itch.io

1. Who can participate in Circus Jam?
   1. Anyone can! Just simply press the "Join Jam" button on the Circus Jam page!
2. Do I need to be in a team?
   1. Nope! You can work by yourself.  You can also have as many or as little people in your group as you like.
3. Do I need to be an experienced game developer to join?
   1. This jam is meant for everyone of all skill levels, so please don't worry if you don't have much experience in game development!
4. Can I work on my game before the jam officially starts?
   1. Please do not work on your game before the jam starts. I may not know if people work on their game before Circus Jam begins (unless it's super obvious), but the only person you're hurting is yourself. Game jams are meant to challenge your skills in a short period of time- to see what you can create in a limited time.
5. What tools and game engines can I use?
   1. You can use whatever tools and game engines you'd like to create your game! If you're unsure, some popular choices would be to use Unity, Unreal Engine, GameMaker Studio, and more.
6. Can I use pre-made assets or resources?
   1. As long as you credit and mention where you obtained the resources in the description of your game, sure! If these are pre-made assets you created, please mention it somewhere in your description.
7. Am I allowed to use AI tools/AI artwork?
   1. Generative AI tools used for creating artwork and assets for your game are not allowed. The only tools I'll allow are things like Github Copilot. There are so many amazing artists that can help with your game, you don't even need AI! (Seriously, the outcome it produces is just mish-mash of other artwork made by real humans anyways.)
8. What happens if I can't finish my game on time?
   
   1. Don't worry! You can still submit your game to the jam until the last voting day. Reach out to me on Discord for a faster response, or create a post here. I'll need the link to your game so I can add it to the jam manually.

The artwork is amazing! Gameplay is simple yet fun. The timer is pretty fast; it would be nice if it starts off slow and builds up faster and faster until you lose. Great job!

I really loved playing this game! The art is so simple and captures the feeling of depression and being mentally stuck perfectly; I related to the main character as I've been in that same position personally- it sucks. I really loved how you implemented the limitation, it's so unique! I wasn't sure how to get the other ending, I figured if I decided to not take the medicine then I could hopefully be able to avoid hallucinating and becoming more depressed (but this didn't seem to be the way). Great job on this game!

Ah, my apologies for assuming! Well, these tips are still super helpful for managing yourself lol >3< Good luck!!

I just finished up Fishfest too! My first ever jam was a 72 hour jam. My first team was pretty small (like less that 6 people) and we ended up making an awesome game. 

My advice for you would be to make sure you keep everything organized, keep your idea sweet and simple, and have some sort of checklist for everyone in your team. A big thing I've noticed when doing these jams is that sometimes teams lack proper communication with each other- mainly due to being in different time zones. Whether you are the leader in your team or not, make suggestions to whoever is about adding specific channels to a Discord server (if you're using that for communication) and/or use websites like Trello to track the progress of your game. Make sure to post updates on your work and be honest about meeting deadlines.

These are just a few of many tips out there. Also, make sure to get plenty of rest and food; you can't work well if you don't get your sleep or have food in your stomach! If you have other questions or concerns, feel free to ask! Have fun ^_^

The pixel art for the game is really nice! The intro caught me off guard and kind of scared me ;3; everything just suddenly getting so quiet and all you hear is a random girl scream lol. I liked jumping around and grabbing onto the salmon and goldfish, then proceeding to get jumped scared by a fish (or maybe he was giving the camera a kiss?)

Still, this game was pretty interesting to play! Would love to see the full game if you decide to continue it ^_^

This game was very interesting to play! I wandered around the first level, getting a feel for the game and trying to find the exit. But the second level was more of a challenge; I now had two fish to help escape! Such a cool concept, I love the levels that you were able to make so far- perhaps there will be more in the future?

At first, I thought the game was broken but I randomly pressed space bar and the game switched to night mode! I now have lots of fishies! The game mechanics really remind me of Insaniquarium, one of my favorite fish games EVER. It's very simple game play: press space bar to start fighting monsters, click a bunch on the monster and around him to push your fish away from the monster, successfully defeat the monster to get more fish, and sell them!

Sadly, I ended up breaking the game after playing for a while. I probably was going a bit too fast for the game to keep up and it slowly started to try and load in my fish until it eventually froze and my tank was empty (even though I had like 9-12 fish on the counter).

This game was pretty fun to play! Love the concept, the artwork, and game mechanics <3

Really fun and charming game! I love the hand-drawn elements, I wish there was more! I loved seeing the buckets fill up with fish, it reminded me of the Club Penguin fishing game. I could only play this game in windowed mode, but it wasn't centered, it was towards the left of my screen; I could still see everything though!

I ended up playing until I got just enough Dollabills to fund the school! I'm so happy to own the special trophy <3

I absolutely LOVED this game! It did get a bit frustrating honestly, but I'm used to the Stardew Valley fishing mechanics lol. The fighting aspect of the game was a bit challenging, just due to the controls being a bit weird and constantly getting stuck on islands and rocks while trying to escape the pufferfish. I wish there were WASD controls, or at least making space bar another option to shoot instead of using my mouse, just so I can keep both of my hands in the same place (but that could just be my brain not cooperating with my hands). 

I loved the fish so much, they really made me laugh! The artwork is amazing and the sounds/music were spot on. Great job on this amazing game!

Favorite fish:

I loved playing this game, the controls were very fun! I loved making my fish do cool tricks and having them go as high as possible!

I loved this game! It's very simple gameplay, all you do is kiss some cute fishies and see what their names are! It would be cool if you could choose your favorite fish from the three you kissed and read a description about them and what it means if you picked them (kinda like those online quizzes that tell you your personality or what character you're like the most).

This is such a cute game!! I kissed many fishies, but my favorite names had to be "Cheese "Mackerel" Chadwick" and "Margarita" <3

I had a lot of fun creating the artwork for this game! The team was great to work with. Hopefully we get to update our game and polish it up a bit in the future~ <3

KISS THE FISH!!

Hey there Cucumber! Thank you for trying to play our game. We are sorry that you had trouble getting the game to work; we forgot to add some text telling players how to start the game. Press "E" on your keyboard to officially start the game!

This game looked exactly like a Gameboy Color game!! So retro, much pixels, very cute! The puzzles made you think, they weren't too easy or too hard. I was able to solve them all and finish the game. There is visual clipping on the browser, but you guys already know that lol! (I read the little note on the page ;3) I'd love to see more puzzles in the future if you are planning on expanding on the game.

I really like the idea for this game! It's so unique and the gameplay was very fun. I enjoyed the simplistic pixel art style used in this game as well! The music was groovy and the sound effects were very fitting, but it was a little bit too loud for me personally. I couldn't get past the sewer level, it was hard to time the jumps near a certain part. Other than that, this game is very good!

I LOVED this game! The gameplay was so interesting, the alternating controls was a great choice. The artwork was so fun to look at and very simple. It would be very cool to see future levels in different places, like racing near volcanoes or through a jungle. 

I love the animated intro for this game! The art style is so cute, I really loved the design of the fish and the premise of the game.

This game is SO COOL! I was not expecting such a creepy twist to a totally normal fishing game. I had so much fun playing this game, I was able to cheat death twice! I love the visuals in this game, they are so unique and reminds me of old retro TV screens. 10/10, would play again.

Very interesting take on flappy bird styled games! I wasn't expecting to play that kind of game when going through the intro, which was also pretty funny. I love the pixel art style! The only thing to maybe adjust is the boundaries for the game. I found it a bit hard to tell which parts were actual objects that I had to avoid (other than the electric rods) and what was part of the background. Great game!

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!! Wow! I loved the concept, the art, the gameplay, the barks- everything in this game! Thank you for creating this game, it was so awesome to play!

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!! Wow! I loved the concept, the art, the gameplay, the barks- everything in this game! Thank you for creating this game, it was so awesome to play!

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!! Wow! I loved the concept, the art, the gameplay, the barks- everything in this game! Thank you for creating this game, it was so awesome to play!

Very interesting game! I struggled a lot trying to remember which box would block off certain rooms. I feel that the names for each box could be named a little bit more clearer? You could also color code them too! You can have a dotted outline for each section of the house and associate those colors with the block options.

This game is very unique! I've never played a game like this one before, so it's one of a kind! The presentation of the game is lacking, but it was still well executed within the time frame. I think having more graphics showing players how to truly play this game would be helpful, as it was confusing at first. A downside was the fact I had to scroll a lot in the HTML browser version of this game; sometimes, I couldn't click an option fast enough due to having to scroll and find the word in lengthy paragraphs (which I also wasn't expecting). It would be cool if instead of having to act out what happens in the game in real life, you had a virtual character that loses limbs if you end up losing in battle.

Great job for thinking outside of the box with this game! :D

The concept for this game is very fun and interesting! I like the simplistic art style used in this game, it makes it feel very retro. One thing I would say is that the game goes by very fast. Perhaps adding in a warning system when obstacles are about to appear so it gives players more reaction time? I was able to stay alive for a while by staying in between both roads, which kind of feels like cheating. Other than that, this is a cool game!

Wow, this game was so cool! I loved the pixel art and the mechanics of the game, very simple but effective. The concept of this game is very cool too!

I had so much fun making this game with everyone! I love how it turned out, especially in this short amount of time! Everyone did such a great job.

So cute!! I absolutely love this.

This is such a fun game! I was able to reach the top on my first try ^-^
I really like the pixel art and music; the tree is really cool too, I love how it turns when I hop across the screen!

I love this game so much! The music is perfect and the artwork is AMAZING! It's such a relaxing game; I love making different types of jams and playing the fishing game on the phone.

Hello!
I really like the art and music in the game, it's simple and cute! However, I ran into problems killing the monsters. I felt that maybe the sword was too short and couldn't get close enough to the enemies without getting hurt/dying. I found an easy way to kill them by luring them to the bushes, hiding in them, and then stabbing them. Perhaps that was the way you intended players to kill the enemies? Anyways, this is pretty good for your second game- especially one made in 20 days! Wow!