SweetWizzle

Seance by alexrose 2024-04-29T22:12:37Z

What an amazing submission! The atmosphere and theme are fine-tuned to perfection. The visuals, sound design, and voice acting are all phenomenal. It started off feeling sluggish due to having to enter each letter separately, but thankfully the notepad came very soon -- it could just be unlocked from the start in a future release, even if it's not as tactile as using the planchette.

The writing was for the most part very good too. Just the ending left me a *little* cold, but for a jam submission, it's still good. The progression was smooth, except having to use the office clue on Dylan twice was very unintuitive. I suspect that's what the above commenter being stuck on the CCTV clue was also missing. This brought my progress to a full halt until I checked out @mateusboga 's VOD (thanks for that!) to figure out what I was missing. After that it was smooth sailing again.

Overall though, this was by far in my top 5 this entire jam. Wonderful stuff!

The Weaver from the remote hamlet by Tyrannas 2024-04-27T15:11:29Z

Aside from occasional writing hiccups in grammar and typography, this game is phenomenally polished and thought-out. The theme is really front and center here. The audiovisual direction is gorgeous and the game blends narrative and gameplay very well. By far one of my favorites this jam, well done!

Sage & Summonion by JuicyBrucey 2024-04-28T23:53:19Z

The game looks and sounds beautiful, but it took me *forever* to get the hang of what was happening and what to do. A little user manual on the game page would've saved a lot of folks some headache! Equipping spells isn't exactly intuitive, either, and I wish there was a quick retry option upon death. But once I got into it, the game was a blast to play -- this might be a game I come back to after the jam too. It feels good to play and the atmosphere is on point. Excellent work!

I am a wizard and my shoulder hurts by monika 2024-04-28T15:46:13Z

Oh no -- *I* am a wizard and *my* shoulder hurts!! Alas, I wish I had a Playdate to play this on, but that's not the case (yet), and so the web player had to do. Thanks for the detailed steps for that. You've made a wonderful submission that's really appealing despite (and thanks to) the limitations! Really solid presentation and fun writing. I adore this and really hope to play this on actual hardware one day!

Spirit, are you there? by namnam 2024-04-30T15:48:02Z

I really liked this submission. It's such a nice and cozy take on the spirit board trope. The writing had some awkward English in a couple of places, but otherwise it felt quite natural and the different possible answers give it some replay value! Very good work, this was a memorable one!

P.S. The download version didn't work; the dialogue just never started playing, so I had to play the web version. Thankfully that wasn't much of a problem!

Tristram by Rongo Matane 2024-04-28T15:37:37Z

I played the post-jam version, but absolutely incredible work! Everything was polished to the fullest. The only thing that felt a little off was the spoken narration. The theme is very present -- which is also why not having full control over the party works, in my opinion -- and the premise is a fun idea. It was a thorough pleasure to play. Extra points for the screen shake slider!

Franz Bardon's Practice of Magical Evocation by kr4ft3r 2024-04-26T19:12:10Z

A really cool way to represent the theme! I do kind of think it might have been more fun with vertical matching in addition to horizontal, as sometimes it felt like I spent numerous turns doing nothing due to the RNG. Enjoyable game regardless, nicely done!

Nana's Impanadas by Fecalmancer 2024-04-26T22:18:48Z

Okay this made me chuckle. Although a pretty typical representative of the genre, it's a really fun submission for the jam, and I enjoyed it. Also thank you for the option to mute the radio!

Gosh I really could go for some empanadas right now.

Dark Dominion by ChuChuGeralt 2024-04-28T22:53:40Z

I really like that the basics are simple and intuitive, but the game clearly gains depth as it progresses. I just wish the pace was a little faster, since the tutorial and some fights felt pretty drawn out. The game looks and sounds really nice though, and the theme is highlighted well. Nice job!

Evil Wizard Tower Tycoon by Matthieu Riboulot 2024-04-28T15:14:47Z

It looks and sounds great and is mechanically very deep for a jam project! The flavor on the cards was on point, too. The UI hover-over is really helpful, but there's a lot to take in at first (we are guilty of the same problem) and some text boxes are clipped by the borders, like when you hover over the top left icons. Just for convenience's sake, a quit button would've been nice too, but that's very minor.

My first playthrough was ended by a glitch where the drag-and-drop just stopped working; the unit stuck to my cursor after letting go of the mouse button and I couldn't click on anything. The second time was much smoother though and I had fun playing this. Nice work!

Elemental Surge by Foursay 2024-04-28T15:22:05Z

A fun take on wave survival, you really have to adapt to different enemy types actively. I enjoyed the spritework and music. Aside from a few grammatical/typographical errors, the UI and tutorial text were solid, though I wish there had been a button to quit the game or return to the main menu! Good stuff overall, I enjoyed my time with this!

Hell of a job by boudoubouda 2024-04-26T18:58:55Z

A very fun interpretation of the theme! The employee details are a wonderful touch that give the characters flavor in addition to hints about their placement. The game looks and sounds great. I do wish there was a quit button specifically, but that's not much of an issue. A standout submission.

Dungeon Skater by mackain 2024-04-26T17:58:14Z

Nice job adapting the idea into something rad! The only complaints I'd have are that sometimes the hit detection is kind of finicky, and coins are occasionally located in spots where they simply have to be missed to avoid death. The pace is nice and fast though, so restarting and getting back on the board is pleasant!

Piggy Harvest by sami822 2024-04-26T20:36:25Z

Oh gosh I adored this one. Very pleasant game; not too stressful, but requires a fair bit of thought if you want to minimize casualties. All of the piggies are excellent. If there is a way to see what new enemy units do before sending your pigs to the slaughter, I completely missed it, but it would be nice quality-of-life upgrade.

Hyper Hydra by Goofte 2024-04-26T21:37:25Z

This is unbelievably polished for a jam project. The different types of heads and enemies are fun and lead to a lot of interesting scenarios. If I had to give a point of criticism, it's that the theme isn't super strong in the game. It feels responsive and everything is communicated well. I spent a lot of time with this one, it was a pleasure and easily among my favorites this jam!

Parmigiano Rolliano by LiquidFunk 2024-04-26T20:43:38Z

Nice *flavor* for a jam submission. Aesthetically it's among my favorites this jam. The theme could have been represented more strongly, but I love the sense of humor!

Hentoad by Nazorus 2024-04-26T22:58:54Z

A really solid entry and proof of concept! It feels mostly great to control, which is obviously a vital aspect of any platformer (using a pad made all the difference). You've done a lot with relatively little, so an exemplary compo submission.

Abyssal God by KewDev 2024-04-26T19:55:15Z

I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of this one. The graphics and sound design were spot-on. The puzzles leaned on the simpler side, but that's probably exactly what you want from a jam project! My only complaints are the slight reliance on color-coding in puzzle design (accessibility problem), and that the pages didn't scale with resolution so I had to look *really* close to read them. Very good stuff overall though!

Against the Titan by CodeRaurus 2024-04-26T18:37:46Z

What an excellent submission. The atmosphere is just perfect for the theme. On one hand, it could have been a tad faster at the start, but on the other, this way even someone like me who sucks at rhythm games was able to complete it!

Demanager by satacat 2024-04-30T18:37:33Z

There have been numerous "choose the right demon by using the right ingredients" games this jam, but this one stood out with its presentation. It was intuitive, but had enough brain-teasing to keep me engaged until the end. I got to go on a vacation with Succubus without issue, but I feel like there were a couple of lucky guesses in there, haha! I'm mostly glad it never got frustrating.

The theme was very present in both the mechanics and aesthetics. Bonus points for the clock's eyes following your cursor, that was fun. Really nice work!

Ocean Screensaver for Windows 4K by Martta 2024-04-28T21:57:43Z

This was very pleasant! The summoning aspect wasn't exactly front and center, but I had a nice time just watching my little fish friends and populating the screen. It really reminds me of the screensavers and timesink games of my youth, well done replicating that.

Monster Food Truck by AutumnL1 2024-04-26T19:44:55Z

Oh this was an absolute delight. Great to expose my eyeballs and earholes to. Quite cryptic to start off with (I kept making old cops) but I really enjoyed my time with it, especially seeing all the different guys.

Faemori by EllieRaev 2024-04-28T23:32:51Z

Fellow devs who made a roguelike auto-battler about summoning elemental minions who fight through 10 random rooms up to a boss that changes elements! Hi there, haha!!

The GameBoy look is absolutely perfect (I adore these sprites so) and the tunes are fun to jam to even when you get crushed a bunch of times in a row. It took me a while to really understand what I was doing wrong in a given room, but there is clearly strategy to how you place your troops.

Probably my only real criticisms are that the time limit for placing units feels somewhat unnecessary and I really wish you didn't have to choose a new minion after a fight if you feel your team setup is good.

Still, I had a blast! I just couldn't clear the boss no matter how I tried, but I might well come back to this one after the jam just to try again. One of my favorites this jam.

Daemonis Algebra by orbitaldot 2024-04-30T19:10:43Z

Gosh I'm absolutely obsessed with these designs. The presentation is just wonderful!

The game was tough as nails though. I wish the ghost had just a little more chill, and I found purposeful collecting of certain parts very difficult based on the sprites especially if the ghost had got me (I ended up just going with what I happened to run into at a given time). A single hit can be so punishing. But the concept was super neat and I adore all the different weirdos you can make! Nice work, team.

Final Chants by chybby 2024-04-27T14:49:10Z

This was very good -- the look and sound fit the theme perfectly, and it was represented well in the gameplay too.

The rooms consistently felt too big though; there's a lot of empty space that you have to traverse, and much of it in complete darkness. The disorientation was probably intentional, but it occasionally had a negative impact on the pacing.

The puzzles designed around the spirits were nicely done, though the gear-gating could have been a little clearer, since trying a puzzle I was not prepared for also felt like wasted time.

Those points aside, the atmosphere and gameplay were enjoyable, and this definitely ranks high for me. Nice work!

Dr. Kappasigma's Summoning Training by Crygos 2024-04-26T21:12:13Z

This is a really clever take on both the theme and the brain training format. Very fun to look at and listen to as well -- bonus points for the presentation. Just a nice little treat.

Braid 3 by magicdweedoo 2024-04-27T15:30:56Z

I can't believe I get to play the latest magicdweedoo hotness for Ludum Dare!! I've been a big fan since Ticket. I won't let that cloud my judgment, though.

This was the most fun I've had out of any submission this year. The theme was somewhat... Absent... But the audiovisual components were beautiful, in true magicdweedoo fashion. The narrative had real drama and a twist befitting a sequel to Braid. Excellent entry, just the right length too.

Objectively.

Necrotyper by soffu 2024-04-26T18:20:03Z

I've always loved typing games, so this was a fun twist for me, and it helps make the summoning theme more present. Would have enjoyed a steadier difficulty curve, but I'm well aware how hard that is to pin down during a jam! The level of polish is great, you've done a wonderful job.

Manku the Magician by PorChor 2024-05-01T16:07:54Z

I am obsessed with how this game looks and sounds -- marvelous work! Mechanically it's very simple and the interpretation of the theme isn't *super* strong, but the presentation more than makes up for that. This was a pleasure to experience and I gave it quite a few shots as a result!

Demonic Summoning Simulator by _luceoon 2024-04-30T17:48:26Z

This was alright to play around with! It could use a framing narrative or a tangible goal, but obviously there's only so much you can do in 72 hours. As far as sandboxes go, this fit the theme nicely and still had atmosphere to it. And I could summon a cheeseburger, so that's nice!

FRIEND FRIEND by JAMESDEV 2024-04-30T18:48:28Z

Wow, this gets hard! The theme could be a bit stronger, but you've made a fun platformer with quite little, so good work. For convenience's sake, I wish restarting upon death and proceeding to the next level upon reaching the goal used the space bar as well. Using the mouse just for those prompts was kind of unwieldy. The aesthetics are nice, and this kept me engaged for quite some time!

LuciFare by Aaron Hart 2024-04-26T18:44:40Z

Good job for a solo submission, and your first jam, no less! The look reminds me of Magicdweedoo's stuff, which is an absolute bonus for me, but I would have liked some more audiovisual feedback for things like not being able to proceed or completing a job. I think my resolution caused an issue where the windshield was cut out in the middle of the screen, but those kinds of bugs and oversights happen to everyone. Overall it was a nice time!

FiendFinder.com by 17 confused villains 2024-04-30T17:09:09Z

Alright this was exactly my jam, no pun intended. The writing hit just right for me with its tone, and along with the fantastic audiovisual presentation, made this game one of the most memorable submissions for me this Ludum Dare. You really nailed the atmosphere for the theme.

TANKZ by Funday Games 2024-04-26T18:06:23Z

The polish on this is wild. Audiovisually it's incredibly impressive, kudos! It didn't run perfectly on my browser (a very minor gripe), and I would have liked a bit more information so as not to be so clueless when starting off. While the summoning aspect isn't especially prominent, the vibes were on point, and most importantly, the game was really fun. Definitely a highlight of mine this LD.