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This is hilarious excellent work!

This is a wonderful concept, and well executed! The speed of the ants is perfect - if it was any slower I think the game would get tedious quickly, but it seems like you did a solid amount of testing. The art & sound all fits very well, and as others have mentioned I love the voiced tutorial. This is definitely a game worth expanding upon in the future!

Movement feels very smooth, enough increase in difficulty each level to keep things interesting. I thought the art + music combo was very cohesive, the character sprite specifically had a great animation! I felt like I was able to figure out the rules & controls easily enough without some sort of tutorial, which was good. Excellent work!

The game design & mechanics are really sound! Good work with the level design, it felt like enough of a challenge without being overwhelming. Everything is well put together, feels like a well-polished game! Nice work

I made it to the "b", but didn't notice any sort of progression beyond that. I also wasn't seeing a hint with "h". Interesting style for sure!

I had fun with it! I'll need to revisit and finish, this is a much deeper game than I would generally expect from a quick game jam. Story is cute, the art is pretty basic but very cohesive and I think the animations look very good. The game mechanics all work well, at least in the first half that I made it through. Good work!

Excellent point - if there was one point of refinement, it would be giving more meaning to each level. I wanted to keep playing because everything looked good and it was fun, but if you had a real dopamine hit each time you hit the goal, it would be even more addicting!

What a game! This is such a wild ride, the intro already sets such a good mood with the art and the goofy sense of humor. All the buttons and menu options was a little intimidating at first for something I expected to be a small game, but it didn't take long at all to get the hang of it. The weaponry all felt good, it was incredibly satisfying to get those big chunks of cash lol. I personally loved the grappling hook and the machine gun, and of course unlocking the orbital laser was mindblowing. 

I think this is a really strong contender in this competition - not often you see a game this fun combined with a very clever and original concept, not to mention this is probably the best art in the competition. I want to emphasize again how good this art is, y'all all did a great job but your artist is a star! Frankly I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that y'all have build full-scale games before - this art & sense of humor reminds me of Nobody Saves The World which is one of my favorite modern games.

Really, congratulations, this is an awesome game period. Let alone something developed in 96 hours!

I enjoyed my time with this game - I think the cohesiveness of the visuals and the SFX was the strongest point here, everything felt well-built and the theme was consistent. I struggled a little bit to understand exactly what I was doing, I may have been overthinking the mechanics of the walls, with the red glow turning into the green glow. And I wasn't able to figure out how to turn, although I think it's okay to have this game without a turn mechanic, since you can use the walls to reverse course.

I think the enemy AI was good, I never felt like it was being unfair, but also didn't feel like it was too easy to just figure out how they were programmed. Not necessarily the most original concept of all time, but that is balanced out by good execution on the concept, with a very cohesive style throughout. Great work!

The physics and the complexity of the city is pretty remarkable stuff. I personally struggled a lot with figuring out where to go. I know you mentioned there is a sequence to memorize, but for the life of me I just can't seem to navigate my way around the city properly. Most of that is just due to me as a player, but it would help if there were a few unique landmarks within the city. 

It felt great to take off on a fully-charged nitro blast, and the UI for the nitro & map were both great. I may have struggled to get a grasp on this game, but I can easily recognize the skills you have, and the high level of execution on this game. Great work!

I'm sorry but I wasn't able to run it on Windows :( I'm not sure if it was zipped up with all the necessary components.

I think this is a pretty good foundation! It feels pretty smooth, specifically with the character movement/shooting & how all the SFX + music blend together. It is pretty barebones at this point but the roots of something worthwhile are there! Good work on getting something completed and submitted, that's a pretty huge feat for a 96-hour game jam!

I think this is a pretty good foundation! It feels pretty smooth, specifically with the character movement/shooting & how all the SFX + music blend together. It is pretty barebones at this point but the roots of something worthwhile are there! Good work on getting something completed and submitted, that's a pretty huge feat for a 96-hour game jam!

Thank you!! I definitely went a little overboard with the writing, at the detriment of every other aspect of the game lol. This is the first time I wish I was working with a more experienced level designer or overall game dev, because I thought the stealth concepts I had were great, but just took way longer to implement than I had time for. It ended up being very rudimentary, but as long as there was some level of challenge while also being able to actually gather some intel and choose the right prompts, I'm satisfied!

I appreciate that feedback, I think NPC movement is gonna be my main focus in any future stealth game. That's like stealth 101 is having some sort of dynamic movement from your NPCs lol. Thank you again for taking the time to check it out, and I wish you & your team the best of luck in the game jam! I expect to be seeing y'all on the top of this game jam very soon

Dang thank you for the thorough feedback! I'm glad it felt like you actually got to read the characters' story but had to struggle for it a little bit. That was the most difficult part for me, was trying to balance how to give you the intel but still make you work for it. I definitely needed some more playtesters and iteration on that!

I'm glad you liked the "phone booth" that definitely isn't a bookshelf ported from the main game I'm working on lol. I definitely overcommitted on the writing, and since this type of gameplay was new to me I ended up with very little time for art/SFX. So I can live with those being the weak points, as long as the narrative was cool!

Thanks again for trying it out, and best of luck in the game jam!!

I ended up with a 13 minute escape - like others have said, I was frustrated during the first couple of minutes, when it felt like I was just farming "jump". But that was before I realized I should be stacking shells as new "platforms" - once I had that realization, this became a whole new game, and I was far more impressed with the concept.

This is such an impressive project on several fronts:

• This feels like a real, full production game. The movement is crisp, the level design is well thought-out, and the three abilities are great additions. The double-jump especially felt great to me
• The ability to figure out how to beat the game by playing and losing is a great touch - it hit the theme very well, but I think it works well as a learning mechanic in its own right, regardless of theme. I also enjoyed getting a little bit of power creep, where I was barely hopping at first, and by the end had some huge double jumps across obstacles.
• The music is a great fit for the game. The voiceover is a little weird for me, but I very much appreciate the sentiment behind it - that's probably something that could be excellent if this was a longer-term project.
• The art is wonderful - I love whatever effect is going on with the screen itself, I think the turtle animation into being a shell works well, and each biome is distinct and very clear in what is happening.

I think the biggest area for future improvement would be scaling of abilities - I spent more time in level 1 than in level 2 and 3 combined. Specifically I got level 2 in one go, which again is partially because I didn't understand the mechanics early enough, but level 3 did take me 8-10 loops, so I would venture to say it is better balanced. At the same time, there's only so much you can do, since players are going to scale differently.

This feels like a great candidate to be made into a larger-scale project. Add a fun story in there, and I could easily see this being a $10-$15 game that has a decent audience! Congrats to y'all on a wonderful game!

On the first level I thought the game felt solid but pretty cookie-cutter - but I ended up playing 10 levels and actually really enjoyed the gameplay! The music is a huge hit for me, and the art works for me as well I thought it was very cute and endearing lol. Not necessarily an innovative concept, but it was well executed and felt really good to play. I was surprised how satisfying it felt to get every piece placed on one of the later levels, I know this isn't rocket science but I still felt like a genius whenever I pulled it off.

You should be very proud of what you put together - you've got a unique style that should serve you well going forward!

What a wonderful game! It took 6 or 7 attempts for me to escape - I love how you allowed me to figure out the rules for myself via each iteration of the loop, by the end it felt relatively simple but that's because I spent a few cycles figuring out how the game worked. The core gameplay loop is very solid, navigating from room to room felt very smooth, overall an excellent take on the theme and well executed.

I liked the music and the SFX, y'all did a very good job using relatively subtle but still very clear sounds to indicate when each "disaster" was occurring. The art was definitely the star of this game for me though, the room & character designs were excellent, I love the cover art, and something as small as the icons for each station were really well done.

Overall a strong contender in this game jam, would not be surprised to see y'all in the winners' circle! Congrats on a job well done!

That song is incredible isn't it! I got so lucky that I found it - it's from this dude's Freesound page https://freesound.org/people/Victor_Natas/

That's unfortunate to hear that you couldn't click on the prompts - I wonder what happened, I bet you found a bug where another panel was still active but invisible. This game definitely didn't get the QA testing it needed lol. I appreciate you taking the time to check it out, I hope you get lots of great responses on your submission as well!

That is very kind of you! My execution on this game was a little sloppy but I was happy with the concept I came up with. Definitely somewhat intentional that the text was hard to read, but also I think I went overboard - it is a bit silly to have a "story" that you as the player can't actually read and understand lol. I definitely should have enlisted some more friends as playtesters for this one. Thank you for taking the time to check it out, best of luck with your submission <3

When I was younger, this game would have just pissed me off. The idea that nothing you do right now can fix the issue. But I've been through a breakup like this, and as much as it sucks, sometimes it is inevitable. Like she says "even love isn't enough" -  it frustrates me that I can't actually "win", the pain I feel is all-too-real, and that's what makes this such a powerful game. Really cool that you could tell such an impactful story so quickly. Well done!

Thank you <3 I know at this stage I'm going to struggle to compete in terms of gameplay and production value, so my goal is to focus on my creativity and the lens through which I see life. I really should have anchored all the UI instead of expecting it to be a fixed resolution for everyone, it worked in-browser for my computer but when I tested it on a Mac laptop I had the same issues. I'll definitely be testing on multiple systems going forward. Thank you again for the kind feedback!!

That is incredibly kind of you! I like being a little weird and goofy so I'm glad the main menu buttons worked to set that mood right off the bat lol. I'm glad you had fun with it - I definitely wanted to make it so you could always win eventually, worst case scenario you guess 26 times but at the end you still get to guess it correctly

I think the idea of stronger contrast makes a lot of sense - there was a ton of brown in this game, and especially for a word-based game where you aren't moving around, it needs to be pretty to look at. I'm going to do a little more research on UI art going forward, and will be applying your advice towards future game jams and my long-term game I'm working on.

Thank you again for your feedback <3

This is a strong contender in the Game Jam, perfect blend of a good concept and excellent execution. I think tracfacsam is 100% right, this would do great as a mobile game, the vertical screen but even more so the "tap" control would be even better than using a mouse IMO. 

There are two things I would like to have:

1. An indicator of how many clicks I have remaining (maybe its there and I'm just missing it) Okay yep I'm seeing this now

2. More time to fall before I go into the "final fall" - again, maybe I just missed it, but there were several times where I thought I still had clicks left, and was strategically letting the pickaxe fall to hit a dynamite or diamond, but then entered freefall. Might just be me not realizing I was out of clicks though.

Again, I want to emphasize how enjoyable this is, out of the 10 or so jam games I've played so far, this one stands out as the one that should be made into a full game, especially since I think it works perfectly as a mobile game. Congratulations on a job well done!

(High score: 1522 2518)

Agreed with the other commenter, the sun/shadow mechanic was very cool, it took me a couple runs to get it but once I did it make my strategy much more obvious. I thought the transition to&from monochrome state was pretty seamless so I liked that.

I never actually won, but got down to like ~20 pirates which was good enough for me lol. The "mobbing" took me back to my COD: Zombies days, I spent much more time trying to knife through gaps in the mobs than actually swinging my sword lol. 

I would have liked to be able to deal a little more damage, maybe using a ranged weapon instead of the melee? But like vanny said, this game was predicated on the dash more than anything, and the dash felt great!

Great foundation for the game, I can tell you've got good Game Dev chops! 

I'm glad you liked the concept! I was definitely pretty happy I came up with it so quickly lol, I got lucky in that regard. I should have tested the Web build on my laptop/anchored the UI, that was a definite oversight. 

I also strongly agree with the idea that the revealed letters don't "feel earned" - if I was to work on this further, the biggest change I'd want to make to the gameplay is somehow tying your responses to what gets unlocked. Maybe right letter in right spot = letter gets revealed, or what I really want to do in my head is have "similarity scores" like in Contexto, where if you guess a word that's very similar you are told that. Or if I was doing more like 3- or 4- word phrases, have it so any time you get a word right, it gets revealed, but you still have to get the whole phrase.

I really appreciate you giving it a try, and its good to hear that you had a very similar thought regarding how to make the gameplay better - thank you again for the kind words!!

I'm glad you had fun with it! I think my long-term place in game dev is gonna be writing, so the Celeste reference is a pretty huge compliment. I thought locking the resolution to 960x540 would make the UI fit for every computer, but I did notice the same UI jankiness on my laptop :( I didn't think to anchor the panels until it was too late. But I'm glad you still found it worth playing!

Thank you very much for the kind words, I really appreciate it <3

This is a legitimately good game, let alone one made for a 48 hour game jam. The physics feels really good, and each of the balls feels unique enough to be worth inclusion. I really love the mechanic of being able to switch between the balls mid flight, allowing you to use the heavy smashing ball in conjunction with the smaller far-rolling ball. The boxes also feel very satisfying to smash. Won't be surprised at all to see this as a finalist for the game jam!

This is a legitimately good game, let alone one made for a 48 hour game jam. The physics feels really good, and each of the balls feels unique enough to be worth inclusion. I really love the mechanic of being able to switch between the balls mid flight, allowing you to use the heavy smashing ball in conjunction with the smaller far-rolling ball. The boxes also feel very satisfying to smash. Won't be surprised at all to see this as a finalist for the game jam!

Everything felt very crisp and well put-together. Very impressive to avoid any janky or buggy behavior in a 3D game like this built in 48 hours. Dialogue was cohesive and had personality to it, the "fetching" gamplay wasn't overly obscure or opaque. I do wish I could move a little faster but that's about it! Feels like the start to a lot of those small-budget horror games, pretty crazy to build this so quickly! Excellent work

This is a good submission! The concept is cute and all the art/SFX are well executed. The game feels very crisp to play, even though I didn't really understand how or when I was getting more points. This is well fleshed out for a 48-hour jam, felt good to play and a memorable concept. Well done!

Cozy little environment! I did like the movement and the hopping, that felt pretty crisp. I was a little unsure of what exactly the end state was, it seemed like after I got a couple of power-ups, the game was pretty much over but without any indication. But the foundations are strong!

Looks and feels good! I like how the speed ramps up the longer you're playing. Definitely has replayability to it. Nice entry!

[Reposting on submission page as well] This is cute as hell lol, feels like a fully put-together project for 48 hours. The game feels smooth, but what really pops is the personality you put into it - the little dancing at the end is FANTASTIC! Really good stuff!

This is cute as hell lol, feels like a fully put-together project for 48 hours. The game feels smooth, but what really pops is the personality you put into it - the little dancing at the end is FANTASTIC! Really good stuff!

My little word game https://bearrsona.itch.io/love-thy-neighbor

Screenshots added, thanks for your support! Did you have any other thoughts on the game or post?

Hi folks! I have been working on my first ever game for the past few months, and finally published a demo version today! It should take 8-12 minutes to complete, and can be played via Windows download (recommended) or via browser.

In short, DISCOvery is a turn-based RPG where you fill the shoes of a corporate explorer sent to document life on a previously uncharted planet. Alongside your trusty companion DISCO (short for DISCOvery Robot), you are tasked with scanning each lifeform and sequencing their underlying genome, which is then stored and analyzed for your parent company UGC (United Global Corporation). The combat consists of a rhythm-based input system, where a "move" is an action word (aka a verb lol) which is typed out in a rhythmic format, with damage points calculated based on the accuracy of the input as well as the value of the letter itself. Think Scrabble rules, where the more rare a letter, the more points you get - so a Z or an X is incredibly valuable, whereas an A or an S is not particularly powerful.

I have put together everything except the music by myself, which is why the art looks like it was made by a 10-year-old child. Would love to take in any feedback, especially ideas on the combat itself and anything user experience related. Appreciate you all!!

Link to the game page: https://bearrsona.itch.io/discovery-corporate-explorer