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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.

Enjoyment: 3.5/5: rounding up to 4. The humor didn't really land for me overly much (though it was funny with the bald kids.) However, it did REALLY land right at the end, as you probably recall from stream.

Execution 3.5/5 rounding down to 3. That kid in the courtyard has a textbox activation with what feels like a HUGE range. At one point I explored myself into an area I wasn't quite sure I was meant to find. I was able to jump back out, but that was not clear. This last one might be a nitpick, but if you're meant to be evicting people, having one who never leaves as a joke might be funny but mostly has the danger of messing with the player.

Sensory: 4/5 The aesthetics fit what they're about and they mostly landed for me. Definitely a strong point.

Metroidvania 5/5: Multiple 'mobility abilities' (permissions) given by a glorified HOA. That was pretty good. For such a small space it also had a pretty good exploration aspect.

Theme: 5/5: Felt like a bit of a stretch but it was there and you committed to the interpretation.

Enjoyment 4/5: This is probably my favorite TeePeeDee MVM entry yet.

Execution 3.5/5 rounding down to 3: That knockback is horrid and a couple times felt a bit glitchy.

Sensory 3.5/5 rounding up to 4: The music is there, the visuals are on point. The music was very loud and I couldn't turn it down effectively (at least quicklyy) due to fullscreen

Metroidvania 5/5: Exploration and movement upgrades that make a difference? Check

Theme: 5/5: Being lost in a world of abstract art was a really good call for this one.

Enjoyment 4/5: Despite not finishing, I really enjoyed my time with this one. Not a lot to say. Player could move a little faster?

Execution 4/5: Pretty well executed, no major bugs or glitches. Bosses feel like they might need a re-work of sorts.

Sensory 4/5: Simple but definitely by no means bad. Some of the sounds feel a little unfitting but props for putting your voice into SFX. More dev-vocals-driven SFX says I :)

Metroidvania 5/5: I could be a horrible party pooper here and rank it down for letting you skip everything but that would be neither in the jam nor theme nor probably genre-spirit.

Theme 5/5: I am giving this a 4.5/5 (rounding up) because it's not necessarily front and center, and I haven't got to experience it yet, but the sheer effort that has to have gone into making it a thing is awesome.

This is a really good one. This might be because we're in a discord together, but I feel like a polished/expanded version of this (per the note below I'm thinking of the feeling of "bigness", not necessarily the size of individual rooms) belongs in at least a $5 Steam tier. As I mentioned on stream, not a marketer tho, and the genre is a mashup of sorts. I'd just be hoping it hit the right streamer(s).

Enjoyment/Execution 4/5 each. Some of the precisiony platforming stuff was a bit for me, and I sometimes had trouble judging distances between platforms. However, the vibes of the thing made it quite enjoyable. I would consider giving the player a little less to traverse--not a LOT less, but maybe 2/3 less.

Sensory 5/5. Despite lack of proper jump it almost feels like you got at some of the aesthetic reasons I've played so much N++. Might be a bias but it just tickled my brain in the right ways.

Metroidvania 5/5. Unique abilities that change your traversal through a level, and only one of them is kind of a jump.

Relevance to theme: 5/5. Everything feels very stark and maybe even 'brutalist.' And you set out what you wanted to do per your interpretation, good show.

It's hard to define on the jank--I think it was mostly that I tried climbing the right first which might have been an inadvertent Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy type of experience, and it seemed like if you got into the 1x1 notches between 'jumps' it was not very easy to jump out again.

The only other nitpick here is that I don't think I had a health bar/indicator.

For the record the note about boss health is only for boss 1. The main one actually felt about right.

This is a pretty solid entry. I played for about an hour; it's the first that was too long for me to finish reasonably in the jam rating period and I mean that as a compliment.

Enjoyment 4/5: Often feeling-good, seldom frustrating occasionally a little taxing platforming, no moreso than its inspirations, though.

Execution 4/5: Some camera issues and once I found a little chasm of softlock, but it was right next to a save point so that was nice.

Sensory: 4/5: Nothing stunning here, but it really nails what it's going for.

Metroidvania 4/5: Within a Deep Forest but make it 3d. In my book that makes this, by jam standards, a 4/5 on genre.

Minimalist 5/5: Hits the nail on the head here, I think. There is basically nothing here that's more than it needs to be.

(EDIT Sorry I will add, this might be a bit nitpicky for the scale of the thing, but minimalism or no, it's big enough that a map might have been appreciated.)

Enjoyment 4/5: Gave me a couple of neat "oh!" moments including but not limited to the part at the end with the gravity.

Execution: 4/5: A little jank in the platforming and the first boss overstayed its welcome for me but besides that it felt fine.

Sensory: 3/5: Visuals were very nice. Audio was workable. Gun felt maybe a little loud, but not offensively so.

Metroidvania 5/5: Honestly really impressive for such a small scope. You did at least an approximation of a Metroidvania experience into this.

Minimalism 5/5: "A tiny Metroidvania where the entire map fits within one screen." Yep

IMO you have the talent to make something cool at larger scale. Following so I'll be sure I see it if you do!

I will happily do so! I'm going to see if I can't get through everyone who's rated me and everyone who showed up in my initial queue, at least. For some reason this time around I'm really feeling like trying to hit the 50% mark, but that might be a pipe dream given how I rate

Thanks for your kind words and your feedback--I'm taking it all in regarding the more general notes.

On the map front, I'll say this is a lesson for me in conveying things in-game, because (while this is mentioned on the game page) at no point did I tell the player that there's a pause menu with a map in it.

The map itself isn't free of issues unfortunately, but that'll be the first--and probably easiest--fix for the inevitable postjam version.

Taking notes on the above. Thanks for your kind words and your feedback! The fanfare almost certainly would have helped aesthetically and otherwise; I unfortunately never quite got sorted for that. There's a wealth of other stuff you mentioned too, so please know it will be put down to ... format TBD, once I get on 'data collecting for post-jam version.'