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[Colossal] [Gratitude] and [Lovely] [Everything] to you!! 

Aw, what a fantastic compliment!! I think you've hit on something with the social component there for sure; I've definitely had my fun watching friends play this one like a mini party-game so we can laugh at the ridiculous sentences that get made and cheer over big combos, so you're definitely onto something! Thank you so much <3

Thank you!! <3

Thank you so much! We're so glad you enjoyed our take on the theme. Totally with you on the sticky note manipulation; dream version of this game as we threw around in the brainstorming phase would have included some deckbuilding (vocab building?) and even some special card effects for even more combo-y goodness. It's great to hear this version could still achieve some of that same number-go-up satisfaction for you!

Hehe, thank you!! It's tough out here in the big leagues when you're a tiny little ant... its little ant attorney brain can only store so much linguistic information...... </3

Aw, thank you so much!! That's a great point of feedback for game-feel -- definitely would be one of the next items on our wishlist too. So glad to hear the rest of the pieces fit together well for you nevertheless!

Thank you so much!! So glad we could make you laugh :D

Thank you! :]

Perhaps my greatest achievement all jam was passing all three Progdles on the first try. That was stressful!!

Got a laugh out of me right out of the gate from the Fauxdot splash screen, and the rest of the game absolutely did not disappoint. The submission minigame "servers going down" probably tickled me the most as a gag but man, full points to all the gags in this one. (Appreciated the XDDCC reference...) Big shoutouts to Protect the Clef for finally putting me in the shoes of a truly professional audio designer -- I mean, I imagine that's probably what it's like -- and BIG shoutouts to the Impossible Quiz homage with the button that counted down from 20.

[obediently] i want their teeth. i want 'em so bad. 

i've fried... so many mice..... i'm a monster....

This was suchhhh a charming game, I adored the art style and the gameplay was really clever! I should definitely have checked the controls sooner as I got stuck on the first yarn ball room for an embarrassingly long time, but man, the cute little roll and kick animations were so worth the wait. I also love the extra little charm of getting differently-coloured mice between resets but having your same living mouse carry over if you make it -- little details like that do so much. I'll have to try a deathless run sometime soon to bring one mouse from the beginning to the end :') Really adorable game, I loved it!!

Really solid concept and I love the style of the game! A "hitman" game playing off the starting gunshot of a race is really clever. I must admit it took me more than a couple tries to figure out what I was doing wrong with the timing window, but once the concept clicked I had a great time. I was also thrown on my first few tries by seeing an image on the table that looked exactly like one of the runners on the track -- oops... sorry to the race administrators :P

Oh man, this was such a gem of a submission. Calculating score based on counting-down flips is such an elegant way to put a fresh strategic spin on a classic game, and the presentation is so beautiful -- the flipping effect on both the main words and the transitions between levels / menus is fantastically satisfying, and the minimal sound design absolutely works in your favour here; if you intend to do any more post-jam polishing on the game, all my sound-brain would have wished for would be a smoother loop on the ambience and perhaps some clicks when you switch wheels left and right as well as forward, but that's obviously all nitpick. Controls were intuitive and the inclusion of an easy reset as well as keyboard shortcuts for everything is also sorely appreciated as I've been looking for games to play that are easy on the wrist after the weekend of jamming :] I have a feeling this will be one of my favourites of the jam, keep it up!!

GORGEOUS music and a fun take on theme for this one -- I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this game the whole way through, even as it took a tick or two to figure out what my goal was / what I was collecting (I'm still not a hundred percent sure I got it, but were the mystery pickups a speed boost? Was it left intentionally just that - a mystery?). Regardless, really loved the vibe, as others have said.

What a fantastic idea for a big community game — perfect for the biggest jam community on itch!! Got me locked in, clocked in, and clicking o7

Thank you for playing and for sharing your thoughts!! Can definitely see the prospect of getting hit with a longer sentence right out of the gate being potentially overwhelming. Hope that didn’t stand too much in the way of you finding your flow! 🐜

Thanks for your feedback! While you certainly can submit words of the wrong class, with more time and greater scope we would have loved to give players more options for controlling their hand. In the meantime, though, the heart of the cards can be cruel and fickle… :]  Very glad to hear you enjoyed the visuals and vibe, thank you for the kind words!

l + magnificent ratio + don’t care + didn’t present evidence + witness is chopped, your honour

My Clocktower group has had a lot of fun with this game since one of its members found and sent it our way!! I love this take on "single-player" BOTC-style deduction, and everything about the stylization is just gorgeous. Just wanted to give a heads-up: I was interested in checking out your Discord community, but unfortunately it seems that both the in-game link and the links on the itch page are currently expired :(

quick rules question: if one were to cast this to invalidate the part of your backstory to which this spell is relevant, does that lift the restriction on others using it?

Wow - with how many strong submissions there were to this jam, that is super high praise!! Thanks so much for your kind words and for playing, it means a ton!!

thank you thank you thank you!

Thanks so much for playing!! I totally agree, our sound designer did a fantastic job with the music and voices. So glad to hear you had a good time!! <3

Hehe, we LOVE a spreadsheet!! We've realized since uploading our latest post-jam patch that we still managed to overlook some combinations that you just have to gamble on re: smells and glows, so I anticipate there'll be some of those in our own future soon as we try to refine the design and make sure everything is actually solvable. Thank you so much for playing our silly game and leaving a comment -- so so glad you enjoyed!!

Loved the vibe of this one. The telegraphing of your progress was super clear (I was taking notes on how you did it to inform my own future puzzle design hehe), and I loved the sound design -- night ambience with crickets chirping, bells ringing, and the sound effects that faded in whenever you found a constellation. I'm curious, was there ever a plan to outline the constellations in the sky on completion? Or to put in a soundtrack in the same key/scale as the bells? Definitely not a "this feels missing", I really like it as is, but moreso asking out of curiosity because it seemed almost like the constellation types and bell sounds were too carefully chosen for it not to be the foundation for something like that.

Totally get it! I thought it might have been something like that, the rest of the game was extremely thoughtful when it comes to accessibility. All in all still a fantastic submission and easily a top contender for me! I’m thinking I’ll have to check out some of your past games soon, if they’re all as weird and wonderful as this was… Head Honcho looks very interesting :)). Keep up the great work, I look forward to seeing what else you make in future jams!!

Ohhh gotcha, that makes total sense then. Had a good chuckle reading the reviews at the end of each day, that’s a super creative and fitting touch. Loved it!

This was great fun. Fantastic idea, had me bobbing my head to the music on every level, and the rainbow VFX on the jump trail really elevated the otherwise simple B&W visuals to make a visual style that was so much more than the sum of its parts -- I was really hoping that that would be where the Memory Lane part came in! I'd agree that the jump window could benefit from being just a touch more forgiving, but on the other hand that made it feel all the more rewarding when those nice streaks stacked up. One additional thing I wouldn't have minded is some way to see the "borders" of where the little void bubbles reach when they're expanded, as there were more than a few occasions where I lost a level because I was standing just a bit too close to the bubbles, but again that could be less a game design thing and more a me-being-terrible-at-platformers thing. All in all though, this was probably one of the entries I've had the most fun playing in this jam so far. Really awesome execution on a great idea!

Whoops, so I wrote this review before getting to the final level, reached the final level, and realized I immediately had to come scurrying back here to praise it in particular. I mean this with full sincerity, that's brilliant level design. Especially liked the space it gave to turn over and over that last line of "dialogue" in my head, really powerful writing.

[Spoilers for the ending:]

One thing I will say in the interest of being thorough, just because I commented on the content warning in my original post: If you decide to upload a post-jam patch, would you consider adding a jumpscare warning to the list of content warnings, and/or to the game page somewhere? I realize that that may take away from the surprise at the end a bit too much, but the rest of the game's content is definitely enough to make the player believe that the subject matter and mild flashing/loud sounds on "explosion" are all that they're about, and unfortunately in the inclusion of a content warning the implication is sort of given that the content warning covers all that could be potentially distressing for a player.

Wow -- this was so well-polished, and the concept so creative! Just the core gameplay loop on its own would have made for an impressive jam game, but then the progressive story and increase in difficulty that took place over the course of seven (!!!) levels took it that much further. Sound design is awesome -- as someone else already commented, the transition from cutesy music to people screaming for their lives is... well, it's really effective, especially as the enemies fade out and you just have to sit there and think about what you’re doing lol. And I'm sure I don't even need to point out how nice the style is: the smooth animations, the pictures at the end of each level, and especially the [spoiler] that talks to you in between with that ~smooth and sonorous voice~ and forces you to actively keep choosing to continue. This could've easily been a game I bought on Steam; that it's a 9-day jam game instead is really remarkable. Amazing work all!

PS: Very appreciative of the content warning provided at the beginning -- that was a really nice accessibility feature and let me adjust my audio settings going into it accordingly.

Coming in here to gush only to see that, of course, I'm just adding my voice to the chorus of "wow"s. I can hardly believe that this was a jam game, y'all did seriously such an outstanding job with it -- art and animation style are so clean, consistent, and polished; music is a jam; and the core mechanic of having to balance the hops and the void is brilliant and goes perfectly hand-in-hand with the level design. Like some other folks in the comments, I've never been much for platformers on account of being Very Bad At Them, but this silly little bunny has well and truly stolen my heart. Doing it for you, little guy.

I love the visual style in this one! It looks super clean and the enemy designs are awesome. The one accent colour on black and white is very classy, very void-y. Big ups also for the tutorial, it gets through everything the player needs to know efficiently and effectively. Mining looks great, ending was charming, and I'd be interested in seeing what could be done with the shop if you ever decide to revisit after the jam!

Well, this was an absolutely fantastic brain-boozler of a game. First level was enough to get me hooked -- I really like the visual style of the game, the level transitions were super smooth and your conversations with the Wanderer surreal and wonderful -- but as soon as I figured out what was going on in the second level I was 100% in. What a fantastic take on a familiar type of puzzle; moving through endless impossible corridors as the "solving mechanic" just made for such a cool vibe. Seeing as you talk in the description about how this is just a demo, I can only say how much I would love to see (and play) it if you continue developing this concept out!

Gosh, this was incredible -- I think very possibly my favourite entry I've played so far? Wonderful incorporation of theme with a super original idea executed brilliantly, and everything from graphics style to sound design and music (which built so nicely, huge ups to your composer) to the intro and conclusion (what a fabulous ending!!) to the itch page just came together to create such a cohesive and strong vibe. Intro sequence is cinematic, surreal, and instantly oppressive in the best way. I also appreciated that you could watch the black hole growing closer and closer at a good rate as you played to keep the gameplay feeling rewarding. What a weird, wonderful, artistic dream of a game.

I was super charmed by this game! I was hoping to see someone do a Papers, Please take on the theme with all the contract/legal discussion going on and this so much did not disappoint -- the art was charming, humour was fantastic, and it all was super polished. 

Some tiny things I did notice/wish for: 

• Even after I think I'd unlocked all the office decor I was still getting the "Office feels bland" ratings? So I'm not sure what I was doing wrong there / if there was anything I could do to set it right.
• Just a really small QOL thing, it would have been nice if clicking the contract again made it so you could lift it "over" the book, since the table didn't have enough space to fit both the contract and the book without one covering the other -- which I realize might have been the design! But it would have been nice if you could click between them to decide which is covering which.  Again, though -- tiny tiny.

Generally, a super fun and well-polished game with a lot of heart and a lot of funnies packed into it. Well done, I had a great time playing!

Took lots of notes for myself recording my thoughts as I played through this little game. Here they are:

• Hell yes, custom noun. It’s such a small thing but every time I see a game use one cleverly it ticks a tiny check box for me. “Run Nothing” is an excellent one.
• Main menu:
  • Cool to see the game comes with controller support! Yours is actually the first entry I’ve played so far that does.
  • Also, nice.
• Dang, that music is a really good vibe. Really fond of the choice to use gentle piano music instead of the more uptempo spacey synths I'd sort of expect from this kind of game; putting that at odds with the flying spikes and swarms of enemies coming at you gives a really cool feeling the whole time you’re playing of this being just one little piece of a larger universe that doesn’t care about you; you’re nothing, and that’s kind of nice. Same goes for the jellyfish which as far as I can tell you can’t do anything about but avoid. Dudes are in their lane, unbothered, thriving.
• Similar thing goes for the background changing every time; it’s a little thing, but it does so much for the vibe.
• Having to catch your projectile is a really neat mechanic, and I enjoy that it can also keep damaging enemies as it flies — it feels pretty great to just toss it it once and then keep running around dodging and kiting enemies into it. I didn’t realize at first though that once you’ve thrown it you can’t stab anymore, either. Which makes for some fun incentive to try to face enemies head-on with the stabbing as much as you can so as not to leave yourself defenselessly running around trying to grab your projectile without getting Killed Dead
• To that end, I did wish for a bit more range with the stabby spike sometimes as it felt like I always had to wait for enemies to get just a little too close for comfort and by the time they reached me within such close range they were joined by their other pals attacking from other angles that I couldn’t turn to stab fast enough, but that could very well just be me needing to git gud.
• The asteroids breaking apart when you hit them looks really neat, but it took me a couple runs to figure out  what’s going on with the asteroids when it breaks apart; when I first hit it and saw it break into a bunch of smaller asteroids I assumed that they would still damage me, and that therefore I should avoid trying to hit them because it would make things harder — or, alternately, that I could try strategically to hit them to kill a bunch of enemies at once.  
• I really enjoy the little touch with the enemies bouncing off/pathfinding around? the asteroids.
• Looping across space took a sec to get used to; the fact that it mirrors both horizontally and vertically, as far as i can tell, really messed with me for some reason and I kept showing up where I didn’t expect to. But that’s not exactly a bad thing -- it adds to the experience, I think, to have that brief feeling of disorientation that as you keep playing you eventually learn to work with and anticipate.
• Final note: I think I found a super minor bug where, if you die right on the border of the void, the enemies freak out trying to figure out where you are and end up having a fun little flip-along-the-y-axis dance party. Which, tbf, was kind of hilarious honestly.

Final, final note: This game was supposed to be a love story?? Say more! Is there another spike-shooting octopus-lookin' little dude out there in the void somewhere?

Okay, wow, this is super! Thank you so much, definitely using your skill for good here. 

This is definitely something we'll have to stick a pin in -- getting feedback at only the correct number of words is something that never even occurred to me, but it makes so much sense now that you've pointed it out. I wonder what else could be done to discourage that sort of systematic brute forcing you describe, as this system does make it significantly easier to reward brute forcing and remove the joy of reading and solving for yourself; maybe the answer does lie in still applying that multi-word-bucket design philosophy, where the sprite lights up only at half, or 2+, or all but one -- which will definitely be handiest for solutions of 3-4 words, which seems to be the sweet spot for puzzles that are tricky but still doable with that sort of hint system -- or maybe there's a greater need to rethink how the puzzles/solving mechanics are designed altogether before we can get into that. 

In any case, this is all really promising already! Sending so many thanks, good internet vibes, and invisible baked goods your way. :)

All noted!! This is super helpful, you rock.

Actually, it's nice to see that (as you can probably guess, which is presumably why they were left out of your original comment to begin with!) almost all of these were points we'd considered but ran out of time to properly implement/fix -- that tells me at least our instincts had us on the right track, which is always a boon. 

Unrelated... I keep psyching myself up to play I, The Void next and then you go and leave such thoughtful comments that I'm like, how can any feedback I offer on yours live up?! Lmao. Don't worry, I won't let that totally scare me off from playing: It'll definitely happen (promise)... and I'll try to keep it from being novel-length when it does (buuuut no promises there)!

Of course! We'll have to make that instruction clearer in the post-jam patch, I think. You're actually looking to black out every word EXCEPT for the ones with stars. So only leave the stars showing!