itch.io

Oh no! I'm sorry, I thought that I had hit reply, but I must have forgotten and lost my message. I'll just kind of quickly go point by point here. 

I love that the game gave you 90's vibes. One game that gave me some inspiration was Silpheed for the SegaCD. I didn't really think about laser tag or backlight bowling alley, but now that you mention it, I totally see it and think that's great haha.

Yeah, I'll look into ways to let the player know as they're going in. Maybe an introductory stage or just a prompt when they start to get low.

I agree that jumping back in would help keep the pace of things for sure. The way I was looking at it initially, was that you are breaking through an enemy's defensive line, the mines and then the turrets, before enemy fighters came to attack you. Then when you retreat, they are able to re-set up their defences before you get back. But for this, I definitely agree that it would have been better to keep it faster paced. Also, for this I didn't end up putting in an end, so it's just a basic survival mode of sorts.

Bug time! Okay, first off, ughhh lol. It took me a little while to figure out why the enemy explosion was triggering at the centre of the map. It was because of how I set up the weapon hit and the enemy death explosion, they were conflicting on which would spawn. But I've got that sorted out now. As for the enemy spawning, this one was kind of annoying too. So, it's not technically a bug, they do spawn as far as I know. The problem comes it that they are hard to see and find plus with how big the map is. I've had to sweep the map, back and forth, scanning for where they are. It's definitely easier to retreat and then come back so they are in a new location. A few solutions that I am going to consider are: first, make a model for the mines that light up or flash to catch the player's eye. Second, maybe make them spawn closer to where the player spawns (at least for the first wave) so you don't have to look everywhere for it. Lastly, I'm going to see about adding a radar or mini map.

Ooo yeah, a barrel roll could be a really cool addition. I am going to look into making the enemies have an effect when they spawn as though they just came out of light speed or something, or have some of them kind of warp in. That way there is at least a bit of a warning that they are coming and where they will be. But I'm really glad you had fun. I am working on a full release of the game, and this is great feedback, thank you!

Thanks for the feedback! I will be working on patching bugs and putting together a full release of the game, complete with survival (similar to what's submitted to the jam), a story-mode, and maybe even a local multiplayer versus/co-op mode. If you're interested, consider following for updates.

Fantastic work. Everything tied together really nicely and felt good. Is there a way to re-edit your level after finishing it? I found that after completing the level, it copies it to the clipboard and then you can't go back in and tweak it (I'm sure I just missed something). I watched treblig-punisher's twitch stream and saw some of the improvements and changes made, looks awesome! I'm excited to see more from this. Keep it up!

Thanks for checking it out, I'm glad you liked it. Launching out of the bay was one of the biggest things that I wanted to include in the game. I spent way more time on it than I wanted to, but I like how it turned out. It didn't have all of the features that I wanted, like some camera-shake and sound effects, but I'll see about patching that in the full release later down the line. Thanks again!

Thanks, that's part of what I was going for, using some old school games as part of my inspiration. The full game will be a bit different and have some variety with the mechanics. I agree having the player be able to aim with the mouse would have given more control and made for a better experience, I think. 
Restricting the player from being able to just shoot wildly is something that I really like. --lost my train of thought here Haha-- But anyway. In the full release, I am going to see about including a multiplayer feature that will have friendly fire, so more incentive to be careful with your shots.
Thanks again for the feedback!

What a beautiful game. The art and the music worked really well together. The biggest drawback for me was the UI. It wasn't too difficult to understand really, but one thing that I think could have helped would be if there was a line connecting what is related. For example, in the inventory screen, the trees across the bottom of the screen correspond to all of the materials in the column above it, so having a line drawn showing that they are related to that tree specifically would have made it easier for the player to keep track of the menu and look cleaner. If that makes sense. Kind of like how a lot of games have skill trees set up.
Character design was awesome, and the level design was nice too. All in all, it was a really relaxing experience, and I could see this getting fleshed out into a full game. Awesome job, keep it up!

Thanks for checking it out. I agree, after you get a feel for the pattern and game loop, it gets pretty easy. after the jam I will be working on patching bugs and putting together a full release of the game, complete with survival (similar to what's submitted to the jam), a story-mode, and maybe even a local multiplayer versus/co-op mode. Of course, most of that is subject to change, I don't want to over scope and go crazy with feature creep, like how the jam started.
Thanks again for the feedback.

That got intense quick! At first, I thought that there wasn't any music to the game, and then it kicked in and I was like, "niiiice" lol. The gameplay was fun, a bit tricky to get used to the sensitivity at first, but it was good. I think a slower build-up of difficulty, could make it more fun. But either way I had fun with it. I like the idea and the art. It reminded me a lot of some of the older Legend of Zelda games. Nice work, keep it up!

I like the premise for sure and it has a lot of potential. I wasn't able to throw my bones very effectively, unless it was upward. The way that they spawned, prevented me from being able to throw them down or even slightly lower than 90 degrees. There was no UI so I wasn't sure about health either and I found the animation of the direction the player was facing was delayed/just not there. But aside from that, the art was great, and the music was very fitting too. I liked the feel of movement and everything, it was just difficult to attack in all directions. Overall, fun game. Nice work!

Jeez that was stressful, Haha. That was fun, I could see myself coming back to it. I found it difficult to figure out the cooking directions though. I could never cook it better than decent; it was that or overcook (it's possible that there was no in between, but it's fine either way). The main thing however that I wish there was, was a garbage bin of some sort to throw all of my burnt/overcooked meals into so they weren't just scattered on the floor tripping me up. Also, the microwaves didn't let me keep pause to check on the food either (which is fine if that's what you intended, but it would have made it easier than just throwing slightly undercooked food on the floor lol). 
I really liked the main menu and start-up screens. It makes the game feel so put together.  I also really liked the look of the UI in game, the notepad showing everyone's orders it worked so well to immerse the player in the restaurant. Awesome job!

That was pretty fun. I liked the overall concept and controls. I loved that you used your own noises! I found it kind of funny because I wasn't expecting it, and also really fitting to the game. I came across one issue here and there where I wasn't able to put out the fire starters. I sprayed all over them and they wouldn't go out. But nice work, keep it up!

Thanks for checking it out! Yeah, I think you're right in that implementing mouse aiming would have made it easier and probably a bit more fun for players for sure. I did have a bit of inspiration from Tron with the ship model and level design actually! If I decide to update the game and flesh it out more, I am going to see about adding some Tron-like glow to some parts of the ship and including some glowing engine trail.
As for healing, you'll need to pause ('P') and then select, 'retreat.' And when you are back at base, selecting the 'Merchant' option will spend your funds/score to replenish your health. I'll look into making that clearer too.
Thank you so much for the feedback!

That was cool. I loved the art style of the character; it was totally unique and really impressive. I also really liked the look of the menu system and art. I'm not sure if it was just my computer or not, but the pause menu was pretty bare and unclear. I thought that it wasn't loading or something and I thought that the 'x' button that popped up was just to un-pause, but it was to return to the main menu.
All in all, cool game. Nice work.

Thanks. Yeah, I guess that is a bit big for a game jam game. I think it's a bit of excess files that I didn't use in the project, (ie: Unreal Engine's Starter Content, and some files that I planned on implementing). I should have found the time to remove those or told the engine to only package what was used. I'm glad you liked the cinematic and the controls. The friendly fire mechanic is something that I enjoy too. Thanks for the feedback.

I had a lot of fun with this. I liked the procedural level design, it allowed for a decent amount of replay ability. I definitely found some levels to be super beginner levels (rotating once or twice and it's done), versus harder levels (needing to flip the maze 180 degrees suddenly to get the water down a specific path) I found it hard to know how much water was needed to complete the level, but that kind of tied into the challenge. I also really liked the sound of the maze rotating. I would have liked to have heard some music though. Nice work!

This is such an impressive piece of work. I really love the art style, first of all. I like having the option to change the look of it too. The implementation of the score board is really cool too for sure. I found the shield pattern mechanic to be interesting, although, it was very difficult to rotate the shield, while simultaneously trying to defend the planet. Rotating with the keys might make for a quick fix, if that's something you decide to do.
Nice game, keep it up!

You're cute too! Haha.
That was a fun game. I really liked the animation. The sound effects and music fit really nicely too, although I think the audio on death felt out of place, but I'm just getting nit-picky lol. Of course, the shooting collision and stuff wasn't great, but it wasn't that big of a deal, especially because you can do it too; so, it's not a bug, it's a feature! Haha.
Nice work, keep it up!

Haha yeah, sorry. I'm sure I could have removed a bunch of the unused assets and things before packaging. Or just made it package what was used. Thank you so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I'm pretty sure that most of the issues are pretty simple fixes. I'm debating going back into it and fixing it up, and maybe even building it into the full game along the lines of what I was originally scoping for. Or just putting it on the shelf as and calling it a success as a game jam game. Thanks again for checking it out. I'm glad you enjoyed it. 

That was nice. I like the mechanics and gameplay. The atmosphere and everything were tied together nicely. I like how you set up the initial levels to teach how the game works. I would have liked some UI or something to tell the player how much health/number of fireballs they have left. Also, a prompt to break out at the start of the level would help direct players a bit. I also want to say that the levels might have been just a little too dark. But I'm just being picky lol. Really good game! Nice work!

That was a fun little platformer. As is, the game is very well done. I could see this being expanded, having different levels going through various parts of the world to get to Mount Foom. Like Fondor, Losgiliath, and the happy Thire. lol
I thought it was really great. I think the music was a bit quiet. Not that, that's necessarily a bad thing, but to look at games in a similar genre, the music just fills the sound space a bit more and makes the world feel a bit more alive. But that's a minor thing, so no big deal. I also found the level design to be pretty good, but I just have one thing I would have preferred: The whole time the player is working downward, but I feel if the player was working their way up, it would feel more like they are working up the mountain.
Lots of fun, keep it up!

That was pretty good. I agree that it does go a bit too slow. Having it ramp up a bit after a brief introductory period would have made it more engaging. Some more obstacles would have also been nice to change up the aesthetic a bit. I liked the feel of movement and found the rocket jumping to be satisfying and the music choice was perfectly suited to the game.
Nice work overall! Keep it up!

Nice game! short, simple, and really fun. As others have said, the selecting seeds and plots needs a bit of refinement. There are so many options for how to make that work, so I won't bombard you with ideas for that, unless you ask lol. 
I also really liked the menu system. All of the animations and everything were pleasant to look at and fit the game really well. I am curious, do you do a lot of gardening yourself? Or did you do some research on the topic going into the game? Because on your game page, you explain 'companion planting' and I thought that was really interesting. Nice work, keep it up!

Thanks for checking it out! I'm glad you had fun playing and I'm glad that you liked that enemy shots could hit each other and that the enemies could destroy one another. I did do that intentionally; I really like playing the idea of using friendly fire. Thank you, I have started to take a lot of interest in game UI and menu systems. I think they are super important to a game's immersion.

That was a lot of fun, I could see this being expanded on and being a successful mobile game and pc game. The animations and character design were super cute too. I think the main menu could have been just a bit faster and the 'how to play' section was a bit wordy, maybe having more tabs with pictures (or short clips) demonstrating how things work would be easier for players to digest. Awesome work, keep it up!

Love that you both worked together on this! It was pretty unique, and I could see this maybe getting fleshed out further and be a decent aim trainer. Maybe with some more sound effects and some music options for the player to select from. Even incorporating some 'challenge' levels for the player to practice specific skills. Nice work, keep it up!

This game is fantastic! This little ravioli character is the best. The detail in this game is absolutely incredible. I found myself looking at every box to see what is on them and what they say. It all kind of reminded me of the old Army Men game I played on the N64, but like 100x more detailed. And the little ravioli booty hahaha! Awesome work.

Oh no! I'm sorry that error happened. I'd like to check it out after the jam maybe, if you get the chance to patch it. Would you be willing/able to maybe upload some screen shots, so we could see what the game is going to look like?

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you had fun with it! I think some more variety to the enemies would be pretty cool, yeah. I had a few other concepts in mind, but that deadline is intimidating, Haha.
The repair shop is a common thing being mentioned. I agree I should have made it more clear on how to access it and I'll play with some solutions for that. As for picking up where you left off when you get back to maintain the flow of the game is better too, yeah. My thoughts on sort of resetting everything has two purposes: firstly, that it plays with the theme a bit more to start off slow and "turn up the heat," when the game picks up. And secondly, it is kind of like, you are in enemy territory and then leave. While you're gone the enemy is rebuilding back up their defences, so when you get back you have to punch through their mine field and turrets. But I think it would have been more fun to just jump back into the heat. Thanks again.

Very dark and the camera was pretty jarring. It looked like some paragon assets which is cool, but I couldn't seem to get very much movement from it and the enemy's standard enemies didn't seem to bother me too much. I had trouble knowing exactly what I was doing because the controls didn't feel super responsive. It looked like there was a combat system being used, but I think having some tutorial or control scheme displayed would have helped. For example, your game page says how to move and attack, but doesn't say how to use your fire spell assets, I just had to mess with some keys to use those. I think with some tweaks this could be pretty fun! Nice work!

All in all, I had fun with it. I The menu system blew me away. That was probably my favourite aspect, nothing against the game itself, I just really like a good menu, Haha. The game itself was really dynamic, lots of enemies and exploration. Very MetroidVania in the layout and feel. I like the character and enemy design and the score was very well suited to the game. Nice work! *Also, I agree about the jumping mechanic, it's a bit rigid. When jumping you go straight up and then go in a direction. It just doesn't have the best feel to it.

Awe, I'm sorry this happened to you.  That is so unfortunate. I find packaging to be one of the most stressful parts, especially when there's a deadline. The title caught my eye though! I would like to check it out if you manage to get it up and running after the jam. Would you be willing to post some screenshots on your game page so we could see more of what the game is like?

That was fun! I could see this selling with a bit of touch ups. I liked being able to adjust my speed freely and I found that everything tied in really well to the environment. It felt like the music was always on beat with what I was doing too. The death animations reminded me of classic Sega games. Nice work!

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I wanted to set it up in a way that the player wouldn't really want to just fire freely, but I'd have to agree with you that having it set up with a mouse instead (or as an option even) would have made that both easier and probably more fun. I was kind of going for a classic 8-direction style with it, but the mouse would have fit the game better.
For replenishing your energy (health and ammo), you will regain a portion of it back after each wave of enemies.
As for the funds/score, the purpose of that is to replenish your energy at the space station. To get there, you have to pause ('P' key) and then select the option to retreat (but you need to have at least 25% of your energy (explained in game to be the amount of fuel it costs to make the trip back to base)). Then you'll be at a screen where you can return to the game, resupply ('Merchant'), or quit to the main menu. This is a common response I've gotten, so I'll look into making that clearer in a future build.
The final score page has a little bug where it uploads your score, but it only takes the score from the last time you were back at the base. It's a really simple fix that I noticed right after the deadline. It should project the amount of 'funds' you have when you die, but I just forgot to carry that information over there. So yes, it is based on how many enemies you kill which equals your funds, but you can subtract from your funds to replenish your energy.
Ah yes, the enemy models... I so badly wanted time to throw something together for them, but I just didn't have the time in the end. I almost recoloured the player ship and used that for the moving enemies, but I came across some issues with that too. 

I could see what you were going for here. I just found it a bit difficult to control and the camera was jumping around a bit. I also found it difficult, not getting much feedback or indication of when things happened because of something I did, or just randomly. For example: I was unscrewing things from the air conditioner, but the camera jumped out and everything seemed to have reset back to the beginning, and all of the screws were back on. A few similar incidents happened throughout.
All that being said, I really liked the concept and having to balance the heat and the AC was pretty neat. Having the pipe burst to hide the thermostat was cool. I also really liked the art and effects.

Bunsen the Burner - Haha great title! This was a really well put together platformer. You nailed the intro levels, teaching the player what to expect when coming across various types of platforms and obstacles. ie: wood platforms, water, hot air balloons, etc. Overall, a good experience. Now I have to get picky about a few things, I would have liked to have heard more sound effects or some variety in music. Also, character animation was kind of lacking. Really, I feel like have the character face the other direction when moving would have been enough.
Haha, alright, I'm done being nit-picky. It was fun lol

Overall, it was pretty decent. I thought the art was good and colourful. I liked the look of the fire and the fire extinguisher for sure. But the timer combined with the pacing was a bit too slow. I found that it took almost 3 minutes to get to 100% if you don't move. So it's virtually impossible to lose, unless you are trying. Not that, that is necessarily a bad thing, but I felt like there needed to be more to do, and maybe have some consequences for being in the fire. Maybe if it slowed the movement and effectiveness of the fire extinguisher, I'm not sure. But something. I like the feel of the movement though! The game nailed how I image being propelled through a zero-G space station might feel like. Keep it up!

Hey, I played the originally posted build. I thought it was pretty fun! Even not taking damage from the enemies and not carrying stuff over, meh bugs happen. But the overall concept and gameplay was pretty decent. I liked the control and movement feel of the character. I wasn't able to access any of the chests or anything either, but I saw a lot of potential with how the levels were designed and laid out. It felt like the start of an expansive world filled with monsters and places to explore. I wanted to see what was out there.

It definitely took some messing around to figure out what to do. I think a tutorial of sorts would have been really helpful. I mean, the tools were all there if you take the time to study them and piece it together, but even then it was complicated. I really like the idea of blacksmith work though! Having the various metals to work with and furnace temperature to manage. Along with the orders coming in for various types of blades and things. Pretty cool.

First off, it was pretty fun. I found it to be pretty cramped and it took some trial and error to know what was going on. For example, the table was kind of confusing. Because of its placement in the level, I thought that maybe it would double as cover, but you (and the enemies) could go right through it. I liked the character and weapon design though! I think some animation in the boomerang would have been a nice touch. But on the other hand, I see how it might have made it more difficult to see the progress bar on it. I also really liked that the boomerang would go through multiple enemies, both directions. As well as, having it follow the player, so you could get a lot of ground covered in one through, and stunning the enemies when they get hit.

I like the concept and having a clear timer to show when to be in the air was nice. I agree with the others in that, it felt like a classic Atari game and that there was no 'restart' option.