itch.io

Heh, whoops. I'll make sure to correct that once the jam's over.

EDIT: That particular inaccuracy has now been corrected.

Historically I don't think I've ever owned a mouse on which the scroll-wheel didn't start misbehaving six months in, so I do think that ideally it should never be the only input responsible for something important in a game - A/D or left-right arrow keys, or right-click drag would have been good alternatives, for example.

That aside, while it is a bit on the simplistic side its a decently good game, especially since this seems to be your first go at a game jam?

My go-to for this sort of thing is an AudioStreamRandomizer with three variants of the sound and yeah, a bit of random pitch and volume. Though what do I know, audio isn't exactly my strong suit :]

I've got a few minor notes:

• Changing the resolution doesn't seem to be handled too well
• The instructions in the beginning disappear too fast to fully read
• The result score probably didn't need three decimal places :]

It's a pretty simple but novel idea. I ended up building up a single level 8 shape and blew up everything else that dared to spawn, which got me a slow but steady rise in score... until I got bored of it and let things build, anyway. Didn't last too long after that.

When the theme for this GWJ got revealed I was hoping someone would do boids (my take on boids was last jam) so that I could compare - gotta say yours feel a lot more snappy to control than mine ever did. For what it's worth I didn't find the colors too overwhelming (though after the warning I did elect not to maximize the window like I'd usually do, so that might be a factor). I appreciate the inclusion of a tutorial (one that managed to be useful despite Show Don't Tell wildcard, even!), and while the game's on the short side you managed to get a decent bit of variety in there. Small note - the game seems to skip past the title screen as soon as its done loading?

Oh, and +1 for the menu background attract mode :]

I get that the mechanics are unexplained on purpose, but... well, yeah, they're still unexplained. Not that this'd be the first jam game to trip over its own feet trying to fulfill a wildcard, mind you. I did get the feeling my stats were going up, but its not like I had time to try and figure out which incremental improvement is related to which abstract shape while flying in circles. I think if you wanted to expand on the intentionally mysterious mechanics thing, the trick would be to not throw all of them at the player at once?

The music shifting was a pretty good idea, a lot of these kinds of games I tend to struggle keeping track of my health.
A small note: being able to fly behind the powerup bar (and die down there) while barely being able to see through it wasn't great.

Notes aside, it's a decently fun shmup. Good job, especially since this seems to be your first jam?

I wonder if this kind of misbehavior is why Discworld's Death prefers cats.

Joking aside, cute ghostie. Maybe the leash stretching sound could have benefited from a bit of variety given how often it repeats and the zoomies were maybe a bit too sudden/extreme, but that's the most nitpicking I can think of, and other than that the important thing is it was a fun game.

I do wish I actually knew more about nuclear physics and reactor design though. Its weird making an ostensibly educational game about a subject I really know very little about... Thanks regardless, though!

Oh, and I very much appreciate the less-than-immediately-lethal spikes.

I'm not sure the challenges are working right (I was consistently getting the star for coming in under par despite coming in way over par) and I'm not too sure about the donut levels (it seems pretty easy to just circle forever, or at least until your patience runs out?) but other than that its a pretty novel gameplay concept with an excellent execution and a lot of character.

Yup, I spent the three days getting all the mechanics from the videos in, then looked at it and realized I had no idea how to turn it into a game. I didn't want to break with realism and make up gamified reactor designs, so I decided to just call it a simulator :]

At one point I was planning to have a custom scenario builder and scenarios to recreate the various historical disasters, but then my motivation dried up suddenly and I had to push myself to even put in some UI...

This level of polish feels like it ought to be illegal for a jam game. Well done, no notes.

Ah, as it happens there are no sims where there is a controllable rod group 1 after all - I'd realized kind of late into things that the RBMK moderator "rods" represent the fuel rod graphite casing and thus can't move independently.

I can't really figure out the scoring system (I think it has something to do with how much I bludgeon the nightmare pin?), so I don't really know if a score of 562 (update: 2236) is good or bad. Still, throwing things at other things at high velocity is always fun. Though I'm guessing I'm not supposed to be able to spam either ability indefinitely like how I am, judging by that bar on top of the screen?
Oh, and I appreciate the little storyline c:

It's done, if you still want to give it a try.

Its a pretty simple puzzle game, but almost flawlessly executed. Maybe once or twice I wished I could be a little more precise with the rotation, and a few times I had to wait a bit too long for the blocks to settle before the game would consider it a win, but other than that I have no notes. Excellent job!

Elegant in its simplicity. I'll admit I wasn't really clear on what "command attack" was supposed to do - I expected it to send my infected cells after nearby white cells, but instead they rushed off to attack a brain somewhere off-screen that I didn't even know was there at the time? Probably something worth either having an arrow pointing at on screen or mentioning in the tutorial :]

There is an issue you might have ran into where even briefly sweeping a flag too close to kobolds makes them remember it as a flag to ignore.
As far as colors go, they are purely decorative - kobold type is determined by what they are carrying, though I should have communicated that in the tutorial. Glad you gave it a shot regardless!

Not much of a fan of the automatic swapping projectile type. I get that its an attempt at a unique mechanic, and in isolation it's a good idea, but coupled with the low firerate and shooting also being the only means of repositioning yourself, I'd pretty quickly devolved into icing up all but one direction and then just continually shooting both projectiles that way, forever. I think I'd have also helped to use faster enemies over more enemies as a means of increasing difficulty? Idk, maybe I missed something.

The separate kind of flags aren't really necessary if you control the 'bolds manually, but they're helpful for the automation stuff. Glad you had fun!

It's no wonder people feel doomed if they have had to rely on boats made using that nail hammering technique...
But seriously, wonderful art style, and the narrative had enough gameplay between it to keep the game flowing. A very minor point - the loading bar color blended in so much, I thought the game wasn't loading for a bit :]

...huh, you're right, somehow the credits didn't make it. Weird, because in my local build they're where they're supposed to be.
Anyway, I can't claim credit for the music, it's sourced from here: https://opengameart.org/users/tausdei I should probably contact them, now that I've used it for multiple gamejam games...
While it is possible to automate things on the main map, it does indeed take a lot of flags and a fair bit of fiddling.
Thinking about it, I should probably have put a shop somewhere where you can sell weapons for gold :]
Glad you enjoyed it!

Ah good, I dont have to make a gif.

I think a simple solution would be to allow the grass bits remaining counter to internally go negative (so you'd have to rewind over it the correct amount of times for it to start regrowing grass again)?

I am apparently not very good at self-consumption. That's... probably a good thing?
I'll echo the other people saying that its probably a good thing to tutorialize your main mechanic in the game at some point :] Its a neat concept though and an interesting twist on a classic. Since unlike in regular snake this one has a turning radius, I wonder if the controls would be better or worse with tank controls?
By the way, often games that go for retro aesthetics can become either unreadable or a bit of an eyesore, but this one feels neat and deliberate with its use of colors. Nice!

I'm going to pretend that the bug I found where its possible to un-mow an already mowed tile by walking over it and then rewinding was, infact, an intended feature, because otherwise I'd never have finished it :]
You certainly squeezed a lot of puzzle out of a few simple mechanics, which is the hallmark of a good puzzle game. Well done!

There's a vibe to this game that shines through despite the lack of polish. Pretty neat!

One small note about something that's presumably not just a result of time pressure - circling on the spot made the camera wiggle more than I'd have liked. A small deadzone in the middle or something might be an improvement.

Ctrl + F: Antichamber
Zero hits? Huh. Well, I'll make the comparison if no one else's gonna - this game reminds me of Antichamber, especially the parts after you get the variant of the gun that lets you drag lines of cubes around. Same idea, and executed just as well!
Shame about the One-Handed wildcard making the controls worse. Other than that, I have no notes (though I'd like to take a peek at the shaders involved. Also, did I hear different footstep surfaces?)

Why is water little guys
Why is sunlight something that needs to be manually delivered
What do you mean its gone rogue

I'm gonna go ahead and call that an experience. Kept the pace quick and the game fresh, well done!

The original plan (once it was Tuesday and I was done with my usual loop of coming up with an idea only to decide its not interesting an hour later, anyway) was to start with most of the map locked off  or concealed in a fog of war, and having days progressively increase both the amount of gold needing collecting that day and how much map is accessible. As it is I barely had the time to even have a map at all :]

I'm not much for idle games, but that wasn't bad. I kept expecting the upgrades to run out and instead the price would jump an order of magnitude bigger on me :c
Two notes: 

• Having to buy a building only to not be able to use it until putting more cash in was kind of meh.
• If you're gonna have sound effects playing over and over like that they'd really benefit from a little randomization and a few variants.

It's unfortunately quite easy to wave a flag a bit too close to a ball of kobolds while placing it, which makes them remember it as one to ignore - its a problem I was aware of but couldn't think of a way to make that visible to the player. Glad you stuck it through to the end though!

As usual when applicable, I'll start by saying that relying on the description for telling the player what the controls are is unfortunate.

I think I must be missing something. I can't really tell how I'm supposed to kill these wasps - sometimes they die to a single cloud of bees, sometimes I'll send over a dozen and they get vaporized.  That, and they seem so replicate as fast or faster than I can kill them off. Unfortunately I couldn't make it past the first level...

The graphics are nice though, and I'm obviously on board with this take on the theme :]

Aw, no :c
I was going to add WASD/right mouse drag as an alternative but it completely slipped my mind...

I feel like I'm missing a trick here. I don't think its possible to dodge shots when you still occupy the same space you were in when it was fired by the time the shot reaches it... Nonetheless, the invincibility frames were generous enough that I could just collect food faster than I could lose it, so I guess it worked out in the end?

Difficulty weirdness aside, the music's a great fit, the graphics are snazzy, and I very much appreciate the twist on a classic formula. Good game, had fun.

Going by that menu screen, I'm guessing you were running really low on time by the end :)

• The controls felt a bit off (in that the center determining which way I'd move was actually a bit below the character), but maybe that's Firefox's fault for opening the game in a window of unexpected size. 

• Unfortunately the game is pretty easy to cheese - there's a distance where you can still see an enemy but they don't shoot back at. Also, there seems to be no reason to ever not be shooting?

The upgrade system could be pretty interesting with a bit more variety - the helicopter body being a sidegrade takes it in the right direction, I think. The graphics unfortunately let the game down - the robots themselves look nice, but the checkerboard nightmare underneath is actually painful to look at :c

Ha, top of the leaderboard! I'm sure this will never change.

Anyway, a few notes:

• Getting thrown right into it was a bit disorienting the first time. Would have appreciated a tutorial, or at least a chance to get used to the UI before the clock starts.
• The One-handed wild card is working against you a bit here, I feel. Having to do all that clicking to switch tools (as opposed to keyboard shortcuts) feels very clumsy... but I suppose it'd be a bit too quick otherwise?
• I think the orders come in a bit too fast.

Notes aside, its a fun game and a pretty original concept!

I'm not sure if being able to Mario World 1-2 the third level was intended, but I'm sure my squirrel appreciated getting to keep the acorns regardless :]

So two things that are probably less of an issue on mobile:

• The resolution is certainly a choice. It didn't even fit on my other monitor and took up most of my 2k's screen vertical space.
• Dragging attacks onto enemies felt like it required a bit too much precision.

And one that's probably on me, I couldn't figure out how to use attacks until I checked the description (and while its good it was there at least, I'd still say it a bit of a failure that the game itself doesn't really teach that).

But small issues aside, its a pretty competent prototype with neat graphics and plenty of potential! 

Yup, can't really go wrong with a shoot 'em up.  Fun times, lots of polish.  On the constructive feedback side - it took me a minute to realize the bunny wasn't something I ought to be shooting at - maybe that got mentioned in the beginning and I forgot? Still, a bit too distracting.

Under the hood its actually just the boids algorithm with no optimizations at all, so that's entirely to be expected - both squiggly controls and a sharp performance drop off :]