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Hey Cryy22, thanks for trying Sliding Hero!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and you are raising some excellent design choices I should address.

Regarding the timing puzzles (I'm guessing you refer to those rooms that both have a sequence puzzle and some hazards): I was thinking about, upon completion of a room puzzle, stopping traps and hazards that have a timing (green spikes, buzzsaws). Rooms that only have hazards are designed to always be a challenge for the player.

About intractable objects, it's something that came up during this jam a couple of other times, so I'm working on something a bit more eye-catching. Also, for the sword in the first room, I'll adjust the cutscene to point the camera at the sword.

Thanks again for playing!

A nice escape room, with some solid puzzles and an interesting story.

Art Direction: I like the chibi style of the characters, but I find the overall visual style a bit all over the place. You have pixel art, but you also have pictures, there are too many different fonts, and the UI feels like a placeholder.

Controls/UI: pretty solid and easy to play. UI could use some work to be more clear and coherent with the rest of the game.

Audio: both music and sound design help in setting the mood.

Game Loop: game loop is solid and fun. Puzzles are engaging and tease the player's brain. I love the punishment for trying to guess a puzzle solution, or when checking something you shouldn't have. The hint system is nice, and the dialogues with Moriarty are engaging.

Overall I've really enjoyed it, but I think the visual style could use some improvements to make everything tie up together nicely.

Hello!

I'm really glad that you loved playing Sliding Hero, it means a lot.

About the enemies not popping out that much: yeah, in some rooms there may be some issues in reading them. I will probably add a little glow or some other shader effect to make them stand out a bit more, and probably add an accessibility setting to really make them visible.

Regarding the bug, it's an issue with the WebGL version: I did a new version a couple of days ago in a rush and forgot to flag a Cinemachine Camera as off, so now each time you reload the game it makes that particular one the priority. This issue is not present in the executable version.

Thanks again for playing!

A really good slow-burn horror adventure, with a great hook and an interesting story!

Art Direction: I really like the style. It reminds me of some sort of Control demake, and the atmosphere is creepy, mysterious, and even oppressing at times.

Audio: really good, nothing too invasive and the sound design works really well.

Controls/UI: I find the UI a bit lacking, but nothing that can't be improved. The controls are really good, and a great choice for this kind of game. I only felt the walking in first person a bit floaty /rubber banding but may be a personal sensation.

Game Loop: classic adventure game loop (explore, gather items, talk to people, advance with the story) but with an amazing twist.

I really love the hook of this game, the switch between two types of controls is a brilliant idea to change the pace of the game but also convey different emotions to the player. While being in a first-person view I felt in control, but in the third-person view, everything changed: now I felt like a simple spectator looking at the main character being at the mercy of anything.

Great idea and a great game so far. Will keep en eye on this.

Hi! Thanks a lot for taking some time to try the game.
I'm really glad you enjoyed playing it.

To answer your question, I've been working on Sliding Hero for the past year and a half on an on-and-off basis: I'm a freelance Copywriter now, so I'm taking gigs during the year to pay the mortgage, and bills, and finance the game. I'm not a developer by trade, as I'm self-taught and, even if the grind is real and tough, I'm really liking it.

A great and refreshing take on the Might and Magic genre.

Art Direction: I like the overall style, it's coherent and with a lot of personality. Everything is quite readable and nice to look at. My only issue is the combo effect during battles which can be a bit distracting.

Controls/UI: UI is clear and there's a lot of information in the compendium that is great to read but can also be a bit overwhelming at the start. Controls are responsive and perfect for this kind of game, I'd love to have the possibility to use the UP arrow (together with Q and E) to rotate a block.

Game Loop: game loop is the usual M&M, the player explores a map, gather resources/artifact, capture points of interest and fight enemies... With a twist: the combat is TETRIS! I love the concept and the execution is great, the skills are fun to use and most enemies can mess you up in different ways (rotating a block at the last second, making a part of it disappear, destroying a part of a placed line, etc.).

Audio: music can get a bit repetitive, but overall the sound design works.

I was a sucker for M&M's games when I was a kid, so this game brought back a lot of memories, but what really sold me was the Tetris-styled combat: it's really fun and opens to a lot of strategies!

Great job!

Hello Amy!

First of all, thanks for playing the demo on your stream with such short notice. I'm sorry I could not be there live, I would've been the hint mechanic until I find a good way to address that issue :D

I'm really glad you liked it, it means a lot having this kind of response for the game.

Thanks!

Hey Luna,

again, thanks for all your helpful ideas, comments, and feedback on the game.

The story right now is the weakest part, as the one in this demo is more of a placeholder missing some key components to make the lore more interesting. You'll love Luca in the full game ;)

Thanks again for playing the game, I'm really glad you liked it and found the hook interesting!

Tried the new version, and the new mechanics are really fun and create wide arrays of new puzzle possibilities, overall an improvement from the previous version. liked it a lot!

I've encountered a minor bug in this version: after completing one of the new levels (not the turbines ones) if the player clicks next, the game will load one of the turbine levels (like, from level 161 it goes back to level 2).

Other than that, great job on a really cool game!

Hi Allison!

Your stream was great and you gave me a lot of insights and opened my eyes to some of the game issues (readability of the interactable objects, some sound effects missing out, the whole "you can't do anything in this room"). Also, the hint system, the new mechanics we discussed, the map, and the necessary QoL improvements are all great feedback to improve the game even more.

Really thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Hey Zafinyaa,

first of all, thanks for playing, and great job on being the first to finish the demo on stream. The audio issue has been addressed (that particular sound wasn't flagged for the SFX menu setting).

About not picking weapons: it depends on the room. Weapons spawn in a specific room and can be used only there (each time you exit a room with one equipped and pass over the purple glyph, they will disappear and return to the room, but also the whole room will reset). Setting a room before going for it sounds like a nice mechanic, but thinking about it may complicate things a bit, requiring the player to go in and out to actually solve it. s a design choice I wanted to give the player everything they need in the room, if it seems impossible to solve then there's something missing that you need to unlock (a new ability and such).

Oh, I'm a bit sad that you didn't like Luca, but I understand. Right now he's the "Straight Man", but lacks in personality. In the main game, some text is delivered differently, but I will address this issue.

Thanks again for playing!

A great shooter with amazing potential and an old-school feel. I played the DEMO, not the campaign so I won't discuss the story.

Art Direction: I like the main ship as the enemies' design, all the effects are nice to look at and easy to read. I don't really like the environment as it feels a bit empty, but it also let you focus more on the action.

Controls/UI: really tight, the ship is easily maneuvered and responsive. UI is fine, readable but a bit lacking in details. Also, I think that a different color during the main dialogue for whoever is talking would be a nice touch.

Audio: music and sound design are great, with nice little details here and there. The player's weapon is a bit too loud and can cover enemies spawning sound or their weapon.

Game loop: the exploration is really fun, with lots of abilities to discover and the fights are fun and varied, with different approaches to them. Each enemy type is unique and with a solid design.

Overall a great game with near-perfect controls and an addicting game loop. Also, I really loved the little quips and remarks the enemies ships do while patrolling, fighting, or dying.

Great job!

A fun take on the Vampire Survivor genre. I really like the animal theme, but I wish you went all in for each skill in the game (I'll explain it later).

Art Direction: theme is really fun and refreshing, the visual is solid and everything is well put together. Sometimes I feel like the player attacks are not that visible in the heat of the combat, but it's a minor issue.

Audio: I like the music, the sound design is good and everything fits together. Good job.

Controls/UI: controls are tight, and the UI is clear and everything is easy to understand from the get-to-go.

Game Loop: game loop is the standard for the genre. Kill stuff, level up, choose upgrades, and collect coins until you die. Solid, but may need something more to really stand out. Maybe some missions, a story, or anything that can tie the game together and make it really different than many like it. Also, especially using Peppermint, one can easily just circle around laying eggs and call it a day without much involvement other than the occasional boss. This works in the first biome, the Halloween one is a bit more difficult with all the tornadoes.

Theme: this is something completely personal and does not influence my overall positive opinion of the game. I love the animal theme, but I don't like the solution you came for a couple of skills. Main offenders: the electric globes and the comets, + the shuriken for the cat. I think that they can easily be changed to something more animal-related without losing their identity (shurikens can become claws and it's still a ninja cat using them as shurikens).

Overall a solid foundation for a really good game, good job!

Hi! Thanks for playing Sliding Hero, I'm glad that you liked it!

Yes, the UI still needs some improvement in readability and explanation: I'm working on a more worded tutorial (but using in-game stuff, so dialogues, scrolls, and so on) to make it more organic and easy to understand.

Hello again!

So, I've reclaimed the 15-digit code and yeah, you can basically brute-force each encounter by having enough endurance and attack. I did it with all the enemies, and the bosses (Vampirelle, Goonther, and the secret one). Also, I think I've encountered a bug with the secret boss: after a couple of hits it slowed me and then never did damage to me again, so I was able to breeze through it.

I'm aware of the T key for showing some info, but I'm talking more about a toggle on / toggle off kind of thing, rather than the 3-4 seconds then disappearing that you have in now. It's a minor thing, just a QoL thing for some players (but it's okay either way!).

A nicely designed puzzle game, with an intriguing story.

Art direction: I'm not a fan of anime fanservice, but I understand the appeal for the target audience. The style is ok and overall coherent. Puzzles are easy to read. Maybe a bit of polish in the UI and QTE section could help.

Game loop: puzzle design is solid, I love the idea behind it. I enjoyed the more complex puzzles with a timer in the second part of the demo, as they require quick thinking and planning. The mix of Sudoku and Picto is clever and works really well.

Audio: the weakest part of this entry, it does its job but does not stand out.

Controls: controls are fine, but a keyboard key bind for dialogue skip and the QTE section could help immensely. The dialogue manager could be improved by not skipping the entire dialogue after clicking the arrow but rather having it finish to appear (this happens in parts of the demo, like the tutorial, as in others the text just appears immediately).

Side note, I encountered a couple of minor bugs:

a) when you are doing the first tutorial room with 4 puzzles, after failing you have to go through a dialogue. In the last sentence, even after pressing the arrow, the game does not continue. You need to go back to the menu and insert the relative password to get back.
b) the tutorial puzzles can be brute forced by closing and reopening them: the game does not keep the progress.

Other than that, I have a small suggestion: the password system is fun and a refreshing way to replay previous sessions without having a dedicated save, but it could help in being randomly generated, otherwise one could just skip everything with a guide.

Overall a really nice puzzle game with clever and refreshing rules. Good job!

I really enjoyed my time with this game, I almost finished it (let's say I only need to get rid of a Clam) and it has been a nice experience. Love the silly tone of the game and the dialogue. The mayor was really fun!

Art Direction: the art style didn't convince me at the beginning but then it grew on me. It's fun, it's coherent and a lot of love has been put into it. I have two suggestions:
1) change the main menu artwork, it does not represent the game.
2) add an idle animation for the main char, it's a simple addition that can give a lot of life to the game.

Audio: music is fun and perfectly matches the art direction. Sound design is a bit lacking, mainly UI feedback, buttons, and so on.

Game Loop: I like the idea behind it, and it works. Kill enemies, get shards, unlock stuff/power up, and help people. It's simple, it's fun. Also, I liked the Sokoban-inspired puzzles. My only gripe is with the combat system, but I will address it in the next point.

Combat: this is a hit and a miss at the same time. I like the speed of it, it's fast and the animations are fun, but I think that at the moment it's lacking in depth: I found myself mostly spamming space to pummel or use the magic attack, occasionally fleeing but nothing more. I think that the speed needs to be tuned down a little bit to help the player make their decision in a more thoughtful manner, also understanding the enemy's behavior without getting punished for it.

Controls/UI: controls are solid, other than the spammy combat, and the UI is ok. I don't really like the dialogue boxing changing size, I find it a bit distracting. Also, I'd rather have the option to make some of the information visible while exploring (TP and Shard mainly) than constantly opening the menu to check them.

Overall a really nice game with lots of potential, 4 out of 5 for me.

Hi PixelSlop! Thank you for trying the game and writing this review.
I still have to find a good way to show the durability in a more direct way.

At the moment, there are one to three blocks that appears behind the weapon UI slot, but they are not that readable considering this is the main feedback about them. That said, I've uploaded a new version with a couple of placeholder tutorials to better understand what's what.

Again, thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Hey, you are the first one to talk about the boss! Good job on reaching him.

Regarding your feedback:

1) Yes, that particular safe area is badly placed in this demo. As the final game will have a more Zeldaesque open world feel, the player will be able to access safe areas in an easier way.

2) I'm a bit torn on this because I'd like to keep prompts and visual tutorials at a minimum (I'm still considering if it makes sense to have text pop out when you collect something, or a weapon gets destroyed) and let the player understand by doing (or reading the entries in the menu), but it's a valid point.

3) Yes, right now the boss main form has a different animation playing with a timer, but I guess that with a shader (like a hologram effect going on and off) it will improve the player experience.

4) This is definitely a bug, as it should show as the purple one did.

Thanks for playing the game and for this detailed feedback, I will work on some points during the jam, but some stuff will be addressed later.

Hi there, it was really fun watching you play the game!

The durability feedback issue is something I'm still thinking about how to design, while for the damage I will probably use a cutscene to make the player understand that the character just received damage, so to have something organic that explains the thing.

Regarding more health pools: the demo is a collection of rooms that will be on the final map, but positioned way differently. As I'm trying for a Zeldaesque open-world feel there will be much more health/save points that the player can access in multiple ways.

Thanks again for trying Sliding Hero!

Thanks a lot for playing the game and for taking the time to write down this detailed feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the game, I'll respond to your three main points as you raise some good issues that need to be addressed:

1) My bad for not mapping multiple keys for the menu. I'm still deciding between the old Unity input system and the new one, so I didn't polish that aspect of the game in this demo. Will upload a new version in these days.

2) Weapons durability is shown in the UI in the top right, the blocks behind the weapons represent the durability, but the feedback for losing them is basically invisible and I'm still trying to find a way to explain it to the player. I'd rather do it organically than with a prompt, but I have to deal with this as soon as I can.

3) Hints are a great idea. I had the idea of placing them around the room (as you suggested, a scroll or something written on the walls) but probably will probably make the Reset Sphere the holder of these hints, so by pressing one button you will Reset the room, while with another you will ask for a hint. Maybe 2-3 hints for each room.

Again, thanks for playing the game and for your precious feedback!

Enjoyed this one quite a bit, even with some design flaws that made the experience a little clunky.

Presentation: overall art direction and sound design are quite good and atmospheric, they reel you in and that's really a major plus.

Controls: the player controller is a bit stiff and could use some smoothing here and there. The jump needs some tweaking to work.

UI: I think the UI could use some improvement, especially regarding the inventory.

Story: the plot is quite interesting and engaging, with a novelty take on the genre.

Audio: Music and Sound Design are both on the spot for this kind of title and right now are one of the strongest points of this entry.

Overall I enjoyed my time with Who Are You?, but I think it would benefit from some more polish in the camera, player controller, and the UI.

A good foundation for a fun game and I really loved the sheep facts! But right now is lacking some stuff here and there.

Presentation: art style is good and coherent, I really like the dog and sheep. Dog customization is fun too, can't wait to see the final version.

Controls: overall they are good, the dog is responsive and fun to move around. The car is a bit problematic, as the overworld has some wonky colliders.

Audio: the main offender for this entry, the lack of music and audio feedback is severely undermining the experience, but nothing that cannot be fixed.

Player feedback: the game is really lacking feedback for the player, especially when completing a level or clicking on a button.

Tiny bugs: if you press space too many times during a level loading you can end up with a <null> sheep fact, and also the level timer will start while still on the black screen loading screen.

Overall the game is fun but needs some more polish to really pop.

I think this is a serious top 3 contender for this jam, with an amazing presentation, tight controls, and a fun and diverse game loop.

Visuals and audio are on another level, polished, and well thought. The main char is amazing, I love its little quirks and personality. The voice acting is really good as is the writing.

Really enjoyed the exploration part at the beginning of the game, but the RPG aspect didn't really click with me (I just unlocked the Arena Bot, so I still have to test it).

My only feedback will be the disconnection between the exploration art style vs the RPG encounters: I think that something akin to Chrono Trigger, where the party battles right in the overworld, will benefit the game greatly.

Overall a great entry, keep up the good job. Gonna give it another go because I want to see what's next!

Thanks a lot for taking the time to try my game! Regarding the room you got stuck in, the vase not respawning is a bug, but the room can be solved without it: I think it’s a bit too difficult for this demo considering the previous puzzles are just an introduction, so I will change it.

About the readability of the italics: it’s an issue caused by a glow material added to the font, I will change it today.

Thank you again!

I really like the game loop and the lore behind it, I find it refreshing and fun. I'm not a fan of the art direction, unfortunately, as it looks a bit too amateurish and can be a bit of a problem in 2023.

I agree with other feedback, and a progress bar for the carrots (maybe just the first one) would be amazing to better understand how many steps are missing for the solution.

Overall I enjoyed it, and there's some good level design in here with fun rules to learn. Recommended!

"Wayted 2 is a hard platformer based on old flash troll games, whose goal was to create a hard experience utilising simple mechanics and gimmicks" perfectly describes the game's experience.

The overall controls and different diamonds and level design are pretty good and fun, but there are four main issues with the game, form me:

Art Direction - the game's missing a bit of polish and juice, both visually and in audio. I think the style could work, but needs a bit more effects to make everything stand out more.

Audio: Public domain music is fine to use, but the game would benefit from a tailored soundtrack with the same contrast (fast-paced gameplay vs a calm atmosphere). Also, the lack of sound design (player movement, death, interaction with teleports, and so on) is making the game a bit tedious in the long run.

If you use Unity, there’s this awesome series of tutorials by Sebastian Lague (https://youtu.be/MbWK8bCAU2w) that explain the theory behind it! It’s a bit old so some coding may be obsolete, but the principles are solid!

A real gem, a great love letter to Zelda with tight controls and a nice overworld.

Thanks for playing the game and taking the time to rate and leave feedback. Regarding the latter, were you playing the WebGL version or the Windows build? Because the WebGL version cuts out a bit of information if not played fullscreen.

I have a couple of issues with the game, mainly with the controls: right now they are too floaty for a precision platformer like the first SMB, I think that a new player controller based on ray casts rather than unity physics will improve it a lot.  Can't comment on the art style as they are a free asset here on itch.io.

Overall there's potential, but need - IMHO - a rehaul of the player controller.

Really like the atmosphere, controls are a bit difficult to understand at the beginning (a tutorial in this case may help), and the art style while coherent is lacking a bit of oomph. The music and sounds are really good. Overall the idea has potential.

Fun little game, love the theme and the different characters. The art style stands out the most, while the gameplay is a bit plain but the shooting is solid. Needs more polish.

Quite relaxing and engaging. A bit too repetitive after the first couple of plays, it may need a story mode and some more tiles that can help - or prevent - the player in achieving the goal.

Fun prototype. Love the sound design (especially the falling scream, really fun!). The enemies are varied and fun, but I find the option for the player to be a bit lacking. I think by adding a couple of moves (jump attacks, dodge/roll, maybe some special attacks) you will have a really fun and engaging game in your hands. Keep up the good work!

Hi! First of all, thanks for this jam, it is a great opportunity! That said, I have a question: I've submitted my game today (Sliding Hero), but I saw that several streamers have already chosen the games to cover in the previous weeks. How can a last-minute submitted title be seen?

Thanks in advance.

Hi!

First of all, thank you very much for playing the game, I'm glad you enjoyed your time with it.

Regarding your observation and feedback: I agree, there's the need to fine-tune the whole puzzle-solving and reaction-sensitive gameplay that can be a bit too much in certain parts of the game. If you found that section too much, from the save point of the blue area you can go to the right to have a less frenetic set of rooms.

Regarding the respawn, I wanted to make two different mechanics: for rooms that you can reset, you will respawn inside of it after death, for rooms you can't reset you will respawn at a checkpoint. This is a design choice, but I absolutely need to make it more coherent and comprehensible.

Thanks again for trying the game!

Hi gsdboxer, thank you very much for playing and for the video! It was really fun and entrtaining watching you slide around the dungeon.

Regarding the boss, after completing the other two area you will open up to it, but maybe it is a bit too long to get to it for a demo.

Maybe next release I will shorten it a bit.

Again, thank you!