stellarLuminant

Chessapeak City by Sorrer 2021-10-05T02:30:32Z

This is a really interesting game! For a while I didn't see my population number go up because I (incorrectly) assumed that houses must be next to farms in order to produce food. Number tuning could use a bit of work, there was a point where once I snowball 2+ bishops, I produced so much industry that no storm could actually destroy my settlement- I rebuilt it immediately without needing to move any pieces. Despite that, I did run into the bug where a few times a building was unable to be moved in a storm- this pushed me even further towards the "just tank it with industry" strategy.

Really good use of the theme, and the art is simple yet communicative enough to figure out what I was doing. (it might also help for people who have already played chess. maybe a more visual guide for those who aren't as acquainted with systems like this?)

Deep Space Defenders by megalukes 2021-10-07T03:58:24Z

love the visuals, music, and gameplay! a neat little packaged game- if i had to give any criticism, it would be that i'd like more ways to intentionally set off chains rather than placing down raccoons hoping they will set off chains. the theme link is a little weak, but that's perfectly fine

Driving Blind by MildlyDisturbing 2021-10-07T19:06:26Z

wow, this is really fun and silly! i actually really like the perspective, it IS harder to read but i feel like that enhances the effect of how terrible and janky the idea of directing a blind driver from the outside is. i do agree that the first level seems to require a lot of precision that most other levels don't demand from you. also, the first level doesn't last nearly long enough to get through the entire audio clip.

Toil and Trouble by bassguitarbill 2021-10-07T20:21:00Z

game is very cute and cozy, from the art to the music to the little interactions with the cat and the ghost. i will say that the game immediately ended after i used rutabaga potion, though I was hearing some dialogue sounds which makes me think that there was some very last dialogue/scene i didn't get to see.

when i finally get the gravity stone, the cat says "great you have all the pieces for the last potion on the list" which makes me think that you're actually supposed to use the recipe for the last potion (which to be fair, i would have never guessed that recipe on my own). maybe have the ghost potion recipe in a separate area, like inside the ghost attic?

Volatile Witchcraft by Tomssuli 2021-10-07T19:23:16Z

wow, this game is so cute! love how well the aesthetics complement the game, and how well the gameplay translates to the theme. biggest issue was mostly not realizing that i needed the mouse to play the game at first, but that's on me for not reading the controls.

Breakoban by OgelGames 2021-10-05T10:13:33Z

hey, it's really nice to see another sokoban game! switches being able to activate other parts of the level was something I definitely wanted to try, but due to various time mismanagement constraints we shipped out with a vanilla Sokoban ruleset.

the difficulty is really well paced! and some of the puzzles were really creative, like using a box to keep a door open.

Normal Human by Profugo Barbatus 2021-10-05T01:40:51Z

shouting "INVASION INVASION INVASION" at the top of my lungs does not get the local authorities involved, quite unfortunate.

i love the concept- it's silly and unstable which pairs with the adorable art style. i also really appreciate the easy mode added in, it's a blessing for those who want to seek out the additional content.

as for some critical feedback, i'd love if the word hitboxes were a bit more... coherent, and I feel like most of the interactions boil down to whether I get the intended phrase exactly correct or not. I feel like "Need Water" and "I Need Water" should communicate the same context... right? I would also really like to see extra interactions for actually using some of the no-no words like "I Eat Humans". That's all probably extra content work that might have been too much for the jam.

Unstable by Seth Robbins 2021-10-05T01:35:36Z

the technical challenge involved in building the engine/tools from scratch is why I'm giving it a decent innovation score, and the art/gameplay that was implemented up until this point was pretty good. i'm hoping this goes beyond the jam, especially because of the effort put into the framework itself.

ECOLLAPSE 2030: the world is ending and also you are a penguin by cyndrdev 2021-10-05T02:09:42Z

i've never had trouble with depth perception in a game, i think this is a first!

i had a lot of fun with this game! biggest point of frustration was definitely feeling out jumps, finding out that a jump was too short or too far was mostly one of trial and error. sometimes i found myself trying to dive into a wall jump only to seemingly miss or somehow just slide off. it's hard to describe because i seem to have terrible depth perception in 3D games. it also feels like the dive is a verry slight boost to speed, and seems to only be a boost to those who are really comfortable with the controls.

that was a lot of gameplay nitpicks, but i should reiterate that i really enjoy this game, and i think its simplicity means i can't really say much else, other than how slappin the music was.

Shockwave Surfer by Tom Kun 2021-10-06T23:59:03Z

this is a really interesting idea! i really like how well the theme is wrapped into this gameplay- the shifting of control schemes, the environment destruction and random platforms. that being said, i found a lot of difficulty in controlling my velocity-the default player didn't feel super good to use with its acceleration and often coming to an unclimactic stop every time a platform generates slightly too high. I would love it if i could better influence the direction that the shockwave pushed me in- it always pushes me up in the air, and then it's a dice roll as to whether i'll actually land on a platform as I'm too high to see any platforms below me.

Space Jalopy by SageMade 2021-10-07T00:24:32Z

the game definitely took a moment to learn, but wow, it's actually pretty fun, and wonky. I love how unstable your ship feels with the acceleration based movement and the weapons constantly malfunctioning and everything.

i do think that weapon durability and healing take way too long to complete- my weapons could quickly cool but i never really saw my durability go up, and healing just took too long for me to care. also, it seems that my drone always has the ability to swap weapons? not sure how that works.

the micromanagement of everything combined with the wonky motion made this surprisingly fun. i do think the enemies should have been a biiit more responsive, they are defenseless until you bonk into them, in which case they will gun you to hell.

also, mouse/kb controls are super advantaged compared to keyboard, as mouse could instantly aim the weapons while i had to rely on a slow turnrate for controller. i do feel that the slow turnrate would have been a better option rather than trying to make controller aim just as well as mouse, as it adds to the nonsense of everything else happening.

i think enemies should spawn a bit more, i spent a lot of time looking for enemies rather than fighting them.

the Bar by Very Bad Bunny Studio 2021-10-05T02:59:13Z

the knife was the friends we made along the way

very calm game that I thought would be slow enough for me to play while eating sushi bowl. turns out that 15 seconds is not long enough for me to eat and pull a bench. I really thought that the knife would turn out to have some scary murdery twist to it, but I'm equally surprised that its sole use is being a box cutter.

i think the game could use some more... time limited activities? something to give the 15 seconds a bit more weight to it, other than just waiting in the box room for the scene to switch.

Gravigator by grimmpaperman 2021-10-05T02:47:59Z

I managed to get the game to work on Windows.

The controls certainly felt "unstable" to me! It's an interesting concept, albeit I found my eyes mostly on the bottom of the screen trying to keep one needle inside a wider needle. It's a bit of a problem if you want to display important information on the top of the screen.

Some of the sci-fi references here are a bit over my head, but I did have fun!