itch.io

Many thanks! It's heartening to see how many people enjoyed the concept I put out, even if it was unfinished.

Interesting concept. I like the idea of using environmental cues to time inputs, but I wonder if there are other ways to do this beyond just waiting a specific time after passing each obstacle. There's definitely potential here!

Great aesthetics and very well balanced! The mechanics felt simple but intentional.

Being "tethered" by the charge time was a good way to make exploration more interesting, even on a small map. The minigames were a lot of fun too. Great work!

Very cute! As a proof of concept this works really well, and the intro cutscene was a nice touch. Out of curiosity, what were the other ideas that you said you had planned but couldn't get around to implementing?

This game taught me about something new, and that's a win in of itself! Apart from that, the way that you weaved the gameplay into the story was brilliant. I would have preferred a bit more difficulty, but that's pretty subjective, and the game is probably more accessible with the current difficulty.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the exploration!

Yeah, it's not super clear right now, but Station Theta is supposed to be at the center of the crater. To get your heading to the station, you just have to set your target position to (0,0). Thanks for the feedback, and sorry it kept you from finding the treasure. I'll be sure to clarify the station's position in the final version.

I can't believe no one is mentioning Pokémon Ranger in the comments! I assume this was part of the inspiration, and the way you executed that gameplay loop (pun intended) is spot-on! Each of the fish encounters felt unique and their individual mechanics were fun to engage with. The skills obtained throughout the playthrough were a nice touch as well. My only critique is that the audio seemed a bit unbalanced, with the music being especially quiet. That's just me being nitpicky though. This is a really great submission!

There's a lot of character here! The premise is original, and the different testers are all unique and interesting, especially since they each have their own musical theme! I'll second what others have mentioned about the overall pacing being a bit slow/repetitive though. Maybe it would make more sense to allow players to rate products without actually consulting all the testers first? This would give the player more agency overall, and if there are negative consequences for doing so (i.e., ratings are more likely to be incorrect), it will help reinforce the importance of the testers. Just a suggestion. There's still a lot to enjoy here!

Wow! The vibes here are immaculate! The scenes you've created are gorgeous, and the music complements them very well. My only critique is that it would have been nice to have more ambient sound effects to give the world life. Even something as simple as an occasional breeze rustling the leaves in the trees or birds singing would go a long way to further enrich the atmosphere.

Thanks! Yeah, it's a bit lifeless without audio at the moment. I'm excited to add that in!

Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the basic idea. I definitely agree that the current implementation throws a lot at the player all at the beginning, and I'm planning on introducing the mechanics a bit more gradually in the final version. 

The moment-to-moment gameplay is fun, the controls are intuitive, and the presentation really helps set the silly/spooky tone! My only critique is that the bar for success is very high, and some of the minigames (like the one with the vials) don't even seem worth it for the amount of progress they grant. Of course, I know it's difficult to balance properly under the time constraints for a game jam, and I still had a lot of fun!

Thanks for the detailed reply! The webzine you linked definitely helps frame things. I think this is just a very different experience from what I'm used to, but that in of itself makes it worthwhile!

Solid foundation. Whacking enemies off screen was a lot of fun and a creative way to implement combat. Does hitting them harder do more damage? If not, it would be cool to see the physics of hitting enemies tied into gameplay somehow.

FIRE theme song: ✅
Creative puzzle platforming: ✅
Questionable interior design: ✅
Inverted camera controls that can't be changed and make my brain want to MELT: ✅

The vomit effect was really something, lol. I wish the side effects had more of an impact on gameplay, but they're still a good twist on the Dr. Mario puzzle formula.

Very silly, and very smooth! I had a lot of fun!

I see. Thanks for the explanation. I totally understand not having enough time to polish everything, and I don't want to come across as too critical. This is still a very impressive game!

I haven't heard of a 0-player game before, but it's a fun concept! Reminds me of the Marblelympics, lol. Do you have any plans to expand the concept into a [positive integer]-player game?

This is a very creative concept! I got my brother who was visiting to play it with me, and we had a fun time coming up with some iconic locations from our childhood town. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to convey the needs of the ghost through the given words. Perhaps we made those needs too specific, but it didn't feel like the ghost had enough agency in the communication. Maybe the game would work better if the ghost could respond to yes or no questions from the girl? Or maybe they could be allowed some limited ability to type their own prompts? I like the ideas at play here, but I think there needs to be a little more to allow for more nuanced communication between the players.

Thanks! I definitely plan on giving the audio some TLC for the final version. My hope is that it will help complete the atmosphere and give the gameplay a bit more punch, even with the static interface.

What a great game for the jam! The story and characters are really endearing and do a great job incorporating the theme into the presentation and gameplay. I'm sucker for platformers, so I enjoyed the gameplay a lot as well. 

However, I do still have some critiques: First, the platforming feels too claustrophobic at times, especially in areas with 1-tile vertical gaps. The character/wall hitboxes could definitely be more forgiving. Alternatively, you could implement corner nudging to help prevent the player from catching on the walls during tight jumps. Second, there are a few sections where the camera switching between adjacent rooms is a bit jarring (specifically, any areas with consistent vertical movement between rooms, like the area with the springs and moving platforms). I wonder if it would make more sense to implement a smoother camera that moves with the player?

To be clear, this was still a fantastic experience for me, and I'm really impressed by the level of polish and character that's on display here! Amazing work!

I was playing on the Windows build. The physics were far from unplayable, but I was still experiencing inconsistent behavior that made the experience frustrating. For example, after replacing the manhole cover, the girl would walk most of the way across it, then start flailing her arms and fall over dead, all without actually falling into the hole... I tried a few more times and got the same result several times in a row, with no clear indicator of how to place the manhole "correctly." Again, I still think the concept and theming are handled really well. The gameplay could just use some tweaking and polish.

Wow! This is really impressive! The core gimmick is interesting, the gameplay is difficult but satisfying, and the graphics and music add a lot to the experience! I do wish there was an ending instead of just an endless fight, but that's more personal preference than anything. Perhaps the difficulty could at least escalate over time? As it stands, getting a high score feels like it's less about skill and more about endurance.

I really like the theming, and the visuals/setting really help to sell the experience! Unfortunately, the gameplay was a bit inconsistent, I had trouble progressing very far. If you're able to shore up the physics of moving objects, it would go a long way towards making the experience more enjoyable.

Really charming! The puzzles are a good blend of forward thinking and controlled chaos, which make them satisfying without being frustrating. I appreciate that in the later levels there is not just one way to solve them, and it's more about utilizing all the tools at your disposal. The story was a really nice touch as well! My only critique is that it would be nice to have some audio. Every other aspect of the game is fun and whimsical, but without audio it doesn't feel truly alive...

Thanks! Hopefully it won't be too long before I get all the remaining pieces stitched together. Stay tuned!

Interesting... I'm a bit confused by the whole experience, but maybe that's kind of the point? Is there any strategy to which rolls you choose for each prompt? I just rolled my highest stat every time and got mostly successes. Rolling fewer dice never seemed worth it, but maybe the DC is lower for certain stats? If so, I wish this were clearer...

Still, the presentation and the vibes here are really special, and this is overall very impressive for a solo dev!

I had a lot of fun with this! Being able to control your towers is a nice twist, and I appreciate that the game had a final boss and an ending. The balancing is a little wonky towards the end, and more tower/enemy types would have made the gameplay more interesting, but for a week-long game jam, this is very impressive!

Thanks! Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming at the moment, lol, but I'm hoping to do a better job of easing in mechanics in the final version.

Thanks! I totally agree that the game's direction is a bit lacking at the moment. I'm hoping to improve upon this in the near future!

Thanks! I've always enjoyed games with puzzles/exploration that require some logical inference and experimentation. I love the feeling of discovery you get as you learn how the game works, and I wanted to try and capture that here! I don't think I quite achieved that goal, since I didn't get to implement all the mechanics I had envisioned, but I'm hoping I can still get there with a little more work. As for the overall direction, I'd like things to be grounded in realism but also explore some more imaginative themes (e.g., hunting for treasure in outer space!).

Solid entry! The controls were intuitive, and slowly upgrading the worm was satisfying. I wish there was an ending to the game, but this still works well as an arcade-style game. That being said, maybe the difficulty should increase as you level up (more/stronger enemies, etc.) so that pushing for higher scores is more challenging and rewarding.

There's some interesting ideas here, especially with the interactions between commands, but the moment to moment gameplay is a bit disorienting. I think reducing the number of messages in the terminal would help alleviate this, as well as introducing clearer impacts for each of the commands individually. Still, this is a cool concept, and is overall very impressive for a solo dev!

Even if you didn't get to finish everything you wanted, there's a good base here. I hope you keep working on it!

I got a good laugh out of this!

The visuals and gameplay are both very smooth. I love the music choice too, and the leaderboard is a really nice touch. My biggest critique is that the notes don't seem to follow the melody, so the gameplay feels a little disjointed from the music. It's still a really solid foundation though!

I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if it's a bit janky at the moment. I definitely want to redesign the pdfs and introduce them a bit more gradually, but I'm glad you found them helpful still!