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The Dev Duel 2024 YouTube video is out! Watch the video to hear my thoughts on the winning entry on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu4lE6ERyeY

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it :)

The gameplay was exactly as I expected and I remember playing minesweeper a lot way back when and its always a good challenge. I managed to get to the victory screen on your game on my second try :) The layout is clean and easy to navigate and you did a great job of recreating the mechanics. Having colours definitely improves on the original but due to my colour blindness I think making the red more of a dark brown would enhance the contrast against the green. Finally, I just want to say that the start screen with the loading cart was a really nice touch! 

Really polished game. My best was 23. It looks really good as a 3D game and I especially like the sounds

Thanks for the kind words. Always good to hear that no bugs were found, there were plenty during development so its good to know that I squashed them all

I managed to stay in power for 30 years. The game story is short and sweet and I certainly get the vibe from reigns gameplay from it.  The feel and animation when it moves to the sides is well done and really smooth, great job all around

Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback. Glad you completed the 25 levels too. I planned to have 2 endings but ended up making none, but I got an idea for a better ending with a cutscene. I couldn't agree more on the font, that's something I didn't like either and will try to figure out how to improve it after the jam. Thanks again!

I feel like this game successfully captures the classic Minesweeper experience while adding some interesting mechanics too. I especially like the walls. However, a tutorial could be beneficial to fully understand how all the additional mechanics work as I feel like there is a lot of strategic depth that I am missing. For example, I figured out the basic gameplay but still have questions about how the scoring system calculates points and the purpose of the cards. With all that said, I managed to score over 100 points and I appreciate the ability to zoom out and reach extra tiles

Thanks. I agree with you there on the font being hard to read. I experimented by making the font myself and couldn't figure out for the life of me how to do the spacing so some letters like the w's and m's are a bit squished lol. Glad you enjoyed it

Wow that's an impressive score. I played some more of your game and I made a sun :) and got a highscore of 6350. Bevelling and embossing could work to make the planets look more 3D but now I've played it more I do kind of like it how it is though.

I liked triple triad in final fantasy 8 and I think you've done a really excellent job at recreating the game and adding extras to it. The card value from 1 to 4 was particularly good and added to the strategy and the whole game felt very fair and balanced. I managed to complete the game and I think I was mostly a robot

The gravity mechanic works really good and it feels more fun that an ordinary suika game. My high score is 5171 and I got to a Jupitar planet, but I will be playing again because I want to get that sun. The planet art is really cool, and I think making it more 3D could enhance it further. Overall, great game!

Thanks for the feedback. You're absolutely right about the pixel density on the map.  I can see how the last level can be confusing too. Basically what's happening is the crystal ball is orbiting the player and holding space will speed up the rotation. So when the crystal ball gets close to the ground, that's when you need to jump and then hold space to bring it around

Thanks so much for playing! :)

Glad you enjoyed the mechanics and creativity. Awesome that you beat all of the events too!

That's fantastic to hear! Thanks :)

I've completed the game - woohoo! Changing my button mashing technique really helped. I think on another screen it said I had like 43,000 points, I'm well happy :)

I've been playing your game again and I've changed my button mashing technique. I think the hurdles are balanced perfectly and I did it in less than 19 seconds and even beat mr monacle. I then got to the skeet shooting which was awesome, my highest was 95. I'm still not quite quick enough on the 100m dash to beat mr monacle and save the olympics yet but I'm getting close to doing it

The atmosphere you created is phenomenal! I love the interpretation of the theme and the escape plan on the wall was super cool. Smashing the planks on the door was satisfying, although I think being slightly slower, more accurate and maybe a bigger hitbox like a line would make it easier for me. It was amazing to run through the corridor and jumping over everything looked and felt amazing. I can tell a lot went into making the game and I think it’s going to do really well. Also really great that you added a walkthrough video!

I just squeezed through the 100m dash but I didn't even get close on the hurdles but that's more to do with me being bad at button mashing than anything. When I got the jumps right it felt good, but even missing it I got to see a nice animation so I'm happy either way. Speaking of animation, the crowds were awesome and I really liked the sounds throughout. I liked the backstory in the description page too and would of been great to see it in the game itself but glad you made one to read. Some ideas that may or may not improve the game would be: seeing  Mr Monacle race alongside would be epic, adjusting the camera to the left might help a little bit with the hurdles but it certainly felt fair as it was though, having an easy option or cheat so that your speed can never drop down below your top speed so it's more finger friendly unless you hit a hurdle and it resets. Overall, a very enjoyable game that's got a lot of style, best of luck!

Ten seconds to switch events felt just right. I think ball bounce was the one I had most fun with and it was cool that you could jump too. The only bug I noticed was that the final score continued to go up after the game was over. While I appreciate you mentioning refreshing the page to beat the game again, I think pressing a button to replay would be beneficial. The controls are very intuitive and I like how different each game was

It’s amazing how many different track and field events you included. The controls and customisation was great, although three rounds per event might have been a bit high in my opinion if someone wanted the time to see everything. Popping the balloons with the javelin was my favourite, that was really cool

It’s impressive for a single event. It’s a shame that a mistake wiped your progress when developing the game as I'm sure you had a lot more things planned. The menu looks great, the character animations are smooth and it’s very clear how to play the game. I managed to get a high jump of 37.17 cm

The ragdoll physics on the arms are hilarious! Using a trampoline for the high jump is a creative idea but I found the timing a bit tricky. Thankfully, the multiple bounces definitely helped though. Hurdles was the event I liked the most and I got on the leaderboard too :) The menu was presented well, transitioned nicely and had good info in it. The one thing missing was a restart button on the events for convenience but overall, it’s a nice game

This game is a whole lot of fun! Discovering the different ring effects was really cool and added another layer of strategy. The variety of events and at different lengths and times kept things a fresh challenge and I love having a choice in which race to tackle. Factor in the prize money, potential for fouls and which rings to hold, it adds up to a brilliant game

The arcade cabinet on the description page instantly grabbed my attention and is a really fantastic way to set the mood for a Track & Field game. The 3D effects used throughout the game and on the title screen are really impressive. The gameplay itself feels fair and fun. Also, the sheer number of planned events show some serious ambition and I like all the ones that I could play

I love that you’re sticking with the awesome hand-drawn style! The detailed stroads with the telegraph poles and street lights really add to the world. The concept of having the events taking place in a car is fantastic and creative. The stoplight hurdles was by far my favourite event because of the fun challenge and there’s a good variety in the other events too. Adding sounds would be the icing on the cake but it plays great even without them. Keep up the great work!

I think you made a great start to the game and it’d be interesting to see what could be if you had more time. The button-mashing hands add a lot of personality, the art and music is also really great 

This game is amazing! I loved all four mini-games and I like how the speed builds up on the hurdles event and the duck takes off flappy bird style, that was a nice surprise. The high and long jump timing mechanics felt great and although the hammer throw was challenging, it offered enough retries to master it. The leaderboard is a great addition and I’m pleased that I just about squeezed on to it :)

Awesome! Not sure either but possibly. I have a feeling I forgot to stop the gravity of the ball when pulling it up so there could be a bug there with 2 opposite forces at work

I’m glad you liked the new mechanics and I guess I did want to continue on from my last round’s game as I enjoyed making it so much and thought I could also capture the running, jumping and throwing elements of track and field in there too. In hindsight, I could have leaned more towards the arcade classic and during development I did just that but I scrapped those levels and ultimately went towards what made it more fun. I really appreciate your feedback, many thanks!

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback. You’re right, it definitely leans more into the puzzle side of things and that’s something that I had fun designing. The in-game instructions are a great point too and would certainly make the controls more intuitive. Thanks again for the valuable feedback!

That's really nice to hear and I'm glad you liked the overworld map

Thanks for playing. Glad you enjoyed the different telekinesis challenges :)

Thanks Joszs. That's probably one of the trickier levels. The way to do that one is to hold space to lift the ball up. Tapping space might help to get through a tunnel section later on and then you got to be careful when the player drops down at the top as it'll cause the ball to drop down too

This may be a single event game but it’s incredibly well polished and it’s fantastic to see your otter character return. The game length is perfect for me as I never felt my hands getting tired and I even managed to qualify with a time of 6.16 seconds - woohoo! The single spot on the global leaderboard is a surprisingly good choice in my opinion and I imagine people competing fiercely for it. The subtle distance indicator at the bottom of the screen is a nice touch as well

This is a super creative concept and trying to sabotage specific athletes is a nice twist on the original track & field game. I also like how the colour scheme of white and blue avoids unnecessary racial bias. The variety of events is fantastic with each one feeling unique, it’s difficult to choose my favourite one, they’re all great fun, although I do think the skateboarding could be improved further as I couldn’t get the timing quite right on it. Perhaps being able to control a rising water level or some other means of knocking him off could be a different way to challenge someone. Nevertheless, it’s a great addition to an already impressive amount of mini games and overall, it’s an incredibly strong entry

The 3D perspective is fantastic and those dangling tentacles when the beast approaches from behind really ramps up the tension. The overall presentation and aesthetics are excellent. While the variety of events is great, button mashing isn’t my strength, so I only got to experience the sewer run, bomb throw and sewer hurdles. I’m sure the other two are just as good though and I will look forward to seeing someone else accomplish them. One minor suggestion would be increasing the player’s running speed as their health depletes could enable players like me to see more of the game even if it means sacrificing some points. I like the option of controls, particularly the angle brackets as it’s comfier pressing them with being closer together and the roll animation on the sewer hurdles is really cool if you fail to jump in time

Thanks for being willing to give the game another shot especially with so many in this jam! You're absolutely right about putting the information on Hairy Cell Leukemia earlier. In designing the game, I initially wanted the focus to be on the core gameplay loop and getting the AI working but in hindsight, adding little details about Hairy Cell Leukemia at the start or between levels would have provided some context without overwhelming payers. I really appreciate the feedback, thanks again!

Thanks for your feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the mechanics so far. I understand the difficulty spike at day 4 can be frustrating. Here's a quick tip: try attacking one cell with both of yours and keep attacking. There are actually 7 levels total, and the later ones introduce new mechanics like walls and screen wrap that can be strategic for both you and the AI. If you manage to reach the end, you'll also discover some interesting information about Hairy Cell Leukemia and the role this game plays in the fight against it!