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It adds to the challenge that's supposed to come with a game jam. Instead of just doing what you naturally want to do, the theme forces you to go out of your comfort zone to make something unique. That being said, it's still possible to just submit a game that doesn't fit the theme at all. You will just get rated lower in that category.

The rules aren't posted yet, but past Brackey's game jams have a strict no AI-generated content rule. It's safe to say that will be the case this time too.

Definitely! It's not super common, but there have been entries in the past that are VNs, or are highly story-driven!

much thanks :D

Very unexpected but cool to see the prequel of Lab Rat! This was a great entry to expand the lore. I can definitely see improvements in the art, and I also liked the addition of a brief tutorial in the beginning.

(Minor Spoilers Ahead!)

I liked how you delved more into the concept of breaking the fourth wall, especially with her finding out she was being controlled through the credits being shown. Although, her coming to that realization felt a little sudden to me, as she went straight to hearing she was in a game to knowing that she was being controlled by a player. I think creating a smoother transition between the two could make the moment hit even harder.

I had a few minor complaints, as well. Since the game is short, they didn’t affect my experience too heavily. At times, I found it a little difficult to tell what counted as a wall, so making the wall tiles a bit darker could help with readability. I also think it might feel smoother if players had to press a button to interact with doors and levels instead of interactions happening automatically when standing near them.

The puzzles also felt somewhat repetitive and fairly simple to me, although that may have been intentional to convey a sort of lab-like monotony. If not, adding a bit more complexity could make them even more engaging. For example, maybe certain pressure plates could need to be activated in a specific order using visual hints, or some plates could temporarily block important paths. I think this could make a lot of these puzzles more engaging.

Overall, I liked the game and the small details throughout it. I noticed that Tia’s name kept changing, which was a really nice touch and added to the unsettling atmosphere alongside the other glitchy effects. I also liked the whole “going up the wall” idea. I thought that was really clever. Great job on your prequel!

This game has a lot of character! Voice acting in jam games is always a treat. The water looks really cool, though I think it tanked my FPS a bit. All the voice acting in the intro was loud enough, but the other audio was very quiet and hard to hear. 

Adding some kind of cursor or crosshair to indicate where you’re looking could also improve clarity, since it was sometimes tricky to pick things up. Also, I didn’t realize I could pick up the paper at first because there wasn’t an indicator like the other two items. I ended up following the river around the map until I tried picking it up out of curiosity.

The rest of the map past the paper and bottle probably wasn’t meant to be explored, but I did happen to find a cube in the water. Interacting with it displayed the message: “Hello ‘DisableAllScreenMessages’ to suppress.”

Overall, this was a charming short game! I do wish the intro was skippable so I wouldn’t have to listen to it every time I replayed. Great job on your entry!

This was a great game! I loved all the obstacles, and the addition of a whale chasing you if you get caught in one was a really nice touch. The art is beautiful, and the krill is especially cute. I also really liked the little swimming animation and the streaming water effect around the krill.

I did find the game a bit easy, and it got a little repetitive after a while (though maybe that’s normal for an endless runner). Since I couldn’t pause the game, I had to pull out my phone to record my thoughts so I could remember them. I suppose the fact that I was able to play the game, pull out my phone, open the recording app, and continue playing at the same time is a testament to its easiness (or maybe I’m just too good at multitasking).

I have a few suggestions that might make it even more engaging. I agree with one of the previous comments about the point system, and I’d add: the music is a bit repetitive, and the rate at which the runner speeds up feels too slow. It might be fun if the music became more intense as your score increased. Most obstacles spawn near the top or bottom, so staying in the middle makes dodging too easy. The whale was super cool! I think it could be interesting if it appeared randomly, and maybe that could cause the speed of the runner to temporarily increase so it creates a greater sense of urgency and danger. Adding a boost/dash or some kind of collectible power-up could also make gameplay more exciting.

Overall, this game was very polished, fun, and cute. Great job on your entry!

This was very fun and reminded me of my good ol' My Dolphin Show days! The music was very nice and fit the game well, though it didn’t start playing for me until about a minute in. I also really liked the art, especially the dolphin. Doing tricks was a lot of fun, and I especially enjoyed all the little messages after each round.

My critiques are mostly nitpicks, as they didn’t have a major effect on the game, but here they are: I found it a bit confusing that the space key is used both for jumping out of the water and maneuvering while in the water. Sometimes I got stuck at the top and could only jump out. Also, having space make the dolphin go down instead of up when not positioned to jump out felt unintuitive. Finally, I found it a bit odd that tricks are performed using WASD, while the prompts show arrow keys. I didn't have trouble with that, but others might.

Like I said, these are minor issues and didn’t really ruin the experience. Great job on your entry, and congratulations on getting an honorable mention!

Oh, wow, thank you!! I do plan to make a post-jam update to try to fix the crashing bug if I can. I definitely get that replaying several times can be annoying. It’s tricky because certain actions determine the ending possibilities. I’ll try to think of a way to make replaying faster. Hopefully the skip dialogue hotkey made it a bit more bearable! And I’m sorry the browser version didn't work for you! Thank you again for playing and making a video on my game :D

Congrats on getting 3rd place! :D

Congrats on getting 2nd place! :D

I played Mirach’s Ghost as well when it came out. If you remember, you and I both submitted VNs to that game jam!

That explanation makes sense. When I played it, that idea about Jordan sticking to her schedule didn’t fully come across to me in that ending, so I think a little more emphasis on that might help players pick up on it.

From what I remember from Mirach’s Ghost, I would say that your writing and pacing has improved a lot in this one, so good job with that! I look forward to seeing what you create in future game jams!

This wasn’t the most difficult jam game I’ve played, but it was definitely a bit rough in some places, as others have mentioned. I also agree that the D and C inputs could probably be combined, and that rearranging the controls might make them feel less awkward. For example, the space key could possibly work as both jump and glide if held. Some levels also felt noticeably harder than the ones directly after them.

That said, ignoring the difficulty, the platforming itself was pretty fun! I really like all the different things you can do with the parasol and how they’re implemented. Gliding was especially enjoyable. I also agree with others that the spike hitbox seems a bit too large, which made some sections harder than expected. I was also curious if coyote time was implemented. If not, that could help smooth the platforming a bit.

I did notice a couple possible bugs and small nitpicks. In the early levels, it’s easy to go very high and off-screen, which made it difficult to know where I was. Also in the early levels, the vertical wind still pushes the parasol even when it’s closed, but in later levels it doesn’t seem to.

I also noticed that some of the artwork and sprites appeared a bit blurry. I know that can be tricky with small resolution 2D games in Godot. One thing that might help (if you haven’t already tried it) is going into Project Settings → Window → Stretch and setting the mode to canvas_items, and then changing Rendering → Textures → Default Texture Filter to Nearest. That might only affect the UI, but it has helped me in some of my past games with hand-drawn sprites.

Overall though, this is a great entry! I especially love the little level-finished animation the parasol does. It’s really cute. Great job on your entry!

It’s always great to play through your games! I’ve noticed that we both tend to place emphasis on art and story, which I think is great. Story games tend to be more innovative in jams since few people do them, and VNs are even rarer.

Take my critique with a grain of salt, as a lot of this is probably things you would’ve refined with more time. I know VNs are often seen as “easier” to make, but I know firsthand that they take a LOT of work, especially writing branching paths. So it’s understandable that you would run out of time. SPOILERS AHEAD

I played through multiple times so I could read all the dialogue and choose all the options. Although some things changed depending on choices, Jordan seems to feel the same about Lani no matter what you pick. She still takes Lani to watch the stars and make wishes and seems to care for her. However, it’s only if you go along with Lani’s requests that you get the option to look for her in the end. No matter what you choose throughout the game, you always get the option to wait for Lani and Jordan always talks about how she’s worried about Lani and then makes a wish. I assume that wish was regarding Lani? That ending felt a bit unsatisfying, as several threads were left unresolved.

This doesn’t fully make sense to me unless ignoring Lani’s requests would make Jordan cold and uncaring, but since she’s depicted as a caring person (even towards a stranger like Lani), it feels like she would consider looking for Lani either way. Especially since she takes Lani to a private place to see the stars both no matter what the player chooses. And no matter what, Jordan shares something deep and personal about herself with Lani. Both of these indicate that Jordan cares about and trusts Lani, so it makes sense to me that she would look for Lani either way. Aside from that, my other critiques are minor and not very important.

Again, take this with a grain of salt. I understand that writing and drawing for a VN takes a lot of time and effort, and writing truly different branches is even more work. (I know because I did it for my own entry.) The art is beautiful, even if some of it is unfinished, and the characters are compelling and full of personality. It’s also always great to see another Ren’Py user. Great job on your entry!

This was really fun, and the graphics make this stand apart from a typical game jam platformer. I especially really liked how the trees looked. In my opinion, the jump felt a bit floaty, but it didn’t affect the gameplay too much. Adding some music could also elevate the experience a lot. Great job on your entry!

I really like how the aiming line allows for an element of strategy that wouldn't be there without it. It was really fun to try to position myself just right so that I could shoot the enemies! A small nitpick, but it might be nice if the bullets fired by the player were a different color from the enemy bullets. That could make things a bit clearer and help with dodging, since the player’s own bullets don’t seem to hurt the player. Great job on your entry!

This was a pretty fun game and a decent concept. One thing I struggled with a bit was the way the water and grass move, which felt fairly disorienting for me. But overall the concept was simple and enjoyable. Nice work on your entry!

This game was pretty simple but very innovative and fun! I haven't seen many games like this. It was a bit confusing at first to figure out what I needed to do, but I quickly got it. The game is difficult, but I think that actually works well here. And the quotes after each fail were indeed very motivational. I just wish there were more! Great job!

Great entry, as always! The music is very calming, and the overall vibe of it combined with the visuals is very nice. I love the attention to detail in the title screen with the rain and the bouncing title. Also, was Sugar, Sugar an inspiration for this? This reminded me a lot of that and brought back some good memories. The progress bar and the limit to the number of lines are both great additions. Also, the physics on the water look and work pretty well.

I did encounter a small bug with the reset button. Sometimes clicking it would cause the game to draw a long straight line pointing toward the button, and other times it wouldn’t reset the level, so I had to restart the game. Interestingly, after restarting the game a few times, the issue seemed to resolve itself, so I'm not sure what caused it in the first place.

But other than that, this was an enjoyable game. Like I said before, the music creates a very calming atmosphere, and the SFX are also very nice. Level 9 felt like a bit of a jump in difficulty, and I wasn’t able to solve it, but the rotating platform seems like a really interesting mechanic. I would love to see it utilized more, along with maybe some other mechanics. But I understand that coding water physics can be a bit tricky, so good job with that!

The song is a nice addition. And catchy too! Unfortunately, I can't seem to jump properly. I tried tapping once, rapidly tapping, and holding space. I also tried 'w' and the up arrow key. I just can't seem to get the car more than a few centimeters from the floor. Is there a trick to it, or could this be a bug on my end? Great job on your entry!

Thank you, lol! This was required by my school to do, so I kind of had to. Hopefully it's still a good game despite me being tired :')

Congratulations! I played/rated your game during the game jam and thought it was great! I also saw that your game got in the top 3 rows in the 'popular' category on itch.io. That's a huge accomplishment and its well-deserved! Congrats :D

Congrats on getting top 80 and for your upcoming Steam release! Thats a huge accomplishment!

Hey! I remember playing your game and really liking the story and art so far! Congrats on #35 on visuals and good luck on expanding your game! :D

Thank you, and congrats on getting top 10%! Thats no easy feat! And I agree that good planning is absolutely necessary for game jams! It’s always the first thing I do. Good luck in the next Brackey’s game jam! :D

240+ games?! I’m in awe! You had to have played about 17 games per day to reach that. I have no idea how you managed to do that as I started getting burnt out when I had reached my 150th game rated, which is why I couldn’t get to 200. But 240+ games is really impressive!

And thank you for your compliments! I always strive to create an interesting and compelling story and characters for all my games. There are some things story-wise I could’ve done better, but I’m happy with the result :D

Congrats on almost getting 200 ratings on your game! I also noticed it was quickly climbing to the very top of the most rated. That's a huge achievement. For your 2nd game jam, top 6% is AMAZING and a huge improvement from 30%, so you should be very proud! Most games don't make it that high, and most games don't even make it to 50 ratings. With about 1500 games, its nearly impossible to make it into the top 10 in any category, so don't feel bad.

Most jam submissions don't have that kind of customization, and options are usually nonexistent or very minimal, so that might be why people didn't check. Also, most people might just look  in the page description for the controls before playing. That could also be why. I guess you could just take that critique as non-applicable. I personally didn't have any issue with the controls and thought your game was overall pretty good! Although my point still stands about improving the story, if you do end up going back to the game!

Also, how many games did you rate? It seemed like every game I went to rate, you had already rated it, lol. I always saw that you had commented just a few minutes or a few hours before I managed to leave my rating and comment on that same game. 

Congrats on your first finished game!! Positive feedback is always a plus! I don't think I had a chance to play your game, but I'm sure it was great! Good luck on your next game!

We all tend to be harder on ourselves  then we should! That's why game jams like this are important so we can get feedback! Its good that you're happy with your result, and good luck with your next game!! And thank you :D

Aww, thank you! My game did a lot better than all my previous game jam games, so I’m at happy about that. Good luck on your next game!!

I remember playing your game and having a bit of trouble with it. But the ideas were there and the visuals were very cool! Congrats on getting #416 overall!!

Thats a great perspective you have and it’s great that you pushed through your demotivation to make a game. I remember playing and enjoying your game. And you’re right about the ratings. Out of around 1500 games, it’s very difficult to be ranked very high, so we shouldn’t get too caught up over it. I’ll also be participating in the August jam, so good luck to you too!

I also played and really enjoyed your game! It was absolutely stunning. Congratulations on placing #1 in visuals and #50 overall!! :D

Be proud that you were able to submit a game at all! I remember your game had some pretty good art in it, and from what you had of the story, it seemed fairly interesting. Even if you don’t continue with your game, you can at least take it as a learning experience for future games

I’m sorry that you’re not happy with the ranking you got, but be proud that you made a game at all! Making games is really hard, and many don’t even get this far. I remember playing your game and think it was pretty good for a first game jam game. Take this as a learning experience, and you’ll have improved for your next jam :D

I remember playing your game! I would say that it was very impressive and innovative for your first game, so good job with that! And 350 out of around 1500 games is still really good, especially for your first game jam. 

The results are officially up! Our game got 102nd place. For me personally, this is a great improvement over my past game jams, so I’m pretty happy with it! 

This jam was overall a very enjoyable experience for me! My goal was to rate 200 games, yet I only managed to rate 176. But through this, I managed to play many wonderful and amazing games! It’s always so much fun to see how everyone else interpreted the theme and how they achieved that.

Also, this wasn’t  my first time participating in a game jam, but it was my first time working with a team, and that was a lot of fun as well. I couldn’t have made our submission as great as it is without them!

How does everyone else feel about their experience?

Wow, thank you!! I’m glad you liked it so much! :D

Thank you!

Thank you! Just rated yours