The polish on this goes crazy but MAN that time duck is fucked up
Barney
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I appreciate the big creepy guy, but I feel like the rules are unclear. I'm pretty sure I can play illegal moves, and the loop detection doesn't seem to be approving some of the loops I've created.
The artstyle dwarfs the rest of the game, I think with some fixes to the mechanics & some sound design, this could be great.
Good lord this has a lot of puzzles for a jam game, you guys are insane.
This is a very creative & well made brain tickler (Thank you SO much for the quality of life stuff like the hotkeys & speed up button), honestly I think my main concern is you've done too much with the amount of items and objects, rather than relying on puzzles that focus on a couple of key objects.
That's not to say this is an issue, I think the mechanics of the boomerang have been well explored & the puzzles effectively test my brain, I just think the amount of different mechanics overwhelmed my brain a little bit by level 20, so I might need to come back at a future date when I'm not already bogged down by the fact I'm trawling through jam games already lol
With some light polish on the visuals and music, I could see this being a full release.
Very good spin on the metroid-brainia theme I've seen a lot of this jam, you've also made the actual learned mechanics feel EXCELLENT to pull off, they have that payoff I see a lot of people compliment about Celeste where the mechanics you need were something you could always do, with the final skill simply being a combination of all the abilities at once. I felt like a Mario Odyssey speedrunner near the end (The way the slopes of the map unfold into a mechanical playground also felt similar to my experience with the movement mechanics of Dustforce), good stuff.
I think my only recommendation would just be to do more of what you're already doing. More visual polish, more sound design, and more of a world to explore. If your upcoming steam title has this level of appreciation for design (And from the looks of things, it does), I can absolutely see it becoming a darling indie shortly after release.
I won't lie, I spent like 5 minutes making raw slurry cause I didn't scroll down for the ingredients list. Whoops!
This was very chill and casual, I think I would've preferred some kind of objective or obstacle - if not a time limit, maybe just a set amount of customers? It's very tricky to make suggestions that aren't just drawn straight out of the Papa Louie series. I also think this could do with some quality of life additions - sometimes I royally fuck up the recipe and make the world's nastiest mocha & want to try again, but I can't go on without poisoning my customer.
That said, the artstyle is very cute & would absolutely suit a full release. Consider building on this concept a bit.
I don't think I would ever have expected someone to merge the "Crafting" (Doodle god, Little alchemy, ...infinite craft....?) genre with the clicker game, but this was a pleasant little surprise. I especially love using emoji as a visual style. Like others have said, when the characters are zooming down the track, it's a little hard to keep up. One thing I'd probably add is an in-game recipe list? Obviously only show what I've crafted before, I just had a hard time remembering what recipe I used to craft what item.
Clever game.
I love you chrome dinosaur
This concept, for how simple it is, is an EXCEPTIONALLY cool puzzler idea (like, how has nobody done this before?), I think this just needs more levels. The experience here is unfortunately way too short to get any real meat out of it, but you have a clear understanding of decent puzzle design and I hope you build on this a ton - you wouldn't need to flood the puzzles gimmicks either, I can absolutely see the concept expanding out into tons of cool puzzle solutions with just the one ghost. If I were to suggest gimmicks for a full title, perhaps some simple block pushing puzzles? With some touched up visuals and sound design, along with a proper suite of levels, I can absolutely see this being a full release. Please consider expanding on this.
I like the concept a lot, actually - needing to do the weird movement option to complete the objective is neat. I think my main criticism here would be the weak positive/negative feedback loop - playing good isn't particularly rewarded and playing bad isn't particularly punished - with the title "Chain em" I was expecting some kind of reward for "Chaining" together rings - perhaps there could be some score multiplier for collecting multiple rings without releasing space? Like 1 point for the first ring, 2 for the second, 3 for the third and so on.
I also think there should be more of a downside for slamming into obstacles, I don't feel enough of a punishment from losing 2 points and grinding to a halt, something I'm already intending to do by releasing the space bar - mind you, the physics could definitely use some fine tuning if you were to try this, but with the player speeding up there's a clear theme of "Chaos" intended here, maybe colliding with an asteroid could make the ship's momentum carry on, and send them careening into space? I'm armchair designing here, do what you want, but I think with the existing wacky movement, this could be leaned into a lot.
WOW these turn physics feel fantastic once you get a hand of the controls (Turning relative to your car without camera motion can be very tricky, but the lack of camera movement did make it a lot easier to learn the map layout, in fairness), that said, it was kind of annoying needing to slowly back out of a wall when I inevitably crashed - perhaps the car could slide along the wall a little while moving forward (Looking at the car physics you sourced, I think this could be done with some adjustments to slope physics). Obviously this can do with some more visuals & sound design, just a couple additions from some premade asset packs or royalty free artists would go a long way - but I think my main suggestion would be some quality of life tweaks - perhaps a lap counter, minimap, per-lap timer, or maybe some indicator for how I'm getting points? All that said, this is a first game, and I'm impressed you took on a game jam for a first released project. Good work, please keep making things.
I like this concept a lot, I'm a big fan of the little quality of life stuff like swapping a tile last-second while a blob of icecream is on it to quickly flick it over the other way, and the fast forward button is a welcome addition. I think maybe the difficulty could ramp up a little more (or a little quicker, if there's difficulty ramping I missed), since the gameplay loop does get a bit stale once you've got the motions down for setting icecream in motion. In spite of that I think this is a pretty creative way to approach this kind of game & this feels fun to play in short bursts.
I like the idea of a "Reverse-stealth" game, and this concept is pretty neat. I think the mechanics of the snake are a little janky though, I'll sometimes have vision cones poking right through my barrier. That said, actually pulling off puzzle solutions is satisfying. I think this could be a great game with a few fixes to the jank.
Level 8 is my favourite one. This is a really good sokoban-like mechanic, I also love the addition of the apples as optional pickups (Something I haven't seen too often in more simple sokoban games). I think the difficulty uncomfortably ramps up by level 9, although that's probably just my lack of puzzle game experience. Good game.
I like this one, the art is especially very cute. I will admit that I was never fond of pokemon ranger, so I'm bringing a lot of bias into this, but I feel like there could be some better visual clarity on the hitboxes of the enemies, and I think some of the attacks can be a little unpredictable. It's a bit annoying when you're trying to draw circles around a bear, and he suddenly bolts off to another corner of the screen, right through your line.
That said, this is very clearly a love letter to pokemon ranger, and the different enemy attack patterns & abilities feel incredibly inspired. The fanfare when winning battles & talks of a "demo" clearly indicate that this is well on its way to being fleshed out into a full game, and I think it'd perfectly suit as one.
This feels like the kind of game that should have already existed - the idea is super simple, but it's somehow unfathomably addictive (Even if it feels like it shouldn't), the pixel art is also gorgeous, by the way. It's a little tricky to come up with weaknesses or criticisms, but I think it'd be nice if I could see the amount of shots I've taken - It's not necessary, but it would be a nice way to immediately indicate that it's what I'm going for (In fairness, I didn't read the description initially. Whoops!).
If you're ever looking to flesh this out, this would be a great mobile game with some more courses to play. Please look into expanding on this.
This is a fun little clicker, the Universal Paperclips inspiration can be felt reverberating across the whole thing. I especially love how the lack of music means the ever-increasing sound blips can take a front seat as its own kind of rhythm, it makes it feel incredibly good to get my hands on another station knowing it'll change the rhythm of the audio entirely. The simple visuals also compliment this well.
One small change I'd make is maybe make the notation for large numbers consistent - It can be a little jarring trying to figure out how much money I need when the chart reading displays millions, while the prices of the items I want are in scientific notation. If those prices matched, it'd be a little easier to do the math.
In spite of the nitpick, this is a very fun little short experience. I hope this gets fleshed out into a full title.
This is pretty fun, I appreciate there not being a proper fail state and just letting me experiment with whatever I've built, the only punishment being the hurdle of increasingly bigger goals (Which is enough to motivate me to engage with the mechanics! Hell yeah!). It's a great thinking game about code and math, and any game that makes me crack open desmos to do some graphing is a banger in my book.
My only real gripes are quality of life stuff - I find it a bit annoying to navigate my items, trying to find what I actually have, it'd be nice if empty items were greyed out or something. I'd also like to see the values of my variables after I run my code, or perhaps freeze my code in the middle of a run (Like breakpoints!) - A game about code could only benefit from some built-in debugging tools.
Fun game, impressive that you still got me to enjoy programming after grinding out 4 days of back-to-back code work lol
I like the narrative going on here, and the music & art compliment it well. Maybe the main guy should have more than 1 frame in their walk animation, but that's negligible.
I think there's a small bug where frogs still display the "[Space]" prompt if I leave them alone and come back again (Despite their dialogue being un-replayable), and I think I got a little lost because of that. I also think the experience is a bit too short for me to get fully hooked on the narrative. In spite of that, this is still a cute little game that I'd absolutely recommend to people I know. I'm gonna go do that right now.
I like the main character :)
I really appreciate the ability to clear all your past selves, it's an addition I don't see in this game style that makes it significantly less frustrating to deal with.
That said, I think the level design could serve to be a little more interesting, both in terms of visuals and gameplay. It feels like I'm just walking through the map without any real friction, rather than putting my brain to work with solving tough puzzles. With some updates to the level design, this could be a great puzzler.
Can't say anything that hasn't already been said about the pixel art and music (I'm a sucker for Chipzel-like funky chiptune music), and the rest of the presentation is off the charts (I especially love the audio details like the introduction music, sound design on the electricity, and the interface bouncing to the beat. The UI buttons being pressed as I press them is also a nice touch). My main compliment is the enemy design - they're simple patterns, but they mesh perfectly with the core idea. That said, I think the upgrades are a little simple for a roguelike. I don't feel particularly excited by getting a little bit more health or an extra peg, and I think if this were to ever be expanded upon, I'd love to see some powerups that shake up the strategy a little (Something that affects the pegs directly, maybe? I'm not a great armchair designer). That said, my concerns with the upgrades are very small. I can easily see this placing high in the jam.
I like the dialogue for the checkpoint explanation, and the art is really cute. Getting a huge boost from jumping off my past selves is also a nice touch that I don't see in many games that take a similar idea - That said, I think Razor's slipperyness & high top speed can make the main mechanic feel a little frustrating? This feels like a character controller for a game about moving crazy fast, but it feels a little at odds with the precise jumps & hard turns needed to jump on other dinos, and the slow buildup to top speed can get a little aggravating when I have to repeatedly restart to fix mistakes. That said, I think everything else here has been done fine. With some adjustments to the character controller (or maybe the level design?) this mechanic could feel excellent.
Surprisingly fun puzzler, I like the 2-part solutions to solving puzzles (Setting up the actions, then actually executing them being 2 different challenges), and it builds off the jam theme well - The art's also pretty good but the spikes did surprise me the first time (They looked a bit too much like foliage/detail in the moment, I think). I also think the floatiness of the actions did have me a little confused initially on what they do, but that was an easy hurdle to overcome. Good game.
I'm glad someone finally made a game about that one kid that exclusively pours out all the marshmallows in the cereal box without eating any of the actual cereal
The artstyle's really damn good for a jam game, and the audio bangs - I also think the level requirements were surprisingly well balanced? That's usually a struggle with jam games & not something people usually point out so I was pretty ecstatic seeing objectives that actually hit that sweetspot of challenging/un-frustrating. That said, the way this game fits the theme is a bit of a stretch. I was also convinced by the shoe that I'd be given increasingly ridiculous cereal bowls, but what's here is still really fun. Please make more stuff.
I appreciate the foray into the "Metroidbrainia" genre (Dunno if this genre name has caught on? Think Outer Wilds, Toki Tori 2, UFO50 Barbuta - using your knowledge as "keys" to progress). I'm not sure if that's how you turn to face things, but there's a clear vision here for what could be done with more time and experience. Good first game.
My brain hurts a little. I think even with puzzle Z, there wasn't really an easy way to understand what exactly my items were doing - I think it swaps the 2 rooms in front of you? I cannot say for certain. That said, I think every game should have the developer voice their own sound effects, big fan of that.
I love quake. Excellent game with a couple stuttering issues (Which didn't impact the broader experience), I'm a big fan of the puzzle design, by far some of the better puzzles I've played in a jam game.
I do think rescaling the blocks felt a bit clunky, but that's probably just a consequence of needing to physically move myself to scale them.
This one's probably my favourite of the jam.
Thanks so much for these sprite bases, just wanted to say that they were a great help in my most recent game jam entry - Out of curiosity, would it be possible to split the hands and character body into 2 separate layers (Primarily on the walk/run animations)? It would help a ton with modifying the sprites on the fly under time constraints. Don't worry if that's not possible or not worth the effort, just thought it would be a great help for fellow game jam entrants. Thanks again for the sprites!
This is a visual and thematic treat, with a unique momentum-focused movement system that I really gel with. While this game's strength is the themes, I do think the scaling theme could tie in more with the gameplay as opposed to being thematic dressing, but the full experience here is enough to justify this game's use of the theme.
Great little climbing game, reminds me a lot of DK Jungle climber/King of swing with a hint of the Getting Over It/Jump King school of level design. I love the amount of little control nuances you give the player in the face of such a tricky mechanic, and I love the openings you leave for different strategies (Spinning around a point for momentum, pulling yourself up with 2 arms at once, etc.). The secrets are also a great touch.
I do feel like the disappearing points leave pretty quickly, but I think that's due to the context of such a slow moving player. I'm only ever given room for 1 push/pull on a temporary point before it disappears, which does close up that aforementioned openness for different strategies a bit. I wonder if the level design could benefit more from focusing on how you use momentum to scale things, rather than the emphasis on quick decision making as the main obstacle.
That's just my thoughts though, what's here is great, and I can absolutely see this game becoming a speedrunner cult favourite. Consider an option for an onscreen timer in a "Post-jam" version?
This is a monstrously esoteric challenge of a game that I managed to pick up pretty quickly, with both a creative and fun gameplay loop. The presentation is super clear (Which is absent in a lot of jam games) and while I'm not sure how, I'd love to see this expanded on.
The score threshold is in a perfect spot right now - I definitely feel fully engaged with finding the perfect shape, but what I really wanna see is the ability to combine multiple shapes. The game seems to generate formations that I think(?) are impossible, with tight turns you can't seem to get from only rotation & skewing, and I feel like I should be able to throw multiple shapes at the hole to patch it up.




