itch.io

Much appreciated!

Thank you, appreciate the play!

Thank you! Yeah, it seems the game's a bit more challenging than anticipated, lol! I think the key is to abuse the crap out of the slowmo. That being said, I barely got 2 min in my best run :)

Ah, Freeway! Damn, what a blast from the past! I'm not old either, I promise! Really appreciate the kind words and taking the time to play!

Haha, dude, I know! Should have spent some time on smoothing the movement out. The player object felt a bit unwieldly when you slowmo'd. I guess a bit of acceleration / deceleration should have worked there. Glad you dug the tunes. Only managed do to a small loop because of time, but think it came out nicely in terms of not feeling too repetitive.

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for playing!!

Indeed, I realised as I neared the deadline that the slow-down mechanic was quite a pivotal part of the gameplay. The  slowmo came in after I laid down the base collect and dodge game. Like the idea of pickups for instant refills!

The suggestion for an SFX cue when the meter is refilled again is great , seems so obvious now. Another thing I think is sorely needed is some kind of warning when the timer is nearing zero, so that player doesn't need constantly look up to check. In both cases, SFX cues would enrich the experience quite a bit.

Yeah, difficulty was another thing I struggled with. I barely got it over 2min and thought okay that might be a good jam duration. Didn't want to make it too easy so that it felt boring, and think I wanted to push people to rely a bit more on the slowmo. But I think, at the very least, a gradual build up of obstacle speed would have been a good and easy enough addition.

Will have to look into that tutorial bug, you're the first to mention in. Thanks for highlighting!

Thanks for playing and really appreciate the detailed feedback! Makes me amped to jump back into this post-jam and flesh out some of these suggestions.

Damnnn rad entry!

Super intuitive design. Felt really cool pushing and prodding the various devices to figure and what was going on, and the moment every snapped together. Beautiful. 

In general, from the narrative to the gameplay, there was just enough info to intrigue me, but ambiguous enough to leave a satisfying sense of mystery.

Love the overall atmosphere. Art and sfx all complemented each other well.  Also neat that there was an end game to reach. 

Well scoped and polished experience. Great work!

Ah, dudes, loving the vibes of this!

Have to admit, it's super challenging. I'm embarrassed to say, I couldn't make it pass level 2! I think a bit more of a gradual difficulty curve would be cool. See there were still so many level to discover.

It took a while to figure out building up momentum helps you cover a decent amount of ground. But damn, poor Count is gonna wake up wondering what the hell he went through while sleeping, lol.

Really loved the general atmosphere, the art and music all felt very appropriate. And just the general retro platformer vibe with unique mechanics felt like a satisfying experience. Liked the level design, and can imagine some really cool obstacles being incorporated into this idea.

Think this would also be pretty neat with a controller (not just because I need to spare my spacebar any additional bashing).

Great entry!

Some cooool vibes here. Dig the air traffic control sound bites  playing in the background. 

Audio was a bit glitchy, I think I've had the same issue on browser with certain sounds. But, the general retro audioscape with button sfx, the sound clips, etc. created a rad analogue atmosphere. Really dug that! The visuals complemented it well. 

RE gameplay, was a bit unsure what dictated the success percentage of a roll, so there was a bit of guessing involved. Dug the core loop, though! I found myself constantly rerolling and placing upgrades, even thought I wasn't always entirely sure how it all contributed. 

Pretty cool, dude. With some fleshing out and leaning into the retro/analogue vibes, I think there's something here.

Very cool atmosphere and interesting idea! Admittedly, felt a bit lost. I would sometimes record a loss when I'm sure I should have made a profit. The number on the clock also confused me a bit, like trying to figure out the prices between the main ones marked out made my brain melt a bit, haha.

Would also be cool to see somewhere on the UI how much the entry fee for a round is (not just the quick pop at start of round), so you can kind of keep track of what you need to cover beyond the item's profit margin.

And think it feels a bit like a guessing game / gambling game, would be nice to have some like info or something to see how the much the AI wants the given product. But did read through your Dev Log and sounded like that was the eventual idea.

I can definitely see what you were going for here, and really dig it! I think with a bit more fleshing out and seeing what other mechanics could be introduced to keep things interesting, this could end up with an addictive loop! 

I felt really cozy and ready to get settled into this bidding war, which is great start! Think I would have mainly liked a bit more strategy required :)

Sick, this was one of my favourite entries so far. Very cool narrative, definitely reminded my of Stanley Parable/Dr Langeskov-type games, both of which I love! Also, dig love the pixel art style!

Was very cool to discover that you could replay the scenarios with new endings. However, I am yet to figure out beyond the cookie jar one. It didn't seem like there was alternative things for me to do going forward? Are you supposed to end the cookie jar one is a certain by before the other unlock?

All in all, love to see all the passion that went into this one. Great job!

Damn, what a cool, unique, and fun concept! Love the energy and creative puzzles.

Think some kind of end game or score would be cool. I realised it eventually just loops the same levels, so with some progressions structure I think this can be a really awesome reflex puzzler. Nice!

And yes, the music was sick!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Ahh, super stoked you dig it! Really appreciate the kind words :)

Yeah, gradual progression was exactly one of the things I still wanted to get down, but got side tracked with balancing the frequency and strength health pickups in the last stretch. Took way longer than expected, and then my brain just couldn't handle any more lol.

Appreciate the play!

Yoo, appreciate it! Pretty stoked with the animation! Took quite a while of tinkering to get it right, so glad you liked it. And, damn, took ages to get that tutorial down.

Thanks for playing :)

Very cute and cozy vibe! Dig the narrative elements. All the writeups were really fun to read. Game has a lot of personality! Definitely it's strongest point. Also, very appropriate synth choice for a cat-themed game :)

I was a bit confused by gameplay, though. Feel like I did exactly what the instructions asked, but I was met with what sounded like failure messages after each round. But was still continued to next level regardless?

Also, not sure what the deal with the cats were, although not complaining, they are more than welcome :) They didn't seem to affect anything negatively? Not sure if there are any interactions involved with them?

And then I'd say a bit more feedback via sounds, visuals or some kind of message just to indicate that a job was completed. Felt a bit like I was hoping I was doing things right but was never too sure.

Much appreciated! Pretty chuffed with the banner myself :)

Yeah, I think average playtime is about 40 sec - 1min, so short is right on point, haha. I think I could have done a bit more balancing, or maybe a gradual increase in difficulty. So hard to tell sometimes when you design it 'cause you play it over and over and can't tell what's difficult or not anymore.

Thanks for feedback and playing!

Thank you!!

Yeah, I think maybe a bit of gradual build up in speed or just maybe a little less speed in general might have helped a bit. I also did feel like had trouble navigating the smaller, finer movements. I think my best run was just over two minutes, and I played it A LOT. So, just over 1 min is pretty decent and what I'd expect :)

Indeed, it does feel a bit discouraging when you're not sure why you lost, like you're not sure what to keep in mind for the next round.

Awesome, thanks for playing and providing feedback!

This was super sick! Really well polished, unique, and intriguing. Loved the art and music/sfx, very immersive. Vibes in general were right up my alley.

The tutorial was great and well paced! By the time I was left on my own, I felt totally clued up. Game has a very addictive and intuitive loop, was really easy to jump back in and give it another go. Loved it.

Some thoughts as they popped up:

1. The card buy screen often only offered too expensive cards, while I got only one or maybe two cards knowledge cards. So couldn't do anything there when I first entered. I think balancing so that there is always a bit more knowledge and cheaper cards available in the beginning. So you can always ease players in with a bit more satisfaction before things get harder.

2. Really appreciate the ability to cancel card! Would be cool to mention it as a hint or tutorial bit somewhere! Unless I missed it.

3. Love the trade off between a card's pros and cons, but would be cool if there were cards with just straight up positives. I caught myself thinking is the trade offs worth it or should I rather just face the luck of the draw. Admittedly this was after I summoned two massive squids that completely obliterated me. Thinking of when I played Hearthstone, or the Fallout perks - the ones with tradeoffs had pretty interesting synergy's you could exploit so that the negative impact didn't feel like too much of a punishment. Then again, maybe that harshness is just the vibe of the game.

4. The screen scaled off the borders a bit on the card-buy screen, but only slightly. 

5. Would like some SFX or visual element that alerts you when time is almost up. Got caught off guard once because I was busy strategising with cards.

6. Feedback on why I died. Not always sure if it was time or damage. 

7. Ritual seems a bit rare. Think I played four times, and three out of the four I  didn't have enough ritual to restart the clock!

All in all, amazing effort dude! For a solo game jam effort, this was damn solid! I can see this becoming something I would sink hours into!

Thank you, much appreciated! Will be sure to check yours out :)

Hells yeah, this was sick! Great art and cool little narrative.

I've always loved doing random, everyday activities in games, and this was a cool spin on it. Reminds me a bit of Night in the Woods.

The car sequence was a bit confusing lol.

Great entry!

Lekker laid-back game with nice art. There's a cool loop here, gets almost meditative. A little more challenge could be cool, e.g.. you'll shrink if you don't eat enough in a certain timespan. The Kraken sound is a bit harsh and bassy. 

I think some chill music and more SFX would give this some nice flavour :)

Nice entry!

Really enjoyed the cerebral horror vibes. Would be sick to see this project taken further. Love the art, writing, and cast of eccentric characters. They feel lekker fleshed out, and loved flipping through the dialogue to learn more about them. Nice work!

Hells yeah, Hellbent is shaping up nicely! Keeping a close eye on this one :)

Thank you! Yeah was wondering how long it would take players to solve the mystery. Didn't get a chance to playtest with other people. Glad you could beat it, though! I know the collisions, especially on the last step, were a bit funky lol.

Thanks for playing, and appreciate the feecback!

Used some of your art in my GMTK 2025 entry :)

You play a time-travelling cop:

https://sleepingsafari.itch.io/loop-cop

Also, checked out your other art. Really dig it, nice work!

Thank you! Yes, had some trouble with the sprite layers and collisions. Did this project solo, and main mission was to first get the start-to-finish experience down.

First time tackling an adventure game on my own, and have to say not sure if that's the best choice for a game jam lol. Last year, I did a very simple platformer for GMTK, and it went way better. Game loop and mechanics were super simple, so I could spend my time making it more polished. 

Even though I'm proud of what I managed to wrestle together here (and the experience that comes with it), I spent so much time on unrelated stuff (art, sfx, music, plotting puzzles) rather than the actual mechanics that it ended up in a pretty uneven experience. A lesson I learned a million times, but still fall into that trap: KEEP IT SUPER SIMPLE.    

Anyway, thanks for playing and the feedback!

Hells yeah, this was sick! Pretty full experience for a short game. Fugging dug the epic write-up, the prophecy must be fulfilled! Carving a pretty interesting niche :)

Camera work also added a really cool cinematic layer! Nice work!

This was super rad. Well done. Polished on all accounts, and my most enjoyed submission so far.

Great use of theme, unique and engaging gameplay, great art, and nice song and sound design.

Liked the progression, well paced and the game play flowed nicely. Loved running around like a western ninja and then flanking enemies. 

This become some kind of wild anime lol. Got 10110 points :)

Nice work!

Hell yeah, this was fun. Classic arcade racer vibe, like it :)

Pretty well polished, decent AI opponents, and really like the flow. Also get pretty electric when other racers start joining.

One thing that caught me was that the 'engine' audio is panned pretty heavily to the right. Think it would sound great if it was dead centre, really place you 'in' the car.

Great work, this is a solid submission!

Thank you! Yeah, had some real trouble with the detection. This is my first stab at an adventure-type game, got stumped by quite a few things lol. You have no idea how long I spent on just figuring out how to get the screen dimensions work!

Thanks for playing, and the feedback :)

Rad and unique idea! Had some trouble getting the mini-games going, and hidden collision would sometimes stop me from walking past the person standing there.

Like the art, and cool music loop. Really interesting approach. This is the kind of stuff comes out of a jam that I love :)

Nice one!

This was super rad. Love the laid-back shooter vibe. Interesting mix of mechanics. Well polished, cool music and art. Liked it :)

Nice work!

Super rad design!

Used this character in my GMTK 2025 entry. You play as a time-travelling cop :)

https://sleepingsafari.itch.io/loop-cop

super sick, love the grungey kinda half-life feel. Dope art (the baseball-clown villain looked badass), and liked the dialogue. Cool how you used it in the tutorial. Think this would be a sick project to sink your teeth into, can have a lot of fun with this.

Nee gwot kêrels, game van die jaar!

Loved this, we need more SA-flavoured games :)

Would be cool to see why `n braai can't begin (error message), and what time penalties there are for braaibak. Some added mechanics, like spicing, etc., could be cool next step.

Befok, would love to play a full-fledged braai sim!

Yoh, digging the lofi vibes! Would lean into that. Love the idea of a procedural maze runner. Can imagine this even faster, with like wall-runs, etc. 

Controls are smooth, gameplay has a nice intensity.  Felt a bit dark at times.

Weirdly wonderful. Think you've got something cool here!

Damn good looking game, and nice music! Also, great lyric writing. Like the idea. Was quite difficult, though! But, love these types of memory games, and this one was presented through an interesting lens! Great name :)

Had some trouble getting it to work. The .exe didn't launch for me. With web version, I couldn't move past the first song, then I got the black-and-white page.  And when I restarted, was met with same page from the start. Launching in incognito mode got it working again.

Rad entry, can see a lot of effort and passion went into making this. Awesome work!

This was sick! Love the uncanny vibe.  Great use of SFX, really sustained the flow of the experience. I won R500 :| Had fun with this one :)

Such a lovely experience, feel like the game has its own distinct personality :)

Beautiful art style and calming, nostalgic atmosphere. Enjoyed this!

Noticed when I turned the button while it switched rounds it still activated and took a coin. Don't think it affects the overall outcome, but could look at disabling interactivity when it goes to next round. 

Great work!