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We're hoping to get some more ratings for our game before the jam's over. If your in the same boat, help us out! If you play and rate our game then leave a comment or post in this thread, we'll do our best to play your game before the jam's over.

Here's a link to our game: https://itch.io/jam/vimjam4/rate/2269549

I really enjoyed this! The parts of the wall that start to fall when you jump onto them are a good source of tension. It was cool seeing the environment transition to the town as you start to climb the building walls. The intro cutscene was really charming and set a good tone for the rest of the game.

My first time trying the game, I believe I encountered a bug. At the part where the large ice chunk falls revealing the way up, the environment didn't change in a way that allowed me to proceed. I tried backtracking but got stuck and had to restart the game. On the second attempt at the part with the giant ice chunk, the level became completely different and I was able to proceed. Maybe I was confused, but I think the new parts of the level didn't load properly on my first try.

Playing as a behind-the-scenes worker of a platforming level is a really cool and novel idea. I always appreciate novel concepts for game jam projects.

Placing large amounts of coins in specific positions one-by-one got pretty tedious for me, unfortunately. It wasn't helped by how relatively large the level is; there's a lot of ground to cover and cross-reference with the map.

I'm not quite sure how placing enemies worked. Buying enemies didn't seem to do anything. I couldn't tell if I was missing something or they were bugged in some way.

I don't think the game's visuals make the best use of the Shapely diversifier. There's no shading, sure, but I wouldn't say the graphics consist of "simple shapes". Not a huge deal, though.

Interesting implementation of checkpoints in a type of game that wouldn't normally have them. You get a lot of mileage out of the Two Button control scheme, as well.

I think the game is lacking in terms of explaining what the goal is and how the mechanics work. I was able to work it out after reading the controls and some trial and error, but some more direct tutorialization would have been appreciated. I noticed the ball sometimes speeds up and sometimes slows down when it crosses over a path, but it was unclear to me what caused the different reactions.

The movement and physics are both solid. I especially appreciated being able to jump mid-air after running off ledges. I really liked the character design for the player character; both their and the checkpoint flag's sprite look really good. The flip effect on the player character is very nice looking, too; its satisfying to spin back and forth in place.

The section in the first area where you have to make a series of jumps near the top of the screen was very awkward. You have very little room to jump before hitting your head on the ceiling.

I wish the reset key (R) wasn't right next to the interact key (E). I accidentally restarted the level a few times, which led to some frustration.

The checkpoints feel somewhat underutilized, perhaps because the game is fairly short. The "cross paths" theme also isn't very apparent.

Interesting concept for a combat system. Having a character revolve around and protect another character was really cool; it's kind of like a reverse escort mission. It was also cool how you could change the size of the ring, with the size affecting your movement speed. More visual feedback on the protector character's melee attack would have been appreciated.

I think something about the arrow/potion mechanic is poorly explained and/or broken. Several times I tried to make water arrows to put out the steam, was somehow unable to, and then ran out of energy needed to make more. This was worsened by the fact that you're locked out of the area with enemies when you need to make water arrows and therefore can't get more energy, which softlocks you from progressing any further.

This was really well done. It's very polished for a 3D platformer made during a game jam, especially one made by one person. The modeling and animation are very charming. Movement felt good with both a controller and the keyboard.

My only real critique is that I would have liked it if the dive had a soft lock-on so it was easier to dive into balloons. It would have made the sections where you jump from balloon to balloon a bit more smooth.

I noticed the fact that the music doesn't loop wasn't in your known bugs list, so I assume that was intentional. That's fine if it was intentional, but I would have preferred if there was music always playing (after you hit the first music trigger) because I was really enjoying it.

I liked the fake-out nature of the ending. I saw the guy and was all "Oh, a boss fight, I wonder how this is going to work." and then the game just ends. I thought it was very funny.

Overall, this was very good! Great job!

I like the pace and hectic nature of the game. Being able to lose multiple checkpoints adds to the tension.

I didn't find the watches very helpful. You go back so far that you might as well be dying and going back to a checkpoint. And I didn't find using the cheese very intuitive; more visual feedback on its range would have been nice.

Sound effects for picking things up and the hazards would really add to the polish.

A tracker for far you've made it would have been nice. Its fun to see how far you can get regardless of the emeralds.

Hi! I played and rated your game. I encounter a pretty major bug and I don't think the game qualifies for some of the diversifiers, but I liked the physics and overall visuals. You can check out my full thoughts in my comment on your submission page.

Hope you try out our game!

https://itch.io/jam/vimjam4/rate/2269549

I encountered a bug in which objects on the conveyor belt would disappear, sometimes causing the game to automatically give me a letter (I think this only happened with bricks, but I may be mistaken). There's also a point around the 30 second mark in level 3 in which two bombs and a trash item spawn simultaneously, which basically guarantees you gain 2-3 letters at once. That was a hard wall I couldn't get past.

I don't believe the diversifiers were used to their fullest potential/properly. I don't think this game counts for Shapely, according to the rules for 3D games on the jam page. In a Song may be properly used, but I honestly didn't notice while playing because the game doesn't really do anything with the concept other than having background music. Mouse controls kind of contradict the point of Two Button, because a mouse allows the player to make 360 degrees worth of inputs at any given time.

I assumed your game was using the concept of checkpoints in a "warehouse sorting checkpoint" sense, but after reading the description on your game page, I think the implementation misses the point of video game checkpoints. Having multiple levels isn't really the same thing as having checkpoints, game design-wise. 

All that being said, I enjoyed the physics of the trash items. Picking up trash and chucking them into their bins instead of dragging them was really satisfying. And although I don't think the game's visuals count for the Shapely diversifier, I did like the graphics in general. Everything looked nice and polished.

Great aesthetic and visuals. The implementation of the two button diversifier was really interesting, too. I would totally play a fully-featured racing game with theses controls; drifting and boosting both felt good. I appreciated the tutorial (and redirecting the player to the tutorial before starting the game); it did a really good job of helping me come to grips with the game's controls and mechanics.

I like the idea of sacrificing checkpoints for increased top speed, but I didn't like how you seemingly need it to win. It doesn't seem like its possible to catch up to the racers in front if you don't break the checkpoints, which undermines the risk-reward potential the mechanic has.

 I also felt like the track was too long. There's a lot of downtime between turns and jumps that brought down the pace of the race. It also compounds with the checkpoints issue I had, because falling off means you go really far back when you break the checkpoints.

This was a really well-polished game! The visuals and audio were very charming. The concept is nice and simple, but some of the later levels were real head scratchers (7, 9, and 10 specifically). It would have been nice to see more types of tiles that do different things. The cat screaming when you mess up was a great touch.

Thanks for the feedback. Could you go into some detail about the bugs you encountered?

The number of rooms and how similar they look makes it easy to get lost. The time you're given to explore doesn't seem like enough given how many rooms there are, either. I tried a bunch of times but was only able to get the square key. 

The lack of a true fullscreen meant my cursor kept going outside of the game, which got annoying.

I really like the textures of the walls and doors. They make good use of the black and white art style.

The floating squares don't immediately read like obstacles. I thought they were something I was supposed to collect at first. Making them spike balls or something would have been nice.

The game is so quiet! I didn't even realize there was audio at first. The game could obviously use music, but the sound effects could be way louder too.

Jumping and sliding feel really tight and well-polished.

I liked the voice lines; they add a lot of personality.

The jump feels a little sluggish. There's a noticeable delay between pressing the jump and the squirrel leaving the ground.

I think making extra double jumps cost acorns may have been a mistake. At the very least it felt pretty frustrating while playing. "What's the point of using an extra jump to avoid an obstacle if avoiding the obstacle and getting hit by it have the same penalty?" was my thought process a lot.

Just played and rated your game. Check out my comment on your jam page for my feedback.

If you get a chance, I'd appreciate it if you played our game before the rating period ends. It's here: https://game-joy.itch.io/emimlive-chroma-quest

I appreciated how the text changed from loop to loop; it felt like I was progressing rather than replaying the same level over and over again.

I liked the crudely drawn player character; it added a lot of charm. Would have been nice if they had a walk animation, though. Even something simple like their feet bobbing up and down would have gone a long way.

The wall next to the first openable gate doesn't seem to have its collision set up properly. I was able to walk through it and move around a bit. I thought this might be some kind of secret, but it doesn't seem like it was.

At first, I was confused as to why the "disguise yourself as a guard" option wasn't available at the start. I believe the reasoning is that you have to try both of the given options, see they don't work, and then come up with a more out-of-the-box solution. If that was intentional (which I hope it was because that's a cool narrative idea for a game about looping), it could be clearer in the writing/presentation,

It's cool that you're setting up a story. Best of luck to you if/when you develop it more in the future.

There are some parts where the black text overlaps a black object in the background and becomes hard to read. Giving the text textboxes with borders would have helped.

Fun game overall. I like how there are a bunch of different gameplay styles that are used to tell a story. The asteroid dodging bit was a little frustrating at first, but I might have been getting bad RNG on my first couple of tries.

I really didn't like the part where you get sent back to the beginning if you pick the wrong wormhole; that wasn't fun.

Music was great!

Fantastic visuals. I can't overstate how impressed I was with your sprite art and animation. The cutscenes at the beginning and end were a great touch too.

Main gripe I had with the gameplay was that there are so many enemies constantly spawning that it's really easy to build up a ton of time, somewhat invalidating the game's loop mechanic. I was able to get 4 of the 6 weapons and defeat the boss on the first loop.

A map that revealed itself as you explored would have been nice. For most of my time playing I didn't have a good sense of where I or anything I had already been to was.

The doors to houses didn't look like doors to me at first. It took me a little while to realize what they were. I think they could be bigger and more "door-like".

The frame rate drops when you use the melee weapons was jarring. I'm assuming that was intentional and meant as a hitlag effect, but it's way too drastic.

Minor thing, but I ran into a bug where a sign's text remained on screen after leaving it. I was able to make it go away by approaching the sign again and leaving a second time.

Overall, this was a really impressive jam entry. One of the best I've played from this jam so far!

Just played and rated your game. Check my comment on your jam page for my feedback.

If you'd like, I'd appreciate it if you checked out our game: https://game-joy.itch.io/emimlive-chroma-quest

I was really impressed by the art, animation, and sound design. Great stuff!

The fact that the game's hazards are slopes and edges of various angles can make things difficult at times. It's not always clear what needs to be avoided and what can be walked on. More easily identifiable obstacles would have been really nice.

I wish the controls inverted when you were in the black zone. It was always my instinct to press down to jump when upside down. 

Played and rated your game. Check your comments for my feedback. If you get a chance, please check out ours!

https://game-joy.itch.io/emimlive-chroma-quest

Once I realized that this was a Cookie Clicker-esque game, I had a good time unlocking everything. You unlock everything pretty quickly, so it would have been nice if there was more to buy. Maybe you could upgrade the cars individually (would have been nice to improve the cannon's handling), or maybe you could buy mini-cars that auto-complete loops for you (ala auto-clickers in Cookie Clicker).

Had some issues with the unlocking process. Sometimes, I would have enough loops but not be able to unlock the next car without going in and out of the car menu a couple of times. Also, the car menu UI never updated to show that I owned any of the new cars.

Not having the track's art represent where the actual walls were was pretty jarring. It's kind of nice that you have more room to turn than you think you do, but the track's space should be represented accurately by the art. It's also awkward that the car starts next to the lap line at a parallel angle. The drift never seemed that useful, even with cars that have bad handling.

Played and rated your game. Here's ours: https://game-joy.itch.io/emimlive-chroma-quest

I like the idea of defeating enemies in order to make breadcrumbs as you explore. Unfortunately, combat did not feel good to engage with so defeating enemies wasn't something I enjoyed. The sword swing is slow and awkward, and you have very little control over whether or not you get hit by a wolf.

It's very frustrating when you discover something but end up dying and unable to find where you were because the world is so dark. I get that the theme is "light vs dark", but maybe the darkness shouldn't be so literally dark (or maybe the player character should give off more light?).

Good job on the 3D modeling. I don't know what was homemade and what were free assets, but everything looks really good (from what I could tell in the darkness).

Played and rated your game. Here's ours: https://game-joy.itch.io/emimlive-chroma-quest

I like the concept. The jump has a nice acceleration and weight.

Having a jump pose for the character would have been nice so they weren't t-posing and walking mid-air.

It feels a little unfair when you need an enemy in order to make a jump but accidentally kill them beforehand. Especially when you see the enemy before the jump you need them for.

Just played and rated your game. Here's ours: https://game-joy.itch.io/emimlive-chroma-quest

Interesting concept that was executed well. I'd be curious to see how you went about creating the levels.

Only really complaint is that once you figure out the optical illusions, completing the levels starts to feel tedious.  The character's walk speed doesn't help in this regard, either. Having something in the levels change that mixes up the different laps would have been nice.

I just played and rated your game. Check the comment I left on your jam page for my feedback. I was especially impressed by the visuals; the game looks really good.

Congrats on completing the jam! I'd appreciate it if you checked out our game: https://game-joy.itch.io/emimlive-chroma-quest.

Had a fun time playing this; it was a great use of the theme. I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the game for others.

Choice of music was also great.

Great visual design. The dithering effect on the lighting looks especially great.

I like the concept of having to return to the beginning of the dungeon after you get the thing.

It seems really hard to avoid taking damage from the skeletons. They move faster than you, and each skeleton takes several hits to defeat. Plus, it seems like you can't even sprint away if a bunch are hitting you at once. I tried several times, but I wasn't able to complete even one dungeon.

Having an indicator of how long the sprint potion lasted would have been nice.

Finally got around to watching your dev log (sorry it took a couple of days...). Congrats on your placement in the jam! Seems like you had a good time and learned a lot. Looking forward to that improved version you've been working on.

Thanks so much for the shoutout! That was really nice of you :D

Cool puzzle game. Levels are tricky and make you think but never frustrating. This is particularly impressive for something made in two days.

Would have been nice if the buttons gave feedback to having the mouse cursor over them. That would have made it clearer that they were buttons, which is important because of the way they're placed in the environment.

The game gave me a "Baba Is You" vibe. I wonder if that was a source of inspiration.

Just played and rated your game. It was really impressive! Glad you got 20 ratings.

Hope you play ours: https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-7/rate/1419471

One of the most polished and impressive games I've played for this jam. The visuals are nice and clean, and the button character is super cute.

Each puzzle was well designed and felt rewarding to complete. They explore the concepts of the game mechanics well and ramp up in difficulty in a satisfying way.

Sometimes the blocks slide or roll in a way you don't expect. There were a couple of times where they flew off the level unexpectedly.

There doesn't to seem to be any way to make the red blocks tangible. I'm not sure what purpose they serve. They made me think I was doing something wrong in the levels that featured them.

I'd pay for a version of this with more levels. I hope you develop this concept more in the future!

Played and rated your game. Here's ours: https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-7/rate/1419471