itch.io

This is a really cool game! There's a lot of things in here so well done for putting this all together in the time given. 
I would say it fits the theme spectacularly. I would go as far to say it would be even better as a multiplayer game like "PlateUp!". There's room to explore the chaos of managing different tasks to stay afloat (literally). 

I would say that the sounds and music, whilst fitting, could use a bit more variety. I completely understand though why they are low priority as you have to focus on everything else first. 

But, overall, amazing job well done!

Thanks for taking the time to comment! We were initially going to have a lot more things to manage but, for a game jam, we decided to keep the scope small and focus on bringing that to life. If we were to flesh it out more then, for sure, there would be more chaos and things to do. 

Glad you like the art style!

This was a cool prototype. Congrats on making something even if time wasn't on your side!
I liked the aesthetic a lot. Love me a bit of Steampunk. 

A couple things to note feedback wise, the music tracks occasionally didn't loop properly and there were times when dashing too close to a wall would cause you to clip through it. Also, the jump button sometimes went unresponsive for a bit only to kick in later causing me to commit to a jump way later than I thought I would. 

I would love to see the enemy types be expanded upon.

I think with more time and polish this could be a really good game! Well done!

Thanks for checking our game out! Yannis (the designer of the mech and the enemies) doesn't really use Itch but, I will pass on the compliment. I haven't actually seen Ironcast before but that makes sense.

The aesthetic we were going for was Magepunk/Aethercore. Similar to Piltover in Arcane/League and Kaladesh from Magic: The Gathering.

Gameplay wise, we initially wanted to increase the originality by having the player swap between inside and outside of the robot/mech. We found out pretty early on that it would be a huge scope increase that we didn't quite have the resources for. 

This fits the vibe of chaos very well. Things quickly escalated from manageable to insane hahaha. Love the wizard chickens too!

Very relaxing but I can also see where the chaos comes into things. I think I could spend hours painting and watching the world grow. Very cool! Also, I love the ambient music and customisable colour scheme

Thanks for playing our game! I'm glad you liked the visuals and sound. I'm also glad you liked the text. George did a great job coming up with a reason for the rampaging robot

This is amazing Marco!!! Shooting the UI elements to interact with them is a really cool touch. Love the polish of all of the animations and flipping the board adds to the chaotic vibe. Major congrats for making this.

Thank you for checking out the game!!! I'm glad you liked the music changes. It was a lot of fun to make music based on different mental states 🎵 💜

I finally tracked this down on Itch. Amazing job guys! The tension is palpable and the monster design is off the charts. I finally managed to find the exit lol. 

I would say that for the WebGL version, the heartbeat SFX clicks where the version I played on-site didn't have that problem. But other than that, a very solid game that could be developed into a game to rival lethal company. 

Amazing work Shani! Despite the circumstances, I'm so glad you decided to make a game for this jam. It's brimming with wholesome moments and quirky humour. Love it!

Ah I see. You selected a really appropriate one. I'm not super familiar with Reason but I think the RV7000 MkII has a convolution mode. It captures the characteristics of a real life space (like a concert hall) and then applies it to the dry sound.  The one I use in Logic called Space Designer is handy for orchestral stuff.

This is so well executed Selkione! The instrumentation is fantastic and the solos are really good. 

Also, I'm not sure if you're using a convolution reverb but the space you created with whatever reverb you used is so realistic. Along with the mixing, it feels close to a live recording on a stage. Brilliant work!

This is so cool! I can hear the Toby Fox influence with the upright double bass. The vinyl crackles give it a nice vintage quality and the piano line was very bluesy. The swing rhythm was well done and the brushed snare is a good choice for instrumentation.

I think you did a really good job, especially considering this is your first time making a jazzy track. The only thing I can think of to make it a bit more jazzy would be to have a section with more experimental chords with more extensions and maybe some borrowed chords. Overall you did a really good job Paper!

This is so cool Jotsuke! It radiates Mega Man X vibes (especially with the groovy bass) and I love the harmony around the 0:35 mark. The counter melody panned to the side is a really nice touch. Amazing work!

Absolutely no hard feelings at all. I just thought it was really funny, when I was reading your description, how much it was describing the route I chose😂. Thank you so much for checking out my other stuff. I hope we run into each other on other tune jams in the future😁. 

Wow! I'm honoured to get a response from the host! Thank you for taking the time to listen and I'm glad that I could fulfil your hopes for a Halloween waltz. I appreciate your kind words and the opportunity to participate in your tune jam. Looking forward to more in the future!

Yeah definitely gonna focus on variation for future entries but it's still good to hear areas of improvement. I'm always trying to get better.  Thank you so much for the kind words and for taking a listen to my track!

Thank you so much for listening and I'm glad you liked the instrumentation! 😁

Thank you so much for taking a listen and the kind words! I think subconsciously I was inspired a lot by Danny Elfman's work bc he's done a lot of the great spooky/dark soundtracks and some of the instrumentation/harmony has stuck with me.

The guitar mixed with chiptune sounds was not something I was expecting but I think it works well. 

The guitar processing was really good and added to the intensity as well as the rhythm of the drums. 

The whispering at the end caught me so off guard 😂 but in a good way - it was very spooky.

Great work!

This is really interesting. I'm in love with the grove; the swung rhythm is really well done. 

The 8-bit plugins were used to great effect and limiting your voices really adds to the authenticity.

I also really like the panning at around 50 seconds in. It was a nice contrast to the previous section and helped add to the track's movement. 

The melody and trills really helped give it a Halloween vibe and the timbre of the marimba in the cover version really adds to the skeleton aesthetic.

I feel so called out in your description though bc I used orchestra lol 😂.

Overall really good work!

Everything about this is amazing! This is such well constructed track and perfectly fits into a Halloween vibe. 

I'm also in awe of how you made this all in tracker software with only four channels instead of a typical DAW. That takes a lot of skill and it definitely paid off bc, I agree with Blue Lava, if someone told me this was a real track from a Game Boy game I would believe them. The pitch-bending is also a nice touch👌.

I also love the cover art! It gives the entire entry a sense that it is from a real game. 

Amazing work!

I can definitely hear the Nintendo influence on this and works well to add a whimsical element to the Halloween vibe. I do admit though that I agree with PerLonn, the melody, especially towards the beginning is slightly pirate-like but I think it eventually becomes more Halloween as the track goes on.

I also love the theremin lines; definitely a classic and it really brings home the Halloween aesthetic. 

The bass part was also really well produced and written. This was really fun to listen to and I'm looking forward to hearing more music from you in the future! 

Great job!

I definitely get the Luigi's Mansion thing. Also yeah if I could do it again, I think I would make it more intense so that it fits more as a boss fight (and therefore more of a fight to the death). I'm glad you like the choral pulses bc they were super fun to make. Thank you for taking a listen! 😁

This is so cool! The trap drums work so well with horror and your production skills are really good. The sound fx fit really well, especially the classic scream. I also like the vocal chop thing, it reminds me of the soundtrack to Cult of the Lamb. Amazing work for your first jam entry!

Thank you so much! Yeah I was definitely trying to tap into the visual of a music box/dancer so it's cool that you picked up on that. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my track 😁

Thank you for all the feedback! I definitely agree with what you've said about the intensity. After the upload, I kept thinking I could have made it more intense. I also like your idea of bringing back the starting instrument (which is a celeste but it does sound similar to a glockenspiel). I appreciate you taking the time to listen, thank you! 😁

Thank you for taking a listen! I've never heard of Underhero but now I'm definitely gonna check that out. I like your idea of it being a rhythm game type boss battle. Also yeah definitely going to work on melody variation for future entries.

Caused me to bob my head along so mission accomplished. This definitely gives me Halloween boss vibes. I think the intervals really helped with that and were a good choice. 

The production value was also good. The stacked guitar is a nice touch and helps give the track a heavy energy (that and the epic drums). 

Also, the playable demo music video was really fun. It was so well made that if someone told me that it was a real N64 game, I'd believe them.

Great work!

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my track. I appreciate it! I definitely get what you mean with the melody. If I were to do this again, I'd definitely spend more time working on variations. The melody was a very last minute thing as I kept redoing it and starting over. I appreciate your feedback; it's super useful to hear from others so that I can improve. Thank you! 😁

This is so epic! You clearly have a mastery of orchestration and especially arrangement. I love your use of dynamics (those crescendos slap). The instrumentation was top notch (but I might be a bit biased bc I also used an orchestra and an organ😂). 

Amazing work!

This is so good! Everything you mentioned about tonality is on full display and works really well to create a sinister aura. 

The sections being phases works really well and I can definitely imagine this in a souls-like boss fight that has multiple phases. 

The orchestration is fantastic and reminds me of the folk horror of Midsommar (especially the cluster voices). 

The contrast between sections A and B is really nice and allows the listener to ponder the lore behind the boss (very souls-like). 

I did like the overall dynamic curve of the track but I would have liked to hear a bit more of a ramp up in intensity towards the end with maybe some faster lines underneath the main melody. 

Overall amazing job you absolutely aced this style!

This is so cool! The production value is insanely good. 

I love the use of reversing, gross beat and the bit crusher. They add such an interesting quality to the music. Like in the title, it really feels like something you would hear fighting a possessed machine. 

I also really like the break beat drums! It's very 2000s and adds to the digital aesthetic (it also slaps). 

The only thing that was missing to me would be an element to serve as a melodic component to help contrast the chaotic arps and drums. 

Great work overall!

I love the epic orchestration and the spooky SFX are a nice addition. 

I would say that although I like the thunder sounds, they could be less frequent as sometimes it feels like it's competing with the other instruments for attention. I liked the bit where the music dropped out at the end to let the SFX have a spot to shine. 

I also really like the melody. It fit with the boss fight theme and kind of reminded me of something I'd hear in Zelda. 

The piano in the background was also a nice addition.

Awesome work!

This is a really cool arrangement! Also I feel you on the never feeling satisfied with the sound in recording. I think you did a good job overall. 

The violin is such a good instrument for instant Halloween vibes and the piano accompaniment was really well done. 

I would say, if you want to try and improve the sound quality of the recordings, look into mixing plugins like EQs and compressors to tweak the sound to your liking. I know Audacity comes with some built in ones but in my experience, third party VST/AU ones can give you better results. Some free ones that I like are TDR Nova (Dynamic EQ) and MCompressor from Melda Production (The entire free plugin collection from Melda is really good). I think it's really cool that you're trying to get better and I'm rooting for you on your journey😁

This is such an interesting track! I love the Detroit style minor chord pattern. It helps give a dark sinister vibe but with undertones of melancholy. It makes me think about what kind of story you could tell about the boss you're fighting and how they might have ended up as a spectral presence. 

I also love the melody. It reminds me of this old plug and play Batman game based on the 2004 cartoon (deep cut I know😅). The intervals just remind me of the darkness and gritty atmosphere of that game. Also big up to the BBC Symphony Orchestra by Spitfire I love that plugin.

 Another cool thing was the synth arp in the background. I think it helps drive the track and fits the otherworldly vibe. 

In terms of mixing (and I often fall into this a lot), I would say when making tracks on the gloomy side be sure to use EQs or Exciters to boost the highs a little as the overall mix can become quite dark but overall I think you did a good job on the mixing and balance.

Fantastic work!

This is amazing! I love the theremin sound that you decided to go with for the melody. It perfectly captures the blend between whimsical and sinister and gave me huge Luigi's Mansion vibes. 

You have such a mastery of arrangement and structure; managing to have areas of intensity and moments of calm and flowing between them excellently. 

I could definitely imagine this as a secret boss theme in an RPG. You did an amazing job!

This is a cool track. The use of the visualiser is a nice touch. 

I am in love with the use of crow/bird sounds on top of the snare drum. That is such a unique addition to the track that really adds to the Halloween vibe. 

I also think the main guitar pattern does a good job of fitting the chaotic vibe you were going for.

If I had to criticise it, I would agree with what you wrote about having a more subtle blend between sections as at the moment it is quite abrupt going into the chill section. 

I think you did well despite being busy and I'm sure this was a useful learning opportunity for future projects. Good job!

Edit: Reposting bc I forgot to click save on the ratings. Apologies

I agree with Buscadon, this is such a good boss battle theme. I could easily imagine this playing in a modern RPG. 

I love the instrumentation and the nice repeatable structure is good for a boss battle. The organ is a stand out for me bc it gives me circus/evil clown vibes. 

I would've loved to hear some other elements like a theremin or strings to give it more of a Halloween vibe but I think it does a good job of fitting a merry-go-round vibe. 

I am also in love with the cover art! The annotations are 👌 Great job!