samboyer276

BLOOM ETERNAL by samboyer276 2020-04-22T22:24:59Z

Thank you so so much for the wonderful comments everyone! we really appreciate the feedback <3 It looks like learning the controls (especially mouse) was an issue for many people, we could have done better with relaying this info within the game (@codechomper good idea with the crosshair!).

@codechomper yes, ESDF is a decision made by PICO-8. The W key is also available, but is mapped to a different action, and we ultimately decided it would be best to stick to what PICO expects (especially if people have remapped their controls in the full version!)

@ion-programming good idea! the camera code is something we did really early on and didn't alter much later (only to add the start and end 'custscenes'), but some kind of logic to push the camera towards enemies would be a really nice addition :)

BLOOM ETERNAL by samboyer276 2020-04-23T14:10:08Z

@pkenney thank you for putting the time into writing this! Don't worry about the criticism, it's really helpful to hear :)

I agree with both of your points; we could have thought more about both of these, and I wonder if we got so used to our original solutions for input and camera that we just didn't notice them being an issue? I was taking inspiration for the feel from games like Enter the Gungeon (relaly good camera logic), but it's actually been a while since I've played it and I probably forgot about details like that, that really impact the feel.

I wonder if the mouse input would be better if your aim direction was always relative to the center of the screen, and we drew a reticle around the player based on this direction? I don't know of any games that do this, but I guess it would imitate analog stick input on top-downs like Enter the Gungeon.

As for controls, X/C may have been decided on too quickly just because of PICO-8 conventions (though we should have looked deeper into the docs to find Tab/Q!). I bet right click would be another good option for watering, like a traditional alt-fire...

The video you linked to seems really helpful, will give it a proper watch soon. Thanks again!

Operation Trepidation by Rolodophone 2020-04-22T12:56:20Z

Hey, nice job with this one! Clever concept and the high chance of failure keeps you on edge. I found it a little difficult to read what the buttons did when cycling through them. perhaps colouring the buttons based on their action or icons for the tools would help with that? But otherwise great!

Plant Party by Topolino 2020-04-27T16:27:25Z

hey nice job! I had fun finding out each plant's requirements and grouping them together for better happiness :smile: I was frequently knocking plants off tables with the watering objects, which I think was an intended mechanic, but the objects seemed quite sensitive to any collisions and would fall over easily... I wonder if the plants could be weighed down a little to keep them in place more, but still fall over for heavy-handed players?

Aside from that (and the UI issues mentioned above), it's a great execution! well done :D

Derelict: Gaia Protocol by Groogy 2020-05-09T16:27:41Z

Hey, this was really fun! The simple graphics were quite effective at presenting the state of the map, and the audio fit well too. My strategy was to slowly build up energy with net zero homeostasis, then make as many fusion plants as I could, which made winning easy from there!

It'd be great if you could disable window resizing to fix the issue @blay09 described. Overall, a great game :smile:

Apocalypse Baby by STREETGEEK 2020-05-09T15:56:43Z

Hey this is a really cool idea! It's a shame that you had issues in development but I can imagine a non-linear path working quite well :)

@jk5000's point about not locking the mouse is especally unhelpful on a multi-monitor setup as you end up clicking on other windows, but I think it's a simple property to set in Unity.

Another suggestion would be to focus a little more on the player's controls; the graphics and sound are really epic, but it doesn't translate so well to the player with such restricted weapon firing. I'm sure this would have been focussed on given more time but it's important to remember.

Aside from this, great job!

Wheels of Rage: Enter the Scrapstorm by Gunnbju 2020-04-22T13:11:09Z

Hey this was really fun! liked the graphics and mechanics. I found myself spamming the cards while low on fuel in hope of a canister being selected but ultimately ran out... Maybe fuel could appear slightly more frequently when you're low? I also thought the left/right cards didn't move the car as far as I thought they would, given the road is quite wide. But other than that it's a really polished game :D

Summon the Phoenix by giraffesareburning 2020-05-03T15:51:29Z

Hey good job with this game! I enjoyed getting better at juggling the logs as i played more, though it was a shame to die after a couple of bad clicks. I wonder if the gameplay could still be balanced by allowing multiple logs to be juggled at once, as like a high-risk (faster clicking) strategy? Also some indication that your mouse is over a log would be really useful to better line up the clicks. But overall it's a really good entry :D

Grove Guardian by chaotikza 2020-05-09T15:47:09Z

Hey great job with this! As someone who also made a PICO-8 game, I think you've done a really good job with all the limitations (especially on the music!) As mentioned above, working out what to do is a little difficult; maybe a couple of sentences explaining the various mechanics would be helpful after the starting screen, or in the game description? Aside from that, it's a really good submission :smile:

Snombley by Barndles 2020-05-03T15:56:07Z

Hey nice job! I think the sprites look nice, but differently scaled sprites at different distances makes it quite difficult to get a sense of depth, without moving the camera a lot to check the parallax but that might end you up in a fire :( I think it would help a lot to have some soft of sprite on the floor under a fire object, like a shadow or something, though it's still quite fun as it is now :)

cyberpunk_200s.sys by Epicload 2020-05-03T15:43:49Z

Hey great job! I liked the concept and the gameplay, though I agree with the others that more strategy would help to keep the waves varied. The CRT effect helps with the style, but i felt it was a little excessive when trying to look at some enemies on the far side of the screen; perhaps turning it down a little or apply as a one-shot VFX on kills would help? Overall a really solid entry :D

Abyssal Accessory by Junber 2020-05-09T20:59:44Z

Wow, I can't believe how complete and polished this feels for a Jam game! congrats to everyone involved for pulling it off :D

Ignoring time constraints, I think it could do with a bit more variety in music and the character sprites to match the length of the game. The squid minigame was certainly a difficult one, but it never seemed to cause me issues with keeping the squid alive. From a purely stylistic point of view, I wonder if the movement of bullets and enemies in the minigame could be clamped to certain intervals, to mimic a lower resolution/processor that the rest of the tamagochi seems to have?

But overall, really great work :smile:

Keep Me Alive by Texz 2020-05-01T12:19:35Z

clever game mechanic~~s~~, but it might have been easier to make/distribute as a web 'game'; while it would weaken the joke it would speed up the setup time, help with crossplaform etc. best wishes for your situation though <3

Finterior Decorator by illuminegames 2020-04-22T14:33:18Z

Hey congrats on such a great game! I agre with everyone above, great graphics and tutorial system. I had a slightly low framerate while playing on my laptop, perhaps an option to disable some of the post-processing would help users with low(ish)-end machines. Otherwise a wonderful job! :D

Ketchup Quest - Endless Arcade Fighting to Protect Your Saucy Stash by samboyer276 2017-12-05T17:40:05Z

Yo, thanks for all the feedback! Just in response to the controls issue, you can actually use LMB to attack in single player but it gets disabled in 2 player. I left it out of documentation for clarity but it's back in now.

Ketchup Quest - Endless Arcade Fighting to Protect Your Saucy Stash by samboyer276 2017-12-05T22:55:30Z

@iojioji Thanks so much! Totally agree with you about the stack, unfortunately it was one of many little things that I ran out of time to improve on... Same with the shooting, it was pretty much lifted from the enemy AI script at the last minute >.< thanks again :D

Home Raider by Rongo Matane 2017-12-06T18:58:14Z

Awesome game! Loved the footstep mechanic and the graphics were brilliant. I just wish it was longer :)

Project MADNESS by Iluvatar 2017-12-15T20:52:44Z

Haha this was really fun! Got stuck on 99% on day 4 for *ages*, go away doggo >.< Really good graphics, good application of the theme. A little slow-paced at times, but overall a great game!

Ed's City by Fedor 2017-12-13T21:27:55Z

Hey, this was pretty good! I think the art fit it very well. But maybe it might be a bit more interesting if something changed as you progressed, like population increase rate or more building/utility unlocks? Overall though, quite nice :)

Shopping Spree by Devastus 2017-12-06T20:16:03Z

This was amazing :D incredibly detailed and polished, great concept. The customiser was a nice addition too. Well done!

Bleu's Heist by ckRobinson 2017-12-06T17:27:01Z

Man this was so much more fun than I expected! really clever mechanic with the noise radius, I got caught trying to carry 3 of them at once :P really liked the grapple too, got me out of a couple of sticky situations... Overall a great game :D

Solaris by Villfuk02 2017-12-07T19:25:44Z

This was great! I really liked the concept, very easy to pick up and play. Gets more difficult at a natural pace, very nice visuals too, though perhaps the trail particles are a tiny bit too bright in comparison to the stars, so you can get them mixed up... just nit-picking though. Well done! :)

Ultra Ninja Vs Falling Zombies II: New Hope by gaspard 2017-12-08T21:33:03Z

Wow this game was amazing! Definitely one of the most fun I've seen yet. It's great how you can rush into a mob of a hundred zombies and kill them all in a few seconds :P If anyhting, I thought that the zombies were a little OP in terms of against the villagers, maybe because they ran so fast or because could infect a villager the instant they left a house... But overall, brilliant :D

.SWARM by Hegemege 2017-12-06T21:28:05Z

Really liked this game. Clear concise graphics, simple but devious gameplay. Very clever stuff with the looping world too!

Confusing Blade Hunter by PaterJosch 2017-12-06T18:27:32Z

Great game! Really fun platforming, clever mechanic once you realise what it is. Unfortunately I had to close the game because is was lagging so much due to so many enemies being spawned, but it was still very fun :)

It's the Wurst by A-Flat Miner Studios 2017-12-06T21:25:23Z

As straightforward as it is, this was pretty fun! The graphics were great too :) I agree with the above though about perhaps a slower difficulty ramp or a bit faster shooting, but otherwise very well done!

Yarn the Kittens by Emilio Segura 2017-12-05T21:45:10Z

Good fun, really liked timing the jumps and rolling yourself out of a pit :P Would love to play more levels!

Keyboard Kitten by qzqxq 2017-12-05T21:47:17Z

Great game! Really clever puzzle mechanic, it's very fun once you realise what's happening :P

Forgotten Machines by SaphireS 2017-12-13T21:36:58Z

Hey this was really fun! I really liked the lowpoly machines and the whole art style. Collecting the powerups was fun and it was surprising to see how powerful you become, but imo it did make things a bit too easy... Perhaps harder (or just more) enemies later, or limited duration powerups would keep the pace steady? Another little suggestion is a tiny bit of smoothing on the camera movement. I loved how it moved with the aiming direction, but suddenly switching would throw it across quite a lot. But overall, a really good-looking and fun game! :)

Jazzy Beats by Moski 2017-12-13T21:47:53Z

Hey, this was great! Definitely one of the most polished games on here. The graphics were perfectly drawn, the sound fit it really well too. The gameplay was much more fun than expected, and suprisingly difficult as more fans join, just as intended! Since the enemy has an identical moveset it's quite hard to keep fans on your side for long... :P Just as a couple of tiny suggestions, I thought the audio would have been perfect if it perhaps had some sounds for attack hits? Just to make them feel more impactful. And perhaps the combo counter could have more affect on gameplay, maybe something like recharging the abilities faster? But overall, a brilliant game :D

Earth Eaters by chionic 2017-12-06T17:07:34Z

This is a really fun game! Lovely graphics too. Perhaps the difficulty ramps up a bit too fast, but the nature it pretty exciting :P Good stuff overall!

Network Invader by drazil100 2017-12-07T19:44:09Z

This was pretty good! Really liked how you had to rotate to aim the gun, especially when trying to hit the laser enemies. The graphics could do with a *tiny* bit more work, but combining it with the audio it gave a really consistent feel. Overall great game! :)

Armed Descent by Acr515 2017-12-08T11:11:14Z

This was really fun! I think the audio and graphics mix perfectly. It was so cool to find out the cabinets actually get damaged if you shoot them! And then the next time round it spawned a health pack! So many cool little discoveries in here. My only issue would be that the robots' bullets were quite difficult to avoid the first couple of games, perhaps a mix of their high speed and small size... But otherwise the gameplay was great. Good job! :D

Dont fill the box by Kolonka 2017-12-17T15:52:23Z

Hey, I really like the graphics with this one :) However, the gameplay is a tad monotonous... I wonder if some balls could have different sizes, or maybe some balls were good? (i.e. black holes or something)... but it's a good concept :)

Overpopulation by julianeder33 2017-12-08T21:19:11Z

Hey, this is a really good concept! Had lots of fun once it started working, by that I mean I didn't realise you had to click twice to send ships >.< no worries, but a more in-depth tutorial would have been great. The graphics were great too! But perhaps the over/population bars were a little too small? I knew slightly how my planets were doing but the game over can be quite sudden if you forget about a little planet somehwere. Overall, great game! :D

The Adequate Shepherd by blubberquark 2017-12-08T21:08:49Z

Hey, this looks really nice :) And I can definitely see where you're going with the game concept. Though I think it'd be nice with an indication of *where* the goal was, and perhaps a few fewer sheep to start... but otherwise a nice experience.

Burn Bunny (in space) by ZeAntwan 2017-12-06T18:11:06Z

Great game! Amazing how polished it is for such a short time (especially the mamazon sound xD) nice job!

UF-Ohh by SammyB 2017-12-07T19:59:03Z

Hey, fancy seeing another Sam B around here! :P Anyway, this was actually a really good game! The teleportation mechanic allowed for lots of random situations, including pleasant 'oh look I'm right there' moments. Again, the diagonal move is a tad temperamental to pull off but it's not too much of a problem. Overall great game! :D

Lil' Justin's Fame Escape by spierek 2017-12-06T21:27:23Z

This game was great! Really good concept, though maybe a tad repetitive... graphics were way more than good enough, loved the texting concept too. Overall lots of fun!

Party House - have a party and clean up before your parents get home! by Michal Ferko 2017-12-08T21:46:45Z

Woohoo, got 1030 points! :D Wow, this was much more fun than expected. Realising what grave mistakes you made earlier, then frantically trying to clean up after yourself was great. Discovering the windows opened then hastily throwing chickens and businessmen out of them was awesome! Some sound owould have been nice but didn't really matter overall. Again, really fun game :)

Cybird by AsSoonAsImpossible 2017-12-06T21:23:07Z

Man, this looks amazing! Very good quality graphics and environment. Hate to say it again, but the controls felt a little off, but it's easy to see that with a bit of improvement to them it'd be perfect :D

Save the Hats by Gruhh 2017-12-15T21:01:31Z

This was really fun! Like some others, it took a while to get going (in terms of both controls and wave sizes), but was totally worth it. The art looks amazing, very good incorportation of the theme too. Great job :D

Remembag by Satyre 2017-12-15T20:36:52Z

The graphics looked nice in this game, but to be honest I wasn't entirely sure what the objective was? Your description makes sense, but since every object counts as correct then the game sorta loses its meaning... (I did only play the jam version. Can't tell if you fixed it in the post-jam one, but it still seems a little strange .-.)

Racing squared by joll05 2018-04-24T16:38:48Z

Good work! I like the idea for navigating a grid racecourse and it's got a lot of potential. It'd be great if you could add some checks (maybe Trigger BoxColliders) for if the car goes around the whole of the track, to mark a lap as complete. But it's still pretty cool for your first game :D

Modern Bowlfare by Derek Wilson 2018-04-24T19:33:49Z

Amazing :D loved the atmosphere and the gameplay, had so much fun. Will definitely be sharing this on,e great job! (My best was 82 points ;) )

Spin Quest by AndrewJAdams 2018-04-24T20:25:32Z

Very fun game! My only negative feedback would be the shuffling/rotation sometimes taking quite a while, but everything else is perfect :D

Wrong Bet by tajamsoft 2018-04-24T16:47:44Z

Hey, nice game! This was so much fun to play (once I knew what to do). The weapons are pretty cool and the different weapons really work well together. If anything, I'd say being able to discern between your team and your targets was a little difficult (both on the track and on the UI), but you learn pretty quick while playing. Great job :D

Retroviral by saiodin 2018-04-28T15:15:13Z

This game is amazing! Congrats to all of you for making such an incredible experience in such a short time, it really feels like a released game. The graphics and audio are of exceptional quality and the idea perfectly fits the theme while still being fun. It's 5/5 in nearly all the categories :D I think there could be a couple of bug-related improvements to be done (some issues where the ball wouldn't be hit when you release left mouse and right mouse around the same time, physics interactions between the player and the ball etc.) but these are really only minor. Thanks for making such a fun game, really enjoyed it :)

A Skeleton Story - Ludum Dare 41 by Zukureneno 2018-04-24T17:05:13Z

This is a really nice game! The graphics are awesome, the music fits in well and the controls are pretty fluid. It took me a while to understand I could wall jump, so perhaps that could be indicated with a particle effect or extra sliding animation? And I might've accidentally pressed the R key instead of E which was a little frustrating... but otherwise it was very fun. Great job guys :D

Oni Hunter by pataya 2018-04-26T19:11:17Z

Wow, you guys smashed this jam! Amazing game for 3 days, graphics and audio match the gameplay perfectly. Most well-polished and complete game I've seen, you deserve to win :D

Farmer Dave by Spanner 2018-04-24T16:33:16Z

Hey, nice entry! I like the idea and the multiple difficulty modes, and the pixel art works really well. It seems like the time needed for growing/eating are a little too equal, as the game seems to get in a loop of progression towards a win, but I reckon that could be fixed with a couple of number changes.

It's a shame there isn't an easier way to distribute pygame projects, but I guess most of us at least have python already installed :P Anyway great stuff, hope you enjoyed making it!

SnakeTD by Klerembot 2018-04-24T19:55:16Z

It's a really cool idea and is pretty fun to play! I agree that it could be better with a tad more polish (all of ours can :P), but overall it was quite a nice game. Good job!

Judgement Day: The Board Game by hhsaez 2018-04-26T19:16:53Z

Hey this was quite a nice game :) I liked how well you used a farily limiting genre to tell the story through text. Ultimately a couple of sprites or a bit more graphical polish would have been nice, but by no means necessary to make a good game. Great job!

'Lil Lost Squashy by bram_ve 2018-04-24T19:48:29Z

Hey guys, this was a really nice looking (and sounding ;) )game! I liked how the voxel terrain looked and how differet pieces were combined together to make a continous path (it became noticeable that certain blocks were repeating, but it wasn't really a problem). I also think maybe a score or distance measure would be nice, but otherwise a really great piece of work :D

LeChaudron by Jajakeim 2018-04-28T09:37:56Z

Hey this is a really nice looking game! It's quite fun once you learn to bounce food until it's above the cauldron (admittedly took a while to figure that out - I should've paid more attention to the description :P) although the small size of the cauldron and random immediate item changes does make things a little difficult. Otherwise it's pretty great, good job!

About Love by maskinmask 2018-04-28T09:07:10Z

Hey, great game! The graphics and music fit together really well to make a simplistic yet meaningful exexperience. I think the pieces being random shapes is a tiny bit confusing initally (perhaps small heart shapes would make the intention clearer), but once you understand what you have to do it's pretty fun! Good job :)

Story Collabs by Maakep 2018-05-10T19:09:02Z

Hey this is a really cool idea! I could totally see it working for groups of friends (maybe as a Facebook Messenger groupchat game), it's really fun to be able to completely change the direction of the story. Great job :D

TURTLE RACERS - Commanding your way to Victory by samboyer276 2018-04-24T16:55:03Z

thanks for the feedback guys!

@duuuude, the commands were the first thing I added and they were just a reflection of normal turtle graphics functions, but I agree it's not entirely useful. I was actually thinking of making a course with dead ends, but I thought it'd put inexperienced players at a disadvantage (if you'd played the course before you could just remember the proper route) and I didn't really have time to put a finish line shuffle system in, so unfortunately it never happened. Thanks for playing :)

TURTLE RACERS - Commanding your way to Victory by samboyer276 2018-04-28T10:12:01Z

Wow, thanks for all the positive feedback! I'm so glad that you guys enjoy it :)

@tajamsoft that's an awesome idea! I've always wanted to try out coding a Splatoon game, but I guess the floor would have to be a bit less regular than their maps else players could just draw grids... If/when I start on a post-jam version I'll certainly try it out :D

@GenTel Thanks for the comment! A _lot_ of the multiplayer functionality is being handled by Unity (UNET HLAPI), but still it definitely took most of the time as I've never used it before xD The tracks are an incredibly cheap trick; while drawing a test level I noticed I could copy and paste my curve twice, make one larger and the other dashed and boom, convincing racetrack in 10 seconds! Unfortunately it means they're ugly compressed bitmaps, so for a proper game I'd prefer them to be stored as dynamic splines or meshes.

AI's a really good idea that just skipped my mind, I might've even had time to hack in a really dumb bot using random raycasts and waits. Again, one for the postjam todo list :P

TURTLE RACERS - Commanding your way to Victory by samboyer276 2018-04-28T21:29:36Z

@Wevel Good point, I noticed that this was the first kind of syntax a couple of people tried when first playing. Ultimately I chose a style that would be easiest to parse (splitting by spacebar, meaning you can also chain up commands with spaces too), though it maybe could be changed to no spaces in the future. Or brackets and semicolons to frustrate people more? :P anyway thatks for the advice :)

Bump Quest 6 by Siactro 2018-04-24T18:59:29Z

Hey, neat game :) Loved the voxel art and effects, but found the character a little difficult to manouver. Otherwise great job :D

Gone Clicking by hiki911 2018-04-24T16:21:25Z

Good stuff! The rhythm spacing bug you mentioned makes it difficult to play later on, but the idea is great and the graphics are very nice :)

Block Caver by Bearmask Studios 2018-08-22T14:54:13Z

hey, nice game! Clever mechanic and quite fun to keep replaying. The music was an awesome addition :D Initially I didn't realise that the grass platforms were solid on both sides as the boxes could still move through them, but it made sense once I realised that (and died a couple times to it .-. ) overall good job!

Sir Dashaton by tjakka5 2018-08-17T16:09:53Z

hey, I really enjoyed playing this game! Very cool concept and a really good idea with the voice acting :D

Reverse by Goutye 2018-08-22T14:45:56Z

Hey great job! Like everyone's saying it's a really innovative mechanic to come up with so quickly! The graphics and music suited the gameplay really well too :D

Ludum Dare Simulator 2019 by samboyer276 2018-08-14T19:34:04Z

thanks so much guys! I was really nervous about the reaction from this game, very relieved that it worked well enough. Apologies for the difficulty, I thought that a bit too but only after it was finished ;-; but at least you can always enter the next jam and do better - in-game I mean xD thanks again <3

Ludum Dare Simulator 2019 by samboyer276 2018-08-15T13:16:40Z

Thanks guys :) @not-the-real-mark-zhang oh dear, sorry about that! Guessed it slipped through my 2 minute playtest .-. It'd be an easy fix but doubt it warrants a new build after the jam, hopefully it doesn't catch many people out. Thanks for checking the game out and letting me know!

Ludum Dare Simulator 2019 by samboyer276 2018-08-16T13:48:03Z

@pm2k you're right about the theme, there's no point in me pretending it's more than just an altered stopwatch .-. but I honestly couldn't think of any good game ideas that fit the theme so just tried to throw it onto this one. I also struggled to think up the minigames themselves so that's why they don't fit the theme either. You're right about the theme/genre system though, it does alter your grade based on whether you bias your playtime to different categories. I'll try to make that clearer in the description :) thanks for the feedback!

Ludum Dare Simulator 2019 by samboyer276 2018-08-17T15:36:07Z

Thanks so much everyone! @tjakka5 especially, I can't believe you made a whole video for it xD loved watching, sorry the concepts are a little tough to understand at first though. And don't worry I find it just as hard to play :P

@linky439 you could certainly try! I've scored in top 100 once but not that much higher. You'd be best to close and re-open after LD42 as the number of participants increases in each jam... good luck ;)

@darenn actually I did, need my Zs xD I worked it out earlier, think it was 45/72 hours spent on it? But at this point programming for C#/Unity isn't a problem so most of the time was spent on art/design/architecture...

Ludum Dare Simulator 2019 by samboyer276 2018-08-23T08:33:32Z

Hey @steve-sparkes, thanks again :D definitely agree with you on the code instructions list thingy, it used to have an indicator but it was messing up with how they overflow after 10 instructions... plus after spending literally 3 hours on drag and drop code I decided to call it a day xD I think it needs more text indicators all over tbh, like 'Choose a game' (or something to that effect) above the buttons on the right, just to get people going... thanks for the advice too! :)

Ludum Dare Simulator 2019 by samboyer276 2018-08-23T20:31:35Z

Thanks peeps! @radical-dog glad somebody got the warioware inspiration :D yeah I played around with the Music game pause between the CPU and the player, originally it was immediate which had a nice rhythm but made it impossible to hit the notes on beat 1... perhaps an extra beat in the middle or have it start automatically when the player presses a key would be better? I'll have another go at it for the remake.

And yeah I bet it's messed up on 16:10, my bad D: I told Unity to only allow 16:9 but then I also stupidly made it fullscreen by default... hopefully most people are on 16:9 for it to be ignored by most and I'll put the resolution dialog back where it belongs in the next build! :P

@ana I'm just glad all the minigames got finished at all xD yeah you're not the only one with the code blocks, maybe a dotted outline square as a placeholder for the next instruction would be adequate? and should be easy enough to put in. Thanks for the feedback, best of luck with yours!

MNTL BLCKS by Steve Sparkes 2018-08-23T09:11:18Z

this game was soooo fun to play! I loved all of the dialogue, and the way you get to choose your available options is great, makes for some really... desperate conversations xD I particularly enjoyed being able to recite slam poetry to a cashier, have an intimate conversation about Crocs on a date and asking everybody about their thoughts on machetes... was a wonderful experience, very fluid conversations that must've taken ages to write to have so many callbacks to earlier points in the mission! And a nice and clean interface to boot. Honestly the *only* thing missing is sound, which is definitely excusable. Great job guys :D

ground_0 by Jamison 2018-08-14T21:21:50Z

This game is perhaps the coolest thing I've seen all year. The gameplay is great and the polish level is insane, brilliant atmosphere with all the beating graphics. The difficulty ramp is just perfect to keep you hooked while questioning how you're still going (17min and 70 deaths for me .-.). And you made the music yourself too?! 100/10 <3

Hell's Kitchen by Bro404 2018-08-16T14:43:27Z

hey nice job! I really liked the graphics and the humans' quirky poses :P I think it'd be helpful if there was some sort of indication that the human would or wouldn't fit before releasing the mouse but isn't totally necessary. The music choice on the sound version was good too! overall great job :D

Mind Game(s) - Prologue by samboyer276 2019-10-13T11:21:20Z

thanks so much peeps <3

@cyberwiz haha yeah, there's not many choices in most of the story due to both time constraint and the idea that this was a tutorial of sorts. The 'multiple endings' sort of count as a branching storyline, but we don't actually see the effects of that in this part :'(

Mind Game(s) - Prologue by samboyer276 2019-10-23T10:54:15Z

Thanks guys!

@jonno yep I love the interface too, but it's mostly down to the engine :D it's very flexible in allowing for more text to appear within the same 'room', so I tried to make use of that as much as I could. The dynamic backgrounds were a custom addition though :)

Nothing by pantoufle 2019-10-22T16:07:21Z

Didn't expect a calm sandbox minigame to be so fun! Sound and graphics were nicely done too. Great job :)

Hello, Darkness by Rinta 2023-10-16T22:15:27Z

such a cool idea to have 'enemies' that aren't visible but cause difficulty by moving all your stuff! It was a bit difficult to keep track of items coming & going while walking in one direction - maybe the player's visibility should be expanded (perhaps as an actual circle instead of the cross shape?), or reduce the walking speed so you don't zip past an important item? though I got used to it eventually.

As said by others would be great to see it expanded upon with more puzzles!:)

Project Minima by BlueDandelion 2023-10-05T21:10:58Z

really enjoyed trying this one out! I'm very bad at precision platformers and so didn't get very far, but I thought the character was very satisfying to control, especially the wall jumps! I think the hitboxes for the spikes and spinning obstacles were maybe a bit too large, as I seemed to be dying even without hitting them, but maybe that's just my imagination. Another tiny graphics improvement could be some kind of visual/audio feedback when air-dashing? but all considered a very nice game:)

Extinction Extraction by tetrapteryx 2023-10-10T20:24:12Z

Hey tetrapteryx, loved this game! very cute graphics that work well with the small space, nice backing music, and interesting puzzles. great all around. My only suggestion would be improving the yellow boxes that appear when you pick up some rocks (should they show the whole span of the rock shape?). Anyway great game all-round!

(I lost two dinos through the playthough, pls pray for them 🙏)

Also quick question - which version of Godot are you using to get the HTML5 build working? We were exporting with 4.1.1 and it just refused to launch:/

Extinction Extraction by tetrapteryx 2023-10-10T21:25:02Z

@tetrapteryx Ahh good choice - we dived straight into Godot 4 and weren't aware it was unstable for web, though I heard someone here say it'll be fixed soon! maybe I'll try a 4.2 beta snapshot in the meantime, or backporting to 3.5 :grimacing:

Trash Compactor by Voidsay 2023-10-08T11:12:44Z

It's been ages since I've played 2048 so this was a really fun reminder of that game for me! (I got to 540 points ^^)

While the sprites are nice and fit the vibe, I feel like some of them are slightly too similar and caused me to make some mistakes while moving - perhaps they could benefit from a 2048-style number in the corner, or on hover? regardless, a good first game with Godot! (I am also a friendship-ended-with-Unity guy haha)

Evocation by kanity 2024-04-22T20:19:36Z

Lovely artwork and very spooky sound design! I'm not good with scary games/movies so had to watch through my fingers for a lot of the transitions 😆 Anyway it's really cool to see such a fleshed out story/universe in a jam game, on top of all that art/audio!

Ritual Road by FreshD 2024-04-20T17:24:31Z

Love the graphics in this projec! The sound design of the engine revving up was also really nice, especially the panning as you turn around. Shame there's not more objectives to aim for but being targeted by the shadow tentacle thing for a moment was enough encouragement to get away asap :laughing: Great stuff overall!

Fury Duty by krummja 2024-04-20T18:29:05Z

I knew it was going to be fun just based on the logo but man when the voiceover happened I was even more excited :laughing: throwdown in a courtroom is definitely a unique take, and in-game artwork was really clean! I don't mind the length of the game but think I may have preferred a slightly more difficult opponent - perhaps tweaking the AI reaction times for an easy/hard mode would be a good way to keep it open for everyone? But yeah great stuff overall :)

Ink Summoner by Custodi 2024-04-22T20:40:53Z

Loved solving these puzzles and finding new spells in each room! Jumping onto/navigating around boxes was a bit awkward in levels that used them, but didn't take away from the experience too much. (I also don't have any suggestions for altering that, rigidbodies are always a pain!).

I'm a little embarassed to admit that I couldn't solve the main menu challenge at first... because I didn't realise the 3x3 dot grid was a part of the UI and not part of the world!! Oops 😅 (it's obvious on later screens, just not this one. not sure what to suggest for this - maybe 'ghost lines' indicating that's where you draw? not a major issue though, I am just easily confused)

Great stuff overall!

KekLuck's Summoners Colosseum by KekLuck 2024-04-21T11:43:04Z

Hey, really enjoyed playing this! Lots of cute 'handmade' assets really sell it - my favourites are the animal icons, the 'Yeah!' sound when you get a power-up, and the exceptional frog voice acting :laughing:

I noticed that the arena's shading had a bit of a retro noise effect that I thought was deliberate, but noticed it wasn't happening in your screenshots, so wondering if it's a bug on my machine? Attached below in case you've seen it before.

Screenshot 2024-04-21 123756.jpg

Great stuff overall!

Farming & Demon Summoning Simulator 2024 by thimmythimble 2024-04-22T20:03:40Z

loved this game! very cute graphics, simple objectives with a clear sense of progression, and the ability to grow whatever you like afterwards :)

I did have slight difficulty after losing the first time, in that the gardening book was not able to reopen by pressing 'X' anymore. reloading the page fixed it though.

Great stuff in all - congrats for finishing!

Birb World Tour: Royale by samboyer276 2024-04-18T22:44:38Z

_known not-bugs_

- floating trees - they are canon in this universe

Birb World Tour: Royale by samboyer276 2024-04-19T09:12:01Z

@poutine-studio Sorry about that!! I think your PC was loading the next level so fast that the transition hadn't finished in time haha - I've fixed it now. If you do feel like playing again (especially now you have money) it should remember your skins/upgrades between reloads 😊

Birb World Tour: Royale by samboyer276 2024-04-20T18:34:52Z

@stellarnightmare yeah there isn't really an in-game connection sorry, except in my questionable scene-setting description :P hence why I opted out of the Theme category.

@callmety 19 seconds?!?! how fast were you going?! that's by far the fastest time I've seen, am honestly surprised the character controller still works at that speed 😆 but I'm really glad the upgrade system was satisfying. Ramp/path sticking is a major problem right now; if I did a post-jam version I'd probably make a whole new 'spline' movement state so you don't fall off it (& can handle sharper corners - I think this is how it's done in Sonic?), but the current 'rigidbody-like' state can handle the basics.

@poutine-studio yeah that's a big issue with this momentum physics, the moment all your horizontal speed gets converted to vertical you just aren't coming back down :( maybe I should increase gravity, or prevent those kinds of launches from happening so much... or just put a big collision plane in the sky haha

Birb World Tour: Royale by samboyer276 2024-04-22T19:40:48Z

@azathothep glad you enjoyed it! Sorry about losing direction a couple times. I hoped the dirt tracks would keep the player on track, but yes once you're off them they're not really visible. There's a 'goal indicator' arrow on the UI that should point to where you need to go, but I think it breaks when you're facing >90deg away (something about world-to-screen-space projections??), I should definitely fix that. Regardless, big arrow signs around the course never hurt in a racing game - I should add those too :P

@freshd Thanks for playing! That being said I'm looking forward to a post-jam version of Ritual Road someday so I must ask you to stop playing mine :laughing:

@breakfastgun yeah I'm gutted about the 'twister' road honestly, would've been the coolest road to run over. Technically it \*can\* be done if you slow down loads before + while on it, which isn't very fun. I think the issue is twofold:

- The birb is treated more like a car/real-life physics object than a game character. I should be sticking it down to the floor (terrain and roads) better.

- Obviously this road is impossible to use in real life! If I did a path that resembled a barrel roll instead of an aileron roll there wouldn't be such strong 'upwards' forces.

re. the folks upset about it missing the theme: it's evident I didn't spend much time trying to link this game concept to the theme, mostly because this was the kind of game I wanted to make right now? I'm sorry if that's against the spirit of LDjam, but I feel like being able to opt-out of the Theme category is evidence that making a game under the theme is not a mandatory aspect. Hopefully future players can bear this in mind and enjoy it regardless :)

And as always, shoutout to @callmety for completely destroying the level :fire: I wish I had more courses for you to optimise haha

Birb World Tour: Royale by samboyer276 2024-05-04T13:16:39Z

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll reply to some specific comments below.

@human > when I am last there is not much options to recover from it

This is a great point. If I'd put in 'dice-roll' powerups (like Mario Kart item boxes) then it'd be easy to bias the more powerful options to people at the back, but the items I had time to put in are fixed for all players unfortunately. I'll try and think of more ways to keep the pack closer together!

@hollowtsun > The only downside is th lack of feedback when we hit an obstacle it would be nice

Agreed - I think it would have been really funny to add a simple tumble animation when you hit an obstacle (think like the rapidly-spinning parkgoers in Roller Coaster Tycoon 3). The spikes and water could do with something similar, but with a longer duration... ah well, one for next time!

@skleembof Thank you for the honest feedback! I agree, the game is less polished than I'd like, and I think I should have spent less time on the lobby and more on the race (especially floating items, they are the bane of my existence!! so easily solved with raycasts at instantiation time as well... :( )

I'm not sure I've seen the 60th place->First place UI bug before though - as far as I know those numbers used the same counters - but maybe it forgets to update the race finish UI in some circumstances? I'll have a look out for it when I'm next in the codebase :)

Larrys ducked-up adventures by Fatz 2024-04-18T22:51:19Z

Speaking as the submitter of another bird-like game, I appreciate the choice of companion 🦆 Very fun in all! The tension of completing the drawing while being chased & running out of ducks was quite good. Would've appreciated slightly more variation in the level artwork but there's only so much we can do with the time available haha. Good job!

Mean Minion Mage by Rowlof 2024-04-22T20:46:00Z

Very cool! I thought the controls for spell casting worked well, and loved the concept that your spells can come back to haunt you as new enemies. I found the tutorial quite fun, but the main game spawned slightly too many enemies too quickly, so I died quite quickly... maybe decreasing the attack cooldown could help fend off enemies?

Anyway good stuff overall :)

Thalatta's Grand Heist by Silas Reinagel 2024-04-18T22:26:41Z

Fun little puzzle game! I enjoyed the puzzles towards the end a little more than the early ones, but perhaps that's because I'd learned the mechanics by then. Voice acting was a fun adddition, especially the little quips during gameplay!

Arcane Anagrams by edj99 2024-04-22T19:51:09Z

Very fun to play! The music speedup when you start to run out space was perfectly tense. I got to 2,610 :) The input scheme would work perfectly for a mobile game, but one suggestion for targeting PC users would be to allow keyboard inputs, such that if that letter is available on screen it's selected, and otherwise you have some timeout penalty (to discourage spamming)? the game still works fine with clicking though - i might just be lazy haha.

Great stuff overall!

Words of Power by nsadie 2024-04-18T23:02:13Z

Loved the graphics and sound design! feel like lots of care was put into this as much as the game design/letter selection. I failed on George a few times at first but worked out how to combine elements better towards the end. Good job!

Puddle of Death by Shawn Beck 2024-04-20T18:19:16Z

This is such a well-polished game for such a short development time! Really coherent art style, and the camera movement and particles felt particularly juicy. (the world-space text was slightly hard to read as a result, but it was hardly a problem). Also really grateful for the save points, as I had to close the game briefly and thought I'd have to start again.

All hail the puddle! :crown:

Speed Demons by Laniph 2024-04-18T22:36:13Z

Great to see a fellow racing/speed-type submission for this jam! (although I'd say yours is much more polished than mine haha.) Loved the fact you we able to squeeze multiple game modes into the game, and that webGL performance is pretty good. I guess it felt a bit lonely on Summoning mode, ie the opponents were all somewhere behind the camera, but a couple caught up to me eventually. A great game in all!

Ocarina Summoner by Narlet 2024-04-21T11:27:06Z

Hey, this is a great concept! It's rare that a game can convince me to get a pen & paper out haha (Fez was probably the last time) but decoding the notes & the book language was a refreshing challenge. I didn't summon all the creatures in the end (mostly because I wasn't keen to translate the whole book), but I'm sure a suitably strong-willed translator could do it. The sprites that I did see were really nice.

It did take me a while to notice that you click & drag the book to look through it (the first page is missing a 'page-turn arrow' imo?), but it makes sense after that. Another thing that might be nice is being able to play the notes and navigate the book via keypresses, but that's just me being lazy haha

Great stuff overall, congrats team!

From Hell's Heart by randomhuman 2024-04-20T17:40:44Z

Loved this game! The sprite work is fantastic and the outlines make the player/enemies/bullets super readable. Movement and camerawork is also really smooth, reminds me of Enter the Gungeon, perhaps that was an inspiration? Anyway yeah great gameplay loop :)