itch.io

hi, can you explain the issue further? was the game stuck on the godot loading screen? were you just given a black screen? were you playing on windows, linux, or web?

This was definitely one of my favorites of the jam! I really like how it balanced technical skill & puzzle solving skills, I love games like those because you get both the "aha" feeling of figuring out the solution and the satisfaction of successfully pulling it off.

Tying the loop to the rhythm of the music was a clever & effective idea at making sure the loop timer was easy and natural to figure out while playing. The main theme is also catchy and the motif is strong, it has a lot of flavor but definitely leans towards the side of repetition, but that also helps keep it playing into serving as an indicator for the loop timer. And it's a nice touch that all the cute lil' sprites are in rhythm to further drive that home!

Now as for the level design, this was obviously where the game needed to shine and it delivered. This is the type of premise that demands tightly designed levels that aren't feasible to achieve in a jam deadline, but what you did pull off is really impressive & quality for the amount of time you must've had. It took me quite a bit to fully grasp the loop mechanic and get used to it, but once I did the gameplay felt snappy & good to iterate through ideas in. I especially love how each level that's added to the loop forces you to re-evaluate how you approached & used the elements of the previous levels, without actually changing any level's layout.

I will say that the final level/set of levels didn't feel as creative or well thought out as the rest though, but aside from that, great game!

This is the type of game you could whip out on a dime on your phone and play to kill some time and have fun. Actually, the graphics remind me a lot of pixel-art mobile games, especially how they go in tandem with the gameplay! The start of a run is pretty slow but this mostly ends up working to the games benefit as once you get a few upgrades it really gets going. The main gameplay loop (at least, I how interpreted it) of strategizing how to min-max the most out of every session is addictive and the amount of time you get is just right. I thought the idea of having portals to end the run would've been a bad thing but it serves as a nice bow to tie up the runs once they start to run their course.

Also, this game would go HARD with some more juice & spicier sound design, like having special effects for mining ores. Wish I had more to say about the upgrades but they're all pretty good and the satisfaction of building up a powerful character is just a tried & true driving force to keep going! One nitpick is that I would've personally preferred if the bombs activated instantly, and you just had to level them up better.

Another thing is that I do wonder if the game would've benefited from having some kind of fail-state, but that would severely alter its design & direction. Like maybe you need to pay some sort of toll each round forcing you to focus on getting cash, or there's a limit on how many days you can take to beat the game, which you can extend by paying a lot. But that's purely my opinion and not a big critique by any means.

Overall this is a pretty relaxing & stress-free arcade game.

I liked the grungy color palette, and the art. The grimy brown & green combo really helps sell the game's gloomy & cursed feeling. I also liked how the player character had that Petscop vibe of dangling around the line of cute & creepy. The monster's cryptid design was also cool, it may have been cliche but that's perfectly fine and it absolutely fits the vibe. And the trees being shrouded in darkness made me sometimes imagine them having this amorphous shape, as if the souls the forest had taken had inhabited them or something.

The sound design also managed to accomplish exactly what it set out to, it's simple, effective, and nerve-building. The concept of a looping forest as a horror story & game mechanic especially being the main theme tie-in is also interesting.

...Unfortunately, I really did NOT enjoy the gameplay. It had a really good setup, then the monster began chasing me, and I was anxious! I tried to run away from it, used the trees to try and build distance, but that barely worked. Then I realized that it always knew where I was, and then after a few attempts I gave up and realized oh, you can just juke the monster. And that's the most efficient way to play the game... it's just... walking in a path and having to juke the monster every few seconds. After time it felt more like it was orbiting around me like a clingy moon than anything. I'm guessing this was something that simply could not be ironed out due to time, but it seriously killed my immersion after I realized this was gonna be the gameplay.

I'm not sure if this was the intent, but I would've preferred it if you had to specifically use the design of the forest & the obstacles to gain distance from the monster. Maybe even incentivize breaking off the path in order to survive. I don't have a problem with the idea of the monster always chasing you, that creates a lot of anxiety & time pressure which works well for the game, but the execution just fell flat.

Also, it didn't really feel like I got to engage with the story as well as I should've, because you literally don't get the time to look at & interpret the pages since the game doesn't pause while you're reading a note. The principle of "Show don't tell" wasn't followed at all since during the gameplay it was better to just instantly dismiss the note and read the player character's dialogue explaining what it meant so you don't die.

Anyway, the 2 endings are both nice. The bad ending tying into the theme because you literally just perpetuate the cycle by becoming another pawn (maybe the notes shouldn't have spoiled this so much) and I liked how the good ending changed the color palette to a more soothing brown & blue combo, letting you know you really had escaped.

All in all I truly did like the atmosphere & premise! It's just that, sorry but the gameplay didn't have the sauce to back it up and it just tanked my enjoyment a lot.

Snappy gameplay, energetic and spooky music, clean and emotive art! Presentation wise I really liked this. And the protagonist's scatterbrained remarks as he shreds through vampires were funny. And I like the funky collectible art, especially that one. You know the one.

Gameplay wise I enjoyed the fast-paced and the manor navigation, but overall it felt like it left a bit to be desired. The complexity of the game felt more like it came from having to adapt to the current horde of enemies the game threw at you, rather than there being vampire types that had interesting mechanics/patterns for the player to outsmart. This game would've also gone even harder with some blood splatter fx and screenshake. Also, the mechanic of having to reuse stakes felt like more of an afterthought, especially since the level design didn't feel particularly adapted to it, but I digress.

Nitpicking about some potential aside, I enjoyed this game!

I really enjoyed the core loop of literally just debugging a game scene. It did ultimately feel very handholdy, especially with the text in the top-left, but the entire process was amusing enough for me to ignore that. The twist at the end is also pretty cool. I really liked the artstyle, and especially the design of the unknown man, who I assume represents the protagonist. Actually, it sort of feels like Tim Burton in some ways. The music is also pretty good!

I tried to follow the instructions exactly, I put the gravity action on, and went over to the left corner. Just before getting impaled I pressed 7 twice which seemed to flip gravity by 180 degrees, and then I waited for the death animation to finish. Tried to jump afterward, didn't work. I fiddled around a bit with which beat to put the gravity action on, and the other debug commands, to no avail.

PS: While I'm here, I'd like to add that I hope that if there's a post-jam update, the death animation is less buggy, since rn it can cause the beats to immediately start playing, before you even respawn.

This was a nice take on an idea that I've seen in quite a few jam games. I especially loved the penultimate level where I realized I could let the past loop finish the level for me. Of course, I wish it was longer, but can't complain for a game jam game. Also I like the derpy character :3

The vibes on this one are really on point, the art & sound design meshes really well together and there's a lot of nice juice added to the clicker elements. I especially love the main theme and the dissonant harmony juxtaposed against a melody that sounds like it's desperately trying to be happy, really fits the theme of doomscrolling. And the TVs showing nothing but disasters is a nice touch. WE'RE COOKED

Unfortunately I couldn't play past the 7th level, even the fix in the description didn't seem to work, so I'll just review what I did play:

I liked the concept of the game a lot! I could see the idea was getting more and more complex as the levels went and you had to start carefully planning how you'd make your moves & chain them together at the mercy of the metronome, that was where the fun really began. Again, no clue if this is what happens but I could see the move chaining becoming really interesting if each move just directly overrode your current velocity, making things snappy. Though I do think a bigger camera would be nice for the more complex levels.

Aside from that, art is really nice too! The mechanical color palette with a tinge of life is really what sells it to me. And I like how the moves you make add a beat to the background track.

Cute game! I really liked the artstyle and audio. It was real quirky and charming. But I'd say the gameplay felt a little lacking in depth. It didn't really feel like the game explored the puzzle potential of the concept to the fullest degree. The best levels were the ones where you were separated from the robot and had to indirectly guide it.

I liked the silly artstyle! And y'know, I can't help but feel... hmm, that this game was trying to tell us something... that Muck wasn't born to mindlessly go to work and get back home, that he was meant to be out in the fields, jumping around, enjoying himself. Oh well.

Also, a few of the jumps took me a bit to get the hang of. Not sure I totally like how hard you have to rely on the coyote jump for some of the jumps.

I think the best way to describe this is that it felt like such an avant-garde, surrealist and serene experience. The artwork (and especially wow, the use of pixel art dithering) and sound design was simply immaculate as they went hand in hand together. Awesome.

Wow, time to add another one to the pile of brain-busting, creative sokoban games. I think one aspect of puzzle games that this particularly shone in to me, was getting that feeling of unraveling a problem layer by layer, especially with the last 2 levels

Fun short n sweet experience! I do think the ways to break the loops could've been more creative, but I enjoyed my time with the game. I love how each of the 3 fake games is nevertheless brimming with their own personality.

This is a really nice chill game. It gives me huge early 2010s mobile game vibes, especially the art.

Artstyle is really characteristic and the dialogue is on-point, and I like the core idea involving having to parrot back lines. Just wish you didn't have to mentally keep track of what line is saved to which, like hitting the play button outside of an interaction could've just repeated what was saved to that slot.

I enjoyed this a lot. Everything hit just right in all the areas when they came together as a whole: The peppy music with a march-like feeling and a memorable motif, the infectiously adorable artstyle, the satisfying chiptune SFX, but most of all the simple gameplay loop with a clearly defined high-risk high-reward system. Would be a BANGER arcade mobile game if it had meta-progression.

Love the pixel art, the weird story, and the main idea, but the execution felt a bit flawed. It doesn't really feel like you can use the conveyor belt to your advantage, unless I was using it wrong I just ended up getting stuck and at the mercy of the other Sushi's when inside the conveyor.  This then hurts the ability to plan a path on how to snag a powerup whilst securing a victory.

I would've wrote more, but I got softlocked twice in the regional competition round by getting shoved around by a Sushi into an obstacle

Uh, hello, this was amazing??? Awesome toony vector artstyle with a 3D character, banger theme, polished gameplay and a track layout that gets more and more fun. Banger. My final time was 4:59.

The one thing I will say is that I think if the character was faster & slippier (so just in general, the controls could've been ironed out more), and the track design allowed for more multiple routes, it would have been even better.

I liked the dry humor at play a lot, but it doesn't seem like you can do anything after being told to fill form A28, unless that was the point. I guess my certificate will never truly be endorsed...

Wow, just the act of having to crank demands so much more cognitive effort than a usual clicker, lol. Also, everytime I try to build up a community of guys they all get malnourished, depressed and die to themselves, the bombs, the evil guys. Truly incredible

Making this into a speedrun game was a really clever idea, having to plan ahead of time where you're gonna go and all. I also like the atmosphere and pixel art, especially WOW that title screen. But I do feel like the controls aren't quite as optimized for the level of precision some parts demand, especially the last 2 levels' and their beginning.

Simple yet effective take on a clicker, the chromatic aberration & screen shake is a nice touch for making things juicier, just wish it had sounds. Also, you kind of have to take the right path as your first upgrade to avoid a slow start.

Fun lil game! I can really feel the disappointment as the color stares into my eyes with a frown, pondering whether I'm colorblind or stupid.

Insanely creative game that manages to mindbend you using so little. I think my brain too is a Möbius loop now, though

great game. I really like how whilst you're playing, the visuals, the gameplay, the soundtrack, all get you IN the feeling of "liminality"