It's a nice bullet hell game! I thought the fact that the player was stationary in the center was an interesting choice! The bullets could've shot faster as they were still traveling when I had already moved on to target the next bacteriophage. The UI for the upgrades were a bit unclear, not sure if it was scope creep. But nice job overall and nice tie into the theme :)
Nice clicker game! I could see this as a vertical slice for a larger idle clicker. Loved the Balatro-esque lava lamp-like background. The potato mutations as you clicked on it was cool. Good job!
Nice game! I like the art style - the doodles on notepad is a nice aesthetic! I thought maybe flipping player sprite horizontally in direction of movement would add some variation while still maintaining the crude animation vibes. Also DNA drops felt empty; maybe a sfx or some indicator it was picked up would be nice (that dopamine hit!) Turtle never felt threatening at any point; regardless of the mutations, I didn't perceive any speed difference and I was always able to outrun it. Regardless, I thought this was a great game for your first jam, and I'm looking forward to seeing your future projects!!
The visuals were STUNNING (I need to learn shaders ASAP), the music fitting, though despite feeding the flower the necessary ingredients, I couldn't figure out how to not get killed past day 1. I liked the mini-game of refilling the tanks, though adding some variety to each tank would have been nice. Great job for your first game jam, hope to see more of your guys' work! :)
The game loop was very unique and interesting. At one point, I felt like the plague just kept progressing and no matter what cures I tried, I wasn't able to get ahead of it, like there is no win condition. But maybe that was the point of the game - that he was supposed to die, similar to how it was to live with plague during that period? Which if that's the case, you captured the experience perfectly! What I found interesting was how I felt compelled to do everything in my power to keep the patient alive, despite knowing he couldn't be saved...
I loved the sound design (one of the top ones I've seen this jam) and the story was captivating - the plague genuinely gave me the ick; something about those sores on his back started getting gross at one point lol. The permanent plagues didn't really feel permanent because I was able to excise them - not sure if that was a bug. Nonetheless, this was a fantastic entry!
My mutated plants were out of control! The game loop was quite addictive... planting your first plants, watering and feeding them, replanting the seeds... something cozy about it. I found more inclined to plant, re-plant, water and feed rather than sell them. I did sell some for chump change but ended up losing as I did not meet my quota.
Some bugs (not game breaking):
FPS took a hit when I really got going and almost filled the room with mutant plants
Looking around with mouse did not work on Safari, had to use Chrome. I'm sure a quirkiness of the web build.
Art and music were peak and fit the mood. Overall it was a fun experience and solid jam entry!
You can try object pooling if you haven’t already to make the game run smoother.
As to whether you should iterate on the game… if you’re passionate enough about it then go for it! That passion will motivate you to finish and possibly create something really special. Me personally I can’t finish something if I don’t have the genuine interest in it, so I let that guide whether or not I continue iterating on a project.
Wow, absolutely stunning graphics and art direction! The particle effects were JUICY, the music hypnotic and went well together with the neon color palette/club vibes. The sound design was well thought out too. Great job, nice entry!!
Just when I thought we got rid of Clippy, here he is haunting us again! I liked kiting them around the level and picking them off one by one; he's hard to kill, but wasn't he in the 90s? Nice submission, hope to see you in future jams :)
I can tell you're a movie maker, nice job bringing that over into this escape room experience! The horror shader aesthetics was really nice, the puzzles were fun, sound design was great! Nice job on your first GWJ jam! Looking forward to seeing more of your work :)
Thank you so much! I played Castlevania II for NES endlessly so recreating it was super easy and fun, but I tried to differentiate it some so it wasn't just a straight rip of the game lol.
No worries, I hear ya! I think the backtracking is fine if you continue development outside the jam. For game jams specifically, I notice we’re all playing so many games that patience tends to wear thin, so even the smallest amount of friction might stop us from continue playing. Of course I’m speaking from my own experience as I’ve made my game too difficult for the jam and people have noted that in the comments. So for future jams I’m easing up on the difficulty, but I think it’s fine to keep the difficulty outside the jam.
This was a super fun and unique entry! I liked the mutations’ animations as you cut the pizza, the slight deceleration as you rotated the pizza felt nice, and the simple game loop was very effective - it felt like one of those mini games you play on instagram or TikTok. Even the tiny details like the score marks in the cardboard were a nice touch! Art style fit the game as well and looked very modern. Great job!
For making the game in 3 days, you've got a lot done for sure! The game loop felt incomplete, but I can see the concept and direction... it's a nice little fishing game that, given more time, could develop into something quite nice. The pixel art was stunning, the different fish were fun, and the fishing mechanic was enjoyable. Hope to see more of your work in future jams!
...came back 14 hours later, acid spit lv 32, spiked shell lv 31, radioactive tail lv 26, cell core lv 13, evolution lv 1. Nice auto-tapper incremental, the evolution to a bigger turtle was a nice visual upgrade, it felt like an auto-clicker I used to play for mobile (this could easily be a mobile game). Nice job! :)
Loved the art style and music! I was a bit lost at first, and some of the UI didn't make sense - like flipping through the tapes - maybe a left/right arrow button and tap the middle one to grab it, instead of the Locate button? But I got it after watching the GIF tutorial on the page. Nonetheless, I wasn't able to find the right cure, oops! :D
Reminds me of a touch typing class I took in high school! I actually liked typing and was quite good at it so I was a natural playing this lol. That said, this is one of the few educational games on here, which is refreshing, and the Mutation theme was an interesting take that worked here. Nice job!
Considering you only made this in 3 days, I have to say, despite the crude graphics, it was really well put together! The game loop was complete, there was enough content to keep you interested and engaged, and I actually played till the end (beat it in 18 Earth days). I liked the 2 different systems - upgrading your turtles/cannon and reducing the number of Earthlings. Good game design, with more time, this would have been a top contender!
I’ve only played one other racer in this jam and they were very different! I liked the art and music, I thought they were really well done. The character names were humorous, as well as the dialogue. Overall solid entry for your first GWJ!
Fun concept! I loved the tree animations swaying in the wind.. did you hand draw all those frames? The tank controls did get some getting used to; as I progressed further and further into the game, the FPS dropped dramatically especially when there were lots of mobs/particles on the screen. Also the stacking of sounds almost blew out my speaker; just something to consider when designing the sound. But nice entry overall!
I haven't seen a vertical format entry until this, I'm guessing maybe you intended it to be for mobile? It would've been nice to have some feedback when purchasing upgrades as I wasn't sure if I clicked or not. The ground and the sides were very dark so seeing the separation made it difficult. That said, it was a game and I enjoyed playing! :)
The doctor was humorous (you guys have comedic timing), the tutorials were pretty clear, I liked sliding over to the different screens, and the game play loop was simple yet fun. The crude drawings had its charm but would've liked to have seen more polished graphics. Also I noticed a bug when I would talk to the NPC he would sometimes just say "(". But overall I enjoyed playing!
I would've liked being able to shoot by holding the mouse instead of continually clicking, or if it were automatic. I easily got overwhelmed by mobs, and the drops would disappear when I try to kite them to one area so I wasn't able to pick them up fast enough. But I like the graphics, the chili character, the way his arm flipped around when you changed directions.. lots of good stuff going on here.
It's Rampage with rogue-like elements! I thought the upgrading was fun, I felt I couldn't click the mouse fast enough to beat the timer without the cursor drifting away from the hitbox; maybe with keys it would've been more precise? Graphics were fun, especially your illustration on your marketing page; nice job!
My guess is the younger generation like the more modern mechanics whereas the older generation who grew up on 8-bit Nintendo (like myself) prefer the more classic feel. But it all comes down to individual preference...
Thank you so much!! I was so tempted to implement more modern mechanics but I really wanted to capture that clunky, rigid, retro aesthetic. Maybe one day I’ll do a modernized version of the game! :)
For a bullet hell survivor game this was one of the more fun ones! Spamming bullet with the ratatat felt OP but satisfying nonetheless. I'd like to see more varied upgrades as you progress, but may have been a time/scope situation. Also a note on the sound - it started to stack when killing multiple mobs simultaneously, for an overall inconsistent volume, just be aware of this when designing your sound. But nice entry overall!
I was having issues with the hitboxes as I waved the bat around the bear but it wouldn't connect for some reason. Playing on a Mac in Safari. But when it did connect, it was satisfying watching the bear lose its parts and collecting the candy :)
Edit: I gave it another try and WOW, I'm so glad I did! Though a simple physics simulator with a simple game loop, this game is quite deep. The music, the crunchy SFX, the well thought out progression, the increasingly chaotic particle effects and grotesque bear's appearance had me hooked. I got to the end (it wasn't that difficult) but the ending actually gave me goosebumps (I won't give it away). This would make a great mobile game. Fantastic experience and I'm glad I did not pass it up!
I absolutely loved the art and animation of when kitty popped out of her den when you press Space. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out the game loop despite reading the hint and comments below:
"3 legs and 2 tails is the number 23" ok, so I concatenate tails+legs to get 23
"green is numerator, black is denominator" what is green? what is black? where do I see my number of tails/legs and how do I tell what color they are?
"example: 24/48. You brush with 2. Get 12/24. You brush with 12. Get 1/2. You brush with 1" not sure I understand?
Sorry! I think I just need more explicit instructions. But with more time and development I'd love to pick this back up and give it another try, it looks very interesting and I want to figure it out :)
