itch.io

Damn, was randomly scrolling through entries and this black and white cover caught my eye. I used a similar artstyle myself. In my experience jam puzzle games are either too tough or too easy but the level design on this one was perfect. Short and sweet. Tasteful sfx and sprites. Feels like it could be developed into a full game. Great job!

Not sure about the gameplay, maybe its just not my type of genre. Given the creepy environment I was just expecting something more...

The art was very unique. But in terms of mechanics and content, I felt it was lacking. Especially given the big team. But love it as a concept, hope to see more!

I hate the genre lol but looks like a really polished game. Loved the vibes!!

Love the unique mechanics and a great utilization of the theme. Graphics and audio were simple and tasteful and got the job done. My only gripe would be that the levels are a bit too easy, since I'm not personally  interested in speedrunning.  But hope you update the game with some tough levels. 

Nice concept. But everything happens so fast. Maybe try to add some animations and different types of enemies (Not sure how that would look though)

Hahahaha its like those people who interpret random stuff on pieces of art

OMG one of the most creative games I played this jam!! Deserves so much more attention! Initially I though the game was a buggy mess but no everything makes sense. Did get stuck once on the extreme right of the starting bar. But nothing major. Please develop this into full game. Also loved the Piet Mondrian painting theme.

Very nice game! Not very good at it but still enjoyable. Nice call keeping the first level easily solvable by not changing power or direction. Got stuck in the well shaped hole behind the player in hole 3 and had to restart the entire game but was easy enough once I realized the controls could be used on the disc in air. Guess that sort of forced me to read the instructions lol. Only suggestion would be to make that as part of a tutorial level with suggestions on using the keys to control the disc. A lot of scope for level design and would love to see the game developed further. 

Thank you so much for the comment!

Really glad to hear about the parts you enjoyed! Also you are totally right about the difficulty curve of the game. Basically I have a curated set of attack patterns that randomly get spawned. While additional tougher waves do get spawned after getting 2 modifiers, maybe I should have had a easier set for the time before any modifiers. As it stands now the difficulty curve is definitely weird, with one of the hardest  parts being  right at the start, and probably getting noticeably easier after the first modifier when it should be the opposite instead! But curating such sets, perfecting the rotation time  etc. are things that take a lot of time to create, playtest and balance. Working alone, I don't think that level of polish can reasonably be expected in a 7 day game jam, but maybe that's a skill issue :)

One area where I will disagree is, you mentioned that the feeling of dying not being your fault is a bad thing for a game to have. But I see it as a natural consequence of the genre of game. With roguelikes having random generation and permadeath, the chances of feeling that your of death was unfair, is sort of always there. It can definitely be mitigated through tuning, but like I said it was hard to do in this game, given the 7 day time. Also such instances are naturally there more often when you start playing, but reduce as you rack up more runs and gain more skill. And later as you get familiar with the exact mechanics, you get to know what works and what doesn't and once you know that, it gets harder to blame the game, and not yourself. Also games of a similar nature that generate similar emotions do go on to become very popular. Examples could be, Enter the Gungeon, Don't Starve, Downwell, Getting over it and maybe Hotline Miami. It's all a matter of execution,  which obviously would be poor for a jam game quickly scrapped together :)

Happy discuss this further if you want to...

Thanks for playing :)

First mention of turret!!! Thanks for that! I initially wanted to make it just a maximum of just 2 spawns. To give the player a temporary escape incase they very suddenly overwhelmed. But I wanted to add one modifier that was overpowered in case the player was not able to complete despite many tries and also to reward experimentation. So I added the regeneration mechanic that was there in mines, to this one too.

And yeah games like this require a lot of playtesting and tuning for a good experience. So probably wasn't the best idea for a game jam.  And thanks for the idea to change the buy amount too, a brand new and great suggestion! Glad you enjoyed!

Was getting a bit too hard for me so I left and when I came back it all sort of made sense. I sped through it and I hate you for the ending lol. A very creative mechanic that has a lot of scope for expansion. My only gripe is it doesn't really  fit the theme. The only spinning in the game was the starting spinner and even that you could stop at any time. Not really "Spin to Win" now is it. Also the controls could have been a bit more intuitive but that isn't really an issue once you read the instructions. Would like to see it released as a full game. Maybe a successor to games like Undertale

Was a bit hard to get a hang of but after a few quick losses made it to 151m. Very nice use of the theme and looks like it could be a good rage-baiting game like "Getting over it". But the art style could be a bit more uniform and cohesive. Certainly deserves more ratings considering I found it in the least rated games list.

Thanks for the comment!

And its funny so many people complementing the visuals when I consider that my more weaker area. But I guess the overall style is very cohesive!

Thanks for the comment!

And exactly right! If I could make one quick change right now it would be that. 

Thanks for the comment!

The thing about games like this it rewards people who spend the time getting used to the controls and wave patterns. I didn't realize that in a game jam entry, most people won't play it long enough to get better so maybe this genre itself was a bad idea lol.

But I definitely agree with the hotkeys! But about controlling which way you spin, my thinking was it would make the game more generic and also the theme was to "spin", and spinning usually means rotating in one direction when you think about it. If I constantly rotate between left and right it doesn't really seem like I'm spinning. Also momentum logically makes sense in the space setting, in a game like this where precision is important, I feel it can get annoying real fast. Just my initial thoughts. Will definitely try out all suggestions later with proper playtesting!

Thanks for the comment!

My first game jam so didn't have a list of things to polish. But Camera shake and visual feedback is now something I will consider for every game :)

It is hard, but once you get used to the controls it feels much easier and you'll be asking for tougher waves :) 

But for now try decreasing difficulty maybe?

Thanks for the comment! 

Yeah so many people have mentioned it that it will be the first thing I update after the rating period ends. I got used to pressing the button and I didn't do any playtesting with others, so couldn't catch it.

Very Tough! Couldn't go very far though I tried a lot but that may just be a skill issue. I like the overall vibe and environment and the changing colors. Would describe it in one word as "trippy"

UPDATE: Found a bug as I was going on a generational run. The background sort of disappeared when I reached segment 25. Not sure if its easily reproducible but do try. Also at a certain point after I have "deepened" all relevant runes, I sort of feel unstoppable (If I can pay attention). The chances or thread length should ramp up in difficulty ass more segments are being tied which you may already be doing but maybe not aggressively enough.

Very creative and liked the overall game environment. I personally don't games with controls like this, but certain people do, given the success of games like those made by Bennett Foddy. Not usually my cup of tea. But I hope you keep developing this, it feels like there's a lot of scope

Thanks for playing, fellow space enthusiast!

Interesting concept, but personally I feel there's a lot going on with the controls, and the difficulty curve is a bit too steep. I also would consider keeping enemies rotations slightly slower at least, since as of now its possible to keep spinning around an enemy for all eternity. Needs a bit of reworking, but I hope you continue updating this.

Thanks for playing!! 

And I did consider inertia/momentum! It makes total sense given the setting. But it doesn't match with the limited air mechanic. since the whole point was to make moving(rotating) a conscious decision each time. I also considered but in a tiny bit of momentum, for game polish purposes, but for a game like this where precision is important, I think even that tiny difference could cause you to miss a shot an die. Basically I had to hold back a bit on the realism in favour of game fairness which imo is a reasonable trade off.

BTW I LOVED your game, my personal favorite in this jam. Truly a level of polish and atmosphere that I hope to achieve in my games someday. I really hope you and your team keep working on it. Not that it feels incomplete, I just want to see it developing somehow :)

Commenting as I'm playing the game:

• One of the more beautiful games I have seen, not just in terms of the jam but generally, I would describe it as "Ethereal".  Perfectly complementing music.
• Ok, spin 3 time weave and loose? I might need to read the instructions for this one
• Ohhh I get it, spin and keep the runs such that I'm able to fill the strand. Simple!
• Modifiers to choose from too? Getting a sense of the game now, like Balatro!!
• Will definitely return and beat my score 351. Very Addictive!!

Very fun game. My only complaint is that its a bit too short. Also I would have tuned the physics a bit differently but that sort of thing is subjective and your way is better.

Funny concept. Very satisfying and easy too. But for some reason when I divorced my wife the game crashed and the screen went fully white. I wasn't sure it was not no purpose too lol, but I could hear the cutscene music so but sad I couldn't see what was happening. Overall Fun!

Really cool idea for a puzzle game, fits the theme well and really cute graphics too. Wasn't able to play all levels because the following error came up, screenshot below. But me being me I always try to make the game hard, so I skipped to the last level and was able to solve it after a bit of thinking, like all you do is think what square do I have to be in to get yellow into the goal and then it becomes almost trivially easy. So I would have loved a bit more tougher puzzles(my benchmark is "Baba is You") but for a game jam this is amazing and a lot of scope for development and new mechanics.
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Ok the visuals are kind of interesting but what do I even do? It seems the little guy can handle himself pretty well so I guess I just have to watch?

Hilarious stuff. The announcements were a nice touch. Everything about this makes me laugh, the goofy stance, the various names for turds.  How did you even think of this lol. 

Great find! And I'm sure you can beat the game, do post a screenshot after:)

Hey thanks for the comment, hope you are enjoying it. And yeah the keyboard button definitely was a simple addition that could have made a huge difference. When I started I had this concept of setting constraints so that I can finish the game. Like "Playable only with a mouse" and "Black and White color palette". But didn't do playtesting, so I got used to clicking  those buttons periodically and didn't realize it was cumbersome for someone new to the game. But I still very proud of what I made though. And will definitely add button input after the jam at least. Thanks again!

Thank you so much. It gets easier the more you practice! And if your reflexes aren't that good try to find the best modifiers. Some combinations make the game so easy you almost can do it by randomly clicking the mouse :) 

Hahaha loved the comment. Yeah definitely not an easy game. I like making difficult games and getting the feeling of achievement, but making a hard game probably wasn't a good idea for a game jam. 

Here are some tips in case you want to try and beat campaign mode: 

• Decrease difficulty, seriously the first thing you can try, it gives more health, energy and air at the start.
• Rotate only if you have to, try to kill enemies at the last possible second, like you can wait a bit for the crawlers but the missiles you have to react immediately. 
• Keep resources topped up, especially when waiting for more enemies. Scrap amount left shouldn't be an issue, even though I wanted it to be. You generally always have a lot of scrap left
• Try to consistently make it to 1:30 time so that you get 2 modifiers. Try new modifiers each times and try to deduce which ones are overpowered. There are also some combos that make the game almost too easy so try to find them too. In a way this is also kind of a puzzle game. Which modifiers make my life easy?

Hey thanks so much for the feedback! And for taking effort to video yourself playing!! You got a hang of things pretty fast and I'm sure you can easily beat the campaign mode with a bit more time,  even without decreasing difficulty or any OP combos. Also I almost laughed out loud at 0:40, I could feel the confusion, like the enemies are just a bit counter clockwise, in normal games it should be easily killable but not in this game. As expected you quickly made sense that you shouldn't rotate unless necessary. Which I feel is one of the most unique parts of the game. 

About the refill mechanic, I work alone and couldn't find anyone to help playtest it. But now that you mentioned it, it is painfully obvious that the "Get X" buttons are annoying. It was a part of the very first ideation and prototype. I like constraints to help keep scope small and making the game playable with only mouse and the black and white palette etc. helped me finish the game on time. And I personally sort of just got used to topping up resources when gameplay cooled down. But looking at it with a fresh perspective, it is clear it disrupts the flow quite a bit, especially given its a fast paced game. A simple extra button input  as you said could have tremendously helped. Ah well, at least I learned a lesson lol.

Made it almost to a minute. Nice song choice and charming visuals. But feels a bit too simple for a 7 day jam. Lot of scope for additional story elements, enemy types or modifiers. Right now its feels like a good base for a roguelike.

Immediate suggestions would be to make sure the gf doesn't drift too much to the border since then the player has too less time to react to seagulls  from that side. Also the dead seagulls motions seems a bit random an it is especially unfair that a dead seagull can hit the gf.