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Everything about this game is fantastic. The gameplay is simple, yet all the movement required means there is plenty to keep the player busy. The scaling of the chaos is just right, with how advancing the stage trickles in more enemies to dodge. The sprites are detailed and the backgrounds, particularly for stage 3, gorgeous. The soundtrack is is great, especially to me since it uses instrumentation I normally don't jive with. And it doesn't slack on its story cutscenes either. Just an incredibly impressive jam game all around.

On a side note, it seems to be half-compatible with a controller? I could move Aya around, but not take pictures on the controller. So I played with one hand on the controller to move with the stick and one hand on the mouse to take photos.

An interested idea, and I can see why the team explored it. You really need to pace yourself, and try not to let the clumps of fairies get too big without some blue ones to remove them for good. I think it is especially cool that on level-up you both increase the player's strength and also add more complexity to the enemies. A fun game with simple, clean visuals and soundtrack.

This game does everything well. The visuals are fantastic from UI through the intro comic. Distinctive sprites making keeping track of the hectic action easy. The music is catchy and sound effects give the extra punch where needed. The gameplay is smooth, and the swapping mechanic is well implemented. The two styles provide variety, and with swapping being how you deposit points it prevents you from camping on one for too long. I was consistently surprised with how many enemy types showed up. About the only issue here is the game lacks a climax. No boss or final challenge, and no victory comic either for the rabbits to celebrate.

Dang, this was so much fun to read I am mad at myself for not jumping in when Megapig offered. The stories run a gamut of emotions. Some are simple and wholesome and others leave you really thinking. Some have a clear message, and some are a bit murkier.  There is a lack of any unifying theme though, making the experience disjointed. 'Original Character' doesn't work much as a glue in that regard. The music is fantastic, and all over the art is charming. A special call out to Molly for making me laugh so hard I had to stop reading for a solid minute.

A fun little Suikamari Damacy game. The music during the boss fight is great, and the character portraits so wild and expressive. The story is cute too. Solid all around, besides the non-boss stages lacking difficulty.

Breakout, but you can move freely. Also, you are your own worst enemy. A funny concept, and pretty fun. Wanton destruction never fails to bring amusement. I especially liked the ball that grows until you use it. It encourages you to play riskier, waiting and dodging so you cause more calamity. The music is pleasant and the presentation solid overall. The one part that annoyed me was was the balls stopping all momentum quite suddenly, making it hard to predict when they are a threat again.

At first I was completely confused how to even craft what the customers wanted. And once I got it was just the match-3 part, I was still mostly just pulling from tall stacks and hoping it worked out. This game blends two genres I don't really enjoy so it was going to be a hard sell. The presentation, though, is great. The character artwork is incredibly cute.

What an all-star team. And the results match up to it. Just a very clean, responsive, fun game. It is a nice change of pace from panicking about enemy spawns in Heavy Machine Bun to spawn-camping them with the rampaging vampire. And a lot easier too, I think. I beat this game on the first try without getting hit once. Very generous on that dash invincibility. The music ramping up to Flan's theme is great, and the cutscene art is just fantastic. My only real issue is the extremely limited palette not looking great during gameplay and making the sprites muddled as they move around.

There is a great framework for a strategic game here. You've got dice rolling, you've got map painting, you've got a deck un-building mechanics. Everything is nicely presented, apart from fire and village dice being pretty hard to tell apart. The real issue is there is not quite a game to be had yet. There isn't really a goal to be going for, other than higher numbers. Nothing to unlock or to change up the gameplay as it progresses. Nor is there any time pressure, either for number of turns or number of cycles through the deck. So the optimum thing to do is play as slowly as possible, placing maybe one die per cycle through the deck. With some goals to shoot for and some way to shake up the board besides what the player does, this would be a lot of fun.

I am a big fan of Groove Coaster so this game is an easy fit. The songs are actually pretty numerous for a jam game and diverse too. It even seemed like there was even more music available on the menu. The charts matched the songs well, and being able to set my own calibration made it line up nicely. The overall presentation is great, and I like how the fairy character is the icon on the track.

However, I am going to join the chorus of people saying the notes cluster too much. It can be near impossible to see what is coming next, especially for a rapid series of inputs in the same direction as travel. And distinguishing between a short hold and a triple tap is difficult. The option to speed up the track would help a lot in pulling those clusters apart.

Simple controls that are hard to get the hang of. Something of a theme going with Iced_Lemon projects.  Kagerou's adventure is adorable. This game is nicely polished and any mistakes fall pretty squarely on the player. However, the way power works here does cause a death spiral where getting hit reduces power so you lack firepower to clear the screen so you get hit again. You either get a perfect run going or you crash and burn. The stage itself is the enemy here, as the final boss is cute but easy in comparison. Overall, a fun experience worth a run through (Swim through?).

An incredible amount of polish for a three day jam. I usually don't like matching puzzlers, but this one won me over. The visuals from menu to shop screen to gameplay to credits are all top notch. The music hits the theme, of course, and one extra track snuck adds adrenaline at the right moment. There is plenty of time to think and consider moves, and then also consider future moves on top of it. And as the upgrades progress, so to does the gameplay loop. What starts as trying to just make big chains turns into trying to find ways to hit enemies and get rainbow gems while avoiding ending in safe spots. The final upgrade surprise added a whole new layer just to cap off a great experience.

This game is great and I am so bad at it. Needing to calculate recoil and dash distances spins me for a loop. However, some of the weapons are very satisfying to use and the dilemma of picking weapon over score or hp is constant. I enjoyed all the music tracks included, and the art design here is slick. This game is really nice to look at and its great seeing the polish on the UI in addition to the main gameplay.

A beautiful visual novel from start to finish. The writing is too direct at times, and there are a fair many typos, but those quibbles don't detract from the raw emotional power in the words. The art and sound back up the writing perfectly. The shift from a jazzy, casual date to the somber tones as the end draws near transition the mood. The repetition of the central mechanic sets up the finale as well. The player becomes comfortable with the routine, making that last game all the more bittersweet. Kudos to the team on this one. Much like a certain magician, it won't be forgotten.

I do wonder if Koakuma might view Marisa differently after the ending...

I really like the visuals in this game. The background is gorgeous without getting in the way of the action. The sprites are clean and stand out well relative to their individual importance.

There is a lot of depth here for a two button game in a classic genre. Shotgun blasts to take out asteroids and eyes alike feels satisfying. I am not as much a fan of the floaty movement, making lining up shots on individual eyes a pain.The visuals and sound match the retro arcade vibe well, and despite the limited palate everything important is easy to read. Embedding information into the center of background is appreciated when all the focus needs to remain at that center.

As it turns out, I like time mechanics so much reverse super hot is also quite fun. With a core mechanic this powerful, it is good to see the enemies being relentlessly aggressive. The reloading mechanic also stops this from being a cakewalk. Even so, I would have loved the ability to pick up knives in midair to partially reload. A good maid wouldn't let a single missed shot go to waste.

I am normally not one for farming games, but removing all time constraints and efficiency pressure makes for a tranquil experience. Given the goal of providing relaxation, I am surprised the decorations needed money. A chance to decorate freely while waiting for flowers to bloom would be nice. The real reward is getting to see the results of your hard work, and that does feel good.

What an interesting lore dive. A lot of care was taken to look at events from the perspectives of the characters, and and also meld them to fit the particular setting. The atmosphere is well presented too, with nice visuals and accompanying soundtrack. Both the storybook and the character portraits are top notch. Plus the voice over is a treat.

There is a lot going on in just this initial demo. Some very basic enemies will rip you apart until you master how to actually use your gun. Once you do, the rifle offers a lot of depth in a place most games would opt to dump several different guns. I was skeptical if the complex reloading mechanics would be worth it, but properly juggling magazines during the boss encounter proved fun. It adds a back and forth of finding opportunities to attack and then evading while reloading. I'll be looking forward to when more of this game releases.

Finally, I can make Yuuka proud by planting sunflowers in tiny enclosed spaces that will never see the sun. The game systems are much upgraded and expanded from the original version. The stat gardens are just lovely. However, with so much more going on the tutorials have not quite kept up. Understanding the limitations on Yuuka's hovering and how her main shot worked troubled me in particular. But with more dangerous enemies and better boss patterns, this is growing up to be a great game.

There are many things I could say about this game. Many of them directed at Futo. Thankfully, I spiked many tennis balls into Futo's face to solve the issue permanently. The core idea of bouncing around to destroy targets is good. But for a game so principally about angles, four arrows keys to control movement hurts a lot. With a different control scheme it would be very satisfying to line up good combo shots.The character sprites were good in their pixelated glory, but the environment is terribly bland. I like the music, but then again I just Eiki's theme to begin with. The sound effects are repetitive but also humorous.

An excellent tactics game considering jam limitations. The maps look very clean, so I guess the voxelscaper worked well. The units themselves have nice models. Unit portraits need a bit less Tewi. She can't be that much of a narcissist can she? It would have been nice to be able to select enemy models, but at least the heavy color coding helps. Music is missing, but at least we got the jingle and some gun shots. The actual gameplay flows great. The fact "missed" shots still fire and hit things in their trajectory make random misses feel way less bad. And it forces the player to consider their angles to cut down on friendly fire. With more unit types, maps, and an enemy AI a bit less suicidal with double moves, this would be a great fully fledged tactics game.

You know, normally I try to talk about the bright spots in a game and what I enjoyed about it. But Rak knew exactly what Rak was doing. Tank controls suck and I whined about every miserable second of this game. Why have you done this Chen?! Chen spent 0 seconds snowboarding and died three times. I hope you are proud of yourself Rak.

This game looks really good visually, but that's all you're getting out of me! >:(

And now its Castlevania, I guess. As usual its the SDM that gets the Castlevania treatment, but now in 3D! The character models are all quite good, and I appreciated the detail of the strange yellow orbs outside the SDM entrance. The game controls well, and the addition of the slide attack does wonders to keep the movement interesting. Some of the progression requirements are pretty devious. Each time I thought I found a secret it ended up being required. The boss theme was great and makes me wish more of the game had such jams. The voiceover intro was a complete surprise.

I found the gate jump exploit and thought I was going to be so slick with a world record, but dang people are already way ahead of me. Still, it was nice to go back and complete the game in a 1/5 of the time of my first go.

How to make Touhou the spooks: Reduce player fire rate by approximately 99.9%. Waiting around to shoot does add tension for sure, but eventually it was mostly just dragging my feet as I waited for days to tick by. Other than that, the mechanics works great. The enemies started goofy but the that last hallway literally laughing at my bullets definitely set the unnerving mood. The hidden mechanic is foreshadowed well between the characters, item descriptions, and where you get them. The boss felt appropriate but man I wouldn't want to see that in my dreams. Which is super unfortunate given where they tend to hang out.

Edit: It is much worth it to go for both endings.

We have discovered why Yuuka rarely leaves the Garden of the Sun. She is stuck in an infinite loop of watering sunflowers and obliterating fairies. Locking clearing enemies and scoring on the different modes requires a lot of switching between. And annihilating a huge swarm of fairies going after your largest cluster of sunflowers feels very good.  Combined with the slide for fast movement gives a satisfying gameplay loop. It does eventually build to overwhelming though. I would have liked some goal beyond just a high score since it feels like no matter what those fairies win.

I have to wonder how much of this game was made for the pun title alone. The animation to start it off is quite cool, as are the various sword stances. The experience is so brief, though, that I didn't have all that much time or reason to explore them. Especially when high stance was the only one that had predictable hurtbox. Venting heat for effects is a neat idea, but being able to spam dash to heal limits difficulty. Overall a fun diversion that probably would need some work to expand further.

Aha, finally a game that is the same genre as another one of Rak's games. I don't have to relearn a whole control-- no wait, Yuuka has a shotgun. Guess we Dooming now.

Yuuka herself is quite correct the combat mechanics are much more complex. There are a lot of controls to keep track of. Even after I got into the rhythm of shotgun into sword into stagger into tea party, I still couldn't integrate flying into rotation. Just remembering there was a dash in the hectic fights was hard enough. I dearly wish there were more sections with the normal guys. Both because it is fun, but also a chance to practice in area with more space. For all the movement options the combat zones are small. That said, once I got it the twenty guys lined and waiting for me was the easiest encounter in the game. And its good Youmu is so incredibly vulnerable to sword, or that double boss fight looked hard. The story gets way darker in tone after that, and I am wondering if Rak just prefers settings where everything has gone to hell.

Another absurdly ambitious project from Noetic Nightjar Studios. This time, we flying planes. Or just one the plane really, but it flies really well! The flight model is absurdly generous, to the point you can just reverse in the air. After adjusting to it, pulling impossible turns and shredding the AI is very easy. Feedback on how your plane is moving and getting hit is sparse however. The final mission is an appropriately ludicrous ending. I did need some direction on exactly what I was supposed to be gunning for. Hard to see there were individual targets amid the bullet storm. The Tokiko model is very cute in her cockpit and the rest of the visuals do a good job getting the important details across. I found the music too subdued for the high octane dogfights, though.

There are some really interesting patterns here, like dolls shooting in from outside the bounds. But also, it is hard to understand exactly what is going on, especially on a first pass. A warning icon is one thing, but I didn't expect a full flurry of bullets from below. I am not a great judge of danmaku patterns though, so I will leave it at they look pretty and the music is nice.

What a satisfying experience from every angle. The writing ties into some serious lore but Yuuka's teasing nature keeps it humorous throughout. The game has the bleak atmosphere of Dark Souls but big fancy bullet patterns covering the sky to delight the eyes. The boss music gets the adrenaline pumping. And the core gameplay of Yuuka crushing everything is just fun. Flight is hilariously overpowered compared to a dodge roll, but that fits the series perfectly. There actually needs to be more difficulty to match the Dark Souls inspiration. The game is rough at the edges, but that is what the expanded project is for isn't it?

Edit: Oh, and pushing is even better than flying, apparently.

Yeah, this is about how'd I expect Cirno driving a tank to go. Driving around and blowing up evil Lunarians is great. Lining up distance shots on the helicopters is particular fun. The driving physics made really circling around the other tanks hard, and good luck hitting anything with how the turret bobs with the tank's bumping. The action lines during a drift are appreciated, even if most drifts end up being unintentional. Getting to see the various characters sticking out of the tank as you unlock them is very cool.

This game is an huge step up from previous Nightjar games. An incredible leap, even.

Ah yes, applying the infinitely respawning nature of fairies to the most important ask imaginable- destroying Lunarians and all that they stand for. Top marks in concept. No really, I like the idea of an RTS where you get to throw an infinite horde at your foe, perhaps backed up by highly limited elite units. I got a taste of it here, so good proof of concept. The controls are reasonable, and sneakily most important is that unit pathing functions.

The atmosphere here between the music, the lighting, and the writing was on point. Unfortunate the story ends here, but at least we got the ever important funny ragdoll.

I am sure you are well aware of the technical issues here, so I will just note the concept has so much more room to play with than this jam had time for. Especially if there were ways to manipulate death in both directions, allowing dynamic control over a level layout. The character sprites are quite cute and a cut above the plain level design. Angry Cirno got a few chuckles out of me. What a shame we still don't know if Gensokyo is saved or dead.

There is a lot to unpack here. This a really bold take on Gensokyo. Not just from the striking character portraits, but the willingness to really dive into characters' insecurities. Maybe folks are too chatty with the new bartender, but we get to see sides of characters that would normally be hidden. Whether they match the reader's own interpretation presents risk, but the characters here feel so real that I think it the risk was worth it.

About those characters, this might be the least likeable Marisa I have ever seen. She is the kind of person I would stab myself to escape being in the same room as. And that is not to be taken as a bad thing. A good story needs strong characters to make an impression, and this one is full of them. I was cracking up the entire time Hatate was on screen, while also being on screen. Which oddly makes this the most likeable Hatate I have seen. Both sides of the coin in the same game.

On the more gameplay side, picking drinks is a tough business for someone who doesn't drink. I was floundering when the guests were not giving specific descriptors I could match to the drink list. And I see there was apparently not quite time to integrate the drink list into the game itself.  Even so, it would have been handy to have it as a ReadMe file alongside the game.

Touhou Bird dating sim, but instead of my favorite bird we get stinky Hatate? 0/10.

More seriously, I like seeing familiar characters adapted to the setting. These don't feel like transplants straight from Gensokyo. Rather, it's how they might have been in an entirely different environment. Their Nature is there, but the Nurture is different. That is big points from me. The portraits capture them well and the UI is very lively. The decisions presented feel too cut and dry though. Here's hoping we get a full week someday so I can intentionally dodge all the birds and get my happy anti-social hermit ending.

An undoubtedly cute game. I am not the target demographic for this one though. I don't have the nostalgia for the source material nor do I get into pet simulations. The integration with another jam game though is incredibly cool. There are some serious hoops to jump through to make that work, both with cross-team coordination and technical difficulties. And now we might see more of them with a framework worked out!

I assumed this would be trivially easy, but dang once they are dashing everywhere it is as confusing as schools of fish to predators. Hard to pick out and track any one bubble. With the combo bonus, this rewards precision and keeps the gameplay much more intense than the calm music implies.