itch.io

Thanks for your comments. We are clearly missing some key piece to make it feel fun and engaging. Part of that I have to acknowledge comes from gameplay elements that we thought would be fun, but seem to feel more repetitive and burdensome, namely the Inventory Management. We are going to largely put that to the side and try to focus on other things, rather than trying to make it feel more fun. It will stay as an option for those who want it, and maybe as we build out the rest of the game things will click and it will feel more rewarding.

We have a story in mind, but it feels like the story and gameplay are fighting. Our intro is too slow for many who want action sooner, yet not deep enough for others. We are not finding the right balance. The Compendium was added in part to allow more story and world building for those who want it, but also be skippable for those who don't. We've got a fair amount of culture and story for them, but are having trouble conveying it well in the game. Part of that likely comes from the way we are setting up the neighboring towns and everyone being friendly and knowing each other. As they venture further away there will be more cultural shocks that we can build on. Still, in the end, we are treating them as people. They have their own ways, their culture and society, but they are just living their lives, and suddenly were thrust into this grand quest. They are going to learn and grow as they go. Helen especially is young and innocent, and is going to experience many shocks and have to learn to deal with some harsh realities along the way. Maybe there are other aspects we can explore to flesh things out better, or in a way that will better connect with a grander audience.

Unfortunately, based on the way things are going, I'm not sure that we have the time to dedicate solely to this game to get it where it will appeal to a broad enough audience. We let it grow too much, and it still needs months of work. We are running out of time to get something that will make money, so we need to reevaluate things. It would be great if we could just work on it until it was ready, but that is not where we are. Trying to create a smaller game that will appeal to a broader audience is likely what we will need to do. We are planning to set it in the same world so it can then help to cross promote, and allow us to continue to world build for both together. After we've had some time to rest and recover we will be doing a deep dive over all the feedback we've received and see what we think the best options are. Thanks again for your feedback!

FYI, We have another update almost ready. I need some sleep after rushing for a jam, but then I'm going to finish updating the descriptions for the changes. So probably a day or two. This just refines the recent change to not needing to distribute loot by default, by hiding the individual bags when not needed.

We really appreciate your support and the great feedback you've provided!

We have another update almost ready to go which embraces the simplified less Inventory Management path and makes it the default. We just need to update the tutorials and Training Hall for the change, but got distracted...

We just released a new jam game. We plan to make a new game in the same world setting as Hungry, currently thinking about it being during the past event mentioned in the Training Hall section of Death Affinity. We are thinking something more upbeat and showy that will be easier to promote, so going with an action-adventure game. The current jam game is built on the kids doing a couple days of practice in the style before we heard about the jam and decided to rush finish something for it. This has none of the story tie in we plan in the future, but is a great chance to get some feedback and practice with the style. We are taking that step back and looking at any path forward that may help the game succeed.

We do have a framework/template project we use for games. I just updated it last weekend based on the improvements in Hungry, and we used the new one for the kids' projects & jam submission. It has been a great help in not getting bored redoing the basic layout every time!

Sorry if this is a bit rambly. I just finished submitting the game when I saw the notification, and am still unwinding. Thanks again!

We have updated the ratings to be Recent Work/Making Progress, Fun, and Onboarding/Intuitiveness. We'll see how these do, and maybe make some more changes for next month's jam.

Thanks, we are hoping to find time to do another GWJ soon. We also enjoy your games, and the email about this one came just as we were starting to wind down from our final push for Next Fest and needed a break, so it seemed like a good choice to start with. It was simple enough to play for my exhausted brain, while having the fun of exploring what each offered that had me play more after winning to experiment.

The interesting thing is that every time I clicked on the snake head, which was at least 3 times, I got the head. My last time through when I realized I had not tried the body, I clicked on it and got the snake "legs". I guess RNG was just matching my expectations at the time.

There is always so much more that would be nice to add as that deadline approaches, and you have start thinking about wrapping up.

When it is the enemy's turn the buttons are disabled and they shrink in size. You might want to update the disabled theming to stay the same size as normal so that the buttons stay in the same place.

The bear's non-attack abilities are amusing.

After a few tries I went to the options and unchecked Tutorials. After the turtle appeared it still showed the "Battle unfolds by turns..." tutorial text, along with the one that shows up after it. The later tutorial text did not show up.

It seems like the human with a bear arm can give you a bear arm on either arm, though I fought 2 in a single play, so maybe each gives you a different arm. I thought they looked the same, but may have missed a difference. The first several times I encountered them they gave me the right arm claw, but my last playthrough the first one I ran into gave me the left arm claw. Then I faced the bear and got nothing from using the syringe on it. It would be nice if each gave you something distinct, so you don't have an overlap like that where you get nothing. Thinking on it, I'm wondering if maybe I clicked too far over and it registered as the body instead of the arm, and that had something to do with it. However, when I clicked on the turtle's head or legs I got the shell, and anywhere on the bear seemed to always give the left arm, so I wasn't really paying attention to make sure I lined things up on the body part after that. I did notice that the human gave me nothing if I clicked on the body, instead of the arm, or maybe it is chance based? Later I retried using the syringe on the bear twice and was able to get both arms. I'm not sure what the issue was the time the human gave me the left arm and the following bear gave me nothing.

It seems like the turtle is always first, then your have the 4 other enemies in random order, and finally you fight the monstrosity as a boss. After getting both bear arms using the bear hug was very powerful, and all I did until I won. I skipped getting the fangs after a few tries using it, as the poison does too little damage to really be worth the turn using it. It might be useful in your first fight against the turtle, as that takes a while, but generally the higher power attacks like swipe end the fight quicker. Also, unless the part hit by venom is replaced, I don't think there is a way to get rid of it, so I wanted to beat the enemy fast to prevent getting hit by it. I'm also not sure on the wrap ability as it doesn't give any feedback when used, unless the enemy shakes free right away. I'm guessing that it might prevent use of that body part, but it would be nice to have something clarifying that. I didn't really use the withdraw much, though without using the venom I probably should have, as I did lose a few times from head attacks, but by then I had focused on kick, swipe, bear hug.

I played through again to test things. After winning when I had used Withdraw and restarting, the button says Pop-out when I first get the shell, and pressing it gives the pop-out message, requireing 2 turns to withdraw.

I had fun playing. I liked testing out what body parts I could get from each opponent. Adding more enemies and perhaps making it so that you don't always fight every enemy in each play would add a bit more variety and need to strategize, rather than planing to go for the same abilities each time.

Thanks for trying it out! We don't have a Steam Deck, but will look into the issue. I'd expect the touchpad to be treated like a mouse, but perhaps they have something custom that we need to enable for it. We plan to add their SDK eventually, which should help a lot with compatibility.

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

We are tying to balance the opening sequence to provide enough story/character building for those who like it, but not too much. Eventually we will add in some options for either skipping most of it, or speeding it up, but right now it is still being refined.

I understand life getting in the way. You don't have to play every game. Just try to leave some feedback for others so we can all help each other out. In the future you can also play any submitted games before voting opens, if that is a better time for you.

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

We are currently working on adding more lore to the game. The Compendium is being designed right now, and will have a lot of the lore.  As we work on it, we will also be revisiting the Character Details/Stats screen. It got some attention in this last update, but that was mainly a bit of polish on the old one. The same Character Details screen is used for your party and the invaders, with some sections hidden based on what is available to show. It is now going to be used in the Compendium for the Bestiary, so will need more space/tabs for additional details you learn about the invaders as you play. Those extra areas will also be used for the Slimes, which can include some extra lore/backstory for them. We are trying to add more story and early character building for the Slimes, but also not make the intro too long that it pushes players away. One of our thoughts is to add an optional prologue  for those who want the extra story, which will take place earlier in the day, or the day before, possibly allowing you to play as each of the Slimes to see their point of view. This will take some time to implement, so is a future potential idea, but is something we like and want to do.

Thanks. We are feeling much better about it now with many of the changes we've made, but there is still that bit of second guessing ourselves for stepping outside the norm.

Thanks. This jam is absolutely open to changes based on the feedback of those taking part!

My mind is elsewhere right now, so will need to think more on them later, but we can certainly see about updating the categories before voting opens. Our first jam had more, and we do like the idea of more, as long as we keep the focus on ratings being alongside comments.

We currently have the jam set up with a 1 week voting period. The voting/rating is less important to this jam than the comments/feedback. We set a voting period to give a defined time for those who like to have a schedule, and encourage feedback within a reasonable time from the updates. You are free to play and comment on any submission at any time after it has been submitted. If you submit to this jam you do need to play and comment on at least 1 other submission providing some feedback, before the end of voting. Before voting opens is fine for meeting this requirement.

1 week seemed like a decent length for voting, but we are open to feedback. After all, that is what this jam is all about! Would you like a longer voting period? Should we increase it to 2 weeks? We don't want to make it too long. Some projects update slowly, while others are moving fast. We'd like to find a good middle ground to accommodate as many as we can. Are there any other changes you'd like to see in the jam?

I understand getting caught up doing updates. As long as you take part its fine. In the future, you can also comment on any submission before voting start, if you will be busy during voting. We are also considering extending voting to 2 weeks, if people would prefer more time.

This jam is all about helping each other out by leaving comments with feedback. I've looked over the submissions and did not see any comments from you on other submissions. The voting period has just over a day left. Please take some time to play and leave feedback on at least one other submission.

This jam is all about helping each other out by leaving comments with feedback. I've looked over the submissions and did not see any comments from you on other submissions. The voting period has just over a day left. Please take some time to play and leave feedback on at least one other submission.

This jam is all about helping each other out by leaving comments with feedback. I've looked over the submissions and did not see any comments from you on other submissions. The voting period has just over a day left. Please take some time to play and leave feedback on at least one other submission.

I found it under ~/.cache/numba/. I'd been looking for "sand", so your mention of "numba" helped. There was no __pycache__ directory for it that I saw.

After clearing the cache it got to 24% on the next load.

I forgot about your comment on asking for the loading percentage, so wasn't paying enough attention to it. Do you have an option that can load the game without using the cache? Or can you tell me where the cache is stored, to manually clear it? The loading message was clear and it did show progress.

I initially tested on an older system (KUbuntu 20.04) and it failed to run. Here is the error:

[PYI-1904:ERROR] Failed to load Python shared library '/tmp/_MEIzPjGg3/libpython3.12.so.1.0': /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by /tmp/_MEIzPjGg3/libpython3.12.so.1.0)

The game is a neat little simulator. Fun to mess around with.

I kept wanting to click on the materials to switch, though the scroll wheel does work well for quick switching once I got used to using it. A little thing, but I'd capitalize the names of the materials. It would also be nice if they had hover text with a brief description of what they do, like you have on the web page. The 3 "Life" materials also aren't clear in the menu and renaming them could help to clarify what thy are. The brush size bar isn't clear as to what it is initially. With experimentation it can become clearer, but you don't even see the "brush", only once you place something do you see the size changed. Adding a display for the brush size would help.

Thanks for playing!

I've downloaded it and will play it before the end of the jam. We are finishing up our next update right now, so it may be a day or two before I can get back to it.

Thanks for the additional feedback.

We will continue to iterate on how best to handle the gameplay for the default and for the various difficulty/accessibility options. We do want to offer a "Story Mode", and the Party Bag option will certainly be part of it. Play balance for item drops will certainly be adjusted as we progress to find a good balance for the base difficulty.

We will need to think on how best to handle the music transition. We wanted the feel to go from combat to celebrating the victory, but I can see how it could be a bit jarring and in need of something to smooth it out.

Thanks. I'm working on the combat now, updating abilities, while my partner is working on story updates. We want to get one more update in before the Press Preview starting on the 4th. We will be working on all aspects of the game in the time we have left before the main event.

Our teen kids are starting to do game reviews as well, to give additional perspectives. In the future it will come from their own account, but we just set it up, so their post is in moderation. I'm going to post what they said here, though you may get a duplicate once the original gets through moderation. Since I've seen Itch moderation take days, and this was put up at the same time as our post, I figure it is more useful to share it now.
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The general feel of the game is not very intuitive, I think that maybe either having more tutorials spaced though out the game, or having a tutorial mode that teaches people how to play would help a lot.

The menu music can be slightly headache inducing with headphones on. The main game music is a bit repetitive, and has a very clear cut off when it loops.

The blue hollow square near the center disappears completely even when you can still see most of it, if you can't see all of it, it disappears.

When you start by facing one direction, for example right and then start pushing a block in the other direction, for example left, your character sprite does not flip directions.

I could not figure out how to break the textured blue blocker tiles, if they are supposed to be unbreakable, I feel like they should be replaced by wall tiles, and if not, I feel more explanation is needed.

When you pass over a save tile while pushing a golden block, you will not save the game.

The people asking for blocks did not make sense to me. I initially thought that you would buy the blocks with keys, but then that did not work. Eventually I figured out that you had to push the block into them, then talk to them before you got your reward. When I talked to the person, they said "Here take these coins" but after the flash, my coin value did not go up at all.

Even after the person disappears, things still collide into them as though the person was still there.

Shops seem to be broken, with the split trader No matter how many coins I had I could not seem to buy anything.

I like that you have a dialog for some of the controls, but I wish that you listed all of the controls somewhere, because it took me some time to figure out all of the controls.

Playing this game was not very much fun as was not intuitive and I several times pushed a block into a place where I could not get it out and so mostly in the end I just meandered about randomly.

I would say that this game has potential, but definitely needs improvement.

-R

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

I'll do some testing on the music tracks overlapping. There currently is not a separate Inventory/Player UI track, as it felt like too much switching when in town. In previous builds it did switch to the travel music, as it was meant to end the battle music when switching to it at the end of combat, but that should have all been disabled. With the various in town tracks it is possible one of them is getting triggered when it shouldn't.

Glad you like the new art. The wood buildings are currently the default, but we are working to give each race their own style and incorporate them as we get the art ready. Town center buildings, especially in larger towns, will favor a more general design to accommodate all races.

I've been trying to figure out how best to improve the Inventory screen to better show what items are best for each Slime. I added the Affinities because that is how we think about things when designing them, but it never quite felt like enough, especially for new players. When I finally thought of showing what abilities the selected item could be used with, it only took like 30 minutes to add, and that lead to the idea of the Ability Split transfer, which was only like another hour. So quick and easy to add, yet such a nice improvement to the flow. Glad it is helping others too. Sometime it is easy to come up with an idea that feels great to you, but doesn't work for others.

I am planning on adding some sorting, and possibly filtering, to the combat Select Item screen. It was meant to reuse the components from the Inventory, but the sizing didn't work out. For now it is using the sorting from the Inventory. I also want to do an overhaul on the combat and item buttons to make the BG/border provide more info at a glance. We have a few more things being added that I think should be worked out first, so we can consider their implementation. Next up for combat is an "MP" system for the more powerful abilities that is meant to replace the older cooldown system. You build up "AP" from eating items, that can then be used for the more powerful abilities. Once we balance out how all of that will work, we may need some visual elements for it too.

Glad you like the changes. We have been very happy with how the game is shaping up this month, even if we still have a long way to go.

Thanks again for the great feedback!

You have a bunch of icons on the right side of the menu screen. I can guess at some of them, but am not certain. It would be nice if you added hover text/tooltips to say what each does, and if any leave the game/open a web page. With your very heavy marketing push everywhere I'm not comfortable clicking on most of them, out of concern for if they might open external links & where it might take me.

When I got to the NPC that brought up the "Blocks" shop screen the text says "Please... I only need a single block.", implying they want a block from you, but it looks like the currency is keys that you can use to buy blocks.

The next one over looks like it is selling your real world pack, with 3 spots showing the same thing, and feels out of place. I just started playing and one of the first things I'm interacting with is trying to sell things for real money makes this feel like a cash-grab freemium game. Your web-page is already so heavy with marketing, that it makes this feel even worse. If not for playing as part of our jam, I'd stop right here. Even if I came across this in another jam, I'd be done. It is even worse that you put this in next to the in-game shops that you will likely need to visit many times.

As I've played more I see that all of these shop NPCs are scattered around the game. Your push for selling a real world pack in-game is excessive. If you really feel the need to include it in the game, put it off to the side of the main area, once, not scattered along with the others. If someone wants to buy the pack, they can go back to the main area. It really does not need to be everywhere, and every time I see that NPC pop up again it makes me think less of the game. Really, it doesn't even belong in the game world. Having a clearly marked spot on the main menu should be the only place. You are detracting from the game and pushing people away. Has this heavy handed approach really been making you money? Sure, big game studios can be heavy handed, but they have the user base numbers to get those people who will randomly spend money. For a smaller studio or dev, you are more likely to push people away with so much pushing to sell real world content so early and throughout your game.

I had issues with the shops. After collecting 500 coins, and putting 1 gold block in place, I tried to buy another. The screen shook and the was a sound, but I did not have a new block and no money was lost. When I reopened the shop it showed a grey block. Clicking that had the same results, except switching back to the gold block. I tried the key based shop and had similar. I guessed that maybe it didn't use the mouse, and started pressing keys on the keyboard. I eventually tried tabbing through to see if something would be selected, and that resulted in eventually tabbing out of the game and the screen shifting up so it was unplayable. I had to refresh the page to play further. After the restart I was able to make a purchase, though it was on the grey block at that point so I was not able to afford the gold one. I then tried the key based shop. I had 8 keys. I bought 2 grey blocks, without the # of keys going down. I was able to get a total of 4 keys this way, with it sometimes giving me a key, and sometimes closing without, until it got to always closing without. My # of keys never went down.

Space is listed as interact in the controls, but it also seems to cycle through the icon at the top right for Block type to place. At this point I am not certain if the interaction is only with people, or there might be other things to interact with, so it would be nice if the interact button was dedicated and not also tied to other things.

I went back to the first person to double-check the controls, and now they are saying the same thing as most of the other people. Since you have the tutorial controls message tied to an NPC, it would be nice if that spot always had it, rather than switching to something generic. If you had updated info, that could work for changing, but changing to generic doesn't make sense.

It would also be nice if all other controls were listed somewhere in-game. I'd add a few NPCs in the starting area with the controls and any other tutorial info for the player. They should not change their text, so players can refer back when needed. I don't recall seeing anywhere even list how to place a block after buying.

I completed 19.52% of the game and returned 1 gold block, with a 2^nd being thwarted by the shop bug. The puzzles are decent. Being able to buy blocks helps to deal with any that a player can't figure out or makes a mistake they can't recover from. The flipping works well, and the indicators of what is in the other world is good. I think the merchants are more common than needed, at least in area 1. Purchasing blocks was not needed there, and it is easy enough to backtrack a short distance if you need them. The addition of NPCs does add to the world, I'd just add them more in moderation. Instead of adding a bunch saying the same thing now, add them as you have new text for them, and try to give a bit more individuality to them. There were some good updates here, but you still have such a strong push for trying to sell things everywhere that you are majorly lessening the feel of the game.

It would be nice to have an option to play without fullscreen, as I often write notes while playing, and like to have things side-by-side. I was able to use the OS controls to change it to be windowed, but built-in would be nice.

When first starting, the in-game display of controls feels too far away. I had started to experiment with controls & moved before I even noticed they were there. The layout display gave a general idea of what they were, but they were not really readable until getting closer. I had initially started at fullscreen, and it was in starting to write about this that I looked for a fullscreen toggle, so this was not a result of changing the window size.

I'm not a fan of the camera position. I'd like to be able to move it for a better angle. It could be free control, or perhaps several presets to cycle through. The perspective just did not work for my brain. With some practice I was starting to get a feel for it, then at the end of level 2, when you get near the covered areas, it shifted, and that completely threw me off. That was when I stopped.

You mentioned speedrunning, but there is no option to retry a level. Pressing Escape takes me back to the main menu, requiring starting over at the tutorial. This could use with a level select screen, allowing the player to retry any completed levels to challenge their best time. I played through the tutorial again to check if there was a best time shown, but did not see one. Also, the timer did not start back at 0 for the new run. If you are going for a speedrun game, then I would display the best time when replaying a level (and on any level select screens), and it needs to reset the timer.

The controls feel decent for the style of game. The level layout seems good, and the progression is good for a demo. This is not my type of game, but seems like a good start.

I'm going to be writing this out as I play, so some of it will have corrections or updates later, but I think that this style works best for my feedback on this game, as it shows how I felt as I came across things.

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I'm not sure what I think about the new change forcing you to sleep at night. It wasn't one I saw mentioned, and when it activated I was confused for a bit. After the tutorial I went back and rested, then set out to do my next planned things, only to get to my destination and be unable to act. I was so focused on clicking to do the thing, that I missed the new text about needing to rest. I had just finished resting up to full, planning to do several things, so that was wasted time.

I was also surprised by the next morning already being Campaign Day. Having played before I had a bit of a plan for how to start, and which of the new features I wanted to start testing, so some of my thinking is biased by my previous plays and knowledge. I'll need to restart and pay a bit more attention which the mindset of a new player.

As I typed this out, with the popup for starting the next tutorial sitting on screen, I am acknowledging that this may only be for the first day and based on my feedback from last month about running out of energy. Hmm, you don't want to control the entire first day, but you do end the first tutorial with low energy, which could encourage players to rest up as I just did. Maybe at the end of the intro tutorial add a comment that you will need to rest at a certain time to prepare for the next day being a Campaign Day. Just that little bit of heads up for planning the rest of the day.

Having played more, I see that, yes, it was just the first night that did the forced rest for the campaign day tutorial, and a note in the intro tutorial about it, and being just that 1 night, would be helpful. Without the note people might assume it is every night.

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I had rallied a Gateway before it was added to my list of goals, and it did not count towards the goal.

Similarly, the Supermarket I built does not seem to be counted towards upgrading the Cafe, and I think it is likely due to having been built before I rallied the Cafe and unlocked being able to upgrade it. Our kids played and also commented about their Supermarkets & other locations not being counted for things, though I don't have their details handy right now.

The kids also had a good question. What is a "unit"? Is grid based? Is it based on travel distance down the road?

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I just won on the second campaign day. I like many of the changes in this update.

I think the automatic upgrading of what the crowd does based on # of people is a good choice. I would suggest updating the UI so that as you add more people (or remove them) the selected action and description updates to reflect the current best action the crowd will perform. The visual updating based on crowd size is also a nice touch.

I like the tokens for rally points. Maybe move them onto the road, instead of above the buildings. I'm not sure what I think about the bonus bar for collecting a bunch at once. I can see it making sense that as you rally more people it will boost the others rallying as well, but in game I didn't really get the bar that high, maxing at 2 or maybe 3. With a longer game, and more locations nearby each other it may work better. I played to experiment with things, and knowing some of how the game works, so can't say my play style was a good reflection of a normal player. My partner will be playing later and we will see a different play style does with it.

While I found the old points system a bit confusing, I think that allowing buildings to unlock simply by building others may allow things to progress too quickly. I think that you may want to consider adding a limit based on Rating. Keep the current building restrictions in place, but as the secondary requirement, set a minimum Rating level that must be reached, such as Marginal in the area that building boosts. No points to spend, just that you have to reach a certain level of building up to unlock.

I like being able to pick what zoning when activating a utility post. It allows me to better place certain buildings where they are most convenient. I placed bus and parking locations near the base so I'd pass them as often as possible to optimize my energy & time use. It also helps with being able to place the required buildings near the upgradable locations. Of course, it is a bit of a double-edged sword there, in that new players could lock themselves out of upgrades because they used up all the nearby zones with the wrong type before finding out what they needed to upgrade the buildings, and then can't build the right one close enough. I think the "units" needs to be clarified, and it may need some review with the change to being able to pick zoning. Of course, I rarely get to upgrading things, so missing out on it does not seem too big a deal, in the current state.

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When I started out I wasn't sure how I was going to do things. I went through the tutorial to see how it changed. Then I paused and thought about things a bit, before going to rest up to almost full energy. I went to collect the cash along the left side, but as soon as I reached it, I got the go to sleep message. I then went through the Campaign Day tutorial. After the tutorial ended I continued protesting at the HQ until I couldn't. It looked like I got a pretty good way towards winning there. With proper planing it might be possible to win on Campaign Day 1, especially if not doing the tutorials.

After resting I went through and started activating utility poles, taking advantage of the free buildings. While I think it is nice to have, I think it is too powerful, and part of how I can win so quickly. I built my parking lot at the corner to the left of the Cafe. I then went around activating several more poles, adding a couple apartments and a fancy house. I also added some other zones and buildings to build up my Ratings for protest options, such as the Blockade, and to complete enough goals for the first bonus cash. The day before Campaign Day I went around and rallied. I gathered at 2 spots, then put a blockade on the left side street, gathered at 2 more and put one at the top. Then I gathered at each of the others and went straight to the HQ. I protested several times with everyone remaining, until I won. My last protest had 20 people.

* It would be nice if after winning I could hide the "You Win" popup to see the town, for writing these reviews, and potentially taking a screenshot. It is a minor thing, and I don't want you to spend too much time on it, but if you have a thought for an easy way to do so it could help with feedback.

When I won there were at least 6 other BigRealty buildings. There were 4 I could see, and I'm pretty sure 2+ under the popup. The exact # doesn't matter, but it feels like with that many locations they should have more influence to counter our protesting. I think it would feel better if the player was encouraged to reclaim those other locations before going after the HQ. I wouldn't prevent winning by direct protest at the HQ, but make it harder for each other building they have. I'd treat it like armor or a shield. If you don't reduce their influence by reclaiming those other buildings, then your protests have to get through that extra protection they have from their own influence in the community.

* More notes on this below from replays.

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I started a new game without the tutorial. I did not get the forced sleep message, which is nice. I then built a bunch of residential zones. My last one Showed the green "Activated Zoning Bonus" message, but also showed the cost in red for each building type, preventing me from building for free. From testing it seems like the bonus currently only applies to new buildings you have not previously built. So, I can build one of each Residential building type, but my 4^th Residential zone cannot get a free building. I went back and tested the previous version, and was able to build 2 free Apartments. I can see a reason for this change with the new ability to pick your zoning type, but it should be conveyed to the player, including removing the bonus message.

If you started a protest after 19:00, you will get the end of Campaign Day popup, but when it closes will still be protesting.

I had a residential area where it showed as Rallied, but I could not gather. It also showed a cost for rallying, but that option was also greyed out. This was a new home, so I am thinking that maybe no family had moved in yet, and that was the issue, but it should have something to better convey that to the player.

I tried a few times to see if I could win on Campaign Day 1, skipping the tutorial and focusing on going straight to the HQ, but was not able to do it. My first protest had a Marginal Success Rate, but then it went down to Poor. I decided to experiment with trying to win while playing the tutorial. I played the tutorial, but then activated the poles so I could build an Apartment and a Fancy House. I rallied what I could in the time left. I did the Campaign Day (CD) tutorial, and then rallied and gathered what I could, before returning to the HQ to protest, and won. I retested without the tutorial, but did protest at the other BigRealty location the tutorial had you do, before heading to the HQ. I did get back down to Poor, but other locations became available for rally/gather, so I collected more protesters, and returned to finish the job. So, it does look like you have something in place for the other locations influencing the victory chance, just that it has more effect on CD 1, and by CD 2 it was easy to overcome. Please keep in mind that I am deliberately playing with knowledge of the game to see how fast I can win, so this is not going to be the normal, but there will certainly be people who focus on the HQ. It would be good to add a bit more player info on the affect of the other locations, along with a bit more balancing how they affect the protesting so they are more powerful on CD 2.

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I did it again! I was able to soft lock the game. I was resting when crossing the 20:00 tutorial message about needing to rest. When the rest ended I was unable to take any other actions, including sleeping for the night. I could interact with other UI elements, just not move or interact with the building to rest. Retrying and selecting Sleep worked fine.

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This was a nice update. The game is definitely heading in the right direction.

I like the addition of new power-ups. They help to add more variety to the game. The bomb one made me actually move out of the center several times. The point boosters are a very good addition to give people a better chance of sticking around to reach the later phases. Still, my gameplay was much the same as before.  I stayed at the center and spun around shooting, with stops to deal with groups as needed. I'd move out of the way of bombs, and if I'd seen some of those other new negative ones I'd have avoided them, but otherwise I stay at the center, and return there after bad stuff passes. I didn't feel the need to chase power-ups, but they generally headed towards the center and I got most of them without moving anyway. I stuck through it long enough to reach the second phase, though my hand was getting tired from all the clicking by then. I did not last long in phase 2.

The end sound was way too loud. I had adjusted my speakers for the combat sounds, and that was significantly louder. That difference could be harmful for someone wearing headphones. After dying the background music stays at a higher volume level. This applies even when dying in the first phase, though at least there you don't have the really loud sound play on death.

The game really needs something to motivate the player to move more. The asteroids may come towards you, but are also just as likely to float past as you pick them off. The bomb helps, but is easy to move a short distance, wait for it to pass, and move back. I'm lacking creative story ideas for it right now, but maybe an occasional energy pulse at the center that harms your ship, covering just large enough an area to keep you out of the center. Maybe an enemy shows up (background/not destroyable) and creates the pulse at your ship's position when it starts (ie does not follow if you move), if you stay in one place for too long. Either of these should be telegraphed, giving the player plenty of time to acknowledge it, and move away.

The game just needs something more. It still felt too repetitive. I wanted to get to at least phase 2, but as I progressed, if I died I was not planning to try again. Maybe add an option for click and hold to continue firing. Right now the rapid clicking is tiring and part of why I'm less inclined to continue further. If you marketed this as a clicker game it might draw in people who enjoy that kind of constant clicking.

It looks like the game is not currently available. All I see for download is "load_templates.zip", which does not appear to have an executable. I see from the devlogs that you had Windows and Linux files as well. Based on your comment below about preparing a new version, I'm guessing you removed the old ones and will be uploading a new version. I'll check back later to see if a new version is up.

I played on desktop with a mouse, though this feels like it would be better on mobile with touch. I played a few times and my high score was 1068. I like that the healing sparks spawn each time you are hit. They do feel like they may spawn a bit too close, as I was able to generally grab them as  was swiping to hit the incoming threats and not need to focus on balancing the need to defend vs heal. I initially played full screen, but then went back to the default size. My strategy was largely to move up and down across the star with a bit of zig-zagging over anything I touched, and sometimes switching to spiraling, depending on where things were.

I think some background music would be nice.

Overall, this feels like a nice little mobile game to play when you have a few minutes. You have a good start here. It could be fine with a bit more polish, or you can take it as a base and grow it with additional features, such as power ups, or temporary effects.

It is great that you tried the games that were submitted. Please leave a comment and let people know what you thought. Even the one you couldn't understand could benefit from knowing what you found confusing. Thanks!

This jam is all about community and helping each other out. It would be great if everyone could play and comment on every other game, but we understand that not everyone has the time, resources, or plenty of other reasons, to do so. 

If you are willing to play and give feedback to those who play your game, comment here, or feel free to start your own thread. Mention if you are willing to reciprocate for every comment, or are just looking to setup an exchange with a certain number of people. 

I like the UI update showing when durability is used. I've mostly learned when it is used for the axe, but having that visual cue will also remind me to check the current durability before using it.

Thanks for clarifying. This is helpful.

I've gone over the Inventory tutorial and cleaned it up a bit for our next release. The main change was to put the info on moving items at the start, and adding some spacing, bold, and italics to help draw attention to some details. We plan to go over it again to see if we can trim it down, or break it up more. I also added back a button that allows you to restart that tutorial. The place it was got removed during a restructuring and adding it back seems to have been overlooked.

The tutorials are set to show as you reach the places they are relevant to. The Key Items don't currently have a tutorial of their own. If they did, it would start only when you open that tab. If you go to the Inventory before the Quest Log, then you are actually seeing 2 tutorials in a row. The first is short and just mentions the outer UI elements, mainly listing what each tab is and how to exit. If the Inventory is showing, then it rolls into the Inventory tutorial. The Quest Log doesn't have it's own tutorial, so going there first would get just the UI tutorial, and then when you switch to the Inventory you will get that one.

I'm thinking that adding a ToC may help, especially for going back through if you are looking for something specific. I'll have to see how well that will fit into the current system.

I agree that people learn best by doing. Our first tutorial was for combat, and it was interactive. It walked you through several turns of combat adding new buttons each turn and having you use them. Some people liked it, but most felt it was too long and overwhelming. The core system is still there, but the tutorial needs to be significantly updated for the recent combat overhaul. I'm also looking at trying to tie it into the Training Hall, so that you can start a mini combat from a specific topic, to try out just that piece. Unfortunately, that is not something that can be done easily with the current system. As we go forward I will be looking to see where I can add a bit more interactivity to the tutorials, preferably with an option for the player to decide if they want it.

Thanks.

This is just the latest study I came across. I've seen others. Most often they are on students and how they become dependent on AI instead of learning to think for themselves.

Knowing how to use tools to find facts is often more important than remembering every little detail, but critical thinking and problem solving are vital skills on their own that go beyond knowing specific facts. The problem with comparing AI to using a search engine to find facts, is that Generative AI/LLM is not a tool for finding facts. It is a tool that makes up answers based on how it was trained. Sometimes it will give you facts. Sometimes it makes up completely random answers and you have to know enough of the topic to be able to know the difference, in which case you probably could have solved the problem yourself.

In cases of programming, many people are asking it to create new things, be it art or code. That is no longer working with simple facts but having it do the work of solving the problem for you. If people, especially students learning new things, rely on AI to do the creative thinking and problem solving for them, then they will not develop the neural pathways to do it themselves. Their brains will become wired to always go to the AI tools for the answer. It will be a self-feeding cycle of dependence. 

We live in stressful times, and people are often looking for shortcuts. It is easy to start by only using something occasionally for certain situations. When you start to feel that it works well enough and is convenient , you may start to decide to use it more and more. Soon, it may be the first place you look whenever you run into something you don't have the immediate answer for. People will do a lot for convenience. The more you use it, then more you become dependent on it. That is the trend that I see being reported as the big problem with the way Gen AI is being used these days. People stop being able to think for themselves because having the AI do all the thinking when they run into a challenge is quicker and easier, and life is stressful enough that having it take care of these things is so convenient. The more you use it, the more you are likely to trust it. You may start by using it as one of many sources, and even validating everything. The more it works, the more confidence you will have in it. Over time, as your confidence grows, you are more likely to do less validating and comparing to other sources. That is a very common thing for people to do with repetition of things that work for them. That kind of complacency is how many mistakes and accidents happen, not just specific to AI. One problem here is that Gen AI is constantly changing, and something that works today may not tomorrow, but you may not know what changed or when.

In addition to all of the other problems with using Gen AI, it is absolutely not at the point where it should simply be trusted to give you the right answer all the time. It should at best be seen as giving you a starting point that must be validated by someone familiar with the topic. It is the kind of thing that is good at taking a huge set of data and reducing it down to the most likely candidates, which can then be handled by people, but should not be deciding on the final answer. Far too many people try it a few times and think it has all the answers and simply trust whatever it says. I've heard people in business environment praise how amazing it is and talk about putting it everywhere, without any need for validation, because it worked so well for them in the few personal things they tried. Someday AI may be able to do more, but in its current state it is being marketed as more than it is, and people are relying on it too much.