selkkie

The Exchange by caeonosphere 2018-12-08T05:28:51Z

At first I had no idea where this was going... and then I was hooked. I would love to play more... the idea is very compelling! I think some of the cards were difficult to get a grasp on in terms of their weight, but by the last exchange it was more of a pro than a con as it left me with a desire to experiment. The text box itself could probably be iterated on, and music and fluff could be added, but at its core this is really fun and really smooth looking.

Cook by Koala Squad 2018-12-08T05:23:04Z

Really neat concept! The instructions were especially engaging. I'm not sure what the purpose of the front is since it's immediately disposed of rather than played into. I also feel like more user interaction in the ending would have had a strong impact. I did enjoy the theme of control though, and atmospherically everything was spot on. Overall very cool!

ZERMATT: ZERO by FireSlash 2019-10-09T19:29:14Z

Fantastic game. Awesome sound and graphics- really nailed the PC-98 feel. It was a bit difficult to progress - on my first two runs I got eaten every time I stepped off the elevator onto the third floor, and the third run was so much jumping between the top two floors it was difficult to make it anywhere. Still though, each time I played it there was variety thanks to the characters.

Awesome work!

Uballto by Omiya Games 2019-10-27T20:07:11Z

This was probably the coolest game I've played all jam, super innovative, I adored it! The way the audio worked too was a really cool touch, although it seemed to be a little buggy. Fantastic design and presentation, excellent work! I would love to see it expanded on, since there's a lot of potential for different window mechanics!

Trashquest by icxon 2019-10-09T21:55:49Z

This right here has to be my favorite game so far. It's so much fun, I love the aesthetic, and the combat mechanic is unique (even if it is a nod to hammerfight). I adored the graphics. I would love to see this expanded upon, and I'd bet that this would be really fun to play in a multiplayer environment, especially given how monstrous you can become!

Soundmarine by Dustyroom 2019-10-09T18:00:24Z

Very stylish, awesome soundtrack, overall beautiful experience. Would have liked to maybe see more variety or challenge in gameplay, but still a jammin' lil' game nonetheless!

MØN : Master Of Nothing by saintheiser 2019-10-13T12:00:15Z

This was a really pretty looking game, very fluid animations and impressive pixel art, not to mention the procedural generation on top of that! Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out for the life of me what I was supposed to be doing. The first couple playthroughs I went into a room, interacted with a null symbol, created a black hole and immediately died. After that I made it into a room and started pushing enemies around, but couldn't figure out how to create a black hole. Would definitely benefit from an in-game level that forces you to learn the concepts then and there- just knowing that Z and X were the controls didn't tell me anything in the end- even if I vaguely understood I should be making black holes and shoving enemies in- there was a lot left unexplained.

Still, really gorgeous work, I hope you find the time to tweak it and finish it!

SHIPWRECKED by Bredera 2019-10-09T21:44:22Z

Cute lil' trading game! The art was fun. Some of the controls were a little irresponsive, I had to mash keys several times on some of the interactions, and on one point I got stuck trying to climb a hill, but I pushed past them so they weren't game-enders at least. The characters, map, water, sailing animation and the like were all very cute. Nice work!

World Collector by Joe Williamson 2019-10-11T18:24:16Z

This was amazing! I'd love to play more! Everything was on point, if it weren't for the shortness of the game, I'd have believed it to be a full published game!

I really had fun solving the spike bridge puzzle, I tried a bunch of stuff until I figured out how to teleport boxes into the room - almost felt like I'd cheesed it at that point, but that's part of what made it so fun was exploiting the mechanics to their fullest.

(In fact I felt so satisfied when I had finished it as though it were some final boss, that I totally didn't notice what I was supposed to do after that point and had to come read the description of the game again to realize how to finish, ahah)

The concept was brilliant, the execution flawless. Beautiful work. And a compo, to boot? Absolutely amazing.

Karl and Timmy by kuro 2019-10-26T21:59:12Z

This was hilarious! Well done, especially for compo. The shootout segments ended up being a little easy for me, I think a reload mechanic might have helped? The game also unfortunately softlocked after the second shootout, at "and so he got the bags of money", but I can't click to progress, only make shooting noises.

The narration was a nice touch, and I loved how you used it to seamlessly give the controls along with telling the story.

Nice work!

Unlock Everything by DDRKirbyISQ 2019-10-09T11:22:02Z

That was fantastic! And a compo game, too, holy mackerel! Soundtrack was jamming, gameplay was perfect, it felt very megaman. The gameplay was a perfect level of challenge to keep me engaged without being frustrated. I appreciated the reset function as well.

I hit a bug in the WebGL version where I got a black screen somewhere during the final stage and couldn't progress, but I downloaded the MacOS version and played it through again just fine.

Awesome work!

Ignis Universia: Eternal Sister Saga by arzi 2019-10-15T11:59:29Z

This was absolutely fantastic! Amazing work! Feels very complete. The art is drop-dead gorgeous, and it's very funny with endearing characters. I appreciated the simplified JRPG battles, normally I'm not a fan of JRPGs, but this was really fun in its distilled form!

The introduction across the clouds was a little hard to read, but that's the most minor of minor nitpicks.

10/10!

Cradle of the void by notime4games 2019-10-11T17:11:00Z

Very nice atmosphere, fantastic mood and lighting. I also liked the spark mechanic conceptually. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of it being totally lost and directionless. I hope you expand on it!

Winter by fashionbatman 2019-10-25T13:19:19Z

A lovely little game with beautiful atmosphere! Unfortunately, I think I missed something? I made it to the second fire with no trinket, and couldn't bring myself to trudge back slowly through the void to look for it. I appreciated the collectathon blips in guiding the player and bringing them to new interactables (such as the trinket), but evidently it must have become all I focused on at some point.

Hobo Sapiens by CruelMotivator 2019-10-09T18:55:53Z

The art was really nice! I had to stop playing when I couldn't figure out how to sell bottles, unfortunately, but I did enjoy running around and getting beaten up by people at the least. Could have benefited greatly from some audio. Neat game!

Subject 11 by Evergreen Games 2019-10-25T16:29:51Z

A nice short platformer, very well polished with great graphics and music! The jump felt a little heavy to me, and combat was just a slight hinderance (since I could keep spamming Z), but it definitely looked like it was well on its way to being a great platformer.

(Also a friendly reminder that many european keyboards find ZX to be unwieldy since they're positioned different)

Wandering Soul by negator2vc 2019-10-27T11:06:17Z

This was an absolutely beautiful game with perfect atmosphere. One of the monsters even had me going "OH GOD WTF IS THAT AHH", so the designs did their job for sure, lol.

The gameplay was a bit repetitive, especially given the size of the map. I think maybe it would have worked better as a continuous walking beat-em-up style game- as it stood, the health was a bit forgiving on most of the levels, and enemies only came out one at a time. The map also seemed to create an uneven flow of progression, where I'd fight difficult enemies and then go back to fighting weenies; so I think having one progressive level with one health bar and sparse health pickups with multiple varied enemies out at once would make things more challenging.

Of course, I also understand that time constraints are a thing, and this is a rad game all things considered. Excellent work!

Untitled Sandbox Game Where You Throw Sticks by niborious 2019-10-11T10:40:07Z

This was hectic! Very impressive. I enjoyed the animation of the characters and the buildup from nothing. I also sorta wish the water was clearer, for a large portion of the game I assumed I would fall into nothingness if I went into it. Nonetheless, it was a neat procedurally generated game, nice work!

cakewalk by ohsqueezy 2019-10-25T16:38:09Z

Really cute came with a nice, elegant concept! My biggest issue was the clarity- the enemies were small and had little to no contrast with the background. My first few tries I had literally no idea why I was randomly dying because I didn't perceive there to be enemies at all- floating star enemies against a floating star background with similar colors was hard to read. (This was on the post-jam version, of course)

The game was also too difficult for me even on the first level, which is a real shame, because it looks like you had additional ideas *lined* up. (heheh get it)

Nice work, nonetheless! I'd love to see this expanded on!

(also, thanks for doing Mac build- as well as the 64 bit- a lot of games have been refusing to run for me so I really appreciate it!)

Home Sweet Home by karreg 2019-10-26T19:19:28Z

Really great work! The presentation was a perfect throwback and very well polished, no part of the game felt incomplete. I ended with 69 days and 1800 bucks overall (with about 1000 on hand when I threw in the towel), simply out of tenacity. The game is likely impossible due to the food prices raising, and I suspect that was intentional to make a statement. Good stuff.

Nothing to Say by celia14 2019-10-09T09:19:59Z

That was so cute! :sob:

I loved it! The idea was great, new branches of dialogue every replay kept it fresh, the graphics were stylish and on point- I wouldn't take away a thing.

It kind of has me wanting to see a more expansive version where you could type out words yourself, but that would be quite the monster on its own. I really like what was done here, though, because it conveyed that feeling of nervousness and social ineptitude that I know I've felt before.

The only thing I wish there had been was some audio. Text blips as the characters display and some music would be nice.

Regardless, I adored playing it, thanks for making it!

Marvelous work!

The Greatest Game in the World by AhmenX 2019-10-14T16:11:21Z

This was hilarious! Funniest game I've played all jam. My biggest gripe was the character- the wobbling when you walk gave me a bit of motion sickness, and his running was a bit slow for the long corridors sometimes (such as the peanut butter puzzle, I ran back and forth to the camel room a few times before I solved it and the trek was gruelling).

I also would have really liked some subtitles for the narrator- a lot of the times he could be hard to hear or overshadowed by sound effects, and I didn't want to miss a thing he was saying, cos it was all gold.

I especially enjoyed the programming portions, that was really neat, and I would love to see that expanded upon further!

Also, thank you so much for the WebGL version for poor Mac peons like myself!

Great work!

The Lost Letters of Harry Williams by givit-game-studios 2019-10-09T18:22:19Z

I really struggled with this. I could not find letter 2 for the life of me, ended up stumbling onto letter 7 instead, and then found what I assume to be letter 8 but I couldn't open it or read it. Dunno if sequence breaking broke it, or if it's MacOS, or what, but it's pretty unfortunate I couldn't continue, even though I was way ahead and confused at that point.

I think the game would benefit from more distinct clues, or specific landmarks, instead of just "go X direction", but I didn't get to experience much ultimately, so it's hard to judge properly.

I appreciated the idea, though!

Mongol Space Program by mortus 2019-10-25T13:10:25Z

This was fun! I adored the dynamic soundtrack, and watching yurts launch off into space was pretty funny. My biggest qualm was the rhythm game system- the fact that it's tied to the same controls as the movement system means that you frequently walk away and ruin interactions, not to mention horses moving on their own and making it more difficult. I'd suggest locking movement of both the player and the target. The map was also an issue, it seemed like it would go on forever with randomly generated fields but quickly became a desert, and with the slow walk speed, it's treacherous to walk back.

Baby steps by freso 2019-10-09T22:51:29Z

Awww, I was really hoping for more! The style was really neat, and I loved the funny little touches like the baby's head bobbling and the birds in the sky. Babies are pretty unusual protagonists, I would have liked to see more!

Ahoy! by tiptoe 2019-10-11T10:57:08Z

Very impressive! Super professional work, everything is on point! There were a few pathfinding bugs that were a bit annoying- when trying to build some things the character ended up walking into the water, and if he was in the water when the thing was done building, he'd drown and I'd lose the whole ship.

Still though, it was very fun to play, and I appreciated that starting over was never too much effort, since you're immediately put back how you started. The cannons were also sort of unclear to me, I couldn't work out what their range was exactly I think? I ended up getting blindsided by a random cannon raft my first runthrough, and subsequent playthroughs when I'd set up cannons in response to mine alerts I ended up getting mine'd anyways.

Really though, even that wasn't a big deal, I was never too frustrated, and that's what kept me going to build a better more defensive raft.

Still though, this is really awesome work, and already worth selling as it is- I really hope you guys expand on this game and release it!

All Hallow's Harvest by SethPaxton 2019-10-09T18:47:10Z

Cute little puzzle game! Would have liked a win condition, since I have no idea how well I did at the end of it all. Multiple levels could be interesting too, with bigger fields and more varieties of pumpkins. The weeds get out of hand fast! I enjoyed it though!

Claimbeer by neowhoru 2019-10-11T15:54:04Z

Impressive compo work! I found the 1 hit KO to be pretty frustrating though, and the loss of items that followed. There also felt like there was some tonal clash between the humor of the situation and the environment setup. Everything was dark and spooky, yet there were goofy enemies and a silly song playing. Still, everything played well and the pixel art was very nice, a nice compo entry!

Shi no ganbo by Simon Rahnasto 2019-10-11T17:45:33Z

Really nice game! It was a cool way to tell a story, I was hooked on finding soundbites until the very end. The visuals were also really cool, nicely made, and the character designs were unique and colorful, I really dug it. Great work, guys!

TRIGGORE by Lumpy 2019-10-09T09:58:41Z

Fantastic game, really rad aesthetic, and on-point gameplay. On my first playthrough, I ended up missing searchable objects beyond what the tutorial text told me, so I died to a monster confused in total darkness (I'd only lit the one candle and let the whatis text guide me). Once I started uncovering chocolate and other weapons though, it became a lot more fun trying to balance between searching, equipping, and shooting.

Awesome job!

Free Will by Baski 2019-10-26T21:20:03Z

Cool little game, lots of pretty effects! I dunno if this was intentional, but I found an exploitable technique that made the game a bit easier- I call it elevatoring :D

bombjump.gif

The post processing effects, namely the bloom was pushed a bit hard, the "character" piece was a little hard to see at times. The void effect, while really *really* cool, sometimes caused physics issues where the cube was very resistant to going in. Using the elevator tech in particular could cause problems where a feedback loop of sound happened while the cube never escaped.

I also thought the sliding sound for movement was unique, although perhaps a bit grating at times.

There was one level in particular that was a bit difficult where I had to use blocks to climb up to a void, but since I didn't know where the void was, I wasn't sure where I needed to be going. Maybe some sort of compass arrow around the screen pointing towards the end goal, or a camera zoom function, or a minimap, or camera focus on that point on respawn for a second would do the trick?

Overall, very cool game with a nice mechanic! Would love to see it expanded upon.

Some Excavated Wounds by Sand-Gardeners 2019-10-11T12:23:46Z

This was a very interesting experience, I enjoyed it. At first I was absolutely confused as to what I was supposed to be doing, and that's primarily because the mining aspect had no feedback aside from the knocking noise - I had no idea if I was successfully damaging the object, and since every object took quite a few whacks, I spent a long time wandering around without getting anywhere. Some visual feedback that the object was cracking would have gone a long way in that regard, I think. The decreased walking speed was especially frustrating, but I suppose that's part of the experience you wanted to communicate. Trippy graphics and interestingly conveyed story, nice work.

No Stone Uncrumbled by Jonasz999 2019-10-26T22:30:57Z

This was really fun! Elegant puzzle idea, great execution! If only I were smart enough to get fancy with the arithmetic. T_T

This also makes for an awesome edutainment game IMO, I'm well out of college and I enjoyed myself, so I can't imagine why people of any age wouldn't feel the same about the core gameplay.

Great work!

Gecko's Cabinet by JustMars 2019-10-26T21:36:18Z

Neat game! Although the moral eluded me, ahah. In one playthrough I was a greedy stickler which gives me a good end, but in another where I'm selfless I end up losing my soul. The soul debt thing also sort of comes out of left field, I think an intro sequence showing how I got in this debt (and that I was even in debt at all) would lead me to make more informed decisions later on in the game.

I enjoyed the animations, they were nicely polished for a game made in such a short time frame, and the floating cards in the menu were also cool!

Color me Blind by Re-Markable 2019-10-11T19:27:57Z

Very pretty little game, I enjoyed the concept and the audio.

ØJE by Gaming Night 2019-10-11T09:42:59Z

Pretty game! The controls were a bit floaty for my tastes, and I got pretty frustrated when I fell from a great height. The aimless collectathon is a bit barebones, I would have loved to see some sort of story (however minimal) or level breakpoints rather than one ending flag you report back to- I didn't feel like there was any reason for me to collect the coins.

Still, it's a lovely game!

Start with "nothing" by sommerlilie 2019-10-11T12:33:02Z

This was awesome! I adored the concept, I would love to see it expanded upon- it ended all too soon! It was a bit tricky at first, until I tried using not twice in a row- super creative and a satisfying discovery. Well done!

Draw Your Own Adventure! by detectiveLosos 2019-10-09T17:52:13Z

This was a lot of fun! I greatly enjoyed drawing funny characters and seeing them play out on screen.

My biggest complaint is that for a large portion of the game, you aren't prompted on what to draw, so the drawings don't quite match up with what's to come after. Although, the results of the mismatch could be pretty funny. Maybe a middleground would be to let players hear a sample of that character's voice before drawing them?

Overall though, it was a very fun little game! Great work!

Flappy Bat by Druvsaft 2019-10-11T10:17:21Z

This was a cool little game! Echolocation was a really cool idea, and you handled the visual communication in a very neat way. I think the game would be more challenging with less access to echolocation. Maybe something like a larger screen, and a different button for it? The glide button was a good addition also. I also think calling it Flappy Bat was a little on the nose, heh. I enjoyed it though, nice work!

How to Make a Sandwhich by Ziamor 2019-10-25T16:48:04Z

Absolutely beautiful little crafting game! Just wish I got to eat the sandwich I spent all that time making :(

Real-time Gardener by sebastianscaini 2019-10-08T17:35:08Z

This was super cute!! Neat concept, although ultimately it's more of a toy than a game. The graphics and sound were perfect, and the fact that flowers could be saved and loaded is a nice addition. Maybe expanse-wise an entire garden within the game would be fun? It's a shame a lot of the assets are wasted by being encouraged to walk away and not participate.

Also, the fact that it doesn't run in the background is a real damper, given that it's sort of the point of the game.

Still though, adorable!

Rottenville by zanzavar 2019-10-26T20:57:45Z

Very nice work! Graphics were perfecto, and everything worked great. Game ended a little abruptly, and at that point I had every tile of the map filled up with way more money than I could use, but I suspect that's mostly just due to time constraints not allowing for more enemy types and building variations. I'd love to see it expanded on!

Tale of the Toad King by Beebo Studios 2019-10-11T12:01:42Z

Thanks for doing an html build! I think there may have been a problem, the first few times I tried to play it was very confusing. I think the crown was offscreen as well as the exit, and I ended up walking into an offscreen obstacle, maybe? But I saw the playthrough video and copied that and made it on my way. I had a difficult time commanding the frogs, and I also noticed that I didn't retain overflow followers- 5/3 frogs became 3 frogs next level, which was a little disappointing. Overall though, it was a very fun game, nice stylish graphics, and I appreciated the voice acting and the storytime format!

Inspiration. by F1Krazy 2019-10-26T22:42:52Z

Cute little sidequest-style game! It's interesting to have trading sidequests that ultimately just result in passing inspiration rather than some sort of item or ability. Graphics looked nice, though music would have been nice to have. Also, friendly reminder that some European keyboards find ZX controls to be unwieldy since Z and Y are swapped, just for future reference!

The game was nice, but it's a shame you didn't end up using one of the ideas proposed in the game, some of those sounded really neat, ahah.

Nice work!

TwoFiveFive by mediyaz 2019-10-25T16:14:02Z

This was a very simple idea with a flawless execution, nice work! (The slider noises also made me giggle)

JUST A GHOST LOOKING FOR ITS BODY by smileyface 2019-10-11T11:14:02Z

Thank you for doing a mac build! Unfortunately, I think something may have gone wrong? I don't see the ghost shadow (or any other shadow) like in the screenshot? So I guess there were lighting issues? I can't really review it fairly if that's the case- it was near impossible to play. I couldn't even get a feel for what movements I was making when I hit the WASD keys, and had to give up on the level with 3 evil spirits. (or rather, time ran out, which I think may have been a bit too brutal)

Totally Tiny Towny by Finnhax 2019-10-14T16:38:55Z

Cute little idle game! It's a shame there isn't much to do after you hit 10K gold, though. Hope you expand on it!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-09T19:32:56Z

@zhanna There are 3 different endings- a bad, a normal, and a true. Thanks for the warm words :)

@raomer Thanks for the feedback! I was worried the text blips might be a bit much for some but was too strapped for time to tinker.

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-09T23:23:20Z

@lars-erik Noted, thanks for your feedback! The 5:00 time limit is somewhat revealed by a branch in the story (and by the time on the clock at finish), but it's definitely not given to players outright, and can be easy to overlook if you're unaware that you'll run out of time. We more or less expected a second playthrough to be necessary, so we ultimately neglected to inform players.

Nonetheless, we hope you finish it!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-09T23:40:32Z

@nocity Thanks for the feedback! I don't disagree, I'll definitely look into a way to speed up the experience on repeat plays. Glad you enjoyed it!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-10T08:17:28Z

@fireslash Wow, thanks for the detailed feedback! The intro was done last minute, I would love to have tweaked it to no end. I suppose flat shading would be at risk of causing that no matter what, but by the time the models were finished they had some artifacts that made them look strange under cel shading (since they were sped through with flat shading in mind). I would love to go back and tweak the art, if for just the intro alone.

As for the story choices, that is more or less what we aimed for- a clear deadline would definitely alter the user experience. It might be possible to beef up the clues in the beginning, though.

Thanks for the feedback, again!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-10T19:48:11Z

@jaydubbyasee Thanks for the feedback! We'll definitely look at tweaking the notepad, I think you're definitely onto something with it being automatic. We're glad you enjoyed it nonetheless!

@annie-owl That's very odd... we've gotten one other report of that issue but have yet to figure out how to replicate it. Thanks for letting us know!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-10T22:13:34Z

@chelc Happy to hear you enjoyed it! We didn't use anything of that sort, although @DWaM is very familiar with Twine and I'm sure we could have. DWaM wrote everything out in a screenplay-like text file, and then I wrote a parser to convert it into [Unity Dialogue System](https://github.com/ricgby/UnityDialogueSystem) components, which is a bare-bones setup that gave me a triggerable dialogue object as well as the typetext effect. Unfortunately, it's not well documented and seemed to be oriented towards editor based input, which was way too much of a hassle for the amount of dialogue we had (which is why I ended up writing the parser and doing a lot of modification).

I'm definitely going to be getting familiar with Yarn before next time. I'm working on a story for a game that has branches and Twine seems like a great way to test and get a visual on the layout- not to mention it stores variables and things that I had to manually code in this jam.

Thanks for the kind words!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-11T16:59:16Z

@neonlare We just uploaded a binary at your request! Hope you get it running! (Unfortunately, because we designed it for WebGL, there's no exit button)

@ninjacatz Glad you liked it! You need to play through certain keywords to reach the normal and true endings, if that's what you mean by influence.

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-11T19:02:01Z

@smileyface I'm worried what you came across was not a bug- if you try and use the "Truth" keyword before you have enough information gathered (i.e. certain keywords read through), the option is left open for you to return to once you collect more keywords. If the woman said "You know nothing", this is what happened, since "Truth" is the final keyword.

If I'm wrong though, let me know, that would be a fatal bug! We're glad you enjoyed it up to that point!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-11T19:08:50Z

@smileyface Oof! Thanks for letting us know, then. Was this on the WebGL version or the desktop...?

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-11T19:42:21Z

@inky Really glad you enjoyed it!! If it helps any, the only difference between the conditions for the true end and the conditions for the normal end is one additional word. I'm so happy to hear this inspired you, that's honestly the best thing I could ask for! :sob:

@morilia Thanks for the feedback! We definitely want to try and improve the repeat-play user experience in the future, starting with a speed-through-previously-read-dialogue function. I would love to have had different camera angles, but ran short on time by the time the intro sequence was put together. Having the time outside progress to night was another idea I wanted to do, but there's never enough time for everything! Thanks again!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-12T23:14:37Z

@f1krazy Wow, thanks for the detailed feedback! At this point, we have a list of things to work on that have been ingrained into our skull. These are all things that would have come forth in normal game development with beta testers, but we didn't have the time to beta test to know what worked and what needed improvement until now. In effect, jam participants are our beta testers- so I'm glad you're being as critical as you are.

We should have made the dialogue pop up automatically for sure, and fishing for the correct answer is clearly a problem - but we couldn't foresee either of these, because when we tested the game ourselves, we already knew the answers and were only looking for things that shouldn't happen. It's hard to be objective about crafting user experiences when you have nobody to show, because you can't see what doesn't work until it's in the hands of someone else. As for the restart bug, we've had trouble replicating it to even begin fixing it, unfortunately, since it seems to happen at random. I'll have a look at it again today.

The flow chart is a really good idea (or at least some sort of walkthrough)! We may look at doing that even now before it's over, considering that there are a good handful of players struggling with getting to the endings.

Thank you again for the detailed feedback, I appreciate you taking the time to do so, and I'm very glad you enjoyed it regardless!

@pedro-rosa Thanks for the kind words, really glad you liked the art! The characters are 3D with unlit shaders. I use Blender to model and animate.

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-13T01:10:59Z

@f1krazy @alphish @inky I've added a flowchart that shows the words necessary to get the True End and the Normal End, if you're still hoping to see those endings! It's available [here](https://dwam.itch.io/the-firebrand/devlog/104357/the-firebrand-flowchart-guide-walkthrough). (Thanks again for the great feedback!)

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-13T15:18:25Z

@catie-jo We did not, although it probably would have saved us some time! I had to write a custom parser to convert the screenplay-like text file into (https://github.com/ricgby/UnityDialogueSystem) components, and then do a good chunk of modification from there. I definitely want to try out Yarn and Ink before next jam if we end up doing something story heavy again!

The Firebrand by selkkie 2019-10-18T13:23:57Z

@pl4typus Thank you for the detailed feedback!

The story was designed *around* the powers, they weren't randomly "thrown in"- the original concept (and the entire reason this story manifested) came from the theme. Our idea of starting with nothing initially *was* the powers- and specifically pyrokinesis- starting fire from nothing. Originally I think we would have done a story focusing on one of what became the Children. Obviously, once the concept solidified itself as a mystery, we figured a detective starting with nothing to warrant arrest was very fitting, so we went down that line.

As for the extra details, as with any game jam, we were too strapped for time to add that sort of polish. There was a point when I didn't even think we'd get any idling animation, and the intro was done up until the last minute. I would loved to have used animation, angles and cutscenes more prominently.

King of Nothing by notapixelstudio 2019-10-13T11:41:31Z

This was a really cool idea, mixing Chess with Crypt of the Necrodancer! The best part is, everyone knows how to play chess already, so it was very intuitive to pick up!

Unfortunately I struggled with the rhythm a bit, and spent my first few playthroughs playing like a Wazir because I didn't consider that I could move diagonally- thanks I think to using orthagonally laid out controls (which is really just a quirk of keyboards) and my ingrained instinct from playing Necrodancer. That's all on me, though, ahah.

The graphics look polished with the nice rhythm bounces, too. Really nice work!

Hoarder's Paradise by Scott Steffes 2019-10-11T11:33:26Z

This was hilarious and very stylish, not to mention an interesting concept! I loved it! The ending I got (Health) was horrifying. Great work!

A Thief's Lament by LizEngland 2019-10-11T20:43:37Z

This was a fun little game! I greatly enjoyed the concept, and multiple playthroughs were always interesting, even when picking the pockets of people I'd already picked. I'm curious to know if there's a way to finish the game without being hanged, although I enjoyed the concept that the person being hanged is always the thief of your last playthrough. Really nice work!

Pandorama by CrazyHomeboys 2019-10-09T19:08:09Z

This was really cool! The style was really slick, I enjoyed the enemies falling flat. I wish there had been some clarity on my health (maybe some blood somewhere?), and the sound spooked me at first (I had turned my volume up since there had been no sound, and then it blasted me all of a sudden).

Overall though it was a fantastic job!

(and thank you for uploading a Mac build!)

MLHA by Zoya Volkova 2019-10-09T22:00:57Z

Stunning visuals, really neat experience! Scrolling is an under-explored control mechanism for sure.

No Control by mosaic 2019-10-26T21:50:53Z

This was really, really cool. When I saw the prompt, I thought it would be a more direct puzzle game- something like "here's a set path you need to execute", but this caught me off guard and was pretty neat. My biggest complaint was that losing causes you to reset completely, when you really just want to iterate on the code you made last time- so I think not resetting the script every playthrough would be a nice move. The fact that you added things well beyond the basic movement was also really cool, but I think difficult to convey to people unfamiliar with this level of coding. Perhaps a series of levels that show you how they can be used would be beneficial? Although, then we're probably getting into the memorization puzzle thing I mentioned before.

The presentation was also really clean looking, although it was a bit unclear at first. I couldn't figure out how to start the game, and when I first saw the button correspondence I tried to hit buttons on my keyboard rather than the onscreen ones, something that I think a little bit of walkthrough would also have made clear.

Still, for a compo game? This is hella cool. Awesome work!

Light your way out by Suchista 2019-10-14T16:52:38Z

Fantastic puzzle game, awesome concept. Would love to see it expanded with graphics and more levels.

Could benefit from some sound indicating the portal's open and we've succeeded. Also, due to every puzzle element sharing the same color scheme, it can be a little confusing sometimes- I'd distinguish the lantern from the moveable key dot from the square pieces, although I admire the simplicity you aimed for and I think you did very well despite that. There was one slot I completely missed on the symmetrical level with a slot in the middle, because the slot was gray, so that was unfortunate.

But all in all, very satisfying to play, really nice work.

Entanglement by cassowary 2019-10-28T11:41:30Z

This was fantastic! Elegant idea, flawless execution. I also enjoyed the 90s graphic vibes, it felt nostalgic. It was very satisfying to work my way through the challenges and wrap my head around tactics. Excellent work!

Palely by Fluffy_Kaeloky 2019-10-09T09:31:33Z

I'm afraid I didn't really get anywhere... I'm on MacOS if it's relevant. Just the letters PALY and two mysterious pink squares, with the controls.

I'm not sure if something's missing or if I just don't know what to do...?

Beyond the Veil by Wolfrug 2019-10-09T23:14:06Z

This was super cool! I really enjoyed it. The audio and the hand-drawn visuals were fantastic, and the story was captivating. I also enjoyed the gameplay concept, uncovering more powers based on our reactions to story snippets is very interesting.

The combat was a bit of a fuss for me unfortunately with the hitbox of the count and the unforgiving instant death, and the fact that you can't face right (to use Wrath on count ghosts in that direction) was a bit annoying. Thankfully though, I was still able to complete the game thanks to the options you left available(spirit)- and that's really cool. And even after that, I still wanted to go back and see what happens if I defeat the Count.

Excellent work, I would love to see this polished up and possibly extended.

Deliv' 51 by Larnin 2019-10-25T13:28:14Z

This was awesome! I had tons of fun, like dang! My biggest issue was this slight stick when you switch back from reverse to forwards, it takes an extra keypress and is a little annoying, but that's super minor. Some of the car upgrades were difficult to control, like the one with crazy drifting, but I think that's part of what makes it so enjoyable. I also think you did very well with the graphics and the camera control. Fantastic work all around!

Woodland Zero by Shredmer 2019-10-11T11:06:31Z

This was a really cool idea, and a fantastic execution! Game looks and plays great! It was a little annoying that the blocks spawned in random columns (and thus I couldn't spam it when trying to say, build a staircase), but at the same time, it adds to the challenge. I also feel like this works easily as a 2 player experience, with one person controlling the squirrel and the other controlling the blocks, so that's cool- I can already play like that, out of the box, thanks to the split controls. Fantastic work!

ZERO: UNDIVIDED HEROES by DjindeGames 2019-10-11T10:27:34Z

I loved this! It was a lot of fun! It was difficult at first because I couldn't land any multiplication shots, but once I got the hang of it it was a lot of fun. Also, some of the enemies spawned in my location (like the starting point), which was almost problematic, except I don't think enemies themselves have hitboxes. Also might I add, super funky background music, I dug it. The concept and execution were great, nice work!

Oracle Pine by Swanijam 2019-10-11T19:57:52Z

This was amazing! I enjoyed it immensely. The puzzles were satisfying, the atmosphere was perfect, and a game about doing a ritual like this was a really clever idea that you executed flawlessly.

Fantastic work!

(Also, thank you for doing a MacOS build!)

バクラウBloodless by Danilo Freire 2019-10-09T18:36:17Z

Super stylish! A little hard to get the hang of, but I think the concept of the cool samurai counter-attack as a main move is a pretty interesting concept. I also had an issue where some of the enemies moved offscreen and were impossible to interact with, but I suppose that's mostly my fault and I should have drawn them upwards anyways.

Very nice work!

Aphantasia by kristinamay 2019-10-25T16:05:48Z

This was a really neat game! The one thing I'd change would be something regarding the order of elements. As long as I put everything on the canvas, I got a perfect score, but often I'd end up putting the place or time last and covering everything up. It would be preferable I think if place and time of day were always in the same z-index under everything else, OR if I wasn't allowed to paint until the very end (making the memory test part more challenging)

It probably also would have been possible to make this a procedural game with infinite paintings based on randomly generated stories, but it wouldn't have the same homely feel this did.

Great work overall, I'd love to see this idea developed further!

Sneeter by bubblewandgames 2019-10-09T10:33:53Z

Very fun game! ~~Some of the sneets I sneeted were totally things I would tweet~~. The combinations got a bit stale late-game once it seemed as though I'd seen everything, and some of the grammar didn't match up right- (like Vibe check (hits you with a _____) when most of the nouns were plurals), but that's to be expected in random generation.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun I had, and it looked very nice!

Vegan Farmer by leorean 2019-10-15T11:39:59Z

This was a fantasic game, albeit a little fucked up, nnnnnnnnnn The one bone I have to pick is the amount of ingredients needed- the game's joy comes from discovering new ridiculous combinations, not from repeating the processes, so I'd suggest making it simply one of each ingredient. I'd also suggest against requiring multiples to feed the creatures on screen, since that's also tedious work, but it's not quite as grueling as me getting to the end of the chain for the tomato and saying "I have to do all of that again now??"

Still though, really beautiful game you have here, very professional and polished!

The path of Fireflies by Omickron 2019-10-11T19:26:59Z

This was a gorgeous game, well done! I loved the art, and the mechanic of using fireflies as a distraction was very interesting.

The music, while really dope (future bass?) and a high quality production, felt super out of place in the context of the game about a witch in a spooky forest. I think some creepier music would have done a great deal for the mood of the game, especially since it's one about running from monsters in the dark.

There were also some canvas misplacement even in the bugfix version when windowed, but not a huge deal since it was fixed on fullscreen.

Nonetheless, really awesome game!

Nothing is my car ! by T-Bo 2019-10-09T22:47:21Z

Really funny game! The hitbox was a bit unforgiving, and a lot of car parts were near impossible to get, but I dug the concept of building up the car in place of a health system. It's also unclear which car parts are which when I see them on the side of the road, and I'm going so fast I'm not even sure what I have? I think a HUD that displayed what parts of the car I had fulfilled as well as some sort of indicator over the pieces on the road telling me either what piece they are or whether or not I have them already would be super helpful. Good times, though!

Split or Steal by Monish Vyas 2019-10-13T11:52:45Z

This was pretty funny! The graphics were really slick too. It's unfortunate the game is unwinnable, the concept is really fun, and sort of reminds me of the prisoner's dilemma. I suppose the difference is that there's no "safe" option- even if you predict that your opponent will steal, you can't do anything to prevent yourself from losing credits, so if that sort of opponent comes up, I'm still punished despite making the right prediction, and that's no fun. (Although, given the final boss, I suppose it doesn't matter in the end, anyways!) I'd love to see an expanded version with some tweaked rules and randomly generated opponents!

Really nice work regardless!

In Time Like These by miu 2019-10-11T16:03:46Z

It was interesting! Although, I somehow went many days without drinking any water, ahah. I would love to see some variety in the gameplay, too. Nice work so far, though, I hope you guys finish it!

BoBoBot by bigwhiteshogun 2019-10-27T19:51:28Z

This was amazing! Stellar work! The soundtrack was superb, the graphics were perfect, and the mechanics were really neat. Would love to see it fleshed out!

Not Even A Jump Yet by Nikita Demidov 2019-10-09T19:59:56Z

A nice platformer! The level design was frustrating in that satisfying way. There were some spelling issues in the text, and the graphics were a bit simplistic, but for a compo piece you went a good ways! Nice work.

Sluggish Grind by Catusfelony 2019-10-26T20:42:32Z

Adorable 2-bit game! With some music it would have been basically perfect. The end goal wasn't really clear in-game, which is a minor qualm since it was explained out of game, but something as simple as the coin counter having a X/100 would have made it instantly clear how many I needed, and perhaps dialogue with someone I owed debt to specifically would tell me where I needed to go. The only other thing has been mentioned previously, and that's feedback- the big boss in particular well, it was hard to tell if I was affecting him at all. You had a remarkable amount of polish elsewhere, like knockback on bulletfire and the sparkle in the jump, so I think sharing a bit of that feedback with the enemies would help solidify everything.

Very nice entry, I loved it!

Life Starts With Nothing by NoobDev 2019-10-14T16:21:10Z

Addicting! The visuals were neat, too. Very satisfying to play, nice work.

Color Swirl by sansman01 2019-10-09T21:05:17Z

This was an awesome game! Very addicting, could not put it down, death after death, until it was done. Simple concept, well executed. It was difficult to handle the changing speeds in some segments, but I would love to see this game polished up to its fullest and extended. Great work!

Spooky: The one who lost everything by Susumu Asaga 2019-10-15T12:26:12Z

This was a fantastic game! Your level design was on point, you taught me everything I needed to know as I went, and how mechanics interplayed. The graphics were wonderful, and the concept was really cool. Excellent execution. I was a little confused at the end of the level? I went through the exit, but then there was no way to restart or go back, so I couldn't explore whatever the rest of the previous room was. (I did end up replaying and getting there, but it was wayyy too hard for me, ahah.)

Excellent work!

Small Town by Emiliabea 2019-10-15T11:18:57Z

This was so cute! Very lovely style, and the idea was nice. The music was very minimal, and it fit the style well. I played through all three branches.

It seemed to me, though, that no matter what option I picked, he loved the gift anyways? (Like, I bought him a dress???) Which was a shame, and felt like it put the memory sequences to waste. I would have loved to see a flow that required the reader to pay attention and remember, something like phone wishlist -> memories -> choose what type of store -> pick an item correctly based on what was said in the memory.

There was also a clear difficulty curve when it came to the bookstore- other users have said that some feedback regarding what we can click would help a lot (and I agree). If the above system was implemented, I think the flow would be nice in progressive stages, i.e. 3 consecutive years, so that way users experience all the paths, (and the bookstore could potentially be last, being the most difficult since all items look the same and none are labeled in the ending inventory)

I also encountered a bug in the game store where I got all the items, but there was a slot unfilled and it wouldn't proceed? It progressed when I reclicked on one of the items though.

Also the space bar was a bit awkward, considering the entirety of the game uses the mouse, and the dialogue continues sentence by sentence just fine with clicking. I'd look into a way to make the entire experience click-based.

You said you overscoped, so if anything I said was already on your mind, sorry for rehashing! I think you did an amazing job in spite of that! You did a lot of full art on top of the coding in such a short period of time, it's very impressive, and the result came out sweet!

The Unknown Nude by romes 2019-10-26T19:42:18Z

Very cathartic little game! And surprisingly difficult for the mechanics, too. On the medi ending, it was hard to tell the game had ended, I think? Since the timer kept going on even though I had gotten thanks from the merchant. Nice work!

Hellion: The Legend of Jeff by Mad Brokli 2019-10-26T20:22:55Z

This was a really nicely polished game, the art was very on point, and the animations and designs were fantastic! The game itself was a bit... easy? It seems to be framed as a tower defense game, but ultimately when I played it felt more like an idle game. Once I built 70 turrets for almost money I could just sit there and do nothing while the number went up.

I think the game would strongly benefit from: * Enemies that are more resilient, perhaps even increasing their health pool over time or making them less prone to knockback * More enemies - addresses the same problem as above, if a horde increases their numbers exponentially then it'll be impossible for my 10 turrets to keep up, and I'll be *forced* to build a clever death path for them to walk through * Enemies that fire projectiles - Even without turrets, combat is a bit easy, just by spamming the scythe. Having bullets to dodge would make combat more challenging, and stop me from simply hiding behind a wall of turrets * Damageable units, or units that need repair- The game has tower defense feel, but there's no tower or anything losing health ever. I set turrets up all over the map and reap (haha) the benefits without even thinking about it- making units destructable would make everything a lot more challenging. * Build times- Currently, if I see an enemy, I can quickly slap down 10 turrets and then do a dance. Having to wait a few seconds for the turret to finish, or limiting what I can do in that time (if I have to directly spend time "working" on the turret) would leave room for juggling between survival and building.

Of course, there's always more room for more building types- but that's limited by how much time you had, and for 72 hours you made a very nice roster of buildables.

The one issue I had was the lack of an end goal. I ended up stopping after building at least one of each building and then filling up all my wells. In idle game situations, I suppose the end is usually determined by building an ultimate object (if idle games even end), which isn't much different from an arbitrary number goal. Either one would have worked here- at some point I just had no point to continue doing anything. I no longer needed to "survive" since nothing could hurt me and souls were generated infinitely- and because I have no "needs", it's not really a survival game at all... So ending with building something like a portal bridging hell and earth would have worked nicely.

Sorry if this post was a bit long, ahah, I just really enjoyed it and think it has a lot of potential! Overall I think you have something really nice here, and I would love to see it developed post-jam!

Return to Nothing by SageWare 2019-10-11T16:14:27Z

This was a very interesting game! I enjoyed it, though it was a bit confusing at first. I think it'd greatly benefit from a tutorial that at least covers the controls- it took me a while to figure out I could scroll and even longer that I could move around. (Granted, you did write them on the game page). At the same time, I was a bit overwhelmed at first with all of the numbers and text thrown at me, so running through those quickly one by one would have made it clearer from the start.

The alien races and planets were very creative, and I would have enjoyed seeing them fleshed out with even more lore and maybe visuals!

Nice job, I hope you all expand on it!

Sand&Sea by CaptAndrey 2019-10-26T22:16:25Z

Very nice looking game! Interesting take on tower defense in a way. I'm sure it's already been mentioned, but putting down too many fish disables the wave entirely, making the game grueling- I think a simple destroy function would go a long way. I also recommend maybe a tooltip telling you what structures do would be easier on the eyes than a whole instruction screen, since it's difficult at first to remember what everything does. Nice work overall!

Probably I forgot something by evlko 2019-10-09T09:49:47Z

Really funny visuals and dialogue! Would benefit from some post-jam polish like some battle transitions and text typing animations to really sell the pokemon feel (and grammar as other people have mentioned).

Overall though, hilarious game!

Memories of Eleph by Leandroc 2019-10-11T20:13:58Z

Beautiful little game! Graphics and audio were all fantastic, and the puzzles were simple yet effective. The biggest issue I had was on my second or third playthrough, I had opened the room where the key would manifest, wandered into that room (ultimately for no reason), only to have to make it all the way to the far left room to avoid running out of time (which I didn't). A bit of tweaking to the placement of the rooms I think would have fixed that, or more linear progress so that I wouldn't backtrack too early.

That's really minor though, the game was really cool, and I would love to see an extended version where Eleph is fleshed out!

Lucifer's Rise by hydrate 2019-10-11T10:10:05Z

This was a cute little game! The art was spectacular and the premise was fun. It wasn't immediately clear what was going on (assuming I'm right, I still can't be sure) in that the items have no function other than to be traded, but that idea is simple yet good. I just wish it were more clear, given that the item slots and shops are standards in most games, and it's hard to break what their existence communicates to players. If the items *are* useable and I'm just an idiot(peeking at the above comments this might be the case), the shopkeeper really ought to tell me what they do and how to use them.

The intro was also a bit confusing, although it's minor- presented with only a skip button I wasn't sure if it was going to keep playing or if I needed to hit the skip button to move to the next piece of text. I think adding a second button for fast readers would be a good idea. Also, the white text was very difficult to read over the bright complicated (gorgeous) backgrounds, I'd recommend some sort of textbox.

I see others have complained about the rabbits, so I'll just add that my biggest gripe with them was transitioning between rooms. Whenever I ran back to the forest from the underwater room, I immediately stepped on a rabbit and got punished, which was a bit annoying.

Overall though the game looks really nice, good work! The character was very cute, and I'd love to see a post-jam version!

You Broke the Game by OlegKlishin 2019-10-29T13:28:10Z

This was fantastic! Beautifully polished and challenging, very well done. I adored the interpretation of the theme, too- it was very unique (especially amongst a sea of games that just start with no items).

There's one thing I'd suggest, and that would be for the items to do something. I think a game where you start with all your powerups and slowly give those powerups away would create a natural difficulty curve and truly make the theme hit home. That's not even a criticism though, just an idea, and it obviously would have been way more difficult in a jam timeframe.

Fantastic work overall, I loved it!

Nothing in Room by Colsk 2019-10-11T15:41:37Z

This was an interesting game with a very clean presentation. Good work, I hope you expand on it!

The Micro Bang by Glitchheart 2019-10-12T15:50:56Z

This was pretty neat! The graphics were really nice, and the transitions and animations were all smooth.

I had a lot of difficulty at the start figuring out what to do, since the tutorial was minimal and left me with a lot of icons I didn't understand. In the future, I think maybe some hover-over what is text or a more extensive tutorial would help a lot.

Some of the planets also had the same name, which was a little confusing, especially when watching the rocket cam.

It's definitely a challenging management game, I hope you build on it further! Nice work!

(Also, thanks for doing a MacOS build!)