itch.io

Knox Game Jam 2026 starts in 6 days! Here are some suggested themes.  Make a game based on one of the following themes, or make something completely different!

• Illusions
• Alone In The World
• Generation
• Colonize
• Stronger Together
• Survive
• Roads
• Explore The Universe
• Don't Stop Moving
• Limited Resources

During the kickoff meeting, we will put the themes on a virtual gameshow wheel.  The theme will be selected by spinning the wheel.  The theme is completely optional.

Announcement post - https://www.knoxgamedesign.org/2738/knox-game-jam-2026-kickoff/

Hi.  I don't believe the XNA libraries which it uses work on Windows anymore.  I forgot that game was still on Humble Bundle.  I found your order and refunded the purchase.  I also removed the game from the store.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

• New system for ornament costs.  Ornament price gradually increases after each purchase.
• New ornaments added (8 total).
• Automated game saves now working.  Game is also saved when the X button is pressed to exit the game.
• New tree model
• New user interface layout.
• Currently four levels of snowflakes
  • light blue = 1
  • green = 5
  • purple = 10
  • orange = 25
• Christmas Bible verses now scroll at the bottom of the screen.

Added new tree model and cleaned up user interface.  Tree now slowly spins automatically with rotation buttons below.

New builds are called weather-lab.  The old turn-back-clocks builds are no longer supported and will not be updated.  Please make sure you are using the weather-lab builds for the latest updates.

Reposting from development log:

Thanks to everyone who has donated to this little proof of concept that I created almost a decade ago.  Apparently, it is still popular, so it will be next on my list to update and modernize.  I've learned a lot with Unity since I created this project, so I think I could do a lot to make it more impressive and be more like what I had originally envisioned for the simulation.  I played in marching band in highschool, so I do have some insight on what goes on in marching band programs.  Some things I would like to add are more formations, color guard with flags, over all more frills, an instrument tutorial mode, specific stats for each marcher (playing ability, marching, etc), more customizations with uniforms.  Again, thanks to everyone who has played, downloaded, and supported this little marching band simulation.

The game looks nice.  Unfortunately, I didn't play it in time to rate it for the jam.  Only issue I had was pressing Spacebar made my browser scroll down, so I had to plug in a controller to play.

This is a re-post of my comment on your LD entry page:

Very cool plant simulation!  At first I had the slider bar to the far right to speed things up and it didn't seem to be any faster.  Then I put it on the far left and it started growing like kudzu. 😀

I like how if you don't feed/water your plant it starts to die.... then if you water/feed it again then it starts growing again.  It also seems like the branches grow in a different direction each time.  I would be interested in hearing about what algorithm you used to determine the branch angles.

I like the stretchy number effect! 😁

Nice.  I know dropping block games are more complex to develop then they look.  I created a Tetris/SimCity hybrid years ago.

Very cool!  My best score was 40 points.  Hope the Pico-8 discussion earlier this month was useful.

I got back around to playing this game again, and I was able to light the tower with the lantern.  I made it to the straw hut in the forest.  Great art style and I liked how you handled the camera in Castlevania (3?) style at the split in the path.

I made a butler.bat file that just calls:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\itch\bin\butler %*

Which is used by the upload script for my games, which call it like:

SET PROJ_SERVER=my-game
SET PROJ_EXE=MyGame
SET BUTLER_EXE=..\butler.bat

call %BUTLER_EXE% push build\%PROJ_EXE%Windows gatechgrad/%PROJ_SERVER%:win

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\itch\broth\butler\versions\15.6.0\butler %*

The problem is that my butler.bat will need to be updated each time a new version of butler is released, since the version number is a part of the directory structure now.  Unfortunately, since I'm on Windows I can't just create a symbolic link.  However, it's better than having to compile butler from source myself.  There is a ".chosen-version" file, which probably could be used with some scripting magic to find the correct butler folder to use.  I'm already writing a graphical Unity build tool in Ruby (https://bitbucket.org/gatechgrad/unityhelper/src/default/UnityVersionDisplay/), so it probably wouldn't be too difficult to just go ahead and include an Itch/butler upload function as well, and just be done with the bat files.

Nice!  Thanks for playing!  I'm really not big on VR, but if enough people want it...

I remember when you showed this off at one of the Knoxville Game Design events, but I don't remember if you had ever posted it anywhere before now.  I got to the top of the tower and didn't have a flame to light the lantern. :-(

Wow, you added a lot more levels to Retrofuture since I last played it!

Really cool how it remembers which levels I've completed, even when I close the browser (except private browsing).  Is the player's progress being stored in a cookie?

The Itch app makes finding, downloading, and installing compatible Ludum Dare games so much easier.  I just wish it displayed the Ludum Dare "View Submission" link like on the web interface.  I can copy the game URL, paste it in another browser, then click the entry link.   Although, if it also displayed in the Itch app it would save me that extra step when rating Ludum Dare games.  Thanks!

I have a game with two different Windows builds.  One build is the original XNA .exe build for Windows 7 and the other build is a port to a MonoGame UWP .appx package.  Both are Windows, but different depending on the version of Windows the player is running.  There really isn't any way to differentiate the two aside from the file name, so it would be nice if I could put a note on each file, such as "Windows 7 executable" or "Windows 10 installer".

Just a suggestion.  As a workaround, I have put an explanation of each build in the install instructions and description.

Loved the 8-bit cutscenes!

Neat puzzle game.  It's like reverse columns.  Nice backstory as well.

Thanks for playing!  There is a recharge meter in the upper left corner below your score.

Thanks!  I also found where it is installed with the Itch app.

I used it tonight to push a Windows build of one of my games, and it seemed to work great.  I'm happy that I don't have to make ZIP files to upload anymore. :D

Thanks for playing!

Much appreciated!

Thanks!

I noticed the note about trying Butler next to the upload button for my game. I clicked the link to give it a try, but it just took me to a GitHub repository. I looked around and couldn't find any builds.

Do I have to compile Butler myself? I know very little about Go and I really didn't want to have to learn how to compile it myself. Does it just run through an interpreter like Ruby or Python? The README and doc links just seem to send me in an infinite loop.

I've already implemented a few of those things tonight. Thanks for playing!

There's a "Add Ludum Dare" button on my submission page, but it adds the "ludum-dare-35" tag instead of "36".

Thanks for checking out my game. :D

A new Windows build has been uploaded. You can now add presents (8 snowflakes) and snowmen (12 snowflakes) around your tree! Mac build coming soon.