itch.io

this looks cool and I'd like to give it a try but there seems to be no way to skip the titles/intro.

Interesting! I never made a non-html5 game so I didn't realize this was a universal issue.  While I have not considered it carefully in that fuller context, I agree, it seems like unneeded friction to require navigating back to the game page, scrolling down to the list, etc. 

when you write a devlog for a play in browser game, at the end the of the post itch helpfully posts the relevant file and the text "play in browser". But of course no amount of clicking on either the file or the text does that. It seems needlessly confusing and superfluous but instead it could be helpful. Play in browser could actually take you to the games page for instance. Obviously one can add that kind of text to the devlog itself but there's no getting rid of the text that itch appends to the end of the post so it would be redundant and somewhat confusing.

EG:
Music loops! - Food Grade Bananas by Alan Robinson, Developer

no question, walls of text don't get read (by people). search engines, maybe.

if that's how you feel try this game. Math Factory: not an educational game by Alan Robinson, Developer

Now we're up to 4 participants! In my experience most people join after the jams start or very close to it so I'm not worried. Feel no need to stay around if you aren't actually interested in what's going on here although I appreciate your desire to help.

This feels a bit like spam I don't even see evidence that there's any attempt to show how this changed from the previous iteration or if there even is such a thing.

and even more polish!  major graphical overhall! - Math Factory: not an educational game by Alan Robinson, Developer

Polish your Game JAM - itch.io

this is a lot better now! you should consider submitting to my polish you game jam.

wow that's a lot of polish!

umm that devlog needs a link.

go ahead and submit. fyi have set the embedded size so large i can't scroll over to find full screen, even.

published.

it has to have been live before the jam started.

it needs to have been uploaded before the start of the jam so that there's a before and a after. 

well it's not starting for a month,,,

I'm willing to accept things that were live on the site in playable but unfinished state before hand. in jam is ideal but not a hard requirement . 

maybe - but hey somebody's got to win ;-)

and you never know, your sense of self-polish may be inflated. 

I think that counts. as long as there's a before and after. 

is it already live on itch?

Awesome!

Do you think you'll get around to updating this?  I started a "polish your game" jam and this would be a great addition. https://itch.io/jam/polish-your-game-jam

I'm saying it's more sandbox-play than gameplay.

Yes, Sokoban is a clear inspiration, but hopefully I manage to make it fresh and different. 

it's more like infinite life, btw.

I love the idea of level design as gameplay. but this isn't really pushing that boundary very far. 

Neat! Like the idea and the art.  Unfortunate you can soft-lock yourself by pushing the bottle into the wall, it could use an in-game restart option. 

700 mb EXE download with zero screenshots = pass, at least for me. 

smells like spam. 

cool idea, fun to play! no way I can see to reset the level if you get yourself into a loop where the bot is going in circles infinitely tho.

wonder if you would consider it game  breaking to show a shadowy trace of where the bot went on last run. too often success relied on extended sessions of  move, rerun, move refinement rather than insight/aha moments. 

This was so much fun to play! I really wish for two quality of life bits tho - easier reset the level option  and omg way to select levels.  got stuck on first reverse magnet level, couldn't figure out how to reset, and in the process exited the game. now I either have to replay levels or move on. And still no idea how to reset when stuck.  BOO. 

fun! love the art style and font. HOWEVER after finishing the first level "next level" does nothing. 

In an earlier version they did - it was a bug but also a huge pain. As bugs often are. 

indeed you found one of the best uses of the 2nd source.

the level pass thresholds are low by mistake but it means that you can see all levels kind of like a sandbox mode. once the jam is over I'll tune it better. 

Except the losers, of course. Ha ha.

But seriously, this was a very solid set of games except for the 1 clear spam entry and 1ish that was kind of a stretch.

And for those that didn't score higher, often it was more about polish or clear instructions than the idea itself. I saw a lot of solid to fantastic ideas here.  

The scores speak for themselves and the ranking is sacred. https://tchevin.itch.io/mhas-dungeon-sweeper deserves it's top spot. 

But since I'm the organizer, I'm also going to award "best in show" to https://madenavaneeth.itch.io/mineogram  because it simultaneously did well in my 3 most important personal categories: novel, fun, and polished.  

And of course the coveted "I wish it had done better" award to https://alanrobinsondev.itch.io/beast-sweeper-fantasy-minesweeper because as the developer, I certainly wish it had done better ;-)

That's all. 

ps anybody else want to call out their best in show?

I'm a bit confused here. Is there any reason not to just reveal the whole board? there's no wrong place to click, or is there? Given how novel this is, I'm thinking it could use a little more explicit instruction. 

this is fantastic. Take the biggest issue with regular minesweeper, regions where there's no info OR way in, and gives you info that allows you to logic it out. This is truly a mixture of two games where the result feels like each contributes equally and sensibly. 

minor quality of life issue: line sums using the same font/style made me keep on forgetting they weren't regular neighborhood sums.  if you could style with a different font or with arrows that would break my muscle/visual memory.

Interesting. Encourages you to keep more in your memory for sure.  Also really slows the game down but I bet that's just practice. In the end tho, it's 100% the same skills as minesweeper. Aside from the novelty, I'd rather play original with flags I suspect. I wonder if there's an extra tweek or two you could add that would make this feel more like a new way to play and less like a new UI design. Maybe if points had some value (reveal mine, protect from death etc). 

I enjoyed it too!