Very cute game with a hilarious story and fun gameplay. I loved that there were two endings and that the game allowed you to go back and unlock them if you wished. Loved every moment of it. 

Suggestion: ADD MORE. This was a wonderfully fun game that I can easily see becoming more full length. Also, maybe vary up the boss attacks so they aren't quite so predictable and easy to avoid. One boss I didn't even have to move out of the way to attack AND not get hit.

Quite a bit of fun.

I enjoyed the "heroic" ending a bit more, despite the cleverness of how the second ending played out and the scale of everything, mostly because the chickens were too cute to eat IMO - but even having multiple paths at all was a fun treat (pun not intended).

I think the boss battles are a bit samey, though in this short of a format it would be difficult to get too complex with different mechanics. And besides, they're well done even if variations on the same patterns and strategies.

Visually, it's marvelous. The sound and music are great. Controls feel mostly good, with an occasional hiccup when spacebar just doesn't register for some reason (could be me).

The character and world design is cute and it would be a fun theme for a larger and more puzzle-oriented game.

Great work!

Thoughts recorded during my playthrough

+ = I liked it

- = I didn't like it

* = Comment/neutral

====================

+ Oh hey, I recognize that BGM! Good stuff.

+ Love the pixel art

+ I like how the opening scene teaches you the mechanics right away.

- It wasn't clear to me right away that I should try to inhale the plants around the house. I figured it out pretty quickly though.

+ There are secret items (of course).

+ You managed to make a game with projectiles in MZ. And it works rather well. I am impressed.

+ I am surprised and impressed that you included a level up system.

+ The slingshot mechanic is a nice touch.

+ You can eat the chickens. And the owner gets mad. lol

+ Oh, and now I can access another area, Metroidvania-style!

+ The "best" ending...wow! That was fun.

+ I like that I even get the chance to go back after the end to try for the other ending.

Summary

Well, this was just a delight. I didn't think it was possible to make a good ARPG in RPG Maker, but you've proven me wrong. There's little to critique here; it's a master class in good game design. Well done, Nowis!

What a delightful little game.

The pixel art is adorable and I love all the little details, from the "objects eaten" counter having the background of some meat on the bone, to the townspeople being food, to the little portrait of Buffet Knight on the wall.

The eating mechanic is really well-executed and very intuitive. As someone else said, having the menu button on the same key as the one for swallowing food results in a few occasions where the menu comes up when you meant to eat something, but it's seldom enough that it was hardly game breaking.

The boss battles really weren't a challenge at all due to the ability to suck in all projectiles. They were all basically just a matter of standing below the point where any of the boss abilities could reach, and holding suck until projectiles came that I could use to damage the boss. The designs were cool, though.

I'm guessing Katamari Damacy was an influence here, especially for the path to the second ending. I honestly thought that one was far more entertaining and absolutely hilarious.

Really well done, Nowis. I'll be very surprised if this one doesn't at least place.

The opening track and title art are sick. Just sitting on the title screen gives off a very retro and throwback feel.  

Good job with the intro it was short and sweet, it told the player everything they needed to know without a massive lore dump. The GUI is also clean and simple. Maybe add some opacity to the top right section if you want to reclaim some real estate?

It's a shame that I have no buttons on my controller that are bound to the space bar. I literally have to hit the space bar even though I'm playing with a controller. Maybe add the option to rebind a few of the keys?

The towns folk are personified food items, like a hotdog or toast. This is a funny idea and it fits well into the Gourmet town theme. It's especially funny when the kaiju part of the game starts and well... I'm not gunna spoil the story, but I'll just say you want to find all the hidden fossils and make a deal with the witch. :)

I like the maps and simple map puzzles, everything is eatable once you get upgraded enough. The artwork is fantastic, I love the sprite and tileset, the mapping is simple and easy to navigate. 

The boss battles were fun and cool even if they were a bit easy. I love the design and overall pacing in this game. 

I got the Ending 2 of 2: Unsatiable Black Hole (Maybe rename it to Insatiable Black Hole?)

Obtaining the Ultimate flavor was a magnificent journey reminiscent of Dingo Games' Tasty Planet mixed with a fantastic Nowis-brand RPG storyline. Wonderful art, all custom crafted for this experience. Great sound design with awesome 8-bit chiptune BGM and well picked/crafted SFX to fit the situation. What more could you want? This game is the whole package. I absolutely loved it!

Please see Teal's play-through video, as well as her review of the game in the video description:

There's not much more I can say about this game that others haven't already said. The whole time I was playing I kept thinking how far is Nowis gonna take this. I was thinking how cool it would be if you could eat these certain things, but then you took it so much further! It makes me kinda sad knowing that some people who play won't see the true ending, because it's so good. 

We have been competing in a few jams together now, and I have to admit I'm always eager to see your work, partly because I see it as the standard to beat, but also because I just love seeing what you come up with. You motivate me to become better and I have nothing but the highest respect for you as an RPG Maker dev.

Pretty fun, but not without issues. Definitely some kirby vibes here.

The bosses basically all have a spot where you can just stand there and spam the suck button to win.

Menu is a bit hard to get to since the normal menu button is also the eat button, so you have to go to the other menu button to access the menu if you have something inhaled.

A bit annoying when you are standing on what you want to eat since you have to move away or they just shake.

The eat menu can hide elements of gameplay though, which can be a little annoying. Maybe have an option where it fade when not 'active' (aka. If option is selected, have it go solid when values are changing, but maybe fade to 40% when values have been static for say 2 seconds over 2 seconds (so If no values change at 2 seconds, start fade at 30% per second down to 40%)).

Objects eaten is a bit misleading, since it still counts if you don't eat them.

When the witch takes your shards, it still shows x8.

This game was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it! Keep up the good work.

Hi there! Here's a video of me playing through this entry, and I'm going to release my full opinions of each after the results for the first round have been published. Until then I won't let on my judging score or overall review, but you can still watch my playthrough if you'd like! Cheers. :)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1106584618

Nowis, this is such a fun game! I have no idea how you managed to do this in a month. I'm super impressed. The art is lovely as well.

Oooh, I know that chef. :D Honestly thought the witch would show her face as well and be a known character like the chef.

I'd love to play a longer version of this.

I loved this, Hungry Blob goes eating EVERYTHING! And the pixel art style is super cute! I got a lot of Minish Cap vibes from it. And that's good cause I love Zelda games. I can't really find much fault here, It's short, cute, and glutinous and even if pressing or holding the "Space Bar" might become repetitive for some, I like how it stays simple. Sometimes minimal is best.

Ate and consumed EVERYTHING. Nice Katamari addition. 

Give me more food! Gotta Eat Them All! XD

Overall I think it's a great and fun game! I love when your actions are decisive in games: in this case you can also see it with your own eyes! Good job!

Me encantó, un juego simple corto con una historia (aunque simple) divertida. Buen gamplay y gráficos, 10/10

What can I say? An adorable, clever, and aesthetically wonderful entry, as one would expect, from Nowis-337.

While I agree that the boss patterns were simple, I'm of the opinion that that's totally fine: the game feels like it just wants to be a small delightful experience, and not a Dark Souls. The action element is meant to engage, not to challenge, the player, and it does that in spades.

The only nitpick (if one could call it that) I have, is that given the creator's talent and sensibilities, I REALLY want to see a longer/larger project that goes beyond the charm and offers deeper systems and mechanics that I could happily invest and get lost in.

Cheers!

I thought this game was funny, creative, and very well-done! I liked the game mechanics, the little puzzles you had to figure out in order to unlock areas, and the uniqueness of each monster. The art and music were perfect for the game too. 

Just some feedback on a couple of minor points: I got a little tired of pressing the space bar (particularly for one of the endings, but also while looking around). Without giving away any spoilers, I liked the fact that there was a hint when an object was examined early on; I thought that was more fun than inhaling everything while searching. I personally would have liked to have a separate button for inhaling and shooting, since I had to constantly shoot out (or eat) things before I could inhale again. Perhaps separate buttons might be useful in battle too, if being able to inhale stuff multiple times and then shoot it out all at once did more damage. 

Anyhow, I thought this was a great game overall! :)

Super fun game! I stand by what I said about this game before, and I love the protagonist's sprite changes when they get bigger :)

The game design is excellent and I enjoyed the visuals, music and story! I also like the inspiration you took from Kirby and Zelda Minish Cap. Some minor feedback: the bosses were a bit too easy and I felt that they had too much HP. The multiple endings was a nice addition too. Great job with the game!

Man this was really good! The creative on map gameplay and multiple endings was especially a delight. Good art too.

Definitely my favorite one so far. Might say I was even a bit of a...glutton...for it? Amazing job.