itch.io

Thank you so much for the feedback! I really appreciate the kind words and I'm glad you were able to give it a couple of tries despite the unclear exit button and boot loop bug. I'm so sorry I am replying so late, and even more sorry that I didn't get a chance to play yours during the voting period. The page design and art style looks really impressive, if I get a chance I will have a quick play!

I'm sorry for the late reply! Thank you so much for giving it a go. It is very slow paced, by design. Which is not for everyone and I totally get that!

Apologies for the late reply!

I really appreciate the feedback on the trailer! I have a slight advantage here as I work with many Adobe CC software for my actual day job, including After Effects which is what I used to make the trailer. But After Effects is pretty overkill for what I made. It could have been done in much simpler software. There's a lot of choice for software nowadays for video editing/motion graphics - not just the expensive Adobe suite. Being creative and executing even the smallest of ideas is far more valuable than software knowledge in my opinion.

This is my second game jam, and whilst I really enjoyed making the game, I preferred the community of the first game jam I entered, which was much smaller. There are just too many games in this one! I see you have entered a new game jam already (and the page looks awesome)!! Huge respect, I am still worn out from this one, you will definitely go far with that attitude!

It's hard to say what genre I'd define my game as. PS1 style is a pretty good guess and I have a lot of inspiration from that era. It is all done in post processing, I was just experimenting with something that I felt fit the narrative of the game so I'm glad it got some good feedback!

Really appreciate your comments and this conversation, thank you!

Thank you for playing and for leaving such a nice comment with some very fair feedback, I really appreciate it!

Thank you for playing, and thank you for the kind comments too! I’m glad to hear that it left an impression!

Thank you for playing!

Thank you for playing and for leaving such a kind comment! I knew from the start that I needed a trailer just because Windows downloads often get less attention, and it’s larger in file size too. Very glad that you liked it!

To be honest I am not sure what to say when it comes to advice. There is no real secret, just more practice and more exposure to things like this jam and improvement will naturally come. I think you have to work with what you’re most passionate about and what you’re best at, and lean into them as much as possible. My programming skills aren’t as strong for example, so I try to make up for it in other areas. I think your game had lots going for it. You should definitely be proud of what you made and not compare it too hard against others. 

There are so so so many great games in this jam. The best part is seeing everyone’s own unique creative flair expressed through each game. There are obviously some objective quality metrics which are mostly textbook and technical, but there’s a lot of subjectivity too, especially in the time constraints of a jam, which is the beauty of it. 

Thank you for playing and for taking the time to leave such an amazing comment! 

For the microwave scene, I totally understand your perspective. It was a big risk to force players to sit through it for a whole minute. I really wanted it to stand out for many reasons. For one, this was the only countdown scene in the entire game that started and ended without a hard cut away, which can be interpreted in many ways. Though ultimately, I understand this is a “game” medium first and foremost. The paper ball throwing interaction was a very late addition to try to balance this a little more, but I definitely could have done better. 

I played a game called INDIKA shortly before the jam started, and there’s a scene near the beginning where you have to carry a bucket to a well, fill it up with water, carry it to a barrel the other side of the village, empty the water into the barrel, and repeat this 5 times, whilst walking painfully slowly. Only for the barrel to be emptied of all its water immediately after that scene was over. For some reason it was a really big inspiration (said no one, ever!) for the direction of this jam game. It communicated so much meta context to the overall theme and narrative of the game in a way that felt really bold, intentional and unique - a style of creative direction that I really wanted to explore myself!

For the shader graphics, I am unfamiliar with Unity, but in Unreal you can create Post Process materials that applies after the scene natively renders to create various bespoke looks very cheaply. For this it was getting the screen uvs and multiplying by a “fake resolution” which was 320x240 in this case, which just crunches it to look pixelated and stylised. It also leans into and compliments FXAA anti aliasing which is also very performant. You can also mask anything from these effects with custom depths which I tried to do for some things like the timers for better clarity. 

Firstly, the 2D artwork in particular is really gorgeous, you are very talented. Secondly, I'm amazed at the depth in the game design! Feels really fleshed out and full of content. I struggled a bit at first, but as it was a roguelite, got better slowly and it was rewarding to learn and do better. There are so many games but this is a rare one where I could've kept playing!

This FELT really satisfying to play! The screen shakes on impact were perfectly implemented. The pulsing vignettes were nice. Simple loop but really addictive with a banger of a curated soundtrack!

Cover art is gorgeous and instantly sold me. Music on the menu was great too and set the vibe. Then the game itself - such an impressively unique game loop, integrated so well and so intentionally with the actual hourglass object too. Really kept me hooked. Genuinely think as a mobile game or something it has a lot of potential as a full larger title!

I've seen a couple of games with the "every step counts down" mechanic but none in 1st person 3D - and none with such a cool liminal atmosphere! Absolutely my type of vibe. I really loved the environment design, and the audio fit the vibe well. Liked how you introduced new mechanics progressively too. Well done.

I really enjoyed this! Firstly, really enjoyed the setting and the atmosphere. Felt very immersed straight away. Appreciated the voiceover too - served as a perfect "tutorial" of sorts. LOVE the bag being a physical bag you look down at, rather than just a blank, soulless menu - again immersion and detail A+. It had really nicely put together narrative and worldbuilding elements - definitely made it stand out against others that focused just on gameplay. The sound design was extremely good, the rope descending amongst many others. Hope more people try this one out!

Loved the art style. Well audio designed too. Enjoyed the vibe and underlying narrative. Unique countdown implementation with the reload! Overall very impressive, well done!

I want whatever you took before making this game! The art on your page caught my attention and was expecting something slightly whimsical...and well, I kinda got that, but I got a LOT more than that too! I love playing a jam game and not knowing WTF I am gonna encounter next. Really well polished too. Well done!

You are 11 years old!? This is amazing. I don't even think I knew what a game engine was when I was 11. You have done such a great job and have a really bright future. I'm so happy you entered the jam, and entered with such unique ideas and passion! You should be very proud.

This was so good! There's a few "rhythm" games but this is definitely the best I've played and the most creative. Really varied throughout. To be honest I thought the progression was well designed and very fair, I never progressed first time but I didn't expect to, and it's such a fast restart anyway :) Really well done!

Really creative and felt seamless to play. And Music MAESTRO is a very fitting title because the music was so good too!

Thank you for playing! That means a lot, so glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for playing!

Thank you for playing, so glad it had its intended impact on you!

Thank you for playing and for leaving honest feedback! I’m really glad you resonated with the overall vibe as that was the main goal. It certainly lacks in interactivity and is something I tried hard to get right. Ultimately, a combination of obvious time restraints, as well as the overall narrative leaning against it in many ways (which is a hard sell, especially in a game jam!), made it a tricky balance to strike between exaggerating the stillness and the mundane, and gameplay stings that served a narrative/thematic purpose. 

That is exactly why I spent the time creating it, haha. I totally get the apprehension for windows downloads, especially larger ones in size. I really appreciate you giving it a chance!

This felt great to play and was a nice implementation of the theme. Game presentation was really sleek too. Difficult but actually got the hang of things quite quickly and found it the right level of challenge!

Woaaahh! I got hooked in by the cover art and the screenshots and it did not disappoint. The art is speaking to me!!

Gorgeous! I literally want to live inside this little pixel world. The vibes are so soothing. Art and music were just a delight. Special mention to the writing and story. Natural dialogue is hard and you absolutely nailed it. 

The sheer genius in concepting this idea! I wish I had your brain.

I literally laughed out loud when I started flicking through my drawings at the end. I genuinely couldn't match a single one... 

Could see this with multiplayer being a huge hit. Well done.

I actually found this genuinely terrifying, haha. Well done. The audio paired with the creature design appearing out of the fog was great. The two separate phases is a nice creative implementation of the theme.

You have a great writing style. Kept me hooked the whole way through. The art was also really, really nice! Well done!

I absolutely love the concept... but the artwork!!! Probably the most stylised and most unique out of all the games I've played. I hope some more people give this a shot as it was awesome! Also got a jackpot bang on, couldn't screenshot in time, felt great!

This felt really ambitious! The spaceship interior was well designed and felt immersive, with nice story and lore additions scattered throughout. Gives me old school point n click vibes. Nice submission!

I totally get the windows download apprehension. Thank you for giving it a chance and for the great feedback!

Thank you for playing! "This needs a warning label" is the highest praise I could get, haha. Fair comment on the escape button quitting out of the game without knowledge!

Fun concept, well executed. Made me think. Hard at times! The master of the dungeon would not respect me! lol

The art is incredible! The cover, the "burnout" logo design, the character, the whole presentation of the game is really nice! Well done!

Quick to get used to and the game does a good job teaching you the simple mechanics bit by bit. Difficulty spikes, but not impossible!  (roarr!)

Great level design. Feels smartly put together. Nice balance of difficulty too with some challenges! Well done.

Had lots of fun playing this! It was nice to come up with some novel strategies (to varying degrees of success!). So glad you included the OST as a download too because it's awesome. 

The right amount of challenge and good variance with the switching phases!

This was really impressive, you are clearly very talented. Aesthetics were gorgeous. I would often embrace chaos on the timed attempt and then choose the no-timer option because I found it so satisfying to take my time.

I think the one feedback comment I would give is I echo what someone else mentioned in the comments in terms of saving the rotation of your last placed object, or maybe a 900-degree snap rotation toggle or something. But that's very very minor, you have gone above and beyond with this!