itch.io

I feel like the input challenge you confront the player with is not the kind of frustrating that is motivating in the right way. The gameplay is fragmented into looking and trying to blindly execute. Platforming in a first person game is a difficult challenge on its own, but combined with your movement restrictions it just devolves into a lot of trail and error without the possibility to get some sort of flow state going. If the game should be about the remembering of the next level part, maybe the execution challenge could be a lot more lenient. If its more about the execution, there could be some indirect ways to see where your going, or more helpful movement features like the 180 degree switch may be needed. In general you should explore what part of this idea has the potential to be the most fun and then try to work towards that. There is the possibility though, that platforming backwards without seeing where your going is a tough thing to make fun. Kudos for trying anyways, good job!

I still think your initial idea had a much more streamlined and simple design approach. I feel like you added a lot of mechanics and interactions back into your game, because you already knew how to implement them. This did not benefit the design. I would like to encourage you to try doing something new during these jams. It's ok to fail or not to be sure if some game play idea will work out in the end. Jams are learning experiences and this is all par for the course. Kudos for pulling through and finishing this game though, good job!

I can see this getting into a pretty fun state when you fix the bugs and implement the missing sprites. You have to adjust the balancing, though. If you think your first level is too easy, it's probably still not easy enough. In a bigger jam, this would be a reason for a lot of people to stop playing. Please keep your audience in mind and remember that you don't balance the difficulty to be fitting for yourself (who has had multiple tests and learning sessions already while developing the game), but for a wider audience that plays your game for the first time. It would be nice to see this in a finished state. Good job on the idea and everything you have implemented so far!

I still think you could have done without the racing game genre conventions of having to complete laps. From the first second, when the player gets launched into the level, they understand intuitively that they have to avoid the geometry to not slow down. You have a pretty nice win and lose state with that interaction between level and player alone. Figuring out where to go in the long run and understanding the level layout and the checkpoint triggers just detracts from that pretty clean interaction experience, in my opinion. I think it's a great idea to have wares falling into the cart when it bumps into the shelves (maybe the faster the bump, the more items in the cart?) and have the end score be how much the player has to pay because of all the items in the cart. I think your game has a lot of untapped comedic potential; consider doing a post-jam version. Great job!

Funny take on the theme and genre! The UI would have deserved a bit more polish and love, though. This is where your core experience happens, and sometimes the text is barely readable against the background. Other than that, good job!

The game is lacking a clear goal and therefore a challenge. Maybe the fish patterns should not have been random and endlessly respawning; then you could have had a speedrun to figure out when and where to deploy the bombs for maximum effect, to clear out the pond the fastest. Another approach could have been to keep the randomness but have a limited amount of bombs that only refill when you hit a certain amount of fish. That way you could have a natural loose state for if the player deploys their bombs without strategy. Other than that, good job!

What a throwback. This game feels like I'm back in the old Newgrounds days! It would be good to have some feedback for the player on which of their selections helped with the outcome. If you find a way to give that feedback in a similar funny way and make it a bit indirect, so don't just give blatant numbers or "this is the best item for that occasion," it could add to the fun and help with player engagement. Pretty unique take on the theme, solid implementation, good job! 

You created a fun little experience that feels pretty complete. You know this already, and we talked about it as well, but this game begs to be an endless runner. Randomize as much of the track as you can, keep the high score system, and done. Great work!

The first jump is a bit difficult, and since the player has experienced way longer airtime on the stomper before, the toned-down bounce either feels like the player is doing something wrong or the physics bugged out. Maybe think about implementing the boost function into the basic control scheme of "a" and "d" inputs to make the experience a bit more streamlined. The game feels unique and has a lot of potential for interesting level design. Great idea, really good execution, well done!

Glad you liked it :) Yeah he knows about this stuff, because he is definitely a doctor! 

Oh, didn't even know there is an option to install via a itch app. I just uploaded a webGL build for the browser. 

Thanks for your feedback, the button selection was something I wanted to try out, but will probably adjust it to some degree. It is a bit confusing right now, I agree. The area will become a bit bigger and more detailed in a post jam version probably. I'd like to have the level to support the feel of each of the characters more, for sure. 

Glad you liked it :) Thanks for playing.

Morbidly funny use of the theme and a clever and engaging mechanic. Good job, now I want sushi.. or do I.. 

Art is mostly third party asset, we did not have an artist in the team and had to make do. I'm really glad though you enjoyed the narrative and humor ^^ Thanks for playing! 

I guess moments' idea's is what I try to experiment with in game jams, sure ^^ Thanks for playing!

I noticed the white text issue right before uploading as well, we had some last minute shader changes, oh well. Sound will be added later for sure, your totally right, a game like this needs a thicker atmosphere. The mouse cursor issue is curious, it should disappear if you click into the game window. The doc is an odd character, but we may have overlooked something. Thank you for the detailed feedback!

It took me a little while to understand the controls, but I got there in the end. I really like that you tried out unconventional input and control pairings. Good job! If you add customizable difficulty/ speed levels, this could actually be pretty fun to learn touch typing with. 

I agree. We will add sounds in a post jam version for sure. Thanks for playing :)

Really cool mood and game feel! The text was a bit to fast for me, but I really like the general Idea of having to manage your attention and multitask to fight the addiction. Great work!

Impressing game! I really like the game design, but also the art and narrative are really good. Really consistent game feel. It would be nice to have a button to show the health of every part of the ouroboros at the same time, but that's just me nitpicking a bit. Great work!

I never thought I would meet so many people so insistent on erasing their own family history ^^ Would be interesting, if a person that got a trip like that approved would not return. Maybe some potential for a bit more strategizing there? Good stuff :)

Cool idea to bind the rule exploration to the progress! Would be nice to have a bit more leeway with the consequences, since it is a bit of a drain for the player motivation, to know you will inevitably die by discovering the next rule. I had fun, though. Good Stuff!

I was able to finish two rounds, super hard to get any further. Interesting idea though! I think it needs a bit more balancing regarding how to get battery energy back, probably. Other then that, cool little game.

Is it a 4 player game, or is there some puzzle goal? To bad there is no tutorial, looks interesting.

I really liked the intro and narrative framing. I'm still learning touch typing rn, so I had a harder time finding all the keys in time, but still had fun! Good Work!

Good point, I will add that in the upcoming post jam version. Thanks for playing :)

Great game guys! Super addicting and satisfying gameplay. Love the sounds and visuals. First run 53min ^^ 

I'm trying to learn touch typing right now and would love to play a game like yours, which has a dedicated "learn-mode"! Most games in the genre, that I know, go the route you also went for: addressing touch typists who want to go fast and train to go faster. So imagine my surprise discovering your easy mode! It would be great to be able to set the keys I want to use for this mode myself, but the fact, that you were even able to include such a mode in such a short jam is just awesome! Great work!

I love the overkill win idea a lot! Combined with the great level of polish you accomplished, this is just a well rounded experience, that made me go huh, ahh, lol - in that order - over and over again. Great work!

Somehow I manage to speed-jump into the wrong direction every time I make some progress >.<!! Great job. Would rage again. 

Impressive what you guys were able to accomplish in this short amount of time. I really like the concept, but was a bit discouraged from starting over from the same location - at the start of the level - a lot. I think some checkpoints would have been good, or even better: keep the challenges at the start of the level to a minimum and focus on teaching each mechanic in a save environment, before having the player go through a complex level with all enemy types in short succession. Maybe even let the player continue at the point he got killed by the enemy, maybe you don't need to reset the players position at all. Great job and a lot of potential I think :)

Great game feel and overall experience! Funny, scary, infuriating and a bit ridiculous - just the way I feel irl signing stuff.. ^^ My favorite moment was trying to continue to sign the paper while it was getting dragged away. Clean concept and execution. Great work!

That's how you create great family memories :) It's really awesome what you guys put together!

Gameplay wise it would have been interesting, to have more patterns of the bar to pay attention to and/ or to have the circle move more unpredictably or maybe even have the circle chase the cursor, when the bar is filled. Interesting concept :)

Great ideas for player input, game play tasks and interaction patterns. Weird, whacky, funny experience. Good job! 

Despite knowing the topic of the jam, you still got me ^^. I think your game is a great example for an efficient narrative arc, that is supported and - in parts - told through the game play itself. Great work!

I loved the art style and over all feel of your game. The error sound is a bit to prominent for how often it is going to be played while try-and-erroring through the different puzzles. I also thought it would be great to have some kind of reward (game play wise or audio-visual feedback) for solving the puzzles that don't contain the key, to make the hunt for the random key location a bit more engaging. Mad respect for for how polished your game feels in such a short time, though! Great work!

I really like the concept. The minimalistic style - timer placement and all - is great as well. Fun puzzle platformer! And super efficient tutorial/start-screen btw :)

Thank you for the feedback, glad you liked it! I'll definitely implement some of the UX feedback soon.

https://discord.com/invite/dSGsR4ZzyV

37m! now stop mocking me DX