It is not explained in the tutorial (but should have been) that connecting 2 white blocks give lots of points, while clearing a line is around 10 pts. Some explanation and a highscore board would highlight that..
Fun little game, the control is a little too responsive but when getting used to it's working really well.
losing all the points already collected on a different level incentives safer play and risk aversion, but whoosing by spiders barely escaping feels good as hell!
The clip on modules obtained mid air makes the concept so lively. The upgrade system is unique because the shape of the ship will depend on it and it can be detrimental during bossfights!
With a concept this simple the puzzle feels so much fun and the execution is so rewarding, i just wanted to keep playing level after level! The hint is so clever to not give away the solution, but make the search space smaller!
The chemistry part is very fun, but if an electron is left unconnected and is buried inside a complex molecule i found no way of fixing up that mistake.
It was strong on the concept with echoes being created like some quantum behaviors, which fits the visuals well, but the puzzles were just hard because nothing can be seen normally or the boxes get out of sync with hitboxes or just glich to have 1 echo for 3 buttons.
Great idea, would play a little more polished version!
The core idea is very good, but the levels can be completed by white chasing down the other while there is no restriction where the player can go, so this does not add too much challenge.
The mechanics are great but it's hard to see what is happening as the tanks float in the void. A simple procedural noise texture for ground would help tremendously to anchor where anything is going.
The component vulnerability part is really neat, could see a lot of potential for it to be a unique experience!
Themewise exceptionally good idea, cool mechanics. Kept messing up the directions after switching the orbs, but it's a cool and challenging way of moving.
I've had similar nightmares, with the rubberbanding-esque mechanics with people chasing me, 10/10 tapping into the deepest darkest fear of humanity: recruiters!
That part was debated during development, they could be U shaped, which would help a lot, fully connected, which would have been a joker piece, and not connected outwards, which is an obstacle, but can be played around.
If i had more time, the spawn rate of the 3 aforementioned variants would be included to make it a bit more interesting to get a nice square instead of a mean square.
Thematically fitting. The aim of the ship is an interesting one because it feels like trying to snap on stars, but further stars are very difficult to aim for.
In another comment someone said animations would help, and this was a cut feature due to not risking a refactor 1 day before deadline. The plan was "freezing" the game and animate the spread of the "charges" through the connections until they meet, and remove the affected pieces in a flashy way.
I spent the time on creating a menu and a tutorial instead :P
Very good trading simulation, with the ration and day system with traveling feels a little like dwarf fortress trading.
The one thing i noticed while i played, there was an info about shortage, so naturally bought that item in the neighboring town, and when brought to the destination it was cheaper there, which i found odd
The core loop was very simple and the game a bit too easy as the shooting has no cooldown. Nice music and overall good potential to be an exciting game.
The strategy aspect of this was quite clever, one resource replenishes one has to be manually upgraded, and the building area needs to be expanded. All of these feed into eachother is working pretty well. The sound effects are cute. The plant designs are quite interesting, a little reminiscent of Plants vs Zombies.
There are minor bugs (pun intended) which affects the gameplay, but some are annoying (like cannot place tile sometimes on valid places or selection stuck) others are helpful even (the building can be attacked by bugs as decoy before placement, or shooters shoot even without placed).
Very well made overall, and the aesthetics is great!
The core mechanics is very well executed, the puzzles have lot of potential, the working of things is well explained / self explanatory. Overall good design. The lack of difficulty is expected as it is hard to come up with good puzzles even with a good mechanics to build upon.
Interesting idea but I couldn't really follow what is supposed to happen, either the ghost got captured really fast or it stayed in a node on the opposite end without any movement. The connection theme was very strong, though...
Impressive feat of getting matching sound samples that loop perfectly, and harmonize eachother well. The gameplay is not very challenging but so either a free jamming mode would be nice or something that makes it a little more rewarding to actually complete a pattern or music track.
The idea is very cool. The patterns get a bit predictable after a while. The villages are not really challenges more like little annoyances. The one time bonuses are good additions. The game does not really explain the mechanics.
I had to go back and write a second comment, because i was hooked and keep coming back just to play this game and find better and better strategies that would insta wipe enemy ships.
This game is addictive and it's getting out of hand!
Also the enemy scaling after beating the game makes it even more challenging, which is a nice touch!
The animation was planned from the beginning, but was cut due to time restraints and the lack of foresight that would need the gamestate to be computed in steps interleaved with the animation playing, and this was a refactor i couldn't risk at that stage.
I plan to refactor this after the jam and add some animations that would make the purpose even more clear (clearing a row gives small score, connecting the sources gives a huge score, also a highscore feature would highlight this. Or a win condition of connecting sources above a certain level?)
The idea is very interesting and unique, the characters have character (duh...). The execution is very well made. Controls are a bit weird around corners but it's very good for a jam game!
