itch.io

Things I loved:

• The vibe. The colors and art sold the visual vibe well for me.
• On the same note, the music was nice as well. For some reason, I was expecting a more rebellious vibe in the music and SFX, but I think I actually prefer it being more laid back. It balances out the rebellious-looking character designs and dialogue.
• "Too bad only nerds read." I love this. More silly dialogue things like this! :D
• I wasn't expecting an isometric view in the interactive portions, but I'm glad I got it. Idk why, it just made the comfy feelings in my brain go off.

Suggestions for post-jam improvements (if y'all pursue it):

• I got stuck/looked like I froze when initiating dialogue sometimes, particularly in the library couch area. I thought I'd have to restart but after button mashing for 30 seconds or so I got free.
• The text box was kind of tiny. I didn't realize I was supposed to scroll in it sometimes until the very last scene. I think that could be a little bigger or the text could be broken up more so there's no scrolling.
• The motive for getting other girls expelled made sense for Pel. But it didn't have me fully invested as a player. I was invested enough to finish the game, but don't think I would've been for a longer experience. I think making the player relate to or understand Pel more via the writing or her character design would add a little extra polish via player investment. (This is hard to do in a 48 hour game jam, what's here is good for that time span and game length.)
• Visual novels can sometimes feel a bit slower paced than other games since it's mostly just reading and looking at art (in non-interactive portions). Starting the game with a black screen and no art to look at felt weird because of that, since it was only text to get me invested for 4-5+ clicks. In a longer, non-jam title, that could lose a few players before they even have the chance to get fully into the game. (Again, not huge deal for a 48 hour game jam, but something that could be improved in future builds.)

A few minor bugs here and there, but good job overall!

Really loved this Bloxorz-like puzzle game. Definitely a fun take on that style. Really appreciated the undo button that made it so I didn't have to restart the entire level if I got one move wrong like in Bloxorz. This is one of my favorite games I've played this year, well done.

I enjoyed this concept! I wish there was a tutorial at the start, as I had no idea what I was doing until I read the instructions on the game page. I recommend always budgeting time to implement a tutorial.

Overall, I really enjoyed the tower defense mechanics, but I did find it a bit difficult. Great job!

I'm a big fan of turn-based RPGs, so I really liked this.

Upon getting into the game, my first reaction was saying, out loud, very loudly, "OOOOOOOO THIS ART IS SO COOL!!!" My second reaction was "okay, but what do I do?" I attempted to figure it out without checking the "how to play" section, but was unable to do so. Whenever possible, I recommend including a tutorial that isn't just reading a big block of text will keep people engaged. It felt like I had to read for a good 10-15 seconds before "playing" the game.

It was also really hard to see who took damage and when, since there was no visual indication or feedback that the enemies attacked my characters except for their health decreasing and the forecast of who the enemies would attack next turn. Once the enemies did attack, it usually took me a few seconds to realize that they did.

I killed the werewolf twice, but nothing appeared to have changed when I did. This looked like it just spawned in another werewolf three times in a row, but the lack of confirmation was a little confusing at first.

As I played through the game, I really liked how the character sprites changed based on how damaged they are. I also really liked the music, but it was really loud. I think volume control settings would be a nice coat of polish to put on top of what's already here.

I played for ~10-20 minutes but never beat the game. Is this an endless turn-based fighting game? Or is there an ending I just didn't get to? Great job on this! If you'd like to play my team's game to exchange feedback, we'd really appreciate it!

Glad you liked the level design, thanks for the feedback! 

Hey, we agree that the UI needs some work. Thanks for the feedback! 

I think it's an incredible compliment for a game jam when someone says they want more levels. That's awesome, thank you! 

Hey morrilet, we definitely think the UI needs some work as well. Thanks for the feedback! 

Great feedback, thank you! 

Thanks for the feedback!

Glad you liked the puzzle design, thanks for the feedback!

Glad you liked the music! 

Thanks for the feedback, glad you like it! 

Gotcha, that makes sense. I was able to finish the experience 100%.

Glad you liked it!

Glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback!

This was a really relaxing game. I felt like I didn't have 100% control over which option I selected sometimes, but that's just a minor nitpick. This was a nice change of pace that was different from everything else I played this jam. I had fun, well done! Would love it if you gave my team's game some feedback too :)

Fun concept! There's less between the center of the screen and the top of the screen than there is to the left or right side and the center. For this type of game, I'd make it a square aspect ratio, otherwise stuff coming from the top or bottom feels too hard and unfair. I'd also slow the projectiles down just a little bit, as it felt very unforgiving at times. Aside from that, I thought this was fun! Would love if you left my team's game a review as well :)

https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2021/rate/1078608

I'm a sucker for turn-based RPGs. I loved this. My biggest complaint is that I never once paid attention to status effects, buffs, or debuffs. The UI really needs some work to communicate that information better with a good visual hierarchy. Aside from that, I loved the concept of sharing health with the enemy, it made for some interesting combat. If you continue development post jam, polish the UI, and you'll have something awesome. I really loved this, well done!

This is a fun game! The puzzle design is really good. The one complaint I have is that often, if I made a mistake, it felt pretty punishing. For example, I was on the last step of solving level 3, I just needed to get the upside-down puzzle piece to the end of the level. I made a mistake and landed on spikes with it, and it was sent back to the beginning. Just to get back to the point where I was, it took me about 30 seconds to get the brown puzzle piece to the switch (instead of the finish area where he was), platform back to where that puzzle piece was again, then attempt the jump I failed as the blue puzzle piece again. I failed that jump and reset again, and decided to quit because I didn't want to do the same puzzle again for 30 seconds. I think having a more forgiving death reset would be very nice since the movement is so slow for both characters. Aside from that, I enjoyed the overall experience and think this is a great game!

I really liked this game, it was pretty fun! I wish there was a button that let me return to the main menu for the level select whenever I got stuck. Aside from that, this was really fun, I enjoyed it!

I love the art and audio for this game. A lot of people did the "control characters at a time" concept, but I haven't seen any take the approach of using brains.

I feel like the platforming was way too hard. I got stuck on level 2 and gave up, as I failed to solve it after about twenty attempts. Unless I didn't understand the puzzles, it felt like the game was asking me to do near pixel-precise platforming. But, I may have just misunderstood what the correct solution is for each puzzle, hence my struggle. 

Overall, I think the game seems fun, I just wish I could've gotten further. Good job!

I really enjoyed this! It was way too hard for my tastes, but the gameplay, art, and sound were fun! I think some of the arbitrary restrictions like not letting the bugs see the magnet was kind of silly. It didn't really serve a purpose beyond "here's an arbitrary mechanic for the sake of a puzzle". If there was an in-game explanation or lore that made it make sense, it would've worked more for me. But, I felt that a few of the mechanics just felt like arbitrary, frustrating restrictions that existed for the sake of a puzzle rather than the puzzle existing due to the mechanic. Overall, the game was fun, and I enjoyed it!

Very simple, fun game. I think it would be neat if a color blindness accessibility feature was added in the future and the UI got a bit more attention so it wasn't just basic white and black buttons. Aside from that, love the game!

Hey Usara! I definitely agree that an easier way of finding where everything is on the map would help make solving the puzzles a lot more manageable. Thanks for the feedback!

Thank you!

Glad you liked it, Fhy, thanks for the feedback :)

Glad you liked the levels, Yword, thanks for the feedback!

Thanks KobaltK!

Hey Lame Duck Studios! We had some problems getting all of the sprites layered correctly, which is probably causing some of the weird graphical stuff you mentioned. Thanks for the feedback!

Definitely agree, thanks for the feedback!

Definitely agree that some of the controls aren't the most intuitive in the world. Glad you liked once you got going, though!

Hey, the first two levels are meant to be more "tutorial-y" in nature. If you were to desync in those levels, they get infinitely more challenging. But, if you stay synced across the two, they're much easier. So, they can be anywhere from really hard (de-synced) to fairly straightforward (synced). It really depends on each player, their approach, and how they think. It's definitely good to keep in mind though, thanks for the feedback! 

Glad you had fun!

Hey, definitely agree that more guidance is necessary. Thanks for the feedback!

Hey, we got a few other people that said something similar about being confused about where they are on each screen. I was thinking maybe a slightly pulled out camera perspective (so you could see more of the world at once) or a "zoom out" feature to see the entire level whenever you wanted on both screens. I feel like this happened due to time constraints, but I think something like one of those previous two things would help immensely. 

Hey LlamaDev Games, we definitely need to communicate the controls better and have a little more guidance in a tutorial. Thanks for the feedback!

Hey Medimonster, glad you liked it!