itch.io

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

We left the upgrades open so players can decide if they go for the quick incremental upgrades as soon as they can afford them, requiring more money overall, or save up for the bigger ones to save money. Currently we tend to start with a few of the smaller upgrades, and then save up for the final versions. We are debating a system to give you a partial credit for your previous gear when upgrading, and adjusting the prices up, to encourage players to feel like they can do more incremental upgrades.

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

The Quest Log is mostly flavor text at this point. The story so far is linear, and the "Quests" were previously just mentioned in the dialog. This allowed us to remove them from the main story dialog boxes, to help things flow better, and make them stand out as their own thing. Adding a place to see them was partly to have it feel more important, and partly to let you see your progress, especially for the main food quest. We will be updating things so that you decide how much of your loot gets sent back as food, with different tiers of success on the main quest of finding food for your clan. We are still debating if there will be optional quests.

Thanks for playing and the feedback!

We are working on redoing the tutorial, and trying to figure out how to add bits of it later, while still fitting it into the story. One planned change is to add a popup based tutorial for the inventory and combat that will highlight each section with a brief description. We are also looking to add some dialog later reminding players of key info, such as giving items with matching affinities to each Slime to boost their effectiveness. The semi-random berry bushes will probably get an update mentioning who the berry is best for. The fight with the knight is much easier if your Slimes are properly equipped with matched affinity items. We did not do a good job of encouraging players to mess with the affinities up to that point, which makes the fight harder. That fight had also been the end of the content when we started adding story, so was meant to be a challenge. As we add more story we will reduce the difficulty of the fight a bit so it is not such a big jump.

We are doing the art ourselves for this game. We started with some public domain assets, and a recent update was swapping to our own art. We are still fairly new at pixel art, but are working to improve it. This game has a lot of items, requiring a lot of art, so getting everything replaced took a lot of time, and we did not get as much refining done as we wanted.

I'll take a look at the drag and drop. Were you dropping onto a slot, or just into empty space in the bag?

The game had a nice retro Game Boy feel to it. It could use with some guidance on the controls and how to play. I got past the main screen with pressing Enter, and could move around with arrows or WASD, but the tried Space and Enter, before moving on to randomly pressing buttons to find what did something. I found Z to be the main action button. If there is a cancel button, I didn't find it. You could just list the controls on the game page.

I ran into some bugs while playing. After getting bait and doing some fishing I got the message about being out of bait, but pressing Z to advance the dialog, then tried to fish again, in a loop. I manged to escape by hitting Z and immediately pressing W to go up and away. At that point I also got a message about having caught something, even though I'd been getting messages about being out of bait. When I wen to get more bait I was told I was already baited. I'm not sure if there was more to the game, or some kind of score shown at some point. With the bugs, I ended it there.

This seems like a decent start for a game template. I like that you have music and SFX for the volume settings. One thing that stood out was the movement of the main menu. While it may have been an intentional effect, it would be nicer if the buttons stayed in place to make it easier to click on what you want. The buttons are big, so it is not a major issue, but for accessibility it would be best if your main menus are easy to use and not moving about.

I got through two portals and spoke with the sun-like being that turned into light balls. Then I wasn't sure where to go and jumped off the edge into an unending fall. The general idea seems like it could turn into a decent game. The biggest thing that stood out to me was reaching a point where I wan't sure where to go, and when I fell it was unending. It would help if you added something to detect the player has fallen beyond the play field and restart them somewhere, or give a game over screen with a button to do so. A bit more guidance on where the player should go and being able to see the next ledge would also be appreciated. One other thing that stood out was that the starting dialog used space to proceed, but the in game dialog used E. For consistency it would be good it space worked for the in game dialog as well. I did restart once and when I tried to press L to skip it did not initially seem to work. I pressed space to advance the dialog and the tried L with and without holding Shift, and at some point it did skip the rest.

It was interesting playing solo and trying to manage 2 ships. Once I got a feel for the basics I kept one near the station to collect, while the other went out to explore. I lost the one that was out further. There was a message that the other could revive the lost ship, but  never figured out how to do that. I did find that I could do upgrades at the station, but none of the options seemed to be repair of the companion ship. I think this could use with a bit of a tutorial to teach the basics, including buying and placing upgrades, and repairs. I was not always sure which upgrades were for my ship and which were turrets. Initially I did not realize some were placeable turrets and bought a bunch  when I first found how to get upgrades, which got dumped when I hit the button without knowing what it would do.

This was a fun little puzzle game. You did a decent job with the level progression, though I think you might have benefited from having a few more levels to help slowly introduce some of the concepts. For example, you could have a level between 3 and 4 where you introduce the water tiles with a slightly easier puzzle. A few more levels at the end, once you’ve introduced all your concepts would be fun as well. I was having fun and would have enjoyed more.

The timer option was a nice touch. I liked that it was off by default, so that the base game has a slightly more laid back feeling while still giving you an in-game ability to see how long it took you to do any given puzzle. It was also nice that the game kept track of the time, even if you didn’t have the timer active, so you could go back and see your highest scores afterwards.

I think you have a good base here and that it has potential for more.

This was eerie in the way a good physiological thriller should be. Everything felt just slightly off, even if someone couldn’t explain exactly why it felt that way. You did a good job with the visuals and the hints of story throughout left me wanting to figure out what had happened.

I definitely had to think outside the box with some of the puzzles. Some I was able to solve fairly easily, while others I was glad you gave some hints to help with them. I got one of the endings, and some of the clues for a different one, though I haven’t been able to piece them together to figure out what I’m suppose to do next yet. I may give it a couple of days and come back to it to see if coming at it fresh might help me see what I’m missing.

I think the volume could have done with a little bit of normalizing. I found the intro, before I could adjust the volume setting in game, to be really loud, and there were a couple of other points where the volume felt really loud compared to everything else. The sounds themselves worked well for the game, I just found myself adjusting a few times in order to make the game more enjoyable for me.

This was a cute retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It was fun playing with the genders swapped. The prince was a sweetheart, and I liked that his core sweetness remained with each of the different endings. I felt each of the different endings worked well, and it felt like my decisions had an impact on the ending. I liked that you included the percentage of the story you uncovered, to encourage multiple playthroughs to try to get that 100%.

The art was well done. The different facial expressions on the prince were delightful. You did a great job conveying his emotions. It was also really nice that you gave different options for your character’s skin tone. Being able to type a name was also a nice touch, though there were a couple of points where my character called the prince by the default name instead of the name I used for him.

I would love for there to be more story, something like a game that takes place between when she left and when she returned. The idea of the phantom thief legacy was intriguing, and I would enjoy learning more about it and how Leslie got involved. Was she born into it? Was she found by someone and taken in to be taught? How did she find the items she was looking for and return them to their rightful place? How long has the phantom thief been around and how was it started? So many questions and I’d love to learn more.

This was a cozy and comfy puzzle game. The graphics were nice, the cat was adorable, and using the outline of a cat to show that Maple wasn’t there was a nice touch.

The puzzles felt good; they were that right balance of hard enough to make you think without being so hard as to feel frustrating. I think it might have been nice if there was a way to zoom out so you could see the whole puzzle, to help with planning and making sure you know where your cat is, without having the pause menu covering part of the puzzle.

The movement felt okay. There were a couple of times where I thought I was in the right position to push a pumpkin, but was a little off and had to adjust. It didn’t feel too bad, particularly since the game wasn’t timing based, but it was something I noticed while playing.

The ending was very sweet. It was a lovely way to finish an enjoyable game.

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

We are working to optimize the tutorial. There is a lot to cover, but also want it to flow better.  We plan to try some alternatives such as popups showing different info, and adding a help screen accessible later for a refresher. We will also add an in-game skip in addition to the setting to skip it. The affinities are a big pain point for conveying important info, but also something that isn't as important early on. That mini-boss fight with the knight is the first fight where they can really shine. We may add something later on, but before that fight, about them as a reminder to equip the Slimes with the things that match their affinities to be better prepared for it.

I played a bit. From the start I would randomly get black squares showing up in place of the water, and even blocking the ship. Eventually much of the screen was black.

After a bit I saw the enemy ships in the distance and the note to press F, which I did, and headed towards them. I tried the various controls listed at the bottom right and then tried space and clicking the mouse to fire, as that was not listed anywhere I saw. It took a few tries before I noticed the smoke from the guns to indicate they were firing. It took longer before I acknowledged the targeting icons changing from a plus to a progress circle after firing to show the cooldown. While the indicators do work once you know to look at them, they are small, and with the guns not making any sounds when they fire, if you miss that they fired while looking for what buttons to press to fire, it can be a bit problematic. It would help if you added mention of using the left mouse button to fire, along with the reticle icons changing to show the cooldown before you can fire again. Adding mention of the various guns you have and that they may have different ranges and cooldowns would also be helpful. This can be on the game page to start and does not need to be in game yet.

I played twice. The first time I was messing with things and learning some of the controls. Eventually I think I was destroyed as there was a lot of red, but the screen was also very black by that point. I'm not sure if I ever hit the enemy as I had not noticed the enemy health numbers and was mainly focused on learning how the firing worked. The second time I paid more attention to the enemy ships and that is when I figured out the targeting reticles showing the cooldown and also saw the enemy health. That time I was able to take the first ship down to 0%. I then had to press F to unlock the target and again to target the second ship, which I was also able to bring down to 0%. While writing this comment I went back and forth several times and eventually saw some stats, including the 2 ships sunk, popping up when I moused over the Resume option. It would be nice if those stats were always shown on the pause screen, unless there is other data that needs to show. Currently nothing else shows up, so having the stats there always would be nice.

I think the next thing to focus on would be improving the basic user experience so people can play enough to give more feedback. This is largely what I mentioned above about giving more details on how to play. It would be nice if the enemy info was easier to see. Perhaps adding a HUD with info on the targeted ship. Simiarly, a HUD showing your weapon cooldowns more clearly might be nice, though once you know what to look for it is not too bad as it currently is. Adding firing sounds, or making the guns firing more obvious could also help. Once the basic UI/feedback is in place, I'd work on the shooting a bit more to give more to work with when working on the strategy.

The game was pretty easy to pick up with a bit of playing, though could still benefit from a bit more details on what things are used for/do. Is there a benefit from more crew? Can you get anything other than gold from exploring islands? What does the spyglass do?

When I first started I was surrounded and destroyed pretty quickly. The second try I ran as soon as I started and slowly figured things out. That playthrough I quickly was able to upgrade the ship to max and felt like I ran out of things to do. The islands just gave gold, which seems to only be used to buy temporary upgrades such as a shield, which I didn't need, and a spyglass, that I'm not sure what it does. There looked to be status/informational indicators that I had these and time remaining for them on the left side, but it was flickering and showed faintly making it hard to read. I sailed around for a bit trying things out and getting a score over 1300, before getting bored of simply wiping out everything I came across without a challenge. The game could use with a better difficulty progression. The start should give you at least a little time to get your bearings before sending in enemies. Late game needs more to do to challenge the player.

The game was also fairly laggy. It was playable, but could use optimizing, as the regular lagging was annoying.

I think that having an indication that it could not drop would be fine, especially if the instructions mention that it requires a clear space, and you have a sprite showing the direction you are facing.

The map seems reasonably clear. The one on the left is the easiest, and the deliveries get harder as you progress to the right. I only managed the first, but assume that getting all 3 would unlock the forth. Adding additional details such as how much money you get from a delivery, as well as showing your current total cash, would be good. It would also be nice to see the deliveries you've completed marked on the map.

I never quite got the hang of the kicking. It felt like sometimes I'd barely get the box to move, and then I get a "lucky" hit and launch it down the hallway, usually past the turn I needed to take. I found a single kick almost never moved it far and I need to kick once to lift it up and then again to move it, but the timing and angle of that second kick had a big impact. I never quite felt fully in control. I managed to get close to delivering the second package several times, and once thought I'd made it, but it did not show as delivered, so I must have still been a bit off from the target zone.

The game was pretty easy to pick up, and the tutorial was a nice addition. It would be nice if the tutorial showed each of the equipment options and mentioned their benefits, so players could test them out there. The bouncing bullets were a nice surprise when choosing the pistol. It felt like the player was a bit big for the play space. It did add to the difficulty, so I can see that being intentional. One thing that I would have liked would be for the melee attack to be usable with the right mouse button. Since the primary attack is left click, it intuitively makes sense for the secondary one to be right click, and I often found myself starting to right click for the melee attack before remembering it was a keyboard key. Similarly, having the special ability tied to middle mouse would be nice, though with that being more limited use is less important than the melee attack.

It took a bit, and several deaths, to figure out that I could reattach to the machine. I only went back after finding the wrench to see if I could use it on the machine. After that it was pretty straightforward what to do. I only died once after that when I was heading back and saw one more piece to collect, that cost me the last seconds I needed to make it back. I only got the initial Idle upgrades, as that was the least important to me for playing, and then they were removed after getting all the others. It would have been nice if that had remained as an option when the other one was added, as I would have maxed out all of them before choosing the final option, but didn't feel like restarting to try getting them in a different order. I know it was mentioned that there are 2 endings, so my guess is either that you need to max out all the others, including idle, before the final option, or that there is something else to find. Overall, a pretty good game.

It would have been nice if there was an additional upgrade for the navigation that caused the indicators to be sized based on how far away the target was, so you could prioritize them by distance.

This was a cute typing game. The story of a monster dad being kind and sweet while teaching his child to scare people like him was great. The mechanics and story behind them worked well. Encouraging speed with the ghost behind, but also adding the challenge of paying attention for the whistle and pausing. The whistle and turn gave plenty of time to react allowing this to be fairly accommodating of younger, or slower, players. Overall, it was an enjoyable little game.

The use of light and dark worked well. I liked the overall idea. The gjost was cute. The pixel art was pretty good, though some areas of the ground looked too similar to walls, especially with the dim lighting. With lighting being such a key part of the gameplay, the contrast between the walls and other elements should be greater to make sure they are clear even when the lighting reduces the contrast.

It felt like the screens shifted arbitrarily, rather than at good locations. I think it would have been better if the camera just stayed centered on your character, but if you wanted that room shifting feel, then the transition points need  to be laid out to be more logical and better fit the maze. My best was getting 13, with the last seeming to be near where the demon stayed. It felt like the remaining ones were all near the enemy's base location and you had to get around it to light them. The way the screen moved made it hard to avoid the enemy while also mapping things out to try to get past, so that is where I ended.

I was not expecting Asteroids when seeing the A-10 cover image and name. It was a decent Asteroids game. I started by staying in the center and was able to survive just fine spinning around and shooting, until the next wave spawned with one right next to me, and I didn't hit space fast enough. I'd just been relying on shooting until that point and wasn't prepared for the nearby spawn. Once I found that I could hold the mouse down to get rapid fire, it became way too easy. I just stayed in the middle spinning around until there were only a few left, then sprayed waves over those remaining, and got ready with space for the next spawn. The game locked up after getting over 33,000 in score. I'm guessing there is an integer somewhere that overflowed.

Thanks for playing and the feedback.

We do plan to add a tutorial and improved intro. Currently we have the story and initial instructions combined and that did not work well. The smaller box focusing on the station warp was done for people who skip text to draw the eye to where it is needed, and put only the minimum text there describing the most important mechanic that may not be clear. We certainly want to add more clarity on the other stats, but those most people seemed to pick up on faster than the warp. Part of the reason for the click or press and hold for the warp is to prevent accidental warping, though part of it is to add a bit of challenge so you can't just warp out instantly as a killing shot is about to hit. Warping back to the station and then being able to return at full health and energy is already somewhat over-powering, so we are trying to balance it.

We are currently reviewing fonts and will be redoing some of the branding on all of our games in a near-future update. The menu background will also be animated in the next update. It was referencing some in-game elements that aren't ready on the menu screen, and needed some additional work before it could run the animation there.

I've corrected the typo in Kenney's name and it will be in our next update. Thank you.

I was wondering if it was a chance to hit, so yes, popping up something when you miss would be helpful to let the player know that is what happened.

Here are some screenshots of what I see. I am playing on Linux, so if you are relying on installed system fonts that are common to Windows, that certainly could be the issue.

This was a fun puzzle game, though a bit frustrating at times.

I played in fullscreen on a 4K screen, and the potion details had an issue where they mostly appeared offscreen on the bottom, so I could not see the attributes and did not know they were there until my partner pulled the game up to play a bit and saw it on theirs. I eventually figured them out through trial and error. It would be nice if hovering over the items when they are in the inventory also showed the details. One thing I was never sure of was if the potion effects were different based on which was first. They wouldn't stack in the inventory if the order was different, but I did see a noticeable difference based on order, though did not test much since they worked for what I needed.

Initially I also tried using all of the potions on the enemies. The fire one especially seemed like I should be able to use it to attack them, but it seems like you just drink all the potions. The game page says "where you craft different potions to solve puzzles and fight enemies ", which seems a bit misleading. I think it would be better to change the wording to say that you craft and drink the potions to better inform the player that you don't use them on the enemies, but on yourself... and your equipment.

2 of the temples were pretty easy once I figured out the potions. The Yellow speed one was a bit tricky, but once I figured out how to escape, the rest fell into place. The red was the one that caused me the most grief. Having items say they are not a crafting ingredient, when they are, but only when the second ingredient is very misleading, and that should be updated to different text, such as "cannot be first ingredient". It took us talking about it before I tried using it as the second ingredient, since it was clearly saying it was not an ingredient at all. Before I found the correct solution, I discovered that I could flip 4 of the switches from outside, through the walls. Trying to do the same with the 5th switch I managed to get stuck by the back wall in a position where I could not jump and had to start over. That is when I had my partner give it a try as I was trying to get free. I used the jumping potion to climb the hill and then slid down between the hill and the back wall as I was trying to find the lever to flip it. That spot should get some adjusting to prevent people from getting stuck there.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. Even when it was frustrating, I kept playing until I finished it. After the soft-lock I did debate being done, but already had the other 3 keys and was so close to the last that I restarted and sped through to get what I thought I needed for the red temple to try it again.

This was a decent puzzle game with a humorous story. The dialog did get a bit repetitive, and I think it would help if you reduced the number of dialog boxes per action. I know that some of the humor does come from some of the repeated lines, but there is a point where it becomes more monotonous than humorous. I did a bit of the planet after getting the pink ship before stopping. I'd have probably played more if not for needing to go through so many dialog boxes for each and every action. Early on having extra works, but as it progresses, reducing some of the duplication would be nice, at least to me. 

I also found the instructions on where is dangerous and where is safe confusing. It would help if when you had the tiles flashing on the grid, you also had the ship there on the flashing square. Looking at the top, it looks like there is the ship, and then it has 2 squares to the right of it, with the first square being where you need to go, and the second being where it hits. After taking damage I did realize that the flashing spot was likely meant to be the ship itself, but it would be nice if the instructions explicitly said the flashing square is the enemy.

This looks like a decent start. The core mechanics are in place and feel good. I like the bit of story you have in the game description. Since this is early and things aren't implemented, it would be good to disable/grey out things that don't work as feedback to the player on what should be interactable or functioning. 

I liked how many characters you have, even if most are locked away to start. The upgrades are nice, though trying to read them to pick one during combat can be a pain on the first playthrough when not familiar with what is offered. The geometric shapes worked well, though early one some enemies looked a little too similar to XP. Later on it made sense to have a sort of Mimic like enemy that is close, but early on it was unexpected. I suppose with the geometric shapes there are limits and things will look similar. I got to just avoiding heading directly for them and let them get attracted if I wasn't sure.

I played at the default difficulty. I managed to beat the Mega Boss, earning 88 Star Tokens, and 19 Achievements. I found this game to be fairly easy. I was not sure if there was an end to the run and was debating how long to keep playing. The Star Tokens allowing permanent upgrades, and unlocking new characters with achievements does add a bit of replayability, but the first run was so easy that I'm not as interested in a replay. It feels like rather than powering up more, I'd need to do things to increase the difficulty. Well before the end I lost any concern with losing, and was not having as much fun due to the lack of challenge. I don't play a lot of chaotic fast paced games outside of jams, so I was surprised at how easy it felt. I expected to lose a few times and unlock things before being able to get far. Play balancing can be tough, so I don't know what the best advice is here. The main point for me is that if I'm already easily winning with the default character and no upgrades, then unlocking the upgrades doesn't feel very rewarding. You spent the time to create them and the systems to unlock them, adding replayability, but the game balance takes much of it away, at least for me.

I did enjoy the early game, and liked seeing all the options. It wasn't until the difficulty dropped that I started to tire of it, and debated how long before ending to rate and write my feedback.

I found this to be a bit tough to get the right timing on. I saw mention it was rhythm-based, but I just couldn't feel the rhythm matching the flow of the movements. Initially I couldn't hit anything, always swinging a bit early or too late. Eventually started to get it. My best was 61, with a streak of 11. 

It would be nice to have a bit more explanation on the mechanics to start, though in playing they did become clear. I thought the bar above your head was your health, but it seems to be more of an energy bar, and you die from one hit. Using abilities uses energy, but hitting the enemies recovers more energy. There also seems to be a delay before you can act if you run out of energy. It would also be nice if you could fully skip the intro text. The page says left click to skip through dialog, but that seems to not work or only minimally speed it up. 

The art is good and clear for being limited in colors. The music fits the pace of the game, even if I didn't feel the beat matching the movement. The game is challenging, but for those that like this style it is probably the right level of difficulty.

The gameplay was easy to pick up. The game had a cozy atmosphere. The following a shape to recharge mana was a neat mechanic and worked for the game. It was a bit odd when messing up, though, with the white dot reappearing. I though that meant to resume from that spot. I think it would be better if the white dot did not reappear when you mess up. Maybe have a red dot, or other feedback that interaction is done and it will be going away soon.

The in-game instructions are nice to have, but the sprite and panel block you from clicking on the food as they are coming out. I also found that I missed some of the dialog as I tried to serve customers. I'd recommend slowing down the number of customers to a minimum during the tutorial part so the player can focus on it. I'd also move it to the bottom left so the player can get food as it comes out, or the center, so it does not interfere with the food at all. If keeping it where it can overlap food, I'd set the Panel Container's Mouse Filer to Ignore, so players can click on food through it.

This was a cute take on a physic slingshot style game. I ended up killing the cow a bunch as I figured out the right angles on the slingshot. If I missed I found myself sometime jumping the gun and pressing to soon for the next shot. It would be nice if there was an indicator of where the full mark for the delay time was at. Perhaps a faint outline behind it or a border around the area that fills. Something you can compare the current bar against to better time your next shot. A short sound playing when ready to fire could also help with knowing when to click for the next shot. The game works well for the 20 second time limit of the original jam.

This was a cute casual collection of mini games. The mini-games fit together well for the game's theme. Most mini-games are clear on how they work and give good feedback. The one that most stood out as needing something more was the final confirmation to submit an order. I read through the tutorial before starting, so skipped the tutorial when clicking "Start Game", and forgot about the need to press space to finalize the order. It would be nice if there was something more indicating the order was ready and what to press to finalize it. The other thing that I messed up was the basic coffee. With each step showing what it was, I was then confused when the coffee cup came up as a required step in the order. I restarted and chose the tutorial after clicking "Start Game", which helped with retaining that the basic coffee had to be made with the 2 steps for other recipes. Once playing a bit and going through the interactive tutorial it was easy enough, but that initial could have been smoother. Perhaps add a comment to the tutorial from the main menu that if you start the game and choose the tutorial it will be interactive, instead of just showing the same flip through listing of instructions. Possibly rename the menu entry from tutorial to instructions or some other term to make it clear they are different. There was a lot in the tutorial, and not everyone is going to retain everything, so there is a bit of learning curve, but once you play a bit and learn it works.

The game was easy to pick up. I like how you start with just jump, and add the "crouch" later. The way you have the sprite on its side for "crouch", I think it looks more like a slide, than a crouch, though "crouch" still conveys the intended use. I used the mouse to start, and the log in message stayed at the top until I clicked the X to close it. The message says "Press to start", but not what to press, so I clicked on it.  Maybe specifying what to press would help to direct focus to the keyboard/controller.

I think a simple, small, FPS shooter range like this for short breaks is a neat idea. The first thing I noticed is that the text all uses an unreadable blocky font. I don't know if that was intentional or is a bug. It would be nice if there were some instructions with the full list of inputs you can use, and what can be done in the game. You list a few on the page, but don't include right mouse click for zoom. There is a room with gear that I can't seem to interact with, and another with explosions. It would be nice to know what these are for and if there is anything to do there. I'd also like if the targets reset faster and there were more of them. Overall, this is a good start.

This was fun. I like that you show the spawn points, but also have them spread enough that you'can't just sit at the spawn point to attack as they come out. I got to level 3. The new enemies spawning as you progressed kept things fresh. I did find that I could circle around them and get them into a group where I could just hit the outer ones and move away before they hit back. It wasn't perfect, but was decently effective.

I was not able to use any of the specials. I pressed the buttons, but nothing seemed to happen. There were arrows above them that looked like buttons, but clicking on those did nothing. I did need to play in fullscreen to see them and much of the game, so that may be part of the issue.

This was a fun concept, but I had a lot of issues with it. The first is the scaling of the game. The itch.io embed viewport is set too small to see everything. You say to play in fullscreen, but I play on a 4K screen so we can play and rate as a group, and in fullscreen the game is completely unplayable. The projectiles cannot reach the enemies. It would be helpful if you could adjust the embed viewport settings on your itch.io page to match the intended size for the game. I used to be a web developer, so was able to use browser tools to adjust the viewport size in the HTML to allow me to play the game.

In addition to the scaling issue, when 3 enemies reached the edge of the screen, the game stopped. I lost a life, and then could no longer interact with the game and nothing else happening in game. The music kept playing, but that was it.

When moving left and firing with the mouse to the right of the player, my shots often went down left, instead of up.  Moving to the right my shots always went up, even if on the wrong side of the player. This made dodging while shooting back difficult.

After closing the upgrade screen the player weapon is firing automatically as if holding the attack button. This isn't a real problem since I was always firing anyway. It stops after receiving other inputs.

It would be nice if the UI was updated to have important parts always showing, and the rest in a scroll container. Things like buttons to close the screen, or the amount of currency available.

I like the overall idea. There were a lot of neat upgrades, and I was able to get a number of them. There is a good start here.

I like the game concept, but the implementation needs work. I beat the first battle, but then found most of the following enemies became more difficult at too fast a rate for my current skill level. Some of the enemy abilities that could stay with you and hit multiple times seemed like they could almost completely kill you with one activation, and I faced that within the first few fights. The difficulty curve, especially what abilities your opponents get access to, needs to be better balanced with what they player can get. I never had enough to buy anything, but the enemies just kept getting more powerful. The lack of being able to get upgrades, while being constantly overwhelmed by the opponents, made it not enjoyable enough to try to keep playing to improve my skill.

The font was too large in many places for its container and got clipped. Most were still clear enough, though the settings for selecting your input choice cut off some of the letters and would be the first place I'd fix. It also felt odd switching between mouse and keyboard so much. If the main combat is meant to be all keyboard, then it would be good to have the rest of the UI also be keyboard based. On the other hand, if you want to use the mouse in other parts of the UI, then adding mouse clicks for the 2 special abilities would be helpful.

This was a neat take on the original theme. The core mechanics are good. The added sounds are a nice start. The starting popup mentioning nearby things to collect was a good way to introduce players to the game.

It feels like the collision shapes for interacting and the enemy hitboxes could use some work. While attacking I found that it often did not seem to cause damage to the enemy (no red hurt effect or sound), and I'd move away and try to adjust to a different position to hit them. I was getting hit even when my swings seemed to miss and I was facing the enemy. The animation was clearly passing over the enemy. Adjusting it so the collision shape better matches the animation would help players to know where the hit area is to better position their attacks. Similarly, I found that I had to move around the bodies to get the popup to harvest them.

Overall, a good start, and good info on the status.

This is a decent start. It is interesting mashing up visual novel with bullet-hell. It seems like it could work, though might be tough to balance. The tiny hitbox made it pretty easy to dodge the incoming projectiles. I like that you included a way to see the hitbox, since it is so much smaller than I'd have expected. The default controls seemed a bit odd with f for shooting and space for focus. I'm used to space being the default fire button, so these seemed reversed, though were fine for the current version. Being able to remap the inputs is nice and helps with the defaults not being what I'd expect. However, I did run into an issue with remapping. When trying to remap to use space it would accept space as the button, and then immediately go back into asking for a new input. With space acting as a button press, and likely having it set to react on mouse up/released, after accepting the input it then processes the space button being pressed as a new input and reactivates the mapping. There are many ways to work around this. One fairly easy one might be to add a short delay (even 0.1 seconds, or perhaps a couple frames) after setting the input before the same remapping can be reactivated.

I made it to a purple area that lead to the outside and a drop to a red area that moved you back to the start, but did not reset things. I had to return to the menu and restart to continue.

It took a bit to figure things out with how the closing your eyes affects the game, but once I did it was an interesting mechanic. There were 2 places that gave info on picking up boxes. I noticed that the boxes drop in the direction you are facing, and if you are facing a wall while too close, it does not drop. Adding something about this to the instructions would be helpful.

This is a good start, and was fun to figure out the puzzles.