SkallyWags

Tesla Coil by marbles 2021-10-05T04:18:09Z

Surprised to see another tesla coil game on here! Our game has tesla coils too!

I liked the idea of having to protect yourself while fighting, creates a tense back and forth flow.

Clearly the art, sound, and onboarding has a lot of polish for a game jam.

I would have liked the enemies to have less health. This would allow the difficulty to ramp up a little slower, giving me a little easier time earlier on.

I think this is a great concept but I think it could be improved by turning it into a level based game rather than a 'horde mode' like you have here. In subsequent levels you could have a variety of enemies, different tesla coil configurations, multiple tesla coils, etc.

Tesla Coil by marbles 2021-10-05T04:20:00Z

Like the art and impressed with the sound effects as well as the music of your game. Interesting idea, but took some time understanding the mechanics of the game, particularly the umbrellas. Very hard and fun game.

BALANCE BLOCK BATTLE by squigglez 2021-10-05T04:24:37Z

Kind of like a fighting game but not a fighting game :). I liked the concept a lot, and clearly there is a lot of polish. Only criticism is I would have liked some kind of onboarding rather than having to read the controls here. For someone who does not play fighting games on keyboard, ZXCV are not familiar keys. But for a game jam this is a phenomenal submission. For most people, I would suggest making a level based game instead of horde mode or multiplayer, but in this case the multiplayer and training vs AI shines.

Into the Forest: Out of Your Mind by brethudson 2021-10-05T18:13:26Z

The background was quite distracting, but the game was great! Loved all the options that I was offered, but I wish the different actions had different effects on the enemies. At times the gameplay felt a bit repetitive, but I think the graphic design and audio were top-notch!

Hold it ! by Tori 2021-10-05T16:38:30Z

The art is very well made and implemented - I love its consistency across the whole game! I enjoyed the gameplay, but I would've liked more variety and challenges.

Giruffled by Papaver 2021-10-05T18:51:10Z

Such a funny game, and very well executed as well. I didn't make it that far unfortunately, but what I did experience I thoroughly enjoyed!

Uns-table pumpkins by frederikja163 2021-10-05T17:33:48Z

Very simple and classic concept, but extremely challenging gameplay. I enjoyed it, but I wish there was more variety and polish

Outer Space Transport Service by Turncoda 2021-10-05T18:30:39Z

Quite a challenging game, but in the best way possible. I was so excited when I did something right. The look and feel of it is great as well - I love the minimalist art and the audio cues. I did have a hard time finding my way around; some sort of navigation/direction assist to find the dropoff locations would've helped me out a lot.

Marvin's Day Job: Potion Seller by Devez 2021-10-05T18:56:46Z

Very cool concept - the controls felt good, and the mechanics mostly worked. Some of the dynamics felt a little inconsistent, like some bottles would break and others wouldn't, sometimes the bottles went through the table. I wish there was audio to go along, but the visuals felt very refined. Fun concept - I'd love to play more!

ENTROPY by egawag 2021-10-11T04:51:09Z

You have a simple and elegant concept, where the execution is very focused and very well put together, resulting in a cohesive and impressive product.

I loved the aesthetic, and I liked the main grapple mechanic. I appreciated how the music and aesthetics ramped up every level. I liked how easy the first level was, compared to the last one which felt quite challenging which I thought was a good move.

I do have some criticisms / suggestions, in case you want to continue developing which I think you should.

The gameplay and music becomes too repetitive for the length of the game. In the first two levels, the music is so simple and barebones (albeit pleasant) that it became samey within the first minute. I think the style of music did fit the game well, but I feel you need to spend more time on it so that even the base track sounds good when repeated, and then expand upon it level per level.

If you are going to have 3 (or more) levels, the gameplay needs to change more than just speeding up. There need to be some new elements at play.

The levels themselves are probably too long. Shortening them could help with the repetitiveness. Alternatively, the gameplay and music could speed up *mid-level*, and you could have just 1 level or two levels. This way, the gameplay is dynamic within the same level and you maintain the entropy.

Lastly, I think the WASD and Jump are completely unnecessary and actually detrimental to the game. Ultimately, I will never need to Jump or move without the grapple (from what I undertstand). So including those two options alongside the grapple just confuses the player, and it just means that it takes the player longer to understand that the game revolves around the grapple.

Lastly, if you plan to keep developing this game, how do you add replay value? Do you compete against others either in terms of score or in terms of some kind of PVP? Do you have obstacles you must dodge or other level interactions you must engage with?

Lastly, I always imagined it would be cool if the game kind of flipped up side down, or rotated, or the goal moved, to make it feel like there is no true up and down, as there is in space. Just a random idea.

Anyway, thank you for reading my feedback, great job!

Red Flag (Le Temps des Tempêtes) by Achiru 2021-10-05T17:15:26Z

This game was a lot of fun but surprisingly challenging. I loved the audio design especially the sound the cannons made when they hit the water. I couldn't get very far, unfortunately, but I definitely enjoyed the experience.

There'll Be Hell To Play by Enya454 2021-10-07T05:58:44Z

Unique concept for sure, ties into the theme well. A lot of suggestions have already been given so what I'll say is that the red background that is show initially may be very off putting to some players (was to me). It stands out sure, but you are taking your chances :). Other than that, actually very unique and well implemented submission.

Unstable Delivery by MrBlue 2021-10-05T16:32:08Z

Despite it missing some elements, I found your game to be fun!

Help, I cast the wrong spell! by JUSTCAMH 2021-10-05T16:46:51Z

I adore the art and the audio - they fit perfectly together. The gameplay was very fun as well; however, I couldn't get very far.

Goth milk? by MetalFox Dioxymore 2021-10-05T17:30:07Z

I enjoyed the game and the storybuilding, but I wish there was more. The mechanics were good, although for most of the game, I didn't know where I was going.

Fight of the Bumblebee by Quackqack 2021-10-05T17:45:06Z

The art design is some of the best I've ever seen - love looking at it! The game itself is simple and enjoyable and quite challenging. I wish there was more!

Unstable Investments by Japayne 2021-10-05T01:13:04Z

Liked the concept and the idea of an unstable stock market. Great visuals. Would recommend having some stocks to slowly and quickly with some random drops and rises sporadically.

Edge of Entropy by eupde 2021-10-07T05:17:07Z

As others have said, the audiovisual aesthetic really sells this game. The art is great, but the music is especially fitting and sets a particular mood that this game has, making the game feel that much more cohesive. The gameplay is hard to get into simply because text tutorials are really ineffective in general, and that criticism has nothing to do with your game or implementation specifically. Clearly there are a lot of mechanics to explain, and you have limited time, so I understand that designing more active, well-paced tutorials would eat up a lot of time. But I think at the end of the day it would be worth it to either come up with tutorials that require players to perform actions in game in order to teach them, or simplify the mechanics, or both. Another simple change would be to leave a shortened form of the tutorial information on screen as you play the game, so players don't have to remember everything they read. That being said, I thought the text and presentation of the tutorials was actually really beautiful, which again goes in line with the great audiovisual aesthetic you have going on here. Anyway, I rambled on enough, good job team!

From the Roof by Paulsams 2021-10-05T18:39:14Z

Such a fun game - I wanted to play more of it, but I kept dying of hunger in my playthroughs. Very cool concept, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but the mechanics were difficult to control at times. The art style felt complete and cohesive, but it was difficult to recognize which structures I could land on.

Unstable Pinball by T C 2021-10-05T01:32:38Z

I like the art of your game and the physics of the pinball seems to work pretty well. Would add more audio effects into in as well as music. Would also suggest to make the ball move faster or something related to make the gameplay a bit more fast-paced.

Miner 70 by Tsamf 2021-10-07T05:51:53Z

I agree with a lot of @harrison-dunn 's feedback. The camera is too high relative to the player, and rather than having the camera closely follow the player's position, I think it should stay at the same height (not move up) when the player jumps. In addition to lowering the camera in general, this will also help allow the player to get a better view of their surroundings.

On the topic of hitboxes, yes totally agree - the hitboxes should be probably half the size they are now to be more forgiving to the player. Even though the hitbox being as big or close to as big as the sprite is technically the most fair implementation, it doesn't feel fair, because we are humans not robots playing these games :). That level of precision cannot be expected from players so completely agree.

Now, I have a few of my own suggestions too :).

I like the progression of introducing one mechanic at a time and combining them, but felt that the difficulty ramps up far too quickly once the mechanics are introduced. So I think you had the right idea, just probably needed more time to playtest and tweak, which I understand is hard for the game jam, same here :)

Secondly, a lot of these issues could be ameliorated if your jump had a variable height and quick drop down. So basically, only keep me going up while I am holding down space. Once I let go of space, bring me back down, preferably quite quickly. Mario (and many other platformers) do this very well and you can see what I mean by playing one of those. This not only feels much more responsive and fun to play, but also I have much more control over where my character goes, and even though you had issues with hitboxes and those should be fixed - even with the bigger hitboxes I would be more likely to get past them if I had this dynamic jump height option.

That being said, there is a lot here that I did really like! the art is great, albeit a little busy sometimes in the tiles but for a game jam it's great, the sound implementation is simple but still helps a lot, I liked the challenge behind the platforming sequence, I liked the concept and story behind the game, and I appreciated that you could alter your direction during the jump itself - that did help it feel responsive and fun despite my other criticisms.

I know I rambled a lot, and even though I have lots of suggestions, know that this is still a really good submission and there is a lot of potential here to turn this into a fully fledged game.

Willy on a Wheel by POBIX 2021-10-05T16:16:57Z

Love the look and feel of your game! I wish it didn't get so difficult so quickly.

Tumble Transport Inc. by ToSMaster 2021-10-05T01:26:11Z

Definitely an interesting game. Great visuals and audio. Very polished and humorous. If you had more time, I would suggest a tutorial or tips for players just starting to play your game. Overall, great work!

Unstable by IkerNoya 2021-10-05T04:50:17Z

I like how the super saturated aesthetic melds with the unstable theme and unstable gameplay elements, I think that makes this game stand out a bit. The gameplay is simple but I like that you differentiate between falling platforms and normal platforms. I would have liked to see even more variety in platforms / mechanics such as things falling from the sky you want to avoid or platforms that you don't want to touch. Maybe some kind of collectible you want to collect or prioritize. A few additions like this could take the foundation you have here and make for a deeper experience. The biggest suggestion is to make the jump immediately drop you once you let go of space, rather than slowly going back down - this would make the player feel much more in control of their jump and then also allow you to give them more difficult jumps to land in shorter time limits.

BeaverShock by sergio_nikol 2021-10-05T19:09:03Z

Very cool idea! The background music is good, but I didn't feel like it really fit the concept of the game, but the other sounds that I heard were well-executed. I enjoyed the gameplay, although sometimes I was confused about where to go.

INSTABILIS (LATIN) by zakaria 2021-10-07T05:34:52Z

Definitely the unique selling point is your lens affect, which must have taken some tweaking to get down, so good job on that. The lack of sound / music was interesting, because it definitely made for a more creepy and unsettling experience, but maybe some feint sound somewhere would have been good. You don't need music if your game is supposed to be mostly quiet and/or if there is a sufficient sound implementation. I think the gameplay ideas themselves were pretty good, but I took issue with the attack direction being decided by the movement key / movement direction. This created awkward moments where I expected to be able to move while attacking and my attack not landing where I wanted, or my movement not going where I wanted. I appreciated the low health that enemies and the player has, it makes me feel like my actions have an impact and I can't mess around - I have to pay attention, which means I am more engaged as a player. I would try maybe even lower health for the enemies, but that's not really a complaint, more of a suggestion to see what works best. I think with more sound, some improvements on controls, some of the bugfixes people have listed, and some kind of visual that your attack has an effect (particle effect, enemy knockback, etc.) you would have a very interesting game on your hands. In it's current state its a good game jam submission and there is a lot of potential with this wacky idea. P.S. the name in latin is a neat differentiator.

Super Mutant Horse by cannashblue 2021-10-05T17:23:42Z

Such an interesting concept - I enjoyed it very much. At times it was very frustrating to navigate with the web-slinging, and it wasn't entirely clear when I was grabbing an item or just moving around it. But the art and audio work fantastically together - very well done!

The Cave Diamond by PSV Games Studio 2021-10-05T04:11:21Z

The visuals caught my eye on this game. I think the presentation is really well done, especially when it comes to menus and tutorials. Only criticism is I would have liked to be able to restart the level immediately with 'R' rather than waiting to die.

This Is A Stable Game by crotonyl_alcohol 2021-10-05T18:20:06Z

I love this! The narrating-text was hilarious, and the concept is very unique and fun. It was certainly a challenge at times, but I think the overall game is very well put together.

Drunken Hobo by PlovGuru 2021-10-05T17:36:15Z

I'm looking forward to trying this game, as the art and concept have really sold me. Unfortunately there's nothing to play yet!

Cairn by Amaroq 2021-10-05T16:55:34Z

I really enjoyed the beginning of your game - the storytelling was very well done, and I liked the combination of art and music. The actual cairn-building was a bit frustrating though, and I wish that sequence was as visually-pleasing as when you're collecting the stones from the villagers.

Rogue Planets by Roboolet 2021-10-05T19:17:15Z

This was a really unique and fun game! I enjoyed it a lot, although I got hung up on a couple of the levels. The art and audio design is fantastic and they really bring the game together into an immersive experience. Well done! I did notice that I couldn't adjust the volume though, just by the way.

Broken Lives by thekrocker 2021-10-05T18:05:14Z

The game is stunning as far as art and sound design go, but the gameplay feels unfinished. Once I got over the first two boxes, I just kept walking and couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do. I didn't realize that I could turn my character's lightbulb-head on until I was well into the level, and I wish there were more uses for that!

Please don't explode ! by Mouf 2021-10-05T19:22:46Z

Very fun and unique game. Sometimes the movement and interactions felt a bit clunky, but nothing broke! It feels like a game that could have a ton of different levels and objectives. The art and audio design worked very well together as well. Good job!

Confession by Transylvanian Blacksmiths 2021-10-05T17:57:23Z

I enjoyed the challenge of the game, but it wasn't obvious to me where I could and couldn't walk. I thought it was very immersive as well - the graphics and audio were very well done.

Dank Brew of the High Mage by John Luke Lusty 2021-10-05T04:43:48Z

The art really caught my eye, and the audio implementation is great too, although the failure sound is a bit loud as others have pointed out. The gameplay is interesting and challenging, but could have used a smoother ramp up in difficulty or more onboarding for new players. Overall, great idea and great job.

Head Librarian by Daniel Giorlando 2021-10-05T16:24:33Z

This game was so fun and surprisingly challenging! I enjoyed the music and concept a lot.

The Elementalist by Flying Basement Studio 2021-10-10T19:04:34Z

Deceptively cute, secretly evil game :laughing:!!

I was surprised by how good some of the puzzles were, and I appreciated that as the game went on, there was a greater emphasis on using your powers. Initially I could just hop onto the moving platforms, but as it went on they got faster and I had to freeze them and unfreeze them. Same thing with getting rid of the enemies. These mechanics reminded me of Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands, which is a puzzle platformer that has similar freezing / unfreezing mechanics.

I was also surprised by how much content there was, considering it is a game jam. I didn't even finish the game but spent a good 20 minutes and felt like even the first few levels were more than enough for the game jam.

The art is very cute, and I know you guys used SFX and music from other sources, but they still fit the game well to create a cohesive cute aesthetic.

I was surprised by how good the AI was, I felt like it was smart and fast and impressed that it could follow me pretty well.

I wanted to keep playing past the 20 minutes because honestly it was a very fun game, but there were a number of things holding back my experience and I want to voice those here so you guys can improve your game, as I feel like this project should be continued.

First of all, the controls are a little bit awkward. Rather than switching your power with E and Q, I would have done something simpler:

1) Either put fire on LMB and ice on RMB (or vice versa)

2) Or make the power switch a toggle, so you can toggle between ice and fire both on E, Q, or RMB. That way I don't have to use two separate buttons for both. I could mostly look past this, but I feel like a lot of players will be turned off by it a lot.

Secondly, I think a more flexible jump which allows you to control your jump height and duration would have helped a lot with the platforming. In other words, right now if I press jump, it seems that I go up and come down a predetermined height for a predetermined amount of time. Instead, I would like the character to only go up while I am holding jump, and once I let go I would like it to drop down quickly. This will not only make your character feel more responsive, but also actually give your player more fine tuned control over where the character moves, which will make the platforming feel smoother and more fair.

Thirdly, colliders!! The colliders are too big for the tiles / enemies. As a player I want the colliders to be smaller than the actual sprites (let's say 60-80% of the sprite size) so that when I touch a platform or touch an enemy, I have a bit of leeway. There were so many times where I got caught on a corner of a tile and fell down to an enemy and had to restart a level. Same thing goes for enemies, it is too easy to just barely touch an enemy and then die immediately.

Thirdly, considering that you die after messing up once, the levels are too long. Too many times I messed up executing something or got hit by an enemy and had to restart a level like 10 times. It really slows down the game for the player. Either make levels shorter or add checkpoints.

Lastly, I think you have to make a decision - are you more of a puzzle platformer or precision platformer? If you are precision platformer, then feel free to make the player have to jump in specific places and move in specific ways and have that be the focus and the main challenge of the game, and don't make the level design too puzzley. BUT, if you are a puzzle platformer (which I think you are) then get rid of the need for super precise movement. There were too many occasions in my playthrough where I knew the solution to a puzzle, but felt that I had to execute a jump perfectly and it was very easy to mess up. If you require fine tuned execution of the platforming, then you get in the way of the puzzle aspect.

Thank you for reading through my rambling feedback if you got this far. I did really enjoy this game, and I hope this feedback helps you continue developing it. Great job.

Crazy Kitties by Mighty Tiny 2021-10-05T19:01:03Z

The art and audio work very well together - I do wish there were more audio cues though. Very fun concept, and I think it works very well as a short little arcade game; I'd love to play more!

Volatile by Mateu 2021-10-05T03:50:00Z

Initially I thought the game was somewhat limited, but when I realized you could upgrade your character, that really added to the metagame aspect of it. The recoil on shoot is not an original concept (you see it in game jams often) but I think it's clever how it applies to the unstable theme here. To me, what is more interesting is the idea of the upgrade system. While I agree with others that you could make the upgrades "feel" more impactful, for a game jam I think it's still pretty good.

Volatile by Mateu 2021-10-05T03:52:04Z

If you wanted to further lean into the theme, I could see you starting the character off with less recoil, and then giving more recoil in exchange for upgrades, making the game more and more unstable over time.

Volatile by Mateu 2021-10-05T04:00:15Z

I can see myself playing for hours and notice where the time goes by. Graphics are very pretty and nice choice of sound effects and music. Liked the concept as well as the mechanics of the game. Good job!

Epic Chainsaw Dash by TillerQueen 2021-10-05T18:45:06Z

Such a hilarious game and fantastic concept - I loved being a chainsaw, just destroying everything I touch. The movement didn't feel completely smooth or manageable, and I wanted more direction and objectives, but it's still a blast to play.

Unstable Ship by Aidan and seb 2021-10-05T17:08:41Z

This game was such a challenge! Very well done and immersive with the effects and sound design.

Recoil Man by UndividedSensation 2021-10-05T04:11:27Z

Like the physics of the game and found it funny for some reason. Has a lot of potential. Got stuck at the spike area after you get the uzi. Was really looking forward to the next part but just couldn't get past that area. Overall a fun game nevertheless.

Ember's Climb by dprings7 2021-10-05T04:36:16Z

Nice simple game that is easy to pick up and kind of addicting despite how simple it seems. I realized that you can just hold the jump button for a while and the character will go straight up for a great distance, and to me that seems like an exploit, but it's not a big deal.

I think you did a great job for a game jam, and here are just some suggestions if you wanted to continue development: I think you could have benefited from adding more elements as time went on, like obstacles such as volcanic rocks coming down from the sky or platforms / orbs you are not supposed to touch. Maybe the platforms nearest to the lava increase in the number of orbs to incentivize you to risk it for more orbs? Maybe orbs give you upgrades, to really incentivize you to get more orbs. Maybe there are some orbs which are mandatory to get before they sink into the lava. You have a great foundation here, add a few elements and the game could be deep and addicting.

Sleep by sir_onionknight 2021-10-05T19:32:08Z

Definitely made me jump a few times. Very good concept and well-executed as well. The art for some of the monsters felt out of focus, but otherwise, the visual and audio design works very well together. This feels like it could be a part of a larger survival game!

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-09T22:22:45Z

Awesome concept and awesome execution. I like how the game is simple enough to understand that it does not require any tutorial - you just play and it understand. I also found that the game took a while to kill me, even if I was messing up; i.e. there was a lot of leeway initially or at least it seemed that way. So this makes for a smooth, intuitive onboarding process which is what you want, especially for a game jam.

Initially I was not sure how well it tied into the unstable theme, because it only felt unstable to me towards the end. But then I read through some of the comments and realized that the cards with multiple changes in short time limits did really push me to instability, which was very cool.

Because the game concept is simple and focused, you were clearly able to get it quite polished, in terms of art, audio and UI, and probably were able to playtest a fair bit. Things like the indicators next to each of the UI whenever you hover over one of the cards that affects it - things like that only come from playtesting and evaluating and are super helpful as a result so kudos on that.

The first thing that struck me when I turned on the game was the music and it was AWESOME. They say that music establishes a tone and vibe of the game, and this is a great example of that.

I tried really hard to think of some suggestions or criticisms I could give, and I have just a few small ones that could maybe help you if you are planning on expanding it.

1) When it got the end of the game, I wanted to spend more time in the "unstable state". I wanted to feel like I was on the verge of dying for a longer period of time. In my case, my first playthrough I died shortly after the tense music and timer started. My second playthrough, I was in the tense state for maybe 20 seconds before finishing the game. I think you can look at something like DOOM 2016, DOOM Eternal, or Ruiner for that "on the verge of dying" loop. In those games, you are just about to die when you are just barely able to kill an enemy and find some health, and they likely have some internal systems built to make the enemies give you a bit of leeway on the edge of death. And this might go on for minutes in medium to large fights. You guys do a good job of the leeway, but in terms of the length, you are only in the tense situation for a little bit of time. It's like getting just a taste of a great meal, which you have been looking forward to for a while. Minor complaint overall, but something worth considering.

2) When I finished the game, I did not feel some great joy or anything like that. It was fun to make it to the next step and the next step, and so on, but at the end of the process I expected to feel rewarded for making a monster but I didn't get that feeling. Maybe this has to do with some more art / sound / vfx that should play once you create a monster to really highlight the moment. And maybe this will be helped by addressing the first point and making the tense situation last longer so that getting out of it feels more rewarding.

3) I think this works great as a game you have to play for 5-10, maybe even 20 minutes. But I wonder how you make it work if you want to expand the game? This is not a criticism of the game jam submission - I think as a submission it's great, but just thinking in terms of a full game. Do you keep going down the same route, and just add more stages? You make a monster, and make another monster joined to it, and so on and so forth to form a multi-organism being or something? Or do you also expand the gameplay itself, have monsters fight each other or kill humans etc? This is a great concept, just curious how you would expand it essentially.

Okay, I rambled enough. Great job! Thank you for reading my essay if you got this far :laughing: :smile:

the cards we're dealt by rainedoe 2021-10-05T03:58:39Z

I like the audiovisual experience a lot. I was not into the card gameplay, because that is just not my thing, but I think this is a great submission because of the art, sound, and the thematic application. I wish there was a way to get a player like me more interested in a card game like this, but I don't know what that would be, especially considering the time limit of a game jam.

Watch Your Step! by Rmu 2021-10-05T16:42:32Z

What a challenge! I really enjoyed your concept, and I was excited to get pretty far in one of my runs. The art style is great, and I like how the environment was implemented.

Cranky Robot by SkallyWags 2021-10-06T00:07:29Z

Love to see everyone's feedback, thank you for playing. @anton-florey and @parkuhrmd , the red lever is not a bug. It is intentional. That level is difficult, but solvable. Is there a way for you to PM me? I don't want to give away the solution here. :smile:

Cranky Robot by SkallyWags 2021-10-07T01:06:34Z

@mateu , thank you for your feedback. We plan to put up those builds along with fixes, only after the jam is over. Thank you for playing.