Roey_Shap

Isochronism by FireSlash 2020-04-25T11:16:04Z

Most problems that I had with the game have already been mentioned - the weird menu music delay thing, being able to click on items immediately after a textbox disappears (or one line before), the textbox opening didn't really have a reason to be that drawn out (and, in general, the text effects were a bit drawn out. I faced a similar issue in my entry, but I'm just pointing it out, especially because I had experience with it). The puzzles were, given, the Jam, pretty succinct and yielded a good balance of confusion and discovery, but any larger and they would have been a little linear. I appreciated the story and hinting at the MC's relationship to the rooms a lot, and the sound effects and visuals were really on point. I'm surprised that nobody has compared this thing's mood to a Danganronpa game! It really reminded me of one. Maybe make it easier to restart after losing; it seemed to freeze or lock restarting when I game over-ed on the first of my two attempts. Perhaps give different alternative hints if people continuously click the same element. I know that that's a tall order given the time-scale, but now I'm referring to the game as a whole.

Fueled by Fire by Scornz 2020-04-22T12:52:53Z

It was challenging to play this game in two ways. 1 - It's a challenging design, and in a good way. Timer = health and rewarding aggressive play simulatenously on top? Awesome. 2 - The game seems to have some small internal problems that mess up one out of a few of a given type of encounter. Sometimes, for example, the room wouldn't seem to restart completely, leaving me with no enemies to fight (I tested this by killing an enemy and then dying. I saw the flame from that previous run's enemy rush to the hearth of this new current run). Besides that, though, it was a bit sparse, so maybe make it a bit easier for the player to be introduced the fun you have in the enenmy encounters by making them more common, or having one closer to the spawn position. The second internal problem I think is hitting an enemy. It seemed like an enemy invincibility issue, because when I tried hitting the dummy it seemed to work very accurately... Not sure. Could be enemy hurtboxes, the sword mechanics after getting hit, or invincibility. In the event that this isn't intentional, I'd check one of those three possible sources for errors.

Overall, the cool structure that you have is kind of tainted by these small but frequent hiccups. Still really enjoyable, though, and especially backed up by the music and setting. If you really want to polish this up (do it... it'd make a great expanded piece), maybe look at the openness of the animations(a bit stiff, not really a big deal). Also, was hovering with "J" ever explained? It was cool to use, but dunno if it was kept in intentionally. If so, double jumping out of it shouldn't keep your vertical speed at zero due to the float, but cancel it to allow the jump, in my opinion. Sorry if this was kind of a long comment. You've just got something really cool here and the tiny stuff is what's holding it back a bit.

A Night In The Dark by lectvs 2020-04-22T18:18:28Z

This was great! JEEZ! Everything just contributed super well to the central mechanics, and there were only a few things that I could ask more of: -A slightly more fitting item to keep your fire lit "forever" or "longer than wood" (it feels like it should be the other way around - logs lasting longer. Maybe you could have a "giant log" or "giant fallen tree" and then it could still have kind of a semi-comedic shock factor when you escape the darkness holding this giant felled tree.). -MORE OF THIS GAME IN GENERAL -Slightly better indication after a while that you can't actually damage the monster, just stun it

Incredible for every aspect of a Jam, and this Jam especially. Nice/10

Forest Resistance by WetBox 2020-04-21T21:02:04Z

Simple, easy to read, well-conveyed, fun. Sweet. Next to those are a few less favorable things (would be nice to be able to control the pace of the animals' creation, or maybe get the option to specifically choose from some new ones, it was kind of unclear to me that you can break asphalt before I entered the pause menu, restarting is via the fast-forward button, so I wouldn't have necessarily looked there first), but you've isolated the necessary elements quite well. The positive aspects being at the level that they are makes the negative ones seem more like oversights (because... Game Jam and all), so they only minorly detract from the smooth level of polish over the whole thing. The only reason that they stand out as problems in the first place is, again, because you've raised the bar relatively high for the core elements of the experience, which is inspiring to see and fun to play. I strive for the focus on display here in my own work as a sort of beginner-dev. Thanks for a fun few minutes! :)

Guilty Transplant by AntaresValdemar 2020-04-23T08:35:59Z

Definitely an interesting idea and a fitting scene to match. Atmospherically and gameplay-wise, I was really into it. I won't repeat what others have said - just that perhaps the organs should deteriorate more quickly with time and start off at a much slower pace than currently. It was difficult for me to get past the beginning stages because of how quickly the parts went "out of order" right off of the bat. Super cool concept with a ton of potential, overall.

Disposed by zchen 2020-04-24T15:39:47Z

I finished the game and thought that it was intriguing in concept and especially in theme. I think that you've got a case of a global weak point with Disposed: clarity. It's a really hard line to walk with balance (which, to be clear, I don't claim to be able to walk consistently or at all) between subtle and "clear enough," and I think that you could use some more signposting early on to establish the implied USAGE of each element of the game. What ended up happening to me was a vaguely implied EXISTENCE of each element. Any time you want someone to figure something out, make sure you give them the tools - and that doesn't always mean tactics available. THAT's something to figure out on your own, and which Disposed almost does pretty well. I should have been able to know that the door on the left was there, or maybe a slightly better indication of what I could pick up (or, at least, a more consistent movement system so that I'd be able to test them more quickly and not just assume that they aren't supposed to be used at all), see that the cannon was shooting from the robot every time and not from a spot in front of the wall, etc.

Sorry if that seemed harsh; that wasn't my intention. The core of this game is close, but it's a bit hazy for most players to arrive at. Facial expressions were SUPER clear, though, and the ending, while not clear on HOW the baby gets out, was smooth and captured my imagination as to how it might continue. Sounds would have been nice, too, but the clarity was the thickest wall between me and my continual interest.

Responsibility by BlueMirror 2020-04-22T17:46:39Z

Dang. Cute, responsive, interesting gameplay trade-offs, forgiving control markers, fitting level design, adherence to the theme, polish?! You guys really made it happen here, huh? If I were to turn this into something more, maybe I'd incentivize going out for longer periods of time by making the time you can spend away from the dragon less but making the rainbow puddles heal you a bit and then disappear? That way, those puddles (which also hepled me as markers), are suddenly part of another interesting risk-reward situation, similar to many of the other micro-management situations in Responsbility. Rudimentary polishing suggestions include varying sound effects (maybe with a simple randomizer that slightly changes their pitch every time that they're played), adding different types of Unicorns or spells with each upgrade... It doesn't really NEED any of that, though, which is why your game was so nice to play - it felt like an experience with a direction, and one that was communicated well to me as the player: "I know what I'm doing" is what it told me upon first glance. The naming at the start was a really simple and cute way to get me invested, especially given the time frame of a Jam game and in comparison to the investment level that other entires tend (and are expected) to elicit. Well done.

Ignitus Dead Paw - The Revenge by Nerzal 2020-04-21T20:40:16Z

The art style certainly was cohesive, which made things easy to follow. You could streamline how collisions work so that the block placement doesn't constantly stop you (like on the roof, for example), which would make the fun-to-use (and watch thanks to your animations) dash even more rewarding, because you could keep running for a while as well. You could also use the dash as a basic attack, ramming into guards before you have upgrades. Also had some scenarios where the level reset, and I wasn't particularly sure why, but I think the theme and animations were interesting and fun

Amalgamage by TheWustache 2020-04-23T08:48:01Z

Super solid - well done. Clearly conveyed, simple goal, fun, replayable; the list goes on. Minor nitpicks include sound being a little bit harsh and repetitive and maybe having the cooldown timer flash or something when reaching zero to add a bit of oopmh to an important gameplay element. Sweet game!

EDIT: I came back after remembering something that would be an easy an effective upgrade! The cursor not being stuck as white, but a different, vivid color entirely, or (for needless fanciness), a dynamically changing contrasting color.

ANUX by thelemba 2020-04-22T14:16:41Z

Okay, wow. Probably the best new mechanic that I've seen so far (for reference, I've played ten other games so far, if that helps). I would love new levels with just the mechanics you've got, but there are so many directions for this simply due to its relationship with time. Wow... still taking in the bang for your buck that you get with the simplicity here. Graphics do what they need to, mechanics are introduced gradually but challenge, the audio cues also do exactly what they need to do (but maybe could use some variation and because they occur so often?)... Nice work. It was a bit less tied to the theme than some other entires, for sure, but I think that your willingness to just make something cool and the simplicity on display are things that I'll personally learn from. If I were to expand the game, new plays on how things interact with time could be cool, but it would be really awesome to see how purely environmental things interact with you, as to not ruin the simplicity of your great mechanic. I'd polish how it feels, too, taking a look at how the VFX and SFX can be coordinated together to help amplify that things are happening. Mouse sensitivity was also a bit low, I think.

REALLY nicely done, even if short.

Snip Snap by Quackqack 2020-04-22T12:18:37Z

Damn. What everyone else said... polished, paced well, simple to understand, easy to want to get better at, sounds good, feels good, challenging... Well done. Damn... just super good.

platformEGG by Tricky_Fat_Cat 2020-04-24T16:46:10Z

I won't overspin the game's gameplay more - the rest of the comments give good enough feedback on most of my qualms. EXCEPT: I think that the explanation as to why the air movement feels clunky shouldn't be overblown any further than air deceleration being too high. That's it - play with some other values (or make it stop near-instantly if there isn't any horizontal input) and you're good. Polished, interesting concept with potential for expansion. A bit clunky and unforgiving checkpoints-wise, which, combined, makes the game hard to get to the end of (and not for purely challenging reasons). We want to see the rest of your game! Give a newer player a li'l more support, that's all. :)

Timewalk by Gossian 2020-04-22T17:14:47Z

I was really pulled in by the theming and it managed to continue pulling me in despite the lack of control here. Consider how you can use your atmosphere to get some more gameplay involved so that we can enjoy it even more!

Chasse Gardée by FrancescoPanini 2020-04-23T09:16:40Z

Balancing the turkey's movements and accidentally using it as a shield for other animals is really cool. Aside from some transitions between animations or different screens, the whole game felt really complete and cohesive. I think that you can do a ton more with this outside of the Jam's time restrictions; I'd love to see what you can come up with in the future.

Keep the Planet Alive by TheNumberYellow 2020-04-22T12:11:16Z

Really strong multi-layer effects. It felt like most things interacted in interesting ways, and already there were different strategies like preemtively holding water out while moving to douse future fires. I will say that the ship is a bit slippery, which can make getting the hang of it a bit less fun than your cool mechanics deserve! @rsninjadev's comment about constantly running in circles definitely has a bit of truth to it, and it's probably because of how much easier it is to just hold one direction rather than fight the low deceleration. That could be one way to make a cool different game, though - what if you were forced to spin all of the time, and you had to manage what upgrades you bought to get the most out of your weird movement pattern (it would also make cool patterns with the projectiles like your game does)? TL; DR, took a bit to get used to, the introduction of mechanics was nice, controls could use a bit of fine-tuning, and didn't understand what that golden thing I picked up was, but I really enjoyed the theme, sound effects, and mechanical interactions.

hype dream by Dane Tesla 2020-04-27T12:57:56Z

Wow... How did you manage so many assets in such a timescale? I guess it speaks to your direction. As a matter of fact, the rest of the game screams "DIRECTION", too! I was really impressed by the cohesion of the game, and it's quite understandable that teaching the game had to be in textbook fashion or without much context given its existence as a Jam game. I can assume that part of the point is that the entire screen can start to blend together when managing many things at once, bu maybe increasing contrast on certain colors or borders would help make it clearer when a pop-up has appeared out of the corner of your eye. Overall, though, a cool idea and really nice execution. It'd be interesting to see the minigames change over time, too!

hype dream by Dane Tesla 2020-04-29T14:36:13Z

@dane-tesla, wow, a dual-screen version. That's gold! Likewise, keep it up!

My Beloved Monster by ayushka 2020-05-04T15:59:48Z

I really enjoyed the text's flavoring. The expressiveness that it provides definitely has a lot of potential, and I'd love to see how you did it. :) I wish that I could have gotten to the end. I kept looking for hidden buttons and such, but perhaps I just needed to be a bit more patient. If you were to expand upon this, I'd recommend varying the day-to-day text more or just having it be random surrounding a framework of ordered KEY events. That, combined with tracking when certain events have already occurred (as @kuiefs mentioned) to prevent them from happening again (or happening again in the same way, at least), could really up the immersiveness that is your game's strongest and most uniquely executed element.

Feed The Slime by PythooonUser 2020-04-23T08:11:03Z

Given the Jam-game scale, it's easy to overlook the repetitiveness of the sound effects and gameplay the maybe slighty-small stick interaction-boxes - of course, the presentation, clear directions, cute and simple story more than make up for it in my eyes. Small UX change I'd make besides those first things is also making it easier to restart, or at least having transitions that are cancellable sooner. Not a big deal at all, but could be convenient for some. Nice!

Feed The Slime by PythooonUser 2020-04-23T18:23:28Z

@pythooonuser hey! Then it's a success from a new angle! :)

Mycelium by BlobRoss 2020-04-21T01:28:00Z

The overall experience is really enjoyable. I'd say that it just doesn't last very long in that state for me, though, and it takes a while to get close to it again. The core gameplay loop could use some more challenge earlier on and/or more ways to influence things, but on the whole you have something that feels cohesive enough to facilitate the mechanical additions nicely.

Zorla's Tavern by Nexushub 2020-04-22T13:12:58Z

@technonugget's comparison to an interactive comedy is a good description. I can't say that the core gameplay of clicking and dragging was all that engaging, but considering the length, the theming, party names (which maybe should be highlighted more or something?), animations, and juice of the rest of the game, it worked out. Great work putting all of your team's efforts together so seamlessly! Thanks for a fun few minutes. (Nit-pick - aside from the click-and-drag maybe being more fun as, say, directing the attacks and just waving the mouse over the loot to have to balance where your mouse it at any given time, there was only a minor juicy sound effect overload near the end of the game. Not sure if it's fixable, but just so you know.)

FROGISLN.ELF by WittyCognomen 2020-04-23T08:22:28Z

As the others have said, graphically, this was really fun to experience. PS1 comparisons aside, even... it was just pretty. The lack of variety in the gameplay was fine for the timescale, but, for the future, maybe consider what the goal of the game is. In this case, what it's communicating to me is relaxation, first and foremost, so maybe making it more about moving and only occasionaly mleming to reduce clicks and waiting for cooldown timers could allow for more space for beauty and appreciation for what you've already got.

Sweet li'l thang you got here

KIA by Marlo 2020-04-27T13:15:56Z

I second @theamerican's suggestion to indicate things numerically, at least for the bottom two bars. Sometimes, I wasn't sure if I could buy, so just had to guess. I suppose that that didn't change my playstyle because I was still trying to get EXP, but I wasn't always sure. I think that your style here is really cool, and a great use of what you CAN do in Unity! If anything, your ability to design around that limitation is a mechanic in and of itself. :) Ramping up the difficulty more over time would be nice, as well as perhaps reevaluating what the point of having the player teleport when collecting the Special pickups. It's cool, but sometimes also removes control in an unpleasant way (literally, as well as gameplay-wse - the mouse fails to move the player right after collecting them sometimes), and sometimes forces a collision with an enemy.

It was interesting how I wasn't looking for music or anything, though. You've got something engaging here already!

It's Coming Right At Us by ChristianAufiero 2020-04-22T11:54:17Z

-I'll be frank - the first part of the game was decently underwhelming and a bit repetitive. The timer, while contributing to a sense of urgency that REALLY pays off with the final mini-game (really well done with that), is pretty short. Either lenghten it or maybe have it really long but shorten every time you grab an item and be clearer about where the items are or something (which would maybe shift your game feel, but could be cool). -The item randomization was cool, but wasn't as clear to see the effect of because of said timer. Retrying was too prevalent in my opinion, and didn't really contribute to true a sense of challenge (if that was what you were going for by making the timer short). -I enjoyed how all of the buttons that were needed for the entire game were the same, but maybe making "Quit" something less common to press is worth breaking that cohesion for. -Despite the music not being yours, I can definitely give credit where credit is due for the boss-like atmosphere that you had going. -The minigame was really cool, and I would play it alone if it had some more variety. Could be a cool attacking mechanic for the player in a turn-based game or something! Really enjoyed.

Super Volleyball II Turbo EX plus Alpha World Championship Edition by J B 2020-04-22T17:28:11Z

Cute; a little janky, but that's kind of the fun of it. Would appreciate a "difficulty setting" by changing the ball's size (which could maybe change the way it reacts to being hit or something, too). @dante2001's recommendation to juice it up is a good one, too, but you can also prolong the interest of a player by making different basic level layouts, even with just the objects you've got already.

Hikikomori Simulator by yeojoey 2020-04-23T08:48:53Z

The concept is cool, and the look, sound, and feel of the game overall really facilitate managing it cleanly. With all of that in place, however, it only makes it feel more out of place that I can’t know how much specific actions might affect others. If the intention was for strategy to play a significant role, maybe it should either be clearer that there WILL be effects with a given action, or some hint when hovering over said option (through your expressive and already-quirkily-fun textbox) as to what might happen if I choose that in her current state.

Keep our planet alive by Tengii 2020-04-22T13:48:08Z

I can't be too sure of your intentions with this one, so:

->As a relaxing game, the atmosphere, overall pace, and theme worked great together, but could use some more variation. Maybe integrating the other plants, the moon, or something else that adds to the atmosphere at certain benchmarks. Maybe it could read poems, leading to a kind of meditative idea-unlocking game.

->As a reaction-based game (or, really, anything other than a relaxing or meditative experience, which is still cool), I'd take the other commenters' suggestions of upping the pace more quickly and adding more elements which emphasize the the blowing up of the asteroids.

Those things said, everything I'm hearing and seeing was soothing and fun to be inside of (I say "inside" because the immersion was quite immediate and effective - if I were expanding this game, I'd go for maximizing that feeling along with the relaxing qualities).

Shapes by Finn_Tr 2020-04-27T12:37:30Z

First and foremost, great mechanical concept. I'd say that, especially at the beginning, it was a bit too easy to not be paying attention and die. Of course, getting used to the fact that not moving is still a threat is a part of the game, and that's fine, but I have a few suggestions that may be able to serve this issue. One is simply making the timer not start until the player moves or shoots for the first time. That way, they won't be sent back to the start screen without ever having gotten to touch a button. Second, make the death transition faster, or skippable after the first death. Three, you could make the timer drain a bit more slowly in general.

Overall, it was a bit difficult for me to progress, primarily because of the inverted angle controls. Some people might find it quite intuitive, but the fact that so many games have an inverted y-axis option makes me thing that it might not just be me - adding an option to make the arrow face the mouse's position and not 180 degrees away from it could help a lot. That way, I could more easily enjoy the awesome mechanic you've got going here. The collisions were problem-free (which isn't a given in a game involving teleportation and non-rectangular platforms), the art was super clean and served the gameplay, the environment simple and elegant to match. I'd really love to see more of this concept and world, with some quality of life improvements. Keep it up!

Silkworm: Keeping the Game Alive by Roey_Shap 2020-04-21T17:42:06Z

@christianaufiero, you have no idea how much that means to me... I was so bummed out by what I had made that I already started working on a patch. Thanks a million. I'll put your game on my list of ones to try (randomly picked a few)! (Why the heck did it send so many messasges.)

Silkworm: Keeping the Game Alive by Roey_Shap 2020-04-21T17:43:41Z

.

Silkworm: Keeping the Game Alive by Roey_Shap 2020-04-22T15:33:01Z

@gnocchi, thanks a whole ton! Yeah, the playtesting being apparent the day after... AFTER I dropped dead at 4 AM and barely squeezing in a rushed and unfinished final scene. I'm currently working on a hotfix version that'll better reflect my intentions. Really appreciate the feedback.

Silkworm: Keeping the Game Alive by Roey_Shap 2020-04-23T13:02:47Z

@room606, I'm currently just getting to work on the "Intended Version" of the game. I made this in GameMaker and currently don't have an HTML License, but I think I'll look into one after seeing the immense versatility of it on display during this JAM. In the meantime, would you like me to maybe link you to an uploaded video of the altered gameplay when the patch comes out?

RISKISR by Roey_Shap 2021-10-06T00:14:14Z

Disregard the previous messages. It’s all worked out.