Zyak

FaRuRoRi by Keenao 2023-01-11T23:22:51Z

Definitely a pretty good game, but I wish it had some more polish. - Controls on the title screen are not what they are in game. For me, A was shoot, S was pick up, D was eat a grown crop, and Escape exited to main menu and to desktop. You can also only eat a crop you've already picked up(I tried to eat off the field initially). - Not being able to move diagonally ended up being rather inconvenient, as did not being able to shoot vertically, although it's manageable without these. - You can hold A to shoot! I wish I had known about this sooner! - At one point I had a dozen mobs chasing me around. Touching them ended up instantly killing me. I'm used to _some_ form of invincibility in shooters, so it came as a bit of a surprise. It does make for some good action, though! - The SFX are quite alright and the music is amazing. I wish there was more of it! - I don't think I came out of the game with a solid grasp on the seed merging. It appears seeds can change colour after being in the grown state for some time(or being in proximity of an identical plant, colour and all), and that gives them an enhanced effect depending on the seed type, at the cost of having to wait a bit more to harvest them. Some seeds probably interact with some other seeds to create new ones, but usually I'm too distracted with shooting the mobs to pay much attention. - The game usually was me running around frantically, trying to kill all the mobs while trying to plant _something_, _somewhere_, just so that I can keep my power-ups going and not die. It makes for good action, but tends to leave little space for thinking about what I want to grow(a more experienced player can definitely formulate a strategy here. For me it was just more dakka and healing). - The graphics are alright, easy on the eyes. I'd love to see more variety! - Please add volume sliders or a mute button, the music is quite loud.

All in all, quite a fun game! Coming back for another round is an easy affair here, which is what I'll definitely be doing. I hope you'll keep working on the game!

FaRuRoRi_230112061725.png

Crypt Caper by Asieke 2023-01-16T00:03:19Z

Great work releasing in Compo! Here are my thoughts: - The graphics are quite good! The 1-bit palette really fits with the game's aesthetic of being a dark place. The text is a little bit difficult to read, personally I had to focus on it(and thus stop playing) to make things out, and there's text in every room I've visited! - The music is alright. It's well-made, but to me it doesn't feel like a good fit for what I had in mind when playing. I'd associate it with something like a lullaby rather than running around in what is supposedly a crypt. - I like the idea of having to move efficiently to keep the lights on! That said, I had quite a bit of trouble getting to grips with the controls. A single arrow key press, in my experience, could put me on the next tile, or it could propel me 4 tiles in a direction and off a ledge, or past a torch(the shift button helps, though!). Perhaps I'm simply not very good at precise input, and I know that I can move slowly by holding down, but more controlled movement in general would be preferable(maybe even make larger tiles with free movement within them? Not sure what effect it could have on the game). - Jumping also feels rather sluggish. My take on it is that there's _too much_ animation in it. The animation itself is nice, but responsive controls are simply more important to me in a platformer. - The game's premise can definitely make for an interesting challenge! That said, I hope there are more levels in the post-jam version. As it stands right now, I don't think the level on display plays to the strengths of the concept very well, but that's understandable given the time constraints. A good smattering of mechanics to encourage either rushing through a level before the light goes out or wandering around before backtracking to a well-lit room can surely do a lot of good here. - I wish there was some sort of indicator for when the light meter will go down. My understanding is that it's rounded down to the nearest integer, but I wish I had more details on how much ticks I have left before it goes down again.

All in all, it's evident that a lot of work went into the game, but the game can absolutely go much further. I think the foundation here is solid, the only question is how far you're going to take the idea. Good luck!

Crypt Caper by Asieke — Mozilla Firefox_230116065731.png

Yggdrasil by AntonyMo 2023-01-14T14:34:33Z

There's a great game here! Some thoughts: - I'm sure you've noticed, but in the tutorial text(I want to say level 2), there's a typo in one of the prompts("pannel" instead of panel"). Otherwise, the tutorial is concise and I was off solving the puzzles in no time! - The audio-visual representation in general is amazing! The calming melody combined with the bright visuals really convey a sense of peace. The menu looks quite slick, but the level select and the level completion screen feel to me like they clash a bit with the level aesthetic. While they don't intersect, I wish I could look at something just a tad more cheery on those screens. - The tiles should probably receive another mention, they're so good. The animations of them dropping onto the play area and flying out of it are quite well-done! That said, it took me a bit of effort to discern which tile had which resources on larger levels, perhaps the tiles blended into each other a bit _too_ well. - The puzzles are quite good! I liked the idea of planning where to put plants ahead of time to create the ideal conditions for spawning Yggdrasil. - By the end of the game, the levels ramped up in difficulty quite a bit, which is great! However, I felt like the most difficult levels were levels 10, 11 and 14. It took me quite a bit more time to solve 10 than 9, 11 took even longer than 10, and 14 had me stumped for minutes on end. By contrast, 12, 13 and 15 weren't really all that difficult to me. I guess it's more a matter of perspective. - Speaking of levels, it's difficult to know which one you're on unless you either exit out and re-enter the correct one, or if you keep it in your head. There just isn't much that differentiates levels from each other besides the field itself, the flowers available, and Yggdrasil requirements(10 and 11 look identical if you look at just the field, but have wildly different solutions!). - I quite liked the variety of plants and their effects on the soil! Although at times I felt I had _too many_ plants available, since the solution required way less(think level 10 with all the lilies). I haven't really tried looking for alternative solutions, though. It's nice to think the possibility exists, regardless! - Speaking of alternative solutions, have you considered implementing performance targets, like completing a level using only a certain amount of flowers, or not using a type of flower, that kind of thing? I don't think it's a good time investment when you're on the clock like during the jam, but I believe it bears thinking about for the post-jam version!

Despite all the minor criticisms I've expressed for your game here, I'd say it doesn't detract from the game itself at all. You've made the game great pretty much everywhere it counts. I hope the post-jam version receives the finishing touches to become truly brilliant!

Clip2net_230114203941.png

SolarShip by Bardia Crunch 2023-01-14T16:26:38Z

It's quite simple(deceptively so!), but really fun! Some thoughts: - I loved the gameplay loop in general! Having to balance fuel conservation(since you don't know how much fuel is coming in the near future), accuracy(since shooting is quite expensive and you can kill a lot of drones with one shot) and speed(since you are always subject to inertia and star gravitation, which can cause you to shift away from or into the optimal shooting position) is a _really_ entertaining challenge! - That said, the flares can feel a bit random at times. Throughout my rounds, I could go 15 seconds without a single flare, or I could be swimming in energy within the first 15 seconds of the round. - It only started occurring after I managed to survive 90 seconds in a round, but sometimes, _two_ flares would come up at once, even on easy! I'm not sure if it's a bug or some sort of reward, since it hasn't happened once until that point. - The pixel art, while rather simplistic, is quite well done! The screen has a lot going on, yet everything remains concise. You always see what's going on around you. I especially like the sun "spots" that appeared just before a flare popped up. It can be quite rewarding to keep an eye on them! - While there's just a background track and the shooting sound effect, both fit the game marvellously! The track fits the mood of a hopeless defence quite well, and the shooting effect feels powerful. Neither of them get in the way of another, too!

All in all, the game nails the arcade style perfectly. If it had a coin slot, I'd be missing quite a few quarters!

SolarShip by BardiaCrunch by GneissKitty, Bardia Crunch — Mozilla Firefox_230114225535.png

Soul Harvester by Accatosh 2023-01-12T17:56:19Z

Good work on releasing the game! Some thoughts as I played the game: - The action component has quite a lot of potential! Having to balance between keeping yourself safe and gathering souls for upgrades is a nice twist. However, the reaction time required in order to avoid hits is rather on the low side, especially if the hit is coming from above or below(I suspect it's because I can't see as far vertically as I can horizontally). If you're also moving into the hit(which can happen quite often!), reacting in time is extremely difficult. Nevertheless, it's quite fun! - The shooting is okay, but it can get tiring when there are a lot of enemies around since you need to press the shoot button for every shot. I wish I could simply hold the button to shoot, even if it comes with a reduced fire rate! - Most, if not all, enemies appear to spawn in the corners of the arena, with no warning. I ended up simply sticking to the centre of the arena, only moving away to gather souls, since there wasn't much pressure for me to move otherwise. The enemies can press you to move, especially in the beginning, but it tapers off rather quickly. - The goblins feel like their hit-box is twice their size! Maybe it's because they're swinging their swords at me, but it still caused me a lot of grief, since it's nigh impossible to dodge out of their way if you're running into them from above or below. Very interesting movement pattern, though, you never know if you have an opportunity to collect a soul with them around. - The slimes often end up shooting at me from outside the screen. It certainly keeps me on my toes, but it's also frustrating to just run into one of their projectiles by accident. - The warlocks are fine. I think they're the most "fair" enemy in the roster, while still being quite threatening. I wish there was more indication of when they're going to teleport, though; not knowing if I need to shoot a warlock or anticipate their movement peeves me a little. - At some point, the game difficulty has stopped increasing. At that point, the fun evaporates quite quickly. More enemy types, a higher enemy density, and perhaps even a lower wait time between waves will definitely fix it, though!

All in all, there's a lot of potential hidden underneath! Keep working on it, and I'm sure the game will shine by the end of the jam! Good luck!

Soul Harvester - LD52 by Accatosh — Mozilla Firefox_230113000728.png

Soul Harvester by Accatosh 2023-04-27T04:58:13Z

Hey, good to see you working on it! It's a stark contrast from the LD days! Once again, my thoughts:

* The addition of music and sound is quite nice! The music and the sounds fit into the game okay. My only issue was that the sound of your own shots is different depending on which direction you're going and which direction you're firing. I suspect the game's trying to see where the shot appears relative to the character and then balances the audio to indicate that. It's not bad, but the sounds can get quite cluttered and (in the case of your own shots) a little bit disorienting.

* Now that there's a re-spawn point in the centre, it's harder to simply stand in roughly one place while fighting off mobs! I like being on the move most of the time!

* The new enemies certainly pose a new challenge! The crystals tend to cover a slime while it shoots me, while fireballs need to be harvested before they re-spawn. I do think there are some kinks with their design, however:

a) Sometimes, more than a single crystal spawns, and they end up covering each other as well. In certain situations, this leaves little room to get inside the shield to kill one of them, and I shudder to think what havoc _three_ crystals, arranged in a triangle, can wreak. I was thinking, maybe the shield could shrink a little bit as it absorbs shots?

b) The crystals only ever seem to cover slimes(and sometimes goblins, when they stumble inside). Why not warlocks as well? You'd have to take their teleport ability away while they're inside a shield, but surely it'd be a step up in difficulty?

c) A small issue I had with the warlock is that their teleport conceals their destination now. However, if you tag them with a shot(so that the health bar shows), the bar will not disappear, making the stealth virtually useless after the warlock is damaged. Granted, in later waves, one shot was all it took to bring one down, but it's noticeable in the early waves.

* The addition of a dash is quite welcome, but I wish I could dash in the direction I'm going, not towards the cursor. My cursor is usually pointing at an enemy I want to kill, and getting closer to an enemy(and, thus, risking to just get hit by the next attack anyway) is probably something I don't want.

* Attacks have scaling damage now! It can get quite tough to survive later waves when a stray shot can take off 5 HP when you have about 20. I'm not too sure how to feel about it, though. The damage scaling will certainly outstrip my capacity to upgrade health eventually. Since mob health seems to scale too, it can potentially outstrip my own damage, as well(though much later than health).

* Only having the shop open between waves is a nice touch. However, the conditions for a wave to end seem rather finicky. I'm not sure if I have to kill every mob or if it just happens after a period of time, but often I'll get the pop-up in the middle of fighting mobs, or it'll appear just as the fireballs spawn. On that note, shouldn't red graves be considered enemies if they spawn fireballs?

* The time between waves felt too long. Perhaps you could add a button to start the next wave?

That's about it, I think. It's definitely come a long way, and it's quite a bit more fun now! It just needs a few kinks ironed out now!

Soul Harvester - Post LD by Accatosh — Mozilla Firefox 27.04.2023 11_10_51.png (I could've sworn I harvested that grave!)