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A jam submission

It's In My Head!View game page

Grid-based dungeon crawler with reverse breakout battles
Submitted by machinescreen (@machine_screen) — 2 hours, 5 minutes before the deadline
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It's In My Head!'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall fun and playability#333.3333.333

Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Theme incorporation
This game incorporates the theme Cosmic Horror as you are being attacked psychically by an unknowable cosmic entity. Apart from the entity you are also entirely alone so I guess Solitude as well.

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Comments

Submitted (1 edit)

I perished, Interesting submission.

I just stared at the bouncing balls for the first times it appeared, didn't realize I could interact with it. It is an interesting mechanic, but it felt boring after a while. The dungeon was very simplistic with corridors and rooms to go into but all looked the same and I kept going to same rooms over and over. Would be nice with some variation of this and more guidance on where to go and maybe some other objects. The combat mini game could support holding down the mouse button, now it felt like clicking did not always respond, I think it is because there is a timer for how often you can place something, but this is hard to time with the clicks.

Developer (2 edits)

Part of me sort of likes that you were initially confused when the first battle started as that fits very well thematically! However maybe there should be a short instructional message that first time just to clarify what the player is meant to do.

Yeah, variation in the environment and non-interactable props is something I really wanted to include but unfortunately ran out of time for. I note you don't mention the map. I do hope you were using it as otherwise you were definitely playing the game on hard mode!

Regarding clicking in the battles, there is indeed a cooldown as indicated by the cursor/crosshair animating and this is intentional design to limit the player's power as otherwise it becomes very trivial (and can also devolve into a pure dexterity game of who can click the fastest which I wanted to avoid). I don't think I would want to default allow the holding of the button to place blocks as I think you'd lose something with the less direct player input and no longer having a one click, one block relationship. It also runs the risk of being frustrating if blocks are placed unintentionally. However I guess something like that could be an accessibility option.

Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

I overloaded the reactor.

This was cool. The game looks and sound good with an interesting atmosphere and movement feels pretty good. The combat system works well and is well appropriate for a game jam, a type of consumables to slow time was really the appropriate kind (although small things building extra blocks for you would have been too). The dungeon is good in the context and I think the difficulty of the game is perfect.

This is a fun game, thanks for sharing.

Developer(+1)

Cool! Yeah, in my original plan there was actually another type of item you could collect that would allow you to build an unbreakable block but alas it ended up on the cutting room floor due to time limitations. I like the idea of little 'helpers' building blocks as well! Thanks for playing. :)

Submitted(+1)

This is a very interesting game! I liked the atmosphere, exploration and the minigame. I almost was succumbed to fear once, but quickly got my bearings and completed my mission.

The minigame is a very interesting approach of preparing your defences beforehand while balancing distance from screen edges, as it means more collisions and more interactions between dices and your blocks. It was a bit stressful as you need to wait for cooldown to finish in order to place a block, but that can be a desired design :)

Developer

Nice one! Yup, the battles are certainly intended to be stressful. Thanks for playing :)

Submitted(+1)

The minigame was really intense and gave me IRL anxiety every time it popped up lol! It was pretty tough but fair for the most part. The crawler itself has good graphics, turning and movement is all solid but overall I wish the game had a bit more interactivity outside of the mini game. 

Developer

Thanks for playing. Yeah, in my original plan there was going to more complex interactivity than 'find key, open door' but unfortunately the scope had to be cut down quite severely so I could finish in time!

Submitted(+1)

man the Breakout mechanic was so bizarre but worked for conveying the emotion, keeping up the blocks protecting your fragile psyche. The graphics were good too: somewhat spartan but very crisp with smooth animations for the doors.

Developer

Thanks for playing!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

What a fun entry! Thanks for sharing it on my stream. This game was a nice tight little package that did not overstay its welcome. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to play again after losing :D

You can watch my play through here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2110888610?t=02h39m40s

Developer

Thanks again for playing! It was super helpful to watch someone playing it live. :)

Submitted(+1)

Lovely combat system!! The addition of focus pills was a great idea here I think! I assume the objective is to reach the door with the 3rd access level, I could only reach 2nd before I lost to my fear...But I enjoyed it a lot! Also thank you for adding the minimap I would've been lost within 3 seconds ... Even with the map, I felt the solitude and anxiety so great job with that too!! Great work!! 

Developer

Yes, the objective is indeed behind the Level 3 doors. So glad I got the minimap in, you're not the first to mention how essential it is! Thanks for playing. :)

Submitted(+1)

Interesting "combat!" First time I thought you wanted to break into the ball, but turns out you are the ball! Level design is very samey, so the inclusion of a map is nice. Easy to get overwhelmed in battle! Especially with multiple enemies at the top at bottom! It got in my head, but good job!

Developer

Thanks for playing. Yeah, variation in the environment is the one thing I had to cut that I really wish I'd have had time for!

Submitted(+1)

Awesome game with a really cool atmosphere.  Runs silky smooth and movement feels great, one of the most polished entries I've played so far.

The reverse breakout mechanic is a really cool twist on combat.  Very impressive! 

Developer

Thanks for playing! :)

Submitted(+1)

Nice job! great presentation and atmosphere! great monochrome gfx and cool music

Developer

Thanks for playing! :)

Submitted(+1)

What an interesting idead for a "battle" system. Well thought out theme integration and it plays very well. I like, that there is a minimap, as the sparse textures make navigation a bit disorienting. Movement felt very snappy, which is good.

Developer

Thanks for playing. Yeah, the minimap was a fairly late addition when I realised that it would be extremely hard for someone who hadn't designed the level to navigate without it. Certainly glad I got it in there!

Submitted(+1)

Cool entry. I liked the combat system, very interesting mechanic. 

However, you should consider increasing the movement speed since you use very long cooridors.

Developer

Thanks for playing and your feedback. :)

Submitted(+1)

Anxiety pills, focus pills, intrusive thoughts, wait; am I playing a game or is this just Monday morning?

Developer

Does the entity even exist?