itch.io

ya, wish i thought of this when all my friends where shouting 'dream sequence' during brainstorming. ya this idea is fantastic, i expect this to be a top rated pick. my biggest complaint is that the floor and the void out zones look the same, even with teh dotted line it was hard to tell what was killing me early when i was dying, i stacked boxes right up to teh puddle in level 1 becasue i kept clipping the void out zone. its hard to tell what the range of teh roombas are without trail and error (in level 4 they bounced in 1 square without any apparent walls) and i find i had to peck at my movement keys to get boxes adjusted one square away, maybe another pass on hit detection but that might just be me being salty.

so, the game seemed to lag on GO, which is a little jarring, and screen transitions in general have this lag to them. with that aside this is a very good use of theme, the two HP bars complement each other nicely to make a fun racing game (even if it is single tracked) the story is nice even if i found the exchanges to be a little long winded and 'filler'. it shouldn't distract from the fact this a strong game and likely a top rated contender. i have a love/hate relationship with racing games so god job putting this one on the love side.

so, i played though it, levels 1 and 2 im like 'this is a fun little bounce around game, kinda flat gameplay though' then i time out in level 3 and go 'oh, i have a dash' and honestly using the dash isn't satisfying (or easy) and i fail to see how its supposed to help me in the game, yes the increased movespeed is nice but its so fast that i miss moths and more importantly its too fast for me to reliably see if im passing by a window, the sound design doesn't help with that either, i was relying entirely in visual cues to pixel hunt the next white window and while i got past level 3 level 4 is where i quit.
solid game overall and a nice use of theme.

huh, that is WAY more texture then i expected possible for two fucking colors, very instructional there, thank you. it kinda made the mode shifting a little hard to tell but i did complete your game, much to my surprise this feels like captain toads adventures crossed with a rave at an art gallery. that key to unlock level 3 was VERY unnoticeable and while you got 90% of the way there on a dialog less game that combined with no interact indicator for the portals like the door meant i was pressing random keys out of the politeness of my heart to try your game, thats in addition to the no thumbnail, no screens, no instructional text in the itch (you didn't even mention its for the jam, i dont think it matters here but some jams want you to tag the jam in addition to linking the submission page).

but hey, your art is REALLY standout, music was loud but the different tracks where distinct enough for me to recognize as state changes. so if you participate and in more jams and ship more games you'll build a really strong identity i think. a worthy first submission.

so i think my biggest complaint is that because of teh color swapping its just hard for me to retain which of the spike palettes are safe to walk though, then when i got to that level with the four spikes, then the two goombas with the diagonal moving goomba and...it felt like i had to die over and over just to get the goomba out of my landing zone and then the jumping plus shifting afterwards....its where i gave up.
poor use of theme but a very solid platformer, love the colors.

got ending 2. still its a very kinetic visual novel, a SOLID use of the theme and just overall a very polished and well executed game. i did  manage to 'store' the teh choice box in the living room, think i just clicked too fast. but ya no real complaints, i expect this to be a top rated submission. (god i need to make a horror game for a jam)

unfortunately i wasn't able to explore very far past the first level with the diagonal moving platform, i kept timing out and it it was unclear how i could proceed. wish i could say more but next time try to focus on teaching the player what the game is. you did answer 'what can i do' but you also need to answer  'Why am I doing it?' and IDEALLY 'why is this fun?'.

still, i hope you keep making games, it would be great to see your improvement.

i cant get over to the tree so im assuming thats where teh game ends? i even started up a new game and timed out at teh start just to confirm its just the pit i cant reload in. as far as platformers go you made good use of your three enemy types, the bats cold have been better placed for a more interesting platforming challenge.
and then ya, that ending, or if its not im not too sure what the trick is to get up there, but it really leaves the whole experience flat (or im just bad i guess?)

still a better take on the dream sequence trope then any of my friends came up with >.<

ya i didn't make it out of tutorial 4, shaders are one thing but there seems to be actual gameplay bugs, i spawned in tut 3 with no pillow and i dont think the first restart even fixed it. tut 4 has that edge in front and i kept throwing my pillows over it or out of bounds.
still, a worthy submission. also, SANDMAN BUDDIES!

so thats ALOT of stats to throw at the player right off the bat, i was able to parse most of it....

any ways i started off getting saddled with royal guards twice and i had no money for teh first year,so i focused on money and it seemed like 'i was able to make alot more interesting decisions' just by being able to PAY for said decisions, and once i had infinite money going, im basically clicked yes to every event without really thinking about it, even the overthrow teh current emperor one which did not really seem to impact me AT ALL, also having -7 order didnt seem to impact my gameplay AT ALL, i get one screen of 'you people are teh poorest in the world' and then i click on games a couple times and things are K?

theres no real direction, i think after year three i got bored, maxed my army and clicked rebel, and i won? in zero turns?
i think my biggest gripe is i did not know what to do with the emperor lines in the stat screen, i tried waiting to get a bad emperor to rebel but....see above, and WHY should i care about Em. orders? at ALL? and order in general 
overall a worthy submission, maybe space your text out a bit better it was kinda unreadable in the pick three UI.

im autistic i suck at being sarcastic XD. i mean every words, your game touched me and made me cry just like all those others i mentioned. and make no mistake, i am VERY proud where my game ended up in placements this jam (even before i see my ratings) but playing all these other projects i can see where i stand and im excited to see if i can improve, and this game will be a guiding star for me, thank you.

so. i took the theme, and made a game, kinda.
you took the theme, and made art, an experience, a true calling of the soul.
the reason i choose game dev, and not any other media to express my work, is because no other media has that active component, no other media can hold up a mirror and reflect us so completely when done right.
bastion, to the moon, undertale, majors mask, the beginners guide. all these game leave lasting emotional impacts on their player, all these games teach us something.

and now Cherries of Willowmere is among the pantheon.

honestly i hope your the last person to comment on my game, it would be so picturesque if this was the last game i played this jam. someone who had the same skill set, who had the same cards in their hand, and made art while i made a game.

your game says thank you for playing, but i'd argue we should be thanking YOU.

This is one of the more ambitious systems builds I've seen in this jam... a node-graph mansion with per-room skill checks, a crew of four distinct personality archetypes each with their own AI tendencies, a scheduling/timeline bar, and an order-queue log that's actually trying to tell a story about your crew acting semi-independently. Thats a lot of interlocking systems to get running in jam time, and the bones of a genuinely interesting heist-management sim are visibly here.

That said, in my playthrough it was impossible to tell what was working:

• Several buttons (including "Pull off current task") produced no visible response when clicked! no flash, no state change, no error. I couldn't tell if they're unimplemented, gated behind something, or just not wired up yet. That ambiguity is rougher on a player than an outright error would be.
• The top timeline bar (colored segments, red dashes, ect.) has no legend, so I couldn't read what it was tracking at a glance.
• DC checks are shown for actions (Scale the gate DC 8, Squeeze through DC 10) but there's no visible way to gauge odds before committing.

This was really relaxing. Sometimes a simple, cozy idea is exactly what you need, and making bead designs was surprisingly satisfying. Nice work, and thanks for the chill submission!

i think you're the only code cipher game around this jam! using a clock to decode the cipher was a novel application of the theme but sadly i could not hear any game audio even after refreshing to check it wasn't my end. still a very worthy submission, see you at brackeys!

I liked the special chips, they made each match feel less predictable than a normal Connect 4 game. The wizard theme fits well, and it's a fun twist on a familiar idea. Nice job!

this is a very clever puzzle game. i quit on level 4 because it was unclear how i was supposed to move the bomb on the 'walk back'. this suggestion is a little late in teh jam but your instructions say 'WASD or Arrow keys to move' but gives no mention or indication on how to 'submit' what step you want to backtrack to, it was only after clicking around and spamming my keys did i realize  that in select what steps to backtrack you press S then ENTER to submit. great music btw.

i cant remember where i saw this mechanic before but it was an excellent choice to use it for this jam, your level design was very solid, teaching players your mechanics right up until the last level, where i successfully clipped though the small wall using the green moving platform (dont worry i beat it)! the only thing hurting you here is a lack of sound effects, even if reversing the music on the back loop was clever ;)

i cant remember where i saw this mechanic before but it was an excellent choice to use it for this jam, your level design was very solid, teaching players your mechanics right up until the last level, where i successfully clipped though the small wall using the green moving platform (dont worry i beat it)! the only thing hurting you here is a lack of sound effects, even if reversing the music on the back loop was clever ;)

this should be top 100 why is it rated so low?!?!?! my only nitpick i could find was no background music. this is what game development is TRULY about, well done, well done indeed. not only did you NAIL the theme but you nailed the essence of the craft.

ya ok let me amend that now that i played your game again to answer the 'ahhhh....which game are we talking about'
the problem is if your game isnt in full screen the upgrade icon is hard to read and the text EVEN HARDER, i didn't realize that all upgrades increased DT until i played in fullscreen. ya your upgrades are great only complaint is i wish curiosity was replaced with something to answer teh typing mini game even if it was just some sort of close animation.

did your design intend to keep money between levels? because while it is the foundation of the games action system i just stockpiled money until i had everything and 'cruised' though your game. that being said i LOVE deck-builders and am very happy to see and play one in the countdown jam. i with i had the foresight to countdown a  deck of cards and do something with that. ah well next time. great game! i hope it gets top 100.

WHY ISN'T MY FLOOR ON 0 AND WE START AT 36?! aside from that one artistic choice the rest of this game is a nice, if not-quite-there on the killer horror genre, sadly i only got to see the shark guy killer but the game loop was very fun and really flexed my memory skills, only to see shark guy enter with literal bloody bags and then i just spam the leave button XD. another polish pass would have made this a REAL horror game (and my above question)

ya not trying this game in fullscreen was probably my biggest mistake this jam, along with not doing level design iteratively, i did want to flesh out the 3 hit combo some more but i instead pivoted from an arena slasher to the final design shown, what im more impressed with is that none of my mistakes are impacting my ratings significantly. but i'm very excited to take what you've all given me and apply it to the next jam. thank you very much for reviewing.

ok, where do i begin......
so this concept reads really good on paper, then i played the tutorial and realized 'right, in order to make this work you need to give us a bunch of extra buttons' and that's the first problem, your tutorial is very overloaded and the first level you get dropped into SEEMS to require most if not all of them? from my play though i was shown wasd, shift, space, then B for jump charge, then J for wall running, then M+????? for manipulating terrain when i have no indication in level what is manipulable? even in your tutorial it was very unclear what its applications where or how i'd even apply it. then i get to the level proper and its like.....ok....i'll drop M, ok.....i'll drop shift......then i felt soft locked and quit your game.
very ambitious, very smart application of the theme, you shouldn't be sorry you made it. that said i hope this jam was very instructional for your team, it was for me.

damn, 15 levels 2 mechanics, music, and a fully authored experience. ya this puts my submission to shame, i hope as complete more jams i'll be able to rise up to a level like this. gg.

not too sure how the waves themselves area race against the contract 'deadline' but this is a solid arena shooter, enemies have different behaviors, the upgrades + the push your luck aspect of the contract size is a fun combination. its just the game itself is only mid when it comes to enjoying it, killing enemies isn't very satisfying and i found myself choosing the shorter contracts just to get to teh boss faster.
all in all a worthy submission, be proud.

huh, so level 3 i aimed teh egg so high to cracked on teh way down and hit teh pan guy in the face, level cleared. then i play level 4 and they bat the egg up into the ducks face, and retry. aside from that one dependency the game was 10/10 just wish there was some sort of aim indicator. also bug report: the third duck only gives 9.5s

ok, basketball free throw timers? ok ill be nice and play this boring sports gam **** **** **** ** *** **THERE ARE SPACE LAZERS? 10/10 would play over real basketball games.

you know for a game that looked like a coin flip simulator i found myself making more decisions here then in yu gi oh master duel. the 3/3 at the start was interesting because i decided to shoot myself first and got a blank and that was apparently go again? so i shot the microwave and got a hit. then because i picked easy it shott itself so much i thought that WAS teh easy mode until it took one of my lives. by that time we where at teh 4/4 stage and i noticed my timer was higher then the microwave timer so i waited it out.
gg, this game uses timers waaaay better then mine XD

damn it i cant find your windows build! i was able to get a play though in before it broke to all hell but WOW. ill say it again WOW, this has got to be the most innovative use of the theme ive seen all jam, while i went with a generic mechanic and just tried to spam the theme as much as i practically could you guys made countdown an entire game mechanic in a setting that felt natural and fun. the last day hygiene neglect is tragic because it is the ONLY thing holding this back from taking the jam by storm! 
do not be dissuaded, i saw the gameplay, this IS top 100!

i think the difference between us really comes down to web build vs exe download XD. wish i had the confidence to put my own art out there. the one thing your missing is some kind of breadcrumb or objective marker (oh and sound), i quit in the second level because i got lost and there where no landmarks to go off of. keep making games! this is a worthy submission.

Making a memory game for your first game jam is a great choice. You kept the scope manageable, finished the game, and even added your own twist with the special cards. That's exactly how you build experience. Nice work, and keep making games!

pushing zombie bombs back from your base while they countdown, thats really clever actually, i kinda wish the vacuum felt more intuitive/easier to use. its very unintuitive that you can shoot though your base to push off enemies but this is a cool concept, a worthy submission!

always fun to see others take on the 'your timer is your life bar' mechanic, i feel like if you could design it so that the cars dont just all fuse together in the center like a **** * ***** * *** ******** then the game could actually be really fun, also you made me turn my mouse sensitivity down to 1998 levels of dpi.
good job! a worthy submission!

the oxygen tank is certainly a countdown, not sold on the counting fish part of the game, but the water controls handled very well and the diving game as a whole is on theme. be proud, this is a worthy submission.

got to the...halfway point i think? gonna try and beat this later tonight. very good, very creative, music and sound would make this a 10/10

yes, this was very fun, your teamwork really shines in this project. everything is a smooth experience beginning to end, my complaint is that the hithoxes on the meditate game combined with the clouds stacking on top of each other makes it the weakest mini game i think, the UI tricks you pulled in the dating minigame makes reminds me that i need to hate UI a little less and be more creative with it, thank you. theme implementation is mid IMO but i still hope to see this in the top 100, if not because it could easily win cutest game of the jam.

top 100 probably. for a room escape game my only complaint is that while the green battery is noticeable its nearly impossible to click on. it prompted a reset from me. but final time 4:06 ;)

Tu devrais être fier d'avoir terminé et sorti un jeu. Les premiers projets de tout développeur sont imparfaits, et c'est tout à fait normal. Terminer un projet est l'étape la plus difficile, mais cela devient plus facile à chaque nouveau jeu. Ce que tu as entre les mains, c'est un vrai jeu. Continue comme ça !