itch.io

A wonderful journey. I really enjoyed it. The art, music and writing all work very well together.

Great choice of music. PoDD has a large proportion of themes I really like, and its title theme in particular is one of my favorites!

This game’s mechanics and AI are pretty fun.

There are a lot of rules and concepts and I think it would be easier to grasp them if you let the board do the thinking, so to speak. I can picture having a bigger board, with enough space for cards that display the enemies' parts and skills (or even smaller cards that you stack on top of each other to represent an enemy's parts and their skills), or having tokens to represent accumulated wounds. Same with the player characters and their skills. I found myself referencing the rules a lot but it adds friction that could be reduced if possible.

The character and enemy designs are pretty neat.

I must say, unfortunately, that I had a lot of trouble understanding the rules, because there were many concepts and steps I did not understand. Medal’s video was helpful, but I could only play a few moves by myself because I was unsure how to proceed properly.

I have played Soku but I haven’t played many tabletop games. Here are the things I’d suggest adding:

• Explaining the parts of the board and what each token means.

• Explaining the terms used in the game: what is a card, a skill, what is spirit, cast time, recovering time, hitlag, cancel level, bullet, etc. The player can understand some concepts through context clues or by knowing about Soku or fighting games, but an explicit definition would be better for newcomers.

• An improved game phase flow diagram (I feel like the flow is not complete, the “Timing adjustment (casttime)” step is missing the next step/arrow for example), and a better or more detailed explanation of the flow and phases in general.
  

• A few step-by-step examples for each possible action, or at least the most common ones.

• A card design with icons so it’s easier to remember what the numbers mean.

I also noticed that the rules used “slot” and “block” interchangeably, but it might be better to just use “slot”.

I understand it’s a demo and that possibly there wasn’t enough time to expand on all those parts. The game looks pretty complete mechanically speaking and it’s interesting to see a fighting game translated into a tabletop version.

Very cute game. I agree with Valonad that the menus could have a better layout and it would be useful to receive more feedback after selling a weapon. The news were helpful but something more immediate could have been nice too.

I got a bit lucky with my purchases and I was able to make the weapons that the characters required despite money being very tight. I was surprised that the events depended on the kinds of weapons that you sold, that was pretty neat. I was able to get the good ending first try!

Fun game, slick presentation, great art and music. Great choice of dungeon theme in particular.

As I mentioned in the server, I think it needs balancing, but frankly balancing an RPG for a jam is difficult, I understand.

I feel that the special skills cost too much for how little faith you can recover normally, and Sanae's move that recovers faith is not that useful most of the time. I feel the skills should cost only 25%. In addition , some items are pretty expensive. There's a way to recover faith and get free heals by fighting any enemy that deals zero damage to you and making use of those free turns, but I think that was not the intention... Something like a fountain or shrine midway through the dungeon that heals your HP/faith once would be pretty useful.

Finally, misfortune can sorta softlock you if you run out of money to heal yourself.

Now, two bugs. If you pick a move but don't pick a target, but rather escape, then you won't be able to act in the next battle until you reset the game. Also, you can heal your misfortune and end up with negative money; I'm not sure of the exact steps, but it happened after buying some items. I mention it as it seems you are planning an update.

Apologies for the long comment, I see a lot of potential in this game! I'm looking forward to the full version.

First-person Hifuu game! I've wanted something like this for a long time.

The atmosphere in this game is unmatched... The art for the graffiti is pretty nice, and the textures are quite good. Also, *SPOILERS* that was a good decision at the end, I feel a 3D model would have been too jarring *END SPOILERS*.

I'd appreciate some graphical options, the game was quite demanding for my laptop with integrated graphics.

The writing is fascinating, and it's interesting to see the roles reversed and have Merry chasing Renko instead.

The loop reminds me of a certain space game. If you approach the game knowing that you’ll have to play through it multiple times then that mechanic is fun. I think an in-game explanation for the loop would be nice (maybe Patchouli cast a last-minute spell?).

The art is very cute, the music is lovely, and the day-night cycle with ambient sounds (bird singing fading into insects and nocturnal birds) is pretty neat. I also had fun figuring out the multiple solutions for the puzzles.

After beating it I wanted to do a run using all items but got softlocked right at the end when I was going to pick up the last item (in the web version). It didn’t happen during normal play though, but I mention it just in case you plan to clean up more possible softlocks later on (edit: I don't think the softlock was related to picking up all items, but rather to trying to swap items / pick an item too quickly)

Elly! Really funny writing and neat minigames, great work.

I hadn't played this hand game before, so I had to look it up. After understanding it, the controls felt intuitive and I did a few rounds. I'd like to see that short story you wanted to include!

Woo, OC with naginata, nice. Not being able to die to the yin-yang orb is a good thing; after playing several of the Touhou 1-likes this jam I have concluded that having the yin-yang orb kill you is not my favorite design decision… heh.

I think the controls could be more responsive, it felt like sometimes my key presses didn’t trigger.

Nice detail with the credits and as always it's nice to see jam games available in multiple languages.

Fun photo game. I found VIVIT-1 the most challenging, but in a good way. I like how the game rewarded more aggressive play.

I feel that the unfocused speed was too fast, is that normal for Seihou?

Extra points for working with low level libraries, and you definitely nailed that 2000s look in the art, 3D models, and UI. The music is nice too.

Cute game, I was looking forward to that Mima battle.

Also yes, having a move that can actually destroy blocks and enemies is very useful in a game like this.

Fantastic, I really enjoyed the puzzles and the exploration. Like Megapig said, having the mushrooms was very smart. Feels very polished. I beat it with 1/3 and immediately replayed to get the 3/3.

I think the concept is great and unique, but naturally it's difficult to learn how to write Morse Code so quickly, heh. After reading the comments, adjusting the timings, and trying again more patiently I was able to do much better than the first time.

Personally I'd like to be able to see the timings on-screen; I think you could use a progress bar that fills as you hold the T key, and it could have markings to show you where the dits and dahs start or end. It's something that might help a first-time player while they get a feel for writing in Morse code. I think there could also be audible feedback after the word timing elapses so you know you can input the next word (in case you are distracted looking elsewhere at the screen). But frankly I don't know if any of that goes against the spirit of Morse Code, heh.

Sometimes the guards can reach the top of the screen and their code goes beyond the screen.

Lastly, I think the catalogue could have a transparency slider so that you can still watch the part of the game area that it covers while it’s open.

The sprites are pretty cute and the music is nice. I'd love to see the content you plan to add.

Agreed with anarchistPastry, I also thought the penalty was too harsh so I had to wait for the straight segments to try to pick up items. That aside, it was fun. That Night Sakura arrangement feels so nostalgic, and the arcade racing game vibes are on point.

Posting a comment to get the ball rolling. While I did most of the art for the game, I didn't actually play it until the jam ended, lol. It may look difficult, but combat is automatic, so just make sure you defeat enough enemies in each floor before moving on so that you can level up and get good stats. Also watch out for the moon phases; a full moon makes enemies stronger.

My thanks to all team members, it was fun working together.

Graphics, animations, sounds and music are all great, it's just unfortunate that the collision issues make it a bit frustrating to play. I also think the setting could be more Touhou-ish and less Mario-ish, but that’s a minor thing. With some more polish you’d have a real gem here.

This game looks really intriguing, I hope you work on an update! I was also looking forward for someone to make a DS-style interface in this jam, so kudos for that. Do consider making a mobile version (or mobile-friendly HTML5 version), I think it would work quite well.

The presentation looks pretty nice so far, and the characters look very pretty. Animations, even! That Akyuu is so cute.

If anything, I like the cute aesthetic. The difficulty could increase over time until it gets to a point where it becomes very challenging. I think it's fine if a game like this eventually "forces" the player to lose, like an old arcade game, so it's more rewarding to see how far you can get.

My favorite detail is the small scaling animation used on the sprites; it makes them more lively, even if the sprites themselves are not animated.

Wow, it’s been years since I last played Cave Story. As always I really enjoyed your writing.

This reminded me of all that time I spent as a teen making custom maps in Age of Empires and later Warcraft 3. I still have a notebook with some of my ideas for a custom WC3 campaign, dated April 2012. The implications of a single spell (Doom) made my mind go wild.

I had ambitious ideas that never got anywhere, but if I had to say where I started, it would be there. I learned my if-elses in that game... How far we have gone, eh? Congratulations on your upcoming Steam release.

Entertaining game. It could definitely benefit from some more feedback: some sound effect when you pick up or swap weapons, an animation or a progress bar while you reload, and a hit effect when enemies or the player gets hit. But once you understand those little details it's easy to play. Nice work. Now I want a burger.

Pretty difficult! I managed to make to the big area with all fairies, but having to go all the way back after you die is a little frustrating. If it had a couple of checkpoints it would be more manageable, though at least enemies don't respawn.

I like Medicine's limited action set. I feel it would be better if they were more spammable, but they force you to be creative with how you approach enemies. Pressing O + P at the same time makes for a good directed shot, for example.

Nice job! Thanks for playing.

Thanks! Heh, yeah, those horses hit hard. Glad you liked the gameplay, and the UI too; personally, it was my first time making a UI for a non-pixel art game!

For a long time now, I’ve wished that ZUN would add a 2-player option to the Touhou games, like most arcade shmups already do. Nice work.

Thanks for your comment! Oh yes, I really had to explain things better, haha. Skills are activated randomly (so that’s why sometimes the healer doesn’t do anything), and they have different activation rates and AoEs. I had added a file in the game page to explain that further, in case you are interested, as we ran out of time to include it in the game.

I think 17 turns sounds good. I haven’t checked the minimum number of turns, but yeah, it can probably be lower. Thanks for playing all those runs!

I will definitely review the orbling’s AI because it ended up more random than I wanted. Making the AI was fun though and I could explore those tactics you mention. I want to build up to more challenging and puzzle-like battles to make encounters more exciting!

Wow, a new entry! Stellar writing as expected from Aeon. I haven’t read Jojo so it was a bit hard to follow at first, but not too hard (Jojo has been in my backlog since forever, and I’ve only read part of Part 1). The two leads were quickly likeable. I absolutely adore (and admire) the setup behind your Hakurei character (and her design too), and the way you made Gensokyo’s magic and the character’s motives fit so well into Jojo’s worldview. It’s also very cool when people explore Gensokyo’s early years and Reimu’s ancestors. And the ending… it’s surprisingly grounded. Not everyone can be the hero and have a glorious end. I’ve thought a lot about stories like that and it’s refreshing to see someone pull it off so well.

When I first played the game, I also struggled a lot. I just couldn’t beat Momiji after several attempts, the game felt too difficult (in terms of encounters, money earned, losing half your money and all your consumables on death), and the walk back to the boss was very frustrating. It really was a shame, because everything else looked great. But now, the post-jam update (and a change of mindset) have solved all of these frustrations. So great job there.

Regarding the update, the balancing is very welcome and the game’s difficulty is more manageable now. I can only add that there were a couple of skills I didn’t use, and I ended up using only a few items from Kosuzu (mostly bombs), but they were very situational.

Regarding the mindset, thanks to the comments here and the discussion in the server, I realized that I had the wrong approach. I was just too used to grindy turn-based RPGs. Instead, this is a game where you should use your resources liberally, and you have to be smart about which skills you use. The resource management and lack of grinding make combat more engaging, because you have to be more careful, and with the update, it didn’t get to a point where it felt too repetitive or difficult.

The rest of the content, is, of course, fantastic. The music is very cool. The writing is funny and it has great lines -- Hina’s stand out in particular. I loved those little moments between Hina and Nitori, and Yukari’s cryptic words. The art style, sprites, and character and enemy designs are unique and varied. Sanae with sneakers and Hatate with pants are awesome choices. I hadn’t heard of the Memphis pyramid (non-American here) but the way it was handled was very funny and not once did it feel out of place.

With the update, this is a game that anyone can enjoy to its fullest, and it really deserves it.

Hi, thanks for playing! Yeah, I completely underestimated how much explaining the game would need. I’ll take your comments into account to try to improve the tutorial and the information given to the player. And yeah, we ran out of time to incorporate the theme properly… anyway, glad you gave it another chance. I’m sure Panchamon and Saishoo appreciate your comment too.

Fantastic, high quality work as usual! I loved the puzzles and the varied challenges and mechanics. Some puzzles took me a while, and that’s a good thing. New elements were introduced gently, and that’s the kind of thing I also want to attain in my own games. All the art is great, from font choice to lights to sprites, and I adore the bouncy sprites and animations. I’m taking notes here. And dynamic music? Yes please. Finally, I’m glad Reisen and Youmu were able to sort things out! That was cute.

Thank you for your comment Megapig! I’m glad to hear that about the concept, after a short brainstorming session we landed on the Animal Realm concept and Manwad did a great job setting it up.

Thank you! I wanted to implement even more mechanics, but I had to stop myself, ahaha. I’m happy you liked the gameplay. The original game did something really unique, and it left a void when it shut down. We are excited to bring it back!

Very fun puzzle game. I played it yesterday and I just had to play the story again today. Lunatic was too much for me, but the story mode difficulty was just fine.

Regarding the blocks, I agree with Fiore; I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I kind of feel that the icons are too big or the colors are too saturated, so the board looks a bit noisy, visually speaking. This is compounded when the blocks reach the top of the screen and they get crushed.

The UI is pretty neat. And great choice of music, I wouldn’t have guessed that the songs were from Nicovideo Commons. All of them fit the game very well.

What a cute game. Art, sprites, UI, sound and music are really polished and cohesive. The boss battle was a nice twist and it made the gameplay much more dynamic. The style for the portraits is simply adorable. I loved Kasen here and Suika’s personality, and the ending was very heartwarming. I want to play more!

Incredible pixel art, fun and bouncy chiptune music. The music and the saturated palette remind me of the better GBA games, in the best way possible. This feels like it could have been an unreleased KogaNue platformer for that handheld. Nice work with the tree animations (I guess that was a shader?).

Moving and attacking feels pretty good. I have tried to make platformers before, but I always struggle with making the movement feel good; you must have put a lot of work into it. Only after beating the game and reading the comments did I realize that I could air dash, but things went fine without it. Lack of checkpoints and healing items hurt a bit, but it was manageable. I too was surprised that the fans hurt Kogasa. I think you were only missing a sound effect for when Kogasa was hit, but other than that the sound effects were all good. Reactive dialogue was a nice touch.

I would love to see this explored further with tighter level design and more enemy variety, but as it is right now, great job.

Fantastic tactics game. I confess I had a terrible approach at first. I lost my first attempt in the first level, and afterwards I was finishing all the levels with only 1-2 units left. I felt like starting again but I wanted to see how far I could get. I finished the first cycle with only Tewi and a breacher left, trusty Inaba-06, who, naturally, grew very fond of the commander. I lost my first medic. I had to play it really safe, baiting the enemy and rushing only when I had the upper hand. At one point the pathfinding was almost stuck, but she made it through. I made it to the last battle with only five units, so I had to be extra careful, but by then, my little squad had been through so much that their bonds had only grown stronger.

Overall, a really polished experience, and in 3D to boot. I especially commend you for the movement and shooting mechanics, and the YURI mechanic helped even out my losses, which made the game feel more fair.

Edit: Wording.

And while I'm on it, nice work with the levels too. wareya's tool looks pretty neat.

Finally. More Futo and Ichirin. I love these two together.

The episodic format with minigames is a great match. And of course having an opening is wild. I really liked the first episode because I have made my own dark chocolate recipes before, so it brought back good memories. I found the second one hilarious because I’ve heard from a couple of Futo fans now of how much better she would look without her hat. It had a lovely resolution too. I liked the third one for the setup and the gameplay, but I think that Futo’s dialogue could use some work there (unironically, Shakespeare is a good reference for Futo’s manner of speech). That aside, the Uno gameplay was my favorite part and it was funny to see Futo so riled up. I also want to highlight the portraits and expressions, they were really cute.

Once again Megapig great job coordinating such a large team and congratulations to all the team members.

A fun, fast-paced FPS with high replay value. I’ve played a few times now, but could only make to wave 8 at best; I really wanted to see that boss that was mentioned in another comment.

Movement and dashing feels good, and I know it would work great in larger stages with more variety. I agree with Luyuu that it’s too easy to lose your health very quickly, but at least the drops are generous. I have also noticed that the yin-yang enemy can home in on you and end your run too quickly. Finally, I think the last weapon could use some homing, or some other kind of buff. I ended up preferring the machine gun most of the time.

Sound effects are on point. The music is badass and fits the mood. The story art in a 1-bit palette looked great. Needs some tweaks, but overall it’s pretty solid, and it's good to see a Touhou FPS, because they are not very common.

Thanks for playing! Yeah, we were talking about this in the server, but I should have done a better job at explaining the mechanics. I also just uploaded a file with some unit and skill info that should have been in-game. Thanks again! It will definitely be continued.

Greetings, and thank you! I’m glad to hear that.

Panchamon did a great job with the character art, it’s really authentic to the original game. Please stay tuned for more later on.