itch.io

This is a problem with the RPG Maker engine. If the amount of icons exceeds a certain number (somewhere in the 4000 range) it will show them all as black boxes. You'll have to reduce the amount of icons you have in one iconset.png file to under 4000.

I'm not surprised that this level of art is in a product from Low, he's always been stellar.
Nice work from cub3 putting together the UI and app. Keep it up, this is awesome!

Thanks for playing Zyphli! :)

Regeneratio Venae

by FervorCraft

Hey there FervorCraft, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I would prefer if the game had not been packaged into an installer, but instead a simple .exe that would run the game. See the review I gave on Resurrection Rancher if you need more reasons why I think that this is a bad idea.

I like the quick intro.

Very nice looking menu with a generous amount of starter potions.

The battle system seems well thought out and polished. It's a decent little CTB system with some customization.

It would be cool if you could update the skill learn system display page to let you know how many SP you need without having to click on it. I feel like the current layout has the player doing more menu-ing than they need to be doing.

I enjoy the lighting that has been applied to the maps. It really adds to the atmosphere.

There is a decent selection of ambient tracks that works well overall.

The level of fog is very subtle and I found it to be just right. Nice job on not overdoing it.

I appreciate the amount of effort that went into selecting custom animations for the skills and items.

The puzzles are very simple, but that's a good thing. I say keep this method as there are very few things more frustrating than liking a game just to be slapped with a hard puzzle that you can't figure out. So I like that all of the puzzles I encountered were pretty simple in this game.

The bosses were a little bit too easy, but it's probably better if you go with too easy rather than too hard for a game jam. That way more people will be able to get through your game. So not a big deal.

I love to open chests and get that sweet loot but I feel like you put too many chests in some of the puzzle areas. There's such a thing called analysis overload and some people may experience that by the end. Too many new items too quick. But that being said, you've managed to put together a nice selection of equipment and relics to upgrade in the short period that was designed for this quick game jam version.

The storyline is very vague and not really that interesting, but the game makes up for it with several really interesting progression systems and overall I really enjoyed this entry. 

Great job with presenting a project for the IGMC 2022, it was fun and I look forward to seeing your next projects.

-Drifty

RE:Calibur 

by Nowis-337

Hey there Nowis, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Really great Title and intro scene.

The story is very tropey, but it's a time tested plot line that works over and over.

The sound can be a little sharp or piercing at times. I wouldn't say abrasive, but it's a thin line. For example with the last bar of the town music holding that high note, while also hearing the SFX of saving the game. I played with studio headphones on and not everyone will have enough clarity to find issue with this.

The action combat system is really good and I especially love the inclusion of a strafing system. Good thinking there.

I like the idea of teasing the player with an item that cost 999. You know that some players will have to get it. :)

I like the colorful sprites and tilesets. Some of them are are so darn cute. Especially the little shark heads. 

The bosses felt a little too easy, but that's probably better than too hard. Especially for a game jam entry.

I got the Hero in Training ending first. I am a fan of multiple endings.

What a spectacular little Zelda-like adventure RPG. I really enjoyed this entry, your game jam entries never disappoint, Nowis. Bravo.

Thanks for submitting a project for the IGMC 2022 and I always look forward to your next works. 

-Drifty

Rebertha 

by ManaBrent

Hey there ManaBrent, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The intro looks very nice, but I always worry when I see 3D in RPG Maker. The engine wasn't made for it and it doesn't perform as well as I would like.

I understand the premise but most things are not really explained that well.

The switching to a spirit form to solve puzzles mechanic is cool, but it's confusing and a bit difficult.

I don't know what you were thinking with the interiors being a 3D labyrinth. It's a one tile wide maze with a dozen killer attack ostriches roaming through-out it and with the perspective that's given it's hard to see what you're doing, where you're going and where you're supposed to go. Let's not even mention the size of the interior compared to the size of the house on the outside. There's a huge discrepancy here. I found this to be a big issue with the game overall and in my opinion it would be a better game had you not included the the 3D maze mess.

You have some cool ideas but they were not implemented in a way that is easily understandable. Which is fine, but that means you have to make in-game tutorials and do a little hand holding at the beginning to explain how things work.

Overall you put together a decent entry. Great job with making it to the final round of the IGMC 2022! I look forward to seeing your next project.

-Drifty

Remnants of Calandria

by TerminusEst13

Hey there TerminusEst13, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I respect the decision to go with black and white only.

The music selection and the way that you've displayed the intro legit gave me Crystalis vibes. Well done!

I'm a fan of only showing two lines of text on the screen at one time and I appreciate the big read-able font.

The opening area feels too big. Too many events, too many things. I got my weapon and I want to head out to use it. I would focus on stream-lining the player straight to the action.

I'm not a big fan of puzzle games and I think that it may have been a misstep to require a puzzle to proceed right out the gate. You're leading the player on with thoughts of Crystalis and GameBoy Zelda but then hamstring them with an annoying toggle the lights puzzle.

I like the art style and the music selection is probably the best in the whole competition, full of 8-bit bangers. 

There's a lack of rewarding exploration, you just get called a jackass for trying to take chests in other NPC's houses, etc.

I went back to the elder and reported what Saki and I found and the game just was like "and you never saw her again, the end." WTF? Lol. Obviously I loaded and told him that I have nothing to report and then went to look for Saki. This is where the game should start. Summarize all the stuff that happens up until this point in a quick auto-run event.

I would suggest that next time you start the player right in the first dungeon map to look for Saki, after a quick auto-run intro event. It felt less exciting walking around in the beginning while trying to get into the actual gameplay. It doesn't make for a good first impressions the way it is now in my opinion. I think hooking your players right at the beginning with some action gameplay (when you market your game as an action-exploration game) is a much better option here.

While I do feel it was a little tropey with the whole twist dialog at the boss fight. I liked that you were given the option to agree or disagree with her. The writing is good even if a little tropey at times.

I think that this has all the makings of something really cool, but it felt a little fluffed at the beginning. Overall this is a very neat entry that had some ups and downs. You've put together something unique and I appreciate your efforts with this project, good job. Thanks for submitting a project to the IGMC 2022 and I look forward to the next thing you put out there.

-Drifty

Inn Need 

by TeiRaven, Ji Tealeaf, thepumpkinsnake

Hey there TeiRaven and team, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The opening song on the train has some weird syncopation and poly rhythms, maybe it's the train ME playing on top of the BGM? Idk for sure but it's kind of driving me crazy.

I'm using a 1440p resolution and the game window is very small, unless you force a full screen with alt-enter. Adding resolution options or options to scale the window would be a bonus.

The maps are decently made, but they are a bit big, and while I understand an old lady wouldn't be running around, it does feel kind of slow. Maybe she can use her magic to move quicker (allow dashing/autorun options please).

Some of the mapping is layered incorrectly and walking next to the walls causes the head of your character to be placed behind the wall tiles. Specifically in the Tea room.

The idea of role playing as an old maid fixing up an inn may be appealing to some, but not so much for me. It feel tedious and slow-going. I do this in real life everyday, walking around cleaning up messes. It's not exactly something I would choose to spend my leisure time doing in a virtual world. 

I like the music and sound selection.

I'm sure some of the issues with this game boils down to the limitations of the engine that was used to make it and not exactly the game design itself.

All of that being said I think that you've done a good job with putting together a nice chain of events. You do see the map changing as you fix things and find tools to progress through obstacles. You've made a nice atmosphere and I'm sure many people will enjoy this experience.

Good job on putting together a project for the IGMC 2022 it's a nice one to have in your portfolio for sure. Keep up the good work and I look forward to your next release.  

-Drifty

Mayor On The run

by SeaPhoenix

Hey there SeaPhoenix, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The title screen music that you've picked is very pleasant and inviting.

I really like the zoomed out look of the maps. Good resolution choice for this.

I really like the mechanics in this game and I especially appreciate how you respect the player's time with the menus. The carpenter and painter have the preferences saved from your diary and it makes it super easy to upgrade peoples' houses. Good call.

I love the idea of this type of game and it was honestly a breath of fresh air. It's super fun seeing your town progress each day and there's plenty of room for replay-ability. 

I ended up getting arrested after the first week and I'm pretty sure that's the bad ending. I'm curious to see how many endings there are. I probably wasted a couple days not knowing I had to pay the carpenter to build new houses. Maybe add in some analytics or stats that show after the game ends to give the player an idea of what they did or did not do, or even which ending they got, of how many endings there are, etc.

I wish the game was longer, but I understand the limitations of a game jam. That being said, I had a blast and really enjoyed this entry. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the next thing you put out.

-Drifty

Life Eternal

by Ronove

Hey there Ronove, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I like the serene, chill and emotional track that the game opens up with on the title screen.

Wow, such fantastic pixel art. It's really amazing how you've synced up the text with a talking bust. It looks great.

This game reminds me of the King's Quest series in some way but I'm not exactly sure why. It must be the pixel art.

The tileset and mapping are detailed and highly customized. It does set an immersive atmosphere.

The white screen transition gets to be a little excessive once you're wandering through the forest. I would prefer a dark screen transition through-out the forest scenes.

As beautiful and well written as it is, there's a lack of actual gameplay and this is more of a 'find the switch' puzzle game.

I do like the the thought of replaying it again and selecting different options so you've done a great job at instilling a sense of replay-ability.

The story and artwork presentation are absolutely fantastic! Unfortunately it's lacking any real gameplay, besides the fetch quest and choice mechanics. Even so, this was a wonderful journey and you've put together a really nice project for the IGMC 2022. Great job, I look forward to your future works!

(I found 1/6 cryptic notes and 2/5 skeleton friends.)

-Drifty

Resurraptor

by Wumbohek

Hey there Wumbo, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I love the art style. It's simple and works well in a game jam setting.

The baby dinosaur cry sound effect is adorable and the writing is cute.

The combat system is pretty simple but it works well.

The puzzles are not overly complicated and I personally appreciate that.

Some skills like the scream and tail whip give the option to select an enemy, yet they are AoEs that hit everything. Maybe consider changing them so they don't require you to input a target if they are an AoE.

I think a really good idea would have been to fully heal your raptor when exiting combat. That would minimize on backtracking by quite a lot and made for a better playing experience.

Changing some of the sound effects and adding new ones in various areas could have been used to customize and further enhanced the experience.

While I appreciate the UI, it's probably a little bit bigger than it needs to be. You could make it a bit smaller to better utilize that real estate.

I liked the twist ending but I feel like it could have come to another conclusion and if felt like it just suddenly ended. Honestly I was hoping for a last boss fight.

I feel like the game suffers a lot from being forced to backtrack to the healing point so much, especially so because the maps were quite large. 

Anyway I think that this is an excellent game jam entry and I that you've done a fantastic job! Keep up the great work and I look forward to your future works.

(P.S. There's a game breaking loop bug that replays that last events, but it's after the credits roll so it's not really a big deal.)

-Drifty

Stolen Love and the Forgotten Promise

by Indrah LadyPotato, Fomar0153

Hey there Indrah and Fomar, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

There are a good number of game options.

I like the sound effects, music and audio design of the game. 

It's really cool how the story slightly changes here and there based on user input.

The game starts off right in the action of things which I appreciate.

All of the battlers are misaligned by a single pixel. It's not an issue and I'm not bothered by it, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

All of the characters have their own unique set of skills and skill trees. They each have multiple which you can cycle through to customize the build of the party. This is a really cool idea and I enjoyed this mechanic.

The maps were done well and I like the 8-bit tileset. It matches the sprites very well and it all comes together for a very cohesive look.

It was a great idea to spread out all of  the tutorial information over the course of the intro scene instead of dumping all in one show text. Making it all reviewable via a key item is also a good idea in my opinion.

The battle system is fast and fun. The numbers are balanced and overall the combat system feels great to play.

The writing is superb and even all of the NPCs feel like a part of the world.

The maps are filled with interactable events and an eye or sparkle icon appears over them to let you know what they are there for. This is a good way to reward exploration, but not waste your player's time and you've done a great job of being generous with consumables.

I especially love the permanent state immunity buff items that you can get from exploring. It always feels good when you get those permanent boosts.

I appreciate the full heal after every fight in the opening wedding scene. That's a good trick to reduce forced menu time.

Overall I would call this a fantastic game! The progression felt good, the enemies while challenging all had a weakness or strategy to beat them, and the story while a little wordy at times was cohesive and humorous. I really enjoyed this game and personally think that you've got what it takes to make RPGs. Bravo!

-Drifty

To Be Continued

by Melon Kid

Hey there Melon Kid, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I liked the title screen music. It's a pleasant waltz and it sets an inviting tone.

Interesting setting and character design. It's like a mish-mash of several different anime and cartoons came together to fight in a last man standing battle arena showdown that takes place in purgatory.

The writing is funny and the game doesn't take itself too serious but isn't a complete joke either. Nice job skirting that line.

The battle music doesn't loop very well and it starts and stops abruptly in at least one of the battles.

Great action sequencing, battle sequencing, use of animations and sound effects. The combat is very fun and interesting.

You've created a fun-tastic experience and I applaud you! This is one of my favorite entries of the entire competition. 

Congratulations on making it to round three of the 2022 IGMC, I look forward to seeing what you work on next.

-Drifty

Bloom Underworld

by Alice Gristle

Hey there Alice, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The writing is clever and witty.

The music is like an 8-bit rendition of a classical piano concerto.

The graphics and art style are cohesive and interesting.

The sounds have been selected appropriately.

The combat system is wildly based on RNG and while I don't hate it, I find it to be lacking mechanically. I do enjoy the combat animations, sound effects and BGM though.

I like the skills and how the descriptions are worded, in fact I like how just about everything is worded in this game.

The font is familiar, clear and easy to read.

You should consider adding a stop-movement plugin. When talking to Ghalla (and any other event for that matter) it doesn't actually stop the other creatures from moving around. Not a game breaking issue of course, just a thought.

I liked the whole part where you actually lose the game at the end but become resurrected. 

This was an interesting take on things. I would've redesigned the combat system personally, with these things in mind:

*Make it much less RNG based. 

*Give the player 10 HP to start with instead of 1. 

*Up the accuracy on many abilities.

*Make some abilities deal more damage than others to balance the difficulty curve.

*Add a hint as to which type of creature is weak to which state.

(These are just suggestions as to what I would have preferred.)

Overall I loved this entry and I think it's great. You've done a fantastic job, congratulations on making it to round three of the 2022 IGMC. I look forward to what you work on in the future.

-Drifty

Death's Challange 

by Classic Review 

Hey there Classic Review, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I'm not sure why you chose to make the resolution of your game half the size of a poker card, what is this like 300x200?

This is going to make most everything blurry when you stretch it out to HD/FHD/UHD etc. I'm playing it on a 2560x1440 monitor for reference. Most people are probably going to be stretching it out over a 1920x1080 resolution.

Default sound effects are very noticed. The slowed down BGM that plays on the the title screen sounds like a terrible dirge. 

You shouldn't ask people if they want to see a suicide content warning. You have to decide to put it on there or not to based on the content of your game. When you present it the way you did you basically gave the story away. Not a good approach in my opinion. 

The font is blurry and hard to read in most cases, it hurts my head to read. The dialog is crass and not really that interesting. 

The artwork is about as minimalistic as you can get without making an ASCII game. While this doesn't actually bother me that much, it does make it hard to understand what I'm looking at.

The combat system is customized and unique, but not really all that fun.

The puzzle aspect of this game boils down to walking around an escape room trying to find the correct event that switches the next door open, over and over. There are quite a few doors, all of which are locked except the first one. It's not the type of gameplay that I personally enjoy, but I've seen many games like this with the same concept.

You should allow people to save anywhere in my opinion. 

While this game has it's own style, it does feel very rushed and 'defaulty'. I like the attempt at a customized battle system, but this one didn't quite do it for me.

Good job on putting a project together and congratulations on making it to round three of the IGMC.

-Drifty

Wholesome: The Last Word 

by Daybloom Project 

Hey there Daybloom Project, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The story suffers from grammar issues and the font is a little blurry.

It would be better in my opinion if you allowed the player to save anywhere as there is a lot of dialog and cutscene.

I can see that you've taken some elements from other games such as Undertale and Earthbound. 

I like that you've decided to use a lighting engine.

There are a lack of options for a game like this. I didn't like that I had to hold down the shift button for the majority of my time playing. Allowing an auto-run setting in the options could easily fix that.

I'm not a huge fan of puzzle games, but I can appreciate the amount of work that went into these puzzle rooms.

The battle mechanics are very well done. The player is given many skills with unique functionality and ways to win in combat.

I landed a critical hit with a special move accidently one-shotting a bee against my actual intentions. I guess my pacifist run is done. The critical damage multiplier is too high. I'd recommend upping the critical hit rate, but lowering the critical hit multiplier from 3x to 2x. More critical hits, but less damage when a critical hit lands.

There's like a half second of unnecessary padding every time you open a chest. It's not much, but it kind of feels like unnecessary padding after opening twenty something chests.

The music and sound effects were selected well and I really enjoyed the boss battle music. 

Nice job with selecting animations, but I think that if you would've picked a few more it would have added value. Almost all of the restorative magic and items use exactly the same animation.

The last boss fight is really out of whack and all of the enemies being able to paralyze you really make for a frustrating experience. I think the paralyze rates need to be toned down quite a bit. I spent more turns unable to act than actually acting, and when I do get my turn it's mostly damage control, using the items gained through-out the adventure just to revive and heal.

The main menu shows room for two actors, unless you scroll down to see the third actor. I feel like this could be reworked to show all three without having to scrolling down to see Reno.

The story makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever and I found myself saying "What?!" multiple times. The puzzle gameplay was pretty good and there were a variety of well designed puzzles through-out the game.

The battle system was fleshed out and mostly balanced with the exception of trying to win the last fight violently, which was quite a challenge and it took me three tries. I'd say I got really lucky the third time with a charm landing and sticking for multiple rounds.

I one-shot a creature early on while trying to 'weaken' it and at that point I decided to just fight creatures going forward. I started out doing a 'wholesome' run however I ended up beating the game with a "Noxious Ending".

I think that you've done a pretty decent job at making a game jam project and you should be proud. Well done on making it to round three of the IGMC 2022. I hope to see what you come up with in the future.

-Drifty

Resurrection Rancher

by Baz and Noobk

Hey there Baz and Noobk, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

It's really cool to see you two teaming up for this project. I respect both of you and appreciate the work that you've both done. That being said, let's talk about your entry:

I think that you may want to reconsider how the game is packaged(currently it's in a forced Drive C installer) and here's why: 

*Every new entry into the system registry will slow down your computer(specifically startup). 

*Some people install their OS onto their drive C, and then have a separate HDD for their games' library. Quite often, and I know I'm also in this camp, the OS drive C is a low capacity and high speed drive. M.2(my case), or regular SSD typically. Space is very limited and when you force install your product onto the very limited space they have on their main drive there's a chance that it won't fit, but also even if it does fit, the user may not prefer that. 

*Installers make people think of malware or bloatware. It doesn't instill confidence in your product and believe it or not some people will see the installer, and when windows says "Windows prevented this application from running" they'll decide to skip your product, or not even be able to figure out how to run it in some cases. 

*The next issue is after it's been forcefully installed onto drive C to play it, if the user unchecked the box that says "add to desktop" then they won't have a shortcut to launch it. The installer doesn't state where it's installed to and if they lack basic file management skills(I know many gamers who lack these simple computer skills) your software may now be lost on their PC. 

*I would suggest allowing a drive selection for installation if you insist on going with an installer. 

*Typically you can avoid an installer all-together and make a simple run-time that will self execute. You could encrypt or even enigma-box your run-time if you're worried about asset theft. 

It's just a bad idea to go this route, wouldn't you agree? 

However, maybe there are other reasons that I don't understand as to why you chose(or had?) to make an installer that forces your game onto the main drive C. 

Really nice little splash screen intro that shows it's made with Pixel Game Maker MV and for the IGMC 2022. Great music and sound selection with visuals to match.

The volume of the BGM while travelling north of town was quite a bit too low and it always felt like it got too quiet while exploring for resources.

I like the core gameplay loop. While it's minimalistic, it's also very simple to understand.

While I would have preferred to have a slightly more zoomed out perspective, the resolution reminds me of GameBoy Color titles or even some NES ones. 

Some of the corners of buildings and trees feel a little sticky when using the d-pad, but using an analog stick on the controller mostly fixes that.

I feel like the maps are sufficient, but hidden chests wouldn't have been a terrible idea. Maybe stick in a couple of sections that you can walk through the trees to reveal a hidden secret? 

A good idea would be to implement some kind of 'return to the graveyard' button/item/mechanic. That way when you harvest everything on a gather run you don't have to backtrack through the empty maps. I've see these maps dozens of times already and it would just speed up the excitement by eliminating the repetitious retracing.

While the actual gameplay is nothing fancy, the pacing and town progression are laid out very well. Sometimes a game can be good even if the gameplay isn't all that fun. A compelling experience is also good.

I'm not sure what's up with Nova. 

I revive one cat and all the sudden there are 20 cats on every map... sounds about right.

Towards the end there is a little bit of framerate loss but it's probably because of the engine's limitations and not actually bad coding.

It took me 13 game days to beat it, but the ending was good and like I mentioned before, even though I went quite a bit passed the 1 hour mark I was compelled to finish it. 

You guys put together a nice project and I think that's something to be proud of. Congratulations on making it to round three of the IGCM 2022. I look forward to the next projects that yall work on.

-Drifty 

Flowers of Sultana

by 2BitsGames

Hey there 2BitsGames, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I like how the game jumps straight into the action. It reminds me a little bit of the beginning in the SNES title Lufia. Not story-wise, just design-wise. Good start.

Your skills are missing descriptions.

Making tutorial-based key-items was good thinking. It provides help for people who need it and it doesn't annoy the ones that don't by forcing through a long series of show text.

Good job with customizing the sound effects, animations and menus.

The graphics are a little grainy and weird, but personally I kind of like them. At the very least they stand out and look different.

I appreciate the tall-sprites. It's hard to make tall sprites look natural when moving, which is probably why so many games opt for chibi-sprites. Another good design choice here by using tall ones as they look decent enough.

Getting items from chests is a pleasant experience because you get that audio-visual feedback with animations and SFX. Not to mention the loot you get as a reward for exploration. 

Showing the name of the location text pop-up upon entering a new location sometimes obscures the show text for the event that's currently running. It only persists for a couple of seconds, so it's not a big issue, but you could probably move that so that you don't have an overlap of text in one spot.

While it's not exactly clear what you're supposed to do at times, one case in particular I thought that it had something to do with the hero's bed. I think it's a good idea to allow the player to pass upward through the pillars that are at the bottom of the hero's bed (or remove them). I wandered around a bit longer than I should have because I originally thought that the bed wasn't interactable. However it was just because I couldn't get to it from beneath it. My fault really, but you could help other people to avoid that by allowing them to access the bed from the bottom.

Customizing the basic hit animations and sound effects could of gone a long way. Think about how many games have the same ones that you used here... Think about how many times your players have already heard and saw them.

While I feel like the encounter rate is a little high, the battles are fast and that really helps to not be stuck in long grindy battles for too long.

I like that you removed MP and decided to make all moves use TP. It made for a situation that the player had one less number to balance and manage. It also made up for the slightly high encounter rate by not 'exhausting' a player.

It seems to me that you put a lot of extra effort into making events that are scattered around the maps. (Like the wax apple events etc.) These have extra dialog and sequences. I just wanna say that your extra effort here is noticed.

I enjoyed the soul grid system. I liked how it adds skills and stats, making multiples of the same item useful. It was refreshing to see some unique customization like this.

When you exit the capital city it puts you directly on the move event tile. This makes it so you have to walk left and right again to actually exit the city. Small fix, just extend the map one more tile down and adjust a few transfer events.

Not sure if I did something wrong, but I'm stuck outside the door waiting for the orphan's mom to come out. Originally when it said please wait, I just stood around for a couple of minutes, then I realized that's probably a railroading mechanic and I have to go flip some other switch somewhere to proceed. I ended up re-talking to everyone in town, and even backtracking into the desert. I have no idea how to proceed and it's a shame, because I just got all these new soul shard upgrades and I'm itching for a boss fight.

I think that you have something special here, but it needs some help with user guidance. It's often unclear on where you're supposed to go and I think that if you did a little bit more hand holding with arrows or some kind of signaling system it could of made the game a lot more fun. You should also consider a mini-map system.

Overall I really enjoyed this game and kind of got frustrated that I was unable to continue. Congratulations on making it to the third round of the IGMC 2022 and I look forward to seeing your future works.

-Drifty

Rivals Beyond

by PsiSteve

Hey there PsiSteve, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Since you're using MV you might want to consider using a monitor sync plugin for people with higher Hz monitor refresh rate. The engine has some issue with running at the correct framerate under some circumstances. You could possible add a few more various options.

I really like the big bubbly font, it's very easy to read.

The writing is pretty decent with a few minor grammar issues. 

I think that you've done a great job in simplifying the main menu down to just what needs to be there. I do believe that you should've added the 'Items' scene to the 'Bag menu' instead of 'Skills' scene though.

The tileset is very unique and has it's own style. The sprites looked very basic but they work just fine for a tech demo or game jam version.

The battle system is very basic. A 'hit them with their weakness' system is employed here which most RPG fans will very quickly understand. Although it felt like I was spamming basic attack and healing mint through-out most of the fights.

It can be confusing when you take an enemies HP down just to see it fill all the way back up though. Maybe explain that system. (In as few words as possible)

Good idea on sequencing new enemies joining the fight in some battles to spice it up. I liked the in-combat banter. As long as it stays to a minimum it's a nice touch.

However, the battle with the flying bird is not balanced because you have a pair of lemon drops join the fight and it becomes too hard. Might I suggest making it so that only a single lemon drops joins in that particular fight. I get that you're supposed to lightning hit the lemon heads immediately, but if you do anything else besides that, well you're gunna die.

If you would have put in some time to make or find custom animations you could've improved the feel of your combat scene ten-fold. The default sounds and animations are very boring and I've seen them a million times. Too many skills and attacks simply have no animation and/or SFX. I suggest adding custom animation/SFX for each skill and ability that's used in the game.

I don't understand the reasoning in making it so you can't use your restoration items outside of combat. Why add this unnecessary restriction on the player? You're inflating the difficulty at the cost of adding frustration and you're not getting any benefit out of this. 

I feel like the player is 'missing' too much personally. A higher accuracy would feel more satisfying.

When an enemy has 1 HP it seems to round the HP bar to look like it has 0% HP remaining. I would try my best attempt at making that HP bar show a sliver of HP until the enemy actually has zero HP.

The healing moves and items don't restore enough HP once you get passed round 1 and the game becomes a grindy slog. Without touching on the previous points that I've already made, I'd like to emphasize that it's probably better to make a game that falls on the easier or less grindy side for a game jam or tech demo. Save that difficulty for the end game of the final release.

Good victory music is hard to find especially when you need it to fit a niche, but you could have made another small improvement if you'd found the right BGM for that instead of leaving it silent.

While I think that you have the makings of a really decent title here, I also think it's missing quite a few things and needs some redesign in certain areas. Congratulations on making it to round three of the IGMC 2022 and I look forward to your next project.

-Drifty

Spirits of Combination Village

by Michelle Rakar

Hey there Michelle, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Nice cartoony art and chill track on the title screen. I like the font used too.

I really like how you color coded the show text for each character. It helps in tandem with the character name plate to keep straight whose talking.

Sometimes the music skips when selecting a location to go to.

I like your menu layouts. They look customized and very slick.

It's cool that you have a relationship meter in the menu to let you know where you stand with everyone. It would be cool if we had this in real life wouldn't it?

Some of the backgrounds are so filtered and blurry that I can't even tell what I'm looking at. For example the burger joint is just a mess of scribbles.

Where do I even begin... Some of these choices are really none-choices when you think about it. Do I let my 6 year old cousin play in the forest all by herself so I can hang out at the mall with my friends? Obviously you have to pick Pamchan and get her home safely everyday.

Some of the choices that you're given are really strange and their outcomes even more strange. Like I visit a candy shop and then boom! I'm dead! Now I'm a spirit entering the minds of my loved ones to guide them through puzzles? Telling Pamchan that you're a spirit entering her mind and that you're watching her is supposed to set her at ease? No no no, this would be traumatic and she would therapy.

The dialog was well written up until the point of death then it just went downhill and made no sense. I understand that this is a video game and I'm willing to suspend my disbelief, but I feel like it's a bit too farfetched and that you could have done a better job by reeling it in a little bit.

I realize that because of the nature of this game there are several endings and entire routes of dialog that I'll probably never read. You should keep in mind that the amount of work that it takes to successfully have multiple endings in a game is something that is often underestimated.

While I do understand that you were on a deadline to finish this project I have to say that it does really show in the writing towards the end. It feels very rushed and scattered.

I do think that you have something interesting and I hope that you don't take this as a negative review. I think that this game starts off very strong and if you were given enough time you could really bring it together and polish some of the problem areas like the writing and mechanics. (For example the 'point and click' mechanics felt very clunky. )

Keep up the good work and congratulations on making it to round three of the IGMC 2022. I look forward to seeing what you work on next.

-Drifty

Life-A-Live 

by Berry B

Hey there Berry, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Nice music selection, the title screen has a very melancholy tone with simple but cute menu artwork.

The combat system was interesting and odd. Mechanically it's a simple input memorization test. Much like Simon Says.

I'm not exactly sure what is happening in the combat but it seems like you're healing them instead of damaging them which is pretty neat.

I like the use of blur and perspective given on some of the images for example the giant sunflower with the sparkles coming off of it after the first battle.

I was using the controller until I was unable to, then I had to switch to the keyboard when the combat system memorization mechanics requires I input specific numbers.

A good suggestion would be to tie all of that to buttons on the controller in future versions(or games). That way someone who wants to use a controller to play is able to.

The combat system itself isn't really that engaging as I don't find memorization puzzles to be that fun personally, but I do appreciate the amount of artwork and sequencing that went into all of these battles.

The music from stage 1-3 felt sinister and fits better with the combat scene. However, the melancholy emotional piano piece, while is pretty and feel-provoking doesn't quite fit to me for the battle scene. I was left a little confused with a lack of any real context. It made it hard to get a idea of what was going on. I suppose the intentions are to let the user write their own story, which is not a bad approach, but it can be hit or miss.

I guess it's a story about friends saving each other? I really didn't understand the story, but I felt like you took me on a ride, and that was pretty cool.

I like the attempt at telling a story with no words. Inevitably while some people may imagine a wonderful story from the artwork that you've provided them, some will not. This is a very challenging method of story writing and I applaud your efforts.

There were a couple of areas that felt incomplete like the extra buttons in battle that did nothing for example.

Congratulations on making it to round three in the IGMC 2022 and well done. Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing your future projects.

-Drifty

Blackheart 

by Grimmy Nocturne

Hey there Grimmy, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I like all of the extra options in the options screen. There are many more than the average entry in here so good job with that.

It's interesting that you've ask the player if they wanted to live right at the beginning of the game, I said yes, but now I am left wondering what happens if you say no? Probably Game Over? I'll have to replay it sometime.

Nice music selection.

When Mathias joins the party he teleports to her. You could make a quick and small movement event to make that look better. Same thing for when Sylvena joins.

I prefer to play with a controller and you've bound the dash skill to pressing 1 on the keyboard. It would be a great idea to also tie it to a button on the controller going forward.

The animations on all of the player skills are well picked and customized, but the first enemies you face is missing that extra effort.

You should allow an autosave before the first crusader fight. Not that it's overly challenging, but just in case someone messes up real bad, they won't have to restart the whole thing.

You've done a good job of mapping the town and other maps, but there's too much fog and you can barely see what you're looking at. I would reduce that quite a bit.

Nice little RPG throwback by letting the player smash the pots in the buildings for loot. I also find it interesting that most of the things you interact with get destroyed. It's kind of a subtle thing but good.

I like that you've used classical piano pieces like Moonlight Sonata through-out the game.

I think that you've spoiled something when you revealed the inner thoughts of Lord North. It's kind of clear that when he reveals the main character's inner power that 'something' is up, and I can't help but think that you could of saved that for later in the game. 

Good story writing I really enjoyed it.

Why is it that the special tree move that the main character gets is soo strong on Lord North, but so weak on his minion? Regardless, you've done a good job of balancing the fights.

You could further improve the game if you rewarded exploration a bit more, especially with how big you've made most of these maps. You could do this by simply adding more chests and hidden interactable events.

Add name borders to all of the show texts so we can better identify the names of each of the characters. 

The story starts really strong and fizzles out slightly through-out the game. I think that you should change the 'I joined to save my brother' motive of the 2nd character because it's too close to the main character's motive and comes off as a lack of creativity in this scene.

The action sequence for 'The End' is pretty tight! I liked that.

The final sequence was good, although I wonder what the other ending would have been. :)

(I chose the 'I refuse' option.)

Overall I think that you've done a great job with presenting a project for the IGMC 2022. I found it to be an enjoyable experience and I look forward to what you work on next.

-Drifty

Death No More

by augustomendes97

Hey there augustomendes97, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The BGM on the title screen is pretty chill and I like it.

The game has some very obvious grammar issues.

While the actual gameplay is the same push puzzles I've seen a million times, you've put in an isometric viewpoint, which makes it a bit more interesting.

Some of the puzzles get harder by restricting the number of steps which makes it kind of frustrating because you have to solve them in very specific ways.

The writing is kind of weird but it has its own style so to say if it's good or bad is for each person to decide on their own.

It's not easy to control your character and sometimes I know which way I want to go and press the wrong button, which means I fail the puzzle even though I saw the right way to do it, because of input error.

While the isometric viewpoint works in some games, I don't think it works very well here, especially if you're requiring each movement to be hyper specific. 

I found this game to be a frustrating experience but I can appreciate the work that you've put into it. That being said I personally am not a huge fan of puzzle games so take all of this with a grain of salt. 

Keep making games and I hope to see the next one you work on.

-Drifty

Sacred Earth - Alternative

by MirageV

Hey there MirageV, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The title screen has nice music and art which makes for a good first impression.

While I'm not a big fan of visual novels I do like the font, text layout and presentation.

The writing is a bit lengthy, but worded very well. At times I feel like showing a picture or creating a scene in-game would have been better than just typing a paragraph.

The busts are animated with alternating expressions to go along with the writing which I appreciate.

I recognize Caz's Icons. They look good while matching the rest of the artwork that you've picked.

Simple menu layout and while it does scream RPG Maker, it's not bad. Everything you need is there in a clean window.

Customizing the menu sound effects could be a nice improvement. Confirm and cancel sound effect choice is an important one.

Node based travel works well here. Not every game needs maps that you walk around on. Bad maps will even take away from otherwise good gameplay. I think you made the right choice here.

I like the battle backgrounds, and actually all of the backgrounds that you've picked for that matter.

When starting an encounter, we're given the option to enrage them for +10 TP, or add player stats for -10. What about an option to change nothing for 0 TP change?

Making your tutorials skip-able is a good idea. Everyone learns differently and some people learn by playing not reading more text.

The combat system was a breath of fresh air. I didn't expect much in the form of gameplay when I go into a game that has the signs of a visual novel so when I saw the slick animations that you picked for the skills and the interesting customizations that were made I was pleasantly surprised.

The node system needs some kind of legend on the side that shows what each icon represents. It's impossible at first to know what each of these nodes will do, and thus a legend would help influence the player's first experience with it in a positive way.

Remove the 'properties' section of the status window by deleting that entry in the plugin parameters of the VS plugin. It's unused so it shouldn't even be there.

The description of the Ether items should also tell the player that they are getting elemental resistances and how much in the descriptions.

The menus and sound effect selection could use some work but overall I think that you've put together a really impressive project that feels different from most of the other projects in this competition.(That I've played so far anyway.) The writing is great, the story is interesting enough, the battle system is customized and the node system is a good substitute for using traditional maps. The game is presented well and I found it to be enjoyable.

Great job with this project, keep up the good work and I hope to see what you work on next. 

-Drifty

Fishing Isekai

by 65pts

Hey there 65pts, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Cute title screen, nice BGM selection but I think adding a few more BGM tracks would be a great idea. In some areas there are no music and it felt really bare bones, especially since you kept the default MV sound effects. I'd say customize those too.

Why is it always a truck that hits the main character of every isekai? idk, it works I guess.

Very simple but satisfying fishing minigame. 

The inn and many areas feel very empty and incomplete. Consider adding some treasure boxes here and there to speed up the playthrough a little bit. People will feel rewarded for their exploration of your world and surely would appreciate that as it would mean they have to do less grinding via fishing.

Furry dating sims are not really my thing, but every flavor has an audience.

You should probably allow the player to save everywhere unless you have a specific reason not to. Especially in a tech demo or game jam version of your game.

Although the clock/time system is not a novel idea, it's still cool to see that you've implemented it in your own way.

I like the fact that you've made your own custom pixel art for this title.

Like with many games it's what you make of it, and I can see some people getting lost for hours in this cute little world. Good job on making a chill atmosphere.

Thanks for submitting a game to the IGMC 2022, I hope that you keep making games and look forward to your next one.

-Drifty

Rejuvenation the Story

by DJ990J

Hey there DJ990J, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I like that you customized the letterbox side bars with a unique cave writing style. Good thinking.

Nice job in customizing most things. The default colors for HP and MP stick out to me as default though. :)

The grain and cloud Pixi filters are a bit too heavy. It makes it hard to tell what you're looking at. I would reduce them quite a bit personally.

The little cloud animations are great though.

There's really not much to the battle system, it's kind of a token battle system just for story purposes. That makes most of the gameplay a 'find the switch' puzzle style. This isn't my personal favorite kind of gameplay, but your custom artwork keep it interesting.

Eating the recovery berries could call a common event that shows an animation with a sound effect. Right now it just silently gives HP. Thank you for 

I was able to skip the tutorial zone and all the pot fights and make it to the village. I didn't even know they existed until I got lost and ended up backtracking to the tutorial section.

It's not super clear on where to go and it's sort of a game that expects you to roam around until you find the next switch.

I like your use of background and foreground on the maps.

I ran around for awhile but eventually found the puzzle tower where I got stuck and couldn't get passed. It's really hard to see anything by the time you get into the tower, even with the light key item. It's mostly dark with a heavy film grain effect over it. I already have bad vision to begin with. This is where my journey ended.

Focusing on user experience a bit more could have paid off in spades.

Great job submitting an entry to the IGMC 2022, I think that you've made an interesting game with custom assets and you should continue to make games. Good luck with the next one!

-Drifty

FrameWork

by WyldFire Games and Ben.

Hey there WyldFire Games and Ben, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Nice polish on the look of the splash and title screens.

I really like the titlesets used here. 

Music and sound design seem to be on point. Everything fits.

Interesting that the game is timing you in different areas. For example it told me I was tardy while I was taking in the opening scene. Pretty cool.

The dialog feels very zoomer-bro. I'm not sure if that was a real term but if not, it is now.

I enjoyed the cutscenes, very cool use of animations and sound effects.

Changing the television is satisfying. :) (It's all the little things that add up ya know?)

Opening the door to the back room shows the wall, behind the door. I feel like you could just make this a dark shadow instead of a wall and it would look better imo.

The default settings on the plugin that moves the character makes it look like he's in a constant state of falling over while moving. Try reducing that to make it look more realistic.

I appreciate the fast track storytelling by eliminating the back tracking over maps.

I had quite a bit of difficulty with the "dodge the androids" puzzle, they moved too fast. Thanks for making an EZ mode for my slow brain. :)

When you get to the area before the factory it looks and sounds much like the Magitek Research Facility from FFVI. Really cool! Obviously it's all original, but you've managed to captured some nostalgia of a very fond memory of mine(and probably many other JRPG enthusiasts).

The turret room in the factory is impossibro.

The ending was very satisfying and you've managed to make an amazing entry. I was really impressed. Great job!

-Drifty

*Replied in Discord*

Stray Kitten and the Magical Lantern

by slimmeiske2

Hey there slimmeiske, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The idea of playing as a cat reminds me of that game Stray.

I like the opening music.

The tilesets and sprites used for this game are absolutely adorable and I love them.

The humans talking in windings is a nice touch. I'm assuming that you actually wrote dialog for this but put it in wingdings. I've seen enough wingdings to recognize words.

I'm happy that you've decided to include a lighting engine. It really makes games ten times more immersive.

There is nothing wrong with the resolution of the game, but have you considered making a game in a 16:9 resolution? It might add a bit more depth seeing as most people have 'widescreen' monitors with a 16:9 resolution.

I thought it was funny that if you pick the default name of "Stray" for the main character the 'no spoilers' says "Hmn, not very creative are you?" :sjoy:

Thank you for giving the cat multiple lives, I am bad at QTE and puzzle games.

I like the HUD, it doesn't take up too much space, but I do feel like it can still be improved. I don't think it needs a border and you can space things to the corners more. Also maybe the Stray icon doesn't need to be there.

It's not immediately clear which QTEs will damage you and which won't. Maybe I'm missing something.

I'm not sure if it's just random or if you are slowing down the QTEs when they're failed. If you are purposefully making that happen, then keep doing that. I think it's probably just going to improve the experience for your players.

Customizing the sound effects and adding some new ones in different events might make it feel more fun, depending on the ones you pick of course.

The Hansel and Gretal thing was cute.

The items that you pick up are missing descriptions. 

I like the paintings and effort that went into the artwork.

It doesn't quite make sense how the cat can jump through the bookcase and then it just disappears.

The game isn't clear on what will damage you but I guess since you give multiple lives that's okay. It just makes it a trial and error type of play style.

Good luck getting through the fog if you didn't get all the orbs and learn Nightvision. You might want to give the player Nightvision no matter what.

I find that the music selection for this game was really good, but the sound design could still be improved quite a bit.

I didn't really notice any bugs, just some design things that could be improved. I think you did a fantastic job.

What a cute little game you made, I liked it! The ending was a little subtle and unexpected, but it's a game jam game and it's okay if the game is really short.

Thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC, I look forward to your next project! :)

-Drifty 

Colorbound

by ladybug_games (@ladybug_games)

Hey there ladybug_games, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I like the title screen, artwork and music selection. The sound effects while navigating the windows sound great. Throughout the entire game the sound design was on point and I was very pleased with your selection of audio.

I don't like the font that you've picked for this. It's too watery and hard to read. The 't's look like 'f's and it's foo confusing fo read. :wink: Personally, I would change it.

The story is good and the characters are cute.

The gameplay is satisfying and I can see a real appeal for this.

At the start of a new color map, I would auto-show the color map once instead of forcing the player to open the menu and check it every new map.

Failing to hit the leeches is just straight up frustrating because it consumes your whole turn. What about instead of taking your whole turn it takes a set number of movement to swing at a leech? That might make it less frustrating to the player.

Tossing a rock should do more than one heart of damage.

If all leeches are 'down for the count' just skip their turn.

At certain moments right before the player's round starts I was able to move my character without taking a 'move point'. An exploit patch might be needed.

Allowing leeches to get back up is annoying and should be removed in my opinion. The game has enough fluff and time wasting already.

Maybe allow more saving, when the autosave comes up I hit cancel button on accident. :(

The boss fight mechanics were very interesting and different. My final Point Count was 8350, I'm sure that's a terrible score but at least I had fun. :)

Viewing the Photo album tries to pull files that are missing and thus creates a game breaking bug. However since the game ends and this is kind of a bonus feature I wasn't bothered all that much by it.

Overall I think you have the makings of a commercially viable product and you should very much consider continuing to work on this to make this game jam entry a full release for sale.

I'm not a huge fan of puzzle games but I found this one to be quite good. Great job and I hope you keep making games.

-Drifty

Song of the Bereaved

by Dragon Emperors (@dragonemperorss)

and Black Mage (@black_mage_jbwk)

Hey there Dragon Emperors and Black Mage, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I like the title screen it seems like a FF style with the gradient/embossed logo image with text on it. It works well.

The first scene of the game I have some nitpicks. The name chat box gets cut off by the top of the screen. It's not a big deal just something I noticed and would polish if you plan to keep working on this title.

After the black screen and text we're greeted with an interesting scene that's got some custom art in a sci-fi setting that immediately gets ruined by a mismatching default Lucius sprite. It sticks out like a soar thumb and really break the immersion. For future versions swap these as soon as you can.

The main menu looks really cool, good job with the layout but it feels unpolished. This is mostly because you're missing sound effects all over the place. Take advantage of audio to captivate your players. The other issue I have with it is that the thing that is selected is grey and everything else is highlighted. Personally I would reverse this.

The ATB charge gauge is so slow that the combat feels boring. The default sound effects here only compounds the fact that sound design is severely lacking in this project.

The player gets an attack command but it's unable and you're forced to use a skill. Maybe remove the command if it's not going to be selectable.

The enemies hit way too hard and the combat doesn't feel very balanced. Guarding is supposed to recover HP, but it recovers hardly anything. In fact you'll end up taking more damage than recovering when guarding. It's a complete waste of your turn.

Consider providing people with a starting amount of healing potions just to make that initial experience a little less oppressive. Also, in fights that you're supposed to lose in, make the fight end quicker. Don't lead a player on when you know they're supposed to lose.

For people using a controller it would be a good idea to bind the 'Q' and 'E' buttons to the bumper buttons on the controller. This way you're not forcing your players who are trying to kick back and enjoy your game with a controller to have to sit up and press buttons on their keyboard.

You should let the player save anywhere, especially in your tech demo/game jam version. Also consider adding a sound effect when a game is saved. 

The AI on the enemies is really bad. They aim at rows that have nothing on them.

Upon the force lose situations you're subjected to backtracking over the same maps, but I appreciate the attempted fast travel at the stone.

I think that you have some interesting ideas here, but they need more work put in for a showcase or tech demo. It's too early for this project to show it off yet.

Thank you for submitting your project, I hope that you've had fun and learned some new things with this process. Keep making games and we'll see you in the next one.

-Drifty

Letters from a lost time

by dreamer1988

Hey there dreamer1988, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Walking feels very slow, but I can understand that increasing it by one setting would make it feel too fast. This is just a limitation of VX Ace.

I find it funny that grandpa lost his marbles, as that's a saying for someone who went crazy.

I appreciate the fact that the controller works in this one, as not all VX games will allow for that to work.

The music selection is good, but there is a slight lack of sound effects in some areas that could be used to take the immersion up a notch.

The idea that you have to do everything in a very specific order really slows down the game and creates a scenario that makes the player backtrack over and over.

The story itself isn't bad, but it's in desperate need of an editor that has a firm grasp of the English language. 

Ultimately what this boils down to is boring gameplay. You slowly walk everywhere on the map to locate a hidden switch event, then repeat this over and over on the same maps. Tie this together with the fact that you have to hold the action button to 'dash' with no setting to just turn that on and you create an unpleasant experience. 

This is just my opinion as I'm not a fan of these 'find the switch' story games and some people may genuinely like this game.

I hope that you keep making games and having fun with the process. Thanks for submitting a game to the IGMC 2022.

-Drifty

Legends Untamed: Reborn

by WyldFire Games (@WyldFireGames)

Hey there Kendal (WyldFire Games), thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

This looks familiar, It looks a lot like the game you had us play a few months back.

I love the names you decided to pick for your Pokem, erm I mean partners. Grillizard is great.

The maps looks good, but there are a few small collision issues, for example you can walk on the walls via the shelves.

Same for the tables, but this is less of a nitpick, because you can also walk on your tables in real life, if that's what you wanted to do. :)

Thank you for letting me save almost everywhere.

The battle backgrounds look amazing!

Providing a difficulty scale setting is a great idea.

Thanks for providing a good number of consumables right from the beginning. That will surely improve a new player's first impressions.

The level of polish on all of the assets is fantastic. 

Good luck with your entries and thanks for participating in the IGMC 2022.

-Drifty

Resonate 2

by SeraphCircle (@SeraphCircle)

Hey there SeraphCircle, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I see you were trying to go for an isometric/3D style here, but the blank black maps with invisible collision is really not very fun to walk around on.

It's really difficult to navigate to the chests and doors that are magically floating as you walk around on nothing. I found that rotating the camera helps a bit though.

I like how you've tilted the position on the battle scene to create an illusion of isometric placement. 

I appreciate the custom animations and found the music and sound to be pretty decently picked.

The encounter rate is too high inside the rooms, as the player will inevitably flounder around in an attempt to escape or get to the next point. This is a compounding issue because the battles are not balanced and you start out very weak. If you encounter multiple enemies you just die.

Some early game lenience (by making the enemies much weaker) would have gone a long way in making the first combat experiences much better.

Autosave was a great idea.

Adding crafting is a cool feature, but the potions are super weak. They only heal 64 hp which is around 10% of your starting max hp. I would suggest increasing the amount that they heal for. Also maybe start the player with a few heal pots.

Making the player suffer through being charmed when they only have one character is quite frustrating. You're already outnumbered and then the enemy takes your turn to make you attack yourself. I would remove that state unless you have multiple party members. Simply because it's frustrating to a player.

The maps don't work. You have floating chests and doors, but no floors or walls and nothing to give your player a base to work with.

From your screenshots I see that you made maps, but none of that loads in for me. It's all black screen with floating doors. This is unfortunate and it's probably due to using an engine that is not designed to make 3D images to make a 3D game.

I really enjoyed the custom animations as I got destroyed in combat over and over. I suppose if I had the ability to recover HP it would have been more fun.

I think that the player's MaxHP is fine, but not being able to recover enough HP is the problem here.

You have some interesting ideas here and I think that you've got some stuff right, but also some stuff wrong. 

Thanks for submitting your project to the IGMC 2022. I hope that you keep making games and have fun with the process.

-Drifty

I would suggest you keep this up here as the 'game jam' version of it. This way you can compare this version to future versions to show how much you've improved over time.

Rebirth Error

by AndrewGarcia1119

Hey there AndrewGarcia1119, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

There are some very clear mapping issues. The first map needs some work as the first thing people see in your game you want it to have a little more work put into it.

Once the rebirth happens you can walk over the paintings in the wall which let you walk all over the roof/ceiling areas breaking the maps.

Once you get outside that room it opens up to a massive map that the player can easily get lost on. It's bigger than it needs to be in my opinion.

The issue is compounded by the fact that you lock movement to be walking only, so it takes forever to traverse this huge, mostly empty map.

The music is nice and spooky. The bloody windows and stuff tell me that this is supposed to be a horror game. If that is true, then adding lighting would have really stepped it up to the next level. Most of the good horror games out there have great lighting work and this one really lacks it.

So the game boils down into, slowly walking through-out a huge mostly empty map looking for floating brains, while spooky music plays.

There are a few walking zombies, and misc. dead bodies, but nothing that interacts with the player. 

I find this to be kind of boring, but I think you had a neat idea. Just work on the player experience and focus on immersion more with this kind of game.

I hope you keep making games and thanks for submitting your project to this year's IGMC. 

-Drifty

Die To Live

by mongmongstudio

Hey there mongmongstudio, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I liked the quick intro to the story. It was short and sweet, then right into the gameplay.

The action sequences were pretty basic, but I like that you put in some custom stuff.

It was cool to see a demon spirit hovering over the attacker's head to signify some kind of evil possession. 

Simplifying things for a game jam is always a good idea and with the equipment you did a good job. Weapon, armor, accessory. 

You made an interesting little wood chopping puzzle that took me dying a couple of time to get right, but eventually I made it through. 

Kind of ironic that you enter the 'temple of light' and it's completely dark. :)

It's not clear what you're supposed to do when you get into the temple of light.

The sign reads, "The amount of little Fire left and right." I'm not sure what to make of this. 

I found a spot that you can walk on the wall by "climbing the broken mirror" on the left side. 

I've tried several combinations of lighting the torches to get passed this puzzle but I simply have no idea.

Perhaps it's broken, or maybe it's just a combination that I just haven't tried. Either way I found this part to be the game breaker.

I think that you should add a timer that opens the way if the player struggles for long enough, or some kind of 'fast pass' for the game jam version.

It's frustrating for the player when they can't figure out a puzzle, and it's frustrating for the dev when the player can't figure out their puzzle.

If you decide to put puzzles in your game make sure that there are easy ways around them, without having to try 1,000 combinations of switches.

Alternatively make the puzzles optional.

Thanks for submitting a game for this game jam and I hope that you continue to make games in the future! :)

-Drifty

Soul's Spectrum

by Thund

Hey there Thund, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Interesting bit of meta gameplay going on here with the multiple 'deaths' thing.

I like the save reminder.

Good level design. I'm not a huge fan of puzzles but this has been very designed well.

I got stuck for awhile on the water, it *should* go without saying that humans can swim... I just uh, forgot. It all made sense when I backtracked and got the candle to become human and than swam across though.

It got even more fun when you gave us the Scythe. 

I was a little confused with that last scene, but it wasn't a bad ending.

I enjoyed the game mechanics and level design. Keep up the good work and I look forward to your next project.

-Drifty

Reviving Ellie

by LuminousDream

Hey there LuminousDream, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The opening music is eerie and a little unsettling, I'm not sure that was intentional, but it probably was. :)

On the title screen while trying to interact with the screen with the controller or keyboard it seems to do nothing unless you use the mouse. There are ways to make this work with the keyboard and controller. In fact most of the game doesn't work well or at all with a controller. 

Adding more keyboard and controller functionality would improve this game.

The artwork is fantastic and adorable. I especially found the expressive facial features to be done very well.

The shading on the characters is good and the backdrops all fit nicely into the story that's being told.

When the music changes and that moment hit where Nathan is asked 'why he did it?' (no spoilers here) I got the chills. Very nice contrast of mood.

There are a few moments where the translation sounds funny, but for the most part the English version of this game is worded in a cohesive manor.

Placing candles too close to bedsheets is a fire hazard. XD 

When the story jumps to a completely different scene with all new actors I was a little bit disappointed because I was getting invested in what was going to happen with Ellie.

I didn't expect the game to end in the way that it did. It left too many unanswered questions. 

I felt like the game could have come to a good conclusion, but as it progressed it just created more open ends. 

I find the ending of the game to be a bit unsatisfying, but the first thirty minutes were very entertaining.

I can't be more specific without spoiling it, so I won't. 

However, I do like what you've submitted and I look forward to the next project that you work on.

Keep up the good work! 

-Drifty