itch.io

I'm over here like... (eyes widened) you're giving drugs to these horses!?!? It was quite hilarious. I didn't really understand the betting mechanics too much and I'm not much of a gambler. So I am like payout ratios...? I just tried betting on 2 different horses each time (some of the times) to see what would happen. I swear trusty steed would win every time, before learning that was no the case. lol!!

I was not sure how the items affected the horses... after purchasing an item, there doesn't seem to be an obvious way that conveyed what the purchase had done, or even if I had it besides the fact my money was subtracted. I am broke as hell buying loosey cigarettes ::DEAD:: I would consider putting some kind of item indicators on the racing screen with the horses (as a UI element) to show there is an item effect and possibly display information of what the item does (whether or not the effect is supposed to be a mystery is unknown).

When you display the end game results of having won or lost, it displays too quickly. there is not enough time to read the information on the screen. I would consider having this end game information, controlled by input press, so the player has time to be in control of letting the game know when to exit to the main menu and we can view the results of the race (one of the most crucial points of the game, is to know what this information is). I swear the game keeps saying I won, even though I did not..?

There was music playing... at some point, but then it cuts out. I suspect the Audio is not set to *Loop* ::shrugs:: The Audio is actually one of my favorite aspects of the game. This Audio Track would have me coming back, it's very catchy and fits the vibe of the game. Nice voice introduction! It really helps set the tone with the game theme.

The overall game (in my perception) provides an aesthetic that feels grungy and dirty. From the environment that the horses are racing in, the shady supplements used, the casino-esque music, all screaming this is some back alley shady horse betting where all the degenerates will be, hoping for the big cash prize payout. And overlaying it with a camera effect mimicking an old TV creates a unique charm. Being it's a horse race from hell called Degen Devils, I can't be surprised. These details for me, provide a cohesive feeling that are stronger than the game mechanics. 

You have an adorable team story!

I'm over here like... (eyes widened) you're giving drugs to these horses!?!? It was quite hilarious. I didn't really understand the betting mechanics too much and I'm not much of a gambler. So I am like payout ratios...? I just tried betting on 2 different horses each time (some of the times) to see what would happen. I swear trusty steed would win every time, before learning that was no the case. lol!!

I was not sure how the items affected the horses... after purchasing an item, there doesn't seem to be an obvious way that conveyed what the purchase had done, or even if I had it besides the fact my money was subtracted. I am broke as hell buying loosey cigarettes ::DEAD:: I would consider putting some kind of item indicators on the racing screen with the horses (as a UI element) to show there is an item effect and possibly display information of what the item does (whether or not the effect is supposed to be a mystery is unknown).

When you display the end game results of having won or lost, it displays too quickly. there is not enough time to read the information on the screen. I would consider having this end game information, controlled by input press, so the player has time to be in control of letting the game know when to exit to the main menu and we can view the results of the race (one of the most crucial points of the game, is to know what this information is). I swear the game keeps saying I won, even though I did not..?

There was music playing... at some point, but then it cuts out. I suspect the Audio is not set to *Loop* ::shrugs:: The Audio is actually one of my favorite aspects of the game. This Audio Track would have me coming back, it's very catchy and fits the vibe of the game. Nice voice introduction! It really helps set the tone with the game theme.

The overall game (in my perception) provides an aesthetic that feels grungy and dirty. From the environment that the horses are racing in, the shady supplements used, the casino-esque music, all screaming this is some back alley shady horse betting where all the degenerates will be, hoping for the big cash prize payout. And overlaying it with a camera effect mimicking an old TV creates a unique charm. Being it's a horse race from hell called Degen Devils, I can't be surprised. These details for me, provide a cohesive feeling that are stronger than the game mechanics. 

You have an adorable team story!

I enjoyed the undead theme (and varied enemy portraits), and serving the undead ice scream to sate their hunger. Good play on the words!! I really like the comic book style story design and the transitioning between comic book panels even though it was only a couple transitions. After a few play throughs, I was like.... that's a really nice transition with the comic book panels. Something about it...

 A good blend of horror and humor especially with EYE*C and Friday the 13th. The color scheme for the game's art has a nice balance with the chosen colors. I like the artist's use of what I perceive as desaturated colors... really is comfortable on the eyes. The highest color saturation (being the ice scream flavors) drew you in to pay attention to the gameplay details, which created a nice contrast of what to focus on.  Cobblestone Crunch, OMG Orange, and Laughing Lavender were my favorite flavors and changing the flavors on each play through was a great way to add variety.

Unfortunately I was always the one left screaming with my time running out. I was not fast enough with the time available to complete the mini games. Toggling back and forth to bring up the minigames and feed the undead was too much for me. It was the sliding the puzzle that defeated me every time. Surprisingly (and because I would not normally play a game like this), the variety of the mini games was engaging and mixing them up like the ice scream flavors provides nice replay value. You never know which mini game you are going to get. 

I would say slow down the timer for each hungry zombie to let the player have more time to complete the mini games, but that's probably because my reaction time is too slow. lol!!! Maybe it's only the sliding puzzle... and then trying to feeding x zombies in a row that may need 5-6 scoops while trying to focus on the puzzle~ is crushing. I personally never had enough time to solve the sliding puzzle before the zombies got me. Every time i happened to get some zombies in a row that needed 1-3 scoops, I was like this is my chance to do the mini game!!

Overall this was an interesting and engaging experience. 

I swear to the lord.... I got first place!! I used my gamepad to play the game. So I am using my joystick... then for some reason I am tapping the "A" button along with using the joystick, swearing I am going so much faster with each button press. Maybe it was just the music.... loooll!!

But then I found the true secret after a couple tries... when I ran the track in reverse... and I gained a lap without having to go around the track. So a quick zig zag and I am the fastest chariot racer!! I am the philosopher's stone! 

This is not a game that I would play. But I have to say, this was very entertaining nonetheless. The Art style is very unique and that on its own, is enough to draw you in. The 2D story book look works well with these racing horses. And I did get a laugh out of this!

So without knowing any kind of direction you plan to take the game, or without me playing any games like this. My idea would be to have some kind of speed up mechanic when going around the track where you are pressing an input prompt that pops up as you are racing, and each time you press the random pop up prompt with the right timing, you get fasssttteerrrrr!! This could be because I felt like I was getting faster by tapping "A" on my gamepad ::DEAD:: and also because I want to play Dance Dance Revolution.  

This project was overall very balanced. You have the camera implemented very well. I think the smoothness of the camera transitioning with the player is great!

I very much enjoyed the available playable game space that could fit on my monitor and that I could use my gamepad. I will always use the gamepad XD  I have more experience with metroidvania than cozy-vania. Keeping in mind this is just the start of the project, a few ideas and suggestions:   

When the player is falling, I'm not sure if this is because of your gravity or the camera. The camera works beautiful when the character jumps up. The camera seems to pan upward in front of or with the jump, and more gracefully than not. The space you provide to see up vertically, is appreciated. However, when the player falls, you have no idea what is going to happen below the player because the camera does not pan ahead in the downward vertical direction. It almost feels like the player will fall through the camera if there was no platform to catch the player.

I personally think any game(s) where you have a character on the screen under your control, any interactions that character has, whether it's an enemy or something in the environment, needs to be paired with feedback to show the relationship between the action or event taking place. You have flashing graphic animation using the red color on the white color sprite to indicate damage, which is great. Careful for your ranged enemies' projectiles, they do not have damage flash logic against the player. 

It may go without saying, but enhancing your feedback with enemies will be a strong point for your game and making that feedback dynamic. 

Ledges tend to be tricky with 2D platforming logic. There is a weird issue with the ledges going on, where the player is sometimes pushed off. 

My favorite part about this game so far, is the music. But I'm trying to understand why the music fits with the environment and the entities in the world. The art and music really seem to be trying to convey a strong story and that is definitely worth exploration. You haven't provided any details about a story (that I had seen) or much of the characters other than that they are ghosts. Even with a lack of these details, I have to repeat myself, the music and the art are telling a story. In my opinion, is the project's greatest strength.

I had a hard time with the screen scaling. I tried different screen resolutions. The first time around I didn't see the serving bell until I moved the floating browser tab around. I was not sure if I was missing anything besides the devil sandwich. The completed dishes menu had over populated with sandwiches that I was not making. 

I liked that the knife returned to the back rack when you dropped it. I think it would add a great touch for the feedback if you played a metal clang sound effect when the knife falls. I would probably just purposely drop the knife x amount of times hoping for a sarcastic demon comment. lol!!

I enjoyed the dialogue, it was a nice flavor, complimenting the sexy demon art style. I found what I perceived as  sarcastic comments, appropriate for the demon kitchen talk. I would be interested to see what kind of demon recipes there are. There is a lot of fun exploration to do with demonic ingredients and meals.

You all had a great Team Story, but it could have used a lower volume for the music to better hear you all   : ) 

Their reactions were so great! I made the correct orders but then tried to see what would happen by sabotaging them. Poor cats XD ~quite hilarious!! I laughed at each disappointed face and dialogue but still felt guilty for what I did to their tea. 

It was hard to tell what the sugar was at first. I was like, what are these ice cubes... but then eventually realized they were sugar cubes after staring at the spoon with sugar in it. 

I know this is just a simple demo, but I think it would be neat if you added a steam animation to the tea pot. It would give you something interesting to watch instead of the stationary clock, and provide nice visual feedback for the event, or maybe even animate the clock hand spinning around. It was a nice touch that you had the tea cup filling up ~you should increase the volume of that sound effect  :)    

Very much could have leaned into the fantasy theme. lol, thanks for the comment!!  I will take that into account as I continue to work on it.

Very detailed submission. I like that you explained your process of how you created your assets. The how and why of your character Rhiza and the mechanics in a game you would build around them. Your game explanation is a good example of how a video game's game play does not need to be aggressive~ I find it very insightful, especially for an isometric tactics game. I come from a background of playing mostly console games. So I assume  things like Vandal Hearts, Final Fantasy Tactics, Front Mission 3, Saiyuki: Journey West. I enjoyed seeing your physical art transformed into the sprites. It helps to remind me how much of my own personal art I can incorporate and use~ a way of grounding myself to a process and flow of working that I can develop for my own self. This provided me the most value out of joining this event and I wasn't even expecting that. Being a part of this jam personally broadened my perspective of what others go through when creating art for games. Thanks for sharing!

Those spiders in the first level are kicking my butt! lol. I found it difficult to kill them because the monk used random attacks and I never knew if he was going to punch or kick. I'm also bad with the keyboard functions though to be honest -___-  I think if the monk moved faster, it would be helpful as well defining an attack pattern or identifying which kind of attack the monk will use instead of a random one. The spider comes from above and the fist is not so effective, I thought versus the kick that may come out and knock the spider away from landing on me. [I suggest having a couple key inputs and assigning the different attacks those keys) I will keep playing in the meantime to see how far I can get. I did not reach a check point so I have some training to do as the guardian. I really enjoyed the presentation of the story the most, the cut scene intro and the dialogue! The graphics and music tie together nicely as cohesive elements. I look forward to getting further if I can get past the first level.