itch.io

Thanks!

Yeah the visuals or lackthereof were a product of time constraints. The original idea was to make textures for everything as well. I also wanted to have more levels but ran out of time. I had to haul ass just to get the 2 frame character animations done in time lol.

I'm going to be adding 1 or 2 more puzzle mechanics after the jam and fleshing out the game overall. Want me to ping you when it's uploaded? It might be a few weeks-a month.

I don't really understand what's going on in this game to be completely honest. There's not a lot of direction given outside of the controls and it's not very intuitive what my objective is. I think I need to balance the sun and rain to make sure the ground isn't super dry or super wet while keeping the energy above 0, but even when it hit zero nothing changed.

More directly I think stronger communication with the player about how the game works, their objective, and more visual tells for what's going on would go a long way.

I love the lil guy, he reminds me of Wall-E walking around a world (mostly) alone. I think not having sound really harmed the vibe potential because visually it was all really coherent and interesting. I'd love to see what this looks like if you end up putting some more time into the project.

Feedback:

• Camera snapping in 90 degree increments was disorienting, would love to see a more gradual turn
• Blizzard often hit me when inside building or otherwise covered, was hard to tell what was considered safe
• Couldn't find the extraction point :(
• Would love to have a clear objective laid out in the beginning to help me understand what my goals are.

I like what you're going for here and the short animated sequences at the end of levels is a nice touch that you don't see often in game jams, did you use Godot's AnimationPlayer node for those?

In terms of gameplay there's not a lot I can say outside of there's not much. I would have liked to see some form of more traditional game-loop to play around with.

Visually I think there's a lot to like. The art is solid and the levels themselves are all distinctly vibey, though I did find the sprites not billboarding pretty distracting and it took me out of it every time it happened. I could see a retro viewport shader of some kind really benefitting this game to help pull together the partly clashing level and character designs.

In terms of audio I would have loved to have some kind of ambiance or background music as well as footstep sound effects.

Congrats on shipping a game!

Solid. This game feels complete and I didn't encounter any bugs.

My only feedback is that the wind feels like a bit too much and I'd love to see a unique ground indicator for the splitting raindrops so you can plan around them better, I got caught off guard by them a few times and couldn't react because of the heavy controls which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing.

I think this game would benefit greatly from an HP system. Getting most of the way through a boss then taking damage and having to restart entirely felt pretty rough.

Killer vibes though, I love the visuals and sound. I think having the giant tree behind you to show which direction the wind is coming from is a really smart piece of game design.

High Score: 3530

Joyous lil bullet hell. Lil guy in the lil sky fighting all the weather. Can't match the theme better if you tried, loved it.

Those damn firenados...

Nailed both themes. Gameplay was solid. Just had some visual/audio stuff I didn't enjoy, namely the font was difficult to read and the (only) sound was kinda killing my ears.

Otherwise this was a solid, complete game. The best compliment I can give is that I played until the end and wanted to play more.

Really REALLY solid baseline for an incremental browser game. This reminds me a lot of those old flash games like Learn to Fly where you REALLY suck at what you're doing in the beginning and then skyrocket in ability as the game goes on. You really captured that vibe for me.

Feedback:

• I feel like it takes too long to "come online" as a player. Runs feel almost identical until you get your first major upgrade like dash, which in my case was maybe 10 runs in because the tooltip doesn't mention the ink spray ;-;
  • Incremental upgrades to the core mechanics like ink-cooldown might serve better to be found earlier in the skill tree if for nothing else, to make the game feel less sluggish a little earlier on. I LOVE that I start off feeling incapable of reaching the end goal, not even measuring 1% after a few runs. But what I didn't love is how long it took to get to a point where I felt like I was progressing.
    
  • Adding time to the rounds being an upgrade really exacerbates this feeling of taking too long to come online. Something I think really helped in Learn to Fly was that the round time was entirely dependent on how far you flew, which meant the rounds would get dynamically longer in line with player progress and higher rewards so it never felt like "man I wish this round would be over so I can buy an upgrade"
    • I'm not sure what a change in this vein would look like for Inkker. I think a time limited round makes this more difficult to consider. 
    • Halving the required amount of the map to be inked to win also feels pretty redundant in this regard.
• Certain major upgrades - the ones that fundamentally change how you play or alter a core mechanic - would maybe feel better if they were more evenly dispersed in the skill tree, or if the weak baseline versions were available earlier.
  • For example I put off dash for so long for two reasons: One being that I didn't know it had an ink-trail, if I knew I would have saved up very early on. Two being that it was very expensive for how many points I was making on a run, so it always felt like I would get better value out of other options.
  • Similarly the ink trail seems like it would serve well as an early upgrade when players can't shoot very often, it has a high value proposition and feels really good to buy. Maybe it could be comparatively expensive to incremental upgrades like ink-fire-rate but available to reward players for choosing to save up for something big like that.
• Even during the endgame (every inking ability maxed, not running out of ink) the game felt really slow.
  
• Some music would REALLY help the vibes. Doesn't have to be anything crazy, but something lo-fi and vibey would slap.
• The abilities felt really good once I had them. It makes me wonder how this game would feel you doubled down on how quick and explosive Inkker's movement and abilities would be. Basically scaling him to the moon and back until he's just mega-multi dashing around the level and machinegun inking the ocean.
  • I understand this could be TOTALLY contrary to your vision, just wanted to share a fun thought I had.
• Minor stuff
  • I never ran out of ink once I had 5 points in snow amount, 2 points in more ink, and 1 point in better food. This was even without the dash.
  • Having collision with ink balls felt rough
  • even at max rank the ink cooldown reduction felt like not enough.

TL;DR Feedback:

Inkker felt like a slow start (good thing) that scaled up a bit too slowly, mechanic addition/augment upgrades felt misplaced in the skill tree or too weak overall, and the game felt a bit too slow even when completely scaled up. I'll dm a screenshot of my skill tree after my final run on discord bc it won't let me attach it here.

I know I wrote a LOT there and that it might feel a bit overwhelming or like I didn't like the game, but I did really like the game.  To be quite honest I don't usually write this much feedback because I usually don't have a whole lot, but you genuinely made a game that I can see being something super engaging with a bit of work, and it's not even in a genre that I typically enjoy! Beyond that it's just a really solid 1 week jam entry. I encountered no bugs during gameplay (I was cautious about the dash bug you mentioned), everything worked as expected, and it was a complete experience. I hope you're proud of this, because I think you should be. 

Good stuff :D

Love the weather, art, and concept, the vibes really hit. Really solid choice of music and rain sound effects as well.

I would have liked to see a bit more to the gameplay as it doesn't feel all too gamey as it is right now, but I'm not going to judge too harshly as getting ANYTHING to function in a week on your first game is impressive in its own right, nevermind to have it look and sound like this. Seriously, huge props on visuals and sound. I WISH my first project looked this good.

Congrats on shipping your first project!

Genuinely had a good time with the simple, but mechanically demanding gameplay. I'm a rhythm gamer so finding that rhythm at every speed jump and being challenged to keep up mechanically really worked for me.

For some feedback:

• I think the target indicator was pretty hard to see during gameplay even after I noticed it. Maybe because of the similar colour to the player and/or its size combined with the quick movement.
• Would have loved to see some music to tie in the vibes, visually it really works.

IMMACULATE vibes. This game really brought me back to 2009 flash game vibes in the best way possible. I loved the gameplay conceit of needing to make more lil guys but making more lil guys means more will get in your way, in turn making it HARDER to make more lil guys. It was a super fun 3 minute romp.

Some feedback:

• It took a while for the lil guys blocking me to really kick in, I would love to have seen this happen a bit quicker to get me into the meat of the game.
• I also think that - and I can't pinpoint exactly what - something is missing in terms of gameplay mechanics to really pull everything together. Maybe an "order" being placed for lil guys that tells you what parts to use and how many guys to make at once?
• I would have liked to see weather be integrated not just visually, but also as a part of gameplay. I'm imagining pulling a lever once you've got your assortment of lil guy parts laid out that calls down the lightning. Something to this effect could really pull players in to the experience of "yeah, I'm making lil guys"

With all that said you should be proud of yourself for this. Vibes are one of the hardest things to nail down in a game yet you managed it in a week, that's impressive stuff!

Short, sweet, and right to the point.

I love the concept and especially the click and drag controls. The music really made the experience. I think without a doubt that's the strongest piece of the puzzle here in the same vein that Doom 2016's music made the experience. The music here pulled me right into the vibes and got me invested REAL quick.

For some direct feedback:
I would have liked to see a more "visible" for lack of a better word visual when grabbing the lil guys, maybe a grab range visual? It also felt a little sticky and unresponsive at times.

My only direct critique is that it felt fairly repetitive without anything to break up the experience. Maybe something like a second target to defend would have spiced things up just that little bit more.

A simple concept executed well with a super charming art-style. I think my favourite part was that once the big bugs showed up I felt like I had to actually work to keep them away, it was balanced pretty well in that regard for a 1 week jam. I'm looking forward to where you take the game from here :D

Good God.

You're almost exactly right about the light symbolism. We thought it was a good visual for representing your courage and how small it can feel compared to your anxieties. But all it takes is a little bit of courage to get through the day!

It was supposed to loop back to the main menu. Unfortunately that broke dur8ng export :)

Excited to see what comes next from you!

The only thing I'd say for a critique of the game is that there isn't really a core gameplay loop. It feels like walking around a museum. This could be a conscious choice, but if it is I have to question the choice given the setting of a game jam.

Such a crunchy game. Very visually set apart from anything else I've played so far. It feels like an avant-garde art exhibit where nothing quite makes sense and everything is just a bit uncanny. The PSX filter is such an unrivalled vibe.

Criminally low ratings for the quality of the game.

At first I was a little confused, then I started to get the hang of it and thought it was a bit boring. THEN THE CUTSCENE AND THE MUSIC KICKED IN. Dude it was such a vibe. The calm was really boring (calm) and then the Storm hit like a fucking truck and hooked me instantly.

The cutscene was a perfect setup for the ceaselessness that the game hits you with directly afterward. The music fits the hectic-ness of the gameplay like a glove. Don't even get me started on the building starting to fall apart behind the conveyor belt, such an inspired design choice.

You deserve so many more downloads and ratings. This is quality and I hope you continue to develop and refine this game.

Thanks for sending all the games y'all! I'm going to be taking a break now. I'll start working through the list again either later tonight or tomorrow after work!

Rated and reviewed!

The only real complaints I have is that there isn't much to do other than waiting for dialogue to end. I feel like some kind of core gameplay loop is missing from this project and it makes it fairly un-fun. You're telling a story. The music, atmosphere, and visuals all aid you in that respect leading to a 10/10 on the vibe meter, but the gameplay is closer to a 2.

Something I might like to see to spice up the game and make it a little more interesting to play would be branching story decisions, even if it's something minor like picking which chocolate bar to eat, letting you flip between 2 or 3 channels, something like that.

I really appreciated the somber tone and storytelling, as well as your take on the theme. You really nailed the "Calm" vibe.

Rated and reviewed!

The only real complaints I have about this game is that it feels more like an experience than a game, which isn't bad per se, but doesn't sit with me quite right in a game jam.

Very serene. I really appreciate your creative take on the jam's theme. I think you really nailed the feeling and vibe you were going for and in that regard your game really worked for me. I just wish there were more to do.

Rated and reviewed!

In terms of gameplay this was very very basic, which isn't a bad thing! You took the very limited game mechanics and gave the player a unique way to deal with enemies by giving the player unique platforming designed per enemy.

I would love to see you pursue new mechanics and some more sound effects next time around.

I love your take on the theme, it's actually very similar to ours in Spiral. The idea of the game and story being the calm before the storm in lieu of incorporating it into gameplay.

Thank you for playing! I was very conscious about enemy/spawner placements and the rate at which enemies spawn (It's random per room after level 1). I put a lot of effort into making the combat feel engaging, but not overloading the players with enemies.

The boss theme goes so hard! Sending this straight to our composer. He's gonna love the feedback/critiques. Thanks for playing!

Rated and reviewed!

The only real complaint I have is about knowing when enemies invade. There were 3 bars on my screen and none of them communicated when I was safe to mine until. I felt very pigeon-holed into only mining the closest rocks to my ship because invasion could happen at any time.

Otherwise the balancing was phenomenal. I found myself escaping round after round by the skin of my teeth. Every weapon upgrade felt meaningful and impactful and I love the game being set in space, it's such a unique setting for a roguelike.

What a bangin submission. I hate roguelikes and I'm still left wanting more from Asteroid Jumper

Rated and reviewed!

I did run in to quite a few bugs however. Placing furniture would stick to my cursor and wouldn't let me place it, patrons would sit where tables never existed seemingly randomly, and sometimes menus would refuse to do what clicking the button was supposed to do until I pressed it 5 times.

Apart from being pretty buggy I like the core concept. A cutesy tavern-builder/management-sim was a really interesting take on the theme and you killed it with the visuals/audio. It felt like a cozy rainy day at home.

I'd love to see this project at full scale if you decide to keep working on it down the line

Rated and reviewed!

Solid homie, I failed my first attempt then beat it on my second. The art was quite charming and I really appreciated what you did with the lighting for the second phase of the game. Very similar to what we did in Spiral, I was really happy to see another game going for it.

Rated and reviewed!

Definitely a bit on the janky side, but your core loop is there and I genuinely had a good time.

I ended up just dashing behind enemies and smacking them early on, but as the archers started to spawn in larger and large numbers it became more difficult, then when the longsword guys started spawning in and turning faster than any other enemy I knew I was cooked lol.

Some more polish on the attack hitboxes would make the combat feel a lot more consistent, on top of that some visual for connecting hits like the enemy flashing red or getting knocked back by your attack would go a LONG way to improve the feel of the combat.

Genuinely had a good time though, even through the jank, and that speaks well toward your game design decisions.

Rated and reviewed!

I really appreciate the new addition to the tower defense formula in way of a "Interest" system. I only played two attempts but after dramatically failing the first I went hard trying to min-max interest on playthrough two and it made the genre more exciting than it has been in years for me.

In terms of artstyle I like what you're going for generally, I just have a few minor complaints about readability. As a new player coming in it wasn't easily discernable what the different towers did, I think some kind of visual feedback on the tesla towers would make it significantly clearer to the player what role they play and how they work.