itch.io

Okay good luck!

That's good to hear that you are continuing the game. Good luck!

Given the time constraint, that's understandable.

If you're still struggling with implementing that, maybe I can help a little by giving several suggestions. I think you can try and create a timer that starts counting down when the game starts, and once that timer reaches 0, you make the ghosts appear. You can make several timers, one for each ghost, and maybe you can set different time for those timers.

I'm not sure how exactly do you implement those in GDevelop, but I believe you can do it ^^

Ah okay, the connection with the theme makes more sense now. Thanks for clarifying, and get well soon with your cold!

I figured it was something similar to French, but I don't want to mislabel a language xD

That situation with the boss is so relatable. I think you did good enough though. It still looks like a special type of enemy since it has different attacks than the rest.

I can't really explain it with words, so I'll just use an example if that's alright.

Imagine I have made several marbles, maybe something like "Pizza", "Spaghetti", "Ramen", and "Fried Chicken" along with their own textures. I wanted a feature that could save all of those marbles, so the next time I open the game, I can load those specific marbles again.

This way I can reuse the same marbles over and over again, without recreating them one by one.

Oh this is your first jam? Congrats on finishing and submitting it!

Glad I could be of help with the suggestions ^^

What an experience. Felt like watching a short movie.

I was unnerved by the atmosphere at first, thought it was a horror game, got jumpscared by the pink girl (even though I should've expected it, based on the itch.io page screenshots), then everything felt... melancholic? I'm not so sure myself.

The art is perfect for this kind of game/experience. The choice of using dreamcore and liminal space photos are great as well, fit with the vibe. The two characters only showing their silhouettes are great too.

The audio is really, really good. The music, the ambience, the subtle SFX, all of them are really great. Though maybe it's a little bit loud at the end, but maybe it's intentional.

Unfortunately I may be too stupid to understand the meaning behind all of this, if there's any. Unfortunately again, that also means I don't understand how all of this correlates to the theme of "chain reaction". But all of the texts sounds cool.

A fun little short game. I did not expect only one level though, but the ending is cute. Congrats on finishing it though!

This has "educational" written all over it xD, though I can see this game being much more complex and difficult in the future.

I also understand nothing of the gameplay. I just turned knobs and levers and suddenly the game is done. Maybe add some sort of timer that ticks down once you get to the required goal, something like wait 3 seconds after reaching the goal to fully complete the level. This is just to make sure the player didn't randomly complete the goal.

You took the theme in a chemistry kinda way. That's interesting.

I like the design of the chef guy. Looks innocent but also intimidating.

Audio is kinda lacking during the gameplay, but unfortunately I don't have any other suggestion for this. Maybe add some sort of sound when the player turn the knob or lever?

Sick menu transition.

I don't understand the language unfortunately, so I thought it was bugged at the start. I didn't know I have to press Enter to continue the tutorial xD

Very creative gameplay mechanic. It definitely has potential.

I am glad there's no contact damage with the enemy. Though I wish you can just do the chain reaction without hitting all enemies.

One thing to nitpick is the design of the boss attacks. At first, I wasn't sure where the boss were, but I realized it's hidden beneath all of those projectiles xD. Maybe make the boss larger, or use a different sprite, or something else entirely to make it stand out more.

I really like the visual effects of the attacks, both the player and the enemies. Especially the player. All of them felt satisfying.

Theme wise, it really fits. I mean, you are forced to do chain attacks xD, but you can strategize by choosing which enemy to attack first, and which to attack last.

I like the art style. Reminds me of Brotato.

The audio is also pretty good. The SFX felt satisfying, and the music fits with the gameplay.

Very cute game and art style.

The gameplay is very responsive as well. Though, I didn't realize the "rock" that I push is charcoal, and that I have to press the action button to burn it.

Water that kills you when you get near is nice conceptually, but I think there should at least be an indicator of a danger zone. Maybe a different coloured tile around the water would do.

I really like the twist in the middle of the game. I felt like a murderer at the end.

I like the SFX, even though a simple music would help as well.

I was suspicious when the comments said the play button doesn't work. I saw the updated version. There was hope, but alas it still doesn't work unfortunately.

I have never heard of this engine (OpenBOR) before, but it looks interesting.

The gameplay is awkward at first, but I eventually get the hang of it. It's very creative though, how you can shoot the enemies and it will bounce around, hitting other enemies in the process. I really like that idea.

I reached the boss but unfortunately I don't know how much HP it has left. I think some sort of HP bar is needed here. I hit it several times using the balls, and it seems like it damages it, but I don't know how far I have progressed.

The art is pretty good and clean. I like it.

The audio is also pretty nice. I like the music, and some of the SFX is pretty cute xD

A level editor??? Okay

The gameplay progression is nice. Simple at the start, but rises up in difficulty along the way. Also introduces mechanics neatly. And it's impressive how there are so many different AI movement here. Really makes thing interesting and more complex.

Maybe a speed up button would be nice to have. I can really feel how slow the game is during the level where you introduce mailmen that won't carry more than their coworkers.

Another feature I would like to be added is a restart level button. I don't really like having to manually destroy all paths if I made a huge mistake.

Theme wise, I think it has some correlation to it. Depending on how you set up your paths, it can lead to different results. Combining that with how each mailmen interact with each other and all the timing that you need to do, and you have a small chain reaction.

I like the aesthetic of the game. Pretty simple and clean.

The audio is pretty nice. Relaxing music that accompanies relaxing gameplay. SFX are pretty good as well.

The art style is really funny, in a good way. I like the different styles on the ghost, especially how one is just a 3D cube with a texture on top of it. It adds to the charm. Also I really like the glitchy texture feeling of the whole game. Kinda reminds me of those ARG horror games.

The audio is also pretty good. I like the music. It adds some pressure to the gameplay. The SFX is also pretty good.

The gameplay, is confusing? I mean, it's pacman, but I don't really see any twist or difference when compared with the original game. Though I really like the ghosts AI. I like how two of them can phase through walls, while the others have collision. I also like how two of them are pretty fast, while the others are not. It make things interesting.

Fun fact: the game win screen jumpscared me lol. The creature at the end didn't help too.

It's impressive how you made everything from pretty much scratch, including the music.

Very long loading time with no loading screen. I thought my game froze. I think a simple animation would help in this part, like a rotating hourglass or something else that's more fitting.

The gameplay is kinda wonky. It still works, but the animations are maybe a little bit messed up. Though the robot enemies instantly falling down after kill is really funny, even though it's unintentional. It's especially funny when you parry their attacks, and the next second they just teleport to you and fall down.

Speaking of parrying/countering, I think it's a little bit too OP right now. You can just wait while the robots go into a line formation, and keep countering when it's their turn to attack. Maybe instead of instantly killing the enemy, countering makes them stunned and unable to attack or move for a while.

Also some parts are laggy. I notice the lag the most while loading for the first time, when the enemy spawn for the first time, and when I activate the explosive attack.

I think a hit indicator would be nice. Sometimes I don't realize I got hit until I saw my health bar.

Art style is really good though. I like the stylized look.

For the audio, I think the music is too low. I don't really hear it, unless that's intentional. The SFX is pretty good, though sometimes it didn't play correctly.

Overall, if it were a little bit more polished, I think it would be a very fun game. Good job!

I think it's good that you still submit, even submitted with a working build. You can learn from this game jam and make better games in the future. Good luck on your game dev journey!

I like the hyrax little animation. It's really cute.

I also like how you can raise and lower the objects. Usually on these type of games, you can only move left or right, which is usually more chaotic since you can't really control how the object would bounce or collide with other objects. Though I guess since you can lower and raise it freely, it reduces the difficulty by a little bit. Which is not a bad thing.

Also, I think the restart function is a little bit bugged? I can't seem to restart with Spacebar. And speaking of restart function, being able to restart mid run would be helpful as well. On my first run, I didn't realize I was about to place the plank. I thought I was placing the next object in the sequence, which for me is a box, so I accidentally set the plank to the side. I ended up having to force lose by purposely spawning the objects on top of the void.

I really like the art style. It's charming. Kinda reminds me of Happy Wheels for some reason.

I think the game over screen's animation is a little bit too long.

No audio. I think music similar to the Poly Bridge OST would fit with this game. Also some SFX such as when placing an object, when an object hits the ground or collide with other objects, or when the objects fall to the ground would be a great addition.

Cute little marble simulation game. Reminds me of Marbles on Stream. It's indeed a fun way to decide on things, especially when you can import your own textures.

I can think of several ways or ideas for this game, such as having a custom preset to load in marbles, or different maps, or even a way to have the camera follow a specific marble.

I guess I can see how this relates to the theme, but I think it's not a strong relation. A way to improve it is maybe to add more things that interact with the marble. Maybe part of the map only allows the first 10 marbles to pass, then the route is closed. Or maybe some parts require to sacrifice a marble. I don't know, there's a lot of things that can be done xD.

I think the textures of the 3D objects are pretty neat. Reminds me of old school games like DOOM. Though the UI could use a little bit more work, especially for the list of marbles. It could be resized down a little bit.

No audio. Some calm music would maybe help. Also some SFX such as starting the race, finishing the race, or maybe even when each marble hit each other would be fantastic (tho I'm not sure on the marbles one, may be too obnoxious).

Overall, I like this game. I can see the potential with this game, especially with the import texture part.

Very interesting loading screen and title menu.

SFX and BGM is kinda unbalanced in terms of volume. Though it may be just on my end. SFX is too loud/BGM is too low for me. I think the ambience music is too low, since the game over music is way too high compared to it. Or maybe it's a bug that causes the game over music to be too high.

I really like the "not taking it seriously" vibe with the texts. I'm glad you also added the goal at the end of the tutorial. It's really not that obvious for me xD, I thought the goal was to survive as long as possible.

I also like the way the screen moves. It's a really nice detail.

Interestingly, even though you said to avoid clicking on the text at the button, for me it's more difficult to click on the edges of the button.

I'm not sure if I'm just unlucky, but I don't see any ways to increase my budget. I keep seeing bills and events that would decrease it instead. That's why I couldn't get really far.

Very simple art style.

I think some sort of controls tutorial is needed. I kinda got confused at the start on what to do. I thought I was the archer, but apparently not. Maybe add a little highlight on the character that you are controlling would help.

It's a sokoban type game. I think the gameplay itself is quite intuitive. You push those crossbows into position, then the arrow that's being shot will go through those crossbows and turn according to them.

Though, as someone that's not that familiar with crossbows, maybe a little arrow indicating where the crossbow would shoot is needed xD

Unfortunately I'm not that good at puzzle games so I can't really get far into the game. But I think I prefer it that way rather than it being too easy.

Audio is pretty good, pretty fitting with the game.

Smooth starting screen.

I like the little backstory between the messages. It's not really realistic to a phone messaging app (I think), but I think it's helpful to have here.

The time period kinda made me confused at first, especially on the first year. I thought Steve messaged me in the present times, but after seeing it again, I realized he messaged me in the past. I think there should be a date on each message, or at least at the top of the chat.

I like the story and how it gradually unfolds. No obvious or blatant storytelling at the start that tells everything you need to know.

Should've made it an option for Steve's 25th birthday, but I guess having it auto replies is part of the challenge and the story. I legit had difficulty in replying to Mia's invitation because of that xD

That end with all of the "soon" messages is a really nice touch.

I really like how you interpreted the theme for this one. It really fits, how one simple message, one simple decision can lead to another and another.

The art style and UI is clean.

The SFX is really good. So is the music. Both fits with the theme of the game.

That's alright, it happens. I also almost didn't make a tutorial in time for my entry xD.

I also seen other games with no tutorial inside. They instead put the tutorial and other useful information in the itch.io page itself. I think that's a good thing to do, especially if you ran out of time, since you are still allowed to edit the page itself after the game jam has ended.

Thank you for the kind comments and feedback! Now that I think about it, I can see how you misinterpret the text on the left xD. I may have to make it more clear next time.

Thank you for the kind comments!

Thank you for the kind comment! 10s combo is very impressive! My best was around 5-6 seconds xD

Thank you for the kind comment!

I think you have a good point there. Not having any ingredients to tinker with helps with introducing the player with the main mechanic of the game. Though maybe that phase went by a little bit too long xD

That's good to hear that you fixed the bug!

I agree on how the medium difficulty lack the chaos from the higher difficulties. Though I think it's still a needed difficulty.

My amazement on the achievement system may be because of my past experience with it. Previously I had a hard time implementing them, taking a couple of days to do it properly xD

That's good to hear that this game didn't suffer from overscoping. I also tried to not do too much with my game, but I still almost didn't finish the game lol.

Thanks for the comment!

It just make the $1 bombs appear more often in the playing area if you buy more of them. So, your second theory is correct, it changes the composition. Though, your thought of buying more bombs to populate the playing area more is interesting. I'll look into it to see if it's good or not. Thanks for the idea!

Thank you for the kind comments and feedback!

No, you're not missing some hidden mechanic. I actually have similar thoughts with you about the bomb types. The 4 way bombs basically make the other bombs useless in the shop. Unfortunately that thought came to me a little bit too late, and I don't really have any other workaround back then to solve that problem, so I just leave it as it is.

I'll think of something to fix that problem. But, as of right now, the weaker bombs are there to serve as "fluff", if you can call it that. Basically to make it so the more powerful bomb types show up rarely in the shop. Which, in hindsight, is a little bit annoying and kinda bad game design xD. I'll try to think of something better.

And yeah, the difficulty is not balanced right now. It will get fixed (hopefully) in the future, when I continue developing the game.

Sorry, I think I wasn't clear about the drifting to the right. It was not the movement that's drifting to the right, but rather the camera/view is slowly turning to the right. Also I don't have a gamepad on me, so I don't think that's the problem.

I tried the game again and it's still happening. Though if I press the ESC button, it suddenly stops drifting. I can still walk and look around. It only starts drifting when I focus on the game again by clicking the screen.

After further testing, it seems like the issue only occurs when I don't enter fullscreen mode.

Thank you for the kind comment!

I appreciate the warning about the jumpscare. I'm not a big horror fan, so at least I can be ready about it. (spoiler: I still got jumpscared by it)

Interesting gameplay. It's rare for a horror game to use physics in their gameplay. I think there's a lot of potential here. Though I must say I got a little bit stuck at the end since I don't know how to topple the door like structure. But I managed to figure it out after a few tries.

Another thing that kinda annoys me is how close the cube is to the screen when you're holding it xD. That combined with the horror aspect really kept me on edge, since you don't know if there's a jumpscare waiting for you when you drop the cube.

I can see the correlation between the game and the theme, but with the current state of the game, unfortunately it doesn't really fit well. I can see the vision though.

The art and aesthetic is really nice and atmospheric. I really like how you highlight the movable object with the glow effect, though I figured that out after a while. At first I tried to interact with everything, including the pages and the books xD.

There's really not much audio to rate here, apart from several SFX that's scattered throughout the game. Those are pretty good though. I think a horror game might benefit with a chilling ambience.

Oooh a shooter game, with grazing mechanic? Interesting concept. Unfortunately I suck at bullet hells so I didn't get very far xD

I really like the art and aesthetic of the game. Even though the player and enemies are simple shapes, with the added post processing and other VFX, they really do pop out more.

The music is kinda too sharp for my ears. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, given the name and theme of the game. Though the SFX are really good and punchy.

A very interesting game. It immediately jumps into the gameplay without any menu, and also ends without any menu.

Took a while to realize what is happening, but once it's clicked, I was amazed. What a creative movement mechanic!

Though maybe if you crank the height a little bit too much, it's kinda wonky. Sometimes you ended up not where you're suppose to be. It's more visible with a high spawn quantity. I still end up using the max height throughout the entire game lol. Feels faster that way.

There's a part on the game that's kinda confusing, which is the part where you fall into a castle like structure with 4 gates. It's not really obvious where the location of the buttons are to open those gates.

The art style is really good. I like the pixelated (if that's the correct term) look of the whole game. Combine that with a good color palette, and you have a beautifully crafted game.

The audio is also really nice. I like the music. Very calming. The SFX are also very nice. It really fits with the whole domino effect.

All of this comment is my first impression of the game, so I'm sorry if it feels all over the place. I'm reacting and writing based on what I see in the game.

What the- how did you implement all of this, with this much content, in only 72 hours???

Amazement aside, unfortunately I don't really know what I'm doing in the game. I'm just exploring, shooting things that are shiny, and sometimes it causes a chain reaction. Here are the things that I don't understand:

• Why do sometimes I see these "umbra chain" pop ups. My theory is the procedurally generated world is doing the chain reaction itself.
• What does the icons on the top left mean. I understand that the bar means some sort of energy, since when I shoot, it depletes a little bit. I'm not sure what the icon beside it is, maybe some sort of currency. I also don't know what "bank" means in this game.
• I don't know what a "prime core" is. I went to the deepest part of the world and didn't find anything interesting.
• I'm not sure what are those blinking dots at the bottom, the one that goes from left to right.
• What causes these "tuning" upgrades to appear? At first I didn't know what causes it, but then I look closely and saw an arrow that is pointing to blocks called "beacons". I think the arrow is from the scanner upgrade that I got.

I think this game would benefit greatly with a tutorial world.

Back to glazing. I really like how all of the different "elements" interact with each other. The physics behind some elements such as the falling rocks or water. The VFX and SFX for these interaction and chain reactions are immaculate, especially the SFX. The piano sound that keeps going up the longer the chain is, is really nice and pleasing to the ears.

WHAT, all of the "elements" that I collect becomes "music" when I end the level. That's really creative, and kinda made me realize that the whole game is based around music and notes.

First thing I notice is the chain loading bar. Pretty neat. Though the compiling shaders part almost crashed my browser lol.

First thing first, the art style is gorgeous. I really like the low poly, PS1 style look. I also like the effect for the dog and the light.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward. Some quick time events, and a lot of walking. One thing I notice is that I seem to be drifting to the right when walking. I'm not sure if it's intended or not.

The audio work in the game is also very nice. I like the ambience and the sound effects. They sound very polished.

I don't really understand the correlation between the game and the theme, apart from the "chain" part. From what I've read on the other comments, I guess it make sense to have the "chain" "react" with things. It's an interesting take on the theme.

Very cute game. I like the slime or leaf or whatever that little guy is.

I think the fade out to black for the screen transition is a little bit too slow.

The gameplay is a pretty simple platformer. I think the concept of short quests is pretty neat.

The story is nice and pretty random (in a good and funny way) towards the end.

I like your interpretation of the theme. I rarely see a game that interprets the theme in a morally good way, if I can describe it like that.

The art is pretty good, no complaints about it.

The audio is pretty nice too. I like the BGM and how it changes between level. The SFX are also pretty good and fits with the game.