itch.io

You’ll never guess what system ended up on the cutting room floor on the second day… but thank you for enjoying our game!

The hint system was intended to use the same system as the main menu - pressing the hint button would reveal gray circles where dots should go. You still needed to figure out which dots went where, but not only would we have to implement it in every level (we have 19), experience showed me that it did not interact well with the tweens and other systems we used for juicing up the game. So we had to cut it and spend our time on more useful things like SFX and general stability. What are you gonna do - it’s a jam after all. 

It's an ambitious choice to try and role reverse not one but two games, as well as take on a 3D game during a game jam. I think for the most part, the idea works. People have already mentioned the text tutorial and overall game pace, but the fact that we can kind of figure out the gameplay despite so does demonstrate the idea's potential.

I do find the environment and sprites very well done, but I'm not a fan of how the sprites look alongside the smooth, more modern 2D UI. The sprites look more at home on the 3D map than it does there. I mentioned Octopath Traveller in DMs, but that's a good reference for UI that might work with the sprites. A flat black translucent rectangle might look more cohesive than bright orange, and you wouldn't have had to create any more assets either.

For the tower defense portion, feedback on units attacking towers would greatly help the game feel. Likewise with the shop, a little "dingling" chime when customers enter the shop would also help immensely. Never underestimate the importance of audio in a game, even if it's not one of the elements you see on the front page.

What this game is is ambitious, and for a 48 hour game jam, it might have helped to scope down in either the art (you can't cheat the environment in 3D) or the gameplay (for time to make a tutorial) to achieve something that's more polished. That said, the fact that your team has accomplished what it has in a surprisingly stable state is a testament to your abilities. Good job!

Man, screw that fish.

Not a fan of foddian games in general BUT I really appreciate the mine flashing red when it's about to collide. Very nice touch. Well made!

Hey, your comment on our game page made mine too! All the best for your future jams!

My level designer says there are no "alternate" solutions. You get to make the picture.

Thanks for playing! :D

You know what, I actually really like that I've never seen a game like this this jam. It's a little buggy - you can still enter commands after you're dead, but the rhythm of the game just works somehow. The visuals of NM and ZX being similar is fine, but I would suggest changing at least the sound effects should be a little different.

This is a ridiculous amount of amazing art to make in 48 hours. The game loop is also pretty solid, but some variety is needed to retain player attention. I dealt with 6, then 5, then 4 Pokemon all at once, all suffering from the same status effects and I saw the same sprites, and somehow my Hyper Potions disappeared (but that's excusable, I didn't need them).

With the same assets, you could probably distribute the difficulty to make a level curve. Start off with Pokemon without statuses, then introduce statuses, then begin restricting the time limit. If you're aware of Diner Dash, perhaps there might have been a way to incorporate the queue system from that game.

Otherwise it's really cute and really fun, and I'm glad I got to play it.

The English language lays battered and bruised on the floor. The sheer abuse it must have been wrung through to create this masterpiece is indescribable.

10/10

The game is a little too easy. I wasn't hit at all so the enemies never flipped. It's an interesting idea for sure, but definitely needed exploration that might not be affordable in just 48h. Aside from that, the art is consistent and it feels just like a retro arcade game.

10/10 idea, very cute penguins, and I love that you invoke Pokémon Snap. I know 800 isn't supposed to be easy, but the pending frames don't really stand out against the background and I very easily fail to notice them on time for my penguin to get in the shot.

Really enjoyed it! Congratulations on making a great game this jam!

The puzzles are mind-bending in a good way, and I haven't seen stealth mechanics used in this way before. The use of crates and colors to help distinguish position in the viewports is fantastic and makes up for a lot of the clunky controls.

That said, are you kidding me with no checkpoints?

Someone asked for constructive criticism in the Discord so...

The art is very consistent and who doesn't love hitting kids? /s It's a hilarious premise and the art fits it to a tee. But the actual game doesn't do a whole lot to help with that. With the hit bar in the top left of the canvas, my eyes are drawn away from the action, and I'm unable to appreciate the vicerality of the damage I am doing to a fictional child. There is also a lot of deadspace on the bottom of the screen - the upper half feels very cluttered in comparison. A better distribution of the game components might help bring out the art more.

For a simple mechanic, I feel like there is a lot of feedback that is missing. It's good that there is a flash on hit and particles on a... combo, but for a game like this there is no such thing as too subtle. There could be some warning to an incoming pattern change so that the player doesn't miss, and some visual feedback on if an input is a hit or miss (such as a change in the star color, perhaps?) would give some feedback to no-miss runs.

To reward the player for their play, you could probably add in a combo display. The level complete screen could show the time to complete as well as the highest combo reached. Would also make speedrunning easier.

With all that said, I want to reiterate that the premise is utterly hilarious and the art well polished - none of this is what you haven't heard already. And I also do not recommend hitting children in real life.

This is one of those immediate "aha let's apply the theme to itself" ideas that actually works and ends up surprisingly delightful. I love how the mechanics affect each other and make the game more difficult. It doesn't help that the art is adorable and the controls are tight and holy crap I hate the saw so much

it's beautiful. congratulations on a job well done!

I recognize Spell Cards when I see 'em :) It's a great idea and I love the art style.

Presentation-wise, we could do with some feedback like a preview of what the spell card is about to do. You could probably scale post-game jam by having different kinds of bullets like lasers and circles which have totally never been done in any bullet hell ever nope.

Something I noticed is that the right side of the level is almost never used. In Some Other Bullet Hells, there are Spell Cards that also move the boss. Perhaps instead of throwing a bunch of different spells at the player, a smaller selection of spells with a larger variety of mechanics would have created some gameplay complexity.

No I'm not salty I couldn't beat level 10.

I see you got some DDLC in your Portal there.

Have to agree with the other comment - the puzzles are well set up but the speedrun level is far too punishing and the game just kind of stops at the end. Probably the only other suggestion I would have is to have some kind of color coding or indicator of what objects a switch activates. Can't have too much feedback in a puzzle game.

Otherwise the presentation is really cute and I rather enjoyed the twist.

I'm in this game and I don't like it.

(Just kidding it's amazing, congratulations on perfectly parodying a therapy session)

I really love the presentation and the puzzles! I only really needed to use needing to move the mirrors post-fire in the bonus level which led to me being stumped for the longest time. It's as good as it gets for 48 hours, and the only gripe I really have is that Jiji should really have an indicator for the direction he's going to fire his magic in.

Baba is Everything.

It's a real shame to see the other mechanics didn't make it in, I really wanted more 'aha' moments like the solution for level 2. Good decision to freeze and ship, though! Glad y'all could make it.

It is a little unclear, so we've re-clarified on the submission page:

It's Connect-the-Dots but you are the dotter, not the liner.

Another way to put it would be Connect-the-Dots has fixed points where you solve the lines, but The Big Picture has fixed lines and you solve the points.