it feels good all together. For people into the "walking simulator" type games this could already easily expand into something really good, or I think making it a fairly relaxed game with puzzle elements could also work extremely well. I would totally play a game with that little guy pushing things around or activating switches or whatever to progress.

Beautiful work!

Madman - The Crazy Scientist by mudlee 2021-04-30T18:42:06Z

This is a really fun interpretation of the theme for sure, and I like the really simplistic art style it has. I do think it could use another mechanic or two so there's a little more diversity in what you're doing, but the general premise is a lot of fun. Maybe making the hypnotizing process some kind of minigame so it's a little more involved, perhaps even making it vary somewhat each time so it's always a unique process, would add a lot to it.

Regardless, it's a great premise and it does a good job with what it has. Awesome work!

Parentage by CandleBird 2021-04-26T18:48:22Z

Well that was certainly more of an experience than I expected. The mood/atmosphere was done very well I feel, it was genuinely unnerving in the moments it was meant to be, likely more so because I happened to be using headphones.

As someone who's typically focused on games that emphasize speed or intensive gameplay it does feel a bit slow going, but that's also very necessary to give the experience it's meant to. I've never really tried completely narrative focused games or "walking simulators" before, but I actually feel more open to the idea after trying this, so I think it did what it was meant to quite well. Really the only negative I felt was that the mines were popping into existence pretty abruptly and in large numbers, which felt a bit distracting.

It's definitely not the kind of thing that will appeal to everyone, but for those it does I think it does a good job of it.

The Deepest Fish by LeYamez 2021-04-27T03:36:10Z

I like the concept, and I really like the third person fishing scenes. Seeing those utilized a little more in the gameplay would be great. Maybe something like a rhythm type game or something to pull on the line at the right times until the bobber game triggers?

The bobber scenes are a cool idea, and I could see that being expanded to being akin to a bullet hell game with increasing difficulty and complexity. I do think the current transition to them is a bit jarring, mostly the instant switch from rather calm music to the much more energetic and loud music. Easing that transition in a bit might be a big improvement in that regard.

Definitely a lot of potential with this one, good work!

Dungeon Diver by Caue Henrique 2021-04-26T22:19:03Z

This game is a really good analog for what I think of when thinking about good jam games. Everything about it is extremely simple, from the gameplay to the graphics, but it uses what is has very well. It feels like a small slice of what would be a good full scale game.

I can't really think of anything specifically negative about what is in there so far, it just needs to be expanded upon. Get some music in there, add more content to get through, add some unique level mechanics like moving objects or something, you'll have a great game in no time. Fantastic work!

Deedee Spy by Piopio Juegos 2021-04-30T17:56:49Z

I really like the concept. It may take the theme a bit more loosely, but that also makes it feel pretty unique in between all the mining and diving games made.

I like the general aesthetic, particularly the characters so I would totally follow that style when they're reworked, and I love his little peek out of the vents. Obviously there's not a lot to it just yet, but there's a ton of potential there so it's good to see that you intend to continue on it. A groovy theme (the Pink Panther theme song played in my head the entire time, for some reason), some more interactions/things to collect, build up some levels, and you'll have a great little game!

Eggsplosion by Gargantus 2021-04-26T17:15:28Z

I love this concept. I think it resonates with my history as someone who always loved trick maps in games like Quake, it's like 2D grenade jumping.

The core gameplay feels really solid and enjoyable, and there is definitely that "one more try" feeling as well. I haven't quite beaten level 3 (I think?) yet, when the green bits start, but I do still feel that I want to complete it, which is saying a lot for a jam game.

The concept behind the green stuff that prevents the bombs from going off is good, and I think there's a lot of room for different terrain interactions like that. It does cause some frustration though, when you're having a good run and one misthrow leaves you hopping around to your death because your bomb is stuck. Perhaps making it so the bomb automatically detonates after a certain amount of time, or after the player hits the ground once? Of course that would also impact some of the more puzzle-like elements of the level design, or possibly more I haven't even reached yet.

Overall, a great core gameplay design with a pleasant presentation. This is one I could definitely see being expanded beyond the jam. Also I love the little falling animation.

The Deepest Dungeon by Susumu Asaga 2021-04-30T02:38:15Z

Above all else, you really nailed your presentation. The visuals felt spot on, and the music did a great job complimenting it (well, maybe not quite as much when Conga kicked, lol).

I think the big thing with this game is that there's so much potential for more going forward, if you chose to continue on it. A bigger variety of powerups, more things happening as you go deeper (a little more to dissuade people from doing deeper as soon as possible may be a good idea), perhaps the village section could be expanded upon as a mechanic of its own so you could interact with things or build up support to recruit other members to you dungeon runs. You really have a great base for an AFK clicker style game here.

It's never been my genre of game, but I still went far enough to beat it, so I'd say you've done a fantastic job!

The Rabbit Hole by Mystrix 2021-04-26T23:18:17Z

Really cute little game. The visuals, audio, and the feel of the game all work really well together, and it's pretty enjoyable overall.

If you wanted to expand it further I think the main thing would be to make it a bit more diverse as it progresses, to give players something specific to react to or give them an incentive to be more active. Currently your progress is the same whether you bother going for the powerups or not, and since the difficulty seems pretty consistent you generally can just continue doing the same slight movements to dodge for however long you want.

Perhaps some powerups that make the player rocket ahead a decent distance or something along those lines would help make that more worth going for. Diversifying what the enemies do a bit would also help that, maybe make some track towards the player slightly for example. Given you have such a punchy beat going you could also make something happen in response to the beat that players would need to react to in some way. Something to better incentivize using the egg drops might be a good idea as well, perhaps a type of enemy that drops more coins when they're hit.

Of course that's all just if you choose to expand on it. I think it's already pretty solid as a compo game, great job!

TAILSPIN! by Saturnyoshi 2021-04-29T01:46:27Z

There are plenty of submissions that are truly great for a game jam, but this is one of the rare ones that goes well beyond even that. A game with a fun, dynamic mechanic that can be used multiple ways (the wall jumping feels great), a great aesthetic, well done audio, really solid level design across 2 dozen levels, and you somehow still managed to find time for a well polished menu and a damn trophy system?!

Then I was typing this and was going to say the only thing I felt was really missing was controller support, but I decided to try it since it's built natively into many engines these days and of course that works too! So now the only thing I can even "complain" about is wanting the ability to remap controls (I'd like to try triggers for the drill).

I'd still be pretty damn impressed if someone told me this was made in a month, but in 3 days? That's absolutely crazy. Bravo!

Abyss Diver by Vaanrile 2021-04-26T16:19:05Z

As someone who's been watching a lot of deep sea documentaries lately, this one appeals to me.

I really like the hand drawn aesthetic it has going on, the coral in particular looks pleasant to me. The collisions on them felt just slightly inconsistent at times, with some areas giving you some leeway when touching the terrain and others damaging you for the slightest nudge, but it was absolutely a minor problem.

The variety of ocean life was great, from the giant angler fish to the ninja eel. I think they felt pretty good overall, if a little punishing. Maybe making it a little easier to bait the eel into attacking and giving them a slightly longer cooldown, or giving the jellyfish a subtle indicator of what way they will go next with a glow or a stray tentacle or something, just as a way to make it feel more like it's on the player when they do get hit.

Controlling the sub takes some getting used to, but I rather like that versus just having traditional controls and I found myself getting much better with it after a couple attempts. I also think it was a great idea to have both damage and oxygen as game mechanics, so the game is pushing you for speed but you need to be careful at the same time, it works out quite well.

Overall a very solid compo game, great work!

Dwammings by Eden Shazar 2021-04-28T23:08:02Z

This game is super charming, I love the entire vibe it has. The graphics and audio both contribute to that beautifully, and the gameplay tricks you into thinking that it does but in reality you really need to be mindful of what you're doing or suddenly you've got a hole full of dwarves and no kegs for them -- truly the greatest of tragedies.

I actually really like the gameplay, despite not being particularly great at managing it yet. I absolutely love the concept of what the gameplay could grow if careful enough, making a sprawling cave system of dutiful little dwarves digging for their booze.

I had a couple little glitches with dwarves sticking themselves into physical walls, but beyond those minor hiccups it was a joy to play throughout.

Toxicity Run by StefGrizzly 2021-04-27T17:38:33Z

I like the concept to this one a lot, jumping into tubes and solving little minigames to progress. The art, and particularly the music, I rather enjoyed as well.

Obviously there's virtually infinite potential for what games or puzzles could be used in the tubes, it would be awesome to see it expanded with more ideas and variety to really challenge people. A few more sounds involved in the process would help refine it a lot as well.

The integration of the leaderboard is a fantastic touch and is what really sets up the players motivation. The inherent randomness of the game works against that just a tiny bit, but even still it's a huge factor in what makes the game fun. Excellent choice on that.

Prospector Paranoia by Kovi 2021-04-26T17:56:45Z

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it's been vastly better than I ever expected to get on my first casual attempt at a jam. I wish I had pushed a little harder on it so more of the original design made it in, but this has been highly encouraging for the next jam!

@samguy I definitely agree. The original plan was to have a small number of items you could find and use, such as kindling to start a fire that would create more light, or a collectable item tucked away in a corner that would permanently offset some of the sanity drain. Unfortunately most of this game came together in the final moments (there were 0 levels less than an hour before submission!) so a lot of the concept was cut out. I was trying not to burn out on my first game jam, but I do regret not pushing a bit harder to get more of that in.

@the-neon-shark Fantastic feedback, thank you! The original plan was that the sanity drain of later caves would be prohibitive without finding things throughout the earlier caves (unimplemented items mentioned above), but unfortunately I just didn't have quite enough time to make that vision a reality. I do really like the idea of taking things back to a mining cart as a sort of intermediate step, I think that would be a great addition if I do more with it.

@squeg-inc That is an amazing idea! I originally had bigger aspirations for the lose screen, but I hadn't thought of including a last ditch way for players to save their run. That would be a fantastic bit of tension that is sorely needed in the current version. If I continue with this that is definitely going on the todo list!

@thezingthing It's definitely a bit shallow at the moment. The score does show on the "win" screen if you exit before going insane, as a sort of show of success. I do agree the lose screen is pretty disappointing in its current state though and should at the least also show the score. A retry button is definitely needed as well, I did actually add one but it had to be removed right at the end as it was causing too many problems for me to resolve in time.

Prospector Paranoia by Kovi 2021-04-30T17:29:32Z

@mrtnldm I definitely agree on the dissolve being better if it were pixel by pixel. In retrospect just animating that manually would have probably been the better choice, but I did the effect with shaders and wasn't sure I could pull off a good pixelated looking effect in time. I'd absolutely change that if I do more with the game though!

@piopio-juegos Yeah, you successfully end a run by going back to where you entered the cave from. Unfortunately I completely ran out of time to make these spots clear so it's incredibly easy to stumble in by accident, or forget where you came in and be unable to find it. Definitely a significant issue that I just wasn't able to resolve in time.

@nocymer It's a great idea for a mechanic! The character should turn to face the direction of the mouse (well, left/right wise at least), though I would not be at all surprised to find there's a bug with it somehow, especially since someone else also had that problem. I'll have to see if I can replicate it.

@mudlee The character direction should vary depending on the mouse position, since you use that to kind of aim where you're mining. There could absolutely be a bug though since you're the second to mention it, I'll check it out. I definitely wanted to make the interactions with the hallucinations a bit more involved and responsive, including attacking to fend off weaker ones, so I think you were absolutely right to try it. What I would've given for a few more hours on the compo!

@pxldev I agree. The first level was meant to be a bit more instructive as a tutorial, but by the time I got to making the levels I had so little time to work with that it ended up a bit lacking. Definitely something I would like to improve on.

Pedro by pauldpong 2021-04-27T06:18:12Z

The artwork on this is really great, especially the character and that first scene with the sky in the back, those really got me. The gameplay itself is pretty good overall as well, it has a lot of potential for interesting little puzzles depending on how the blocks get laid out.

I think adding a little bit more feedback to the destruction of a block would make it feel a lot more impactful, particularly adding some sound in when you do it. It may also be beneficial to slow down the players ability to break through blocks, I know my first instinct when bursting through them so quickly was to rapidly speed down the level as fast as possible which lead to me taking a lot of very avoidable deaths. I'm not sure if that would make it feel clunky or not, it would take some testing to get right for sure.

Overall I like it a lot, Pedro seems like he wouldn't take anybody's crap about him not being a mole.

Kurou's mind fights by NoCymer 2021-04-30T18:23:46Z

The overall presentation is really good, particularly the effects of losing your sanity, I liked those a lot. It does feel a little strange that the game specifically makes it harder the worse you do, so someone who is skilled enough to avoid dying has the easiest time versus someone who is already struggling a bit. It didn't cause too much of an issue for me personally, but it may be worth playing around with different implementations to really strike a perfect balance with it.

As others have said, the combat does feel a little strange too, but I think it's actually not far off from being really good. I think the core mechanic of it is good, it just needs to be made a little faster and more responsive feeling (still lessening with sanity is good though!). Fighting the monsters the way I would expect to was pretty tricky as is, I ended up largely cheesing it by hopping on top of them and whacking them every time I went down. I think if it were given just that little bit more speed and responsiveness to make for a more hit and run style gameplay it could be really solid.

Overall I really like it though. It needs a little refinement, as compo games do, but it definitely has a lot going for it!

Canyoneer by Kieron Woodhouse 2021-04-27T04:47:06Z

Really neat concept, and the aesthetic all ties together very nicely for how simplistic it is. I think it's the title screen that does it for me in that regard, I think it's that the physically hanging letters just do it for me for some reason.

The random generation is definitely a little sketchy yet and would occasionally leave me in some really problematic situations, but it didn't seem to happen particularly often. There could even be potential for turning that into a secondary mechanic, giving the player a way to setup another rope point while still hanging from the previous one but only in very limited numbers or on a certain duration or something. Hard to say how that would impact the game, but I certainly felt the desire to have something like that at times.

I also really like the blood splatter effect. Maybe slightly too much...

Watch Out Below by Haematite 2021-04-27T17:05:50Z

That was a lovely little game. It does what jam games do best, taking a really simple core concept and making a polished, fun game out of it. I've gotten my score to a little over 100 so far, though I'm still after a run where things work out for me to get those speed boots and see what difference they make.

Obviously it is brutally difficult, which I think is fine, though a little balancing in that regard may make it even better. I think giving the player just a tiny bit of extra time after hitting the ceiling would help a lot, for example. A lot of the time when I would hit the ceiling for the first time in a run it was physically impossible to recover from, I had to get lucky and have the level give me a lot of drops close together to make saving the run possible at that point. Giving players that little extra ability to struggle and get their run back on track could lead to a lot of great moments.

Overall though, really solid little game.

Palette's Bottomless Backpack by CeltiCo 2021-04-27T04:01:15Z

What a fun little idea. I love the general visuals and feeling the game gives off, it just makes the whole experience relaxing even as I plaster my garbage all over the table and risk pushing everyone else's stuff off the edge. The fact that the placement of things seems different each time is also a really nice touch.

I did find myself wanting the ability to move containers around without fully emptying them first, though perhaps that would detract from the chaos of the situation a little bit. May be worth considering though.

Overall I like it a lot, it's a fun way to interpret the theme and definitely way more fun than I would have thought a messy backpack unpacking simulator could be!