FoonLudum Dare ExplorerUsers → reheated

reheated

Overall Medals

YearLDThemeGameDivisionOverall
πŸ₯ˆ 2019 45 Start with nothing Juicefruit Orchard compo 4.48
πŸ₯ˆ 2015 34 Two Button Controls / Growing Initial Conditions compo 4.46

Category Medals

YearLDThemeGameDivisionCategoryScore
πŸ₯‡ 2019 45 Start with nothing Juicefruit Orchard compo Fun 4.46
πŸ₯‰ 2019 45 Start with nothing Juicefruit Orchard compo Audio 4.48
πŸ₯‰ 2016 35 Shapeshift I Have Brig Plans compo Fun 4.37
πŸ₯ˆ 2015 34 Two Button Controls / Growing Initial Conditions compo Fun 4.38

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuHuMoCo
202149UnstableKarunocompo1673.703.653.843.362.973.772.863.22
202148Deeper and deeperConduitcompo114.254.194.193.183.624.042.203.87
202047Stuck in a loopRailcompo483.964.003.923.803.664.143.71
202046Keep it aliveAutoexeccompo1543.853.873.582.443.643.752.253.17
201945Start with nothingJuicefruit Orchardcompo24.484.464.304.324.104.484.274.16
201944Your life is currencyCold Dreamcompo303.953.863.973.602.813.342.954.09
201637One roomThe 16th Bitcompo1223.673.503.413.723.003.783.473.7828
201636Ancient TechnologyThe Mystery of the Maniac AIcompo
201635ShapeshiftI Have Brig Planscompo44.414.374.163.973.343.973.9039
201534Two Button Controls / GrowingInitial Conditionscompo24.464.384.333.923.624.274.4651
201533You are the MonsterMilky Helps Peoplecompo184.134.124.363.433.523.904.433.9869
201532An Unconventional WeaponWellbeingcompo104.203.983.883.613.714.143.304.2171
201431Entire Game on One Screendiscrepancycompo144.153.884.123.503.534.003.233.7155
201430Connected WorldsSpace Spy Storycompo1303.713.343.874.133.193.573.423.3057
201429Beneath the SurfaceLogiFigcompo2893.463.004.071.832.503.772.113.0447
20132710 SecondsSWEATcompo4713.142.913.202.882.402.603.032.7761
201326MinimalismRecondite Rectanglescompo1713.633.503.844.442.972.851.392.9354
201224EvolutionAn Astronomical Affraycompo2293.233.102.653.032.483.732.252.5464

Performance over time

overall score (left axis) percentile (right axis)

Scatterplots

Fun vs Overall

Innovation vs Overall

Theme vs Overall

Graphics vs Overall

Audio vs Overall

Humor vs Overall

Mood vs Overall

Comments by reheated

LD46 — Keep it alive

Keep It Alive by DoctorTM 2020-04-23T11:09:37Z

Overall: Pretty confusing to begin with but fun once I'd figured out what to do.

Fun: I had some real fun with this game, thanks for making it! To begin with, I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to do anything. The movement controls took some getting used to, and I couldn't see how to make or use the tools. I also had trouble working out how to cut down trees and bushes. I think a major factor in this is the lack of feedback when I am cutting; a sound each time I chop would do the trick. After a few attempts, I got the hang of things and realised that a good strategy is to mow the lawn around the outskirt of the light circle, only returning to the fire when I need to grow the circle significantly. In this manner I got the score above 1000 and reached the edges of the map. (If there is some way to win the game then I have missed it.) I didn't find myself making torches, since it is just possible to see objects in the dark.

Innovation: Sure

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Not bad - they do the job.

Audio: The ambient sounds are good. As mentioned above, I really think there should be audio feedback when I am successfully chopping (and maybe other actions too).

Mood: Good, thanks to the ambient sounds and the time pressure.

KeepAlive by DrEvilBrain 2020-04-25T07:36:42Z

Overall: Fun!

Fun: Good! One of those games where I find myself thinking "Well, I think I've seen everything but I might just have _one_ more turn before I write my review". Many turns later, I managed to crack 100 packets. It's simple gameplay but the random element and the ease of starting again keeps the player coming back.

Innovation: Yes. I guess it conjures up memories of old arcade games, but definitely not a copy. (After writing this I see that you mentioned Tapper in a comment - that's exactly what I was thinking of.)

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Simple but they do the job and are nice and consistent.

Audio: I find the audio kind of grating. I think it's a TIC-80 thing.

Humor: Pretty funny concept, and yes I realise that the game name is an actual networking term, nerd :).

Soulless by Shikto 2020-04-21T14:04:52Z

Overall: A cool idea that I think would be more fun if I didn't have to click so much.

Fun: It's a really fun idea. However, in the end I found that the biggest part of the challenge is clicking fast enough. I set up a macro to click multiple times for me and that helped, but I still only lasted long enough to water the tree once. The "fetching water" aspect would be more interesting if the wells were further away and the tree's max water were much lower (say, 10 instead of 100). As it stands, I don't find much incentive to leave the central area. I'm a bit lost about the way the gems work - when do they take effect and why can they go negative? Also, the towers are cool but seem a little tacked on without some way to interact with them - maybe upgrading them or telling them what to target.

Innovation: Sure, I think it's original gameplay.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Pretty good!

Audio: Good. I really like the music!

Humor: N/A?

Mood: Pretty good as established by the music.

Nuke-A-Tron 2000 by kale 2020-04-22T14:18:39Z

Overall: It's a good idea and mostly well executed. Because it's such a "tense" game, when something happens that feels unfair, it's easy to get especially aggravated.

Fun: It's pretty fun for a little while. For me, the obvious comparison is Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. A big difference (besides being single player) is that there seems to be no victory condition. I think that being able to win - and try more difficult stages - is a big part of what kept me coming back to KTaNE. The fact that this game just goes until I lose means that I don't feel on the edge of my seat quite as much. I noticed an effect, whereby, when I replay the game, some of the minigames don't trigger any more. Eventually I can play the game without anything ever triggering, and survive forever. A couple of other minor gripes: (i) the alerts appearing over the top of the game I'm playing; (ii) the blue text in the colour game is hard to read; (iii) having fuchsia and purple as two of the colours screwed me over. Go fuchsia yourselves.

Innovation: Sure. I mentioned KTaNE (Maybe Spaceteam as well?) but this is clearly different, being single player and having its own set of minigames.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Not bad. My own preference is to see everything consistently pixellated or non-pixellated, but I guess it's a matter of taste.

Audio: The music sounds good to begin with and is very appropriate, but the loop is so short that it gets grating after a while.

Humor: Yeah, the story's funny, along with the whole situation.

Mood: Good, a tense mood is created by the time pressure and the music.

[Update: I slept on it and decided the fuchsia/purple thing is actually pretty funny. I'm not mad any more. I also need to learn to spell.]

Autoexec by reheated 2020-04-25T03:13:14Z

Thanks for your comments everyone!

@cobear25 You're right about the contrast.... I am starting to think I should have made enemy bullets look bigger too.

@lakrits Letting the basic attacks stack is an interesting idea but maybe that would compel players to choose all four of them? You're certainly right about the other issues. Maybe I should have made the basic attacks just require a keypress to turn them on, instead of holding down, to help with the rollover problem. (I mostly used z, x, etc. which don't seem to have as big a problem with the arrow keys, at least on my keyboard.)

Autoexec by reheated 2020-04-28T05:37:37Z

@drevilbrain Yeah, I kept turning the acceleration up and up until it seemed "fine" at the time but in retrospect it should have been even higher. (maybe infinite?)

@laura-del-pino Yes, I was trying to make it easy to survive the initial waves, but hard to farm XP. But I didn't quite spend enough time playtesting and balancing the waves, and it turned out waay too easy and slow early on. I kinda knew that I hadn't left myself enough time for that job, too...

Team Wipe by Louis Mareau 2020-04-21T14:30:04Z

Overall: An interesting and fun idea, and executed really well.

Fun: Yeah, I think it's a great and fun idea. I had quite a few goes, with some successes and some failures. I managed to do it by getting in close and using a lot of Fireball II. But it was kind of luck of the draw whether I could get in close enough or not. I never figured out what that firefly-making spell does. Good job with that AI!

Innovation: Yeah, it's an original and creative idea.

Theme: Yeah, you turned it on its head!

Humor: Well, I laughed, having been on both sides of this situation in RPGs I've played.

Tablet Force by AdamV 2020-04-28T06:20:50Z

Overall: Fun and satisfying action/exploration game.

Fun: Yeah! The combat is nice and has a tactical element since the enemies lead you. I liked the aspect of having to make decisions about whether/how to use my energy. I also liked searching the building for terminals that would do different things, like turn on all the lights, or disable the sentries.

Innovation: Yes

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Everything is nicely drawn, especially the main character! If I'm being pedantic, different things are drawn with different perspectives, which makes them go together kind of awkwardly.

Humor: I like the idea of a tablet as a main weapon :)

Mood: Good, I think especially thanks to the lighting.

Lightstruck by deceius 2020-04-23T14:44:09Z

Overall: Fun and well presented - wish it was longer.

Fun: Pretty fun but very short! Took me a few goes but I managed to finish it. In the end, my strategy was basically to bolt for the exit and avoid fighting.

Innovation: Sure, I like the idea of having to deal with my own health at the same time as the declining sword energy.

Theme: Yes

Mood: Good, the dwindling light does a good job of reminding us of the race against time.

Keep The Party Alive by tuesi 2020-04-23T14:20:44Z

Overall: A fun mini-game game and well presented!

Fun: A delight. Really cool idea. Kind of like a Warioware game but with multiple things vying for my attention. Unfortunately I had a problem where after paying off the police, my movement would get permanently stuck, so there was no chance to get money for the second lot of police. This happened on both of my attempts.

Innovation: Yes, it's quite unique.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: I like it! The graphics are good, and consistent, and it's clear what everything is.

Audio: Pretty good. The music is suitable.

Humor: Sure, I like how it's a comment on how extroverts are shallow people that have loud parties and always break stuff.

Mood: There's a sort-of tense mood created by the survival aspect with multiple things going wrong, but it's alleviated by the fun party atmosphere.

ecoBunker by interpixel 2020-04-24T07:33:17Z

Overall: A cool idea and well presented. In my experience, a cheesy strategy outperforms trying to be clever; this detracts from the gameplay depth.

Fun: I tried to treat this as a strategy game, reading the descriptions, and all the variants for the bonuses, working out a strategy and then put it into play. The problem I had is that things happen so quickly that I didn't really have the time to observe the situation and react to it. In the end I found a single sure-fire strategy: Repopulate all the species as fast as I can click. (No variants required. I started with trees and moved clockwise.) I think that this game could provide a lot of entertainment value if (i) things are slowed down to give the player some time to observe and react; (ii) the mechanics are balanced to add strategic depth, i.e., prevent cheesy strategies like mine.

Innovation: Yes! I think the gameplay mechanic is original and clever. I especially like the effort to describe the real contributions of different components of the ecosystem and convert those into gameplay mechanics.

Theme: Yes

Audio: N/A?

Humor: I enjoyed the occasional light-hearted diversion in the text descriptions.

Mood: Professionally presented with a good UI and appropriate images, but since it's a menu-based game I don't find it particularly "moody" - maybe some music would add to this?

Atlantoid Plantoid by microwerx 2020-04-22T08:10:15Z

Overall: Fun & addictive. Pretty hard!

Fun: Cool idea and pretty addictive. I had quite a few attempts but I think I'm just lousy at it. I never quite managed to fill the bar - I guess that's the goal? At times it felt "unfair" for a few reasons. Firstly, the hit box on the flowers are very big (I guess lowering that slider changes it? I tried it and it did seem to help!) Secondly, the flowers suddenly jump up without warning when they grow. It would be good if they grow up gradually, or maybe if we get to see an outline of where they will grow to, for one or two seconds before they jump up. Lastly, there's no warning when I'm low on air (I note that there is an air bar in the screenshot but I don't see it in the game - if this is a last-minute bug, note that the rules permit you to fix those).... but it's not even clear if death is actually penalised?

Innovation: Yeah! I haven't seen something like this before.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: It's functional, though there are a few things that aren't to my taste. The full-red and full-green stuff are gaudy, and there's a mix of different pixel sizes in the different graphics. I'm being pedantic. I like the guy's beard.

Audio: Functional and good.

Humor: Sure, it's a pretty funny situation, especially since why can't this guy just swim to the surface and then swim home.

Mood: I like the way there's an ambient underwater sound mixed in there with the music.

Tear the damn tree down by Glox 2020-04-22T10:08:45Z

Overall: Fun and addictive, and very well presented.

Fun: Fun and addictive. I played for quite a while. I had two goes, and both times, the game played beautifully for quite a while until suddenly crashing. (Playing in Firefox on Windows.) It took me a while to figure out how the planting/growing/special weapon system worked, and I never figured out how to get a grenade. I like the way the enemies gradually take away my room to move around. (Is this preventable? I certainly never managed to stop it.)

Innovation: Sure, it's pretty unusual.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Very nice!

Audio: I like it - both the music and the SFX!

Humor: Well, I laughed a bit at the juxtaposition of the calm in-between-waves music and what I was actually doing - roaming the forest drinking human blood.

Mood: Good, the graphics and music and SFX all work together nicely, in my opinion.

Chicken Coop by Bram 2020-04-21T14:44:24Z

Overall: Solid foundation for a good TD game.

Fun: In my opinion you got _this_ close to having a really substantial, solid game, when you ran out of time. The game logic is in there and works well, there just has to be more tower types and enemy types - enough to make the gameplay need some strategy.

Innovation: Not really - standard TD gameplay, although the chicken theme is original.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Good. Great job on the chicken animations.

Humor: Yeah, it's a funny theme for a TD game.

Mood: Sure, I think that the music, graphics and gameplay work together well.

Botanophobic Zombies by Samelgamedev 2020-05-06T13:27:43Z

Overall: Fun idea, well presented, great tension. A touch slow/samey.

Fun: Definitely fun for the last in-game hour. The game works well, and the shooting is satisfying. I didn't find myself having to move very often. The first 5 hours create a lot of tension because I can guess it's going to get hard at the end. But I think that build-up goes on a bit too long. I might have halved the game time (e.g., by making the clock run twice as fast but having the rush go for the last two hours). Hard mode didn't seem to get any harder than the hard part of the main game, and by the end it felt a bit samey. Just needs something to add variety. Extra enemy types maybe. (You know the sort. A tank. A fast one.)

Innovation: It's a standard kind of gameplay, but having to protect the plant adds something new.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: The player, plant and zombies look good. I'd love it if the background had the same kind of detail.

Audio: Good! The music creates tension while being enjoyable to listen to. The zombie sounds are good.

Mood: Good, thanks to the build up of tension and the music.

Carnivorous by James Greenleaf 2020-05-03T14:52:41Z

Overall: Nice twin stick shooter - it's fun although very hard.

Fun: It's fun although very hard. I ended up preferring to use mouse and keyboard, probably just because I'm more used to it. Getting the firing speed boost is very satisfying. After many attempts to win the game honestly, I finally found a strategy that's more my style... flying off the bottom of the screen and shooting everything from safety.

Innovation: I think the combination of this setting with the gameplay is innovative. I also appreciate the way the cells work differently from the viruses, giving you a bonus as long as you shoot them.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Not bad, I think everything goes well together.

Humor: Sure, I think the interpretation of fighting viruses as a shmup is pretty funny.

Mood: Good - I kinda got this "internal organ" feeling just from the colour scheme and art and the thumping sound of the weapon, without the need for particularly graphic graphics. So well done.

LD44 — Your life is currency

The Cash with a Hat by Ratrat44 2019-05-04T03:53:41Z

Overall: Fun and funny.

Fun: Fun idea with a good bit of puzzle-platforming. The ability to easily reset is good. (If the game were much longer, then I wouldn't want to reset the whole thing every time I screw myself over - I suppose the game would have to be served in levels.)

Innovation: Certainly! I particularly like the clever way the coins deliver three different gameplay mechanics: the goal, the height changes that impose movement constraints, and your way to interact with objects by launching coins.

Theme: Clever take on the theme!

Graphics: Simple but effective and endearing.

Audio: I do not like the sound, and turned it off.

Humor: Funny, because of the bizarre take on the theme. Add to that the walking animation.

Mood: Fine, it's a humorous mood.

Menorah's Quest by enderswype 2019-05-07T11:17:20Z

Overall: Fun and novel gameplay although it does hurt my eyes!

Fun: I think it's a fun game. I enjoyed having to weigh up the option of whether to use more light, or try to rely on my memory & own guess as to where I am. I enjoyed the escort missions more than the maze parts, because solving mazes without a map feels a bit arbitrary. I'm impressed by the moving lights in all the levels. (I don't often see stuff like that in Ludum Dare games.) Question: are the candles at the end showing how long we were at the end of each level?

Innovation: Innovative gameplay!

Theme: It's a clever interpretation of the theme. I like how the player can preserve their light by not using it, but this comes at the risk of hitting a spike. I also like how, in some levels, there are moving lights we can keep up with, and if we do it well, we barely have to use our own light at all.

Graphics: The art is fine. However, flashing the light did hurt my eyes. What is the solution to this? I wonder if it would help to tween the brightness for a fraction of a second every time it turns on and off?

Audio: The sound is a little grating, I ended up turning it off.

Humor: It's not a humour heavy game, but it was amusing when I got pranked in an early level.

Mood: I think the "dark" mood of this game is alright, although it would be improved with better music/ambient sound.

Life Of Erdanon by exewin 2019-05-02T12:27:02Z

Overall: Fun game, with a mix of puzzle solving and platforming. Good difficutly.

Fun: It's fun! I wish it was longer! The main schtick of potion throwing is good. Took me embarrassingly long to realise what you gave us potion #1 for... after that the game was much less frustrating :p. My only complaint about the gameplay is that Erdanon gets a bit floaty around the edge of a platform - this caused me to often miss jumps.

Innovation: Sure, making a puzzle out of the throwing potions mechanic is clever, and works well.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: The cutscene art is very nice! I guess I feel that the ground and sky tiles don't live up to the rest of the art.

Audio: A bit bare-bones.

Humor: Good - I enjoyed the cutscenes! P.S. was this guy losing blood for fifty years??

Mood: Alright, would have been helped by some music.

HWEY Heist by Hunter Towe 2019-05-07T12:30:45Z

Overall: A silly platformer with multiple enemies and scripted events - impressive.

Fun: I played on normal difficulty. I think the fun in this game stems from the silliness of it all. There is an impressive amount of gameplay and I am impressed by the scripted events (complete with camera movement). Something felt a little "off" about the controls (maybe the triangular jumping arc?) but not so bad as to prevent enjoyment of the game. I enjoyed the chaos when fighting the final boss. I was frustrated by the difficult jump puzzle. In my opinion, there were also too many invisible pathways. I somehow got through the final boss like @flashviper did, but I ended up falling back in front of the boss and defeating him properly.

Innovation: I think the gameplay is more or less standard, except maybe for the unusual gun.

Theme: Well, it's there, but sort of feels tacked on.

Graphics: Functional and funny. I think the enemies look hilarious.

Audio: I'm not a huge fan of the simplistic music.

Humor: Of course, it's funny and ridiculous.

Mood: See humour.

cut'n'align by neguse 2019-05-03T14:50:18Z

Overall: Novel gameplay with an interesting strategic aspect.

Fun: Cool! I had two goes and got a much higher score on my second go - I think there is definitely some strategic aspects to getting a goood score. I only got irritated when an "X" showed up that foiled my plan. But I can see how they are needed to make the game challenging.

Innovation: At first this game seems similar to existing falling block games (Doctor Mario, I think?) but the "cut" mechanic makes the gameplay unique.

Theme: Not seeing the theme shine through, but that doesn't matter.

Graphics: Nothing special but they serve their purpose and frankly are better than most programmer art.

Audio: The music loop is good, but a bit short for a long-play game like this.

Humor: N/A

Mood: Cool mood brought together by the music + the quaking blocks when you're losing.

Evoform by SnowTV 2019-05-04T07:30:19Z

Overall: Cool, clever strategy game with a neat upgrade system. I was hooked for quite a while!

Fun: A very nice and interesting turn-based strategy game. The tactical aspect is enjoyable (e.g., trying to position my units so they can attack without being attacked). I also like having to decide whether to sacrifice units (and which ones) for upgrades. I played for a long time before finally getting a "you won!" screen when I made a fully upgraded unit. I think it would have been useful to more clearly indicate that this is the goal, and show the player how close they are are to it. If I had to criticise something it would be the animation speed: a lot of time is just spent watching the pieces move, when I already know what I want to do next. (It might also be nice if there was a little more visual feedback - some information isn't clearly displayed, like which units have already moved this turn.) I had some minor issues with the menu buttons not doing what I wanted: sometimes clicking "Confirm" would just exit the menu instead of asking which upgrade to make.

Innovation: Sure, it seems like an innovative set of tactical rules. Simple rules, but some complex gameplay emerges from it.

Theme: Good interpretation. A lot of people (myself included) are simply having a number that represents your life, and you can spend it on something. But in your case it is actual units on the board that you have to sacrifice. I like that.

(P.S., could do with some sound.)

TREASURE ROOM by jutjuan 2019-05-11T11:44:49Z

Overall: Fun, good difficulty, and appropriate sounds and graphics - very nice.

Fun: Good combat, just the right difficulty, in my opinion. I managed to finish it on my first run, but it was pretty tense! (In my opinion the only really fearsome enemies are the warlocks with their ranged attacks.) A strange feature of this game is that the better you play, the fewer difficult enemies you'll see.

Innovation: Mouse & keyboard shooters have been pretty common in this LD. But this is a mouse & keyboard sword-swinger. The combination of the arena rounds with buying the end of the game is something a little bit different.

Theme: Yes.

Humor: It's not a focus of this game, but I think there's some humour in the monsters and the sounds.

Mood: Good - I think the difficulty, the graphics & sound all work together to achieve a tense mood of an action game in a dungeon setting.

Basil Price: Mint Investigator by minibobbo 2019-05-02T13:41:00Z

Overall: Humorous, I enjoyed it!

Fun: I had fun. It's mostly straightforward, although I did get caught not searching for enough clues at one point.

Innovation: I've seen games like this before but I don't think I've seen a clue system like this in an LD game. Pretty impressive to get it done!

Theme: Fine by me!

Graphics: Very nice.

Audio: Great music. Light on the sound effects.

Humor: Good! I laughed out loud at the ending screen. If I'm being picky, I think that the fourth-wall breaking jokes came too thick and fast early on.

Mood: Good, humourous detective game mood.

(Edit: just got why he's called Basil)

Basil Price: Mint Investigator by minibobbo 2019-05-04T00:40:54Z

@minibobbo Because he works in a mint! Presumably the CEO's name is Rosemary, etc.

A day at the farm by ZenriS 2019-05-04T10:11:31Z

Overall: fun, addictive and silly, I think it's great.

Fun: Yep! Fun and addictive! I think it would be even more addictive with a few small balance tweaks. I have no idea how to use all 8 available plots, I can't move fast enough to harvest the blood from more than 2. Maybe if the plants grew slower? And also maybe freedom should be more expensive?

Innovation: I think that the "action gardening" idea is pretty innovative!

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Kinda gaudy

Audio: In my opinion this sort of randomly generated music sounds OK but is not very memorable.

Humor: Sure, I laughed at the silly concept

Mood: Kind of intense at the same time as being silly.

Charger by CraftLord 2019-05-11T11:53:56Z

Overall: Cool - reminds me of old arcade games but with more modern graphics.

Fun: It's pretty fun - you got the foundation of the gameplay right. I just wish there was more variety. Specifically, more different waves - they very quickly repeat themselves. Another option to increase variety would be pick-ups: health regen, or gun upgrades or something. (I also found it slightly offputting how the enemies sometimes "jumped" into position after flying into view.)

Innovation: The gameplay is standard but I think that's what you were going for.

Theme: It seems that there is no relevance to the theme?

Graphics: Good graphics! (_very_ minor complaint: it's too hard to see my own health bar)

Audio: Good shooting sound effects. No enemy death sound effects? I wish the music was much longer (what there is sounds good).

Humor: N/A?

Mood: Good. The graphics, the audio and the gameplay go well together.

Vital Investments by dalton5000 2019-05-01T14:34:00Z

Overall: Fun, gentle, happy city builder. I like it.

Fun: It's nice. It's a little on the slow side, but that just makes it relaxing. I didn't realise for an embarrassingly long time that I could move the camera around! Some other things weren't clear - I saw that supermarkets get a better income when there are more houses, but I don't know what other rules are going on. In the end I just built everything, which worked fine. The idea of charging money for hints is neat, but when I clicked on the first one it wasn't very useful so I didn't spend any more money until another playthrough.

Innovation: At first it looks like a city builder. But it doesn't play the same as one, so I'm happy with that!

Theme: It meets the theme; if you run out of money, you lose the game. That's what happens in most city builders anyway, though.

Graphics: The graphics are nice, and functional.

Audio: I really like the music. The sound effects are good too.

Humor: I enjoyed the newspaper articles, although for some, it wasn't clear whether they're telling me something about the game, or just for flavour. Also enjoyed the hints when I came back to them later.

Mood: Good. Relaxing city builder.

P.S. Half expected the statue of Godot to never come.

Hearts for Coins by Cubicode 2019-05-07T13:16:42Z

Overall: Interesting gameplay mechanic but more careful level design would be needed to make it shine through.

Fun: I think the healing mechanic is a clever one but I only needed it in level 2! Levels 1 and 3 can be completed by just getting the keys and going to the exit, which kinda defeats all your hard work implementing this interesting gameplay twist! (Like others, I also thought the movement could be sped up.)

Innovation: Yeah! the healing mechanic is quite unique.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Looks pretty rushed.

Audio: It grates a bit so I turned it off.

Humor: N/A?

Mood: I don't think there's much of one. But I never really know what it takes to make a game with good "mood". Maybe textured platforms, background art, and animated character eyes & legs? Maybe a story? I dunno.

Wu-Wei by luckyDaisy 2019-05-10T15:16:18Z

Overall: A very well executed, difficult platformer. You got the platformer controls feeling just right. There seem to be some secrets that eluded me.

Fun: It's a really hard platformer. That means it's satisfying when I manage to finish a level. Platforming controls are very good. The length of the game is impressive and the level designs are mostly very good. At times it's a little too hard for my tastes. I was pulling my hair out a lot in some of the later levels - especially level 20. For more seasoned platform players I guess this would not be so difficult! Anyway, I think I've "sort of" finished it - I got to the star in level 20. But a lot went unanswered for me. I didn't find a ring for the rat. I went back afterwards and killed the rat, but don't know how to use what I got. There was an inaccessible platform on one of the levels and I don't know how to get to it. It's a game full of secrets and I'm too inobservant to figure any of them out. So you can ignore what I say.

Innovation: Gameplay-wise, it's the usual sort of stuff one sees in a platformer. But the level design is quite creative.

Theme: ... no? Did I miss something?

Mood: Superb.

(P.S. 1. It is possible to fall off the screen under the jump pads in level 20.)

(P.S. 2. I agree with others that say it could do with some sound effects.)

BloodThirst by Gassi Games 2019-05-11T11:11:56Z

Overall: ARPG with fun combat and a good upgrade system.

Fun: This is a really fun idea. It's enjoyable to watch my character get more powerful. Especially when the dash delay gets to minimum, it's fun to dash around defeating the enemies. The early screens are too easy to farm... now I understand why many ARPGs reduce the XP reward when you are overlevelled. I think I finished it - Cleared a room where the only exit is back the way I came. Would have liked a victory screen or some instruction as to what I'm missing!

Innovation: I've seen most of the elements of this game in other games. What's really nice is the creative design of the upgrades, the enemies and the dash mechanic.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Looks good. You did a good job of getting the ideas across with low-poly models. I really like the dash effect. When there are many health particles on screen, I have serious frame rate problems, even on my quite powerful gaming laptop.

Audio: I enjoyed the sound effects.

Humor: I found some of the sound effects funny.

Mood: Good. I think the mood would be improved if the game were more difficult (nerf farming).

Yen Master by LeviDSmith 2019-05-11T11:29:44Z

Overall: Basically a 3d third person shmup; really hard but also very satisfying when you finally learn how to win at it. Includes great voiceover that made me laugh.

Fun: I finished it! It's _really_ hard though. I was very close to giving in (without even finishing the first level) until things clicked into place and I started to improve. I think a big factor in that was getting used to the perspective - not many games are in this perspective and it was difficult to predict whether I was going to collide with something. It's a satisfying feeling, getting better at the game and making it slightly further each time; eventually I hit critical mass and could max out the fire rate, move speed and magnet, and push through to the end. But that satisfying feeling didn't come for a _long_ time... I think I still feel like the game deserves to be a little easier early on, to make it more inviting for players.

Innovation: Yes - haven't played a shmup from this perspective, it's strange.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Funny, and they serve their purpose.

Audio: Fantastic - love the speech.

Humor: Very funny thanks to the silly speech and the funny enemies.

Mood: Funny but at the same time intense thanks to the difficult gameplay.

Million dollar robot: Fear the forklift by squirrelsoft 2019-05-08T14:45:54Z

(I played the jam version.)

Overall: This game is bizarre, broken, and highly memorable. (In a good way.)

Fun: It took me a lot of deaths before I even realised what the goal is. I think it's really cool. Part of the fun is how bloody hard it is to get the bloody car to do what I want. Unfortunately my best effort only got me to the exit with a single part... this game is hard! And it gets harder as you add more things on every side. I think I managed to get each of the upgrades separately (there are 5 right?) but couldn't get most of them to the exit. The physics bugged out a couple of times forcing me to reset it. In the end I managed to make it past the forklift and get an antenna, but not without busting the physics to the extent that I couldn't get to the exit (and conveyor belts stopped working). Besides getting the physics more reliable, I can only suggest angling the camera a bit more straight on, just so I can remember which way is "up".

Innovation: Sure, the combination of the awkward car controls with the odd, detrimental upgrades makes this something special.

Theme: Sure, I see it.

Graphics: Absolutely great graphics. The car looks especially great. I really like the lighting effects too.

Audio: I think the light-hearted music is good and the switch to darker music when you're near the "monster" is a great touch.

Humor: The humour comes from me trying to play it and realising how terrible I am at computer games!

Mood: Good. That forklift is scary!!

Your life is currency by pengda 2019-05-09T13:33:51Z

Overall: What you have is good but it's really short!

Fun: It's a fun game idea. I like the way the character gets slower and can't jump as high with more coins. I also like the picking up/putting down mechanic. My main gripe is that the game is really short! I've just figured out how to play, and it's over! Also, the movement is a bit strange when the character's foot catches the side of a platform.

Innovation: Sure, the gameplay rules are creative.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: The character looks good except that its legs don't move, and it doesn't look in the direction it's going. This is kinda distracting.

Audio: The music is good! Game could do with sound effects.

Humor: It's a funny game idea.

Mood: I think the mood would be improved by above mentioned suggestions: animate the character, add sound effects.

remnant. by screamrawr 2019-05-04T03:15:38Z

Overall: The really impressive thing about this game is how much different stuff is in it: combat, two types of enemies, conversations and flashbacks with scripted sequences. Most Ludum Dare games are nowhere near this ambitious. I think the combat is pretty fun, and the graphics and sounds are excellent.

Fun: The combat's interesting and fun. Actually you could have stretched it out a bit more with more screens of combat. I found it strange that there is no penalty for losing all my health - at least if I had to return to the start of the screen (or perhaps a save point) then there would be more incentive to play with some skill! One confusing thing was that a particular quest didn't start until I talked to certain people in a certain order, which left me wondering what to do for a little while. I'm impressed that you managed to have combat with two types of enemy, plus a story with character interactions and flashbacks. (It did seem to end a little abruptly.)

Innovation: I think the combat & enemies are pretty innovative!

Theme: I don't really see it, but that doesn't matter.

Graphics: Very nice pixel art.

Audio: Very nice music and sound effects, suitable to the game.

Humor: N/A

Mood: I enjoyed the forboding mood established by the sound & art.

Brain Jam by Empyrean 2019-05-11T11:17:42Z

Overall: Not really all that fun on account of an apparent lack of impact of the player's skill.

Fun: I wonder if I'm missing something. Playing through several times, I managed to vary my life loss between -2 and 13 years. But the quality of the game only varied between 2 (if I slept all day) and 4 (full work load). In other words, it's hard to see how the player's decisions/skills factor into the outcome, and this limits the amount of fun to be had.

Innovation: Sure, it's a novel game idea.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Looks OK.

Audio: Sounds OK; music's repetitive.

Humor: There's a couple of funny events.

Mood: See humour.

(P.S. Seven people is a lot for a jam - what did everyone do? How did you deal with the communication overhead?)

Dictator's Last Year by lesinvisible 2019-05-02T13:05:40Z

Overall: Good writing with a message. Gameplay-wise, a bit limited.

Fun: Alright. I enjoyed the writing. (There are a few grammatical errors but I think this actually works in the game's favour!) I had a few goes but didn't manage to finish the game. There isn't much of a feeling of control, since it is hard to predict how my choices will affect the game.

Innovation: I'm sure I've seen multiple choice games before. But the writing's innovative!

Theme: Yes

Graphics: OK. It's mostly a text game. But I don't like this font - found it hard and slow to read.

Audio: N/A

Humor: I enjoyed the humorous narration style.

Mood: Kind of felt like I was playing this game on an illegal dial-up BBS, maybe in the country in question.

Dictator's Last Year by lesinvisible 2019-05-03T01:05:01Z

@lesinvisible Oh, I didn't realise! Was playing in Firefox and there was no sound. Played again in chrome and I think the music is very good and perfectly suited! (Should have guessed - I know as well as anyone how hard it is to get sound working in multiple browsers.)

Cash Money Mole by gward2489 2019-05-04T05:06:31Z

Overall: Novel, fun game.

Fun: OK, this is really fun. (Fun enough that I eventually forgot I was meant to be reviewing it.) It distills stealth games down to a really simple mechanic. I think it's fantastic. My only suggestion would be to provide some better feedback to the player. In particular, if there are too few coins left to win the level, alert the player and probably end the game straight away. As it was, the first time I played, I collected all the coins and then thought that the failure message was just a funny way of ending the game.

Innovation: It's clever! I haven't seen a game with gameplay like this.

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Fine, considering the Pico-8 constraints!

Audio: Good! I really like how there's a separate track for underworld and overworld.

Humor: Funny concept and I laughed at the progression of rewards.

Mood: Good, aided by aforementioned changing music.

NEKOBELLUM by Tozzo4316 2019-05-01T13:25:44Z

Overall: Fun game, nice graphics!

Fun: It's a fun mouse & keyboard shooter. I enjoyed it. This game does a great job of making me feel more powerful as I buy upgrades. By the time I got to the victory screen, the game was no longer a challenge and I was nearly ready to quit... maybe it needs some clear indication of how far you are from winning (or did I miss it?) - this would motivate the player to play it all the way through.

Innovation: Not huge - I've seen a lot of mouse & keyboard shooters like this in the past (and done one myself for an earlier LD, but not nearly this professional...!)

Theme: Yes

Graphics: Very good. I am impressed that you found the time to model the player and 3 enemies. The lighting effects are good. I like the slow-down effect at the end of each round. Only the menu looks a little hurried (and the text doesn't stick out very well against the game). And I don't understand the significance of the purple part of the play area.

Audio: The sound effects are good. The music grates after a couple of minutes. The shooting sound effect started to glitch at max shooting speed. (Might be a browser thing.)

Humor: The cats are amusing. I feel like there's a joke I'm missing in the title? Something to do with a cerebellum?

Mood: Sure, you captured the mood of this sort of shooter well.

LD45 — Start with nothing

14 billion years by Vhalenn 2019-10-17T13:27:15Z

Overall: An enjoyably strange experience.

Fun: Strange gameplay but cool! The only thing I can think to suggest is to give more clear feedback as to whether I'm getting the right or wrong colours.

Innovation: I think "innovation" means "weirdness" so yeah pretty good.

Theme: Yes.

Graphics: Good, I think the graphical effects look cool.

Audio: Really good!

Humor: It's a quirky setting but mostly I feel that humor is N/A...?

Mood: Good, thanks to the eerie sounds.

HUNTER HUNGER by oddarock 2019-10-14T10:31:14Z

[I tried both versions.]

Overall: Fun, grim platformer about eating all the life-forms and growing.

Fun: I had fun playing this game, but could do with being a little harder. The platforming aspect seems to be well-implemented. I'm pleased by the "destructible terrain"! [Post jam version: this is set to a much better difficulty.]

Innovation: I suppose it could be considered a sidescrolling Katamari Damacy clone? But without the size constraints? [Post jam version: OK! Now it's something quite different - hunting the animals - thanks to the better AI. And the size constraints do apply - I just didn't realise.]

Theme: You start small, but do you start with nothing?

Graphics: OK, but there's a mix of different pixel-sizes in the different art objects, which makes the game look visually inconsistent.

Audio: Nice, well suited to the game.

Humor: I liked reading what all the animals say! (Sometimes these are hard to read.)

Mood: A grim mood, thanks to the nature of the game, and accentuated by the music.

To The Depths by BatJak03 2019-10-10T12:33:54Z

Overall: Great concept & visuals but needs balance.

Fun: Well, after a few attempts, I managed to get everything upgraded, then made it to the black layer before dying. And that was enough for me. It's a fun concept but could do with some careful balancing. I think each individual dive takes too long. And, as the speed increases, my fish gets closer to the bottom of the screen, so it's harder to react. I have to choose between making it into a game of luck, or making the game too slow and tedious. (Unless... I have failed to figure out the right strategy?)

Innovation: Sure! I think I've played games before where you have to dive to a certain depth, but the mechanics were all different.

Theme: You start at 0m depth? OK, fine.

Graphics: Looks nice!

Mood: Thanks to the ambient sounds + the wide range of sizes from tiny up to enormous fish, this game gives me a real sense of a vast underwater environment.

Naked Guy by kaeveris 2019-10-12T13:49:15Z

Overall: Funny game and great graphics, but I wish the platforming was a lot tighter.

Fun: The idea is a good one, but the platforming feels frustrating and unfair, because of the floaty movement (acceleration/deceleration are too low) and the way the player sticks to the side of platforms. (Like others, I noticed that I can still finish the level after being spotted!)

Innovation: Stealth games have been done before, but the innovative thing here is the setting!

Theme: Excellent interpretation

Graphics: Really good!!

Audio: The music is really harsh. I turned my sound off pretty much straight away.

Humor: It's a funny setting - and I laughed hard at the ending.

Mood: The situation and the graphics start to set a jovial mood, but it's detracted from by the music and the frustrating platforming.

SpaceDrifter 4500 by SharkWithLasers 2019-10-10T13:15:32Z

Overall: Fun and well presented!

Fun: Very good. I particularly like this game because every time I made an attempt, I felt myself getting a little bit better at it, until I finally won. I think it is well balanced. I found myself keeping the minimap on - which made the screen a bit cluttered - but that's not a complaint, it's the price I have to pay. I was expecting floaty space controls but was pleasantly surprised at the level of control I had.

Innovation: Good, I haven't seen a game like this before.

Theme: A very good interpretation.

Graphics: Good! I like how the graphics feel retro, even though it's all 3d models.

Audio: Good sound effects.

Humor: N/A unless I missed something?

Mood: Good! Normally I expect to hear some music but in this game it is appropriate to have none.

VoidTech by loganthemanster 2019-10-16T12:31:01Z

Overall: An interesting story told in a neat interactive way. An enjoyable and memorable experience.

Fun: The fun in this game comes from discovering the story. And I think it's a really great story. Short, of course, but I really like the idea. Well done. (Have I really seen everything - I watched the VHS but I don't know if I can do anything with the username found on the sticky note? And there's a line along the lines of "don't go to the cryo chambers" - that strongly suggests that I can and should go to the cryo chambers - but I found no way.)

Innovation: Yeah - innovative storytelling!

Theme: Sure, it's there quite nicely in the plot reveal.

Graphics: Nice! All the graphics look good and consistent. I like the way Dave looks. (And of course they would make him look that way!) Animating Dave putting on his spacesuit - that really goes above and beyond expectations.

Audio: Nice!

Humor: Yeah, I enjoyed exploring all the terminals and reading the quirky messages.

Mood: Good, thanks to the memorable story and accentuated by appropriate graphics and music.

Protoplanet by Guardaro 2019-10-08T15:03:55Z

Overall: A nice single player "io" style game with a creative control system.

Fun: I had fun, and played for quite a few goes. On one attempt, I got so big I could see the whole background. (It seems like, after getting very big, and losing, when you start the next game, the rocks around you are way bigger than normal.)

Innovation: I suppose that this is an "io" game. I haven't played much of those, but this seems pretty unique due to being single player and the unusual controls.

Theme: Well, you start small, but do you start with nothing? (I'm being pedantic.)

Graphics: Nice. The visual "health" feedback is very well done.

Audio: Nice music! How about some sound effects?

Mood: A nice, "vastness of space" feeling thanks to the music and graphics.

I Don't Think That's Math by ratly 2019-10-13T08:11:46Z

[I played the updated version, with the bug fix, and first levels reordered.]

Overall: Great puzzle!

Fun: What a great puzzle. It is a very clever concept and makes for some nice levels. I felt myself getting better as I played. I played this game for a very long time until I got completely stuck on "0 = 14" and rage quit. How far does the game go? Will you provide hints/solutions?

BTW, if I split 9 into -4, I can get a minus sign that's not leading... this leads to a weird situation where there are few valid moves, and I think it should be impossible.

Innovation: Yep! Very creative.

Theme: Sure.

Graphics: It's very bare-bones, but somehow that's suitable. The rotations are nice.

Humor: Yeah, it's a funny version of arithmetic.

Mood: There isn't a lot of "mood" - I guess it has the "mood" of using a weird calculator.

HEARTSCAPE by ZakAmana 2019-10-14T09:38:27Z

Overall: Clever, enjoyable gameplay, and exceptionally polished.

Fun: Great. I wish it was longer. The rules of this game lead to an interesting (but not too hard) puzzly challenge. (In my opinion, if you call the game roguelite, players might expect random maps?)

Innovation: Yeah! A very creative new ruleset for the game.

Theme: Sure.

Graphics: Beautiful graphics. Everything is so polished - things like the spell effects, and moving the cards around. Really impressive.

Audio: Very nice!

Humor: N/A? OK, there's cutesy faces, but they don't crack any jokes.

Mood: Nice! The graphics, sound and gameplay work really well together.

Alone by Harksa 2019-10-09T13:26:00Z

Overall: Nice but short.

Fun: A sidescroller that's mostly fine, but the excessively large hitboxes make the game feel unfair, detracting from the fun. Also, the game is very short.

Innovation: Not a lot - standard gameplay but I guess it's original level design.

Theme: Sure - I see it!

Mood: Good mood, thanks to the choice of music.

Juicefruit Orchard by reheated 2019-10-09T13:43:28Z

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments!

@netmute, @mathemagician: you're right about the dragging. I think I would have quickly realised the need for a shortcut, if I'd tested with other players - which I always fail to save time for. And your other points are bang on too.

Juicefruit Orchard by reheated 2019-10-16T07:07:45Z

@justcamh You're right, I really should have included the ability to downgrade!

Reutemeteut (web) by croewens 2019-10-13T09:06:17Z

Overall: Nice platformer! Where's the theme?

Fun: Good - I like how this game gets to the point, with difficult levels, right from the beginning. I definitely see the SMB similarities. I'm actually glad that this game is fairly short - due to the difficulty, if it were much longer, it would be pretty soul-destroying. BTW, I like how effective the blood splatter effect is.

Innovation: The gameplay is completely standard; of course, the levels are original.

Theme: Not relevant to the theme, unless I missed something?

Ξ›LIENGUIST by Infraxion 2019-10-15T14:03:25Z

Overall: This game put a smile on my face and it shows off some strange gameplay in a strange world. Thanks for making it!

Fun: Good! It's a really unique experience and fun to go through. The silly sounds add to the fun. I cheesed it a bit by just going X?? X??? X???? etc. with a lot of words, which is a straightforward but slow way to find all the letters of a word. After filling all the words, I got stuck for ages not knowing what to say to get the fuel - but after finally figuring it out, I have to admit that it is a fair puzzle and I was just a bit slow-witted about it.

Innovation: High. I'm sure I've had to figure out a language in games before, but it's always some code to decypher - the gameplay here is really something new.

Theme: Yeah, I think this is a very creative interpretation!

Graphics: Good! The unusual bright colours are suitable for this weird world.

Audio: Wonderful.

Humor: Yes, I laughed at the human trying to reproduce all the alien sounds.

Mood: The bright colours, the music and the sounds put me in a cheerful mood.

Sorrow Quest by Adam Saudagar 2019-10-17T12:50:30Z

Overall: A nice turn-based stealth puzzle - the spooky atmosphere is done well.

Fun: Nice! I made some blunders early on, and was left with only one life. But this put me on the edge of my seat as I crept my way through to the end! It's a puzzle game, really, but one that lets players off the hook a little bit, with the life system. I like it. If I had to make a suggestion, it'd be to have the camera out a bit further, so we can see more. (And make it longer!)

Innovation: Yeah, it's something a bit different.

Theme: OK, because you start with no inventory.

Graphics: Good!

Audio: Good!

Humor: While the spooky setting isn't outright funny, it did put a smile on my face.

Mood: The music sets the mood well! :)

Slay the Dungeon by jharler 2019-10-09T14:17:43Z

Overall: Wonderful, a truly fun action game and well presented.

Fun: This is really enjoyable! I played through to the end and legitly forgot I was playing an LD game. Great job. I only have two tiny criticisms: (i) it's a little on the easy side (or maybe I just got good cards); (ii) it would help to indicate how far through the game we are - for a while I thought it was endless, and that I'd seen everything, and that it was nearly time to quit.

Innovation: The idea to combine a card game with an action game has been done before... but there are lots of possibilities and you came up with a really nice one.

Theme: Hmm, well, you give us a bunch of stuff in the first room but TECHNICALLY we start with nothing, so I'll pay it.

Graphics: Gorgeous. I love the monsters.

Audio: Great. I laughed at the sounds.

Humor: See audio.

Mood: Good, it's a dungeon game but a light hearted one and the visuals and sounds present that nicely.

Fall of RS-17 Icarus - an Akaban Tale by Kooshy 2019-10-17T14:04:26Z

Overall: Great story, tense atmosphere.

Fun: This is a really good piece of storytelling. I like the creepy story, and all the sounds work well to add to the creepiness. I enjoyed finding the messages left behind by the other crew. I find it a bit strange that I got the best ending by stuffing up (I wired things the one way that does nothing, and then just wandered around not knowing what to do until the game ended). Several of the endings require waiting - I would make the wait shorter.

Innovation: Good.

Theme: Amnesia - yep, I'll pay it.

Graphics: Mostly good. However, I had trouble understanding that the bone things were wires, which slowed me down a bit.

Humor: N/A? I just found the whole thing tense.

Mood: The excellent choice of sounds gives this game a really tense feeling.

Drop Defense by Emkani 2019-10-08T14:25:32Z

Overall: Nice tower defence game with a twist of travelling around collecting loot.

Fun: Once I knew what I was doing, this game became quite fun! I like how you've made tower defence into an action game. But there are a few little details holding this game back from its full potential. There's not much time to get used to the game before the first wave, which meant that I had to restart the game a few times before I finally figured out what I was doing, and beat a few waves. The game could do with some sound effects - different ones for when you pick up / drop / use a pad. That would give the player some more feedback about what they've done. Sometimes, I'd wonder why I can't do the action I want, and realise that I had something picked up that was stopping me. I also find the choice of keyboard keys a bit strange. And lastly, how about a health bar?

Innovation: It's tower defence - but then there are a few things that make it quite unique - like the "loot" system.

Theme: Yep!

Graphics: Good. I really like the 3d models, especially the player's drone.

Audio: The music is good, but like I said above, I wish there were sound effects, for gameplay reasons.

Humor: N/A, unless I missed something?

Mood: Good thanks to the nice graphics.

A Merchant's Adventure by sharbelfs 2019-10-14T13:22:18Z

Overall: A complex and difficult card game. One of those nice games where you can feel yourself learning a bit more of the strategy every time you play.

Fun: It seems good, but very hard! I enjoyed formulating a strategy, playing to see how it fares, and then refining it. But even on my best attempt, I didn't get very far - city 4 with 22 trades, after choosing the option with the most starting money. Every time I tried, everything would be going OK until the situation suddenly collapsed. Are we supposed to be able to get to the end? I'd love to see a strategy guide, or a video of you beating it!!

Innovation: I think it's very creative and original.

Theme: Yes.

Graphics: OK, but there's a mix of styles (pixel and non-pixel graphics) that makes it look inconsistent.

Audio: OK to begin with, but this is a long-play game and the high-pitched sounds started to get tiring after a while.

Humor: I laughed at my options in the opening screen. (Saw no jokes after that though.)

Mood: Music, and a more consistent graphical style, would help.

Magic Escape by Xephrys 2019-10-13T13:06:45Z

Overall: Wow! Beautiful art! Nice little escape the room game (maybe a little simple).

Fun: I'm not huge into escape games, significantly because the ones I've played don't seem to have a lot of logic to them - I just click at everything until I make progress. This game is pleasing in that regard: it doesn't take long before we have enough information to know what we need to do. On the other hand, I guess I didn't feel very challenged. The game is also quite short. (BTW, is there anything I can do with the mouse?)

Innovation: For an escape game, the innovation question is about whether the puzzles are original and creative. I'd say so - I haven't seen these puzzles (not that I've played many escape games).

Theme: Sure.

Graphics: Can't fault it. One of the best looking Ludum Dare games I've ever seen. And this is a compo game! Extraordinary.

Audio: The music is perfect for this. I think it would be nice to have some sound effects for successful actions.

Humor: The instructions are pretty funny, but this is no time to be laughing!

Mood: A wonderful spooky feeling thanks to the art and the music.

Sugarship by Firebender 2019-10-12T13:04:12Z

Overall: A game that's too short to do justice to its very clever gameplay mechanic!

Fun: The pattern matching is a fantastic game mechanic. I think it is really wonderful. The shortcoming is that by the time I had competely figured out the mechanic, I was nearly at the end of the game! (Then I played the game a second time through, to confirm that I understood the mechanic precisely.) That's really two problems: (i) The game doesn't explain what's going on quickly. A sort of "tutorial" mode that runs for the first minute or two - telling the player what to do and drawing attention to how the patterns get filled - would really help with that. (ii) The whole thing is too short. I think the only thing to do is add more content. And it should get more difficult by the end. More stages, more upgrades. Weapon upgrades! Movement upgrades! Health upgrades! How about upgrades that you don't really want (or only want in specific situations) to add a reason to try to discard?

Innovation: Yes!! I haven't seen this mechanic before and I think it took some real insight to come up with.

Theme: Yes!

Graphics: I like the graphics!

Humor: It's a pretty funny/quirky game and it turns out that there are some gags in the upgrade descriptions but I didn't notice them on my first playthrough because I was focusing on the action! (What's the solution to this? A little bullet time every time a new upgrade appears??)

Mood: OK, but it's a shame about the lack of audio which would really help to make the game feel more exciting.

Nothing to Lose! (except your deposit) by monsterjail 2019-10-10T11:37:02Z

Overall: Great gameplay but too short!

Fun: This gameplay is really fun. Why does it end so soon? You totally could have made another 10 levels and it wouldn't have gotten boring.

Innovation: Good; having to manage both position and rotation makes the the gameplay unique.

Theme: I really like this interpretation!

Humor: Good - I laughed at the ending... excellent commentary on society, etc.

Mood: Would be improved with music & sound effects.

You Lose. Good Day, Sir. by Carraka 2019-10-08T13:49:36Z

Overall: Splendid. Creative gameplay with excellent graphics and music. A really satisfying game to play through.

Fun: I enjoy scrabble and cryptic crosswords so this was right up my alley. I enjoyed just figuring out what I had to do. And then once I got the hang of it, it was very satisfying figuring out how to proceed. I appreciate the hints that you occasionally give for some words. I nearly quit on the "Fin" screen - it would be a shame if players did, because the game keeps getting better as it goes on.

Innovation: Yep! There are games about making words, but I've not seen this gameplay combined with a story like this.

Theme: Great interpretation.

Graphics: Beautiful graphics and animations - must have been a tremendous amount of work.

Audio: Superb music - during the tense parts it really adds to the creepy feeling.

Humor: Sure. I laughed at some of the responses to my words.

Mood: Really good, especially thanks to the music.

Upward! by tmpxyz 2019-10-16T14:07:28Z

Overall: A really interesting puzzle/strategy sort of thing. I think the difficulty is just nice. Unfortunately, the ambiguous rules for operation order takes the sheen off.

Fun: On my first attempt, I had no idea what I was doing (the rules you posted here do explain it - but obtusely...!) After playing around until I thought I understood it, I restarted the game, and made a serious attempt... and made it to level 20. It was an excellent challenge. Now, here is the problem: the rules are ambiguous. I'm talking about the rule determining the order for applying arithmetical operators. At first I thought it was BIMDAS. Then I thought it that the vertical operations apply first, followed by the horizontal. Then I thought it was based on the order of my move. Now, I still don't know, but I managed to beat the game, basically by playing it safe whenever it mattered (i.e., making numbers by using only multiplies, or only additions - not mixing them). To feel truly fair and fun, this game would have to get rid of that ambiguity. That means making sure that whatever the rule is, it is simple, doesn't feel arbitrary, and is clearly explained early on. Also, I wish the rules for the game were explained in-game in an interactive tutorial.

Innovation: Yes, highly innovative!

Theme: Maybe - because you start with all blank cells? The theme isn't front-and-centre, but that's not a big deal.

Graphics: They do the job!

Mood: Relaxing, thanks to the ambient sounds.

The Drainpipe Market by Tom Frikker 2019-10-13T05:20:17Z

Overall: Enjoyable art and quirky characters and objects make this a pleasing experience. I was expecting some kind of "puzzle" but there wasn't one.

Fun: "You also begin to understand the latent value system lurking behind the veil of seemingly-useless washed-up sewer junk." Based on this sentence from the game description, I went into the game expecting to have to figure out some clever trick that determines the value of items. Maybe the colour? Or the first letter of the object name? Well, if there was anything like that, I didn't find it, and it didn't matter, because the following simple strategy seems to always work: accept only those trades that increase the number of items I have. If there _were_ a puzzle like that, then it would be very hard to discover the solution, because at no point are we told the value of the items we have. Or have I missed the point of this game completely??

Innovation: Sure, I haven't seen a game that plays like this before.

Theme: Yep!

Graphics: I adore the art style. It's really pleasing and suitable for the game, and you made a lot of little pieces of art! If I _had_ to make a suggestion, it'd be to centre the game in the web page.

Humor: Yes, thanks to all the quirky descriptions.

Mood: The funny characters and nice art makes this a cheerful game but how about some sounds/music?

MiteLing by Morago 2019-10-13T06:15:10Z

Overall: A fun and creative form of combat!

Fun: I think this is a very fun concept. I enjoyed pushing my clones around and using them to defeat the enemies. I wish there was either an end goal, or at least a score (maybe just how long you survived?), so that I have some measurement of success. I sometimes found that the clones would end up all migrating to the right edge - after that they are kind of tricky to make use of.

Innovation: Good! I haven't seen this method of combat in a game.

Theme: Yes.

Graphics: Simple but suitable. I might have shaded the clones and enemies different colours, so the player can more quickly tell enemies from friends without looking directly at them.

Humor: Sure, it's a funny concept, pushing my clones to their death.

LD47 — Stuck in a loop

wfh by Noxbuds 2020-10-16T13:26:24Z

I think it's quite fun and funny. Actually it could be a little harder... I never really got close to losing a day. The length is just right, in my opinion - although I would have liked a clear indication of how far through the game I am.

I've seen other games where you have multiple things competing for your attention. But this is an original and very nice take on it. I especially like how when the cat is hungry it starts interacting with the work minigames. I like the sound effects.

A Boy and his Ghosts by Rolly 2020-10-09T14:38:52Z

I like this creative puzzle style. I've seen the ghost concept in games before, but not in combination with throwing boxes which adds a new element. I found the puzzles towards the end quite satisfying (especially the second last one, I think it was). I did experience some nondeterminism with thrown boxes. I really like the character animations, the music and the character's little vocalisations.

Locomotion Commotion by Sharks 2020-10-10T13:49:55Z

[based on pre-version] It's an enjoyable game because of the most important thing - the combat feels good. I had trouble dodging enemies' bullets, especially when they were nearly lined up with the train. I like the effect of the wobbly carriage. I find that the camera shifts up and down pretty slowly, especially since I often have to abandon the shop on short notice to get back to combat. I appreciate the option to continue in endless mode. The graphics/sound work well with the gameplay, especially the weird effect when I defeat an enemy. The voices are great. There are two voices and two enemy types, so why not match them up?

The operator by Hadik 2020-10-14T13:51:39Z

It's fun! Took me a few goes to get the hang of it. Every level I played was like a little story. My best story was where a collision created a whole lot of little asteroid pieces that didn't fall to earth like usual - all of them stayed in orbit causing absolute chaos.

There was a game from the early days of computing where people fight in orbit. Reminds me a bit of that - but of course the objective is different. I really like the planet and cloud graphics. Could do with some sound effects.

The Wasteland by wrimo 2020-10-13T13:48:24Z

Well, I finished it. But saving those 5 survivors cost me about 15 or 20 drivers, I think. I hope they appreciate it. It's fun and a clever indirect take on the theme. I do like the mechanic of having to pick up from where the last driver fell. I haven't seen a game like this before. I agree with the others that the steering is too sensitive. There's a creepy post-apocalyptic atmosphere thanks to the vast nothingness in between landmarks. It's impressive to achieve this with only ~~1-bit~~ (edit: 2-bit, I guess?) graphics. I think it could be even better with some ambient sounds.

Is it possible to do in one run? It feels like it _just_ might be. If so I'd love to see footage!

Blobs by GameFriend 2020-10-15T14:05:06Z

The basic idea is really fun, I think. But there is no challenge. I think I would like it better if it had some kind of failure condition. Either a certain number of turns before the game's over, a (gradually increasing) minimum capture requirement, or maybe some kind of enemy you have to avoid.

Chromen by CaiClone 2020-10-05T14:46:35Z

I really like this game - it has unique gameplay and it mixes well with the story. The graphical style and the writing do a good job setting a kind of eerie tone. I don't like the ticking sound when people speak. I replayed the game and think I did it perfectly but still got the message at the end saying I was imperfect. Maybe I missed something?

I especially like

!> that one guy that changes his mind and the chap that can't have purple.

Fountain Of Death by sawtan 2020-10-18T15:02:15Z

I think the puzzles are great. The buttons requiring two boxes makes an interesting variant on the usual thing, and you took good advantage of that in your puzzle design. The game is hindered by the too-unforgiving platforming. As @flaterectomy said, the cutoff for being allowed to jump off the edge of a platform seems too early. Combined with the fact that difficult jumps are a substantial part of the game, it makes it pretty frustrating.

Anyway, I'm only complaining because it's such a captivating game. The concept of searching for the fountain of death is great, and

!> the way you incorporated the theme

really caught me off guard in a memorable way. The art and music is very nice and suitable.

!> I have to know if there is some way to escape the loop? I went round a second time and still couldn't find anything...! But the timer is still going, so....?

Oh my Life by KarenFarah 2020-10-18T03:00:12Z

Good storytelling.

!> I laughed at the cop-out ending.

I'm impressed by the amount of graphical content in different artistic styles. Why no sound? You could have done the same kind of thing.

What Goes Around by Omiya Games 2020-10-18T04:53:34Z

Fun and addictive. The gameplay gets kind of chaotic due to the "wrapping" of the bullets. I like it! I imagine that there was a tough programming challenge to make everything work nicely on a sphere, so well done getting that working perfectly. I haven't played ikaruga but I gather that the basic mechanic is the same. But the idea to do things randomly and on a sphere makes it an interesting variation.

The music is great and I really like the strange 3D graphics. According to the credits, you did these yourself, so I'm a bit surprised to see that you've opted out of those categories.

Infinite rails by BOOtak 2020-10-08T14:01:55Z

Very skillfully implemented. I'm really impressed that you can get 3d vector graphics going on TIC-80. The basic idea of the game is great but it is pretty much over as soon as it starts. I like the look - it reminded me of some old games. The special camerawork during the opening is a nice touch.

Rail by reheated 2020-10-05T15:55:20Z

Thanks for your comments everyone!

@daitli: it goes forever - levels are randomly generated. (That was a big part of the challenge in making this game.) My own record is 15.

Rail by reheated 2020-10-23T09:25:03Z

@sharks: thanks for the bug report! I will have a look although I haven't been able to reproduce it. It doesn't seem like something trivial so if I can figure it out I will probably wait until after ratings are over before I upload a fix. Puzzles are procedurally generated as you play.

Turret Bug by kaeveris 2020-10-05T15:35:59Z

I agree with @oa5f and @mz-dino, the game is too easy. I like the bug art!

Onrail by JammedGame 2020-10-11T14:47:37Z

It's wonderful. The gameplay is very enjoyable with well-designed levels. At first glance I expected this game to be like trainyard or a train shunting puzzle, but I think that the action/timing aspect makes it something different. For most of the levels, it's possible to break down the problem into several sub-problems and solve them separately, but there was one level (I think it was the third-last) where there's a lot going on at once and I couldn't break it down into sub-problems so that was the hardest for me - I ended up getting them all to line up and all do the same thing, just so I could manage it mentally. The graphics are simple but professional and they do the job perfectly. I appreciate the ability to drag and zoom.

Could do with some sound effects. That's it. That's all I can think of to whine about.

Mystery Loop by Aduro 2020-10-11T13:58:28Z

Trial and error got me through to the last level, and I was wondering where the fun was supposed to come from. That strategy doesn't work on the final level and I finally understood what I was supposed to do. I replayed the game with that understanding and now I really like the idea. I just think that _all_ the levels should be like the last one - trial and error should be totally infeasible. The game does a good job of establishing an eerie atmosphere thanks to the dark graphics and the music which is very well made and suits the game well.

LD48 — Deeper and deeper

Diggy Diggy Dwarf 2 : Deeper & Deeper by Rujum 2021-05-03T15:36:37Z

It's very beautiful! The music sounds great, and you did a great job with the narration. I also like the little things the dwarves say. There's not a lot of strategic depth to the game - after a few minutes the player's figured everything out and it's just a matter of carrying out the process. But then it becomes a medium for the storytelling, which is cool. Moving the pieces gets a bit fiddly when there are lots of them.

DigAmillion by magus77 2021-05-01T13:45:18Z

The problem is that it's not respectful of the player's time. Digging around with no clue where to go is not interesting. (Digging using the map is also not interesting.) I understand that your explanation is that you want the player to search around. But I'm not satisfied with that. Why is it fun to explore in, say, Skyrim, but not in this game? It's because in Skyrim there is a huge variety of stuff to see and do. Here, the gameplay is the single repetitive act of digging, with no visual or gameplay variety except for the occasional not-interesting fight. The digging is also very slow.

Space Breaker by LFJ Gamestudio 2021-04-27T16:26:36Z

Putting the player at the top totally threw me off - it got me wondering about all the conventions we expect in computer games. Why are we always at the bottom in space shooters? And then there are enemies that only fire when they're fired upon. Did I start this?? Am I the bad guy?? There's this whole structure of assumptions we make when gaming and you've brought the whole thing crashing down. It's too hard though.

Pheromones by Shakedimus 2021-05-04T13:17:54Z

After many attempts, I managed to get the queen and a few other ants to the bottom of the first level. I have given in on the second level though. The basic idea is really interesting, but the game as it is is very fiddly. The queen keeps getting stuck, and the main ant falls through platforms. In the second level it seems useful to jump on other ants, but I can't do it reliably. I also didn't realise for quite some time that there is double jumping. Could do with audio.

The Rabbit Hole by NuclearRedeye 2021-05-02T13:03:16Z

I don't know why you say it's beyond your expertise - you did it! Well done implementing this algorithm.

It's a pity there isn't a "technical impressiveness" category in the ratings, because I think you would fare well... as it is, the gameplay has nothing special to it, the graphics is basic (though not unpleasant) and there's no sound.

Paperload - Deep Bass Edition by frokes 2021-04-28T14:46:36Z

I really like it. I ended up playing it 3 times to see how quickly I could do it. I really like the hand-drawn style. And I laughed a lot at the end.

!> (Of course there would be techno. I mean that in a good way.)

The art and animation during the ending especially grabbed me. I only think it would be nice to have audio during the main game.

Search for the Quacken by Xeke-Death 2021-04-30T15:05:41Z

It's awesome and super tense. I like how it starts off slow and forboding, and builds up. I'm pretty sure I've "finished" the game - defeated the Quacken and collected 5 unique items. But there's no win screen? I think there should be a win screen or a notice telling me what I haven't done. There's a lot of graphical content which is impressive - the enemies freaked me out a bit - and the ambient music (changing depending on where I go) helps create a really eerie atmosphere.

Marble Hopper by btnpresser 2021-04-27T15:39:29Z

I imagine that portals are technically hard to implement, so, well done getting that working perfectly. I found 3 buttons and pushed them. Could you tell me if that's all there is to do?

Some issues (I played on web): the mouse sensitivity is way too high, there were one or two trees off the ground, and the buttons are strangely unreliable/hard to press. The absence of audio is strange.

Dwoblins by oligue 2021-04-29T15:09:50Z

It's quite fun! It's different from Terraria and clones because you have to be very strategic about the way you dig. I had quite a few goes trying to come up with a decent strategy and eventually it all kind of clicked and I managed to get 84. I never really figured out the difference between traps 2 and 3? And sometimes the goblins would overlap each other and I'd think there's only one goblin and... suddenly my lives went from 4 to 0. Could really do with audio.

@bytinggames: Turns out you can place traps with the keyboard.

Knee Deep in Magma by Venezia 2021-04-26T15:33:59Z

Simple but fun. I like the levels designed around those single-use jump pads, which mean that I can't stop moving. I think I would have liked more levels. I'm really impressed by the detailed animated character.

Where's my dynoMITE? [LD48] by miej 2021-04-29T15:31:36Z

I laughed a lot, at the speech, the sound effects, the crazy gameplay, the whole silly situation. Nice one. It was very nice of the guy to keep throwing dynamite for me after he was already dead. I guess it would have been nice if the game was a bit longer, with more, trickier challenges.

Sinking Sub by DaSpikeyBoss 2021-05-03T14:33:51Z

The basic gameplay is fun and I also had fun figuring out how to "game" the game. Nice 3D art!

Lost Mind by Ali Azeem 2021-04-28T13:31:59Z

The excellent art and sound, and the nature of the gameplay, work really well together to set a tense mood. If there's one thing missing, it's complexity in the gameplay. In particular: if those footsteps are coming, there's only one thing to do which is run away, and often it's going so much faster than me that there's nothing I can do to avoid getting hit. So, that aspect of the game feels a little bit out of my control.

shaftception by testudor 2021-04-28T15:24:55Z

It's fun! The basic idea of the game is a good one, and the obstacles are well thought out. I like how it's not that hard to finish, but it takes a lot of work to get a good time. The graphics and sounds are great, and work together well. The slowdown effect is nice. I would have liked more levels. And an explosion or some other animation on failure.

Highly Successful Research Submarine by James Macgill 2021-05-01T15:53:26Z

I had fun - I like the way things build up, so you start out taking photos for a pittence, and build up to more valuable trips. I like the multitasking aspect. Eventually I redesigned my whole ship and got stuck in a situation where pressing R would just take me from the screen of one station to another (no way to go move around). I'm impressed by the amount of 3D models in the game, for equipment and for sea creatures, as well as the special effects for damaged equipment. Could really do with audio. I like the intro.

Zombie Movie Marathon : A Game Remotely about Zombies by Codeman1010 2021-05-02T06:48:07Z

I'm really sorry to hear that you lost data. Is it something that could easily happen to anyone? Should we all be wary of Unity Collaborate? (I know nothing about it.)

Anyway, well done managing to push on and finish something. In addition to the issues pointed out by others: the player can stand on the side of a wall (I've seen this issue a lot in LD platformers.)

Eye will see you down there by vegmuffin 2021-04-26T16:29:42Z

It's a really bizarre game idea, and it actually works. It's fun to learn the mechanics of all the different eye types. It's pretty tense to play. It impressed me the way the enemy eyes can fight each other.

Super Deep Olympic Diver by Bruno Bombardi 2021-04-28T14:01:03Z

Super fun and addictive. I had to have a lot of goes though I admit I'm not great at it. The graphics look great, especially considering that you seem to have placed some pretty tough colour restrictions on yourselves.

Run, Glim, Run! by Neshtyak 2021-04-29T16:11:40Z

Pretty simple, standard gameplay, but the graphics are great! I like the music too. I didn't understand how the "health system" worked until I saw your comment explaining it - I think that needs to be spelled out better, and maybe some visual + audio feedback when I hit a stalagmite.

Space Cave by Timo Gass 2021-05-02T14:15:03Z

It's a lot of fun and it looks and sounds great. I really like the combination of the lighting effects and the dirty glass texture. If I had to suggest something it would be to make the "damaged" effect more blatant, and maybe add more enemy types.

Run Miner Joe by Rolle 2021-05-03T14:01:56Z

The basic idea of the game is good! It's a little hard. After I first start moving there's only a very short length of time to get off the first platform, so the first few times I played I died immediately. I think the music sounds good and the graphical special effects look good but the art could do with some more care. I won't duplicate others' bug reports.

Grotto Down by xtacobaco 2021-04-26T16:05:13Z

The core mechanic of this game is fun. The graphics are pleasing and consistent. The look, sound and physics of the grappling hook make it very satisfying to use. Once I understood how to regain lives, I could play indefinitely without losing. I think it should either have an ending, or get harder over time so that eventually it is too hard for anyone.

Cosmonoid by neontropics 2021-05-02T06:13:58Z

OK, that's a lot of fun! The grip mechanic is really good. At first I thought the grip and the grapple kind of overlapped in purpose a bit, but then as the game got more complex, they started working together nicely for me. After floundering around for a long time in the last level, seem to have hit upon the same strategy as others - use the grip to launch myself at the things I want to get, then use grapple to slingshot around a lava block and return to the starting point.

Sprookies by tanis 2021-05-01T14:58:42Z

Cool idea in principle, however, the difficulty of the levels combined with the fact that the whole game restarts on death really detracts from the potential fun that this game could have. The problem is compounded by the long wait at the end of each level, and at the start of level 3. After many attempts, I finally finished level 3, died almost immediately in level 4, and rage quit.

The quirky graphics and music work well.

Earth Diver by BarelyEvenGames 2021-04-30T14:07:57Z

Pretty tense, I think it's great! (It was hard to fight my natural tendency to stay close to the bottom...) The way the gameplay speeds up (the enemies, the scrolling speed and my own firing speed) makes the game feel really tense, and the music does a great job of adding to that. Looks good too.

Conduit by reheated 2021-04-26T05:12:02Z

@juan-matias Thanks for letting me know. I have no way to test in Safari so I updated the game description to list the supported browsers.

Conduit by reheated 2021-04-26T16:34:24Z

@cassowary: Thanks! The triangles are just a bonus.

Conduit by reheated 2021-05-02T00:52:56Z

Thank you for your thoughtful comments everyone!

@koolruz and @jandourek: indeed, the "puzzle" in that particular level is to remember the steps. (It's only about 15 steps, unless you're going for the bonus triangle, and you can do it in short segments.) It's fair enough if you didn't like that one - I really wanted to do make a puzzle completely different from the rest, for variety, and I kinda knew I was taking a risk. I probably won't try something like that in future unless I can figure out a way of making it non-annoying.

@ditam: Thanks! The `details` tag is really cool. IIRC there was some fiddliness in making it get along with Github's markdown though.

Conduit by reheated 2021-05-03T00:46:47Z

@koolruz: You're right, that would definitely help! Thanks for the idea.

Astral Abyss by darthone 2021-05-02T07:51:09Z

This seems like not _quite_ an awesome game but the basic framework on which an awesome game is built. What's missing is the challenge. In fact, if I'm trying to expand my settlements as far as possible, there seems to be no motivation to attack occupied planets, since it costs a lot of resources and they don't threaten me in any way. All I do is spray exploring ships in every direction, and then colonise any unoccupied planets I discover. This got me a long way (before quitting) and I didn't even think about the resource production of the planets. A couple of ideas on how to create the challenge: (i) enemy bases can attack the player, so wiping out nearby ones removes a threat? (ii) have a time limit, after which the game ends, and however far you got, that's your score?

Good music. No sound effects?

Detective Insider by Fearawl 2021-04-30T16:21:04Z

Well. That was CREEPY. It's a really great piece of storytelling. I especially appreciated how there are muffled sounds behind doors that help tell the story. And that's a huge amount of high quality graphical content! The gameplay itself is pretty straightforward. I only got stuck for a couple of minutes near the end, where

!> I thought the sun in the picture was a clue, and kept trying to dig under the clear daylit sky.

My beautiful deep twisted pocket by Caym 2021-05-02T13:33:28Z

Looks great! Sounds great! Funny stuff in the pocket, and clever interpretation of the theme!

To my ear, it seems that the gameplay sounds are out of sync with the rhythm of the music, which is very distracting. (This is a major technical challenge that really needs to be dealt with in any rhythm game.) Also, in my opinion it would have been good to colour the hand signals in the bottom left of the screen.

Down Down Well by OldDog 2021-04-28T16:47:19Z

Wow, it's utterly beautiful. The music is great too. Very fun on the whole. The basic idea of the gameplay is a good one. We had a little trouble understanding the "holding" mechanism (but eventually we figured it out). We also had a habit of our little characters not quite going the way we were asking them to. My wife got sore fingers but I told her that's her fault for not playing enough games.

I suggest that you add to the description that this is for 2 players.

Telekinetic kalamari by jandourek 2021-05-01T14:26:38Z

Nice game, well done with the clever level design! I like how the blocks are used for puzzle solving as well as for combat. At times I thought the physics was a tiny bit too fiddly, but that's how it is with physics games. (In the second-last level with the blue blocks and all the platforms, skipped a chunk of the level by getting 4 blue blocks and then putting them down in the water, making a little path, removing blue blocks from behind me and putting them in front of me. I felt pretty clever.) Could do with some sound effects. I laughed hard at the ending.

LD49 — Unstable

Meowsician Manager by rubentipparach 2021-10-05T16:10:48Z

Good art! I enjoyed the story and laughed a few times! However, the gameplay is not very exciting. It does not feel tactically interesting. (I played through the whole thing and didn't see any opportunities to use items or switch cats. Did I miss something?)

Monster Burger by Glen Chang 2021-10-07T14:36:28Z

A clever game! There's an ingredient management component that's combined with a challenge to catch the ingredients and keep the burger balanced. It all works well together. Got hooked for a while trying to improve my score. It's interesting to see that the difficulty increases not only from the number of ingredients but also the way the chef throws. As time goes on, my ability to predict trajectories becomes more and more embarrassing. Beautiful graphics! (On rare occasions, I had a complete burger and it didn't trigger the payment - I had to run away from the customer and run back.)

Unstable Core by Frankey333 2021-10-04T15:06:42Z

I had a lot of fun trying to improve my score, experimenting with different strategies. (My record: 3231. I found it useful to upgrade cash first; somewhere in the 2000-3000 point range things run away from me and I don't know how to get past it.) I enjoyed the quirky style of the gameplay and the object descriptions. The graphics are kind of inelegant.

This platform is UNSTABLE by HolyShot 2021-10-13T14:56:50Z

Fun. Tricky. I found the second level easier than the first, or maybe I got lucky. Why not make it always sprint? The music is too short.

Tower Construction by VVatashi 2021-10-13T14:30:47Z

Nice idea and the physics work well. I played up to score 18 and then I had had enough. I found it slow paced and also it's strange to have a score with no failure condition. If it were me, I'd make the game run twice as fast, and add a time limit. On the other hand, it's pretty relaxing as it stands...

Egg Racer by Exmxpx 2021-10-16T14:11:35Z

So, I finished it, I think! Is it finished when the music stops and no new level starts? I think it's a lot of fun, although it took some getting used to. I kept trying to play it careful but it's really necessary to headbutt the egg around. Some of the levels have blind leaps in them which I am not a fan of. Nice music! The graphics are a little inconsistent, i.e., mixing pixellated with non-pixellated sprites.

I disagree with those complaining about the egg not staying when you turn. I was surprised by it, but eventually I realised that in some levels, using a fall to safely turn around is part of the challenge. I think it's clever.

Pirelli's Potions by Boon 2021-10-15T14:40:20Z

It's fun! I had several attempts that went bad quickly, before I realised that I should be making use of my ability to hold back a lot of ingredients, and put things on top of the lights. I got much higher scores and it's more fun. Easy to understand and surprisingly tactically interesting. Looks and sounds very nice too!

When you say deck/card rng system do you mean that e.g. a lot of fires now will get balanced by water drops later? I did sometimes feel like I was lucky! Thanks for doing that :)

Burning Down the House by doomshmuck 2021-10-06T15:38:01Z

The idea is pretty interesting. I like the way we get lots of warning before an "attack". I think I would have liked the gameplay to be longer and more complex. Some ideas that come to mind are several rooms or having to return for water.

Karuno by reheated 2021-10-12T12:22:17Z

Thanks for your comments everyone!

@glen-chang Yeah, I realise now that the game doesn't actually explain how to get the miner to work. You have to use pipes to build a path from the bottom of the miner to one of the two sockets in the base. See the picture in the game description above.

@pdotjpg Oh no! Sorry you encountered a bug. Do you remember if you were using a crossover (X-shaped block)? This only crosses the two perpendicular paths, it doesn't join them together, but there's no visual indication of that. Otherwise, I have a block that isn't working properly. Either way I have something to fix after voting is over.

Haylandia by Tanjerino 2021-10-04T13:26:46Z

Pretty fun! The platforming controls work well. The levels make interesting use of the disappearing terrain. I managed to finish the game. Graphics and audio are simple but not bad. I like the animated stick figure. I think the excitement could be stepped up by reducing the timer and also showing how far through the game we are. And maybe the jumping was a little floaty for my taste but that's subjective.

BouncyCake by NPr0nn 2021-10-11T14:07:01Z

It's fun! Frustrating at times, but satisfying when I win a level. I managed to finish the game but I found it very hard towards the end and nearly gave up. I didn't realise until afterwards that the arrow moves in discrete steps. Until then I found it hard to control and didn't understand why. Cool special effects - you made good use of the low-res graphics.

Saturday Night Cleaver by bramreth 2021-10-17T14:24:53Z

A good bit of fun, pretty nicely polished. I second @malcolm that it's too easy to survive just by doing circles.

My experience was that blocking only matters at the end, where I have to remember to use it to maximise coins. The player character and enemy art is very nice, and I like the ~~sword~~ cleaver. Shouting is just for fun right?

Wob the (Wobbly) Builder by korfi 2021-10-05T14:46:43Z

Fun idea. The later levels are fun and challenging - I think it could have ramped up faster (i.e., skip some of the early easy levels). A couple of bits of wonky physics here and there (I know how it is...!) - there were a couple of times when a piece fell through the foundation and hit the ground, but the game made it up to me in the last level when a piece fell through the ground and didn't trigger the end of the level. I like the graphics but the music is not compelling.

UNSTABLI by ALAN001 2021-10-17T15:38:12Z

What am I missing? The second and third levels seem completely impossible due to the density of bullets. Have I missed some ability?

Putting that aside, the jumping seems inconsistent. Sometimes I can triple-jump, sometimes the game ignores my attempt to jump altogether. There should be audio feedback when I make a hit, or get hit, as well as a health bar.

Factowery by demogorgon 2021-10-12T14:56:05Z

Interesting and unusual take on factory games and tower defence. I'm not really sure that I fully understood the clockwise/counterclockwise rules, but for the time I played, it didn't matter too much because I could juggle the tubes to shoot whatever I needed. I stopped playing after a while, as it wasn't getting hard fast enough... I would suggest ramping up the difficulty faster (after a gentle opening minute or two) and possibly adding a clear win condition. I also think that some enemy sprites and a few sounds would go a long way.

Floor Falls by Toomblercazz 2021-10-12T14:15:15Z

Wonderful puzzle with clever rules, it had me stumped for an embarrassingly long time. I almost started angrily writing up an impossibility proof before I finally saw the thing I was missing! Of course it's completely fair and I just had a blind spot for a certain combination of moves.

It always impresses me what puzzlescript games are capable of.

2001 Unstable Oddyssey by nopogo 2021-10-16T13:19:52Z

The great soundscape and graphics work well together to set the mood. It seems a little easy to not take damage. I think that's partly because it's so easy to stop, and partly because there is no time pressure or other incentive to risk damage. Actually I kind of expected some new hazards to show up based on the introductory text.

Unstable Core by Fluorescent 2021-10-13T14:05:26Z

Cool game! I like the blueprint style graphics and the music is great. It's maybe a little on the easy side since I managed to win on my first attempt, while I was still trying to figure out the mechanics. It was possible to downgrade the danger level without coolant and maybe that is what made it too easy.

I agree with others about providing feedback. Whenever the player does an action, there should be both a sound and some visual change to make it clear that the player has successfully interacted. Since the generators take a moment to activate, there should be a progress bar or donut chart or something too - to make it clear that it's making progress. Also, maybe it should be made more blatant how the different game mechanics are interacting. It was hard to appreciate how keeping the turret loaded was helping me. And I would put some serious visual & sound effects on when the player is close to losing; that would make it feel more intense.

Lumberjack Survival by kyron 2021-10-15T15:19:18Z

I've seen a few keep-a-fire-going games in past LDs. Still, this game has got it's own take on things. Nice touch with the intro. Pretty short game but it's easy to muck up and let the fire go out. I would have liked a clear indication of a successful attack on a wolf. The graphics seem pretty inconsistent, in particular with different sprite resolutions.

LD24 — Evolution

Vesuvius by Joker 2012-08-27T10:06:00

There probably needs to be more explanation. It can be frustrating when I don't know why I died. e.g. _this_ lava/pulsating orb kills you but _that_ lava/pulsating orb gives you strength, with no real clues. And if I want to experiment to figure it out I have to play all the way through from the start, which is also frustrating.

An Astronomical Affray by reheated 2012-08-27T10:59:00

Arkazon: thanks for your suggestion. I moved the files to dropbox.

An Astronomical Affray by reheated 2012-08-29T02:23:00

quill18: can you tell me what kind of CPU and graphics card you have?

In the off chance that this is something to do with the custom pixel shaders, can anyone for whom the original doesn't work try this: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/100794454/AstronomicalAffrayNoPS.zip . The only thing changed here is the removal of the pixel shaders. If you use this for voting please keep in mind that you aren't getting the full package re graphics & mood.

To everyone: thanks for your kind comments on the music and sound!

Hard Life 3X by echa 2012-08-27T15:54:00

Hard and addictive.

LD26 — Minimalism

Bear Necessities by itsZN 2013-04-30T17:41:00

I find it fun, and I like the way the music slows down as you get tired. Is there any way to get away from those damn bees??

Poor Man's Tower Defense by UntitledQ 2013-04-30T19:28:00

This is a very clever take on both tower defense and the theme.

The Despicable Caverns of Deadly Doom by BumpkinRich 2013-04-30T20:42:00

This is so well done. Reminds me of the games I never had the skill to play but often watched my older brother play. Can you provide us with a list of level names?

The Despicable Caverns of Deadly Doom by BumpkinRich 2013-04-30T20:49:00

Also, I disagree with nintendoeats. Lives are fine and surely the right thing to do in this style of game. And for me, 90% of the challenge was flying (but I'm not very quick-fingered).

A Couple of Questions by Brian Corr 2013-04-29T17:59:00

Very humorous and great characterisation!!

What Would You Do? by Psytew 2013-04-29T21:26:00

Nice writing and I like the way the 8 different sequences all build up pieces of the truth. And I'm impressed that you would torture yourself by making a game in a bat file. (BTW, "Questionbussiness" and "TrueEnding" labels are broken.)

EmotimCrawl by Tamik 2013-04-30T19:11:00

Nice work, it was fun! The combat was good but it was a little too easy to just run past everything and not fight.

Type|FACE by TriBeard 2013-04-30T19:52:00

I thought it was great, and the wild changes in difficulty made it funny.

Random Legend Adventure by Captain_Genial 2013-05-01T12:02:00

This game is inspired. Fun, funny, with really nice art. (But not very minimalist.)

Physix-Breaker by Kashi 2013-04-29T18:59:00

Haha - I was gearing up for standard breakout style play and was totally thrown off when the ball moved the way it did. Nice take on the game.

Lemmings 3d: Yellow Edition by chobrah 2013-04-29T18:25:00

Great work on the puzzle design! I liked how you put the cookies as an optional extra challenge :)

Three in One? by ndssia 2013-04-29T18:40:00

I like all 3 games, but Pellet Man is a tour de force.

A Scholar In The Woods by Rastagong 2013-04-29T19:38:00

This was really well written.

I think I got stuck (at the same point as jmf)? It's the scene beginning "and so it continued, on and on, until night." I can't interact with anything.

A Scholar In The Woods by Rastagong 2013-04-29T19:49:00

SPOILER

I replayed and realised the problem - there's a way you can go through the trees without finding the key in the forest - this causes the scene to start without the scripted events happening.

Friggin Lazors by Fenmar 2013-05-01T11:05:00

Nice puzzles. I liked how everything was in one big level.

A Game of Numbers by JoeDev_net 2013-04-29T20:16:00

Really enjoyed this. Excellent idea and well thought-out puzzles.

LD27 — 10 Seconds

1007Quest by Hegemege 2013-08-27T21:15:00

Good fun. I like the art style, especially the way the character equipment changes. How do you fight those darn eyeballs?

The GOSH signal by tompudding 2013-08-31T12:31:00

Nice! Good puzzles and I thought your voice acting was great. I really like the idea of making the player solve problems with a calculator/computer, and we're just about the best audience for that.

SWEAT by reheated 2013-09-05T06:37:00

Hi Latcarf, that's a Chrome-specific problem, I think. The music loops in Firefox and IE. Not enough of a show-stopper to fix now, but I'll try and work out the problem for my next game.

Thanks to everyone for the interesting comments and ideas. The difficulty seems to have polarised people. In future I would like to slowly ramp up the difficulty and hopefully have a clearer structure to each level, but I want to computer-generate my levels, so it will be an interesting challenge to work out a scoring system that incorporates these things.

The Chaos Sisters by dark_hunter 2013-08-31T20:26:00

Nice idea! I especially enjoyed the item descriptions.

QuickSwitch by Noah Ratcliff 2013-08-26T19:49:00

This game is fun and addictive. But so hard! I nearly gave in on the first jump. Fortunately I feel like my skills have improved playing this game.

Ab Solanum by doonay21 2013-08-26T20:35:00

It's fun and has a lot of gameplay for two days' work. Nice work incorporating lots of the runner-up themes!

Five Seconds by Latcarf 2013-08-31T16:38:00

Quite addictive. Nice one!

TenSecWep by DesignerNap 2013-08-31T11:24:00

Great concept. The combat/puzzle combo is fun. Nice art too.

Time Surge by Solifuge 2013-08-31T09:41:00

Spectacular. Excellent puzzles, adventure game aspect, music and art. Couldn't stop playing.

Time Heist by Gonzo 2013-09-03T21:14:00

Quite funny, and fun gameplay! Too short though.

Korn Land by GigaBass 2013-08-31T07:18:00

Fun and funny. I like the art.

Time Lord by zconnelly13 2013-09-03T16:48:00

A fun platformer with well designed levels. For me, levels 8 and 10 were really challenging.

Maze of Torment by shard123 2013-08-31T19:02:00

This was legitimately scary, good work!

SELF-DESTRUCT by Mago 2013-08-31T13:40:00

The level design was very well done, & nice graphics!

Dark Interval by alexandervrs 2013-09-03T18:39:00

Wow, this game is really scary and hard. I managed to beat it! But I _nearly_ gave in on the set of 4 levels where you meet the scorpions. Good art and good use of sound to set the mood. I see why you put the save points 4 levels apart, having to go back that far enhances the panic.

Ludicrous Parking by Yell0w 2013-08-27T20:21:00

Really fun idea and the car controls were good. It was too short and easy though! I also agree with tombsar that it would be nice if there was a direction test.

Factory Wars by The Evil Cult 2013-08-31T18:37:00

Fun game with great graphics and audio. An RTS is a big feat. I really enjoyed watching the punch-bots punch.

Stoppage Time by noddy2006 2013-08-31T07:43:00

A really smart idea and well executed. The players were much more intelligent than I was expecting.

LD29 — Beneath the Surface

In Cold Blood: Hatching a Conspiracy of Epic Scale by Brian Corr 2014-04-28T17:45:00

This was really entertaining. The music and the puns were great, and I really enjoyed the stealth/combat aspect and pushing obstacles around to get into a good tactical position.

Down Through Sins by Toki Anholmes 2014-04-28T19:09:00

Beautiful art & sound and a fun, original idea. Wish it was longer!

Yadig - Yet Another Digger Inspired Game by anbreizh 2014-04-28T20:42:00

Cool idea, I like how a time/resource management aspect comes out from the rules. (But like some other players, I experienced some crashes.)

Snake Driller by Florent 2014-05-10T11:39:00

A fun and creative take on snake. (I found it a little awkward controlling the drill two steps ahead all the time.)

LogiFig by reheated 2014-04-28T20:01:00

Hi all, thanks for your comments. Yeah this game was underexplained. This evening I added a "Hints" link above, next to the link to the game, I hope it helps.

Village By The Lake by KJScott 2014-05-03T09:46:00

Great art, really creepy. Is this a comment on Crimea? What's the deal with that face in the background?

Symphony of Life by Bernhard 2014-05-10T12:09:00

You said "failed experiment" in the notes but I wouldn't describe it that way. Maybe the gameplay wasn't quite as deep as you were hoping but it's one of the most original ideas I've seen here and it was fun to figure out what to do and then to actually try to do it. (The music got a little tiring though.)

Hughes by SnoringFrog 2014-05-03T08:49:00

Fun and pretty funny, Could do with a bunch more levels though.

Stories of Moles: Holy Crap Edition by Muciojad 2014-05-03T09:15:00

Loved the humour and the game was really fun. Using the terrain to defeat my foes (in the first two levels) is a great mechanic.

Souvenirs by BadPaul34 2014-05-10T11:16:00

Something very different. I liked it. It seemed important to play the game a couple of times through to get more of the story.

Body Defence by stenol 2014-05-01T22:36:00

Very nice. I played it for quite a while. Does level 2 end? When? I never finished it because those yellow sun things were too hard! Since you're continuing to work on this game, my only suggestion (apart from more guns, enemies and levels) is an easy way to see what level a tower is without selecting it.

this is kevin by hbocao 2014-05-01T23:31:00

It's a beautiful little game and the last level was a work of art. [SPOILER] Yeah I got surprised by the ending switcheroo, that was a really weird experience.[/SPOILER]

this is kevin by hbocao 2014-05-01T23:34:00

Also I had the same experience as Fritzendugan with my character disappearing once. I think there is one place where you can walk off the bottom of the screen, making it look like Kev's vanished.

Try to get out by morganbengtsson 2014-05-10T12:47:00

Great atmosphere, I wish there was more to do though.

Deepsea - Delirious by BarkingCat 2014-05-10T12:30:00

Fun idea and looks and sounds really great. I couldn't get very far because it's so hard.

Hymn of the Moles by King_Mew 2014-05-02T00:32:00

I don't feel qualified to talk about the artistic value of this game (there appears to be a big back story behind it) so I'll just bring up a technical issue. Did you take account of the latency between buffering a sound and it actually coming out the speaker? For me (playing under Windows) it was very hard to play to the rhythm. I finished the game but not before turning off my headphones.

Bridge to the Abyss by Agecaf 2014-05-03T08:40:00

Lots of fun with wonderful music. At first I found it strange that I couldn't see my own score once I went deeper. But I like it - adds to the feeling of being lost in a vast ocean.

CAVE TO DOWN by kato 2014-05-01T20:22:00

Nice art, and quite fun! But sore hand yeah.

Reaching new surfaces by lixaxil 2014-04-28T19:44:00

Cool idea. I think the difficulty controlling it is what makes it fun. It might be more fun with a map. Also when I land on the moon the game should show some damn appreciation (even if I do land sideways).

LD30 — Connected Worlds

Cosmic Conqueror by MunkeeBacon 2014-08-30T17:17:00

Fun, with awesome, funny art.

The Ghosts You Left Me by CptDustmite 2014-08-29T17:20:00

The sound, the graphics and the newspaper writing do a great job of setting a dark mood. I wish it was longer - such a good start to a game. (Also: you did an especially good job of the cryo pod sounds.)

Disconnecting Worlds by Macocco 2014-08-25T19:24:00

It's great! I liked how all the platforming was done on "one" screen that kept changing. Pretty tough towards the end!

Altrein's Portal by MacronCPP 2014-08-30T14:37:00

Phew, finished it on hard! It's fun. In my opinion it would be more fun if I could divert the enemies down a path, as in many other tower defence games.

GalEx - We Connect Worlds! by markusfisch 2014-08-30T16:06:00

Fun, good physics, I like the art style. (Game could be a bit longer!)

13 minutes of light by Jod 2014-08-29T19:59:00

I enjoyed this. I like how there's a personal story going on at the same time as a violent war story in the background. I also enjoyed the reddit boards. Very well written, and a lot of writing too for an LD game!

Steel Saviour by Aifryz 2014-08-29T17:51:00

Fun! Nice writing, and I enjoyed how the "other world" was photographic.

Tubular: A Game About Tubes by monosaccharide 2014-08-30T15:59:00

Fun and tough. It was very disorienting (in a fun way) when switching between purple and another colour.

Ghost N' Not Ghosts by PizzaPranks 2014-09-02T17:33:00

The ghost and shield mechanics are clever and fun. I would like it if there was better feedback when I was damaged or dealt damage.

[SPOILER] In particular, it took me ages to realise I could do something to the dragon. I've killed his head now but his hands are still there and I don't know if that's the end. [/SPOILER]

Convergence by skyr 2014-08-30T11:48:00

A TD game, but with a couple of twists which I like. I like upgrading a tower to customize it instead of building specific types. Also, the grenade mechanic is a nice way to let me interact during the waves without letting me juggle. The game is a little unbalanced but that's part of the fun of tower defence. I'm guessing it goes forever...?

Worlds Without End: Zen Edition by meeech 2014-08-25T18:04:00

Are you generating the terrain on the fly? It looks very cool. Wish it was a game.

Blink by DarknessFades 2014-08-30T15:01:00

I've never seen anything like it. Fun! And beautiful!

Between Two by Zekronz 2014-09-02T18:48:00

Puzzley-platformey goodness. Enjoyed it very much.

Behind the Data by Laralyn 2014-08-25T18:43:00

Fantastic presentation. I can't buy the auto mine...?

Two Empires by Tosic 2014-08-30T10:23:00

I had some thoughts but then discovered bentog already said everything I wanted to say. Thanks, bentog!

space addict by spartangeek 2014-08-29T19:07:00

Cool idea. I wish it was better balanced though.

Space Cookies (of semi-destiny) by iMer 2014-09-02T19:08:00

Hah - I like the explosions and my guy's head.

Lady Lyla by whalebot 2014-09-02T19:31:00

It's very nice. (And of course the post compo version is even better.) I like how his story is told up the top. Great art.

WorldWar of Connectidia by Goutye 2014-08-25T17:42:00

Very cool idea. I really like the mechanic where building on one of the worlds will penalise me on the other world. I would only suggest that instead of a big tutorial at the start, provide help as I play.

Sol by pikkpoiss 2014-08-29T18:39:00

Fun and creative idea, I really enjoyed it. The music works perfectly.

[SPOILER?] With a lot of luck I managed to get 1M people but I couldn't bring the planet into the sun, I tried a lot. [/SPOILER]

zombies you Going down by joylessSnake 2014-08-29T17:41:00

It's not very balanced... I found it pretty much impossible to die until a zombie appeared right next to me, and then I'd have no chance to survive.

Intergalactic: Multidimensional Planetary World Defenders by polyboxgames 2014-08-30T16:39:00

Fun, and highly polished. The particle effects are great and the world-switching mechanic is very clever.

Press space to start by thecolorhacker 2014-08-30T15:40:00

Fun, with unique gameplay. I really enjoyed the last level, it was much more "puzzly" than the rest.

Two worlds connected by ztiromoritz 2014-08-30T11:16:00

Nice! In my opinion the gameplay started off a little slowly but after a while it got fun & challenging.

A New and Beautiful World by TKia_ 2014-08-30T12:45:00

I'm not a big IF fan, but this is a great story, extremely well written. Great job.

Equal But Opposite by Whoosy 2014-08-25T17:54:00

Great idea, I really wish it was longer.

Looking Glass by sudojess 2014-09-01T21:43:00

It's quite beautiful but I've never seen a game more desperate for some sound.

LD31 — Entire Game on One Screen

War in VR World by hadesfury 2014-12-24T16:44:00

Quite clever! After finishing the easy condition, I tried the hard one, then thought "ugh, this is too tedius" - then I realised I was playing it all wrong and had upgraded my productivity too much. Tried again and enjoyed it.

The Adventures of Darsh in Offscreenland by mmoustafa 2014-12-09T19:31:00

Beautiful. Wish it was longer...

discrepancy by reheated 2014-12-08T19:02:00

Thanks for your comments everyone! @celeron55: I think if I just randomly picked any arrangement of dots it probably wouldn't have an answer. My algorithm works backwards from a solution.

discrepancy by reheated 2014-12-09T07:34:00

@madameberry: You can undo an edge by clicking on it again. Sorry that I didn't say that anywhere. I'll add it to the notes. IMO a mobile version is not an option unless I think of a different interface because it's hard enough with a mouse clicking the diagonals.

discrepancy by reheated 2014-12-11T23:01:00

@Arkrothe: Really? Darn. That never happened for me. What OS and browser are you using? I found the audio to be a bit unpredictable in Firefox in other ways so maybe that's it? Try Chrome or IE.

discrepancy by reheated 2014-12-29T14:48:00

@hadesfury: Oh no! Are you playing in Firefox? There are some rare audio-related problems in Firefox. Reloading might fix it or you can try a different browser.

Fungus War by skonkan 2014-12-11T21:45:00

Fun, quirky strategy game!

Damn, Again Another Top-Down Shooter by miro662 2014-12-11T19:35:00

Fun! And clever interpretation of the theme.

Frostbite by ShellfishGames 2014-12-20T14:59:00

Very clever, both games have nice mechanics! I enjoyed building bridges.

Das Tank Game by RaycoSantana 2014-12-08T10:04:00

Hectic fun. Nice sound and graphics! Enjoyed picking up the weapon powerups.

Valhalla by snickersnacks 2014-12-11T20:08:00

Pretty fun. Great work with the simulation!

Get the fick out by elkiwydev 2014-12-08T10:49:00

I wasn't expecting explosions! Fun and hard. I enjoyed setting up a wall of fire and coaxing people into it. I tried and tried but couldn't kill the boss - what am I missing?

Gingerbread Castle by seledorn 2014-12-08T11:11:00

A clever arcade/strategy!

Curious Archibald by Magicolo 2014-12-10T19:04:00

Absolutely wonderful. A huge amount of gameplay in a small space. I appreciated the way you reused areas to make multiple puzzles. The music is great, and I laughed at the ending.

I finished it with about 170 runs. But last night I played and got too tired and gave in, and I'm sure I played over 100 runs. Put me down for "about 300". So... it's hard.

Psychologist Simultor 2015 by Moee 2014-12-11T21:26:00

Haha, I thought it was pretty funny. I liked the way the speech bubble changes.

Square by onilink_ 2014-12-08T13:23:00

This game is splendid. Very fun and very nice to look at. Calling the first difficulty level "very easy" is a bit demoralising though!

Cube Shooter 31 by cachila4408 2014-12-10T21:02:00

Cool style, I like how it's played on top of the menu. I preferred the time mode. It's more about planning a safe path than quick reaction speed or aiming.

Reversi by Rupert 2014-12-10T19:53:00

That's a really clever idea for a puzzle game, and well designed levels. Fun.

A-Maze-Ballz by Krz 2014-12-09T18:56:00

Fun and creative. With the small hitboxes it kinda felt like a bullet hell game, except all the bullets are stationary.

Maze of Doom by cyrixd 2014-12-24T12:38:00

Wonderful. Fun to figure out the mechanics and then fun to abuse them. :)

Robots vs Stuff by Martins 2014-12-08T16:48:00

Fun! Clever idea.

Blockade by TheGreenTie 2014-12-11T21:57:00

Fantastic idea! Great art and sound too!!

LD32 — An Unconventional Weapon

RELIC by CptDustmite 2015-04-20T16:11:00

Excellent art and a very entertaining story! The scenery is great and the characters too. I enjoyed the speech synth - nice touch.

Philosophers Battle by BubuIIC 2015-04-24T10:11:00

Quite amusing gameplay, and educational too, sorta!

Mined the 'roids! by Neilo 2015-04-26T04:41:00

Fun! It's really impressive that you got a decent AI coded up! And great work on the sounds and models!

Wellbeing by reheated 2015-04-25T03:49:00

Thanks everyone for your comments! Thanks nossi for taking such a close look. I think everything you said is right and I'll keep it in mind for the next game. If anyone gets choppy animation could you let me know what OS and browser it's on?

Aquatic Regia by swinestudios 2015-04-26T02:01:00

Fun gameplay and the graphics and music set the mood well. I disagree with some of the posters above: the bubble-gun is well balanced for the sort of gameplay I think you were aiming for.

Type Fighter by LandoSystems 2015-04-26T02:16:00

Fun! I like the spell effect mechanic.

PROTOCOL ON BLINDING LASER WEAPONS 20XX by radmars 2015-04-25T02:45:00

Simple but really fun! Perfect music. I like the interpretation of the theme. The best part for me was wondering how the incredibly realistic steering AI worked (it's crashing in precisely the difficult places where I crash! Is it searching for obstacles and computing the steering required to avoid them??), and then looking in the code and seeing how you did it.

Get Off My Land by GarethIW 2015-04-26T10:19:00

Really splendid. Got hooked and played it for ages. The graphics, SFX and speech are really good. I like the way the intensity of the music increases as more signs go up.

A Knight and A Line by Squeka 2015-04-24T08:37:00

Hey, a game in a pdf file! Very clever. Entertaining story - I found myself laughing a few times. Nice art too.

Save the Spoon by OniiRam 2015-04-24T08:51:00

Pretty funny take on the theme! Does it go forever or does it end after some number of waves?

In Air by SleepyStudios 2015-04-25T11:58:00

Aaargh! Final throw of the final level http://imgur.com/qmrTeOh

Love it. 43 deaths. I found it hard but each level is pretty short so it doesn't feel too bad to restart. The art style suits the game well.

Traxxion by alangamebot 2015-04-26T08:47:00

Very cool. Looks nice and it's really hard. I like the firing mechanism. Good music too!

Kodama - frail echoes by geekdrums 2015-04-26T08:21:00

Beautiful art and sound.

(I had to rename the file to "kodama.zip" to open it in Windows)

rm by Eskoala 2015-04-25T11:10:00

Excellent writing! I liked the world you created and the story. I like how the synths are people just like you or me but sexless... calling someone "it" seems so alien. I also struggled with the right verbs but I got through it - I know there is a subtle hint for the final action but maybe it could have been repeated in the object description? I don't know, maybe that then makes it too easy.

Very Unconventional Knight by Doubstract 2015-04-24T15:36:00

This is a brilliant gameplay idea and incredibly well presented too! I wish it was longer!

RCCAT - Radio Controlled Cat by PinkIndian 2015-04-24T14:59:00

Thanks for reminding me how uncoordinated I am! I ran over myself several times and I'm sure I destroyed many more houses than the aliens. Great take on the theme!! Pretty much the perfect unconventional weapon. (I'm curious as to whether it was built as a weapon or just re-appropriated from its original purpose (and what that purpose was).)

RCCAT - Radio Controlled Cat by PinkIndian 2015-04-24T15:07:00

Also I disagree with Andy Gainey above about the viewport. Centering it on the human adds to the challenge and also makes the most sense given the context (you're controlling the cat - you aren't the cat).

Rustinator by dusho 2015-04-24T14:07:00

Fun and quite innovative! Took me a few goes to win, because I had to remind myself that I can move as far as I want, and I don't have to kill everyone.

Tetris Smash! by Jaenis 2015-04-24T09:32:00

You owe me new fingers. Played it for quite a while, it's really fun! There's some interesting interactions going on between the tetris and the combat - like, if I don't want a piece, I can let them shoot it up. On the other hand, if I do want to use a piece, I have to move really quickly!

The Room by Fenmar 2015-04-26T10:45:00

Cool game mechanic! Wish the game was longer!

An elf walks into a bar... by merzlot 2015-04-24T10:59:00

Addictive and really well presented. It's fun to try to cause the biggest brawl possible and then watch the survivors wade through the wreckage. I like how the bartender sets this off by cutting off the booze and then just stands there washing the bar.

pick your poison_ by Sanguine 2015-04-24T09:12:00

Oh wow! I love the artistic and musical style of this game. And very innovative gameplay! I enjoyed having to play it a few times to understand how the rules work and how to take advantage of them. Is there a way to tell how many rounds I survived? Very creative and well presented. The effect on the mouse cursor is a nice touch.

Wooly Defender by gogo199432 2015-04-24T14:37:00

Fun! I like the graphical style and the silliness. But tell me this: If the sheep can walk towards the enemy what do I need the catapult for? SO unrealistic :)

THUMP by Steffan 'Ruirize' James 2015-04-26T09:23:00

Pretty fun! The rams do feel thouroughly meaty. Is there any way to... not.. survive the onslaught?

Space Force by Zinhet 2015-04-26T07:25:00

Fun! I like the combat mechanic. I scoured a few systems but never ended up profitable.

Myland by Kardamom 2015-04-24T12:04:00

I really enjoyed this game. It was fun to figure out how my actions affected my popularity. I like the way neighbouring countries affect each other - makes the game into a kind of puzzle where you have to figure out which countries to focus on to have the biggest effect. Took me a few goes so in my opinion the difficulty is just right.

Orb of Power by NoSoupForYou 2015-04-26T01:41:00

This is really fun. The physics works well, the puzzles are well designed and the combat is quite fun. I particularly like the guards with shields - you can try to sneak the orb past the shield or you can throw it over them and recall it to hit them from behind. (I didn't try playing with the non-physics based throwing because it seemed like cheating.)

The game is called "Orb of power" so I had high expectations and laughed when the first thing I had to do with it was throw it at a button.

Curfew by Backlund 2015-04-24T11:14:00

Cool style! Wish it was longer.

Demonic MeatBall by CafeAmbivalence 2015-04-26T09:02:00

Waaaaah

Fun and clever combat system. Excellent graphics. I also mostly used pull. I found it much easier to aim slingshot attacks - I think I get finer control over the direction that way.

You are the carrΓ© by thedarknightdu78 2015-04-26T06:37:00

Fun, but punishing.

I know the lack of checkpoints and the way the movement speed keeps changing when I hit a ball are techniques you're using to make it more difficult/punishing. One thing that made it feel maybe a little unfair for me is that the player's footprint for gameplay purposes seems to be smaller than the visual one. It means I keep failing jumps that I look like I'm gonna get.

Xecute by arkelite 2015-04-25T03:41:00

I finished it! Nice job. The randomness of some of the traps means we have to make the most of what we are dealt, which is interesting but on occasion it would give me nothing but hearts - what can I do? Nice art work.

LD33 — You are the Monster

Masyu by MarekkPie 2015-08-29T01:23:00

Um... did you forget something? http://imgur.com/grT2vmo

Eat Sheep by ehtd 2015-08-29T00:22:00

Clever puzzles with a cute presentation. I like it. (For some reason it took me a while to realise that the sheep move along predefined paths, rather than to the nearest hole. After I realised that the puzzles made perfect sense :)) Wish it was longer!

Unfinished Piece by madlee 2015-08-29T04:14:00

Nice but I wish it was longer! By the time I understood the rules properly I finished it.

Milky Helps People by reheated 2015-08-25T08:59:00

Hi all, thanks for your comments!

@gingerBill: Haha, yoghurt a good sense of humour.

@petersmyth: Thanks! Mangosteen's a real thing, you know, and pretty much that powerful in real life, according to some.

Milky Helps People by reheated 2015-08-25T13:50:00

@folex70: darn! what OS and browser?

You! Are the monster by panda 2015-08-29T05:47:00

Brilliant! I'll definitely be spending some QT with your source code, work out how you did it.

Minion Factorium by DaanVanYperen 2015-08-29T01:39:00

Gross in a cute way, and heaps of fun. The sounds are great!

Dungeons Deep by lubos 2015-08-28T10:55:00

Great puzzles! And I really like the style.

A Monster Is You! by person124 2015-08-28T13:56:00

Fun puzzles and I literally laughed out loud at the ending!

Entropy by sprawl 2015-08-29T08:11:00

Marvellous puzzles. I see other people complaining regarding the theme but I disagree - this is a great interpretation.

Gravity Snake by lessmilk 2015-08-29T06:06:00

Nice puzzles. I laughed at the music!

Collateral Choice by avultima 2015-08-27T13:24:00

Clever puzzle mechanic - I like the way it means we can set our own difficulty!

Splat by thegdr 2015-08-29T02:43:00

Fun and funny Sokoban variant. I like the little touches, like people walking past in the background and chimney smoke. I also like how the other monsters just stand there waiting to be pushed, like that's their job.

Mindvasion by Fanaen 2015-08-28T12:49:00

A very clever puzzle idea - I really enjoyed it. Wish it was longer! (I imagine you could make some frightfully complex level where the player has to get the sequence of moves _just_ right.)

Detached by khahem 2015-08-28T09:30:00

Really great. My brain doesn't work any more. Thanks for the interesting postmortem too!

Drunkula by francismoy 2015-08-28T10:40:00

It's strange and beautiful, great work.

Daylight Blobbery by Mark Smith 2015-08-25T12:07:00

Great fun, great style and I like the physics. Anyone know where the last slice is?

Shadow Wolf by Open Rift 2015-08-28T13:19:00

Cool twist on the "Theseus" type of puzzle. I like the sounds!

Sheepdog Dino by logiclogue 2015-08-25T13:31:00

Cool take on the theme and a fun mix of strategy and skill. I like the running animations.

Quarantine Zone #1 by TMW 2015-08-27T12:49:00

Very clever gameplay and I enjoyed the biographies!

You are the star by Dizzly 2015-08-30T00:29:00

Really clever gameplay and great presentation - enjoyed the voices.

Delicious Ships! by BaseCase 2015-08-27T13:56:00

Wonderful puzzles with a fun presentation. Great game!

LD34 — Two Button Controls / Growing

Initial Conditions by reheated 2016-01-05T06:27:00

Thanks everyone for your comments and votes. I'm delighted with the outcome.

@RockhopperGames: I think you're right about the plot point. I wanted to make the game not go anywhere while still having some kind of snappy ending, but I see how it's a bit unbelievable and that could get in the way of the suspension of disbelief. Hopefully it got you thinking though! Regarding the connection between the puzzles and the story: I consider my puzzle games to be a gamified abstraction of the process they represent, e.g., in the world of this game, setting the initial conditions would be a more fiddly, un-game-like task (that isn't so easy to do with an algorithm) that is just represented abstractly by these puzzles. That might sound like a cop-out but all games make this kind of cop-out to some degree, e.g. think about all the triple-A games with hacking/lockpicking/safecracking minigames that are nothing like the process they represent.

@kmakai: I was wondering what word to use to describe the visual style... "clinical" is right - thanks!

@KanedaXIII: Darn! If anyone experiences right-click troubles can you let me know what OS and browser you are using?

@ethankennnerly: You're right, of course - I just wanted a very short argument justifying a limit on how long we can survive.

Growing Sakura by ripatti 2015-12-21T12:17:00

I'm only about half way through, but I'd better vote now in case I don't finish it before the voting period runs out! It's really wonderful. Clever rules and excellent puzzle design. Some nice hard puzzles. It's impressive how many levels you designed. (I understand you used a solver to speed up the level design - it's a clever way to make lots of content in a short amount of time.) Very nice presentation too. A most enjoyable and memorable game, well done.

Trees! by Vandash 2015-12-28T08:13:00

It's beautiful, and fun. I enjoyed abandoning the goals and just making the dumbest looking trees I could.

Arrow Drift by JPatrick 2015-12-16T09:57:00

Very nice puzzles!

Hearty's Quest by LMT 2015-12-17T13:23:00

Excellent puzzle design and it looks beautiful! A clever way to make the 2 button theme a really core part of the puzzle.

Flutter by cudabear 2015-12-16T12:20:00

Splendid game, the last few levels were a really good challenge. The death scene is traumatising.

net_forget by Os_Reboot 2015-12-16T09:26:00

Nice puzzles, I really enjoyed the presentation.

Grow by mitya1234 2015-12-17T13:38:00

I finished it before I had completely figured out the rules. Very beautiful though!

Careful with that watering can, Trevor! by antglynn 2015-12-16T10:16:00

Great! Wish it was longer.

Abyssal Zone by Leddev 2015-12-28T07:07:00

Clever puzzles and I like the way you kind of made two different difficulty levels, according to whether we try to collect all the thingies. (IMO the game is much more satisfying trying to collect all of them!)

Beanstalks by MinusKelvin 2015-12-21T12:50:00

Nice game! It's fun. I like how you created quite varied gameplay out of a few elements.

Expando-Balls by IanGraven 2015-12-16T11:39:00

Great puzzles!

LD35 — Shapeshift

Panzerantix by CptDustmite 2016-04-18T06:14:00

Really great job, good work on the graphics and satisfying puzzles (esp. level 6, i think it was)

Gerry Wins! by BubuIIC 2016-04-23T00:40:00

Oh yeah! This is a very clever board game. It is potentially quite deep (but it's hard to tell how deep a game is, really). I don't know any opening strategy, but as the game develops, it becomes possible to look ahead and plan some moves. I feel that certain go-like aspects emerge. E.g. I had a couple of "miai" moments where I was happy because two moves were equivalent, so if the computer took one, I could take the other.

Also nice commentary on the state of politics :D. And I like the art style.

I Have Brig Plans by reheated 2016-04-21T23:31:00

@Geckoo1337: Thanks! It's raw HTML5 (no engine). Each time I start an LD entry I grab the stuff I can reuse from my previous entry (loading files, playing music, setting up event listeners, common algorithms).

Subject 74 by chobrah 2016-04-18T04:18:00

It's great, very funny. Excellent work on the AI! I really like how you can trick the enemies into shooting each other. I got stuck on the level with 2 lasers because I am unco.

Temple Shifters by sftrabbit 2016-04-23T12:41:00

Clever rules and nice puzzles and music!

BrainRequired by Geckoo1337 2016-04-21T12:25:00

Marvelous. I enjoyed everything about this game! Great puzzles, great atmosphere and I really like the quirky character.

There was one level where, after solving it, I thought "hum, I wonder what that block there was for?", and then a later level was maybe the same thing without that block? So I guess I missed an easier solution, oops.

Shapeshift Puzzle by fabys 2016-04-25T12:23:00

Tricky puzzles, nice work!

Theseus by TheMeorch 2016-04-21T14:09:00

Really really great. Excellent puzzle design and presentation. The last level took me ages!

Theseus by TheMeorch 2016-05-04T12:25:00

Came back to play the expansion levels. They're great! And they took me a lot longer than the original game. I think I have nonstandard solutions to 4+ and 6+? http://imgur.com/a/MMS62

Blue Moon by Mark Smith 2016-04-18T05:09:00

It's gorgeous, and I like the little details like whizzing bullet sounds.

A Mazeshift Title by antglynn 2016-04-28T12:28:00

I like it. Clever puzzle rules and good work making procedurally generated puzzles!

Shape Factory by David Cookie 2016-04-20T12:26:00

A funny take on rhythm games and oddly kind of stressful due to the memory component, even though it's only 4 things I have to memorise! I like how I get dazed if I miss with my head.

Mr. Purrgalar by KairosXIII 2016-04-20T13:49:00

Nice idea and puzzles. I laughed at the menu!

LD36 — Ancient Technology

Sumer Game by Rico The Jammer 2016-09-02T14:17:00

Innovation: I've never seen this kind of gameplay!
Fun: I started off on easy and didn't "get" it. Then I switched to normal and started to see the fun in it. In my opinion, this could be quite fun if it had (i) no easy mode (or rename it to tutorial), (ii) much shorter levels and most importantly (iii) a displayed time limit on each level (or a bar that moves across the message at the top, and if you fall behind, you fail the level) - then it becomes a frantic handwriting race!
Theme: Definitely!
Graphics: Does the job, though imagine if you'd had beautiful hand painted graphics! (Oh, who am I to talk.)
Audio: N/A
Humor: I tittered after making a tablet in free play.
Mood: It could do with sound and music (and, as mentioned, arty art)
Overall: A creative idea and there is the seed of something fun. I imagine a series of levels of increasing difficulty (tighter time limits or longer messages in the same time limit) with a quality requirement that needs to be met to reach the next level. As it is, I have to play through three levels to find out how well I did, and that gets in the way of the enjoyment. Anyway, it's a very creative idea.

Ghosts In The Shell by xgeovanni 2016-08-31T12:56:00

Innovation: It's a cool take on a text adventure. I've seen other games in past LDs where you hack at a terminal but I don't think I've seen people take that aspect to this level.
Fun: I really enjoyed trying to work out everyone's passwords and the sequence of events. (I kept a text file with notes hah). It's a great idea that the player has to get the passwords from the story, even piecing together multiple pieces of information, to figure out a password. I find it frustrating when AAA games have sticky notes all over the place saying "Dear user we reset your password to blahblah". Your sort of system is way more interesting.
Theme: Fine take on the theme.
Graphics: Sorta N/A but it's a good looking and well implemented terminal.
Audio: N/A
Humor: Even though the story covers some serious issues you managed to squeeze some humour in there without it seeming out of place, nice job.
Mood: Fine, although maybe some sound would have added to it?
(Bonus category) Writing: Great job - the characters are believable and the story is coherent and has real substance which is hard to achieve in the time limit. (The line "ending 1/1" confused me a bit... does it mean I 100%ed it?)
Overall: A great story and a fun way to find it out!

The Mystery of the Maniac AI by reheated 2016-09-02T13:13:00

Thanks for your comments, all!

@Rico The Jammer: All good points. You're right about that plot point - if I was a more skilled writer I'd have been able to emphasise it a bit better.

@scorched: [SPOILER] Depends which exit you want. Try drawing the letter G?

@PnDAA: I'm not helping you! I can't give that one away!

Desert Strife by HuvaaKoodia 2016-09-17T03:18:00

Innovation: A strategy game with new rules, I'd call that innovative. Also quite ambitious!
Fun: Yes and no... there is definitely strategy here, it took me a couple of goes to win. However I didn't feel much urge to continue playing. More maps and more types of units might have helped. I also think it was hindered a little by the mechanics not being completely clear: (i) how are the number of casualties decided in each attack? Is there randomness? (ii) What bonus do I get from each ruin? How come that guy gets a tank?
Theme: It's there in the ruins (not front and centre, but that's fine).
Graphics: I like the graphics. Rearranging the soldiers' positions randomly with each step was a cheap and effective way create the feeling of a crowd moving. I enjoyed the combat animations added in the post jam version.
Audio: Worked well. (I take it you didn't make the sounds and music. But you chose them well.)
Humor: N/A? (The cutesy soldier graphics is appealing though)
Mood: I think everything worked well together to create a good mood... although the screams didn't seem to match the cutesy chibi look of the soldiers.
Overall: An ambitious game that looks and sounds good and has an element of fun but would probably need more complexity to grab a player for longer.

cognizance by managore 2016-09-16T14:02:00

Innovation: The main innovation, I think, is the platforms that move or control something else when you move on them. It's clever and leads to nice gameplay with simple controls.
Fun: It's a fun combo of platforming and puzzle solving. It's at the right difficulty - there are a few points which I found just at the edge of my ability (after many attempts). Decently long too. The game is fair: it always gives the player a chance to see what each thing does before making them do anything with it. Thanks for doing this so carefully. Also thanks for not stopping the game at the end - I was glad for the chance to go back and get the one piece I'd missed.
Theme: *Checks when the cogwheel was invented* Tick!
Graphics: Simple but effective. I realise that the simplicity is a little misleading as a lot of care goes into subtle details making it look good. I like the scan line effect. The double vision at the edges of the screen looks cool but if the game were much longer I might have complained about eye strain.
Audio: Simple but effective.
Humor: N/A? (I enjoyed the cheerful scene at the end though!)
Mood: The audio, graphics and gameplay go well together!
Overall: Really excellent! Fun and well presented.

Mr. BigCash by scorched 2016-08-31T13:43:00

Innovation: Good - I haven't seen these rules before. It's definitely substantially different from Sokoban. Somehow it reminds me of old games, though I can't say which.
Fun: Much fun. Clever rules and clever level designs to make use of them. I normally don't like a puzzle game to be so punishing, but here, every time I died, I deserved it. Personally I like to see the whole level at once. But you made up for it by never having any unfair things off-screen.
Theme: Yep, there's ancient technology there at the end!
Graphics: Good, I liked the outfits and the woman's idle animation.
Audio: Sounds good and appropriate.
Humor: Well, there's not a lot, but I enjoyed the treasure!
Mood: Good - graphics and audio go well with the gameplay
Overall: A well-designed and fun puzzle game. Maybe an opening screen before the first level with a little story would add some flavour? The game is a good length but if it were any longer, the woman could do with another ability to keep her interesting.

Reinvent the Wheel by ratly 2016-09-02T14:43:00

Innovation: Very clever!
Fun: Cheerful presentation and addictive gameplay! (After quite a few attempts my record is 2.52km which is probably further than I've ever made it on a real bike without falling off.)
Theme: Yep!
Graphics: I enjoyed the graphics. I like the way the stick figure's legs move properly. And you managed to get all the maths right for lining up the wheels with the road, so I'm impressed.
Audio: Just right for the game.
Humor: The humour comes from the quirky nature of the game, I think. I had a smile on my face while I played it.
Mood: A happy fun mood - it made me happy to keep playing.
(Bonus category) Education: Cool way to sneak some maths into a game. I wonder if it's possible to randomly generate some of the roads and matching wheels at the start of the game, so the player can't just memorise how they match up?
Overall: Fun and well presented.

LD37 — One room

Neural Escape by Kroute 2016-12-15T11:50:00

Innovation: Original gameplay and a creative presentation of it.
Fun: It's pretty fun to play through a few times. It does feel heavily luck-based but I guess it gives it a roguelike feeling (without such a big feeling of loss when I lose in a roguelike).
Theme: Yes.
Graphics: Simple but appropriate. Since you had icons for the options on the right, I would have liked icons for the neuron and the exit. Also you could animate the icons moving down each turn because it took me a while to figure out how they worked.
Audio: I like the choice of sounds, it creates tension.
Humor: I laughed at the idea of a neuron trying to escape from its owner!
Mood: The sound and graphics go well together and suit the game, nice job.
Overall: Creative and interesting game! I enjoyed it. This was your first game ever?? That's a little upsetting.
Minor suggestions: (i) A couple of times I got to the end with 0 turns left, and it gave me the death message? Would have been nice to "win" in that case. (ii) Since I have to press the "play" button to confirm, it would be nice to be able to change my choices before that point.

Dawn Experiments by Ekilibr 2016-12-15T12:24:00

Innovation: Definitely original gameplay, even though there are similarities to other block-pushing style games.
Fun: Great! I was frequently kicking myself when I realised the right thing to do (after doing something dumb). It's not very hard - actually the difficulty is just nice.
Theme: I think it's an excellent take on the theme, the way the puzzle builds up over time.
Graphics: Excellent.
Audio: Very excellent!
Humor: N/A?
Mood: Great, especially thanks to the sound.
Overall: A very enjoyable experience both thanks to the gameplay and the presentation. Just the sort of game I like, so thanks!! I feel relaxed after playing it.

Toilet Escape Room by wdebowicz 2016-12-15T12:50:00

**SPOILERS**

Innovation: It's a room escape game, but since it's got its own puzzles I think that counts as innovation!
Fun: I had fun. I enjoyed how outlandish it all got. A couple of tiny things got in the way though: (i) the numbers on the safe went invisible when I got close, which made them hard to press; (ii) I had trouble finding the exact spot to plunge.
Theme: Yes.
Graphics: Not bad although note the disappearing buttons mentioned above.
Audio: N/A, but reasonable sound choices.
Humor: Toilet humor! Oh yeah!
Mood: Humorous.
Overall: Fun and funny.

Walkie Talkie by managore 2016-12-16T13:45:00

Innovation: Of course! Very original gameplay.
Fun: I had fun playing a few other peoples' levels and then making one of my own. You've got the right audience here to make a user-based content game.
Theme: Yes.
Graphics: For a game that's basically text, this has good graphics!
Audio: N/A (why? Maybe this was the right decision, but I'm used to hearing something?)
Humor: It's an amusing concept, and if that's not enough, I suppose we could all post some jokes.
Mood: It has the mood of a chat room.
Overall: Very original and the platformer gameplay is well implemented too. Excellent game.
(Bonus category) Technical: I'm especially impressed that you made an game with an online component in the time frame.

Dreadroom by nassi 2016-12-16T10:59:00

Innovation: Very original puzzle style. I've seen "Theseus and the Minotaur" style puzzles before, where the enemy moves 2 steps at a time, but it's a superficial similarity - the gameplay is completely different.
Fun: I enjoyed this game a lot. To begin with, I was really stumped. I blundered my way through the first level eventually. Starting with the second level I started to develop a strategy which I had working well by the final level: try to trap myself in a corner, then expand that corner a couple of tiles by adding material, then I can one by one move all the toys inside and the monsters can't do a thing.
Theme: Yes. A bedroom is one room of the house.
Graphics: The graphics makes it clear what is going on, although some of the objects seemed a little hastily drawn. (But who am I to talk.)
Audio: A bit bare bones - how about some music? Or some sound effects during the opening sequence?
Humor: Good, I enjoyed the "cutscenes"!
Mood: Good, it felt tense at times due to the stakes.
Overall: A clever game design and good levels. It felt enjoyable and rewarding to come up with a strategy.

Blubje by Decentsauce 2016-12-15T14:04:00

Innovation: Couple of clever puzzle designs. I was mad at you (but more at myself) about the last level (of the main sequence)!
Fun: Pretty fun. The "rules" aren't completely clear all the time, and thanks to the physics, Some of my solutions probably had shortcuts.
Theme: The rooms don't scroll? That's not really making a big use of the theme. Hardly a big deal though.
Graphics: The character looks alright but the room colours are gaudy.
Audio: N/A (I take it the sound/music's not yours?)
Humor: N/A
Mood: More subtle graphics would establish a better mood.
Overall: Some clever puzzles there so thanks!

Room Jumper by RetroSpecter 2016-12-16T12:14:00

Innovation: Yes, original puzzles
Fun: Pretty fun although it's quite short. Personally I would prefer if the arrow keys moved the character in the cardinal directions, but it's a minor complaint.
Theme: Sure (well, there are actually quite a lot of rooms altogether!)
Graphics: Nice, it has a pleasant look.
Audio: A bit bare-bones, you could do with some more sound effects and maybe music.
Humor: Fine. Actually, I found it frustrating that the other person started telling me to hurry up as soon as I started.
Mood: Good, thanks to the nice look.
Overall: Interesting idea and although it's a short game you explored the idea pretty well.