itch.io

Thanks so much for the praise, Mandy! Your whimsical little “game-poem” definitely stood out among the crowd, so a big congrats on your achievements as well! 🍾

I second your thanksgivings, it was a lovely jam, thanks to all participants and especially Free Lives for hosting and sponsoring another excellent South African Game Jam! 🙌

This was an interesting entry, with some nice looking assets.

I did feel the view was quite restrictive, and I could never really tell when I could afford to rest or not.

The resource gathering and differences between tiles were also not very clear, and after multiple playthroughs I am still somewhat unsure if there is a goal other than “keep running as long as you can”?

Also, not sure about the theme, as I am stealing someone’s home, rather than making something my own. I am always happy to see games about folk tales, though!

Good job on the entry, I hope to see more in future!

Nice little tower-defense game! Horrid luck being the only farmhouse in a valley that seems to be surrounded by cities of the undead!

I think it’s likely mentioned by others, but the interface and un-trustable placing mechanic is a bit of a hurdle, and with the hordes all coming in at once from everywhere, it can be a bit frustrating at times.

I am also not really making a place a home, rather just protecting it, making it un-homey for the zombies!

All in all, a fun and cute entry, once you get the hang of it.

Good job!

Nice, I think you managed to capture some of the nostalgia from the Sims 1 building element you were going for, though I definitely think that is a very systems-heavy concept to attempt for a Game Jam!

I think a slightly more intuitive approach would be to have a grid/drawer with different object types, and scrolling only rotated the selected element at any point in time.

Good job on your submission!

Superbly cutesy, yet somewhat anxiety inducing!

I absolutely love the art style, and the experience definitely imitates real life, as all great art pieces do!

It did feel a bit hectic to try and rotate things, the time limit just not lending itself to that mechanic, and feeling a bit slow, so it was mostly reserved for the few occasions where trying to tetris-squeeze as many things into a room as possible left me with oddly shaped spaces remaining available.

I also feel like it took me a couple of times to understand how the document section worked. I tried click & drag, clicking the paper first and file/folder second, and then only the file first, and document “field” second, which worked. Naturally, it meant I only stood a chance with the third contract I completed, with the order of requirements also staying the same.

In the end, this is a lovely entry that strongly adheres to the theme, and the little touches like Kitty and Ducky being in the box added to the overall enjoyment!

Nicely done!

Very beautiful game, with a surprisingly familiar take on the theme and execution!

I think the game is fairly hard, with it also being quite difficult to exactly determine or predict the current and ongoing changes any of your immediate or previous choices will have on the multiple different factors and statistics. I also can’t tell what previously placed tiles do after the fact.

The card based gameplay is nice, as well as the ability to sell/delete some cards, but I would also like to see augmentation cards, that could act as upgrades or modification to existing buildings, in order to sway their impact post-placement.

There are also times it acted slightly counterintuitively, such as when I drag a card to place it, not letting go yet, but it immediately slots into the nearest slot. That felt a bit jarring at times, not giving me a chance to consider things without making absolute decisions.

Ultimately, I am not sure how to beat the game, if that is even possible? Therefore, I never succeeded in “making it a home”. I might just suck at it, though!

All in all, a great entry, and I hope to see a lot more coming from your side in future!

Would love to take a look at your game, but unfortunately, even trying every permutation of settings could not get it to run successfully.

Always good to see more Godot entries!

I like the minimalist art style, but I think I might not be the correct target group.

To me, it feels frustrating and slow to engage and kill (most often it feels like I can’t) the enemies. It’s unwieldy and despite unlocking helpful sounding power-ups, I don’t see an increase in my ability, and therefore, enjoyment of the “quest”. The fire wizards definitely feel overpowered & tanky too.

I am also aware you had to cut some further parts of the idea, but the final product does not seem to relate to the theme all that much.

I love that you made a game about an underrepresented folk-story, though!

Thanks for making this entry, and I hope to see many more Godot entries from you in future!

Loving the punny name, and the return of some classic elements from your previous game, Nyumbani!

It is an interesting concept: What does the Hitman do when he’s not on the job? Clearly he’s got some opinions on furniture and layouts!

I agree with others that it would’ve added a welcome bit of complexity by making you either guess who the victim is, or just having the t-posing peeps move about, but having the screen black already adds a good bit of “hunting” feel, which worked well!

The game (jam version) unfortunately lagged severely on the M1 MacBook Pro I was playing it on, so I ended up just finishing lots of contracts, and then buying lots of things at once, but I think the physics simulations between the objects were my undoing.

I think it would be a nice twist if you flip the concept, and the reason you’re decorating houses is that there are two types of contracts: Killing or Interior Decorating, and you’re simply doing whatever you can to make a living!

Nice job, this was a cool take on the theme!🥷

Good job on the festive little entry!

It is fun to imagine a big banger of a party right before a family get together, and the chaos that ensues on the morning after!

PS: There seems to be a left-over way to get ridiculous scores onto the leaderboard! 🙈

Very atmospheric, and a lovely retelling of Castaway!

Good job on telling the story nice and interactively, though I agree some music would have heightened the experience (saw your comment on it being buggy though!).

Thanks for making this!🥥

Cute little platform-gunner!

As I’m sure is mentioned by everyone else, I’m not too sure how this relates to the theme, and it naturally lacks any motivation to keep playing without any death or success states or conditions.

It would be nice to reduce how efficient a single kill is at replenishing your health/hunger, as one kill fills it completely.

Keep it up!🐓

Nice style and soundtrack!

The game feels very unfair, and nothing you as a player can do seems to help make it less so;

• no way to build sturdier structures to prevent damage from storms/damage,
• no smarter ways to store food from expiry, stuff like that, that I feel would be obvious in the context of colonising a planet.

This makes it feel the fun and novelty that is there is tapped and drained at a much faster pace than they can be built, leaving me feeling drained after every playthrough.

I would like to play it again after some rebalancing is done, as I do think there is something fun in there!

A cute and fun little game! Everyone loves cats, and everyone knows cats love boxes!

I think my biggest issue is that the left and right movement is either sporadic or unreliable most of the time. I couldn’t easily tell if it was working.

The balloons inflating and deflating is nice and instantaneous, and I do genuinely like and enjoy the idea and gameplay!

Would like to see if you manage to get it to what your idea was initially!

Very nostalgic art and vibe, and nice, simple puzzling.

As mentioned by another person, the friction seems to be off, rolling down slopes almost feels like bouncing down steps…

There’s also the “black-hole sky” aspect, but, I enjoyed the added challenge of not solely relying on arcs to save the day.

Good job, though a couple more levels would’ve been fantastic!

A fun and playful little game, though to be honest, I had no clue what was happening or supposed to happen most of the time.

Beyond the instructions to move and collect truffles, it seems that (for me at least, using Firefox on macOS), there is an issue with the text and/or HUD not working…

I can see a HUD notch at the top, but it is completely empty, and when visiting the lab, the boxes that pop up are devoid of contents. This means I really had no clue what that was for, or why there are sometimes lights on, and other times not.

This made the game rather confusing and also not as rewarding as I imagine it should be.

Besides that, I love the aesthetic and sounds, and think that once I can see what the lab is about, things will make much more sense!

PS: I’ll attach a screenshot to illustrate the problems I experienced.

I absolutely love the cinematic effect when killing enemies, especially when it happens right after you land a throw that feels sufficiently badass!

It can definitely be hard to tell when you’re about to grab, or miss, the ragdoll, but simultaneously, I kind of enjoy the unpredictability thereof. I often found myself trying silly and crazy mid-air jump-grabs to see how accurately I could time it myself (almost like a mini-skill meta-game).

The accidental moonwalks and box-flinging are pretty fun, though I sometimes found myself accidentally flinging or grabbing the ragdoll when turning and dragging simultaneously. Couldn’t pin it down exactly, though.

The levels are fun to play, with just-enough puzzling, though I sometimes feel the puzzle and mechanic explained in that level might be slightly mismatched. Some deliver great satisfaction when a chain-event happens (the latter spring-filled levels strongly come to mind)!

I am also actually very excited about the possibility of more levels to play in future, and can see it becoming a favourite puzzler for quick sessions in the future!

PS: The Physics Jam Extended Universe is real!😅

Nice idea, but fairly hard to play.

I am unsure when the ammo has been replenished, or damage taken. I could see there was text, but it was so tiny it was hard to read during gameplay.

I think if some of those things could be telegraphed a bit better, it would already make the game loads better!

Very cool, unique idea, but the gameplay feels fairly hard and slightly unintuitive.

I think that the controls/idea could be explained a bit better, unless it’s up for interpretation?

• It’s confusing which colors mean what, and what the actual intent is.
• Maybe have a username link to multiple maps? That way you don’t flood the initial screen with a players many entries.

Good stuff, I would be curious to see the idea developed a bit more!

Note: There seems to be a bug, if I die and immediately try to play again, it gets stuck on the “Loading maps” section and never returns a listing.

This is a cute little experience, with stunning art and sound design!

The camera feels slightly restrictive, and combined with the often slow charge-ups of the weapons, it can make the little combat there is feel very clunky and slow.

That being said, I like the use of the theme (recursion, I guess?) and the story it tells;

/s - “Vandalism might be wrong, but always prevails!”* ;P

Seriously, great work on the assets and atmosphere!

Another lovely little Pepper&Carrot “flying simulator”, and also made in Godot!🔥😁

Your game is much more complete than mine, and stylistically has a lot of nice callbacks to the comics, so very well done!

If you do ever continue to make a bigger project, I would love to know about and see it!

Thanks so much for the kind words! My “game” is extremely basic (and riddled with bugs!), but at least I managed to get it running in time.

I work as a “Cloud Engineer” and did not once even make that connection, but you are completely correct!😂 I now have a perfect excuse for my next stand-up’s queries regarding blockers!😅

Thank you again for giving it a play!🙏

This is absolutely gorgeous, and really follows in David’s style regarding the playfulness and humour.

Bravo!

Would love to see more if you ever decide to make any, I am definitely a fan!

The game looks gorgeous, but I hit a bug when going into spirit mode, which triggered a menu state I couldn’t exit, and after quitting the game to retry I am unable to get it running again at all?

I am on an M1 Mac running macOS Ventura 13.3.1, if that helps!

This game looks and sounds fantastic, and I truly wish I could play it properly, but for some reason it keeps crashing when trying to learn the diagonal dash at like the second or third jump in the tutorial.

I’m on an M1 Mac with macOS Ventura 13.3.1, if that helps!

Hey there, Kharibidus, thank you for checking out Flatlander!

Funnily enough, I never played Spore, but this was one of the initial ideas for eating/growing, but it felt too much like classic agar.io or something, so I decided to steer clear!😅

I did sadly seem to lose some control functionality during my frantic final build, so will see to updating it in the future!

Thank you again for giving it a try!😁

Hey deadzed98, thank you for taking the time to test this out!

The collisions were actually quite hard to get right, due to the dynamic deformation of the creature, and the possibility for high speeds, so there might very well be something funky going on with that!🤔

It was uncurling more naturally and flowingly before the build… The idea is to use the uncurling as a “spring” and propel yourself off the walls, with the amount of curve giving different directionality.

I will likely try to fix and update it in the future, but not sure it’s valid to do during the voting period.🙈

Thanks again trying it out!😁

Hi, Galexyofthings, thanks so much for trying it out!

In my rush to submit in time I seem to have lost the speed cap and a more responsive and controlled uncurling functionality I built.😢

Currently it just seems to reset to the uncurled state almost immediately, but pre-build it was uncurling with a forceful “spring” force when against walls…🤔

I will likely try to fix and update it in the future, but not sure it’s valid to do during the voting period.

Thanks again for giving it a go!😁

Hey aycu, thank you for checking it out!

It seems that in my rush to get it submitted in time I somehow lost the speed cap and a more responsive and controlled uncurling functionality I built.😢

The idea is to use the uncurling as a “spring” and propel yourself off the walls, with the amount of curve giving different directionality. It worked before the build, so I didn’t notice the issue, thanks for letting me know something is up!🙏

I will likely try to fix and update it in the future, but not sure it’s valid to do during the voting period.

Thanks again for having a go!😁

Hey GrandPotato, thanks a lot for giving it a try!

There definitely is a bug that seems to have snuck in, during my frantic rush to get it submitted in time. The speed cap and a more responsive and controlled uncurling seems to have disappeared sadly.😢

I will likely try to fix and update it in the future, but not sure it’s valid to do during the voting period.

Thanks again for taking a supersonic stab at it!😁

Nice take on the theme, and good job on getting it working!

The controls are a bit wonky for the 3D space, and the little guy is a tad too sensitive to the walls, in my opinion.

Overall, good job!🔥

Cute looking floaty-jump simulator!

Nice use of art, could do with a little more functionality, maybe?

Good job!🦀

Cute idea and implementation!

This little dude is an ice skater!⛸️ In fact, he’s so slippery, he’s quite hard to control!

Good job on the build!⭐️

Good job for a first game!

I like the idea and the basics are definitely present, so very commendable efforts, and without YouTube as well! 🔥⚔️💀

Cute yet frustrating little game with a fun idea and theme.

I found it relatively frustrating at times, with the margins for error feeling very tight. If that was intentional, bravo!

Good job! 😁🦖

Very sweet story, and a very wholesome game overall!

Stretching a bit to see the theme here, and a little bit of animation and/or consistency in appearances (the Babu changes into many different forms throughout, I was really excited about the horned little creature that momentarily vanished) would really help take it up a notch.

Not sure if it was just for me, but the final menu wasn’t working.

Also, there’s no way those are the Babus real parents! 😜

Great job all-round! 🙌

This was easily the most polished experience of the jam, and I’m wildly impressed by the robustness of the experience for the jam period!

Absolutely phenomenal job, looking forward to see more stuff from you lot!

I like the humorous narrative, good job!

The order of the story could have been clearer, it’s easy to get lost and do it out of order.

Maybe moving Jenkins around or hiding/showing the correct/relevant one as needed? It’s also fairly confusing to figure out the directions and orientations of things because of this.

It was a fun story to play through, though!

I like the unreliable narrator bit, it’s quite fun!

Not too sure that it is an AI (unless we are talking Portal-style test lab scenario), but I didn’t play all the way through, it might be more apparent later?

Good humour and puzzle designs though!