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Almost full marks on this one.

Enjoyment was a 4.5/5 rounding up.

Execution was 4/5, there was some lack of proper triggering on certain things (a save point, as will probably be verified by a video, and a couple of scene transition triggers.) Nothing insurmountable. Almost missed that double-jump upgrade in the blue area; TBH I looked down there mainly because I was hoping for a hard 'checkpoint'

Sensory 5/5 This is just good all around. The sounds in particular are very pleasing.

Metroidvania 5/5. 0 standard deviations away from genre.

Relevance to theme 5/5. Interpretation is good and you've stuck to it.

Seeing you're still below median right now I am assuming this rating will be more helpful than harmful to your team's score and adding it accordingly, even though I don't know that I really played this one to my reviewer's satisfaction.

Enjoyment 3 - It ran well enough to play, but I felt lost in a bad way. I ran into a fairly difficult platformer section after getting wall-jump, then a mind-bending puzzle pretty soon after that, and I think I might not be able to play.

Execution 3.5 rounded to 4 - Pretty good, a little jank, Didn't run super-smoothly on my machine, but that reflects more in enjoyment and admits to some subjectivity. I went to try and reload the game to play a bit more and realized I had lost a previously gained power. Since the game had autosaved in the room with the relevant puzzle, this at minimum read as a bug.

Sensory 5 - Beautfiul and communicative.

Metroidvania 5/5: Nobody said the mobility or utility abilities had to be all about the player.

Minimalist 4.5 rounded to 4: I am believing you did your interpretation but on its face it feels a little weaker. The half-point off is symbolic because my gut does not read this as minimalist, but it turns down to a 4 since execution rounded up.

[Some edits for clarity because I accidentally said the opposite of what I meant in a place or two.]

We're going out of order on this one because I have some things to say and they will go better if I go out of the usual order. Please understand the following is meant primarily in jovial spirit. I TRULY believe the choice of controls was a mistake on your part, but I promise I'm not mad and I hope this doesn't come across condescending. But because it feels like the sort of thing that could have been entered in Oktrollberfest (that is a real jam lol), I feel OK rating it a little in that spirit.

This broke me.

Minimalist theming is an easy 5/5, because the aesthetics alone would have gotten you there. That means everything else INCLUDING a less drastic of your own phrasing, "very minimal amount of buttons", would have gotten you full marks on the theme already.

Execution is a 3.25/5 rounding up because I can't bring myself to round it down. And yes, you did get that .25 instead of the .5 for the reason you're thinking.

In case we're not on the same brainwave here, it's not because it's not mechanically solid but because the sheer audacity of this control scheme, per the above, was 100% a choice and not a thing that needed to be done to get the theming. It's because it IS so mechanically sound otherwise that I have to give this a four a not a three.

To be clear I had a lot more fun with it than I expected but unfortunately no matter how well-executed everything else is (AND IT IS), I don't think I can give a good execution mark to this on account of the controls. So even though it's well executed there's no way it's getting above a 4.

It is a choice I would rather not reward in any way, shape, or form, and would actively like to punish in the scores, but I can't get myself to do it. Others might. I can't.

Enjoyment is a 4/5 rounding up.

Sensory is a 5/5. Why that short loop isn't driving me mad I don't know.

SO AFTER ALL THAT I have some questions.

The first question is why as in "why would you do this."

The second question is why as in "why am I still playing this."

The third question is why as in "why does it work so well?"

Anyway here's the video:

VOD segment

Video from stream btw:

Video from Stream:

video from my stream (you were there ofc)

Video!

Sensory 5/5: THIS GAME WAS A VIBE. Certainly doesn't hurt that it feels a little like Stratum in this jam and Gunpoint of indie yore got married and had a straight up cyberpunk baby.

Metroidvania 5/5: Mobility abilities to start AND then MORE to unlock.

Minimalist Theming 4.5/5 rounding up to 5. Not sure I know enough about minimalist architecture to judge, but I did feel a fair bit of sparseness. Things got 'busier' with the pipey areas. Giving benefit of the doubt though; it's notable that in overall vibes the game that felt most fitting as a comparison was Stratum, which is almost all shapes and colors in style.

Execution 4/5: Everything's just a little bit bigger than it probably needs to be and there's a rough edge or two in platforming.

Enjoyment 5/5: But oh man, was this fun. I made a point of saving my game before quitting. I'm not great at always finishing things but I wanted that save in place, just in case I'm able to come back. I got as far as the wall-run ability and will link a play video when I have one.

Enjoyment 3/5: What's here is serviceable especially for a jam game! Not "time of my life" fun but not miserable by any means.

Execution 4/5: There are a lot of minor conveyance issues in the tiling that make things a little more difficult to understand, and there's at least one notable glitch. But nothing gamebreaking by far, it's more a few design issues and extras keep this from a fuller 5/5.

Sensory 3/5: The music is nice enough, and the tiles are pretty decent to start with. There are a variety of enemies to look at. If the initial style of the tileset had been more consistently applied I think this category might have been higher, and furthermore I think this one might even have warranted a 3 or even 4 on theme.

Metroidvania 5/5: By jam standards it feels at least adjacent; only two mobility abilities of substance. The level design feels fairly linear; there's not much in the way of a larger interconnected whole here.

Minimalism: 2/5: You did stick to your interpretation of the theme, but it's not clear what differentiates your  interpretation from merely being a Metroidvania which is a separate category. theme you interpreted appears to have been the same as the genre and not really minimalism in much of any way I can 'grok'. Still, making this a 2, if for no other reason than because the initial storybooky style felt a little minimalist in its own way.

Some video-format feedback below:

So, these ratings are gonna be a bit all over the place; sorry! I'm rating the first two categories out of order for banter effect.

Execution 3/5: Some slowdown, but really what hurts this as much as anything is the sheer amount of nonsense with the boulders and the dodging trickiness (and constancy) and the sponginess of the main fight the game offers. The game's other enemies being spongy doesn't help too much, but.

Enjoyment 4/5: FOR ALL THAT, I'll just say, as you (lemoan) know I took video of me fighting the boss to show you as feedback, and it lasts about 12 minutes, about 10 of which are actually fighting the boss. And at the start, I claim it'll only be about 5 minutes of attempts. Some of that was me trying to be sure I was critiquing fairly, but on some level I was finding excuses to try again and I think that speaks well of the project.

Sensory 5/5: This may be the single most charming entry in the entire jam and a lot of little touches really help.

Metroidvania 3/5: This is a platformer (check) with a utility ability (check) allowing you to beat the boss. (Narrator: He was unable to beat the boss, but had understood it from others to be the effective end of game.) For all that though, as-is it is pretty linear; there's not much in the way of exploration-aesthetic.

Minimalism 5/5: So much with so little. GG.

Honestly if a fuller version of this showed up in MVM Super Edition #30, you would not see me complaining.

It's unfortunately luck of the draw that makes some design or other things show up and some not. I've now twice made a game with a map that people then asked for in the comments, because they weren't told that a pause or a map existed. [EDIT: Removed a thing I said that was incorrect upon checking.] The map's definitely flawed but it does exist! Now that's perhaps a different degree on a couple levels, but I guess what I'm saying is, this sort of thing happens to everyone--including yours truly.

I did see this; note that the way I scored this, if I had made a change on that basis, the rating would probably change to Execution at 4 (not 3.5) so by my usual way, that would make Enjoyment round up and then Theming round down, rather than up. (Where I use .5s I generally round up, and then down, in that order, and systemically.) So the overall numerical tally wouldn't change.

I'm still happy to make that adjustment if you like in the interest of accuracy.

When I get the video up you'll be able to see more closely where I went and didn't go so you'll see what I missed it by. Might have been streamer-brain, the VOD will tell. (I'm splitting the Christmas stream session right now and yours was yesterday, so I probably won't have the particular video for yours until tomorrow morning.)

Enjoyment 3.5 rounded up to 4: I move. So. Slow. And there is so much nonsense so quickly.

Execution 4/5: Everything seems solid enough. I think there are some questionable design decisions about movement speed and upgrade availability. And at risk of decreasing the fulfillment of your interpretation of minimalism, I think a button to close the popups might have been good. Awkward to pull out the mouse for just that part.

Sensory 3.5/5 rounded down to 3: Serviceable music and sound all around and the pixel art was charming as it goes! Music wasn't my thing as much.

Metroidvania 1.5/5 rounded up to 2: There is a bare minimum of utility gating and exploration. This isn't really in the genre criteria for this jam, to me, as big-tent as it normally is in these ways.

Minimalism 3/5: The theme interpretation is met, and the controls are minimalistic but that is ...not really doing it for me in terms of theming vibes. The game doesn't feel minimalistic for all that. Sorry!

All that said, I have followed you so I can see your future rogue-lite endeavors.I do think you have some good potential in the 'defend your base' or Vampire Survivors or similar top-down action-roguelike or rogue-lite space and would like to see more of your work in that space.

Gameplay video below (I made one run at feeding/defending the chungus.)

Enjoyment 4/5: I had an alright time with this one; it didn't quite 'wow' me to a 5/5 territory.

Execution 4/5: If I fall into a pit I can't get out of, the game should just kill me there and then. Moving platforms are tricky to get right, unless you're almost impeccable with the timing, it'll always feel a little punishing to wait for them. Boss was pretty well-done for a jam; presented a bit of challenge without being too hard. It's not always communicated which things you can jump up through and which you can't--in particular it's not certain why the trash can is a jump-through platform but not the bouncy squids.

Sensory 4/5: Everything's pretty and serviceable.

Metroidvania 5/5: By jam standards this is pretty extensive!

Theme-relevance 3/5: Didn't really strike me as particularly minimalist on the surface, and judging by your own criteria, this art didn't really vibe as minimalist to me. The mechanics created a *mostly* smooth and enjoyable experience.

Gameplay video below:

Enjoyment 4/5: Actually quite enjoyed it overall!

Execution 3.5/5 rounded down: I think this game embraced minimalism to a fault. In a lot of the "outside" segments it felt like the platforms were more confusing than necessary; in a 3D game conveying the depth of objects is important. It might be because I turn into a total platforming and combat baby when I'm put into 3D, but it also felt like I fell off at least one edge I straight-up couldn't see. This is one man's opinion, but you really ought to loosen up the timing requirements a bit and make the character a little less finicky to control.

Sensory 3.5/5 rounded up: Both music and visuals are pretty, but not cohesive.

Metroidvania 5/5: I played for about 30 minutes; assuming it would have continued on the same trajectory, this feels like it meets the criteria for sure. Props for not just being like "this ability makes you jump higher."

Theme-relevance: 4.5/5 I mentioned earlier that I thought this game embraced minimalism to a fault. Accordingly, the 4.5 here is symbolic of the relative lack of minimalism in the "indoor" segments, and the clear effort towards fulfilling your own theme interpretation seems good to grade as a 5.

Play and React video below if you want it!

Taking notes as always, thanks for your feedback, Falcon!

Enjoyment 3.5/5 rounded down - I didn't really connect with this one and the central echolocation mechanic wasn't my thing. I'm sorry, it just was more frustrating than engaging for me.

Execution 4/5 - Conveyance is difficult when you're conveying blindness. How much frustration is intended here? IDK.

Sensory 5/5 - For all that this made really good use of sound and everything overall to convey its theme.

Metroidvania 2.5/5 rounded up - About as Metroidvania as an old Sierra game. For me that means not really much, but using the same item in multiple places helps.

Minimalism 5/5 - Nailed the theme and I don't even have to refer to your interpretation to know that you did.

All in all this one really wasn't my thing so much, but it mainly affected the enjoyment category. I don't think I really 'got it' as far as the main point or, ahem, 'vision' if you will. That said, I'll be following if you do more stuff like this (or else-wise) because for all that I would not call this bad by any means.

Enjoyment 3.5/5 / Execution 3.5/5 each. Enjoyment rounded up to 4 for charm, execution down to 3 for what feels like a lot of unfavorable player collision. - A number of issues feed into each other--there's what seems to be a big runback to a boss I only reached once (at least one of which I'll grant that's mostly on me) and at one point I even found myself respawning from a spike checkpoint into an enemy. There's some of what I call 'inadvertent frustration platforming' which is when the platforming or reflex aspects of a game in particular cause frustration the developer probably didn't intend.

Sensory 4/5 - Everything is unified except the tiles. Honestly pretty good all around on this score. Feels very Hollow Knight influenced, but that's no crime!

Metroidvania 5/5 - Upgrade/exploration on par for meeting jam genre criteria.

Minimalism 4.5/5 rounded up - I see the theming, but I don't necessarily see it borne out even meeting its stated goals. Incidentally the game probably would have had more conveyance with a more chiaroscuro-focused scheme. To honor the vibe I'm getting that this really wasn't minimalist I'm giving a symbolic half-point off but it won't affect the sort.

I know I may have said on a stream that I hated the platforming/runback a little. I did. However, the game is still very charming and definitely seems to be an accomplishment. If a version appears with slightly more generous hard checkpoints I might even see it all at some point! Until then I recomend extending the adorable art theming into the tiling and giving a little more background contrast vs the characters and enemies.

Enjoyment and Execution 4/5 each - Some jank here and there hampers enjoyment, but pretty well-executed overall. No major glitches. Some inadvertent frustration platforming but not a ton. Hard to convey everything you want to in this sort of aesthetic and I think this is case (not the only by any means) where being minimalist fed into the conveyance problem.

Sensory 3.5/5 - rounded up to 4. Music and sound design pushes this up from a 3, but the actual use of silence didn't land super much for me.

Metroidvania 4/5 - Upgrades? Check. Exploration aspect feels a little lacking?

Minimalism 5/5 - Good use of the everything which wasn't a lot, which means good minimalism.

Enjoyment 5/5 - Really enjoyed this one. Good feel and vibes all around.

Execution 4/5 - some puzzles might have been a bit obtuse but most of the game was good

Sensory 4.5/5 rounded to 5 - I liked everything except the title theme, down to the squishy lil shape.

Metroidvania - 4.5/5 rounded down - It's at least MV-adjacent as Leap Year--maybe a bit more since there's technically one upgrade with many facets, and Leap Year just gives you the whole from the start. Pretty close but not quite the full thing to me. Scratches the exploration aspect itch though.

Minimalism 5/5 - Good use of the everything.

Thanks for the kind words and constructive criticism! I appreciate hearing this was someone's couch-gaming! I'm taking notes! I do plan to expand on the ending a little bit and probably one or two of the fights, and further be obvious which areas ended up essentially 'not in the jam version.'

Also, yes, you saw this: "In the bottom left corner, one room right, is an area with a worm entrance that I couldn’t use." That is the sign of an area that was cut and probably won't be in the post-jam polish. At least I had the good sense to remove the worm_mode trigger and prevent people from soft locking themselves in the tile-set, LOL.

The hair-power thing was one of my stupidest coding mistakes and has thankfully already been corrected for post-jam.

Enjoyment 4/5 - Really enjoyed this one. The fact that it was done so hastily and yet so well at jam's end is...well, a bit of a mystery to me, but impressive. The actual setup probably resulted in more frustration than anything. Really makes you grateful we can turn around IRL.

Execution 4/5 - Honestly solid. Not perfect but pretty good.

Sensory 3/5 - nothing bad, good communicative tiles, no sound/music until the end

Metroidvania 5/5 - Does the job. Probably more than does by jam standards.

Minimalist 5/5 - And quite minimally.

Enjoyment 4 - Pretty good stuff all around. Some rough edges here and there! It is not fun being owned by something on a timer with no clear way to reset the timer and not much way to see the thing (that may have been exacerbated by the game starting up on the least ideal monitor for its purposes.)

Execution 3.5->4 - pls make windowed mode actually mean something or don't offer it. I didn't have the screen real estate to move the game to another better-for-it-monitor even in windowed

Sensory 4/5 - Graphics weren't my thing but they're certainly not bad. Props for hand-recorded music. Very impressed.

Metroidvania 5/5 - Honestly solid and one of the more unique interpretations I've seen of genre staples in an MVM game.

Minimalist theming 4.5 -> 4/5 - stated goals pretty well accomplished, felt a little 'off' in spirit? hard to say for sure because these things can be subjective!

Enjoyment 3.5/5 rounded down to 3 - I felt pretty lost in a bad way and there was a lot of inadvertent frustration platforming. If sheepgirl falls off the platform she just landed on ONE MORE TIME I will:

buy her flowers to make her feel better because that's no fun

Execution 4/5 - For all that I was at least able to judge the basics of where a jump should land, most of the time. Which is pretty neat in a platformer like this! The fact that it didn't land where it felt it should so much reflects in category 1.

Sensory 4/5 Not much sound to speak of but those visuals push it UP!

Metroidvania 4.5/5 rounded up to 5 - 'not getting hurt in the water' did not feel like a substantial first upgrade, but I'm trusting the other two would at least get it to 4.5 by jam standards. I didn't play enough to know if the attack or the spring was a utility-key but from the context I can guess it would be.

Minimalist 5/5 Well done on the minimalist interpretation overall, TBH.

I enjoyed what I played of it but this one might be too smart for me. I ran into a fairly difficult platformer section after getting wall-jump, then a mind-bending puzzle pretty soon after that, and I think I might not be able to play enough to give a proper rating. You can respond here or find me on Discord if you'd like me to rate it anyway, with the caveat that I probably won't be playing further before I do.

Enjoyment 4/5. Execution 3.5 rounding up to 4/5.

The execution issues and enjoyment issues always blend into each other for me. Between what I played as a beta tester and what I played now I think the enjoyment would normally be higher, but the stuff that happened with the last boss was a lot. The actual base game is pretty enjoyable on its face! Just a lot of little details added up here and the small physics glitches in the boss fight hurt it for me :/

Sensory 4/5. What's there is good and communicative, both music and sound.

Metroidvania 5/5: Multiple mobility (or in one immobility) abilities? Check!

Minimalist 5/5: Theme supported by visuals and small number of elements? Check.

Overall solid. I know there was some 'trolliness' that was more intentional and I'll have to try the alternate physics version at some point, as I imagine it's subject to fewer accidental issues and would let the intended punishing stuff shine more.

Thanks for the kind words and constructive criticism! I'm taking notes! There is no better ending; both the good and bad basically are rushed and the difference is nonexistent in the jam version.

Thanks for the kind words and constructive criticism! I'm taking notes!

Thank you for your kind words and constructive criticism! There's a lot here and IDK if I can adequately respond to it all except that I'm taking it in :) However on some of the main things:

* Input/power control directions were supposed to be introduced everywhere. As you noticed I think, the worm mode instructions are only on 1 of the 3 places it could be used.
* Map is there on the pause menu I just need to tell people there is a pause menu, OOPS. No biomes are shown, but if you've not finished yet that might help a little. Honestly falls apart a bit in jam version anyway.
* Upgrades don't actually do anything in the jam version, but in post-jam-polish I think my plan is 3/HP and probably similar for the attack ones. They do play a small stinger when collected in the current--unreleased because jam ongoing--build.

Also sorry I got caught up in responding to the softlock thing, thanks for your kind words and constructive criticism! I'll be gathering a lot of data from this comment section and other places.

If you do that fight again (sorry) it should behave differently. This has happened to others than just you, but it hasn't happened to me in either area using that mechanic set, so I'm not 100% sure what the cause is at this time. I may just need to replace it with a more foolproof, but annoying, system of checks.

Thanks for your kind words and constructive criticism! Taking notes on all of these.

I did the slide and crouch as sort of Castlevania-y things but I wanted to do something other than a standard wall-jump or double-jump, so I'm glad the abilities landed in context!

Enjoyment 5/5: I have next to nothing negative to say. Everything about this game that might be considered 'rough' for a platformer of its style is less than the standard value of 'rough.'

Execution 5/5: Almost no bugs or glitches to be found. My only real nitpick is that some of the map choices involve some one-ways up and down that seem like they could have maybe been two-ways.

Sensory: 5/5. Everything feels very tightly integrated; visuals/sfx/music are all about the same right era and quality all-around. Love the Kirby-esque enemies.

Metroidvania: 5/5. There's a fair bit of map to explore and quite a few mobility upgrades. Push to attack works really well.

Theme-Relevance: 5/5 Your interpretation was strong IMO and it also integrated well with the game mechanic choices and aesthetics.

This is my first 5/5 of the jam. IDK if it's presently a contender for top 5, but if it's not, it should be.

Thanks for your feedback and kind words! I'm trying to take a lot of notes for (here's hoping) eventual potential Steam release.

OH yes--that might be the overall stupidest mistake I made. Only impacts about half of players, because of why it happens. I believe it mainly happens when you get the worm mode power. That'll be fixed in the post-jam polish version. If you've not finished and it somehow happens again, it should resolve with a save-reload. Thanks for your feedback and kind words!

Thanks for your kind words and your feedback!

YES! That exiting the pipe thing showed up for me in another place. Thankfully that's been patched for post-jam-polish. Thanks for your kind words and your feedback!

Thanks for your kind words. I'm taking notes on all of this and especially thinking of reactions to the checkpoint thing. While I think on balance this is probably the most or second-most reasonable the platforming has been in one of my MVM games, it's also true that the check-pointing (as such) basically doesn't exist compared with those same games, so you're punished a lot more. 

Thanks for your kind words--You are correct; many things were an up against the deadline issue :). Will be taking notes on all this feedback, because while I do have a very small roadmap in mind for post-jam-polish, I've got a larger one in mind that I'm hoping might prove worthy of putting on Steam :)

Enjoyment: 4/5: Quite enjoyed this one overall!

Execution 3/5: I recommend working on conveyance of when/where certain abilities can be used, making the use of the circular objects more intuitive/east to get, and also including save points. For all that I do think the base swinging mechanic, while it may need some refinement, has been nailed down pretty well!

Sensory 3/5: The visuals are nice and simple; the sounds are there, and not bad. The first 'intro' boss is a highlight.

Metroidvania 5/5: Multiple mobility abilities helping me traverse a space I have to meaningfully explore? Check! And for the purist in me it's also a platformer so double check!

Relevance to Theme: 4/5 You did a pretty good job of following up on the theme interpretation. The chosen interpretation did make the game a little harder to understand, though.