Very topical, cool
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BRAINWORM's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Visuals | #12 | 4.646 | 4.646 |
| Overall | #54 | 3.882 | 3.882 |
| Audio | #63 | 3.917 | 3.917 |
| Enjoyment | #78 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Gameplay | #133 | 3.729 | 3.729 |
| Theme | #272 | 3.604 | 3.604 |
| Innovation | #399 | 3.396 | 3.396 |
Ranked from 48 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does the game fit the theme?
BRAINWORM was created for two game jams: Godot Wild Jam 78 (GWJ) and Brackeys Game Jam 2025.1 (BGJ). Inspired by both themes, the duo at Hangover Sunshine explored the concept of a brainworm "erasing" the cognitive functions of a rising politician. The classic Snake gameplay was chosen for its resemblance to worms and its emphasis on avoiding mistakes—echoing the idea that "nothing can go wrong."
Spoiler alert: After the brain-eaten politician becomes president, players are left to wonder: did nothing go wrong because the worm ate everything, or because even without a brain, the candidate’s path to power remained unimpeded?
What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
We have a jam template that has the following: 1) a menu layout, 2) a system for scene transitions, and 3) a simple particle pack, that we developed, with generic PNG shapes. Everything else was made from scratch, except for 2 music tracks.
How many people worked on the game?2
Comments
Goodness, I love the visual polish here. The context of the game is hilarious, and the sfx are very comical. It's definitely still Snake, but with a few exciting brush strokes over the top.
I'm not seeing this mentioned in other comments, so maybe it is just my machine (Mac OS, Chrome & Firefox), but I was experiencing some significant latency with my directional inputs. Is this intentional?
Submitted
Stoplight StampedeAaaay, thanks for shooting us a message and glad you enjoyed the polish!
The controls issue you are experiencing is interesting. In the current version we have right now, the more stability lowers, the faster the snake moves, which decreases your time to input a directional (creating a potential feel of sluggish controls and a lack of response on directional input). I'm wondering if that could be causing the issue in tandem with something controls-related. Either way, we did tweak those guys for our post-jam update to fix some issues in this current version (e.g., no more speed increase), will say that sluggish controls altogether are not intentional so we'll take another look and get that fixed.
Regardless, appreciate you giving our game a shot and for letting us know about them directional input issues.
- S.
Very engaging gameplay, had me invested the whole way through.
Submitted
Mutant Malfunctiongood game concept and story.. well made game with in a jam time limit
Submitted
Manage EmotionsHad a great time with this game! I died a lot but that didn't stop me. So much polish! Intro screen was a great touch. I would play this again.
Submitted
NinphibiousFun game, I like how the story integrates well with the gameplay, which was a fun mix of pacman and snake! Only problem I had was that the macs seemed to stop spawning after a little bit which took the challenge out of the latter half of the game. Other than this a very solid entry!
Submitted
RAT ALERTVery creative take on the themes and impressive that you took on two game jams at once! Tried and true core gameplay that worked well. Loved the art-style, super charming and the dialogue was fun (just wished I had more time to appreciate it as I was too focused on controlling the worm). Having the powerup shorten you was a brilliant move although after I ate all the macs no more seemed to spawn? The controls could, at times, feel a bit unresponsive (especially when attempting tight turns) but all in all I had a great time and I am very impressed with what you have made :)
Excellent work, keep it up!
Submitted
DevoirAaaay~!
Ty for giving our game a shot and for the kind words. Yes, the controls. We plan on getting those fixed once the jams ends. Could have used some input buffering and also some better times for input response . For instance, the worm gets faster in later levels, so that might be why inputs get a lil' funky later on or just in general.
Regardless, do appreciate the play and thank you for your hype of our game.
- S.
Haha what was this ? crazy game idea :P Very polish and interesting twist on Snake. Wish it was a bit less hard and wish we could read the dialogues on the right as we had to full focus to not loose ^^" but great job !
Submitted
A Stable JobI love this; I can't stop eating brains. This is such a clever and well executed take on Snake. I do wish the candidate graphic on the right was maybe in a different spot (or that he only came on screen when the game was paused or something) so that I could read what he was saying without losing my focus; I peeked a couple of times and it was pretty funny, so I felt like I was missing out on that dialogue. Really well done though, and congratulations on a great jam!
Submitted
Dear PenpalYo-yo~!
Thanks for giving our game a shot! Glad you enjoyed the concept as much as we did. Yes, the quips from Jerry. We are trying to come up with a solution to let people enjoy the politician's "poetry" while playing. Might be a location thing or something else. We still thinking.
Regardless, appreciate the feedback and time spent giving our game a shot!
- S.
Really cool take on a classic game!
I highly enjoyed seeing nice details like showing where the virus things will move towards, which avoids the player thinking that it's unfair that they died because they should've seen it coming.
Also like the fact that it has an end, I died twice at 25% and twice I said "one more time", I don't want to think about how many "one times" there would have been more had I not been able to finish it 😅
My final score was 372, with a brain fully devoured :) This is a *shockingly* competent entry for two people to make from scratch within a week, so huge praises for that. The theme interpretation is fine, but the IMMENSE amount of polish really elevated the experience for me. Really big fan of this one, I hope this gets into the top ranks at the end of the voting period :)
Submitted
Inspection DayAaay, ty so much for hype stranger! Twas a lot of work to done and we are grateful you gave it a play! Random tidbit, I always wanted the scores to be bigger, so hoping after the update, we can turn that 372 into a 372,000 with some post-jam conversion.
Either way, appreciate the kind comments, your hopes for our success, and for the time you spent giving it a shot!
- S.
Fun game! I really enjoyed all the little quips that came out every time a neuron was consumed, very witty! Fantastic art! The worm is so adorably happy to be there.
Submitted
Picking Up the PiecesDefinitely a top game, a simple game of snake but with cool twists such as a changing map system with pac-man like powerups and enemies to avoid. The commentary that happens after every consumption is really funny and witty (very on the nose in a good way) and in that same note the political commentary is great, and I haven't seen that in a jam game yet so it's actually pretty sick to be tackling such (sadly) relevant happenings. Art is fantastic and sound design is great, super satisfying overall and a great vibe.
Amazing game!
Submitted
Wibbly's Treasure HuntAaaay~! Appreciate the hype and for your kind comments (especially for the art/visuals since it was a suffering effort). Both DrImPasta and I are pretty big into making weird games like this, which I feel like usual end up being about politics or just have some sort of political undertones. Always feels great when someone shouts that out and feels connected to it! Hopefully humor is the best medicine to our current state of things : , ). Pasta did all the SFX for this one so will make sure to pass over the hype for it.
Either way, thanks a bunch for giving our game a shot!
- S.
It's a really impressive game, taking the concept of Snake but adding some really interesting elements, that's a good idea. What's more, the game is beautifully polished. Really well done for this game!
Submitted
Void-SpaceWow, The game concept and gimmick are very fun and inventive!
I had an very fun time playing!
Additionally, the worm character, UI design, and animation are all excellent!
Great job!
Submitted
2048 TOWERGreat visuals and I have an idea of how you come up with this one but a good one. Congrats.
Submitted
Totally Normal Power PlantTremendous! I couldn't complete but it was fun.
I wish I could play AND read the quotes at the same time to enjoy it in full XD
I am waiting for the sequel when you'll have to run around neighbourhood to eat dogs and pets!
Submitted
Kaleidoscope KeysAaay, ty for giving it a shot! We are thinking of tweaking the difficulty and coming up with a way to speed things up for players. Still glad you got a kick out of the experience!
Regardless, appreciate the kind words, and yes, do wait for our sequel game which takes place in the great state of Ohio : P
- S.
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