itch.io

I finished day 4, and then I stopped playing. I didn’t actually lose though so I’m not entirely sure how far I could’ve gotten.

Super impressive! Genuinely such a cool aesthetic, and the gameplay was well done too. Just so I can give a little bit of feedback:

1) I wasn't a huge fan of the homing projectiles. It was really hard to tell when they were behind me, and since they are really sensitive a lot of my deaths to them just didn't feel like my fault. I know there is a sound indicator (but I don't think I always heard it?), but a visual clue as well, like some sort of red arrow thing (think about how fps games show you where you got hit from) could've been nice. I also think making the projectiles turn slower might make them a little less frustrating.

2) The player controller was a little bit jank at times, especially with the wall jumps. This was another source of frustration within the game, but it really wasn't too big of a deal. Sometimes it felt like I would be on a wall and unable to jump, other times it felt like I got pulled to a wall when I didn't want to, etc. 

3) The level design in the last two levels felt a little bit off. I liked the fact that there were different routes, and I think those were really well done, but the second you strayed off of a route, it seems like there were weird messes of objects or random platforms that were ridiculously hard to recover with (especially with enemies). I think cutting out a lot of the random objects and keeping in the main routes would've made things a little bit nicer for the player, but it's really not that big of a deal.

Overall, this was a super impressive entry. These kinds of movement games seem really difficult to create, and you guys did a great job! Like I said before the overall aesthetic was really well made; fantastic music and sfx, and decorations that made me actually feel like I was in a world (especially with the additions of objects in the background). Such an impressive game.

Really cool game! I didn't have a lot of issues with it, but I do have a couple things:

1) I do wish the game had sound. I think the player feedback visually was really good but I think good sound design could've elevated it a lot.

2) I also kind of wish that instead of your score being your percentage of infection, that you were allowed to get 100% infection regardless of time, and your score was the amount of days you took. Might just be a personal preference but I kind of wanted to see my run through but I got cut off after 72%.

I initially thought that this game would've been super confusing, but I actually didn't have a problem understanding what was going on. The animations (the bars going up , the territories getting greener), were also super satisfying and well done. Overall, it was genuinely a really good experience.

Really great entry. I did have a couple gripes (but they aren't too major):

1) The game felt a little too repetitive for me. Obviously, that's half the point of the game, but I think if you found a way to add some sort of like NPC or quest line or just something to break up the digging a little bit that would've been nice (and could be something to consider for the future). Basically, if you could find a way to add a greater sense of purpose to the digging somehow I think it'd add a lot.

2) There wasn't a way to see how full your inventory is. Having a bar somewhere on the screen would be pretty easy to implement and also add a lot to the game in my opinion.

Other than that though, this game was honestly super impressive. I was blown away by the overall aesthetic of the game; I actually felt like I had driven to a trail in the middle of nowhere and was operating out of a truck. The fact that I was able to feel like a part of the world without having any sort of story text whatsoever is super impressive, so really well done on that. You guys also had above and beyond levels of polish (like the settings menu). Really great job guys!

I really only had two major issues with this game:

1) The virus debuffs are way too strong. Like, the one that pushes your mouse up might actually be unplayable. To be truthful, I'm not sure I like the concept of messing with the users mouse, but if you do want to keep it, drastically lowering the amount it impedes you would make for a better player experience (at least in my opinion). Stuff like lowering the amount your mouse gets moved, increasing the time between teleports, or reducing the amount of clones on your screen could be nice. If it were me, I think you could probably keep the clone and teleporting ones, and then instead of moving the user's mouse up, maybe have something that blocks part of the screen somehow, or interfere with the user in another way. 

2) There isn't really a clear objective. Maybe you could've tracked the player's score and then added a lose condition or something, but as of now, there doesn't appear to be any way for the game to actually end (if there is a win/lose condition, I played for a while, even intentionally trying to lose, and didn't find anything). This did make the game feel like there wasn't really a reason to play at points, so adding an objective (or making it more clear if there is one) would be a great next step.

Other than that however, this game was super impressive. I can see the Papers Please influence of course, but you guys did an incredible job with the overall aesthetic (I just wish it had music to go with it). The core concept of applying a debuff when you mess up is really interesting, and I think there is a lot you can do with that idea. In general, I think there are a few flaws in the game, but you guys genuinely did some great work here.

I would give feedback for this, but the game doesn't seem to fully work as intended...? If I'm missing something please let me know but the sorting minigame doesn't seem like it actually ever lets you complete it.

This game honestly surprised me. I've seen a lot of games where a main gimmick is that you can't see (I've made one too), and I'm honestly not usually a huge fan. However, I actually found myself enjoying this one. I really liked the one crystal where you had to dash onto two different bouncers (I think it was the teal colored one) especially. As for feedback, I do have a couple things:

1) The level design was a little off in some places. I like the metroidvania aspect of getting the dash first and everything, and I think the general map layout was good, but some of the individual puzzles were a little weird. The way up to the dash felt a little bit like a mess of platforms, and the last crystal I got (the one all the way to the left) had a puzzle that felt a little bit janky to me. It wasn't a huge deal, just something to keep in mind if you expand on this project (or for future projects).

2) It wasn't really explained anywhere that the dash mechanic actually lit anything up. I think maybe if you had a small area after the dash where the player was forced to use it to light up an elevator or something that could be a way to do it? I'm not entirely sure, I was fortunate enough to find out how that worked by accident so it wasn't too big of a deal for me but that could've been pretty frustrating if I never found that out. 

Overall, really good job though. The gameplay was fun and engaging, the art was honestly really well done and you guys actually explored the light mechanic in an interesting way (which isn't usually the case with these kinds of games). Really great job!

As I usually do when I leave feedback, I'm going to start with three critiques:

1) There wasn't a lot of variety in the different hazards. Yeah they all looked different, but in reality, they were all just static objects. I think moving obstacles or other dynamic hazards would've made the game more interesting.

2) I also had a couple issues with the player controller. Especially when I was turning, I literally couldn't see where I was going at all and just had to pray. Also, if you want the game to be more fun to speedrun, I feel like the player controller should be generally quicker. It's hard to explain what I mean super well, but just in general, having it move faster and then be more responsive when turning. Adding on to this, I also feel like there needs to be some kind of unique mechanic that makes the game really stand out.

3) Having only one long level when there was clear separation between sections felt like a weird decision to me. I think splitting the sections into different levels would give you more room to make difficult and interesting levels without worrying about sending the player all the way back to the beginning, and then, for the speedrunning aspect, you could've done some sort of 3 star system (the webslinger game did this very well). It was just a little weird to have to redo everything, and then after the first level, it never really got harder.

In general though, you guys did a really good job. The 3D models genuinely looked really good, and, at least when I was playing, there didn't appear to be any game-breaking bugs or anything. Especially since you mentioned it was your first game jam, really good job!

Super fun entry! 

I'm just gonna get the nitpicks out of the way now:

1) The game felt just a little bit slow paced. I think you could've increased the player's speed and lowered the amount of time you had and it would've increased the pace of the game nicely. I also think maybe you could've only added 1 package per day and made it scale harder so days were quicker, but just in general some rebalancing to make it faster paced would've been nice imo.

2) The jump felt kind of pointless to be honest. It used stamina and literally did nothing as far as I can tell, so either having it not cost stamina or having some sort of platforming where you need it somewhere in the map (like the occasional wall you have to jump over so you have to be thoughtful about your stamina) could've been good.

3) I wish I could do more with money. The soda was cool, but I didn't really find myself needing to refill stamina all that much. Maybe (if you ever update the game) having certain items, like a hoverboard or something that you could use permanently would make money more impactful.

Overall though, I had a ton of fun. The map didn't take too long to learn, and the core gameplay was really fun. Great work!

The main issues I had personally with this game are:

1. It's really difficult to figure out how to play. Nowhere in the game is anything ever really explained besides the controls (like doors), and even then, once you press start, there's no help screen or anything. This made me pretty unsure of what was going on or how to play.

2. The actual environment felt like all the individual elements were disconnected from each other. I think all the individual sprites looked good on their own (I especially liked the main character), but, for example, all of the individual tiles in the tileset never really felt connected to the tiles around it. Think about how a game like Terraria has different sprites for edge tiles, corner tiles, etc., whereas here, it seems like you only have one tile for each of the different things in the ground. Additionally, in some cases (like the doors), it seems like you were using different resolutions for some sprites, which doesn't usually work well with pixel art. 

3. I wish the heat system was used to greater effect. The main mechanic of this game, and what makes it special, is the heat system, but I don't really think that the level design really does it justice. Yeah, it's used to open doors, but not only is that not explained, but with how far I got in the game, that seems to me its only purpose (unless I'm wrong, but the lack of any tutorial makes it hard to know). I think there are a lot of things you could do with the heat mechanic that could make for some really interesting puzzle or combat elements in the future, but as of right now, I just don't think the mechanic is explored enough.

Now obviously I've been extremely critical so far (since I personally think criticism is the most important part of getting feedback), but there really is a solid foundation. For instance, the player felt pretty good to control, and I didn't feel frustrated at all while controlling it. Additionally, you already have a decent variety of hazards to avoid, which kept each challenge fresh rather than being overly repetitive. And of course, the music and sound design in the game was really well done. Regardless of my nitpicks, this is really a good entry, so good work!

I also know that Unity has auto-tiling stuff for level building that can change the sprites of tiles when you place them (but I have no clue if that works at runtime) as well. Not sure if that would work but might be worth a try at some point. Either way, thanks for the response, and really nice work on the game!

As much as I do really like the concept, and I'm a fan of grappling hooks and momentum based movement games, there were a couple things that kept me from enjoying it quite as much here:

1. I personally really didn't like the shooting. This might just be a me thing, but I remember hearing that the web shooting was intentionally based on momentum rather than going to exactly where your cursor was, and it might just be a skill issue, but it was a little weird for me to get the hang of. The most fun parts of the game for me were figuring out the correct routing to get a fast time and using the grappling hook, and this to me felt like unnecessary difficulty. Now this was by far my biggest gripe, and it was by no means a complete dealbreaker for me, but I do think just having the webs shoot at the cursor would make the game more fun to just pick up and play.

2. Now onto the much smaller details. The actual grappling hook movement had a little bit of clunkiness. I wonder if making the player character smaller and/or lighter would make it feel a little more responsive, but it really wasn't that big of a deal. 

3. Having the main sprites and the background be different pixel resolutions felt a little weird to me. I think it would've been better if the walls and background were the same resolution, and adding parallax on the background could've given the game a higher level of immersion. (Remember that these last two points are most definitely nitpicks and not something to worry about).

Overall, this is a really cool entry. As I said earlier, I really like these kinds of movement games, and you guys mailed it with the star system (I think these kinds of games are perfect for the star system), and it was very reminiscent of older mobile and flash games (like that one motorcycle game I used to play on cool math games), to the point of being a little nostalgic. Great work!

This was really cool. I thought the overall aesthetic of the game was really interesting and well done (the entire game felt cohesive), and the core concept was really interesting. Making multiplayer functionality was also really cool (though unfortunately I have yet to be able to try it out). 

That being said, the game isn't perfect of course. I do have some feedback:

1. I really wish the game had sound. With the right background music and sound effects, I think you can sell the chaotic and fast-paced feeling it seems like you're going for a lot better. Obviously, it is a game jam, so it's hard to fit everything in (and you probably spent a lot of time making the multiplayer mode), but I do think it's one of the first additions that need to be made if you do update the game at some point.

2. More file types would make the game a lot more fun. My run lasted like 7 and a half minutes, and, by the end, I did find myself getting a little bored just clicking through. Having more file types with interesting minigames to go with it would make the game fun for a lot longer.

3. I know you have the Binding of Isaac like tutorial on the first screen, but with the stylized text and images, it was really difficult to read. I think some sort of more formal tutorial or help screen could be really useful, as I'm not sure I would've understood the game without being at the showcase.

Overall, really well done. Making a multiplayer game in a game jam regardless of my earlier complaints is super impressive, and I really hope I get to test it with people at some point. Great entry!

This is genuinely a super impressive project (especially because you guys said you started like a week before the end of the jam?!). There are so many technically impressive aspects of the game (procedural generation, the actual mining, etc.) and the core concept is genuinely really cool. The pixel art is also really well done, and the sprites look great. 

I do also have a couple small nitpicks with the game:

1. The UI controls are really weird when I go to isolate the malware to a different system. I wasn't able to actually click, and I had to move my right side to the arrow keys and then press space, all while holding tab so the UI didn't close. Personally, I would make it so you can click with the mouse and also have the tab key toggle the UI rather than having to hold it while I'm selecting my system.

2. The game was a little hard. Even when I specifically focused on routing to the syringes that slow down the malware, I still couldn't get past the second level. There are a couple things you could try to fix this, but what I would personally like to see is there be more caves, more syringes, and maybe have some of the higher tier blocks be a little easier to mine.

3. While the ground tiles themselves look really good, I think the aesthetic of the game would've seem more immersive if, when there were no tiles bordering it on a certain side, the sprite changed slightly to be more aligned with the rest of the world (the best example would be how Terraria rounds exposed corners of blocks). 

Obviously I talked a lot about the few things I think could be improved a bit, but they really are mostly nitpicky stuff, and with more content, I think this game has a lot of potential. Again, the core concept is really interesting, and made the gameplay incredibly engaging (having to think about multiple things at once rather than just mindlessly mining away), and the soundtrack and sfx were really well done too. Overall, really great entry!

A rare case of someone complimenting my graphics lol. I’m glad you enjoyed the game!

Nice game! The main criticism I have is that the player's movement felt extremely floaty and was kind of frustrating even. I did really like the overall atmosphere, especially the music, and the procedural generation seemed to work really well. Overall, really good job!

Definitely some technical issues in the HTML version, but the concept is great. It's kind of hard to judge at the moment purely because of how broken it is, so unfortunately, there isn't much more that I can say.

Very cool game! I mean enough praise has already been said; adding more to the wall of well deserved praise would be kind of useless at this point, so the aside from the lack of tutorial, my big complaint is definitely that the game goes on for so long. Maybe I just got an overpowered item or a good set of cards, but there were times when the target score was like 300 and I got 28000 (that's when I finally decided to put the game down). Either making the game harder (or nerfing items that are op) would make it a lot more fun. Other than that, I genuinely had a lot of fun playing. Good stuff!

Yeah I mention the item cap in the tutorial. There are two main reason I added the cap, one to avoid infinite scaling (so the player couldn’t go on forever and get bored) and two because it broke the game a little lol.

No problem! I'm glad we see eye to eye on the shop thing lol.

Interesting concept, but I wish you were able to ride blocks going down on inverted gravity. I also didn't really love the color scheme either, I thought it was kind of confusing and on inverted gravity it hurt my eyes a little. Other than that though, good job.

First off, I thought the game was genuinely well made, but there are some things that I would like to bring up, especially since you're aiming for a commercial release:

1) The gameplay itself feels a little repetitive, and honestly kind of pointless. I get that it's an endless game, and you're supposed to keep trying, but for me, I didn't think the gameplay was fun enough to make me want to play again without some sort of incentive. If you want to keep the gameplay loop exactly the same, something as simple as an upgrade shop that you can visit after making a burger would make me want to keep playing a lot more.

2) In my opinion, the use of the theme is kind of redundant. The way I see it, the button having two states doesn't really count if they're used more like a trigger rather than a toggle. You press the button once, and then it's replaced. I'm sure you probably expected this criticism, but I didn't see it anywhere else so I thought I'd throw it out there.

3) I wish there were sound effects. Having satisfying sound effect could've also made the gameplay more fun, just by adding a little bit of player feedback. In my experience, it only takes like 30 minutes max to find sound effects on freesound or opengameart and then implement them.

Now that being said, I really don't want this feedback to come off too harsh because honestly, there's a lot that this game has going for it. First off, the amount of features this game had was honestly impressive. Although it seems very simple, things like the leaderboard, the music selector, and the background selector really do enhance the playing experience (maybe this is where shops could've been implemented, like you had to buy different music/backgrounds?). Also, even though you did use other assets, the game's art and music really did mesh well and create a good atmosphere. I hope you improve the game in the future, especially regarding my first and third points, and good luck!

I’m not involved…

I’m glad you liked it!

I’m glad you liked it! Your complaints seem to be relatively minor, so I’ll take that as a success! I’ll make sure to play your game as well when I get a chance.

Thanks!

Yeah, that's definitely the best strategy. I'm glad you enjoyed playing!

I'm glad you had fun. As far as the originality, I'd argue that the item system makes for a neat twist on the format. Anyway, thanks for playing! I'll make sure to check out your game as well when I have time.

Why would you want to go that slow lmao... Anyway I hoped you liked the game other than that. I'll make sure to check out your game as well when I get a chance.

Thanks! I'm glad you had fun!

Im glad you liked it!

I thought this was a really good game! The puzzles were all interesting and the mechanics were cool as well. I wish the circuits were explained a little more obviously though, since I didn't really focus on the bottom text and missed the explanation the first time around and was left very confused for a while. I also wish that the game mentioned that you could activate a circuit after a bot died and bring them back, instead of having to have a powered circuit when one died. Other than that, though, I really enjoyed the game. I thought the difficulty of the puzzles was about right, the sound and music were both well made, and the graphics were also really good. Great stuff!

To turn on the flashlight, just press F. You only need to buy it once.

Thanks!

Thanks! I’m glad you liked it!

Thanks for the feedback! Initially the default light was even smaller. If I had time to play test it I’m sure I would’ve been able to balance it better, but the first couple items aren’t too hard to find and after a few upgrades you should be able to see alright. 

So I played it again but I still thought that it felt really slow. I think that was probably because of how long it takes for another titan to spawn. I'm not sure how the spawning works, but maybe you could have a new one spawn 5 seconds after one dies or something like that. Another feature that I think would be really nice is a progress bar, so you don't just have to guess how far you are in the level. As of now, it kind of gets boring, especially because you don't know how much longer you have to go for. So I think a progress bar would help a lot in that regard. So overall, I think I still share the same opinion as I did originally, that it's a really interesting concept, but it gets repetitive quickly.

Oh I see. I'll try the game again for sure sometime today.

As far as balancing goes, I think it would be better to add a cooldown to the healing and make the actual attacking easier by making it more responsive. And as for the story thing I just kind of felt like there should have been one, maybe because of the exploration part of the game, I’m not sure.