Rongo Matane

Ghostscaling by STUDIOCRAFTapps Developpement 2017-05-03T18:09:08Z

I can see you already got some good feedback, i have nothing to add. Rather i would take away: an arrow is not really needed in my eyes. It would be better if the player is forced to learn that he can push a button to remove blocks. This was the biggest hurdle in the beginning.

I got stuck after getting the first blocky - i couldn't ascend further. The level feels very big in the beginning - ist there a supposed route the player should take, or "open world"?

A really nice entry in any case! The ghost was especially neat, i think some more animations on him would be very satisfying.

Asteroid Architect by Erik Larsson 2017-05-02T21:33:35Z

I'm really curious what the results can be, they look nice. Music and mood is also very good, spacey :)

I do not understand how many resources i should have and what the difference is between them, so i don't really know what to build. For example, i have 2 raw resources of each type. Would it make sense to not place the appropriate building on both of them for each resource? For trial by error the whole loop is a bit too long for me ;)

Paper traveller by dunin 2017-05-10T21:05:43Z

Great idea! The visuals are really nice, the maps look very good. I agree with those who came before me: i cannot finish the second level, i have too little feedback on what might have gone wrong in my map. But i have to admit i skipped the tutorial...drawing with 2 pens sounds easy enough, i don't want to read 5 pages, i want to draw :D

Very cool entry! I can really imagine that this can be succesful as a "grown" game, because it's so original.

Insect Attack by SimplePotential 2017-05-03T17:56:45Z

For 6 hours, it's really decent. I'm sorry, other than that it's not really much fun. The sound effect for spraying is really unpleasant. But good on you for finishing a game as LD entry!

Little Lands by Mr_Field 2017-05-02T18:14:08Z

Great game! The graphics are really good, inviting me to play it in the first place. The music is pleasent and the sounds fitting. It gets clear really fast what is happening and what needs to be done. Though i didn't notice at first that my buildings kind of crumble after a while. The storage was a great add on - since it was "work" to harvest before, it really felt like a nice thing to have.

The game really took off when the attacks started, then it really got some sense of urgency and kind of a mission. I didn't need the tower upgrade. The apple trees seem a bit imabalanced - all hinges on workers, apple trees don't need them so they are much better than fields. I did have more than enough space, so it was fine. But the ships taking my land really moved me to action!

The finish screen(s) was very satisfying, leaving the impression of a well rounded game. Awesome that you did in over the weekend, this is the game i enjoyed most so far :) On all aspects, great game!

PS: an indication about an incoming ship would be great, so i have a little time to prepare. I nearly didn't notice an attack that was out of camera.

[BOXAVERSE] by Fran Segura 2017-05-01T17:16:40Z

The game is very cute, seeing the second day was a real "aw man that's great" moment. Who doesn't like miniature civilizations (like that one on benders behind in futurama, or the one in the simpsons). So, you had me hooked there and i played it to the end. It was interesting to see what happened next. Some parts were a bit tedious, where i wasn't really sure what to combine so i did it all. Nice game! (i copied this comment i made from itch, i hope you don't mind)

Sillyzilla Rampage by Eric Florio 2017-05-03T18:47:14Z

Great game! The mood is really nice, and the giants are well animated. I love the wonky arms and legs! I't quite fun and seems well rounded. Some prograssion would have been nice, increasing difficulty or something. After a few minutes i feel like i've seen it all. The "the world is small an i am a giant" feeling is perfect.

A really fine entry.

The Wonky Wizard by MHGameWork 2017-05-08T19:18:32Z

Wow, you really have a ton of content! Love the not-so-much-planet planet, a really nice thing. I saw it in another game already, it is really kind of mind-fucky. Animations and graphics are really nice, sound and music does its job well i think. The darth sidious spell is waaaay too strong in comparison - going at the biggies with the gun is no use, but that's fine - but i would expect the cannon/catapult to be a lot stronger, because its more difficult to hit.

Oh, and the guys are a little it stupid and get stuck easily, so this takes away the difficulty. Only the canon spiders were hard in the beginning, because it's difficult to see if it will hit you and if you got hit. With the regular shot they were easiest to kill. But that's all perfectly fine for a Ludum Dare game.

Very good entry!

Shapeshifter: The King of A Small World by Rixud 2017-05-06T09:12:50Z

I couldn't get past level 2, i would have loved to see the shapeshifter mechanic. As a grasshopper, i really had a hard time where the fun that was building up after the first successes was turning to frustration. This is what made it frustrating for me: - the ground detection does not seem to work well near edges. It looks like i should be able to jump, but don't. I land somewhere below and have to start over - this is especially severe in level 2 where i got trapped in this big hole, only option to restart - or did i miss a way out? - i have no control over the jump. I think is is intentional, but what happens is that my jump could be slightly off and i fall down. Since falling down is a hard punishment that will cost time, this is a bit frustrating. Especially since the controls+visuals do not make it very easy to judge where to jump

The visuals are simple which is perfectly fine for a LD. The levels seemed nice and clearing parts of them was surprisingly fun.

It seems you made sooo much content, which of course is a good thing but also makes me wonder if less content and more polish would have opened the game to more people.

A nice entry in any case!

Near kingdoms by Hadik 2017-05-02T07:39:17Z

I liked it! It is interesting to find out what works. It seemed like a rider is worth 2 swords, also costing twice this. A rock/paper/scissor principle could bring more depth. I nearly finished the game on normal difficulty, but ended it beforehand because it was quite long and i dominated the enemy :D

I think i'd enjoy it more if it was a bit shorter, or more progression/struggle over the time. The game very clearly told me what to do, this was very nice!

Overall, a really nice and finished LD game.

Race against ferrum gigantes by JScotty 2017-05-02T17:20:35Z

You don't need to ask twice if i want to race against enourmous robots!

I quickly found out that they are not really friendly. The concept is clear and the controls are good (except when you hit a wall, but i can see that this is intentional - mistakes are punished). I love that you included different radio stations! I guess the game could be harder - i could just stay on the "main lane" and drive past the guys. The music and graphics were good, i really like the small-world feel. Only the sound effects were a bit annoying, i mean the tyre screech and the engine.

Good job on the game! The wallpaper rocks too :)

Slightly Angry Max by Takusan 2017-05-02T17:12:52Z

A really nice game! It was fun to discover the stacking of the upgrades, so you get kind of a mini gun. I wasn't really sure if anything else was going to happen. Do bosses come from time to time and the game is over if i die, or did i miss anything?

The music is really good and it's immediately clear what to do. The only thing i do not understand is the overheat - no idea what it does, my mini gun wasn't bothered :D

Incidental Dimension by wildmusketeer 2017-05-02T19:19:52Z

The moment when you realize that this is not a globe. Awesome! And finding out i'm invincible :D

RNG by junjunlowpoly 2017-05-06T09:24:01Z

Ihe idea is really awesome and the entry sentence had me laugh out loud. I love the setup in a gameduck advance. The game was very interesting at first, but (as you already announced) got very repetitive quickly. To realize this concept fully is clearly not anything that can be done in compo. What you did here is really great, a really nice entry!

On a technical note: I changed the resolution to maximum. It got strechted there and the boredness bar was not properly visible. But on the default resolution it was fine. I also changed the graphics to beautiful and it really was beautiful ;)

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-01T21:04:57Z

Thank you all for your feedback, it really helps me both on the game and on my feelings! :D

@takusan @sararycow You are right, the game does a bad job communicating what can be done and how. I'll try to improve this in the future.

@sararycow I do have an android build ready. As you said, its still a confusing - with android even more so, since "hover over a thing to learn about it" is not an option. So i'll have to first find a way for the game to be easier to learn with better feedback, then adapt it for mobile (or even better, do both in one step).

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-02T21:03:50Z

@wildmusketeer Thank you very much, that is really what i hoped and aimed for, kind of absurd life stories :D Your suggestion is also very good, i'm planning on making a little tutorial where you start as a fetus and only slowly get your abilities and organs, so you can get to know it all.

Both to you and @failedstarfish - i'm very grateful that you "fight" through the initial confusion. To me, the tolerance for a game is rather low and if i don't know what to do, i'll most likely leave (i have to wonder how many players i lost along the way). So i really appreciate that you still went through and played the game! :)

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-06T08:47:20Z

Wow, i'm really impressed how many of you got really old in the game. I absolutely see how it is way too hard to get into and does not offer much hints (and some that are offered are misleading). So its the more impressive that you went through with it! I'll make sure to check out your games too, if i haven't already.

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-08T18:37:44Z

Hi @flaterectomy, thanks for your quality feedback, i appreciate it! My intention is that the health of an organ is visible by its color - red and fleshy for healthy, grey/green/black for unhealthy. I do understand that this feedback is currently not strong enough, or visibly clear enough. Will work on it :)

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-13T18:34:54Z

Hey, thanks for all your feedback!

@cerno-b i feel you, it was kind of painful to watch the few play testers i could find getting distrubed by the popups constantly. I feel like this is the major design flaw of the game and i'm not sure about a solution. The other big issue is the inverse difficulty: it starts difficult, fast and overwhelming, getting easier over time. Anyway, i'm working on a proper version with a tutorial to begin with. I'll make sure to address the pop up issue properly! :)

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-14T11:54:32Z

@cerno-b hey, thanks again! Regarding the icons, i think you proposed the dest way to go for it. I thought about something similar and was hesitant because this would take away the text "x happened because of z". I'd like the player to know why some event occurred, ideally without being too on the nose. I think this could work if the illness prompts the text on being clicked or hovered.

On the difficulty: I hadn't considered this might be something interesting. I can see the "i played well in the first years, no i've got some relaxing times" being kind of rewarding. The staging you mentioned is exactly what i'll go for and what i'd liked to have in the first place. In example, as you get older, your body decays faster. The visuals and and (ideally) the music should also change for each stage. Currently, being old already has some severe events that can take place (heart attack, stroke), but it isn't balanced to the rest (energy, poison reduction).

I'll make sure to ping you when i've come up with something more refinded. Thank you so much, that's really motivating :)

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-17T08:10:05Z

Hi @diptoman, thank you for your feeback! Can you elaborate on the accident? I don't understand what you mean, because random elements are a big part of the game i.e. unexpected accidents.

Membrum by Rongo Matane 2017-05-18T09:05:23Z

@diptoman thanks for the clarification! Did you notice that you can improve your body parts? I know this is not clearly communicated by the game, but the intention is that you upgrade your body to deal with those events. For example, if you get stronger arms, you'll not be beaten up anymore, if you get a better nose you won't eat bad food all the time and if you have good eyes+ears you will notice the incoming cars. In the original entry there are only 9 events.

But quite many players didn't notice they could do this, i guess around 25%. Will be better when the tutorial is part of the game :D

PiP: A multi-layered puzzle game by Clickmation 2017-05-10T20:56:48Z

Graphics are really cute and the music is quite original, i like it a lot. Some sound effects would have been nice. The zooming between levels is a really nice touch. A hint that i need to press 'c' at some point would have been good - if i hadn't gone back and read your description, i would have been stuck.

From the design perspective, my first though (obviously) is sokoban. Then i saw that you added a little twist with the limitations of the blocks. I do wonder if this will actually make the game better (in the subsequent more complex levels), because the puzzles that you can make get very restricted too i imagine.

Overall, a very good LD entry, good job!

Transistor Soup by stuntddude 2017-05-03T18:39:25Z

Very good game, i like the clean look and the length you went to for instructions. Works perfectly! I had only wished for a "clean all" button. There is sooo much content here, well thought through.

Great entry!

Lat edit PS: Your feedback was really good!

Bubbletoy by jorjordandan 2017-05-10T17:48:39Z

How can you have so little comments with such a great game? The graphics are really neat and the sound effects are hilarious. The concept works well and is really motivating, since it offers the chance of achieving mastery - who triple jumped a toy into the goal area will know what i mean :D

German keyboard: y and z are switched, but that's a minor thing. Excellent entry, take my stars!

PS: brought here by @tinyworlds blog post.

Glass Houses by diptoman 2017-05-10T17:59:27Z

Beautiful. Some entries do explain they are experiences rather than games and to be honest, most experiences are not really good ones. You crafted a really nice, short experience, with a lot of mood. The way of communication was perfect, it conveyed so much without using words, providing a space for itnerpretation - i guess this is what makes an "experience" good, that you as the player are challenged to think about what you experience, what it means and what will happen. I knew i was in a snow globe, still it was really exciting what would happen. It really conveyed the small world theme, i just love those tiny societies and you did a perfect job on this. There are very few entries that i will remember and less that touched me in a way, this one did. Thanks :)

PS: brought here by @tinyworlds blog post.

Goodbye, world! by chromableedstudios 2017-08-01T18:56:20Z

I thought i had to shoot the moon without destroying the planet. The gravity mechanic feels quite good! Only sometimes the rocket was travelling for 10s before coming back - it would be more interesting if i had something to do in that time. It has potential, base mechanic is quite fun.

A Perfectly Lovely Expedition by cerno-b 2017-05-07T20:11:25Z

Very good and well rounded game! The tooltips didn't really help me, i was more or less just checking all alternatives, but this worked since there are not too many. Nice Game :)

Until Tomorrow by MSiddeek 2017-05-19T13:06:46Z

I really enjoyed the meta vibe and the philosophy behind this (also well written). Mood was nice! Somehow, since shingeki no kyojin walls have become much more interesting :D

Food Fight by nick.bota 2017-05-03T17:48:45Z

Wow, a multiplayer?! I didn't meet anyone, which is understandable, but this is really crazy. The graphics are excellent and the character is really alive, very gamey with animations and arms. The gameplay itself was clear, although very basic. I had some trouble with the springs, i kind of glitched away on the third big jump. At first i tried to jump at the right moment, which did not work. Awesome that you included two modes and cutscenes. Feature creep :D

Beautiful entry!

Exit.. space left by HomineLudens 2017-05-14T20:39:28Z

Reading your post mortem, i expected a very unfinished game. But it is very nice and moody! The sound delivers on the loneliness of the small world. It seems you already got most feedback, i agree on: The start is not intuitively clear and the grind is too long. i would have liked to play it to the end, but it seems this will tak 15 minutes doing the same thing i did in the first 2 minutes. It is fun in the first minute, but after that the slow progress without a intermediate reward is kind of disheartening. Overall, a very nice entry!

Ah, forgot one: From a gameplay perspective, having oxy+booster+laser makes no sense. All 3 sever the same purpose, it could just as well be "energy" or something, getting depleted over time a little and when using the laser or booster faster.

A Rat's Story by stupidpawn 2017-05-10T17:21:38Z

I liked it! The cue for the steps is good, the music is moody, the graphics are decent. I really loved the kind of persistent gameworld, where you see your old corpses. Reaching the end of the level is was confusing for me at first. Going back is not really rewarding for reaching the end, but rather demotivating, as in "ok you did it, now go back to do the same again". But i totally understand that in this small time frame, not much more could have been done. Good work :)

Song of Fungus by DGSpitzer 2017-05-02T17:03:30Z

Easily the best game i have seen so far, really really good! The visuals are great, the music is so pleaseant, so it has a really nice mood. The concept is understandable very fast and you already iterated on the core concept so much, so you already have some levels and variation! I love the controls, very smooth and intuitive.

I got stuck on level 10. I understand what to do, but couldn't form a tactic yet on how to achieve it best. I think that's because i can't anticipate easily what the results of the red mother will be.

A good game as it is, incredible for an LD. Nice!

kumo. by Turbo Hermit 2017-05-06T08:37:27Z

The art and sound is really nice! It's a bit too little of a game for me, but that's just my preference. I need some things to work to, or to work away from ;)

A Small World Cup by rujo 2017-05-18T10:46:26Z

Haha, excellent! Gameplay is hilarious, it also offers "mastery" feel good stuf, when learning how to score fast goals with the head. I didn't have sound in the web, don't know if it was intentional. I had an intense world cup, beating brazil 5 to 4 in after time. Great fun, of all LD entries i played i had the most fun here.

Little Fortune Planet by Flaterectomy 2017-05-07T09:42:35Z

The game is one of the most appealing of this jam, the world simulation looks so intersting. The intro was really great, kind of melancholic. Not sure why, but it reminded me of Jade Cocoon. The cards also look amazing. From a gameplay perspective, i didn't really get it. To me it seemed like i get some cards which i'll have to click each (for example accumulating some tech cards that repeatedly fodun the cure for death). So i'm not really sure what my options are here. This is intensified because of duplicates (no real choice if you have the same card several times). If the card i do not pick remains there forever, i will have to use it eventually. Maybe make the not-picked card disappear? Otherwise i don't feel i have a meaningful choice here.

I often ended up with cards (for example only 2 times volcano) that gave me no choice but to destroy the world. The volcano seems a bit bugged right now, a big chunk of the world just gets removed: 1.png

Or waterworld + hollow earth, but this is fun :D Btw the particle accelerators just kept flying through the middle and back, because there was no land where they could stand on :D 2.png

A very ambitious project which looks immensely interesting already. I think it's a great achievement that you finished it and brought it to such a polished state already. I would love it if the card mechanics would be improved a bit and if i could watch how the world recovers from disasters more. Overall a very good entry :)

PS quick bug report: you can execute 2 events with one click by clicking them when they fly in.

Star Traveller by SecondDimension 2017-05-02T20:59:55Z

Graphics are excellent, i like the style! It's both nice to look at and cute. The game was simple as you explained, but it was still satisfying to see the things "click". The music was mostly good, but some tracks sounded a bit too full of stuff, like two songs layed above each other - that got a bit distracting.

Really nice experience!

Den by La mecanique du plastique 2017-05-06T08:55:12Z

Wow, this is so good. I haven't seen a game here with this much athmosphere, what a great mood. The music is very cool and does a great job at not becoming annoying after some minutes. The graphics are excellent, the monster looks and moves awesome and you even have some rubble in the foreground. The sounds also add a lot to the mood. The movement works well and is fun in itself. What i find most impressive is, that a story gets told here without letters. I'm getting strong "Inside" vibes, especially when manipulating the guys in the end.

I would love to play more!

I'm not sure why, but i killed everyone i found. I took a minute to find out what the last door is about. The red light nicely hinted at the switch. I knocked guys down by accident, but then i didn't really know what to do. Since the were cowering i thought i might go away, so they open the door and flee. At this point i forgot that i could scream because i didn't need it so far (which of course was the solution)! This is no criticism, just a feedback on what i thought and did there.

I said this some times now (it's always true): best game so far. Looking at the rating, i doubt a better one will come :D

PS: Seeing your fantastic game, i feel really honored that you tried mine!

The Z Axis by Meaty McLazerPantz 2017-05-10T07:20:21Z

Very good game, the mood through sound is nice and the visuals work well. I feel like i have seen this concept before, but i'm really not sure - its one thing to turn stuff, the other what puzzles you make of it.

Puzzles were decent but at the brink of "i can brute force it" by just doing everything that seems like a good diea without thinking about the puzzle. I think the pacing is very good, so that the player gets familiar with every element but is not bored by solving basically the same puzzle 100 times.

I did download the game because the WebGL didn't start after a minute. It seemed to me that stage 7 is not working. I could only switch between two rooms with one lever each. The blue one opened a door in another part of the map, the red one did nothing. On my keaboard layout, the z button is ion the middle top row, but it still worked. Seeing the gif, this might have changed in a more difficult level. The gif level looks really good too!

Overall a really good entry! And good luck with Xenno ;)

The Z Axis by Meaty McLazerPantz 2017-05-11T08:04:41Z

@meaty-mclazerpants yes, it should be because of the adblocker, also noticed it on another game. I didn't notice the box, also not that it moves through portals. Maybe another "force the player to learn this" level would have gotten me through it :D

Very cool, i'll give it another try, it really looks so interesting.

SpermoKart by Erick 2017-05-01T17:27:59Z

The music was nice and on the longer straights, some race feeling came up when catching up with the other guys. The controls were a bit difficult. It felt like the turning got more intense the longer i truned, making it hard to predict. So i drove a lot into walls and got stuck a bit, not impregnating. Maybe the camera could be placed differently, so i could see more of what lies ahead instead of what is behind.

Good game for a ludum dare in any case, gj on finishing! :)

Tiny Venture by faemir 2017-05-06T22:03:57Z

I really like the mood, the sound is kind of eerie and the visuals are interesting. I wasn't really sure what to do - i could harvest and plant, but what for? What was the difference between plants? In any case a beautiful entry, nice work!

Galaxy Glove by merlyboy 2017-05-02T21:16:08Z

The animations are obviously hilarious. After losing to the second guy, i figured i'd out-reach them, which worked to the end. It's a really nice concept, i'm sure you can build on top of this to add more depth. Very good entry, i really enjoyed playing it!

Here Be Fish by Diedickegg 2017-05-08T19:02:24Z

The start screen was really nice, the music was fun and the little guys carrying the start button was really neat. Other than that, i have to admit i got quite annoyed. The fish i buy immediately swim into the sixpack and die in 2 seconds. And this happens after i save coins for minutes - really unrewarding. I do notice the statue getting built when people do it in the soup can, which they only seem to do if fish die. But it's soooo slow!

Surface Tension by mahalis 2017-05-06T22:09:33Z

Neat game, I went to 68 (then quit, i guess i could go on for an hour :D). The visuals are really nice, some music would have been good too i guess. The torus is really cool - moving around is kind of mind fucky. So i figured just sit in one place and shoot, which worked very well ;)

Cool entry!

Moon Dozer by sararyCow 2017-05-02T07:46:55Z

Nice game, the music really elevated it :D Destroying is fun and the theme is very clear. The ball moves a bit strangely, sometimes going more in reverse than the desired direction. The camera switch is a bit irritating, i think i lose sense of direction in it. Is there a way to turn it off? From gameplay perspective, the top view would give better feedback as how my shot turned out. The occasional action cam would be nice. Good work!

Exploroka by krunoslav 2017-05-02T21:24:17Z

The world looks really nice, i'd like to see it zoomed out. Cool stuff!

The game itself is very basic (no surprise :D), i think it would be very nice for smaller kids. I started to get relaxed just rolling around and looking at the land, i think this would really be nice with some relaxing background music. A rolling simulator ;)

Roho - immortality of a deer stalker by stuembi 2020-04-23T19:11:10Z

I really like the style of the game. It looks well rounded art wise, and you really made it feel alive with the animations. Maybe as a suggestiont, the crystal economy was not totally clear for me - i mean if some crystals are worth more. At first it was a bit disheartening in the sense of "ok, now i have to shoot these little guys 100 times?", but i was quickly up in gems, so probably the bigger ones give more. Maybe you could express this more easily by just having crystals that are worth one, but dropping 5 if appropriate? Would be visually very clear, without needing to double check the counter. And it looks nice, big loot :D Overall, really good. Reminded me a bit of Sword&Sworcery artwise, and the great watership down movie.

Blackbird by Rongo Matane 2020-04-22T20:35:33Z

Wow, thank you all for your comments, it is really reassuring to know that it comes across like we hoped. I was really questioning how we spent our time, since we took a whole day to iterate on the parallax stuff, although this isn't even actual gameplay, only "visual candy". But we felt it was more about a mood and nice feeling than about hardcore mechanics. :)

@bbkate98 Hehe, happened to me once too, surprised to come back to a "dead nest". I wanted to include a "free fly" mode with no hatchling pressure, but time was up, you know how it goes ;)

@stuembi Actually we hope she'll help us with it down the road. We are not clear yet if she leans towards programming or art though :D

@macdoom This is a great idea to be able to pick worms in flight. High risk, high reward as on option to the more conventional method. Thank you for the idea, i'll probably put that in after the jam :)

@glowt Thank you! Regarding landing, i was thinking about this a lot. I have a check, that if your landing angle is too steep, you'll crash instead of land. But i wondered if this was a good idea, as it might not be clear to the player when it's safe to land. Was this an issue, that you went down very steeply, or was it something else? Did you notice you kind of have to hold down brake to land, so that you have the appripriate speed?

@dankar Thank you :) Just to be sure, did you notice that you have to catch insects and feed them to your hatchlings in your nest?

@a-312 Did gamepad work for you? I did nothing towards gamepad, but it might work out of the box due to Godot's input map (probably only dpad, if so). I though about gamepads too, and different control schemes that would be possible with a stick (stick for direction, shoulder pads to brake or speed up). Would be interesting in any case :)

Blackbird by Rongo Matane 2020-04-28T21:51:09Z

Thank you all for your feedback and your kind words! :)

@ithildin Thank you especially for the details! Did you play web or desktop? There seems to be a tough bug left i need to check on. Regarding the end - i fear i made it a tad misleading. When your chicks are too small (aka no feathers), they start from the nest, fly a little but don't really take off - just a prolonged fall into the woods (where they are ultimately eaten offscreen). If they did make it, they soar into the skies. Not really clear to the player, sorry for that!

Blackbird by Rongo Matane 2020-05-04T07:50:44Z

Thank you all for the feedback :)

@sugarsores Yeah i think you are right regarding the title, only i haven't found one i like.

@ddrkirbyisq Thank you! :) Regarding the assets, yes most of them are not from us which is why we opted out. The end music is the only thing from us. Most of the sounds are public domain or creative commons 0. The others which require attribution are listed ingame, if you press ESC for pause and click the "Attribution" button on the bottom right. I fear though that only very few players know about the pause menu, so this might not be too effective :D Is this what you meant, or do you mean something more extensive?

Birdie Burglars by DDRKirbyISQ 2020-05-04T16:19:37Z

Such a round and complete entry! The animations are hilarious, the setting is fun and the attention to detail is great (telegraphing targets, colored aiming circle, screen transitions). I really appreciate the effort to make each level distinct with own music and colors. It was slightly on the easy side for me, so the levels felt a bit long in playtime. Overall great entry, very very few games have this level of "finished" :D

ALPHA PAPA ECHO by jamesterjim 2020-04-23T09:26:55Z

That was fun, really pleasant atmosphere and the shooting was quite satisfying, with the dispersion and sound. Controls were a bit fast turning, i'd love mouse support. I love the idea that you protect the ape instead of shooting it. The city had a nice building variety and layout, i really like it.

Missing Pieces by Abu Sabiq Mahdi 2020-04-25T08:42:36Z

That was such a nice, wholesome experience. The art, music and gameplay work together really well, very coherent. It also feels quite polished with these smooth animations and a scene tying the levels together. I went in blind and it was a very pleasant surprise that the second level did something completely different. Great job!

Mr. Cheesy by SAVVU 2020-05-04T16:06:58Z

The pasta plate made me really laugh, very funny! The whole game has a really nice old school vibe, like a NES game soundtrack wise, very cool. I also like that you went with that perspective, not straight up to down or left to right, refreshing. Of course the game itself is also fun :D

Firekeeper by thomas-olsson 2020-04-28T21:03:07Z

Really cool game! The aesthetics are great, the lighting mechanic is very interesting, intriguing what is waiting in the darkness. I think you played well with that, already setting this up in the beginning. The power progression felt amazing! I also enjoyed very much that it was not too hard and about making the player lose the game, instead giving a nice yet challenging experience. It was also very clear in what and how to do, i didn't read anything beforehand. Great game, my personal favorite so far!

If fireball discussion is rolling, just as an idea: The "rush" comes from leaving the fire and the kick attack gets less useful with the great fireballs. Fireballs are great to use, i wouldn't diminish those. But the magician enemies (or some other type) could repel or absorb the fireballs, necessitating a kick approach. Would help the kick usefulness and be another reason to leave the center, as tacitcal decision. The kick could also be stronger, one-hitting the medium guys (maybe just after one of the upgrades).

food dish empty by jackcaunter 2020-04-25T08:51:19Z

Haha, this is really goofy. The music and the cat with its serious face make it very likable to me. Giving every ball i met a punch while walking by delivered on that cat feeling quite good. I have a german keyboard - there, the y and z keys are switched (QWERTZ). Z and X as controls do not work together there nicely ;)

Bro Loving: Keep the Bromance Alive by panoramix360 2020-05-04T20:09:28Z

This was hilarious! And that soul crushing moment when your beautiful stack of pancakes flips over and you bang a mostly empty plate into your head.

Più, a bird song by Ekilibr 2020-05-04T16:02:10Z

Wow, the bird animation is so smooth and satysfying, you made flying so relaxing and beautiful. The soundscape is great, tonally plays together so well with the flying and art, very well rounded. The power ups motivated to push through the game and i finished it. I was very thankful for me not dying on hitting a wall and for the last indicator pointing me to the end :) Great job!

Pet Protecc TD by Ithildin 2020-05-04T19:55:14Z

I really enjoyed your game, it was fun! I like the contradicting goals of feeding the guy and using food to buy turrets. Two points could probably be improved, as in give the players a few seconds to look at the map, or let the player start the waves on button press. When many turrets were shooting, the all sounds played and it tended to get quite loud - difficult to solve i guess. In any case it was fun and i also like the style, simple but endearing. Nice work :)

Busy Bee Business by HuvaaKoodia 2020-04-24T13:09:08Z

The art looks really nice, a beatiful style and pretty unique. The sounds were pleasant, very tranquil. Controls were a bit unusual, but after reading up on it, it made sense and was well controlable. The only issue i had was that it did not fit my screen. Im running at 3440x1440 with 150% size on Windows 10. Fullscreen Button on itch would be nice for that. It looks like you used Godot, just in case you don't know about that: If you don't want your canvas to resize, you can modify the stretch settings under project setting -> display -> window -> stretch. Overall very good and polished :)

Busy Bee Business by HuvaaKoodia 2020-04-24T20:19:21Z

This is how it looks (i cropped it, only left a small part of non game screen) 1.png It's not too bad, only a small part is missing at the bottom. Pressing f does indeed work and it looks perfect then. Basically like the screenshot, but the game goes from top to bottom and i see all of it. I just mentioned the stretch mode because i thought that you omitted the itch fullscreen button with the purpose of having the game unstretched. Maybe my assumption was nonsense :D

Space Ship E.V.E by silkworm_sweatshop 2020-04-28T14:11:41Z

As usual, very well delivered narative! Moody presentation and well written, it tells a beautiful little story. Gameplay is more of a filler to the story, but i'm fine with that. Only issue i had was the camera movement. On the bottom and left it only moved on the very border, right and top it moved earlier. This was a problem when aiming at asteroids - i place my the cursor on them but shortly before i get there, the camera moves and with it the cursor. It seemed to me i could not "fail" the game, which was very reassuring and made it more relaxing - otherwise the fear of losing and having to start over would have put more focus on the mechanics. But this way, it was really story driven. I like it :)

Sunlit by palsina 2020-04-22T13:12:39Z

I love it, it is really beautiful, zen like. The styling of the title is really clever, made me smile. The mechanics are very cool and innovative. The decision process to cut a bad branch or leave it so you can expand later was very engaging, feels really like sculpting a bonsai. Well done :)

INTERSIGNAL by zimny11 2026-05-08T21:47:34Z

Not the greatest score, but for a first try it was not bad. Unbenannt.png

I enjoyed the puzzle system, really nice game that makes you think. I had one round with 5 grey noises that felt unfair. Getting into the game was not too easy because there is a lot in the screen going on that has no meaning and there is no immediate feedback what is interactable. For example, when i hover over a planet it should light up so i understand what i can click.

I did see the tutorial and read it, and liked that it was my choice to open the tutorial. I think it could be good to first start with the goal of the game and then go into how you achieve it. Not sure though. The marker which tile is currently active in the color wheel could be clearer. I sometimes was not 100% sure what tile it was. You could also draw a little arrow to the input box that you need to click after selecting a noise, such that the arrow would only show up once you selected a noise. That would guide me better through the process. I think many people will skip the tutorial and not understand the game, but you can alleviate this a lot by making the game easier to understand on a UI/UX level.

One thing that was a bit crazy is that the game launched really small and i accidentally found out that you can zoom in. No game ever did that to my knowledge, both a bit funny but also i wonder why :D

I took two or three turns to figure it all out, and then i really had fun and was engaged. The descriptions and design was clear enough to not get frustrating. The #1 improvement that would also be quite easy would be UI responsiveness/feedback on what is interactable. Really cool game as usual :)

Holy Light by Tvorojok 2026-05-02T19:47:38Z

I thoroughly enjoy this! The wordless gravitas was very impressive, and the music with backgrounds and kind of tragic narrative weaved this strong experience, pulling me in. It took a bit until i understood that i was this one guy (already decimated half my group by then), and then it took a bit to understand that i need to properly pull, not just have my mouse in the relative position to my character.

Orbles by Rongo Matane 2022-04-05T08:05:54Z

argh, the classic blunder of not setting the itch page to public, and thinking it works because i can see the game page. Fixed that now, thank you for the info. Even documented the error on Stream https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1445947787

Orbles by Rongo Matane 2022-04-06T21:56:02Z

Wow, so many responses already! Thank you all so much, the feedback is really valuable, both for the game and for our hearts, and i'm very thankful for it! It's intensifying the wish that i'd have had more time to introduce the mechanics, but it also felt like we had nothing to cut. Some systems could have been simplified i think saving 2-4 hours. Maybe next time :)

On the amount of work - it was a ton. I recorded day 3 for my part https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1445947787 and i know cyangmou worked about as much. Cameron also a ton, 16 minutes of music!

@zimny11 thanks zimny, always love your quality feedback!

@johanhelsing hehe, yes, upgrades are actually implemented but i didn't have time to add the upgrade popup actually opening.

@fidrik if you played in the browser, it might have been scrolled outside of the screen. You can direct your Orriors with the watchtowers - they'll go off to fight monsters near them.

@webox going full force 3 days with a great team :D

@pickyburrito49 oh yeah, grabbing to "copy" is a super smart UX thing!

@alex-mulkerrin <3 Yes, the power of Godot. Super fun engine, it can really go wild while the game keeps running.

@davision i had hopeless situations too, but they recovered. When your area shrinks, so shrinks the border you have to defend. Every level of economy has a natural border it can sustain - kind of self balancing. Anyway, i mostly wanted to say again: i love your avatar :D

@nardandas yeah, the most difficult thing is the start. After that, the settlement is not at risk anymore, mostly.

@mechanicallife you can start a path anywhere. Just click the path button and then a free field in the map :)

Orbles by Rongo Matane 2022-04-07T06:40:47Z

@agrimes Hm, that means they are garrisoned at watchtowers that don't have any monsters near them, so they don't move out at all. You can destroy older watchtowers or place new ones, that should help. But the mechanics should be changed a little, so that towers that see no action for a longer time are not garrisoned at all.

Orbles by Rongo Matane 2022-04-10T08:55:21Z

Thank you for all the feedback, i love it <3

@unitedfailures awesome, that was really what i was aiming for regarding the dichotomy: Contrasting the cute and pleasant Orbles with overproportionate horror.

@peachtreeoath Nice, the game being about a supply chain is a great observation i didn't put in words before. I wanted a settlers 2 game which is about the strength and output of your economy, with a lot of scaling, not something where you need every building once or twice and then are mostly set. Supply Chain game is a great term for that.

@shigor they'll attack the Purants in the area of their tower. A new Orrior checks which tower has the smallest garrison and checks from there. So ideally, you can remove towers that are safe, as they'll be garrisoned but the Orriors will only idle.

@ursagames my man :) Thank you!

@metzkermeister The Orriors will only stay at the fort, if their tower has no Purants in range. Ideally you delete the towers the are not really relevant anymore, freeing up those Orriors. Sorry to hear there were technical issues - with the complexity of the game it couldn't be made water tight. But it's definitely something that is better in the download version, which is the one that should be considered for this jam (and the only one linked from this page).

@voidsay hello again, thank you for the quality feedback :) The screenshot is epic, really funny seeing them all step. Limit was intentional, as the game surely would not live to see 2000 Orriors walk around. Suttering came from the path finding of the Orriors being slow.

@snowycocoon the idea is that the Purants are inevitable - no matter what you do and how good you fight, they cannot be stopped, only delayed. This is what you do until you can finally escape them by, in a sense, changing the rules of the game. You know you can't stop them, so you flee from their world. I think the other option of ramping them up until they finally crush you might be too disheartening for a building game like that, seeing your nice settlement slowly overrun. But maybe it would be cool, even more fun.

Orbles by Rongo Matane 2022-04-15T19:59:19Z

Hey @team-choo-choo , Yann i suppose, thank you for the kind words :D Very cool that you are doing that again! Sadly, i don't have any time this time around, as i'm putting all my hours into preparing for PAX. Have fun with the Stream :)

Claim your FREE BitBuddy™ TODAY! by danman9914 2022-04-27T21:29:14Z

The character building was excellent - that guy really had personality, and sold me on him being conscious. Also, Black Mirror vibes. It's the little things too, like eye animations, different expressions and the general hide-the-pain-kalwen look. I'm wondering about other promo codes though, and half expected its name to be one. Excellent!

Rising wind Island by ShivArt 2022-04-08T09:13:16Z

It was evitable after all :D

That was fun, i'm a sucker for nice pixel art and flying islands, very cool! It would be awesome if rising to the top actually ends the game with a win screen, so it feels like a completed attempt.

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Shotgun King: the Final Checkmate by benjamin 2022-04-28T07:12:21Z

Cheesed it :D One hp white king and a sniper rifle.

The design is excellent, so many small, amazing decisions to balance everything out. Well deserved winner!

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LifeRunner ~~~O by ruba 2017-08-02T07:05:22Z

The graphics and audio is really nice! It was positively difficult to avoid those guys that chase you a little bit. Good entry :)

Shoulda, Coulda but Didn't by Budaniel 2017-08-07T19:49:28Z

Nice little game! The voice acting is pretty cool, and having different radio stations is neat anyway! Areas of improvement to me could be clearer power ups (their effect and "pick up feedback") and faster pacing. In the middle while driving i shortly forgot where i was going, but the road sign reminded me ;)

Artax by Flaterectomy 2018-05-02T11:03:34Z

Wow, i love it! The style, mood, animations and sounds are top notch, very polished! The music reminded me so much of a great old NES game, "a boy and his blob" - only after that i realized my robot friend also behaves like the blob. The set back when dieing were a bit disheartening, when i already "solved" the area but got killed by mud that i only saw when walking beneath it. Controls were good, after i learned in the first level that i basically stop lateral moement immediately in the air when i release the key. I also love the robot and the emotions going on!

Mower Storms by dracominer 2017-08-01T18:23:48Z

I finished the game, but i don't understand the mechanics. I think i won, because i killed every enemy penguin, but i only randomly placed my guys. The intro was really cool, an intro for the gameplay would have been great.

The game seems quite complete, so you've done a good job of finishing on time. I'm sure the strategy part is thought through, but i simply did not understand it.

Power Plant Simulator. by BroRawr 2017-08-01T19:10:30Z

Animations are aweomse, Music is awesome, great entry! That old dude rocking to the swinging of coffe is really nice. While playing, i couldn't really figure out the mechanics of the switches on each pipe. Maybe it would be an option to start wiht one pipe or two, and introduce the others while progressing?

POWERCUT, Inc. by zoglu 2017-08-02T17:26:23Z

Wow, this game is so well rounded. I love the pixel art and the chill music. The flow of the game is excellent, for example having to click the generator before starting, so i can get mentally ready to go.

The concept itself is simple but engaging, i went through all levels. It's also a bit funny when you start a level and most of your guys think about pooping :D

This would be so well suited for mobile, especially if you add a little depth for strategies. At the moment it is very straight forward, but that's a plus for many people (depends on what you want from a game - clickers are also very straight forward but enjoyed greatly).

And...120 hamster babies on hamster habits! Very impressive :D

Range anxiety by StubbyRogue46 2017-08-01T18:04:49Z

I'm not sure what to do. It seems the mouse is mandatory, but at the first screen i cannot use the mouse to click on ok? In my first try, i was immediately attacked and died, having no idea how to fight back. In the second try, i was told my car has not enough energy. I then ran around killing 2 guys that did not do anything - the third jumped me and i died. So i didn't really understand it, a tutorial with a slower introduction would be fantastic. In retrospective, i understand it better having read the description - ideally, the game introduces the concepts via gameplay (because...when have you read the manual the last time? :D ).

Anyway, it's great that you finished! The mood and the world is interesting, i just didn't really figure out what to do. Sorry!

BatteryPackMan by junjunlowpoly 2017-08-03T18:36:22Z

Very creative idea, i really like it - though i only reached 94 points. Gameplay is going really well and the intro is a nice "attunement". I couldn't figure out a strategy on what to charge when, i simply charged anything that required it. Nice entry :)

Light Switch Crusader by TedScottPilgrim 2017-08-06T15:42:51Z

Hi, thank you again for your immense comment on hamster habits - never seen such a long one :D (i replied there)

I like your game! The voice acting is pretty cool, it gives the guy so much character, kind of a good-spirited grump. The graphics are quite good, as well as the light effects. I could quickly figure out what to do, how to get in and why i died (although it was surprising at first). I'm not sure when i'm being caught exactly - i though the cats have to catch me, so i tried running out which did not work. I guess the owner woke up - maybe this could be a little clearer by having the cat make loud noises.

So i really like it! The setting feels quite fresh, i think this is something you can expand into a very good game.

Fall of Raphael by fangzhangmnm 2017-08-04T16:56:19Z

The graphic style is so cool and quite unique! The music fits very well and it transports a special mood or feeling, as if there is a way bigger background story. In the puzzles i wasn't always sure where i was going, but it always worked out. Maybe i cheated a bit on the last level, i just kind of jumped through the enemy horde. And that mysterious voice is an ass :D

Very good entry! Oh, and i uploaded a desktop version for hamster habits as you asked for :)

Cat Herder - THE CATPOCALYPSE by Meanderthal 2017-08-07T11:10:51Z

Really nice game! The dude looks so nicely scared. The sound is quite funny and the game works well, the controls feel good and not too slow. The music was calm and fitting. Overall, a nice and quite finished entry!

The thing i'd like most to be improved would be the progression. The mode where the cats escape and i get them back in feels a bit like sysiphus work. Maybe there could be a mode that is more engaging - i could imagine getting 100 cats back into the house as fast as possible be something fun.

btw i love the meanderthal play of words :D

Hamster Habits by Rongo Matane 2017-08-04T10:25:35Z

@fangzhangmnm Of course, i'll compile one in about 6h and upload it to itch. Thank you, that's awesome :) It will be a jar, executable in any java environment.

Edit: the jar is up, let me know if it works and how your friends like it. I'm also open to feature requests :D

Edit2: >maybe some visual feedback when my character getting elder? >>> yes, i thought about something similar. To keep the effort acceptable, i think an additional gauge would work right now.

Hamster Habits by Rongo Matane 2017-08-05T17:59:43Z

Haha, excellent feedback, thank you. Your guess regarding the bug is right, i'll fix it for a future version :)

That you were intrigued to write this sentence validates all our efforts ;)

Hamster Habits by Rongo Matane 2017-08-06T13:53:45Z

@silkworm-sweatshop wow, i haven't seen anyone come close to your numbers. Either something was wrong (which i do not belive) or you are extremely skilled in the wheel.

Hamster Habits by Rongo Matane 2017-08-06T15:31:09Z

@rikoclon Wow, thank you for your insight! I have to say, i pushed for the sex scene, it was actually a controversy in our team with similar questions you asked: Doesn't this make it inappropriate for younger audiences, does this actually fit the tone of the game, won't this offend some people? Ultimaltely for me it came down to "be appropriate and tame vs. doing something unexpected", surprising the player was my intention (surprises are not always good :D).

The feces are the feature i miss the most too. I planned on making you be able to poop in the litter corner, with physics based poop and fart sounds. I simply didn't finish it (the sex minigame was only started on monday evening). On a similar note, it's not a space bar under a bar, just a complete white texture because no one could make a proper one for the indicator in time.

I don't want to be too "on the nose" and like players to figure stuff out themselves, so i'm careful with any help i give. I'll be more considerate in a post-ld version...the main problem up until now was for people figuring out when to go where (the bell is always tested...).

The food is sun flower seeds: https://www.google.com/search?q=sunflower+seeds&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiesJSi9cLVAhXRY1AKHRJwD2MQ_AUICigB&biw=2294&bih=831

We actuall have a squeaky wheel sound, it just doesn't work well with the music i fear.

Thank you for your stories, i had a hamster too as a kid who also escaped and lived like 2 months behind some furniture, i can relate :D Your comment is quite inspiring and i'll incorporate it into a post-ld version. Thank you!

Hamster Habits by Rongo Matane 2017-08-06T22:21:30Z

@silkworm-sweatshop Holy shit, 21 year old hamster!!! Lmao dude, you are really taking the game to the max :D

The hamsters health is decreasing over time, as you have probably noticed - resulting on more eneryg loss on sperm shots and less energy gain from food. There is a cap though - and you have proven that the cap is too high, so thank you very much! I intended a progression to the point, where you kind of naturally die. It looks like ther should be no cap at all, seeing what i see now. Awesome :D

Hamster Habits by Rongo Matane 2017-08-11T06:15:21Z

@schu thank you! The game should be played in fullscreen, then you won't have any problems with the browser scrolling. WASD is an alternative. Diagonal movement will probably be in a post jam version, but i'll really release it post jam to avoid getting ratings on the post jam version.

Botken: Assault and Battery by Toone 2017-08-02T17:10:09Z

I like it, very polished with great music and really nice graphics! Hit feedback and controls are also very good. Really cool stuff, the combo system also works very well which i did not expect. It really did go into an intense tactical battle instead of button mashing. The only thing i found a bit irritating is the end of the fight, which is very aprupt. I'd also like a hotkey for starting the next match.

Also, thank you so much for your review on https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/hamster-habits. You were the first one that had a beatiful retrospective with similar thoughts i had when making the game. That was very rewarding.

Out of Power by sorecactus 2017-08-01T18:08:02Z

I'm also seeing an empty page, using chrome 59.

No Sign Of Life by silkworm_sweatshop 2017-08-06T22:37:03Z

Wow, i did not expect to get sucked in like this. It is very moody and the story is intense! I feel very inclined to progress, but not overly rushed, which is perfect. The cave was sooo creepy, and the music was very nice too. I did not escape - i think i missed the second part of the code, maybe from the guy at the cryo station. The game is really special in a sense that it reached me farther than those few minutes of gameplay, which extremely few LD games do.

Overall a great entry, with bonus points for a 21 year old hamster :D

PS: Only one question. Why can i toggle the map? Is there something specific connected to it?

Berzerk Hunt by TheFunAttic 2017-08-03T17:16:08Z

Nice game, the ending animation is really great! The progression feels good and the concept is clear. I like how finished it is, having a instructions screen and a proper menu and teaser. I had trouble controling the dude because it was hard to spot the mouse arrow. I'm not sure if it is intended that he follows the mouse with his dash and throw - it seemed he chooses the direction himself. I also saw the movement bug some other guys mentioned - he started going upwards only, like if a key was locked. Typing the up key again solved it though.

So overall, a really good entry, congrats!

Ketchup Quest - Endless Arcade Fighting to Protect Your Saucy Stash by samboyer276 2017-12-07T12:58:12Z

I love it, great game! The graphics are really cool and the music gives a great mood. Also, the shopping music! It was actually fun to play and i like how much content there is. If the ninja could throw into all directions, it would be a bit OP i guess, but that was initially a surprise to me. Ronald is a very difficult enemy - in my first try he kicked me to the other building, which i did not discover before, and then he must have fallen down because he was gone. In melee he is difficult - when playing Lionheart he pushed me 2 times gently enough so i could stay on the roof, the third time i was shot to the moon. Overall, fantastic game, top notch :)

Drift Punk by CremaGames 2017-12-06T19:18:07Z

I feel like we don't even need to talk about how good the game is, clearly awesome. The one thing that spoiled the fun for me a bit was the current difficulty curve. I adjusted to the fact that i need to be more careful with a long tail, which also encapsultes the theme very well. In my first runs, i always lost the tail to the pylons, scoring around 20. Then i had a perfect run, felt relatively fast and did not crash - time was up at 12 people transported. This was due to my long tail - i had to gather so many people, time was running out although it felt like i was doing great. Maybe this is intended this way, but then it goes a bit against my player intuition, that i have to willfully crash to keep my tail short enough, to be able to also deliver guys without 30s time left. A really great entry :)

Phaeria's Mine by AVAVT 2017-12-16T11:09:26Z

I immediately fell in love with the graphics, this is soooo intriguing and charming, kind of old school. The music is very good too. The rules of teh game are clear and even the factions are itneresting. The gameplay is fun and very interesting. Slight criticism - i don't know what the different unit types do, and i'm never sure if my guys are enough, mostly because i cannot predict how the battle will go. I guess the salary is something that i do not see anwhere, but which buffs the units stats. This makes it difficult to learn when you have enough units, which is the most important thing in the game i guess. I'm also not exactly sure when other factions are going to attack. Anyway, i'm off to play another round (which is a rare thing for an LD game), only got the poor ending :D

I'm wondering if i can just up all taverns, keep salary low and if an attack starts, push salary up a lot (then low again when no attack is happening). Great game :)

PS: 48K, now i'm staisfied :D

PPS: If you don't mind, how did you implement the leaderboard (who hosts it, how are you coupled)?

Home Raider by Rongo Matane 2017-12-06T19:25:27Z

Thank you all for your great feedback, this gives meaning to this jam for us :)

@fernandxor I guess you mean the "alterness on sight", because the movement otherwise is very static and scripted with waypoints. I totally get that, it also surprised me sometime, though i'm not sure how to improve it ;)

@citsua Yeah, we had a hard time wrapping up, i wasn't able ti implement the loot permanence - but i'll make sure to add it after the jam ends.

Home Raider by Rongo Matane 2017-12-08T20:22:27Z

Again, thank you all for your feedback! That's very encouraging :)

@dunin i absolutely agree, 4 buttons for 4 items is not elegant. I'm thinking about limiting the items you choose to 2, thus simplifying controls too. Do you have an idea you like more, on how to use items?

@grentacular i'll add a second of delay until a resident is trying to catch you, as well as an actual line of sight algorithm (right now, it just checks 3 tiles manhattan distance). Does that sound sufficient, or would you prefer an actual line of sight overlay?

@liam-higgo @eldogg I'm not 100% sure what you mean with the controls. The thief moves to full tiles - you hit the key for 0.01s, but the guy will walk the whole tile and only switch direction after that. Were you aware of this and found it frustrating? I ask because i know there is also a small issue with lagginess when just walking in one direction.

@goloso-games I didn't know about mini thief and just checked it out on steam. I think i'm gonna buy it, to see what i like about the design and what not. We thought more about how not the movement could be harder, but your perception of the world gets worse (or the enemies gets better), like less visual feedback the further you progress. The tile map logic existing in libgdx together with the tiled map editor were a great help, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten that far in 3 days.

Friends.OS by Rob White 2017-12-06T19:54:05Z

Very cool concept! I also like the depressing atmosphere, as well as the social commentarty. I had a really hard time figuring out what to do when something new popped up - i failed 3 times with the selfie, because i had no idea i can and should drag it. Then, a fourth thing came up where i don't even have time to read what to do, when it's already running out of time. Maybe you could make the first appearance of a puzzle without a timeout, the second with a longer timeout, so that the player can ease into it? Overall, cool entry :)

FLÅTPAK by DaleP 2017-12-16T10:07:26Z

Very funny idea! I love the cart physics, drifting around in the beginning is a lot of fun. The screen shake was a nice touch, though a bit heavy for me. I saw it on some games now, that the theme was resolved to "you get slower". I'm not a big fan of this, because as you progress, the game becomes slower in more boring usually. In flatpak it's a bit similar - in the beginning i have a lot of fun drifting around with high speed, a nice challenge. Then i pack stuff and become so slow that i use more time waiting than really engaging with the game, as the steering feels about the same, just 5 times slower. I think i would like it more if steering became harder and harder, just like in real life: With an empty cart, you can turn almost immediately. With a full cart, you can go forward just as fast (top speed), but when turning, you have to take special care, sort of like the drifting in flatpak in the beginning. In essence, i think the game should become more difficult - through difficulty in steering, or in sight, or whatever (hunger could decrease your vision).

In any case a very nice game, good job :)

(also, thank you so much for your detailed response on home raider!)

Mutoid by Adrenallen 2017-12-06T18:07:32Z

Good game, feels quite completed. The music is moody, the controls are tight and i really like the animations. I wasn't sure when "waves" would spawn - at first only when i moved, later it seemed to happen all the time. Good job :)

Ignite by Scurf 2017-12-06T18:20:43Z

That was amazing, graphics are beautiful and the music is fantastic. The game play is simple, but that works well for me for such a game that is more like an experience or narrative based. Really, the music is something i'd listen to outside of playing the game, which is extremely rare on game jam games for me. Played thorugh, Fantastic!

edit for response to the question below: I totally see the realtion to the theme - the nearer you get to "reviving" your lady flame, the weaker you yourself get. On a narrative level, the theme is well met. On the gameplay level not so much. But as i said, for me the gameplay is not the most important part of this game, so it also does not need to transport the theme that much.

Human Rises by Tinis Games 2017-12-06T17:52:19Z

It looks interesting, but i have no idea how it works. I'm running out of food quickly and cannot buy food from the market, although the civ has not yet failed (but also has no food).

[Web] Bunion by eldogg 2017-12-16T09:44:55Z

The game won't load for me, trying with google chrome 63.0.3239.84. It stay in the "Loading..." Screen forever, or at least for 5 minutes.

The Big Pink Thing. by Ludrak 2017-12-06T18:01:44Z

The graphics are really cute and i immeaditely know what to do. I also understand the basic game rules quickly. I was very unsuccessful though, i had a hard time with the controls, especially with the little islands. I landed on them often enough, but the player slides a little bit and usally falls of. I am sure it would be a bit nicer with sounds - you could make enough in 10 minutes if "sfxr", it really makes a differnce :)

Between Stations by Sand-Gardeners 2017-12-07T13:35:46Z

I'm blown away, i did not expect anything this intense from ludum dare, i was fully immersed. Talking about specifics like the perfect moody music feels superfluous (or the hilarious hair of the spider, or the great writing in general), after the strength of the experience. Fantastic! PS: i'm also happy that i had very little agency and that it was not (perceivably) connected - this way i could enjoy it without thinking too much about what choice is the optimal one, and what could influence what. I was guily-free able to choose whatever i thought initially, quite freeing actually.

Stealy by Grentacular 2017-12-16T09:41:22Z

Wow, the cutscenes are so nice, also very funny. The whole transition between stages is really great through it. I appreciate the easter egg loot. On the gameplay side, i would love a small rebalance towards more loot. On the maze i could only take a single goblet, because the other stuff laying around in the feasibly area was so heavy that i stopped walking. On the mansion i was a bit irritated (and got caught) because i did not nice that i could not leave where in entered, before it was too late. We also thought about using a "slow down" mechanic in our game, but ultimately devided against it, so i'm happy that i had the chance to try it in your game. My fear was, that walking slower and slower does not increase the fun, or makes the game more exciting - it slows it down, potentially making the "final chase" a bit of a drag because it's uncomfortably slow. Regarding the music, it was a bit repetetive for me, but i'm also a bit over sensitive in that regard. I love that you added a shop - together with the result screen that very satisfyingly pops up my loot, a robbery feels very rewarding. Anyway, overall a very nice game, good job!

Briiik by Goloso Games 2017-12-22T09:14:28Z

The visual style is very appealing! I like that the mechanics work so well both for playing and for the theme. I would not have expected you to have spent only so little time on this, it seems quite polished. I think playing it on a touch screen would be even more fun, and it's a very good fit for the mobile market i guess. The tutorialization was also very good, the only thing i missed that i could have only 3 errors before losing. Very good game!

Catch for cash by flip120 2017-12-06T19:39:08Z

I love it! We made a similar game, so i could quickly relate (and of course, skipped the initial loot to only take it when leaving). The graphics are amazing and the music is really moody, perfect for the heist. I also love the step sounds, i had a lot of trouble with them and still hav no satisfying sounds for them, so i can appreciate ;)

Hiding is also such a nice touch, especially with thos beautiful animation. My only issue is, that it's very hard to predict if going up or down a room is safe. Oh, and the death scream is sooo disturbing, a bit too heavy for the cute graphics :D

Excellent entry, i'm really impressed how round and complete you've got it.

System Up-grade by dirkinz 2017-12-06T17:55:48Z

The menu starts of really cool! It seems the controls are not working properly. When i press right arrow, the ship moves left. When i press down arrow, the ship moves right. No other keys seem to do anything. What should i do?

Mister Maître by FerNandXor 2017-12-06T19:46:10Z

Fun idea! The graphics are really nice, and the physics also feel right. It's a bit strange at first to be using 3 hands, but i din't ever need to tilt the tablet, so it worked out. I felt like i was most efficient by only taking 4 glasses ever, because i usually messed up when taking more :D Maybe there could also be a bonus below 10 glasses, such that there is always an incentive to carry more and that carrying more is always better than carrying little more often? Good work :)

PS: i had no audio, is this normal? Just asking because the category is still up for voting.

ħ/2 by colozz 2017-12-06T19:55:35Z

(i eventually was ble to download, first had a bit of trouble with the bandwidth).

Very cute game, i like the graphics and especially the terrain animation. I sometimes didn't understand why i died, i think it was because something spawned near me whcih i did not see. The concept gets clear quickly, though there seems to be an issue with the AI of some sort - for example, i am in wave 3 with the giant moth, and one kitty is alive. It seems the moth is attacking an empty house, because it does so infinitely. In any case, good work :)

Yearnin' For A Yank by Cozy Bear 2017-12-07T09:59:08Z

Really cool game! I grabbed my girlfriend and we started yanking. The graphics are geat and the controls are perfect. It was very clear what to do. On the yanking part, we weren't sure how to do it, if there was a rhythm or scheme to follow. After round 3, my cow finally got made into hamburgers, but then the game kind of bugged out. I guess there should be a win screen, but it was round 4 without any cows. In any case, great game! I wish there was sound too, but it was really fun anyway, also love your humor! I really hope you get enough ratings, not too easy with 2 controllers and local coop ;)

Oh, and the chase to get into the barn in time was thrilling, we always made it on the last second. And the hands, they are sooo disgusting :D

Candy Overlord by citsua 2017-12-07T13:04:58Z

Haha, such a cool game. Very impressive that you did it on your own. I actually laughed when i went big and rolled around, really funny! Chimney gag too, surprising. The basics work very well, i like the mechanic. It is also really cute, with the speech bubbles. I think i can move faster when pressing two arrow keys. Using space, arrows and mouse is not really convenient, i'd need 3 hands or switch constantly. Maybe you created it with a laptop, but for keyboard+mouse it is too much. Oh, and i wish there were some sound effects, it adds so much to the mood, which you present so well graphically. Overall, very nice game, good job :)

unrogue by dunin 2017-12-08T10:14:59Z

Excellent game, the theme is very well met! It played very smoothly and it was quite engaging - deciding what to throw away was a difficult decision. Once i committed to the idea of checking out all enemies exactly, it was very tactical. I feel like there are a bit too many enemies that are about the same, the 1move&onhit guys. Armor is the obvious thing to lose first imo, you don't need it if you plan your steps, which you have to do.

Sadly, in my last run (after buying another sword) i got this: 1.png

Oh, and the text at the beginning was a bit much, but i understand why you need it. As i said, i had to commit to the stats and items, instead of being eased into it by the game. But that's no problem, especially not for a gamejam.

Anyway, i'm off to play another round ;)

PS: just had a level with a blockend exit :(

PPS: 457 tops, although i could do indefinitely by just killing monsters.

Don't take my coins by JanaChumi 2017-12-06T19:30:50Z

Really cool game! I love the animation of the player, the graphics and music are also really good. I only found 3 coins, no idea where the rest are hiding. Nice game!

Mayfly by silkworm_sweatshop 2017-12-16T09:24:30Z

I've played it, had a few hours pause in between and the finished it. Reading the other reviews, i realized the pause disabled the music somehow, so i went for another playthrough :D

I must say i really enjoyed it, although it was sooo uncomfortable. The mid section even more so (for me). I also liked the reveals a lot. It was great how the game transports much more than text through the sort of minimal cues you use (also very consistently). The color coding of the "people" was very useful, on the background not so much for me. On the choices i was irritated the first few times, but it quickly made sense to me, as the narrator is unreliable, so why should my choices be reliable. Personally, i can enjoy those kind of games even more when i don't have to overthink each decision. The writing and narration was great, i'm sure i will remember this even years ahead, when i have forgotten most other games. Fantastic!

Lunar Lander Lunacy by JoshyOshKenoshi 2018-04-24T13:48:55Z

Such a cool concept, i really like it! Waaay too difficult for me and apparently i am also too slow in reading. Even answering correctly only brought the thruster back to the point where it was when i got the question - so i crashed with 80ms/s :D But i found an easy workaround, i just quickly press a random answer. That way, i can easily stay at 90+ thrust. Overall, really nice game and great questions!

Kanye West's Kanye Quest: Penis Game 4 my Mom by Ian M 2019-05-01T10:58:36Z

I like your style, especially the quotes! The setting is genius level. It might be the best thing i ever played. Had a fun time with it, and actually got through!

Boxing Surgery Simulator 2000 by ponywolf 2018-04-24T15:48:49Z

Wow, this is hilarious! The art and polish are really fantastic. The only issue i have is that it is difficult to learn, as i have no idea what to do. For the surgical part, i can figure out what to use where, though i'm note sure if i need to use it multiple times, or until it goes away or only once. For the fighting part, i don't know how to figure things out because i cannot watch the guys and bubbles at the same time. I just noticed there are scores in the second round, because it was overlayed by bubbles so often. But please do not get the wrong impression, i find this game to be next level, really great work.

FARMCADE by GeorgeBroussard 2018-04-24T13:55:17Z

Great entry! The art is really cute and i like that it is very coherent in its style, a well rounded thing. It is fun and the music is actually pretty good, a lot better than most games i tried so far - so i guess good choice on the configuration for the generator! I only made to level 3 which i could not finish due to those pesky crows shitting on my crops! Very good!

RPG Clicker by MercuryBD 2018-04-24T13:29:22Z

The graphics are amazing and the concept is actually fun. I love the walking animation and the attack animation! The music loops too tightly and is a bit annoying. I didn't know how to heal myself. After the first few enemies, i only had 3 hp and 40 gold...and then i ran into a guy with 600hp :D

Aloisius by Rongo Matane 2018-04-24T14:14:41Z

Thank you all for your feedback!

@DekuJuice Yeah, the AI has many flaws, one not being able to form an attack strategy. I fixed the issue that it got stuck (it happened when no positive option was available). Thank you for pointing it out!

@mahdi daneshvar Wow, love to hear that! Paladins need to be nerfed :D

@daanvanyperen Will do! Nice seeing you here, i feel humbled, as i always looked into your games on how to use odb. It was kind of tough getting into it, but i finally feel comfortable with it and don't want to live without it's serialization anymore. Maybe, i can exploit this opportunity and ask you for advice :D I thought about making a better AI with a MinMax algorithm - but there i'd need to think about entities that do not exist yet. Right now i only use existing entities. I think i cannot work with entities at that point, but have to create a kind of abstract representation of the board, because i don't know how to properly let the ai think about an entity not existing anymore or changing state, without having to modify (and potentially break) that entity. Does that make sense or do you think something like this is possible and appropriate with using entities as a "base" to let the AI think on? Do you know any game that did something like a 1vs1 board game AI using odb?

Aloisius by Rongo Matane 2018-04-24T16:47:43Z

Very good suggestions!

@jtn191 Awesome, we watched the video of your stream and it was really fun for us to watch.

@Jimbly Hehe, yeah there seem to be some really efficient strategies. Downward coin animation stayed on my to do list right until the submission, didn't manage to do it (instead implemented growing forests as resources ;) )

@John-Timora I know the default resolution is quite large, but you can simply zoom out in your browser, problem solved. I also tried to express this in bold in the description, because it's something you can easily run into.

@avavt Hey, nice to see you again! So many options, 2 player would also be interesting. I fixed the NPE, thank you for the notice :)

Jump N' Shoot Man Ludum Dare 41 by jessefreeman 2018-04-24T13:36:01Z

The retro feel is really nice! I like the concept, but i couldn't really play it, same as @asixjin . I kept respawning and immdiately falling into a pit, often restarting 5+ times. I died often because i fell into the holes earlier than expected. I would have loved to get some control instructions in game. Good entry overall!

Similize the Savages by silkworm_sweatshop 2018-04-24T13:09:23Z

I enjoyed it and had fun! It was nice to see the progression of the city. Just when i thought i'm missing the shooter aspect, the game delivered. It was a bit difficult to both have the action and read the goals for the new stage, a little pause would have helped me there. Just now i was rebuilding after the catastrophe, only to fail to watch my scientists again! I failed my citizens.

Overall, a really nice game, a lot of respect for doing this as compo!

Cartoon Tactics by Jiri Hysek 2018-08-23T18:40:47Z

Very impressive game, especially as compo! The aesthetics are neat and the concept is immediately understandable. The map change did matter little in my match, where i closely won. Maybe it could be more interesting if it was not only coming from the edges, otherwise you just meet in the middle. The sound effects are prett funny :D The only thing that surprised me rulewise that the range of my arche is limited by how far he can go. I would have expected him to always be able to shoot the same distance. Overall, great entry!

SAVE YOUR BROTHER by Jisam 2018-08-22T20:27:15Z

I'm not sure what's happening when i reach the end of the road. I bought an axe and chopped down some trees - but then i was out of money, so i couldn't buy any more tools. I fear my brother will die! :D The environment looks pretty good!

Corrupt Space by jmswrnr 2018-08-24T20:28:26Z

This game sent shivers across my skin. Reminded me of PT. I was kind of stuck in an eternal loop, button press did not seem to do anything. I love the lighting model, i always wanted to do something like that. Is it a unity built in feature, or are you using anything else? A separate tool to create a normal map? In any case, a really cool entry!

You Are God by goudagames 2018-08-23T18:56:00Z

I love it! And woohoo, a god game! The concept is cool, the graphics are great and the many people jumping around feel very lively! I actually played twice which i rarely do - second time with 1879 people. Though the fps went down heavily around that area, before it went smooth. Sound is practical, but the house building sound was a bit intense - scary :D I really like it. What are priests for?

Personal Space by ursagames 2018-09-04T19:08:38Z

Very clever spin on the theme! The controls feel really good (played with mouse and keyboard) and i also like the graphics. The people really have some character, i love the faces. I also like the attention to detail, as i cannot ask stuff i do not know about yet. Good entry, especially for compo :)

Board 'n' pieces by AVAVT 2018-08-22T20:41:31Z

Really cool game! I love the transition to the battle screen, the battles are so well done - reminds me of total war. It feels very polished and alive. The art is great too, i like the board pieces especially. It feels like there is some tactical depth to it, though i was not yet able to utilize it against the AI. It would be cool if i could see who will support before i start an attack - but i guess this is very easy to understand after the first one or two games. The floor falling did not really affect my playthrough though. Does the different coloring of the tiles when moving mean something? Overall, great entry!

Pirate's Greed by bbaf 2018-08-22T20:33:23Z

Cool game! I especially loved the joke telling parrot :D The music is a bit chaotic, but has a nice priate mood, i like it! In the game, i am not sure why i should keep treasure out from my boat. It seemed like a lose at some point despite having little treasure. I was able to figure out the controls pretty fast. Nice game!

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-14T12:11:09Z

Ah, thank you for the info, it should not crash of course. I'm currently on vacation and will fix it as soon as possible when I am back.

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-22T19:29:01Z

I have fixed the issue, it should run smoothly now! :)

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-23T10:49:07Z

Thank you all for the feedback! I'm a bit sad that it crashes this often :(

@jiri-hysek @darefus Actually, i have no more known bugs so it would be fantastic if you could provide a little description. It runs stable for me, but i know that a new player always does other things than i do. What opens a lot of potential for errors is, that the AI wants to interact with stuff that was just moved or destroyed - but i don't know any remaining bugs for this.

@jiri-hysek Was this on day 1 or anoher day? Are the seats placed towards the table?

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-23T11:54:07Z

@avavt Thank you! Not harsh at all, i really like the feedback, it helps a lot and rings very true. It is not an innovative game (yet :D). Btw phaeriahs mine progress looks great!

Regarding the crashes: I uploaded a jar, which should not freeze at all. I was able to reproduce a freeze with a lot of customers - the performance in the browser is pretty bad anyway (should be stable at 60fps), so i'll look into it. Porting to the browser with gwt is always making trouble for me with each LD.

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-23T16:46:46Z

@jiri-hysek Ah i found it! It happens when a seat is not reachable from the door, then the guest does not find a way to it and leaves. The guests prefer empty tables, so this might happen even though seats are free.

I'm checking on the freezes. It's a bit disheartening, desktop runs with 1200fps, browser with 30fps moving towards freeze... O.O

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-23T18:30:53Z

I just pushed a new version where i added pooling (reusing) of objects instead of creating new ones every time for pathfinding and for sorting the rendering order of sprites. I am not 100% sure, but the freezes seemed to be related to this. I cannot reproduce freezes on my chrome browser, but on edge i could and it was solved there. Sorry for the hassle! Please let me know if you still experience freezes. Oh, and i could prevent freezes by slowing the game when i noticed lags. But anyway, it shouldn't happen at all.

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-24T06:16:16Z

Thank you so much for the feedback! This is a great experience, i never had so many issues in a game before - the crazy thing is that i am mostly unable to reproduce crashes, but this is how it goes usually i think. The difficulty for debugging it as a dev is the complexity of the game state i think.

I hadn't updated the desktop version with pooling, which i did now. Also, thanks to @huvaakoodia i was able to fix something with the table (it was added twice to the restaurant, but only removed once).

@bbaf Hadn't thought about that ESC thing yet, i'll add a popup that asks to confirms the quit for post-jam. Thank you!

@huvaakoodia Thank you so much for the in depth feedback and suggestions. I wanted to implement something you mention with ingredients, also unrefridgerated ingredients...but the scope is as you rightly say already foolish. I think a "quick fix" would be that you can only buy ingredients before the restaurant opens, which also gives the incentive for more fridges. Making people impassable by other people would be interesting, but add sooo much more complexity. To prevent deadlocks they'd need to be aware of stuck situations and together devise a plan to resolve it. The together part is what bothers me most ;)

edit: this change should fix the workstations issues... :D 1.png

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-24T20:30:00Z

@bog13 Thanks, scope was really a bit too large :D Click on the fridge to restock - the other popup is just a summary in case you have multiple fridges.

@kromeboy Thank you for the feedback! Fridge issue noted, you are correct (and you might be the first one to ever buy another fridge :D)

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-24T20:59:02Z

@king-kujito yeah, sorry for that! You can just zoom out in your browser and it should be fine. Would you try again please?

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-25T11:02:40Z

Hi @mammabouter, thank you for the feedback! Could you please tell me the circumstances of the crashes? I'd like to fix them, but have a hard time thinking out of the box when play testing.

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-08-31T20:04:19Z

@rend Thank you for the feedback :) Over the jams i got a good understanding how to approach most aspects, as well as a codebase for common stuff like scene handling, pathfinding or loading/handling/drawing sprites (basically stuff that engines like unity have out of the box, but now i have it too in a environment i know and like). Now i can be really productive and spend like 90% of my time on actual progress, instead of tinkering or bug fixing. But still it was overscoped, we haven't got around to adding any sounds. So i'm really happy about the scope of games we can do now in the jam, but on the other hand there are much better engine options like godot - but switching would also mean a downsizing in scope again :flushed:

Regarding paths, i agree, it's sometimes difficult to see. This is something i have not managed to squeeze in, just like the upgrades i had in mind. I'm also not sure about a good solution, because when moving a new object, i'd have to check the reachability of this object, but also the reachability of every other object, as i might block the other object with the new one.

Btw. saw you game on randomize user, looks great! :)

Trattoria by Rongo Matane 2018-09-04T18:56:01Z

@ursagames Hey, thanks for playing, we had a lot of fun watching you! You also are a very competent player, figuring out everything very well. I am so sorry for the crashes, we had an issue where the game would crash if you had multiple cooks.

Runventory by fusionnist 2018-08-24T19:55:18Z

This is amazing. I like the both the pixel art and the animations best from all games i played so far an also sound is fitting and music is catchy. I also love the whacky style of it, really funny little figures. While playing, i had no idea how the items combined or what happens when i get hit. It looks like purposefully running into enemies might be a valid tactic to clean up a little. A small tutorial section would be great, where the combination is taught to me, rather than shown. Overall a great game with character, i like it so much! By far the best ratings i gave so far, nothing below 4 :D

Space Opera by t-mw 2018-08-24T20:13:10Z

Concept is pretty cool! The sounds are good and do not become annoying. I had trouble figuring out how it works, a little tutorial section would have helped - but i finally did and then could really play around. I played until 5 colors. Really cool game, top value for innovation!

Pizza Defender by Sloyd 2018-08-29T17:21:12Z

Cool game, the graphics are really great. I love the enemies especially. I think the other guys already said everything i can offer - sound would be great, with a better "i hit that guy" feel, maybe little tomato particle effects. Pacing could use a little speedup for my taste. But of course, for a compo it's ambitious and what you have is really good!

Metal Gear Noah by Dizzy Dalvin 2018-08-24T17:00:05Z

With such a cool title, i just had to play and was pleasantly surpised. The graphics are really high quality and moody. I love the water progression too. Sadly, i was not able to drag anything (i guess that#s the not finished part). The whole bot topic was a bit overwhelming, i didn't know at all what was going on there. I guess the game would have worked better without the bot, just as a little experience, because the graphics+sound=mood are so great (and the scope would be more doable). But i love ambition and really like the game, more than most finished games ;)

btw i had a little chuckle when the world was flooded, but i walked on the bottom of the ocean and fell of the map :D

Consensual Love in a Dungeon (NSFW) by darefus 2018-08-23T19:14:19Z

Consens, that's my fetish! I love the titel system, pretty cool and feels personal. Cool game! I also looked for the ghost girl bj with no success!

Mini Micro by HuvaaKoodia 2018-08-24T17:16:01Z

Great game! The music is so ominous, really gives an atmosphere. One of the few games that actually feel well designed and thought through. I love how well you made the learning experience, really teaching the player what to do - also a thing that LD games rarely do well. Sometimes it was a bit slow so "press space for 2x speed" would be cool. Really good entry!

Deposition by dunin 2018-08-29T17:44:04Z

The layout seems to be a bit messed up, or is this intended? 3.png

I was really confused on what to do, until i finally realized that there is a lot of setup dialogue. I love the style and the typewriter sounds are extremely satisfying.

Get Off My Lawn by silkworm_sweatshop 2018-08-29T17:37:40Z

Very charming game, i really like the idea and the challenge. Gameplay wise it works well for me and it was fun being that angry bean. The enemies also had a nice variety. Graphics and music are really good too!

Mindblocked by diptoman 2018-08-29T17:51:23Z

This was sooo good! Familiar concept, but impressive polish and so much content. Music is well chosen and the difficulty also felt really good. I played until i got kind of stuck, being sent back into myself. Overall, top game!

Follow Line by mukult 2018-08-24T18:40:25Z

The animation is soo fluid, really beautiful. The jump sound does not fit the smootheness, maybe a restrained whoosh would have worked better. It is positively challenging and i like how the difficulty progresses. What i really love about the design is that you both have to be quick and precise, but also hold back to see what is building up - it feels fantastic, perfect design with 2 conflicting goals and immediately clear. Great entry!

Tiny Kingdom Builder by RenD 2018-09-01T08:21:38Z

Wow, extremely polished and complete entry. I love when you can see how much thought and time also went into the screens that are not the main gameplay screen. The gameplay was very engaging, and after i read the complete tutorial before my second try, i also had a ton of fun. It#s a great challenge, cotrasting the time against putting pieces well. A lot of respect for doing all aspects yourself, also on this very high level of quality. Overall, a fantastic entry, the best i have seen! What's the highest score right now? :D 6.png

Tiny Kingdom Builder by RenD 2018-09-01T08:30:06Z

I seem to have found an issue with ending the game. Instead of placing the only available piece, i held it, switching with a not placable piece, resulting in this: 5.png

I also had a minor bug when switching tiles during the transition. The tile peviously on hold was then below the current tile and no tile was shown as on hold. Holding again resolves this.

Crowdy Planet by arche-san 2018-08-22T20:51:55Z

This was so relaxing! I really love evolution games and i think you have a good system here. Maybe i should have concentrated more on raising an elite crowdie class, but splitting very many of them worked also well. I got to around 300 and then i decided to let them be wiped out by illness. I'm not sure if this actually happened since there was some earth animation. The graphics are great and sound+music make it very pleasant and moody. Beautiful game, i like it!

Suicidal Town by UrsiGames 2018-08-24T16:52:02Z

Cool game! The visualy and music are very pleasant. In my first try, i didn't read the explanation (i always like to try first) and just killed everyone i could :D I also like the effort you actually put into the explanation on the site, pretty neat! Sometimes i heard people dying although i did not see it.It was fun, good job :)

Trahere by Rongo Matane 2018-12-09T20:18:03Z

Thank you all :)

@evanaellio Can you please elaborate on the web version issue? What screen resolution do you use? The game should be about 1600x800 in the browser. I'm struggling a bit with the browser resolutions each time.

Trahere by Rongo Matane 2018-12-09T21:25:42Z

@galan Thank you! Could you please say on which screen resolution you run? Browser zooming is applied to the game canvas, this seems to often mess up the resolution for people. Also, i'm interested in the acceleration - did you notice you can devour people to eventually win the game?

Trahere by Rongo Matane 2018-12-10T07:11:30Z

@hugonun @jackson-makes-games @shiitman @mertios Thank you for the feedback! I realize the tutorialization is not good enough. Did you see the help screen ingame? You have to press ESC for it. I just added it to this page too. The most important thing that might not be intuitive is to let villages grow a bit. Villages of 2 people will not sacrifice, but large villages will do it a lot if they are reverent. Reverence is village wide, shown through the totem height. If you devour enough villagers with high reverence, you will grow big and be able to win the game. But devouring also hurts reverence.

So, the game centers around the villages. You have to rage to make them reverent, so they sacrifice, such that you can temporarily outrun the doom. Raging hurts the village size, while the size is something you need for sacrifices. To finally win the game, you have to devour villagers, which also hurts your reverence, so this is something you can make work if you manage to keep the sacrifices running.

Trahere by Rongo Matane 2018-12-10T20:15:51Z

@mertios thank you, i really appreciate you giving it another go. I think the game is pretty hard, probably too hard. The doom is supposed to catch up with you a bit, usually it will engulf the rightmost village. But that does not lose the game, as there are two more villages. But i think it is too hard anyway....this is the problem for me when programming and then balancing it :D

Trahere by Rongo Matane 2018-12-12T19:58:11Z

@ursagames @jupiter-hadley thank you both for playing and streaming/recording! It is always fun to watch. You also both have very different styles, very interesting ;)

Fix by harark 2018-12-09T18:54:10Z

It was not immediately clear what to do, but i could understand it all after a minute. I really enjoyed the mood brought by the music and had the incentive to invest in it. From what i understood, some upgrades are only cosmetic - this is interesting in some way, but they are not really an option when i could have a double jump instead. The invest screen was a bit confusing first, as i could not figure out how to leave, but i eventually found it. What i really like is the idea of sacrificing graphics or mood for gameplay reasons. It would be interesting if this will lead players to go for cosmetics too. I got no understanding how the dragon works - i think it will eventually end the game if i do not feed the coins. But i can't see when this will happen, so i have no sense of how urgent it is.

Overall, i really like it, it was very pleasant :)

Consilium - A history of life and choices by Gaming Night 2018-12-10T20:26:11Z

I love the asthetics! It is very pleasant to look at and hear. Maybe i didn't understand all details, but it seems very thin gameplay wise. But this is also fine for, in the sense of being an experience more than a game. Good work!

LD43 Journey by WegPast 2018-12-09T19:27:51Z

Maybe it was because i skipped the intro (way too long, sorry!), but i have very little idea if there is any difference between the guys. The gameplay works pretty good, it is also fun to speed around. I think it might be a bit too long, with too many crystals needed. I definitely like the graphics, i'm a sucker for cross cuts of anything :D

I think the setup is pretty good, maybe you can expand a bit on the gameplay, make it a tough choice and have a feeling about needing to sacrifice. Overall, good entry :)

Puzzle Kids by jsmars 2018-12-10T19:08:38Z

Such great visuals, the puzzles are really beautiful. Also an impressive amount for such a short time. I played it solo. Regarding theme or gameplay, i did not see the sacrificing part. I just puzzled and it went fine, though i once accidentally burned a piece. I also like how the UI integrated seamless with the game. Very good entry! :)

Escape from Arex by Hare Software 2018-12-05T18:53:26Z

Hi there! I really like the graphics and writing/intro of the game. The shooting also feels really good. The last few weapon upgrades did not really feel better than the shotgun, it would be great for a strong progression. In the end i traded for a pretty bad weapon i fear and had to face the boss with half my life - died 20 times, but finally managed to off him :D

I like that you offer a bigger screen resolution, i'm running on 3440x1440. The only thing that does not translate well are the speech popups, but i could still read them. s1.png

I like it, good job :) (and also, thanks so much for playing our game :D)

I don't wanna die by Eduard Xue 2018-12-10T19:16:55Z

Visual and audio are top notch! Gameplay wise, it was kind of cumbersome to pick up cards. I wanted to sacrifice someone, but when i placed the card it said that the zombies are not here yet. Then i picked one again and tried to place it on the zombies, but they were already close and so i died. The delay in pickup is a bit frustrating to me, i died sooo often. An indicator that my drag position is actually valid would be great. Good work overall! :)

The March Of The Blobs by joqlepecheur 2018-12-09T23:13:43Z

Perfect game! There are too few lemming games and you managed to make it still feel fresh. Great work, especially as compo entry.

The Cave God by pranjalbisht 2018-12-09T19:16:58Z

Before i write anything, i want to say i really like it, especially the graphics. It feels round and pleasant, very good job. For me, feedback is most valuable regarding improvements, so i'll just write some stuff from a player perspective regarding gameplay. The game is a bit too hard for me. I died about every 20s, without really being able to tell if i could make it, while going for the item i though was closest. Sometimes items are placed on each other, so that makes picking them difficult and i sometimes only brought poop back :D After dieing so many times, the dialogue (while entertaining) is a hinderance, because i read it before already. The reset to 0 is a bit harsh, especially if i play not extremely careful. I would have expected to replenish my light on the light source in the dark, but it either did not replenish it, or it was not enough - in any case, i died when tring to go back from a light.

The graphics are fantastic, i really like it. Especially animations and mood/colors are great. The music is fitting and pleasant. I think a sound effect that indicates the smallness of the light could have been cool, or muffle the music when it gets dark - something like that.

Overall, very good entry :)

Metamorphosis by silkworm_sweatshop 2018-12-09T19:04:49Z

Very well done! The graphics are great, especially the fluent animations. I also like how you got good quality effects for basically everything, as well as sound and music. So, really impressive amount of game behind it and it feels very complete. At first i thought it would be like the old "Snake: Rattle and Roll" for the NES, so it took me a bit to realize i would only grow in a super mario fashion - i tried to eat a lot of greens first. The twist is fantastic, really rounds it well. Great job, as usual ;)

Beyond the Slot by Beebo Studios 2019-05-03T22:02:58Z

Oh man, so many puns :D I love the humor and the intro, it was totally unexpected. Press A for Abraham!!! I got all polished up, but it took 25 pennies multiple times i think. Shiny and new, i battled all foes. I fondly remember the candy dispenser that creamed i'll never get past him, while i was running past him. You need to improve on the combat though, i was never quite sure if i hit an enemy or if he hit me, i only judged by looking at the penny meter. Love the humor!

Necromarket by Flaterectomy 2019-05-01T12:11:28Z

Phew, not sure where to start!

The graphics and music are amazing, feels way ahead of jam level quality. Humor is a difficult thing, i was astonished by how well you did it, it is genuinely funny - also something that maybe 5% of the humoristic jam games achieve. The dialogues are so good! The concept is very cool, a shop is always nice and the aging shopowner makes it immediately interesting. The crafting seems very deep. The sprites are top notch...considering you did it for 3 direction in top down is insane. In general, the scope is insane. And that shows a little in the gameplay.

I'll write some stuff i felt during playing. It might sound harsh at times, but only because i'm already invested in your game and would love for it to continue and improve. Personally, direct constructive citicism works best for me, jam feedback tends to be "nicified" - i won't do that here, so i hope you are not offended. I guess most of the stuff i write is already clear to you (because it's not lack of knowledge or skill, but lack of time due to scope), but nonetheless, here it comes: - the clipping does not feel very good. I sometimes got stuck, or passed through objects i think i couldn't pass. The movement feels good otherwise. - the placement does not work well for me. Most of the time i needed 3 attempt to deliver an item to a customer, i was always standing below. Same holds for the placement of items in the crafting slot. I often misplaced them. I think there needs to be some feedback if the current position is valid for placing an object, both visual and sound. The "hitboxes" might need adjustment, but maybe the placement feedback will already be enough. - i was not sure how to trigger the crafting process. It seemed like it would go off after 2 seconds if i stand near the area. But sometimes this was not intentional, as i was just reading the recipes. But i got it after some time. - the recipe display is both tedious and stressing. The paging introduces waits for the right page, and also a stressed feeling when looking at something new. The switching should not happen. In the beginning, i don't know any recipes, but there are a ton. So i end up running around and placing items on the crafter to see the recipes. This is tedious and not so fun, there is enough running around with the other tasks. I think it would be better if the recipes for an item are shown in a little book, when standing in front of them. But i get why you did it that way. - the aging was not 100% clear initially. I thought i needed to be the oldest man to age down, so i only tried very late to age down when being a man in my 50s or so. It worked, but i did not understand it from the recipe. I think there needs to be a way to display this in the recipe. I didn't know i could agoe down with chicks through all stages, because the aging tuotrial didn't trigger for me. - there are some gameplay bugs. I aged to young boy through the 2 blue potions, but they were not removed in the process. I was able to age down again with them, and they got removed on the second try. In one run, no guests came in the first day. I only noticed on my second playthrough, that i got a tutorial for crafting the special bow. Didn't get one on the first run. I think it might have happened because i already aged down by accident. Customers were completely different, nor sure if it is randomized or something went wrong. On my second run, i got like 40 customers - not sure if this is also intended :D - the progression is a bit unclear. I used all my herbs on the second day, making tons of the same stuff. Then needed to skip most remaining days because i had no herbs. I could not foresee this. - gold seems irrelevant. What's the point of selling anything :D

Never wrote such a long feedback, which only means one thing: I love your game! The best rated game for me so far :)

ps: omg the ending :D :D :D

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-04-30T07:34:23Z

Thank you @velvetlobster . It actually is turn based, we only allow movement for convenience. Wait until you see level 18 ;) There are also more animal types! Btw you discovered a nice bug regarding the highscore - whenever a new highscore is made, it is saved but with the name of the previous highscore person. I just fixed it, since the highscore is nonsensical otherwise.

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-04-30T10:20:43Z

Thank you all! @samlecreator awesome! Yeah, the intention for the theme was, that you basically collect the animals to use them as a currency in exchange for treats. But we fell short on that, having conecntrated on the puzzle mechanic. I was no fan of the theme, i felt it was way too similar to the last one "sacrifices must be made", i guess that shows :D

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-04-30T20:46:57Z

@purrseus thank you so much, that really makes me happy! :) We also have 2 people participating in their first jam, your comment is really motivating for them. And congrats to leading the score! I checked back to the level you mentioned. It actually got broken yesterday evening, the rabbit was moved 1 tile to the right. I fixed the level, it is solvable now. I am so sorry!

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-01T16:43:27Z

Thank you all, love your feedback!

@flaterectomy yeah some levels are pretty challenging. If you fail a level 3 times, a hint gets available. I think this is not working well, as many people just think about a solutions instead of failing over and over again. Hint: Animals move animals will ask other animals to move, if threatened (like in the 4 mice together level). This is not limited to mice ;)

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-02T12:42:02Z

This is great feedback, thank you so much!

@silkworm-sweatshop Good job on finishing, i think you might be the second person to do that. Regarding the mechanics and hints - my intention was to convey each mechanic in a very simple level. Like, you can't pass level 3 unless you learn that the mouse will be stuck on the rock. The hint was for the case where i thought the player might have missed the "learning". The hint should not be too obvious, it's a hint after all and no solution. What would be very helpful for me is, if you could tell what didn't work out for you and what was not intuitively understandable. I'll try my best to improve on this.

@peachtreeoath Hehe, thank you, and good job! I tried to always ask something new of the player in each level, providing a different angle to already known mechanics. Awesome that you remember the hamster game (hamster habits), i'm really fond of it :D

@singrid thank you so much for the rating on itch.io!

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-03T19:27:41Z

@avavt hehe, exactly, it's all about the context :D You are the best!

@silkworm-sweatshop Ok, thank you for getting back at me.

@ursagames as always, i can only admire your patience!

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-04T22:16:41Z

Thank you all, it is great to hear your feedback. It is awesome to watch you climb the leaderboard and come so far, even though it's really challenging.

@webox @pandan i fully agree, theme fell short on this one. We initially planned to have the animals you catch play a bigger role, delivering them home as a "present". You know, how the owners of a cat are supposed to be friendly towards the cat if it brings a dead bird, as this is a sign the cat cares. But this fell short, since the puzzle was already fine. A problem personally for me was also, that the theme was sooo close to the last one. I think there is something wrong when 90% of a jams game could also run under the theme of the last jam :(

@rosypenguin woooow :D No one has played as long as you did, none of our games. This is great and really rewarding for us! And your score is very good! You played at least 1h 40 minutes, that's crazy. I'm very interested in your feedback of level 15. In case anyone else is interested, this is the level 15.png Looking easy enough, but actually being really hard. What was your main source of frustration? Was it knowing what you need to solve the level, but not being able to maneuver the animals to reach that? I'm asking because this is what i've seen a few times. There are actually a few ways to solve the level, one among them i did really not intend or foresee :D

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-05T08:05:55Z

@rosypenguin thank you, yes this is what i thought. For this level i inteded for the player to figure out to get the mouse between the bush and the rock. This is the "usual" difficulty, but the movement to that state is more difficult i think. Maybe i'll change it post-jam, to make the movement a bit easier, but add a level where the movement is difficult like there. The analytics are not so detailed, i just know when your leadserboard entry was created and updated last (after finishing the first and last level respectively). The other things i got from playtesting in the team, or with friends later.

@purfexinator Wow, congratulations, you are better than me at the game :D It is strange to say, but i feel proud for everyone who makes it through the game (and even more so with an incredible score like yours). I'm so happy that the puzzle design worked for you as i intended it, you really wrote it down well. I was also surprised with how quick we went playable. After 4 hours the first level was playable, all mouse levels on the first day. On monday i went showering and came back with 2 new level ideas (rabbit against 2 rocks, rabbit against mous+rock) that were implemented in 5 minutes and refined/playtested in 30 minutes each. So it really went fast. For the first time in any of my jams we were 2 programmers, and @m2e is very skilled, so i could focus a bit more on design. Using Godot instead of libGDX also helped a ton with productivity. Regarding the music: was the second track just not that enjoyable to you, or would you have liked it to switch back to the first one after some time? The intention was to start lighthearted, but then get in a more "thinky/study" mood for the harder levels. But this didn't work out i think, because it is time based and players spend a wide range of time in the game, some only 5 minutes, some an hour+.

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-05T17:20:14Z

@edevjogos I agree wholeheartedly! We had a cat voice actor and a lot of cool cat sounds, but none did fit well into the game. Recording purring sounds might be the hardest thing I can imagine sound wise. Before we could rerecord, time was up and we needed to submit. But it is something we need to get in post-jam!

@pierre-cilluffo you have to approach the mouse from the high grass and then move towards it. It cannot see you, otherwise it will run. There is also a hint in-game that is available if the level restarted three times.

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-10T20:31:18Z

@mika-la-grand You got really far, i hope that also the difficult levels were fun, or at least satisfying when solved :D - i really like your proposal. This is something i thought about, but found no time to implement. I'll definitely add this to a post jam version, but only after the jam ended.

@elysiagriffin Thank you for playing, it was really fun to watch. Your engagement with the developers of the games you play and the chat in general is something i really enjoyed in your stream, that really stood out to me. Looking forward to the next time!

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-11T07:36:10Z

@stevenjmiller Just saw you on the top of the board, amazing! You are the best of 160+ players so far. Your recommendations are very good, i agree 100% and will add this in a post jam version. I'm also thinking about new mechanics with other animals, and more levels with existing animals.

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-16T17:39:50Z

@coleslaughter Thank you, it is great that you had fun! You are on the right track with level 8. This is one of two levels that tends to be a hurdle for many players. The key is that animals will move animals, if they can. So, if the mouse want's to flee from you but the bird is in the way, the bird will also move to make room for the mouse. This generally holds true for all animals. So, you can move the bird to the grass patch by pushing him with the mouse. I intended the level with multiple mice to teach that to players, but the levels i not effective in teaching it, as the player doesn't need to understand the mechanic to solve that 4 mice level.

Fluffensnuff by Rongo Matane 2019-05-16T20:50:00Z

@Anonymous merci, c'est bon avec la fromage! Vite vite, un boniment.

Slavers Market by Ranzor 2019-05-03T22:32:16Z

I liked the graphics and the roman slave setting is always cool. Reminded me a bit of the game "domina", which is awesome. I wasn't really sure how time would pass, if it was just real time or time i visited the market. There could also be a bit morde differentiation on the 3 attributes, they felt pretty similar.

Good job finishing, i know how stressing it can be if you run out of time!

Knit Worth by ColeSlaughter 2019-05-05T08:58:57Z

omg, those images flashing behind grannies eyes are the funniest thing i've seen in some time, that's so clever. Poor granny, she has seen some shit! The graphics of the intro are outstanding, really great style. The gameplay was good, the only thing i had trouble with was first recognizing i shouldn't hit red synapses and stopping on blue ones when they change, i didn't see the change telegraphed. I'd have loved an outro scene like the intro, it was so cool. Great entry, good job!

Pay Me in Blood by casperj 2019-05-04T16:34:35Z

Clever idea, mood is also pretty good. I liked the suffering look on the blobs face, really had something sacrificial. The difficulty spike for level 3 was really heavy! Great entry, really something original!

Grim Adventures by ursagames 2019-05-03T19:44:44Z

Cool game, i really liked the "twist" of going into the door and reaping kind of my own soul. The mechanics were very clearly introduced, and i immediately understood everything. The attacks and checkpoints were clearly telegraphed, so it this was very clear to play, no question marks. It was a bit disheartening to see that i need 1000s of souls, while i only had 20 or so from my 2 enemies. I then moved to the upper right section, where i move across narrow ledges. This was fun, but at a lot of the challenge came out of the fixed camera. I quit when i finished the 2 doors at the end, and didn't really want to walk all the way back. I felt like "i solved this challenge and now got my reward" - it'd have been awesome if could've teleported back to the center to spend the souls.

And, thank you so much for playing Fluffensnuff! You are one of the few players to finish it completely. It's always fun to watch you play and you did actually uncover a bug with the highscore: at one point you restarted the level when it was already solved. This offset the level counter for the highscore by one, which you already figured out in the stream. The level design was pretty fast actually, maybe 5 hours in total. You were right, we started with the mouse only, having the basic mechanic running after 4 hours, and the first 7 levels done on day one. This was also a great learning, it just helps sooo much if you can play the game on day one and iterate on content, expanding from there.

Grim Adventures by ursagames 2019-05-03T22:18:07Z

@ursagames the number of souls would have been fine (i think) after the two doors in the narrow ledge section, since i had 2.000. I finished the narrow ledge section without falling and it was fun, i just didn't want to do something again that i already "solved", without the chance to get something for it. So as you say, fast travel would be ideal from there.

Regarding fluffensnuff, thank you again! What you mention is something i struggled and still struggle with a bit: How do you ensure that a person really *learned* something they did in a level? If i force this type of pushing through the level layout, anyone will solve it without needing to think about what he/she is doing. So whenever i added a new mechanic or spin on a new mechanic, i tried to add a level first that you cannot easily solve by accident and that forces you to apply a mechanic. Like even in the first level, the pushes the player does initially will lead to failure, so he stops and thinks and sees that the grass plays a role. So either the mouse goes into the grass, or the cat. After that, there is no question about it, every player knows how to use the grass. For pushing, this is more difficult to convey.

At that stage you used mice to push mice before, but not to push birds before, and also not really to solve the level - they just moved because they were close, not because it was necessary. I'll try to come up with something where the player can better learn this, so far nothing came to my mind. This whole topic is also why i added hints to the game, since i feared players might miss a mechanic i wanted to teach.

This is your life now by reuno 2019-05-04T11:55:45Z

Really good entry, one of the best i played so far! I feel like the movement snd scrolling really conveyed a sense of moving on (in life). Each stage had its own mood graphics wise, which kept it fresh for me. I saw it on randomize user first, i like the choices and how they interacted, or reacted to the passing of time.

Escape from Hell by Becher 2019-05-03T20:45:42Z

Maybe i'm stupid, but i can't leave the area where i died after i got one-hit. I assume the instant death is intentional, as the game goes on. I floatet everyhwere and pressed space, but nothing happened. What should i do?

Seed. by AVAVT 2019-05-01T11:22:21Z

Very beautiful game, i love the graphics and the music fits perfectly. I was not really able to develop a good strategy, i mostly just spammed trees. THe only thing i tried is to place the self-repeating trees farther back. 3600 AD my last tree fell. In the progression, it started very flow but the i got many tree types rapidly, with little time to read. Maybe you could introduce new tree types with an event popup and explain them there while pausing? Keyboard shortcuts would be amazing for this - if you implement them, i'll try again :D Really good game, it's also cool to watch the little guys go to work :D

ah, had to try one more time anyway, made it to 4400 :D

Dear Substance of Kin by Deconstructeam 2019-05-03T21:35:32Z

This is awesome. I saw it first on randomize user, it clearly is one another level. The lore seems so interesting and deep, this has so much potential. The graphics are amazing, the sound and music are sooo moody and fit perfectly. The dialogue convey something special, it really feels amazingly fresh and interesting. The humans are fals and very truthful at the same time, in awe of a god like creature that can fulfill their deepest wish easily, still at a great cost. Being humans, they naturally lie at first, but quickly yield to their desire to get something great. The setup for something amazing is done.

The other side of that: The gameplay. Until leaving the town and getting an explanation from an encounter, i had no idea i was cancelling lines on peoples backs. I had no idea i needed to move slowly with my finger. I quickly understood i needed to dip in the blood, but my intuition was to trace the lines and move fast, but this didn't really work. I basically cancelled all lines of all people. This seemed to be of no consequence at all.

I'm pretty critical with my ratings, but i can easily say that your games got the most 5 star ratings out of any game i played in 7 ludum dares. Not for fun or humor, but for everything else. I think your game is not a classically "fun" game, but fullfils it's purpose 100%. Humor should be an opt-out, i don't think it's supposed to be funny. But it feels so deep and very human, i think it is the opposite of light hearted, even scaring some people (in the most positive way).

Grand Theft Life by silkworm_sweatshop 2019-05-01T10:29:27Z

Looks very interesting, i like the style. I couldn't progress very far. With 17 i got kicked out of school, but was too young to do anything else, like entering the university. Is it a bug?

Grand Theft Life by silkworm_sweatshop 2019-05-03T21:04:50Z

I gave it another shot! This time i was able to finish school, because i focused on learning. Quickly i learned, that lock picking is a stable source of income. Way better than that though, is playing the lottery. As it seems, in the long run the player always wins. I was able to amass a fortune, buy some properties and get amazingly educated. The rest of my life i spent applying for reasearch funds and mostly getting denied, to achieve my life goal of creating cat girls. However, none of my 5 houses rented out ever paid any rent, so i died an old man, with nothing in my hands than my trusty lockpick. A beautiful story in my eyes:D

Extended Loop Green by Voidsay 2020-10-10T19:24:25Z

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Mouse, the very sensitive? You did in this comment section, but nvm, it was playable, i was driving the train like a pro. There was one moment when i looked out in front, seeing if there would be anything strange coming up. There wasn't, but it's a tell that the setting is kind of eerie and scary, driving the train alone, with no people around. Kind of like a circle of hell, having to drive that train over and over, always in that loop, without any human or interaction at all, only indifferent machine. But driving a train in an unusual setup is kind of interesting, i think you can build on that.

Oh and i left the train at the wrong end at first, but i couldn't get back on the station or train. I thought about walking the tunnels, but was too lazy to do so, just as in real life.

Imperial Eggnog Incorporated by Blue Pin Studio 2020-10-11T09:50:29Z

Really good game! It might be the first where i followed the tutorial, as it was well presented and the narration was really cool. The setup is right up my alley, being a papers please fan. I love the feeling of getting to know the products, not even having to check anything because i already know what's wrong (just the same feeling i went for in Gorilla Taxi, with knowing the streets without having to check the map - thank you for playing :D ).

I love machines like that, though i first thought of it as a nuisance to do it every time. But i could quickly learn when to use downtime to authenticate, which felt really good, being efficient.

I only have one thing i think would make an improvment. In the beginning, the CEO tells me to "not go overboard with it". I think it would be good to only deny a sample if more than one thing was wrong, so it will stay a bit more challenging. Maybe this could also come as a second day event like "hey you did great, but 80% denied will ruin us. How about only denying when 2 or more criteria are wrong?". Or just vary the criteria in general, as in papers please - "we don't care about too little salt today".

Oh, what also just came to mind: Deciding to allow the bad samples is easy, no dilemma yet - because my boss tells me to, there is no big harm in it and it will actually harm the product that is made intentionally bad, which is good. I assume you go for something similar as in papers please, so the dilemma could be worked on.

Overall, a really good game that feels very polished and complete, and actually is fun to play :)

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-06T18:27:26Z

Hey @avavt , great to see you back at LD! :) Thank you so much for your detailled feedback, that's really fantastic to work on the pain points. You are right, the street names are german - it actually is just a part of the city i live in, Dresden: https://www.google.de/maps/@51.0526807,13.7250649,17.25z with slight modifications ;)

The animation thing - absolutely, you are right. It feels bad as a player. I first had it open faster, but then i slowed it down so a peek at the map would be more of a time penalty (time being the most important factor in delivery). But it's not a good solution - maybe i can come up with something that feels fast but still takes a bit.

I also fully aggree that the feedback needs to be enhanced. Right now i evaluate 4 criteria, but only give a feedback if they are above some threshold: time needed in relation to the (straight) distance, average speed while driving, time spent offroad and collisions. You are perfectly right, it also needs feedback on the lower end. I didn't want to make the player feel bad, but now it might just be confusing/unclear. The biggest issue is, that the straight distance can vary greatly from actual road distance - i know what to do here, but it was too much for the jam.

You can make as much as $2000+ with a single drive, if you score really high :D

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-07T07:22:41Z

@hakro Thank you :) I didn't share the full source code. What area is interesting to you? I can elaborate on it, or share some source. Nothing magical happening though, all pretty straight forward :D

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-07T09:04:34Z

@henry-du haha, exactly! A big inspiration for this was GTA Vice City, where i did all the taxi missions, listening to the radio and lazlows show, just enjoying the simple time and the "job feel". One of the most memorable moments from the game for me.

@erlioniel Thank you for the feedback, i'm sorry about the technical problem. I'm sure there are some edge cases left that cause a crash, and i don't know if there are problem with the game running long - it is all simulated at the same time, no area "turned off". So, it doesn't scale.

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-07T16:46:42Z

@weirdybeardyman Thank you, that makes me really happy! Payout is indeed inconsistent, based on direct distance between start and end, but it rather needs the distance over road. Implementing this was not doable in the jam, but i will add it afterwards, A* pathfinding. I hear you on the breakdown, i'll think of something :)

I'm so sorry for the crash. The end screen isn't much, but i'll post it here: s_3.png

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-09T18:47:29Z

@nisanick @flying-dog-fish thank you both, awesome that you had fun! I'm sorry about the problems :( I wasn't ever able to reproduce any hang up or crash - would you mind sharing what browser you use? Or did you use the desktop version?

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-10T18:44:37Z

@voidsay your post was genuinely hilarious :D

Thank you so much for the debug info, i'll fix it with this. I have a mission order predefined, by length between start and destination. After this predifinition is passed, the missions are supposed to be random - BUT i used a ">" where there should have been a ">=", creating the chance for an out of bounds. Thank you so much!

I hear you on street numbers (and everything else actually), they are not even consistent. I think the even/odd is not the same across the world, is it? To justify not making it work properly, i said to myself that it will act as an additional challenge! :P

The crossing points - what do you mean exactly? Crossing for the double lane roads, like Freiberger? If so, yes, kind of. Right now, you can basically cross all you want, the minimal offroadiness will not anger the molerats. I wanted to make it more interesting by not allowing all transitions - this is where really knowing the streets kicks in the heaviest. But, as is tradition, time ran out.

Space - i can actually offer a drift mode that is really fun to drive, no need for space :D But the suggestion also works perfectly, drift with handbrake could be so much fun. I can't overstate how happy it makes me that you found the rick and morty reference, i think you might be the only one!

What you wrote impressed me deeply and i now consider you my internet friend, and will follow all that you make!

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-10T21:26:52Z

@nikolai-shkurkin haha, exactly! When making the game, my time in vice city was a major inspiration. I enjoyed doing the taxi missions and listening to laszlo, and the other radio stations :D

If you deliver a "perfect" drive you only need like 4-5 rides - as it says, exponential rewards ;)

Yeah i'm sorry about the road. I planned to include much more roads (only 3% of what i planned made it in), and i never managed to get around making a proper "end of the world". So you can just drive off into the sunset ;)

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-11T13:04:36Z

@mrschlag2 Thank you! I added a map screenshot into my editor and just retraced the streets there. Auto generation has its own problems here, starting with the scale. The cars and streets are not to scale - so a road that takes you 1 minute in real life might only take 15s to drive along in the game.

@lexi Thank you so much! :D I fully understand the frustration, i thought about it too. In the beginning, the guests will always be disappointed - have to be, because you are learning the map. But this doesn't feel good as a player, because no fault was made. I'm not sure how to tackle this, as i also don't want to take away the feeling when you are finally making really good drives.

@smbe19 hehe, giving feedback that is consistent is kind of hard actually :D I agree that the original map would have been too big, but it was a more interesting layout. So maybe i should have just went for something custom made - but i thought i could save a lot of time not thinking about a own city, and rather just copying real life.

@mike09123 Yeah i understand - we prepared some special buildings, but only 2 made it in. It was intentionally kept in that minimal style, to rely more on color than on structure. So, i take it the colors didn't do it for you :D

Gorilla Taxi by Rongo Matane 2020-10-11T16:47:01Z

Thank you guys! :D @steambrain beautifully written :D and you invented a new tactic to beat the game, very interesting! A good reminder of the lengths players go to optimize. The molerats were initially way more rude, but that seemed horrible and discouraging to a new player who really tries hard.

@hakro Here is a screenshot of the editor with viewable stuff enabled. The lanes are basically bezier curves and are organized in a street object per street. Per naming convention, to lanes are merged visually by drawing a textured line between them, which is my road texture. Then there are junctions, which always connect exactly two streets. The are similar curves, that then get a textured line drawn over. On startup i run quite some code to detect if and where a junction lane connects which street lanes, and at what offset. This is extremely flexible and reasonably swift to build. With that i have a fully connected network of streets, lanes and junctions.

The buildings are sprites for which i define a collision rect once per sprite, seen in the leftmost orange building. What i also show in the screenshot with the red and purple area are collision polygons, that signal the car to go slower, to simulate offroadiness. The visible road is only decoration.

The house numbers are also generated automatically, same as the little roads from the house to the street. s99.png

Run, Forest! Run! by mrbandler 2020-10-13T19:09:50Z

I really like the idea! Looping around in rooms like that is a perfect fit for the theme, reminds me a bit of that forest area in the original zelda game. Athmosphere is also great, pretty spooky. I didn't figure out what to do, i stumbled around and tried to press e everywhere and got myself caught by the ghost, though the text was quite confusing (i did outrun it?). After reading the comments i managed to reach the first ending room. I'm not sure if there is any logic to where to go, or if it is trial and error - in any case i trialed and errord my way to the second ending room :D

I tried to find a pattern for example if certain sounds are played on the right or wrong path, or to see if the movement of the ghosts mean something, but i didn't find any. I really appreciated the torches helping me out there. From a technical point of view everything worked fine, my only issue was that the sound was pretty low volume even when turning it up fully, and the font was tiny (but readable) on my 3440x1440 screen.

Overall, a really nice game!

Save The Prince by AVAVT 2020-10-09T10:29:10Z

Really cool, surprising game. I love the pixel art, as always! I missed the sound, i think it could really have added a lot to the game feel. At first i thought it was very simple - the armies fight automatically and i only roll dice. But then i figured i can go backward and try to collect good tiles, so a lot of depth was added. Is there a limit to the days? I made it to day 3, but my army was maxed out and overwhelmed everyone :D

Isometric arrows are a bit difficult on the first attempt, but i got used to it quickly. At first i thought i'd have to line up the units to fight the ideal opponent, but i understood this is not the case.

I think it would be great if there was a bit more tactical depth to the fights. The stat system is good, but i think it would work even better without it, as it is difficult to judge what the numbers will result in (and i guess difficult to balance too). What is easy to understand are the different roles of the units - maybe this could be used for tactics, setting up the army on a 2d map and let them fight automatically then. Something like that, i don't know :D

Overall, a really nice und quite unique game. I love that this is different than the other games that present you with a literal circle as a loop.

Singularity by nsadie 2020-10-09T07:40:28Z

That was really good, a great concept well executed. It feels like this would also make an amazing boardgame. At one point i thought i outsmarted it, being half way across with the enemy stuck back in the hole. But eventually he overtook me, when i had to go backwards. So good! What really shines is the need to think about the cards left for the enemy, really great!

When reading the comments it seemed like i was playing an post-jam version in the browser. I think it would be good to mark it as such and indicate what changed, as a little sidenote.

Knights of the Holy Loop by RenD 2020-10-09T07:22:11Z

I love the game! It immediately sets a great mood, the music is fantastic. The art is great, well made, diverse characters. The gameplay idea is also great. The content amount feels impressive, but it seems really unfinished and not really tested from a gameplay perspective. I think it would make a great game if there were some points addressed: * map does not offer choice, i always get symmetrical maps with the exact same tiles * Runs are vastly different in easyness. On the first i got the shield guy and arrived with 15 hp at the boss, no chance to heal. The second run, i got the reverse girl, which felt 10x stronger. * I'm not sure if there are combos, or what they do. On the boss the damage stacked up heavily, but only there - not sure why * the boss gives so much money you can buy all heroes that will ever come * unlimited amount of heroes circle - probably not intended * the targetting is difficult as it resets with every hero

I only write this because i really like the game, it was really cool, fun experience nonetheless. Well done!

Za Loopo! by NarRenArr 2020-10-08T15:05:26Z

I did it, i won and saved the....gays? It was easy to understand the game. I didn't need the slide. I couldn't reach some ballons very far up, not sure if i just wasn't quick enough or if it is possible.

Looper by Shortbread 2020-10-09T07:00:57Z

Really good game, feels so polished and complete. It was quite challenging to press the right direction, especially after things started to rotate, but always felt doable. I loved the music, felt kind of procedural :)

Ticket to Loop by Rost 2020-10-09T09:14:16Z

Haha, it was really cool getting very powerful - with 10 wagons i just blasted all skeletons. They never had a chance! Very fun!

Plasma by Hakro 2020-10-07T07:20:52Z

Really cool game! It was nice that i had a moment in the beginning to understand what i can do, before the enemies came. I jumped right into the game, skipping the help. I figured out what to do with the astronauts after running out of bullets - initially i wondered what i could do with the sparkles and tried to click on it, but assumend it was just decoration. But then i got it and a bit later also understood i can bounce the astronauts back, really clever design! So overall, the mechanics are "discoverable" even without any help. It was fun to play, though i feel i was pretty bad at it :D

Just some things that could change, from my point of view: * personally, i'd place the help screen in front of the game, not as an option. I'd only write a single sentence per item, the most important thing to grasp. To me, it is something along "use astronauts to recover plasma, bounce the astronauts back with the cannon, astronaut count are limited". That's it, i think everyone will automatically know to shoot the enemies. Really good that you added the control info in a non intrusive way into the game screen! * the turret having a slight acceleration on start could help making fine adjustments * maybe a minimal regeneration of astronauts, only kicking in when few are left and floating, so you never feel like you are in an unwinnable state

Overall, really good entry with a surpising and very well working mechanic :)

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-27T14:21:11Z

Thank you all for your comments, i'm so happy you liked it!

@colapolka We haven't planned on any significant update (i also avoid them during the rating phase). I'd like to add a flying monster variety (which moves while shooting, hopefully making defense more interesting) that didn't make the cut though ;)

@adele-illustration Ah, thank you for the info - i changed the embed resolution, so it should be readable now. I'm not sure anyway how helpful the descriptions are :D

@jakier Ah cool, what was your strategy (especially regarding upgrades)? I'm always a bit careful to not make the jam games too hard, so you ideally have a 50/50 chance to finish it on the first run. But it might need to nerf OP strategies :D

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-27T18:52:02Z

Wow, thank you all for the positive response :) :) :)

@elendow +1 for the flying monster! It actually was finished sprite wise, i just didn't manage to put it in.

@bernard-bumblebutt see, that's all part of my great plan to have the player ready with the keyboard controls ;)

@jakier ah interesting! When i played, i never used the laser upgrades first, so i buffed and cheapened them to make more sense to me. I totally see how it can get easy if you take care of the defenses like that.

@rainbirth I'm not sure what you mean - did you notice that you can buy an upgrade that shows the current resource counters? It's one of the earliest, so it should basically be available for the vast majority of playtime.

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-28T10:06:07Z

Hey @stavu yeah, using escape wasn't a good choice for this on my side. However, you should be able to see a small fullscreen button bottom right on the game.

So you could 1. close the popup 2. enter fullscreen then

Only for you i tried to make a mac export. I added it to the itch page, i hope it works but i can't verify it. Good luck :D

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-28T11:18:15Z

Wow, again, thank you all so much, we are so happy you are enjoying it!

@tezza48 i didn't know Motherload beforehand, definitely gonna check it out and steal all the good ideas :D

@beardmage @a333 The game doesn't communicate this very clearly, but did you try to dig to the bottom? The game ends afterwards, if you reach "the core".

@peace-of-cake-games impressive haul! :D

@arancutter i love that you pointed out some emotions you felt, especially since these are what we aimed for - the "home" feeling of the base, the satisfaction of really strong upgrades, the rush of getting to the top and already seeing monsters. Makes us happy devs :)

@el-lisado I'm not 100% sure what you mean. Did you play in the browser and wanted a smaller game screen? Usually you should be able to zoom out in the browser. Other than that, itch sadly needs me to set the resolution to a fixed value (has to be 1920x1080 or the small text becomes unreadable).

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-28T13:06:16Z

@beardmage haha, very cool :D

It is intended that you have to get the expensive last drill update, as the last 5 layers are really tough (only regarding the upgrades). I am sure i need to establish the overarching goal better - in my head this is a hollow world where you try to reach the inner part, but this is not communicated anywhere and the gameplay doesn't suggest to do it (only to find more resources, which is obsolete once you are fully upgraded).

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-29T07:23:45Z

@avavt thank you, i felt pretty efficient this time, little waste. The systems are kept simple and the art minimal, this helped so much.

@recursor i'm always a bit careful not to explain everything in detail, but let the players figure things out on their own. Did you enter the station and then didn't know what to do, or did you not know how to enter the station?

@caiolima Yeah, sorry, the web version is problematic. I changed a setting as this keeps being an issue, so now the game will launch in fullscreen instead. The downloadables are the good ones :D

@briibot Wow, thank you so much for your writeup, and i'm really glad you had a good time :) Hehe, sorry for not delivering on the romantic part - the title ist just a play on words, we couldn't come up with anything non-generic and non-cheesy, but i see that might be misleading.

@ariorick ah, thank you so much for the info, i think i broke that when trying to make the text readable when the window is small. It should be okay again, now :)

@sdata hehe, but the fast drill will only get you to a certain point, as the tiles get increasingly difficult to mine. So on the upper levels it might be a one hit, but at the lowers you won't make progress. After getting the last one, you can easily end the game by digging deeper and deeper (but this isn't well communicated, so many players miss it). I agree on the flying monster, it was even ready graphic wise but i couldn't implement it anymore.

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-30T07:44:08Z

Aw, your comments are all so great, really motivating for us!

@strangeryann sounds awesome, will send you an email and prepare some things :)

@c4scar I really would have liked to add music too, but i couldn't find anything i found fitting. I can't make anything myself, and what i looked for seemed also kind of niche - something moody low tempo in a retro style. The chiptune scene seems so heavy with upbeat action tracks.

@thecritterscove Thank you! :) I do have a question, maybe you can help me with it. I was aware that some controls might be hard to figure out, so i added a few context sensitive tutorial panels - for example, for the thing you mentioned about picking up resources. It pops up when you first "hover" resources. But it seems not to be as effective as i'd have thought. Did you see this one? If so, was the message clear, and what the button refers to? The panel goes away automatically after some time, maybe it's too early. I suspect that many players are focussed on the center with the tiles, so that they might ignore this stuff on the side. Maybe the panel also has to be animated slightly, to draw attention. Your feedback here would be very valuable to me :) s_22.png (bottom right)

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-30T10:24:40Z

@wolderado funny that you mention it, the timer is the first upgrade you buy. The bar lowers the nearer the next wave is. If the wave arrives, there is an alarm sound and the icon flashes ;)

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-04-30T15:07:50Z

@thecritterscove oh man, i'm starting to go crazy with the web version. Somehow the calculation of the right position for the panels got broken on the web version, when i changed a setting to make the text more readable in the web version. Back to start, it shows properly again now (downloadables were always fine). Starting to think i should avoid the web version :D Thank you so much for gettng back to me on the issue! Good suggestion too! :)

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2021-05-03T07:15:47Z

Your comments are awesome, thank you so much! Looks like we got to expand on this :D

@nitero audio scratchyness is in the browser version. Not sure where it comes from, downloadables are fine. I've heard this in other godot games too.

@ladybenko The laser balancing is soo interesting to me, thank you for your input. I believe the last laser upgrade does not change the game much, as the previous is more than enough to go through every night. But it feels so strong to the player, that it feels like easy mode.

@tbaudon There is a audio and visual alarm once a wave of monsters is coming. It is only available with the first upgrade. I tried to make it so that this upgrade is bought within the first minute, as it's the only one available. Do you know if you had this one? I'm thinking about if the audio alarm should play again from time to time, if you are underground.

@zuwu hehe, thank you! I think it's much about doing everything as stupid and simple as possible. For example, it might be tempting to do procedural generation for the tiles. But this would easily take me 6 hours or a full day, and most likely turn out worse than something hand made. So i made it simple and created the map by hand, which took 15 minutes. The upgrades too are mostly (but not all!) stat changes, done in a minute. And the minimal graphics also helped a ton (makes animations also really easy). I also had to cut a few things, like a second monster type (flying) or in-level music. The monster really would have been important, the combat is a bit simplistic otherwise as it can't escalate more.

@ted I didn't consider that yet, and the reason behind this is very interesting to me: there is no RNG :D There are 3 maps in the game. You start with a random one and see the next one on the next run (if you died). Map 3 is a bit more difficult i'd say. I love that no one found out so far, smoke and mirrors :D maps.png There is a bit of RNG in the resource drops, but i keep a count ingame and move the drop rate up and down if it was too low or high.

Dome Romantik by Rongo Matane 2023-08-31T09:48:08Z

@cerno-b haha yes, i remember you! Without reading your comment here i checked out membrum, just because i knew your nickname. I also played a game of yours before, A perfectly lovely Expedition :D

It was cool to meet, best of luck to you!

Logistics Boy by Dis0rder 2021-04-27T14:08:51Z

Amazingly captures the feeling of those old games. It's amazing that you went so far to animate the hardware and fingers too, really sells it. The game is surprisingly good, an actual challenge with a good ramp up and always staying fair. I really liked that the challenge was a different one for the second stage, where i also very much felt the old "push this button as fast as you can" mode. The music ramp up was also very cool, a nice surprise. It was a great decision to not have the player timed to the ingame clock. I quit at the submarine stage - a very authentic reminder of times when we perceived unfairness differently.

Despite being seemingly simple, one of the most fun games i played in this jam.

Super cool! :)

Far Side of the Mirror by DDRKirbyISQ 2021-04-27T12:12:46Z

That was really strange and wholesome, i really like it. The people were pretty creepy with their one eye that stares judgingly at you if you run. Shoutout to my man Leopold, loved those guys and their rhymes. The dance was really enjoyable, the maze i didn't like too much, but that took nothing away from the story.

I'm really not big on story heavy games, so it speaks for this one that i finished it :)

Piercing Asteroids by Harker 2021-05-18T19:58:46Z

Fighting the enemy fighters with the charge was really fun, especially when being chased by the one type. I couldn't collect metal though - i went to "work", but collecting did nothing, destroying the rocks neither. In any case well balanced, fun to fly and fight - good job :)

MINOTOAD by MarkoPoloDev 2021-05-11T11:31:11Z

i have no idea what to do :( 1.png

MINOTOAD by MarkoPoloDev 2021-05-11T18:59:33Z

@markopolodev ah that makes sense. I think i got into a strange state somehow. I went into the right hole at first and was in a level with many frogs. I didn't understand what to do because i didn't know that i could attack yet, so i died (my fault of course). I then was in the main room again and started the tutorial, which led into the screenshotted room that said that those are only dummies. Not sure how that happened :D

Gonna give it another go, this time with attacking :D

Doctor Shrink by Flaterectomy 2021-04-27T14:47:48Z

Phew, just finished, though one sphincter remained unentered, god forbid!

I love the idea and the art. Deeper and deepter into buttholes will never be not funny, fart sound and all. This is what kept me going! The gameplay was good enough for me wanting to finish it. I liked the general mechanic of shrinking a lot, and the initial "cutscene" was extremely cool with voice acting. I just went back to watch it a second time, only now getting the deeper joke :D

I also have some points that troubled me * platforming mechanics didn't feel good - getting those right is hugely difficult in a jam. For example, i frustratingly died 5 times on a column (1 tile with 1 spike adjacent) where my jump wouldn't execute. I was standing on the edge ok, but apparently too far into the space. I'm also missing coyote time. * it's a bit long - i've seen all mechanics after 2 minutes, but play 10 more of the same thing. Like, shrinking to go through tight spaces quickly is fun, but not 10 times in a similar fashion * the wobble. I can understand if the game needed more juice, but the wobble wasn't a good solution for me, as it made the focus on the gameplay elements a bit unpleasant * the camera. There was always a little jump when changig size, and the switch between changing directions is very intense for something i might do mid flight multiple times. Together with the wobble it was difficult to follow visually.

There were some technical issues like tiles not fitting or sprites missing the transparent part, but i didn't mind that at all.

What i really liked is that you put the plates with the right controls at the right places, so the mechanics were always clear. I was also very thankful for the checkpoint system.

Good job on the game, i love the graphics and the humor!

Marbellion by acronaut 2021-05-17T18:36:59Z

That was really trippy, i felt pretty sucked in and intrigued. A had a bit of tension, as if something else was about to happen. I think it was a bit unsettling to hear the robotic announcer talking about nomnoms, a very good "clash". The ambience did the rest i think.

The look was fantastic, obviously. The rolling felt exactly right for this type of game, controllable but heavy. The jump was really difficult, i'm not sure if it has the same movement as the rolling, but for the jump it felt to swift and so high that it was difficult to judge correctly. Seeing the epic size of the level was impressive, but also a bit disheartening in the sense of "wait, i need to collect ALL of these?". But i didn't need to, i quickly understood, and thus did my 48 like a proper nomnom collector. I liked the ortographic camera more, just a cool look.

On the technical side, the camera move was extremely sensitive for me, like making a whole rotation when moving the mouse half a centimeter. I also got the mouse stuck at the side of the window so i couldn't rotate more into that direction - i'm sure unity has a setting to keep the mouse "stuck" in the center and only registering the theoretical movement. The audio distortion on camera movement was really cool.

Overall, great job, trippy and beautiful! I do wonder though, if the level holds more secrets. It would be a perfect fit to deliver a (possibly dark) twist at some point.

Greenception by AVAVT 2021-04-28T21:28:09Z

Love the idea and i think it's great you revisited that tree theme. It is something beautiful to reverse this desert into a lush green space, i think this could be great as a relaxing game just about "meeting" different plants and simple but nice work.

The groundworks are also laid here, as the graphics are very nice with the beautiful trees and them moving in the wind, along to the calm and friendly music. What's a bit lacking to me is the gene feature. I can understand the trees have different needs, but i'm missing a way to satisfy this. For example, i'd like to see areas that are drier or wetter, hotter or colder, more or less fertile, so i can have a "plan". The seeds also felt a bit random, as in harvesting a mushroom and getting 3 types of different trees out of it. I opted to just harvest everything and replant, which worked well but was a waste for the cool genetic system. Ah, and i'm missing a hotkey for plant/plant all.

The idea is really good and the groundworks are there. If you manage to make the genetics somewhat predicatable and find room to give them meaning, this could be a great game. Another path could be to strip the genetics from explicit display and focus on building something nice - i don't think there is a gardening game yet, but i'd love to see one. Congratulations on finishing and for daring something new and complex!

Turn of the Tide by Polyethyleneglykol 2021-05-17T21:54:20Z

I really like the concept and it's so ambitious for a jam game. That it works pretty well is an achievement in itself, i was surprised to see all be simulated smoothly. It looks very appealing to me and the music carries it well to keep the mood up and focussed.

You got a lot of feedback already, so i'll just make a suggestion, maybe for next time: A playable tutorial would fit really well here. The game is complex and has many different concepts which have to be taught. So maybe the player would start on a small bit of the map, zoomed in an one commando and control him to do simple things like shoot an antenna. Then maybe get into a car and drive to the next part, where he plants a bomb and sees a truck destroyed. Then the game opens up more and reveals the two teams, although it has to be clear where the player belongs to (strong colors maybe?). Doesn't really matter, but it's always great if the game can teach concept by concept and gradually open up, especially if it is a deep game like yours.

Great job, that's such a cool entry, and really unique.

Infini-Digger by theArchitect 2021-04-27T11:33:13Z

palette_slso8-32x.png

I think i'm stuck here. The tutorial is really overwhelming, i don't quite get what happens (like the number on the top left going from 800+ to 50 over one layer.

The mechanics seem interesting and well thought trough, just the hurdle of getting into it is really high. My suggestion would be to have no explicit tutorial, but start the first level with only one element, like the digger. Then have one level where the digger needs to be really applied, then go to the next level with the next element.

Other than that, would mouse controls be an option? The controls with both arrows and wasd seem a bit complex, and i didn't understand if my movement itself was important.

Congratulations for finishing, and a lot of respect for tackling such a complex game!

Infini-Digger by theArchitect 2021-04-27T13:03:42Z

@thearchitect Sure, Windows 10 with a current Chrome. I did it again just now and this time it disappeared. Only difference: last time i already built many devices at that point. Of course you are right, the skipping the tutorial is also a solution, didn't think of that :D

Magic Frontier by Firebelley 2021-04-27T19:26:36Z

Very well rounded, fun game. It was impressive that you kept it fun without expanding the mechanics, so the levels felt varied with different challenges. I also felt smart from time to time, finding a solution that had a good amount of coins more available. I also appreciate the little details, with animations everywhere, even the UI. Well done!

Dig Deeper by ursagames 2021-05-16T10:35:49Z

Hey Ursa :) It's always impressive to see a 3D game especially in compo. It was a bit dark for me, but not undiscernably dark. I liked the setup of having a ship and needing to leave it to gather resources. It was intuitive enough to learn what to do and how without getting stuck. The only misconception on my part was, that i expected i could dig into the ground manually, but that was quickly resolved once i understood the flies are enemies. Exploring the caverns was an intruiging moment, especially as i realized i have to find my way back and got no navigational help (which is a big plus). Later i didn't go into the caverns though, as there were many enemies close enough. It's also very impressive that you put in a full inventory system with equipment! I wonder though if that was a bit feature creep. So overall i think you started a very interesting game here, not quite finished but with potential.

A few things that could be improved/fixed: * close the menu with the same button that opens it (tab) * i had 3 stacks of 3 big drops, oh which i put two into the shredder. The shredder still depicted only 3 drops, although i expected 6. After closing and opening the shredder again, it still showed 3 drops.

On expansion, what would be interesting to me: * have a time limit per level, so that you have to make quick decisions whether to venture deeper into the caverns or go back and play it safe (time shouldn't progress inside the ship though) * gradually change visuals and mood when going down, from a light friendly cave at the start to the depths of hell later on

PS: thank you again for playing one of our games! Dome Romantik this time. We always enjoy watching you play :) You probably don't remember it all because you play so many games each time, but you played nearly all of our ludum dare entries (10 so far, starting 4 years ago), starting with the hamster game with the surprise sex scene :D

Fallen Shovel by silkworm_sweatshop 2021-04-27T12:20:00Z

Really nice mechanics, being able to destroy the terrain but in a very controlled and limited fashion, that can also have drawbacks (jumping into enemies up high), felt really novel. The soundtrack und visuals are top notch, really well polished. The only gripe i have which makes it difficult to play for me is that the window is not resizable. Insert first world problem her, about big and fancy monitors. 1.png If you look closely, in the center of this image you can see the game :D

Fallen Shovel by silkworm_sweatshop 2021-04-27T13:07:48Z

@silkworm-sweatshop now i feel stupid, it even says it there. My go to move is windows key + arrows, to maximize the window. Sorry!

Push Stack by stevenjmiller 2021-04-27T13:50:06Z

I'm being honest here, i think i couldn't quite grasp how it worked and got stuck on level 5. I tend to study the behaviour and formulate rules in my head, instead of reading rules and trying to extrapolate the behaviour. So i only fly over the rules - this might be stupid, but that's how my brain likes to work. This felt a bit problematic, because i had little room to do so. On Level 4 i learned that boxes with the same index are connected by virtual undo. What remained unclear is, why the movement direction has a number - i'd expect it plays a role, but i couldn't find any mechanic. On level 5 i wasn't able to produce any type of "interconnection via virtual undo", but i expect that i need it there (as this is the main mechanic and level 4 already used it). I couldn't find any combination of movement or multiple box pushes that "did" something.

I went back to check the rules, but didn't find anything new or contradictory, so i guess i am missing something.

Push Stack by stevenjmiller 2021-05-02T19:57:56Z

@stevenjmiller ah i see, thank you for the explanation! I played some more levels and can see this as an innovation winner, the mechanics are really unqiue. For my taste a bit too "deep", my rule of thumb being: can i solve this in my head, without trying moves? Maybe you can :D But i can see that this is perfect for thinky puzzle gamers ;)

PS: i just wanted to recheck because i thought that the teching of level 5 already was taught in a previous level, but i got an error in the browser: 5Push Stack.js?EUPYB=1411980226:2364 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'length' of undefined at _Yq2 (Push Stack.js?EUPYB=1411980226:2364) at HTMLCanvasElement._tr2 (Push Stack.js?EUPYB=1411980226:2374)

Push Stack by stevenjmiller 2021-05-02T21:36:24Z

@stevenjmiller It has to be an issue with the local storage. I cleared it, then it was fine again. Sounds like a corrupted save to me. The behaviour is very strange though. Everytime i refresh the page, the error re-appears. If i delete the push stack entry form the local browser storage, i can launch the game without the error. The curious thing is, that i still see the levels i completed as completed, instead of all empty as i'd expect.

This is the entry that might cause the issue and gets re-created. [Level] 0="1" 1="1" 2="1" 3="1" 4="1" 5="1" 6="1" 7="1" 8="0" 9="0" 10="0" 11="0" 12="0" 13="0" 14="0" 15="0" 16="0" 17="0" 18="0" 19="0" 20="0" 21="0" 22="0" 23="0" 24="0" [Settings] Window="0" Sound="1"

Deepest Sword by Strega 2021-04-27T11:52:01Z

That was really interesting, a great mechanic and presentation. Penetrating the dragon was strangely erotic. I also had to learn that i should be satisfied with an average sized sword, i had a lot of trouble handling the 4 incher (or whatever that measurement is). I got really frustrated with the longer one - reminded me a bit of getting over it, which is not something i enjoy, so it won't be held against your game. In that regard, i think the controls find a good balance of being slightly awkward, so that the challenge arises from the execution (like in the bennet foddy game).

Awesome job! I'm sure i'll see this on randomize user :D

PS: i had a little technical problem where the game slowed down heavily and the sped up, throwing me off cliffs. Not sure if it was my browser or systems fault. Oh, and the music was pretty silent.

Holey Hell by managore 2021-04-27T19:39:28Z

Above all, it's very technically impressive to me, as i have no idea how you'd do this. It would be cool to see a little tutorial tweet, as with the procgen of Adrenaline.

Gameplay is short and sweet, controls feel great, visuals and sound are top, polish is next level, but you already know that. I didn't understand why i died one time, until i realized the white bottom part in the red area is not a rendering issue, but a hazard (as indicated by the white color, but i only realized that retrospectively). From the gifs i also thought it was a graphical error. Just a side note.

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-05T13:27:24Z

Hey, thank you all for the feedback :)

@listonos not too demanding at all, this is the feedback i'm really looking for. I know/feared it doesn't play as fun for a new player as it could. If you know the mechanics and the world, it gets interesting - but that's not given for a new player. I agree that it does sit between the concepts you described, though i feel like it could work there, not needing to go into the "extremes". Can you please tell if you saw and used the view range upgrades, and the magus spells?

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-05T13:56:08Z

@listonos thank you for the clarification. I'm wondering how this could be improved. Showing the full map revealed initially could help, or giving the player a purchasable analogue map. My impression is that the basic proble is, that you can't plan as a player because you don't know the map. For the tile destruction speed, my intention is that you have to use the magus to slow that down, or otherwise be pretty swift about everything. Yes, the forest tile is one possible path to beat the game (and you could even "spell" it away with land raise and flatten). You'd basically need to stock up on food, and then go into the pass. You could take shortcuts with the magus again, or basically just eat your caravan :D

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-05T15:19:11Z

Thank you @fishtaod i'm really glad to hear that :) I am sure there is a big difference between players - some engage a lot with the strategy part, optimizing routes and such, some rather just move around and explore.

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-06T18:50:35Z

Oh wow wow wow, i'm a bit overwhelmed by your responses, very happy! Thank you! The suggestions are also great, i'll improve that in the post jam version.

@suisou the miners aren't needed to win, but the view rang upgrade are nice to have, and the magus can be really helpful (his spells consume ore).

@rhoka yes, interesting points! It really seems there are two game modes underneath here, one being more about exploration and many routes, one being more like a puzzle game that requires specific moves.

@ashley-gb haha, i was really surprised with how fast we went. I had tons of time for improvements and polish, maybe because the underlying mechanics/programming is relatively simple. But i think it also shows that it was our 11th ludum dare. Our day 1 progress for reference (no gathering yet, but the basics were done), with half the day needed for finding an idea https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/karawan/wrapping-up-day-1

@gloomyfolken hehe, i love "darker" scenarios too, somehow feels more significant/profound to me. Especially so since these themes are usually mentally blocked out in our lives.

@m1nus thank you so much, i'm really glad to hear the narrative worked for you. I'm no writer and not a native speaker, but i felt it would give the whole game a better context, and purpose to the journey. So i tried it, i think for the first time, and am really glad if it turned out enjoyable.

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-08T20:31:02Z

Thank you all for the great feedback, it warms my heart :)

Audio is sadly always a bit buggy in the browser, only works well with the downloadables.

@mordrick Right now the UI is scaled up by 2 (so, each UI pixel is 2x2 actual pixels), so slightly pixelated. The problem for me was, that the game has a different pixel size depending on the current zoom level (either 4x, 3x or 2x the scaled up). I wanted to avoid having the UI more pixelated than the game or mix pixel sizes too much. I haven't tried yet how it would look like with 3x or even 4x, maybe that would be better.

@ursagames I'm very glad to see you here again! We kept our eyes open for your stream ;) It's great that you had some fun with it! We are still busy with Dome Romantik though, no time to continue with this for now.

@kalevrk i uploaded a mac build, but i have no idea if it works. It is a post jam version in any case, with the changes noted on the itch page.

@badpiggy oh wow, first attempt is usually doomed :D Did you see the view range upgrade?

@magic-mike yes - the sounds we use are from a sound pack, not created by ourselves during the jam. Cameron made the music which i really like, but sadly music is no own category so we had to drop out.

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-08T22:16:39Z

@tomorrowtoday @civmaniac Yeah, i'm sure you are right. For another game, i know someone who ran some console commands and the could play the game. Godot does export to WebGL, and i did have a web build online (but not linked from here, because it was the "post jam" build and i do not want to "guide" players into the post jam build. Right now i deactivated the web build, because i'm testing something on itch. Somehow, Karawan is listed there as extremely unpopular (like bottom 1%) of all ludum dare games. This was different initially, and the player count still suggests a high popularity - but this changed when i activated the web build. Probably has nothing to do with it, but i'm desparate :D I'll activate the web build tomorrow again.

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-13T18:47:58Z

Thank you so much for the feedback :) I also appreciate the Godot vibe going on here!

@ddrkirbyisq Hi there! Yes, automatic gathering is part of the post jam version, but only as an upgrade.

@future-labs-unlimited That's great to hear :) Regarding the auto harvest - i'm not sure. I thought about it before, and i felt that it might have a negative impact on new players, as they can roam around and be successful without understanding why, because it's automated. I thought that it might be good that they learn this by hand, and then get the automation for very cheap, maybe starting later scenarios always with the automation from the beginning. I agree that it does not add anything apart from that, but is tedious once you know what's happening.

@arya-s Oh, the game knows nothing but a pause mode. Nothing will happen at all unless you make one move, and then nothing happens again - strictly turn based. The tile removal animation can be a bit slow, so it might seem that this happened "during" the thinking phase. But i assure you, you have all the time you need. Agreed on the auto harvest, it's part of the post jam version via a cheap upgrade.

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-18T20:08:57Z

Thank you all! :)

@strangeryann i saw your post before, and actually thought about if we could use a producer. Production is it's own art for sure. But right now, we are only 2 people (who made 11 jam games before together) + composer, so it's just working out, we found our flow :)

@peachtreeoath Love your comment, thank you so much! I don't think i directly pulled from another game, but i played thousands of games and are of course totally influenced by all that. Key for me was a picture of a pixel art hex tile map, which i saw after 6 hours of thinking about ideas with none of them sticking yet. This image immediately felt like i'd like to travel with a caravan. I knew i'd have a snake like movement and a crumbling world with that, and that there is some depth to that system. Harvesting only adjacent tiles became clear pretty fast, but i don't remember when i thought about the magus having spells, instead of him only activating the portal. So not exactly thin air, it needed the artwork to inspire the game - but the mechanics were intuition. I never played Oregon Trail, but i know what it's about and heard a lot of comparisons for Karawan ;)

Hey Chad @voidsay yeah, ideally i'd start you with only 2 spells and have more incentive to use them, with more spells being recoverable from wizard tower ruins or something like that. Right now they are fully optional, which also has it's benefits though.

@zsharpfire thank you! What UI feedback would you like to see added?

Karawan by Rongo Matane 2021-10-21T20:29:25Z

@denatus Thank you! There is a difference with world 2+3, in the sense that they are puzzle worlds, really requiring a specific solution. Maybe it's not a great idea to mix this with world 1, which has many different possible solutions and is more exploratory -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdAawxRxQjQ

@splitpainter Thank you :) We had plenty of time to playtest, and it was very important for the balance. Initially, the berries only dropped a single food once, not two food two times. That's a big leap, but got clear when testing the game quickly. I mostly had the concept of world 1 as is from the get go, and tried to balance the game around that. I also wrote a small post mortem for it, not sure if it covers what you asked ;) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/karawan/karawan-post-mortem

Headspace by Voidsay 2021-10-18T18:44:19Z

Two big questions remain with me: Why did i shoot the guy who was fleeing? Only because i had a gun, because i could? And what does the space anus mean? 33.png

Very unstable, 5 stars for sure!

Hazmat Magic by Ismael Rodriguez 2021-10-10T21:15:48Z

That was really fun to play, super smooth and i'm a sucker for properly pixelated effects. Music and sounds (footsteps!) were super pleasant, a great vibe. The progression was also cool, your experience with that clearly shows. It could have been a bit harder for me, but i think it's better to be on the easier side for a jam, so that more people can have fun with it. I'm a bit sad it isn't visually really finished, the grey is a bit depressing. I think it could have worked to just add a little color instead of the grey, maybe varying per screen. The only slightly frustrating bit for me was, that i was never sure where my glass would land. Like, i wanted the blue one to create an upward moving thing, but stood too close to the wall and it made it sideways, although i pressed the right buttons for upwards. Same with throwing, as the impact height is important for at least one puzzle. Maybe a small throwing arc would help with that, but i totally understand there was no time left for it. Anyway, great entry again, and now i'm wondering if we'll see another puzzle platformer for LD50 from you :D

HONK III by Tricky_Fat_Cat 2021-10-19T19:24:33Z

That was awesome! Makes you forget you are playing a jam game, it feels great. The music was a bit low volume on my end, and i didn't find out how to switch weapons, but this gameplay never gets old :) Great job!

-Y- by Iluvatar 2021-10-06T19:28:47Z

I don't think i understood anything. I assumed: - the fairy said to talk to the monster, so i would grow - the ston said that if i strike a monster, it turns evil/angry - the big guy said to put the crystal into the staff - i could strike the tree, talk to the tree or heal it

I initially did everything correctly, but i felt i lost the game because of the big dangerous eyes at the end. Is there another ending? What did the fairy really say?

Overall it was interesting, and i especially liked the soundscape. The palette is also really nice. It would have been great if i could have decided when to move ahead, not wait for some timer until i am allowed to move again. The premise/idea of non text based game was also interesting, i wonder if that worked out (as in, players interpret it mostly correct). Good work with the game :)

Trauma by AdamCYounis 2021-10-05T20:03:54Z

Hi Adam! Just wanna say, my wife is a big fan, your videos are her favorite for improving her pixel art skills :)

I was positively surprised by the mechanics. I thought i had a standard metroidvania coming up, but the sorting of the movement cards was really cool. The story was intriguing and well paced, much more so since it was well connected to the gameplay.

What could be improved is UI feedback. It took me some time to figure out the card mechanics, i think mainly because the bottom button wasn't showing well that it is focussed. The "hot spots" on the ground could also display that they are active, especially since this is gameplay relevant with switching the cards. Sometimes you want them to be not active, but still need to be close, or contrary, want to start the jump but open the cards by accident.

On ultra wide it also has some unintended graphics, i think 333.png

Pixel art is of course great and the levels very moody. Only the pointy edges stood out a bit, that could be nicer. Congrats on the entry, it was a really good experience and i happily player through it all, while being engaged all the time. That is top league for jam games, much more so considering you did this for compo :)

PS: i really appreciated the elegant control intro, of having to start the level by applying the displayed controls!

Chickie Catchers by DDRKirbyISQ 2021-10-10T18:48:35Z

Great game, surely among the top of the jam! The concept is simple and really fun, got my wife to play with me. It quickly turned out one of us was much better at handling the cat tree, so roles were clear very fast. Cooperation was great, and both players are equally involved, that's great. The animations are so adorable, and you have one for everything. I just love the overall polish. One of the few entries that really feels complete, like you finished the game 5 hours before the submission deadline, because you did everything there was to tweak and balance already. The music is fantastic, really reminds me of Kirby's Adventure from the NES, the same great, joyful feel (oh, just read the note on that afterwards). Bringing 3 levels in with their own visuals and soundtrack is very impressive too! I wasn't sure what the difference of the second level was, i assumed the cat tree was slightly imbalanced. Your game is of course complete and great - if i could wish for something, i'd like to see the base mechanic changed more by later levels. Like, longer poles or uneven terrain. In any case, great entry, i think we have a winner here in at least one category ;)

Among Monolyths by Dekajoo 2021-10-20T19:03:49Z

Hey there, bippinbits from itch here - i said i would play :D

I really enjoyed that, the puzzles were great. Well introduced with pretty intuitive mechanics. I got one thing wrong i think, where i assumed blocks of the same color need to show the same symbol. But it seems this is not true for the grey ones. The south west puzzle had me stuck slightly on this, as i went in with the wrong assumption. After i solved these two, I got stuck on the dots. Up until that i found it even more approachable than the witness, but there i was pretty stumped and missed the puzzles that introduce a new mechanic. I didn't find an alternative puzzle, so i got stuck there, and didn't want to brute force it.

I was sceptical of the music first, but got into a nice groove quickly and came out really liking it. Well done game, i love puzzles and this one was really good. The underlying theme of the grandma stroke is also great, i really like heavy topics. Although, now that i think of it, it might clash a bit with the music. In any case great job!

Buggy Bot by ursagames 2021-10-21T12:03:44Z

That was excellent! I was very impressed by the amount of parts and mechanics, and it was great you found some creative uses that go beyond the intial thing that is expected from the element, like having to go up a hill to gain speed. I got really frustrated with the inverted camera, until i accidentally opened the menu and saw the option for that - much fewer deaths after that :D

I got pretty far i think, but didn't get past the turbine that is supposed to push me high onto the rainbow - it never went high enough, and jumping didn't help. But it was motivating and fun to play, with a very good difficulty level. Great job :)

PS: of course i clicked the button too! :D

Cro-Mathnon by PeachTreeOath 2021-10-18T18:32:44Z

11.png

whoops, i messed that one up! At first i thought i should balance the numbers because i didn't read anything beforehand, but it got cleared quickly. What hooked me really was the multiplayer aspect, that was genius - suddenly, instead of just meddling around with some numbers, i had people to beat! That was fun and really engaging, and there is a little exciting moment when you don't know yet if it was enough. It was also fun to see some people i know up there. Very cool, definitely gotta copy the async Multiplayer at some point :D

Oh, and the pun is great!

Alteration by ColinBellino 2021-10-05T19:41:29Z

Interesting concept and well introduced. It got clear very fast what the mechanics are, so they work intuitively. The pixel art is (of course) great! I also liked the audio a lot, though the transitions were a bit harsh. What i didn't feel challenged with were the levels. Mostly the transition happened at exactly the moment i needed it to happen, without me planning for it. I didn't understand what the golden orbs were for - i think it is a challenge collectible. I hope it doesn't sound too harsh, but the only level i found interesting was the one where you'd set the grass tiles on fire so a transition at that time would roast the airy guy. Increasing the difficulty here would be great, with more mechanics that interestingly connect the two modes you have. Right now it feels like too many levels doing the same thing. A proper ending would be great, recounting the orbs you collected (like 23 of 30) - you want to reward your players for pushing that, i think :)

De-stable-ization / Unstable by treenut 2021-10-05T19:18:25Z

Hey there! The destruction was a lot of fun, and i was impressed by the splintering of the stables. Anne immediately liked the kings facial expression (she watched). The pinball mechanics worked well for me, it was interesting to plan a shot. I think it would be great if you had only a limited number of balls before the level resets, so you have to be strategic about how you place your shots, and there are some stakes. Right now, i felt i could spam the shots. Performance went down a little on impacts, but i didn't mind. The writing was funny to me, especially "i know you tried, probably" bit :D

SEXY BOOBY 95 by silkworm_sweatshop 2021-10-06T19:57:10Z

Mr. Silky Worm, is that an autobiographical game? It seems very inspired by real events, down to the secret folder (which of course should have at least one other folder in it, and a deception folder and maybe even a deception file, like a store front for the mob). The visuals were very charming and the win95 sound pure bliss. Music was also top notch, even with the surfer game. Enjoyed that a lot, see you in LD50 :D

PS: killed it with the title, it caught my attention even before release. I'm a simple man!

Buzzing Orchard by mharring 2021-10-22T16:52:11Z

This is so pleasant, i really love the music and the pixel art, great! The music especially, i could listen to it all day.

@rufson what is this, the moneybags family? Very funny :D

Plant Harvester by zimny11 2023-01-21T21:29:51Z

That was really cool! I was impressed with the graphics, especially with the consistent and good looking colors and the vegetable sprite and animations. Having different crops is great and getting upgrades was cool. In contrast to some other feedback, i think choosing the upgrades myself ould have felt good, as it gives me agency and room to address what i think i need (like turn radius!). With the high turn radius, i think the player needs to be able to see far ahead or not have unavoidable problemsa ahead (like the wall mid-field). I also think it would feel good to have anything you harvest only have good consequences, so no damage (but asparagus is really cool, as you can learn and see ahead of time if you can go for it or not). I do wonder how it would play without the gun mechanic, or with that being an optional upgrade. I feel like it could also be fun to have a bit more agency for driving (better turn rate) and only rely on that, at least until some point. The music wasn't bad at all, i was humming the tune later while in the kitchen :D Overall, really good entry, i enjoyed it a lot!

The Harvester by flanne 2023-01-15T22:25:43Z

Love the game! The pixel art is excellent, really nice and constrained but striking. Music and sound are also very pleasant. In the end what matters most though is the gameplay, and i that was lovely. I really liked needing to replace one of my existing abilities, as this brought in all the depth. The enemies announcing their move first allowed strategic gameplay, especially after i learned that they can damage each other. I only see two or three clear improvements, and i assume it has been as usual a time constraint. 1. it would be nice to see the cooldown on my abilities 2. it's not very clear that a round is over and whose turn it is. Looks like there is a small delay between movement and changing the numbers, and no sound. Maybe the UI could move back a little or "grey out", or the field could change in color to indicate whose turn it is. 3. sometimes i expected the enemy to strike me when moving next to them as they had no cooldown - only for them to do nothing. I assume this is because you have to move first for them to make a movement decision, but then you don't want them to strike you without ever indicating it first and giving you a chance to make a move first. Tricky, not sure if and how this can be improved. Great job :)

A Day in the Life of Death by DDRKirbyISQ 2023-01-22T07:59:35Z

The presentation is next level, just feels so polished, crisp and pleasant. I really appreciate the smaller things thta make have such a high impact though, like a nice font and a background that has a bit of a structure. Music and sounds i also enjoyed a lot. It's a personal preference, but i'm not a big fan of dialogue heavy games, my focus is on the gameplay. The challenge of the harvesting was greatly balanced. The hit could connect a bit nicer, because sometimes the scythe very cleanly went through the soul, but didn't cut it. I know it has to be tight to be challenging, but ideally the visuals match closely with the function (so maybe faster swing, or less wide). I didn't see a reason for the coins, and if it mattered in any way if i was good or bad at the minigames. So for someone who is more focussed on gameplay, it couldn't keep up with the amazing presentation. But it's a very impressive and complete game, one of the best entries for sure!

Monkey Oolong Harvest Bop by PeachTreeOath 2023-01-21T17:14:58Z

That was loooovely! From the gif alrady i loved the little monkeys, they are so well animated and lively. Coming into the game i was so pleasantly surprised by the music. A lot of jam games can't find a great spot with the music, but yours is top notch even on the 20th loop. Fits so well and simply a great listen. The setting itself is great too, and it's amazing that this is rooted in real life - super interesting. Now this great setup is multiplied by having a great game mechanic. Plays very easily and is super fun, with a mix of strategy and skill. Of course i try to plan my monkeys around being able to catch each other, and it working out is very satisfying. The only irritation i had was that monkeys are launched differently when held by a monkey vs. when jumping on their own. I learned it quickly enough and can also see that a) this is the only way it makes sense and b) it is actually much more fun to have a more difficult launch when held by a monkey. I noticed being caught by a second monkey very much speeds up your rotation. I'd either tone this down or omit it completely - as a player it is the best feeling when you can do a combo, so i think it doesn't need to be "balanced away" but encouraged.

Top game i easily see in top 10 in more than one category! I don't remember when i gave the last 5 star rating, a very rare occurence - this is one :)

Island Survivor by ursagames 2023-01-21T16:41:28Z

That was fun! Felt nicely balanced and had an intersting variety in monsters. Music was a bit annoying, but luckily there was a volume slider :) I really liked the concept which i understood as a mix of Vampire Survivors and Contra, where you fundamentally change the way your weapon works. Together with a secondary mode, that was really interesting. I wish i'd have had the chance more often to upgrade my existing shot. It wasn't clear if i kept the level if i switch weapons, so i didn't do it. I had slight trouble of figuring out the movement via space. Dash seemed to have a cooldown. Sppeedup i wasn't sure if it worked. But i totally understand that for 48 hours, you can't have great feedback on such a variety of skills, usually. Great effort and fun result :)

It was all for the Tuna by rosypenguin 2023-01-21T16:51:30Z

Super cute entry and very elegant controls! I really like the innovation on the fishing mechanic, away from the thing we all have sen 100 times. It took me quite long to figure out that the angle means left/right of the boat, and not near/far behind, so i had a bit of frustration where i couldn't understand why the fish was escaping. It was a good sign that my catch rate went up over time, feeling that i did not fully think through the catching, but feel what's right - so that felt way less mechanical but more real, like you'd actually feel when fishing. That's a feat in itself. Of cours graphics and audio are top notch, very pleasant. Great job with the game :)

Shroomer Caves by Martynas 2023-01-10T19:05:42Z

I found the magic crystal, and enjoyed it! I didn't read anything upfront and disabled tips, and still understood it all. That's a feat for a game jam game, or any game really. I liked the graphics effects very much, especially the growing roots and the crystal particles. That had the nice side effect that i could follow the roots to find my way back. Disclaimer, dev of Dome Keeper here :D I implemented a fuel mechanic there too some time ago, for a peaceful mode without monsters. I really like your take on this - the carrots for refueling a meter work very well, as the meter stays consisten in terms of how long it will last, and you get a good feel for how long it will last with the extra carrots. Great game!

Cart Delivery by zimny11 2023-05-08T06:55:40Z

The overhead part was really tricky :D I'd have loved to pick up the rabbit! Items could get a little hove effect (modulate is easiest) if mouse is at the right position to grab them. I really had fun with this, love the silly physics and giving a thorough ending screen gives my effort so much more meaning than a score.

Ravenhaul by Rongo Matane 2023-05-06T08:39:15Z

Hey everyone, thank you soo much for your nice words, that's great to hear :)

@voidloop I can understand your frustration with this, i had the same when i started out and saw a team of 13 people from a professional studio join. We are a team that works well together really, with 4 of us having jammed together before. A few words on this ;) 1. Since this seems to be your first jam - do you know about the two modes compo and jam? Compo is for solo people, jam is for teams. So we don't even compete here. I can understand why you think that way and i thought so myself before, but there are many other reasons this is not a problem. 2. Often the teams seem bigger than they are. For example, if we have a pixel artist come in and work 4 hours, we'll of course credit them. In our case, we indeed had a pixel artist with very limited availability, and someone who never programmed with that language and engine. But still even with that we are still a large team ofc. 3. Bigger teams can get a lot of overhead and muddled direction easily - with the team i mentioned initially, the game did not come out fantastic and was not rated that high. You can also check who won the past years jams - it was a 2 person team and before it was a single person, before it were 3. Production values matter much less than fun and creativity. (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/games) 4. Ratings seem very important when you start, but ratings are not a very good tool and just a rough indication. There is nothing to win here and winners don't get anything special out of it, not even marketing. Dorfromantik for example was made in ludum dare - i don't think they cracked top 50, but turned out one of the most successful games ever based on a game jam.

Chain Mail by AdamCYounis 2023-05-05T10:25:31Z

I really enjoyed the characters, the sounds that actually sounded like adventure and "kingdomness" and that there was a summary screen. As improvements, right now it seems character is random and they only have a synergy with the same character. I think it would be more interesting if some things for the people were locked on place, like terrain or character. Otherwise i can't build an understanding of what a visual means (because it means nothing). Then it would be cool if a character synergizes with another character, not with the same - so you actually get an incentive to mix. Right now, if i didn't miss anything, my best strategy is to pick one character and only choose that in the future. Great effort, very cool game :)

Blocked by zimny11 2023-10-13T14:52:58Z

Love the concept, felt like a really fresh puzzle game! The level progression was great, easy to pick up even without reading any instructions. Most things have already been suggested i think - clearer visuals for which direction/rotation the elements go, fast forward and ideally also a manual time control (as sometimes i wanted to look at specific situations far ahead and think them through in my mind, which works well if i can pause or go forward/backward). This was the biggest hurdle in pacing, to watch the whole level over and over again to progress on the late bits. Can be done in your head alone, but the lazy variant is playing it out :D A few usability things could also make it more fluent, like the level auto-resetting if you touch the pieces, level start with space or the buttons being a bit faster. I made it to level 5, but 4 took quite long that i'm not sure i have the willpower left for this one. Very impressive entry especially for compo, congrats! Top innovative for sure :)

Donut Park Here! by Rongo Matane 2023-10-04T08:25:50Z

Thank you all for the lovely comments, that's rgeat to hear! I agree on the pickup/dropoff being tricky as it's not separated. It's a side effect of the action mode just coming in a few hours before submission - until then it was the puzzles only. But we figured the action mode might be more simple fun. As it is now, to succeed you have to drop off the cars in the right orientation already.

I recorded a playthrough, check it out if you want to see my mad drifing skills :D (or want to see some solutions to puzzles) https://youtu.be/hclNIy9nVq8

@dsfan @dekajoo it's solved like this. One of our team members calls this "italian parking" :D Unbenannt.png

Fate of Ratlantis by Beebo Studios 2023-10-13T07:19:47Z

I made it through :D I didn't understand the difference between the two poison spells, but otherwise it was very clear and understandable.

The King is Watching by Tvorojok 2023-10-04T12:04:41Z

Loved it! It's a very good design that is very easy to play but still has depth in decision making. There are a few small things that could be improved. For example, i'd like to define myself how my sight should expand, so i can do a proper build. Once unlocked sight bits should not be removed, as otherwise my "build intention" is killed. Enemies tend to clump up together and then it gets very hard to compete. But these are all small things in a really really excellent entry. The game also very well explains itself, i figured it out without the tutorial. Great job!

The_Box by KANAGG 2023-10-20T21:35:48Z

From what i learned on the internet, i was pretty sure this had to go in a square hole. Then i thought it was already in, but it seems it wasn't! Silly fun, i enjoyed it :D Music reminded me of older DOS games, where you'd get one piece of music per room. Like MadTV.

Intermodal by jotson 2023-10-09T20:27:29Z

Loved it, really played for a long time. I read nothing but the games workings were very clear very fast, only help could be initially to show what's clickable until the player got the first few containers shipped. First run i ended because i had too many empty trucks, but in the second run i felt like i became a pro. Got into a great flow of sending out trucks early because i knew a fitting container is leaving the ship now. Especially when one color was dominant the pressure began to mount - seeing your storage rise and rise while desperately waiting for a green container was exciting. I'm not sure if i follow the comments about RNG - it probably could use some rubberbanding, but on the other hand you also want to build towards people really needing to utilize their storage and strategically delaying the shipment of some containers. Sound was great too, music very pleasant and calmly fitting. Love it, excellent entry! Could see that built out with a few small systems to be a small game on steam (or mobile, but who likes to make mobile games). Unbenannt.png

Purple Pop by silkworm_sweatshop 2023-10-20T21:49:44Z

I love it! Many years ago i programmed something similar and it was always wondrous to watch how it would "evolve". Very fun!

I wasn't sure about what my goal was, thought it was just about keeping things going. Eventually i was game over, but i did not understand why (i am guilty of not reading anything outside of the game). I could never make good use of the repellent - i tried to separate the blues from the reds, but it never really worked out. Maybe it would be cool if the repellent would repel only reds. In any case, i had a really good time, lovely entry! :)

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Stingy Seating by stevenjmiller 2023-10-13T07:11:23Z

I have a really big problem dealing with the inconsistency of being able to make a turn going forward, but then not being able to take the exact turn going backwards. Like in level 2 you can easily go up and turn around, but then going backwards is impossible, although it clearly should be possible for a bus (or any car), as you can reverse identically. It's very tricky for me to abandon the common logic. Otherwise i do enjoy the idea and the design :)

Tristram by Rongo Matane 2024-04-16T10:00:28Z

Hey @ursagames , i hope you are well! Always nice to see you around :)

Thank you for the feedback! We had a bug where the outro would not trigger after you'd slain the final boss, so i fear your game went on forever :D

Tristram by Rongo Matane 2024-04-17T17:47:13Z

Thank you so much for you comments, it is simply great for the whole team to read and to see that we hit a good spot for many. We wanted to do more with the interactions in the village, so you could have more influence, but ultimately the time is quite limited and we focussed on making the heroes fight as interesting as we could and have some relation to each other and the player.

We appreciate the feedback, it's really helpful! We are fiddling a bit with a post jam version and will improve some aspects :)

@xzt i'm really confused, what "already created game" do you mean? Our reference was diablo 1, which is a hack'n'slash game, but this is, as @vinzbad put it amazingly well, basically a football manager with an rpg setting. Maybe you mean another game though (that i'm not familiar with).

Tristram by Rongo Matane 2024-05-03T18:58:24Z

Wow! So much feedback, so much love - thank you folks :D

I'm so sorry i can't be more responsive here, or play more of your games. I wish i could, but we got a big update for our "main game" (Dome Keeper) in the works and i'm very busy with that. Be sure that the whole team carefully read every comment here, or even shared some in the group chat.

Haunted Forest by zimny11 2024-05-03T20:44:05Z

I love the minimalism! Maybe it sounds strange, but the palette is lovely. The very slightly dirty white feels so good, and red makes such a good contrast. Only the snow flakes stick out.

I was genuinely scared when the wendigo came for me first. I later tried fighting it, as it seemed you can do it with well timed strikes. But the game sort of broke and i couldn't swing the sword after my fifth death. I read here that we can't kill it, but i think it would be cool if we can, even if it doesn't do anything big. Just getting rid of it with some skill feels nice.

The controls also felt quite good to me! It is tough to make them a bit heavy but still feel good, but here it fit i think. The sacrifice mechanic was cool, i was a bit shocked when i killed my first squirrel. It took some time until i understood what the tooltip in the bar mean. Probably something directly on the object works better, flashing or an outline or sth.

Great job again, it is awesome to see your progression over the jams :D

Small Sands by zimny11 2024-10-20T15:36:18Z

It's a very cute game! I like the visuals a lot and that the creatures are just black. I had a chuckle when i saw these big stalks are just grain. I've set up everything after a few minutes and then it feels more like a waiting game. But i also am not interested in watching as i already know what they will do. I think the game world could have been a bit smaller so i'd need to scroll less. Now it feels like i'm too close and the scrolling gets a bit dizzying. Still i like it a lot :) If you want to improve it, spending an hour on sounds is usually a great investment of time.

Tiny Tribe by silkworm_sweatshop 2024-10-20T15:24:36Z

Very cute game, i really liked the imaginative jobs. I was not sure what we were building towards, like the sailor venturing out but coming back without a clear achievement of sorts. I really liked to use the magnifier info box to see what job they have. It seemed i needed to close the box with right click, which also would switch tools. I didn't pay much attention to the different needs, especially since i can't seem to influence them much. The only useful interaction i found was knocking down coconuts. But it was a very cute game and the idea of small civilizations is really appealing.

Build The Sun by TRASEVOL_DOG 2024-10-20T15:51:51Z

The style is amazing and everything feels lively and juicy. I played quite a while and never was able to receive pickaxes, was a bit frustrating. Reading the spoilers now, it seems rng was on the bad side and never generated something new from rocks. I had like 4 fires, two farms with a total of 12 fields and maybe two dozen huts. It was slightly discouraging to go on as it felt my power does not scale well with the size of my realm. Building another hut for 50s while already having 20 huts feels low impact, compared to the early ones. That being said it's a fantastic jam entry, full of character and very well executed :)

Sea Dicegarden by zimny11 2025-04-25T07:42:40Z

I played without reading the info first, just how i like it :D

The presentation is really nice, very pleasant. I'm always intrigued by nice animations where i want to find out what can happen if i do the right thing or progress. I missed sound or a bit of music, as usualy, but i can understand it :D

Now the gameplay was quite obscure. I didn't have much choice for the first 15 or so runs, because i had exactly one more die than i needed. I didn't understand why i have different tanks - i thought they grow different plants, but it later got clear they didn't. I simply filled up all dice that i could, and let it grow. This also meant it took very long until i gained new dice.

I'm wondering if the representation as dice does a disservice here. I'd expect some kind of combinatoric behind this, like i want to match the same die values, or never repeat a value (so do sth like a 4-4-4-4, or 1-2-3-4-5). From the description it sounds like the numeric value doesn't matter. I think then the game would be much clearer with symbols - like 6 different seeds, and 6 different temperature settings. In that setup you'd also be free to not have to make 6 values for each setting, but you could also do 3, or 4, or 20 :)

I like the game, definitely interesting to experiment with.

Descendant by silkworm_sweatshop 2025-04-24T19:46:37Z

Lovely game! I like the concept a lot and it felt really clever, with the hints being well written in being clear enough but also a little bit mystic. Strong music too, and very impressive size of the game, as well as how complete it feels. Great job as usual :)

Private Inequity by Pirey 2025-10-11T21:28:59Z

Hello Professor, i'm one of your students and would like to leave feedback. I really enjoyed the game - the games teachings about gaming the system to get incredibly rich feel applicable and relevant to real life. I hope once i scam my first bank in a loan it will feel as good as here.

I had some initial feelings, but that was gone after maybe 10 minutes when i was free to play and got really into the loop. - the top right hints can be a bit stealthy when changing, would be good to emphasize them. - year indicator is very minimal and does not tell me that it indicates a year and what the consequences are. Importantly it also does not tell me how far it will go to the right. - control hint font is very small on 3440x1440 - i wish i could fast forward. I'm sitting on loads of cash and just slowly watch it trickle down. edit: ah finally got the order of magnitude increase, nice! The dynamics did not change much though as i now watch trickle down of 10s :D - once i got really big numbers i had no waiting times, that was fine. The one thing that was annoying then was the popout animation of the context menu. If i deal with 10M+, there is only one relevant option (not dealing in 1s or 10s and actually i'd go for 1000s) - now i'm really only operating with two companies, always funneling the debt money back to my original company and i don't see much reason to do otherwise (late game the limiting factor became the quantity of 100 for buying/selling - 200K profit against 100K debt and not getting a loan is ridiculous :D - i'm not sure if this is intended, but ofc i will apply to 5 banks at the same time for a loan and accept all offers once they are all in

Overall i really like the style and once the scale of it established itself it became fun (when having multiple subsidaries became meaningful). Before that it was decent enough to keep me playing at least :D Great work overall, you should do this professionally. Just get a programmer to help you out, i had an "invalid array length" crash freezing the game and killing my run :P