Thank you! That was a concern of mine, I decided to go for the "Jump King" way, which may not be the best, but I think I'm okay with it. One thing I could improve though is make the jumps easier from a board to another. Also a better indication that there's something offscreen is a nice idea! Will work on that.
Well, I just hope it's not a bug, most people who have played could did not seem to be hard stuck so maybe you'll have to try a bit harder! If you'd like to, obviously.
Thank you! I'm working on some more levels, it's hard to get the right balance between addiction and frustration, although I guess both are related, in a way :p
Amazing job was done since the first time I've tested the game, the game feels much smoother and is now a really enjoyable experience. The atmosphere was already on point, and it's still the biggest feat of the game imho
Congratulations to the whole team. Wishing you the best for the years to come :)
Hi, the web version may be broken, depending of the screen or something else, it's a game we made a few years ago. We're not going to do any update, however, the downloadable version should be more stable, in case you want to give it a try.
Anyway, sorry you could not play the game, but glad you enjoyed the video!
That's a shame but I'm not very surprise tbh, we've made the game for a game jam a few years ago so it may be a bit buggy sometimes! Glad you liked it anyway :)
Keyboard/mouse is actually not that terrible imho. I've developed the game so I'm obviously very biased, but it's not the worst jam game I've made to play with these inputs haha. But yeah, I'm more of a controller player so I get your point!
I agree on the monitor complaint. We did not take enough time for some confort options like volume sliders or things like that, which I usually try to work on for jams.
Thank you very much! No special trick that I'm aware of from the few times I've played the game after submitting it. The dragon balancing is indeed pretty hard, and that's on us, we didn't take enough time during the last hours to properly test the game and balance it properly! It is beatable for sure (as we saw many people doing so), just a bit too hard compared to the rest of the game.
Very clever game, I love that take on the theme, and overall it's very polished and nicely done.
Here are some of my thoughts:
- One of the rule mentions that the shortest path will be chosen. However, in some levels (for instance Up A Notch or Rule Number Three), both paths are the same length, and it doesn't seem like there's a priority system as some levels will prioritize the colored path, other will use the main red path. Nothing serious as you only have to play to find out how the level behaves, but for a puzzle game, that's a crucial info that is unclear which can be annoying. Maybe a path preview system before playing could be interesting? You may want to put the emphasis on the trial and error system, in such a case, a preview would not make sense, but I hope you get my point.
- I'd have expected the game to be a bit less punitive as it's a puzzle game and it's pretty cozy. However, after placing a tile, you cannot remove it or change its position, which prevents the player from trying things by moving the tiles and then press play to try out their solution. I believe this can quickly become very hard for people who have trouble with planning their level in their head only. Also, when playing and realizing that the solution is wrong, everything is lost, so you kinda have to memorize what you've tried not to do it again. It can be okay to include some memorization in the game, but here I feel like it would have been way more fun to play with a more flexible approach, focusing more on level design than having to do everything perfectly in one take.
- The artstyle is simple, but very effective and beautiful. However, it can quickly become repetitive, as well as the notes always being the same. I wish that some of the notes were bass notes, to add a bit more depth to the game audio (typically the first note from each bar could be a bass, it would be very cool imho). It's definitely okay for a jam game, but if I were to play the game for a few hours, I would expect it to have more visual/audio variations.
- Special mention for Up A Notch which is the best level by far in my opinion: it has this puzzle game moment where you think "okay it looks easy", then you try, and you look at the notes in the bars doing a A-B-B-A pattern and you're like "okay what?". Overall the game is not very hard (which makes sense for a puzzle game made for a jam), but that level was a very nice ending!
Hope you don't mind me being critical, I believe it's more constructive this way, but don't get my comment wrong, overall I seriously loved playing the game and that's definitely a game I'd play an extended version of! Congratulations!
I could not go very far in the game as I had crashes each time, that seemed to happen on collision with various objects from the house. A bit disappointing as the game looks cool and I love your work, so I'd like to know if those issues are just on my end, or if you're planning or debugging a bit? In such a case, may it help to send you the crash dumps or something?
Anyway, I'll try playing on another computer when possible as I really want to catch those bugs!
I played again and indeed, the game feels wayyyy better knowing that right click mechanic! The banner is a smart addition, not being able to update the game with the input inside must be frustrating, but that's better than nothing!
Nice game! A bit too repetitive and very slow for my taste, I expected it to be more of a fast-paced arcade game than a slow game where you have to position yourself to avoid pull enemies to you. I can be wrong, but I didn't see any combo system to reward you from killing many enemies at the same time? So taking your time for a great attack is not that rewarding, apart from the personal satisfaction of doing a nice attack, which is effective at first but quickly becomes too repetitive.
Also, I think that your room looping system is actually not a loop, just a level system that is just displayed as a loop, but I may have misunderstood something with the level design? Please let me know if that's the case.
Other than that, I love the aesthetics. That color palette is amazing and nicely used, the atmosphere is great, and the music adds a lot to it. The game has nice visual feedback everywhere which makes it nicely polished and enjoyable to play. Also the enemies pulling mechanic is interesting, but I was not really paying attention as most of the time I hit enemies from as far as possible, so maybe the pull could be way stronger for further enemies?
Nice idea, I like it! Also the fact that you're playing a human cursor is very fun.
I must say that the platforming was a bit frustrating, I felt like I had to focus a lot for my jumps, as the notes are very close to each other (both vertically and horizontally), it's very easy to get stuck on a jump, fall, get killed, and being reset on the left. Even worse when that happens on the right part of the screen, because you respawn on the left, and the playing marker kills you on spawn. I know you can loop from right to left, but then you have to run all the way to try your jumps again, which can become annoying quickly. At least the respawning is quick so that's not that serious, but definitely something I would improve if I were to work on the game. And that leads me to another thing, which
I feel like the game is more of a platformer than a music/rhythm game, which tricked me a little bit because I was expecting being able to do some composition using the notes by jumping on them or something, and eventually I was just focusing so much on platforming and not dying that I wasn't listening that much to the music. Which I think is a shame as it's called "Midi Madness".
I guess I'm being critical because I'm a developer and a musician, and while I really love the initial idea of the game, I may have been expecting something and was kind of frustrated (and that's my problem, not the game's). But, it's not my game, and overall I believe that it's a great entry and a cool take on the theme! Looking forward to your next version with that second level!
Very nice idea! I love how it's both a twist on Snake and a good take on the theme. The fact that it's a long dog it also very funny and cute.
My only real negative thought is that the tail biting mechanic, while being very interesting and well done, is weird to me as it starts as a very satisfying sequence, and ends up looking more like a level restart, as your position is reset, your length too, etc. Nothing serious, but since it's kind of the main mechanic, I think it would have been better with an implementation that does not make it look a bit strange. Hope you get my point.
Also, more of a detail, but it would have been cool to have a bit more animations and juiciness. For instance, the squirrels could have a little walk animation (either a two frames sequence or some bounce on the sprite), the bones could also move a bit to make them stand out more, with some VFX on spawn, etc. Nothing serious either, but these little details would have make the game muc better imho.
My comment is pretty critical, but don't get me wrong, overall I enjoyed playing the game and I believe it's a very solid entry! Congratulations!
That's already been said, but I also think that the game is too short. I completed it in maybe 2 minutes. I know that's a jam game, of course, but a few more levels would have been cool because the game is nice! Very simple, both in the concept and the artstyle, but it's still enjoyable to play and fits the theme nicely.
I wish there was a bit more juiciness, for instance making the cogs rotate and kill the player with some particles, the character having more bounciness when jumping, more particles, and a less high pitched sound too, as it's very annoying when jumping.
Overall a good entry, that you should keep expanding if just a bit!
The most obvious issue with the game is that it is very repetitive, and too easy (in a few rounds, you already have enough money to buy attack upgrades and one shot everything). Moving enemies, new enemy types, smaller ones to challenge click precision, enemies that shield the ones around them and prevent the player from killing them, etc. There's a lot of room for more content which would be cool!
Another thing is, if your game is very simple and played only by clicking, that is fine, but then, each click needs to feel great. Here, clicking on an enemy just decreases its health bar and will spawn a sprite on death. What I would expect is that the enemy shakes on click, explodes on death with a sound and a screen shake, stuff like that, so that I really feel like I'm powerfully bursting enemies with my mouse. That reminds me of that video from Jonas Tyroller, in which he works on a simple button and tries to make it fun to click on it:
Anyway, all of these are easier said than done, what matters is that you made a game that can be easily extended on, so I hope you'll spend a bit more time on it in the near future! And I'll be happy to play it again if so :)
Very nice! Simple, effective, and actually very satisfying. I like that you went for a mechanical heart instead of an organic one, it's not much but that adds a nice touch to the game.
This is typically the kind of jam entries that make me think "I want to play more of it", as it's very easy and quickly completed, even for a jam game, but I guess it's smarter to keep a reasonable scope than trying to do too much and end up posting an unfinished project, so I cannot really blame you for that!
That's a very interesting take on the theme! I feel like the levels are mostly inspired by the shapes but not perfectly accurate 2D representations of their topology, which tends me to think that the game would benefit from having a clearer visualization of what's going on, where you're going to end up after taking an exit, etc.
I really love the artstyle, the selection menu is very cool looking, and the controller is nicely polished and enjoyable to play with. Congrats!
I feel like the game has a nice idea behind it, but there are many things that prevented me from truly enjoying it. First thing is the lack of feedback and the unclarity of some things: the spikes do not have any animations to know they're about to pop, the green slime thing looks more like an enemy than a thing you want to collide with to collect your stuff, the holes collisions are very punitive and don't just remove one health but one shot you (which is understandable as they're holes, but since the hitbox is not very generous, they're quite frustrating), some rooms have a bottom exit with no door, etc.
The last thing I'd like to point out that really disturbed me was the gameplay of the boss: during the all game, you play with WASD/space/shift, and the boss requires you to click on buttons, with limited time, which is very weird and made me die to it without understanding what was happening.
To talk about positive points, I liked the initial narration with the key bindings explained with the "meaning of alphabet", I think that was a nice touch. The rooms navigation/roguelike structure of the game is basic but very easy to understand, which is what you're looking for in a jam game so that's a great point, and the character controller is responsive and the controls easy to get used to.
I feel like a bit more time to polish the game would make it become a pretty nice prototype! Congrats for making the entry!
Adorable and fun game, games with cats never disappoint and I enjoyed every minute of playing it! I wish there was some background music playing during the act, as if there was a few musicians. Would have been a nice way to put the emphasis on the fact that cats are in an actual musical show, and change a bit from the very repetitive audio of the game. I believe that's my only negative point, I really love everything else. Congrats!
Thank you very much! The tiny loop technique is something we wanted to work on, as it's indeed a potential softlock issue since it can lock all of the flags forever. I'm glad you enjoyed it though!
Damn, I did not even see that there was a flashlight, that one is on me... I totally understand that time is limited and that you had many ideas to improve the game, I hope to see it updated after the jam indeed! And this time I'll play again with the flashlight haha
Very cool entry, I like the take on the theme, and overall the game mechanics is very easy to understand, which makes it enjoyable to play.
I had some trouble understanding how to move the camera at first, and the background not following the camera yet zooming in and out made me have a strange feeling when starting to play. Also, it's a shame that everything is so small on screen, like I could almost not read the prices for upgrades, and the ships/bullets was also very small on screen was zooming out to see the full planet. The game seriously looks good, so I wish everything would be bigger to enjoy the artstyle to its full potential!
The defense gameplay was fun, the only thing that frustrated me a bit it is that there's no aim prediction; your ships will fire at an enemy ship's position, but that ship will move, so your bullet will not touch it. Either an aim prediction or faster bullets would fix the issue, I think (faster bullets are easier to implement and would add more juiciness to the game).
Anyway, pointing out what's negative is always easy, but don't get me wrong, I liked playing your game and I think it's really well made. Congrats!
