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(+1)

I admit I felt a little mixed on this one.

For starters I really have to congratulate you on implementing such a complicated series of systems for the combat sections! The various weakness, attack types, selecting individual enemies, and of course all the minigames. I can imagine how time consuming that must've been over the jam.

And I say this as someone who has spent a lot of time on combat mechanics in jams, I honestly think this game overstayed its welcome with the combat. I found it very impressive the first few run throughs, but each battle was quite long, and especially the last 3 fights that don't even result in a unique ending of any sort was just too much.

Also the lack of audio I think REALLY does this game a disservice, it made the lengthy battles more noticeable with just an eerie quiet. And just generally it would have made the minigames and combat more satisfying, especially the fruit ninja minigame.

As for more specific technical complaints:

The hit detection on the katana in the fruit ninja section isn't nearly generous enough, if you dont get the drop with the very tip of the katana it doesn't cut, which just doesn't feel fair or satisfying.

I was randomly teleported to the middle of the map after combat near the end, which made it even more tedious with the slow movement speed.

The minigames cap out at 3 per party member, meaning you can only really be punished in the minigames. If there was to be no upper limit I think it would make the game flow faster, and make the minigames more rewarding. Especially since theres a time limit on the minigames already, they can't go on indefinitely.

You really may as well have the music looping. I know its lampshaded in-game, but tbh it doesn't really come off as funny to me, just "oh great, silence!"

The bombs had some really cheap placements in some minigames, either right next to a drop that makes it impossible to reach the drop, or sometimes hidden underneath or inside the sprite of a drop.

Back to the positives, the art is very well done! I'm actualy kinda sad we didn't get to use the horror version of the characters but I'm happy you included them as optional side content. I think too often I've had to leave stuff on the cutting room floor, so maybe I'll steal your implementation of cut content in the future.

I also thought the DS style of movement was interesting, I think it would've been neat if the game could've been played on mobile with that setup, or at least allowed full screen in browser to see the game in a bigger picture.

Either way, I can tell a lot of love and effort went into this game, but I think there's some lessons you can take into your future work. Still, good job!

(+1)

Tbh almost every problem in this game can be simplified to "I didn't playtest this game at all xp"

I think I have this weird ideology that is "Being generic is worse than being bad." That's why I always spend so much time on things that feel cool rather than things that make the game fun.

Maybe next time when I join a short jam like this, I'll try not making the game too cool and instead put more time into playtesting. Maybe a generic platformer, except the weapon shoots bullets that go in reverse, like in Tenet.

(+1)

I definitely feel you on the not playtesting thing, I’ve only ever had people besides me playtest my games before release ONCE. And that was for my capstone project in uni. Especially for my games, and I imagine this one as well, so much time is spent just getting everything together there’s no time for testing or more changes until after release.

I think there is something to be said for avoiding being generic, especially in this jam. But I find the most important aspect of how much I enjoy an entry for SBIG, and jams in general, is if I’m feeling frustrated by a game. Regardless of if the game looks or sounds great, if I’m being annoyed by playing the game then I don’t enjoy it as much as a game with say stick figures but the game loop is quick and snappy.

But yeah more playtesting is always a good idea.