itch.io

i interpreted ending 1/2 as a fail state for the entire playthrough (i tried to quack all the ducks forward, i tried jiggling all the dead and dying ducks), but it seems that its a death screen relevant only to that screen's obstacles (with a following screen), i think in terms of game language that particular obstacle should kick you out to the moving mushroom duck screen when finished. i also somewhat wonder what the ducks did to deserve this (what preservation instinct failed or what drive was preyed upon biologically, our duck does come across anti-social in screen 1, perhaps its strong lungs are what let it host the mushroom without dying?, the symbiosis is visually powerful i just feel like its missing a little something in the ludo-narrative story-telling sense).

the game definitely got under my skin and i kept closing out of it which is great!

i really appreciate that the game lets you pick the order you go through the story, it turns what would probably be quite a stifling story (just by its mechanic) into something that feels quite expansive, i also really like that talking to the suspicious guy feels like we're stepping out of the story in a similar movement (that the suspicious guy is something out of story that the player character cant enitrely interact with, or 'they can't have what ee's got')

helpful duck lmao, best incorporation of stream/chat into the game's theme for me so far (and im not going that much further)!

i did play until my satisfaction on most of these, though the first guy running to screen had zero haptic feedback (perhaps i didnt find the right key, or in piano sweeping the keyboard found the right key but hit it early and ruled it out), i did get a joy out of the games looping similar to that of recognizing a textbox is looping but amped up quite a bit (more so for the 3 games looping which i did first).

i liked the idea that i could go in the cupboards at some point in the future, i thought the blender was animated but it turns out it was glitch animated which was a cool wrinkle.

the way the code enter death screen works got me multiple times, very unsettling!

duck wireless being what you say when you select a duck image is a really interesting note to hit, door game also has a lot of complexity going for it (for me it was a crossover between hal and calico cut pants dot com, a halico cut pants venture if you will)

the dialogue noises of the host is very fun, the insinuation of the final game has a fun tension to it (even if this is not the most creepy pasta entry imaginable, id hate to have had to restart)

i demonstrated bounce

i liked: seeing my reflection, how fullscreening works, pointing my finger at the screen, i wanted to find a cave in the game pretty bad but didnt manage to find one...

i kind of wish everything was put into the functionality of the tv and we just got to watch a weird snippet of programming (great tv portion). the word spin had me spinning with the mouse on the chair off the chair and pressing every button on my keyboard and the remote trying to quack, rather comedic but i think run in a circle (and... quack) would get me there a lot more effortlessly (spin with fps controls is super loaded for me ig)

the gag that your character starts silhouetted to a trash can and trash cans are their check point system is a classic,,, trash duck

i did like 3 runs of level 4 dying out in the section the waves first appear and didn't think to flip to the left side ground until it seemed unlikely i could win while keeping the antennae up and dropping to the right side

banana duck

i dont like when everything goes wrong on top of each other cause it just feels like i'll just never catch a break and get to watch some tv... my son should learn to catch too |):/

i like how telegraphed the obstacles remained in the later stages (even if the geometry was somewhat uncertain), when i wanted to get up i was all like "oh i know a guy who solves this" and then i would flip through channels 0-3 some to see if i saw anything to progress. i thought i was so slick on a level 7 attempt where i remembered to flip backwards for farmer channel from picking up the key on forest channel :)

it reminds me a lot of trying to get to the right channel to play on console as a kid and wondering what all the tv channels are supposed to be... (i kind of want a crt light smear channel now) very fun!

the lookback mechanic is quite compelling, how it balances the genuine peril we seem to be in and a sort of childishness our player character has in fiddling with the antennae. Very Cool!

im on a roof :) Glorp

i did 3 playthroughs and on my 3rd (first to do happy hour first cause i thought maybe the power gem would open the garage even though re-encounters are broken) i wished the abilities on level up were tied to the environment (sort of like a druid character to make it a little like megaman and pokemon in routing), obvi the abilities arent the selling point but i was looking to them to get a better sense of the atmosphere. using earth felt good when i got it...

first enemy rides a goose/duck mount, i think you're in a swamp cause of duck, Veronica may be loosely duck themed, duck power crystal ofc, the enemy aliens are a lightly beaked variant, i might be reading into some of these occurances but you're ducky... (the search for the duck is the only reason i didnt leave it at 1 run, the duck's power compels us all ig)

the visuals are very good, i like the missile even though i didn't see it till the third time round, i want to go in the garage or the spaceship or into the swamp even, i enjoyed being on the roof even at the expense of it killing my first run (green carpet and bottles clip together, also you can walk backwards or left in first room). kinda wish you just took one step for each tile instead of two, that confused me, but the movement is a wonky delight otherwise (complete with bonus arrow keys for menuing) 

Alf(ilf) could use a little spin imo, i mean he's probably meant to echo sasquatch but it was the only design to really take me out of it (never watched alf so maybe idk). enjoyed the mutants though the car+warrior clashing was very very hectic for me trying to gauge at first and all that (main reason i think the ability writing needs to guide attention more effectively).

tl;dr if anyone's the ad it's us...

radical roy is too good for me to catch right now!

a lot of slapstick involved with learning the controls (good slapstick) but my favorite moment was in the level 1 "get it" with floating platforms, i had more than enough time and i knew the platforms were slippery and i should just be jumping from center, but literally every time i jumped to the left i couldnt help myself and tried to jump while running and ran off and ran out of time :p. took me embarrassingly long to figure out how to nod too (though nodding is very cute)

i got to level 3 twice but dropped both runs (later jumps are too arhythmic, otherwise im just bad and will stay bad), i wouldve enjoyed a cutscene in between each level (so i could selfishly get a level select). i also thought it would be natural to potentially score multiple points on early levels once you know what you're doing, cutting them off early seems to mess with game flow a little especially since the tasks are a good deal less frantic than wario ware and it seems like the emotion strived for with the games is care/caution!

i wish gameplay amenities were breadcrumbed relative to the lake instead of the path, i went left first thing and broke the scripting  p sure, finding the lake at 5/8 ducks dead end was a powerful moment (i kept wanting to find the lake and orient myself with it but kept barely missing it in hindsight), flashlight could ping (reflect off or otherwise illuminate) things (like the lake, lake the lake) at distance (~2 and a half duck calls, i might narrow the play space too, i shouldnt have combed but combing also felt like a particularly bad plan with the width) to ameliorate my feelings.

i probably broke script cause i found holding two directions (W and A) goes faster and there's no sprint button. was there obviously an intended path for me to follow that worked fine: yes, am i going to change my ways: not really. sprint, jump, getting closer to the lake slowly.

i really wanted a spooky duck guy to give me a natural stopping point especially when i got the second duck (this was the peak of the gameplay for me), i like that the statues on the fence are ducks!

the mechanics are nice and compact but also come across disjointed in ways (speed is the only mandatory stat for boss clear, but not much tells you that and dodging doesnt feel great amid 4+ ads when you are building speed), the gameplay has an extremely uneven groove but does become very heatable beatable (in a fun way) when you know what you're about (tho by then you blow past boss and win and stop; i restarted to double check there's no new game+/loop+ [i played at jam start, is fuzzy], and holy, i think no i-frames and crafting enemy combos is good for crunchier risk management {notably, megabonk does this [it might be tied to stats, particularly armor?] and i like it} but it really doesn't help with the complexity bottleneck the player [i] experiences[d], a little unforgiving, a little shock to the egoist), gray leno's long line of cars attack has stuck with me since i played it

Glorp, but also i wanted a go back to sleep ending (i also reloaded to see if i could make the tv chase me around after making it angy but i get why that wasn't in the cards)

good game

< 𓅭

listen up flowflake!, this is what complacency should feel like..

obvi i made myself snug as a bug in the hell corner

so much of polly's story remains untold

this game is great at making the player panic (me), and i respect it for that :)

great movement, the way enemies work kind of make this a stealth game (which is interesting)

i immediately thought a fun implementation of the game would be FMK three random tarot contestants from a pool (being a sort of stretching of the idea of doing a tarot reading, there could be an ending where it describes the reality of the marriage, but i dont want to go too far down that rabbit hole). i actually got so wrapped up in learning the system from a mile up i forgot to read basically anything, brb while i actually engage with the material (i went weird question into tbd content first, then took it more conservatively to see what was there, then satisfied my navigation urges without satisfying my curiosity... urges).

my read of the 3 mystery dates are magician, death, and strength? (idk for sure) this is a fun combo since while they do compete for status in different ways, im not sure if their dating styles are actually that contrasted (they weren't picked solely based on how their vulnerabilities and bravado contrast). i like how the players on stage have more anonymity than the silhouettes, i think thats a crunchy element to the narrative. i kind of wish there was a line to play with more depth (a couple questions stacked back to back stacked), but i do get how much work is involved in offering the player meaningful choices with a story!

thanks for sharing!

i liked that this is the most straightforward prediction game of the contest, a think a lot have an idea of a 3 card prediction game state, and the way you handle gameifying past present future is pretty interesting. i enjoyed adopting the manual reading trying to figure out which card is relevant where. the atmosphere is also pretty conducive to the space of tarot, it definitely doesn't ask the player to draw many needless connections to get through the workload (of aiding the fate sick)

there isn't content to reward/guide the player for adopting a more strict playstyle so i devolved into sending two random cards after awhile (ending felt like the only thing i was playing for), so a little bit of flavor text would go a long way in informing the player (i get that i could find this information in my health bar, but theres a muteness to this choice for me). i also think how leftover cards are handled feels a little awkward, you dont keep "bad" cards that maybe you wouldn't normally play (closer to a normal card game), nor do you find a way to explain all the cards you draw (closer to a prediction), i think the fact that i could relate to the cards as throwaways caused this relation to bleed over into the cards i was choosing too.

even though the entreaters all have different questions its hard to differentiate between them (they all have the same animation cycle), this had me develop a hardened attitude (almost like a medical doctor in the trenches) towards the repeated on guy which also led towards my indifference with the mechanics. i think you have a good base but need more flashing lights to really sell the experience!

thank you for sharing!

the first stage kind of worked for me as a magician level (the orbs, the floating, the high up card at the beginning), i think if i collected all the cards and got dropped into a second map that was also highly evocative of tarot card i wouldve been estatic, but i dont hate whats here

it doesnt sound intentional but the telekinesis was broken for me and always pulled orbs towards me that i looked at that i was near, i think saying this level is me learning how to control the ability (which then becomes a shortcut, equippable ability) makes a lot of sense, and it felt fun to discover that these mechanics were at play in what i thought would be a more boring level kinematically. i mostly just dragged orbs to where i needed and did an infinite height glitch with them to get all the cards, it was a little much for the final blue (i had to go until i couldnt see the map basically), but i at least have a sense of accomplishment that i grabbed them.

i think a f00l level to start you off (not sure how that would be kinematic) maybe an over world with all the tarot cards in variably difficult to reach places, a couple of textures, a menu for abilities, who knows feels promising as a playspace. i wonder how you feel about me tackling this challenge with a kind of source game rigor (the height glitch), is that intended/accounted for in some way, i think a game that can comment on those weird kinda player sought interactions and seem/sequence breaking could be kinda strong, just saying ;)

i like the idea that you were trying to make a sphere and just left those objects at the start in even though they kinda look like a table maybe with more manageable flickable crystal balls on it and a wall meant to make you pry the ball youll use out! thanks for sharing! i think its a decent thought gamewise

Death's design really does something for me, and i think the magician is an interesting contrast even if im not invested in the same way i am with Death (we are positioned somewhat antagonistically to the other cards presumably, but definitely with the magician and how we are disheartening to them). I was wondering how many of the animals you had planned out for each one of the tarot cards, obvi death=crow and magician=fox, but if you have the doc id enjoy hearing the scheme ;)! I also enjoy that death taking on the role of "doing paperwork" appears to be a fuck you to some of the other caretakers and not actually required of them or anyone, very fun and very fun that that comes across.

A lot of aspects so far seem a little safe (the archetypes make sense but some of the writing doesnt grab me as vividly, some of it does though), but i do think the interplays promised seem worthwhile,  one problem is that the game's shape needs to change over time (perhaps a group gets sick of death's trick and tries to impede your standard process, perhaps most characters wont even talk to you at the beginning and have to be unlocked in some way), not saying you dont have valid plans for this phase of the game, more that those things seem kind of daunting to me playing this far out (i tried a similar depth play and only printed the magician for mine, only with wildly different artistic uh merits yeah we'll call the differences in our styles a difference in merits sure).

having a top down WASD room section i think is very neat, its highly readable as game material i think is the biggest thing, hard for it to fail to say something. right now the game spaces feel highly utilitarian (im not against the grid start with gates for death, but seeing this formation repeated rigidly within the magician did raise some eyebrows, id go with something more [en]trail adjacent if you still need the chakras, but it might feel more natural in the full game anyways), this might be as consequence of time constraints, but im sure youll find ways to make them more compelling. Entering the stomach is weird given how conceptual level 1 tries to maintain itself but i like it, it makes sense when you realize you were churning the magician's stomach a little bit before going in, and that this might be a weak point for them (and that our character might be a touch invasive). being in the stomach did break for me, i tried to wriggle, i tried to click on the eyes, to no avail, so that the end of my experience.

i think the clickboops when they talk caused me to calm down and read a little more thoroughly, but the key strength is the design, holy!

i think my first playthrough communicated the game's ideas as effectively as it needed, i played the game multiple times after just to make sure there wasn't any obvious grade component (a consequence for losing, a perfect run), but i wouldn't have done multiple runs unless i needed to be sure about some mechanics

the openings pretty good, i think the tv set up adds a lot in terms of screen recognition for whats going on in the game, and Maddie as a host is certainly charismatic enough. I kind of wanted a little more follow along with the tv game energy until the character starts disassociating and imagining the tv talking to them, but im fine leaving these ideas as the exposition of i'm bored. Maddie is written as someone who will very much thrust the protagonist into all the glory of a gameshow (and has some good lines), but the player character (pc) is a little underbaked for some of the other elements present (if ads are being transmogrified by perspective into commercial incantations for ominous but increasing-in-awareness needs then the pc should be a little more seasoned when it comes to the actual horrors of the game, if the ads/gameshow are a literal part of the world then the pc should have a more nuanced relationship with how predictable they are, i think this leaves us with the idea that the gameshow has been summoned to contract with the pc and breaks all conventions but it can get a little muddled with how the commercial breaks encourage an inundated unplayable state, they might be temptations for the pc to impulse by but then the pc should be a little more delighted by and try becoming a husk quicker), perhaps we could catch the tail end of a normal show to loop a little better?), i kinda want something inbetween ive had a peg leg body for years and the more abject alarm you were going for, but hitting abject alarm aint that bad either.

gonna go through the three games, then try and half interpret the commercials in a similar paragraph (im not 100% what the relation should be, im fine saying they "sell needs of the pc" or "will trick the pc", but how are they comments on the pc's game? are they a complete loss of control and structure, im not sure they worked for me but they kind of floated off even though i tried to shoot them down a little, a hair):

game#1-i was looking out for a sleight of hand by the second trick (especially when something as telegraphed as ARENT YOU SMART came onscreen), but i missed that the seven of hearts got replaced by 2 eight of hearts (i reloaded it like 5 times just looking for it) probably because i assumed the game would give me a little control, just a taste maybe. The fool is schlocky, but i think its perfect as a storytelling device (the game wants the player to be able to interpret the story of the pc, not necessarily wriggle out of the telling of their fate).

game#2-i think i got pretty hung up on the word code in the tutorial section, i ended up playing it like wordle and im not sure if the cards drawn have patterns or are randomized but this methodology worked great to get me through it (i spent more time than necessary trying to disentangle how you were presenting the game, but it is by far the funnest of the 3 and kind of the meat of the gameshow), its interesting how the tarot cards being introduced later give it a front half and back half, im not sure im equipped to describe the change/crossover in/of gameplay succinctly (for what is essentially the same game). i thought maybe the fortune uncovered at the end would be fixed (and could be wrinkled out) but it appears not, i kind of like it randomized honestly but it is an opportunity to make the game tell a more rigid story without compromising a ton.

game#3-i was nurturing what i thought was an okay run going into the third game (trash 20% monte, was feeling myself on the second one ngl), and when it hit the match the cards all life drained out of me and i played it out. it became apparent that it was either not easy to fail it or impossible so i relaxed a bit, but i do think that letting out of steam, the plummeting of tension and excitement, is pretty important to the shape of the game!

ad#1-screaming walls, might give more context to the restlessness going into this viewing (is the reason your watching your walls are screaming all night?), i kind of want more of  a sense of space, either a screaming room, or wiping a screaming wall vs other competitors, but i think it moves in a good direction and your editing style is a space to be concerned with to (wouldnt make sense for me to interfere too much)

ad#2-screaming photo frame, i think there is something real here, especially the reasoning 'dont worry it wont actually harm your friends soul, just a clone of their soul, this is functionally the climax, and while i feel its a little confused (this product seems more good natured than the setting would imply) im not sure im against it. i get the desire for an eldritch horror game to simultaneously be something of a comfort game (i seen a lot of the slendy dude), i guess ill say that i think its trying to accomplish a lot of things and i dont think theres room for me to be judgmental about what the game wants, sometimes the game wants to do what the game wants to do.

ad#3-the endings a little abrupt, and i think it would make more sense if the gameshow ended then we got the final ads before the next show. keep your world eater is a lot more resonant if its the last line, though it will lose some of its humor. you also could roll into the next time slot, and play with where to cut it there. i imagine we're running into development constraints with this ending so it okay!

i think talking through it the game thematically is pretty impressive (both in and out of the jams rules), but it definitely could use some tricks to make me sit down shut up and just play it :-0...

clicking was the first thing i thought of, and it does appear to cause issues if you click anywhere once youre in the game proper (sorry unacceptably bad for multitasking). i managed to get it running on firefox though a different browser couldnt hurt our chances (im not sure)

it also depends on if you got the background images or if it was a black background, i developed it with somewhat obtuse controls but you should get changes to the background pressing A or D too, W>Spacebar or S>Spacebar are the intended "solutions" so you could see if that gets the pipes moving (i assume you wouldve gotten this if smth didnt break, my b, might patch click thing later tonight)

lmk if that does the trick!

:) tysm!

i giga messed up with my computer (forgot charger on a vacation), and would personally like some more time tonight/tomorrow to give the games the fair shake they deserve 

-=was in the middle of scrapping this post when the results dropped=-

it seems obvious that someone is review bombing with 1 stars across the board (i reviewed Fortune's Fury under the admitted grey area that no one would be able to submit a review so i would give it a harsher grading curve under the premise i actually play it, under the guidelines Enj, Theme, Creat/St, Pol, SD, WD/UI i gave the game 5, 3, 3, 1,  4, 4 if we add a 1,1,1,1,1,1 score we get 6,4,4,2,5,5 divided by 2 we of course get the scores 3,2,2,1,2.5,2.5). normally i would say let the scores stay up, a disgruntled voter is always a potential part of any elective process, its not that hard to tell who it is based on voting patterns for anyone that cares, and ig im not even pushing for those scores to be removed at all...

but i did skip over games in my time crunch assuming they had at least 1 legitimate review..., TheTaroDate game (which i assumed would kill it without me), Divining for Death (downloaded, ran out of time), madame's midnight massacre (similarly thought the premise was strong enough to garner feedback elsewhere), and arcarum theater (admittedly one i would cover later either way, again unless it lacked at least one review) are all games that were impacted the hardest by this, and i think just getting modified 1's across the board without even getting actionable feedback or the bare minimum whatever a troll finds humorous in relation to the game's existence, just kinda blows. im mad at myself that i didnt try to cover these games for the jam, and thats gonna haunt me either way i guess

the reason i was gonna scrap the post is because i have 0 clue if you can add deliberation time after a jam is closed on renpy, im not even positive you can extend the jam's length mid jam, so it felt kind of unnecessary to bother the mod over a personal failing/excuse. i hope it is literally possible to add reviews with the mod's help (this is besides the point that the mod might view this as damaging to the process since it is in response to the results, or might not want me to rng a lengthy post on every game jam preview, viewing this burden on the system as not an effective counter-measure) i am however not terribly optimistic.

this post by itself also isnt a good counter measure since it doesnt encourage voter reform, so im sorry if i missed any chance at human connection with the 1,1,1,1,1,1 character, and encourage them to talk about how much my game (marot on itchio btw) sucks and deserves a 1,1,1,1,1,1 rating, especially if they feel it will help them vent or accomplish something!

i was dangerously close to having 2 controllers available to playtest this (so i could play lan slippi on my computer lmao). i tried to see if i could use my mouse and my computer did not like that. i think if you found a way to have a temp id for keyboard (that passes) thatd be great, but i imagine its built with certain design goals in mind (like online) that make this less achievable.

im gonna throw out a vibes based rating just so your effort to support others in this jam doesnt go unnoticed, i imagine its a technical monster once you get into it, and i am also the target audience! i hope this doesnt jeopardize the integrity of the jam but i will be revisiting this soon worst case scenario ill be uncomfortable my review doesnt stack up with the actual experience

thanks for your engagement with my post and others like it, rigged haha! unless :0

ive been looking forward to playing this since every time i see it i think its a random "Crying (girl) Asa Agiri" meme, but i also dont have to feel bad for having my eye drawn to it since the silhouette is showcasing new art and isnt a dubious stale meme. the boat complete with remy carrying his own deck of cards being close to yugi on a cruise in the dueler's tournament is a bop of a setting

i think it would add a lot if the moon increased in size every time they go outside (though there would be obvious comparisons with Majora's Mask or Fear & Hunger 2)! i was a little thrown off by the interior exterior (i assumed they were in a limo leaving). little touches like the one sketchesque image (i associated as an early grounding asset for you) not being cropped out into the image of a door that is the same dimensions and boxiness at the end of an ominous corridor feel very personal and inspiring!

i am flying through reviews because i was busy this weekend and had some difficulties (I AM BIG SAD ABOUT THIS), i was flying through the text to get an impression (unfortunately) but i pressed back for the song cutscene and it felt pretty thoughtful and moving to me!

i put enjoyment as the gameplay dump stat since its just linear renpy, but i like what you have, thanks for sharing!!

the scroll down to start is flawless

confirm and change didnt support each other (i used change as in change cards, and im not super into the idea of confirming in this game, it seems to take me out of the atmosphere)

i think the whole game will make more sense when players have the option to navigate the menu instead of it progressing rigidly (i want to skip and look back at order, not saying its right but its my convenience), i do get how annoying that wouldve been to implement in the timeframe and the intended flow presented is really fun to swoop around!