itch.io

It's really hard to believe this was made in a week, considering all the options available in the menu, and how good the game looks. When I finished the first part and it blacked out to the desk environment I was like "NO WAY IT KEEPS GOING" and then it ended and it got me like "Oh yeah it makes sense". 

It is a very solid entry with a very strong atmosphere, the writing is pretty solid. The environment is amazing, probably the best I've seen so far in this jam. I did struggle a bit getting out of the car and had to look in the menu for the key which was unintuitive (should have a prompt show up).

I think it being a 2G download with no web demo asks for a big commitment and drives your playrate down, you should probably update your screenshots with gifs and be proactive in getting people to play your game because yeah the download is big but it's worth it. Hope you manage to get more players! It's definitely a very strong start that could become a fully-fledged game.

It's pretty amazing that you managed to create a vibe like this given how little content there is. I did doubt myself a lot through the game but ended up with 5/5 guesses. It reminded me of that one UFO 50 horror game if you see what I mean. As others pointed out the dialogue skip is a bit unfortunate. Of course there are lots of things you could add but given the time you had I think mainly just considering doing some stuff with shaders to make the graphics weirder could probably be manageable. Cool submission, the minimalism of it is inspiring

Boogie-dancing dog night club is definitely up there when it comes to strange places hahaha, good call putting it first. Personally the controls felt a bit awkward to me, I would've liked a bit more hang time for short jumps, but it seems I'm a minority. 

As others have said, the character design is great and full of cute little details! My favorite is Mithra, I've never seen a clock-themed character using actual clock hands as eyes, it works so well <3 

Overall it did feel like the scope was a bit too big for the jam, a smoother intro (some fading screens and setting shots) and an ending would have been nice. I don't know if cutting one or two characters would've given you the time to do that. The art is so good I understand maybe it felt too bad to give up on that. 

Disregarding the things that didn't make it in before the deadline, I think the one area where the game is lacking would be the text display, in something so text-centric you'd expect to have the text appear gradually with sound effects playing to mimic the characters talking. 

So yeah overall a great start that could blossom into an actual VN given some additional time and polish. It seemed like you guys had fun with this jam and you can feel it in the game :)

Super cute visuals and great audio. Adding the percussions to transition from the menu to the actual game is a small but lovely touch. I feel like it could've leaned into the theme more though, a simple way to make the place stranger would be to make a bunch of weird and unusual furnitures. The puzzles were also on the easy side and I wouldn't mind something a bit more complex, all in all this was short and very sweet :)

I haven't played many idle games, but this one strikes a great balance in offering something for both active and passive players. Music and visuals are pretty cozy :)  A random thought, maybe each planet could have a song linked to it that plays when you're fishing on it, so unlocking planets feel even more meaningful. So yeah, 

you could say I'm........... 

hooked................. 

......

..

leaves

I am honestly amazed at the amount of content you managed to put into this in a week, and how it's all so coherent and themed. There are so many smart little things, even the upgrades are super flavorful, adding parameters to the commands to specialize them... Omg this is genius. You can feel the passion.

Regarding things to improve, an explanation of the terminology available somewhere would be nice, like I guessed what Exhaust or Throttled did but it took me a couple battles. As a game, it feels very complete, but I think it could've leaned more into the strange places theme. Old computers is a pretty unique take but I think there is untapped potential with the whole "content of a computer merges with another one" thing. And also building up on the old web aesthetic if you want to expand on it I think something similar to hypnospace outlaw is super cool

There is also a bug where some of the card UI elements do not propagate the mouse input, the separator and the indicator in the top right. So it kind of blinks back and forth. Nothing major and easily fixable I assume. 

So yeah, incredible submission, even with a single world it would be a 5/5 gameplay-wise but you went ahead and made 3. Wow. I'm probably going to come back and properly play once I've rated enough games.

This game felt like a very personal, tiny passion project, but I think you spread yourself too thin. The work put into the clay look and the voice acting is showing and it's clear you had a strong direction you were aiming for. I think my main issue is that I feel like for you as the creators this all makes sense, but as someone new to this I'm thrown into it without having all the keys to understand what's going on. The game starts and you're just a guy in a room. Of course you can kind of piece things from the game but it's very disjointed. What was the emergency protocol for? What happened with the alien? There isn't really a payoff and maybe it's the point. I think I would have connected more with the game if you had focused on one section, probably the one with the alien which I think had the most interesting gameplay. 

Nevertheless, I had a good time and it's clear this is something you're invested in, so I hope this doesn't come off as too harsh, just letting you know how it went for me and giving some tips on ways to have players connect with your story more. Keep it up :)

Favorite gameplay so far! It has this perfect balance of feeling both very mindfucky and impossible but still manageable if you put in the time to try it out.  The leaderboard is the cherry on top. Also a good take on strange place. If I had to think about stuff to improve, there's one puzzle where you are hitting a a triangle's point wit the ball, whether it will go right or left feels random, so that felt a bit out of place in an other wise very tightly designed game. Well done :D

I saw some of your stuff on Discord and I was like I have to play this. The UI is super juicy and the built-in tutorial is straight to the point. 

I know this is an idle game and I don't know if the amount of gameplay fits what you were aiming for, personally I wish the gameplay was a bit more involved, the trash pickup is a start but could happen more often, or having structures combo with each other and needing you to optimize placement. EDIT: Okay having let the game run in the background some more the trash thing does pick up x)

Also I'm still not very clear on the placement rules. From what I understand it needs to be near the road but not too close, and not too close to another object. Having highlighting in the area where you can put down the object, or have them snap automatically to the nearest available spot when not hovering a valid spot could make things smoother.

But yeah it's a super cute game and I think you did a great job managing scope, it feels like you completely achieved what you set out to do, I think with more people this has the potential to be a jam classic.

The audio and the voice acting are what really stand out to me in this game, good job on that. The graphics are could be more polished but the style you used makes that work in a charming way. The ui didn't work super well for me, at some point I clicked out of the text and I think I couldn't click back in? It doesn't help that the game isn't available in fullscreen mode. You have a setting in the itchio page to allow a fullscreen button, I would enable it.

The look of the game is great, I love the CRT and chromatic aberration effect. The game felt a bit lackluster gameplay wise though. I didn't really feel like there was some quantum physics going on, you're just watching platforms switch every 5 seconds and pushing blocks around. Maybe having the player's vision represented by the mouse, and the environment changes depending on where the mouse is looking? Also props to your honesty for admitting using AI stuff when the jam says you're not supposed to.

Also the music stops abruptly when I open the book, it's a bit jarring, I would try to fix that as well if it's not on the list. Best of luck!

I got stuck in the first room, it wasn't exactly clear what I needed to do to progress. I connected all the stars together, and then tried looking up heart, cross, chip in the book but not sure what I was supposed to do about the information with the sun. It's unfortunate because the game looked great from the screenshots, and also the intro room looks nice, I think the shine effect in the telescope is super dope. Maybe add a guide somewhere in the game's page for people that get stuck? Would definitely like to experience it fully 

The graphics are sooo smooth, I'm impressed you managed to keep that in the web version. Great music choice also. The ending screen with the rain and the dog running alone in the background got me emotional. One hitbox for the typewriter was wonky in the park, not sure what that was. My favorite submission so far!

First off, great looking graphics. The volumetrig fog + foliage gives off a mysterious vibe. I had some sort of bug where my mouse sensitivity would go way up when looking forward, and be normal when looking back. Maybe a volumetric fog thing? A bit mixed on the theme, in the first section you really just are following paths or lantern instead of the orb, adding more waypoints would make it a bit more involved. I quit at the platforming section, the movement was very slippery, half the time I would get stuck on a corner, and the other half I would land but slip into the lava. I figured you could kind of prevent that by really aiming for the wall but it felt awkward. Overall yeah I think doing more things with the orb would have been nice.

I think it would've been helpful to have some UI to know where you are aiming, the gunfighting felt very awkward without it. Definitely an idea that no one else would think of probably, so good job on that :)

I was rooting for the cat. The complete lack of music / sounds effect is a bit sad. I noticed there was also some arts on other walls that you couldn't really see because you can't spin the camera round. 

The hand-drawn style looks lovely, and the narrative intro has a lot of character (although I noticed a lot of typos, but I wasn't sure if this was because of the protagonist's age). I would've loved to see the ending but I got stuck at some point, looking at the comments I saw that there were doors you could apparently go through, and yeah overall having more indications of what you can / can't interact with or jump on would've gone a long way in making the level easier to explore. (for instance, just having an "E" pop above the character's head when you can open the door, and giving platforms a different color instead of having them gray)

Another small tweak, having a pause menu when you press escape instead of exiting the game would be great, it's a bit abrupt otherwise and I lost some progress that way (although I'm glad I didn't have to go through the intro cutscene again). 

So overall this looked interesting and would've loved to get to the ending but couldn't, still a cool setting nevertheless :)

The graphics and sounds work pretty well and there's a lot of content for a week-long jam. I felt like the camera wasn't really centered on your character though, and when you moved your mouse to the left, it didn't go as far as if you moved it to the right, which was a bit weird.

I would say the biggest point to work on would be that I think the narrative could've been better implemented? For instance, the first levels teaches you that tears are okay but you just start gunning down anything that's crying, which felt a bit rough and against the point. You could for instance have used your own tears as weapon to calm down the enemies, or erase / "dilute" bad memories? Same for anxiety, after you beat the boss you're told your speed has been increased and that feels a bit random, whereas something like "you've been freed of your worries. You feel lighter and faster" would've really added to the narrative. What you got right now isn't necessarily bad, but I saw a lot of untapped potential there. Still pretty fun overall!

What stood out to me was all the visual flare and polish you put into the game, despite the simple pixel art style, there's a lot going on visually, and I love all the small details you took the time to add! As mentioned before, having a single switch buttons instead of two would've been great. I would've also loved to see a bit more mechanics and interactions between the characters other than just turning off lasers, but what you achieved within a week is still pretty cool!

I played this on my own and the controls took some time to get used to -- although I am extremely thankful you took the time to add controls pop-up because the keybinding wasn't very intuitive, and I would've struggled a lot more if it weren't for those tips, that's a 5/5 in game design right here ;).

I like the stealth mechanics and how you have to use the small brother to trap the guards with boxes. Graphics are simple but the post-processing add a lot to the whole picture and the game is pleasant to look at. I also like how you built a small narrative with the thumbnail and would've loved to see that expanded because with things like an intro cutscene. Only real problem I encountered is that the webgl version was stuck in an endless loading screen after the 3rd level so I couldn't complete the game, which is a shame because I would've loved to see the ending. Great work!

Hey, you know everyone can see you're just jumping from one game to another and leaving quick comments, right? There's barely one minute between the one you left on my game and the previous one. If you can only afford to spend one minute on a game, then please don't rate it, you're doing a disservice to everyone in the jam taking the time to give a fair rating.

Graphically, this is really cool looking, both the props and the characters. The first level kind of overstayed its welcome, especially when you have so little lives, and you have to start over from the beginning if you die. The shooting animation also does not play if you hit space quickly, you have to hold it for the animation to play, which is unfortunate in a fast-paced game like this. 

One of the funniest games I've seen, the sound effect and little hearts especially really add to the experience. It gets a bit repetitive after a while though, both gameplay and music-wise, but the length was alright. It was also a bit hard to get the characters when rolling over them, the collisions felt a bit fiddly. Nice game overall, and again a ball of fun ;D

A pretty unique mechanic, although some of the levels feel kind of unfair because of the controls. You made the graphics way nicer by adding a lot of lighting effects and particles, that's pretty cool, the music is also nice.

Looks really amazing, especially the way the other fishes swim around you! Unfortunately I feel like there isn't much to do? Maybe having an objective like gathering food or something would've been interesting. Also, you could've added some aquatic ambiance sound for an improved immersion

The game is looking pretty nice! There should be an indication that you can interact with the shop by pressing e in-game, I didn't know about it when I played and missed out on the whole point of the game. More variety in the enemy types would've been welcomed. Well done

First off, the creatures are hecking cute. It's pretty funny to run around and gather them all at the beginning, although if you fall in a hole I feel like it's really hard to get up. I like how the music for the boss uses the theme of the first one. The camera is a bit weird and there should be a controls tab to let you know how to attack the boss, and what each Fonfi does. Still a pretty fun game :)

Nice little game, I bust out in laughter when I got run over by the car. There could be a little more diversity in what you have to do, and obstacles, but all in all, it's a game that's good and polished all around. Nice job :)

Super cool entry, although I'm glad I didn't have to download anything because I low-key thought there'd be bitcoin-mining malware inside of it lololol. Visual presentation could be a bit better though, I think the thumbnail especially is not drawing a lot of people in

Haven't got a chance to try it out with my friends but the bots really get the job done, the secret updates are pretty funny too though I'm not sure if they do anything gameplay-wise? I think you could definitely expend this into a full marketable game with very little effort :)

Really cute and nice game! As a lot of people said, faster scrolling speed, and not being able to scroll down if you haven't finished the panel's minigame would be pretty good quality of life improvements.

Another thing that'd be cool is to have the audio evolve with the story, to match the changing ambiance and environment, for instance having the piano being replace by a music box when night comes :)

The art style is pretty great, love the diversity and emotivity in the facial expressions at the beginning (having a similar cutscene at the end would've been great, but hey, deadlines). I think the audio tracks were a bit too simple, but I appreciate the efforts you made in making them yourself, plus they fit the theme.

The gameplay is your bread and butter 2D platformer, which works, I only wish there was something more to it, maybe having sections where you have to drop one of the kids to make progress, like with a switch or something? Right now, I don't feel there's a lot to make it stand out gameplay-wise. Still, the graphics were great and I had a nice time :)

A good concept gameplay-wise, although there are some parts that feel a bit unfair. For instance, in level 4, the platforms appear only for 1 second while the enemy walks over the button. That's reaaally short. Pressing space while on a button with the mudblock also does not instantiate a block, it might be a collider issue. I thought it was kinda funny the enemies were spheres :)

The text for the UI can also feel a bit cluttered at times, consider having a panel, or some kind of textbox (you can also look for different fonts, as avoiding the default one can really help you stand out).

So overall seems like you had a lot of good ideas design-wise, but the way it's executed could use some polish and playtesting to make sure everything flows smoothly. Still, submitting a finished game on this jam is no small feat, congrats :)

Wow, that was seriously great. I love how much you're achieving with so little, the way you told your story really reminded me of Limbo / Inside. I'm a bit disappointed by the ending, thought there would be something more to it, but hey, that means you did a good job at immersing me into this universe ;)
There's one or two puzzles that felt a liiittle bit too fiddly, where I felt like I had to die and retry until the physics decided to work in my favor (the one where you have to launch yourself across a gap with the red block especially), but other than that, really cool concept. I'm having a hard time seeing the connection with the theme, as I didn't really feel anything getting stronger at any point, and this is a world you're very much alone in (although within the narrative you built I think it's a really good thing). Other than that, I really got caught in it and would love to play more. Definitely a super polished entry, and one of my favorites so far, excellent job :)

The first thing that struck me is how expressive the art is, with only a few images you managed really set a mood and have unique characters that stand out from the rest. I think you could really lean on that notebook / handdrawn aesthetic to have the UI and background be more pleasing, right now they're a bit bland (maybe you can split the fight in 3 parts, one for each enemy, and for each new one you turn the page?). The overall theme and message is very wholesome.

I think the main thing that could be eventually improved is just making the game more "gamey", right now it almost feels like a visual novel. Maybe there could be an incentive for choosing a specific message? Right now I felt like you could just click and do whatever, as long as you're switching up friends things were okay. So introducing things that force you to think more about your words would be great.

Simple and wholesome. I think it's too bad the enemies are just enemies, feels like they're here for gameplay purpose only, as jumping on / killing seemed against the overall narrative to me (although I did notice you tried to make it feel as "friendly" as possible through the signs). Having an option to reason with them somehow and show them grouping up regardless of differences is ultimately the best option would've been a great way to set your game apart, as of right now it feels kind of like a default platformer, although I'm sure you learned a lot making it :) The school on fire ending was a bit surprising, in a good way, and it would've been cool to have it be more expanded, and not just a cutscene.

As previously mentioned, the overall movement feels a bit too slow and floaty, it's too bad you forgot about enabling pixel perfect graphics, as it muddles the overall look a bit (especially the icons). The graphics and music fit well together though, even if you didn't make them, you did a good job at creating something coherent. My only remark on that would be to add a skybox or clouds in the background, even a gradient, because as of right now, just having the sky blue is a bit plain.

You really nailed the visual and audio aspect of the game, really love the doodly style, how the different strokes look, the best use of minimalism there is!

As previously mentioned, the notes you play are not always synced with the audio, and it's hard to figure out when you have to drag quickly / slowly, although when I got things wrong it didn't feel that much like a failure, so that did not impact the experience too much. A lot of emotion in this one, thank you for making it :)

A solid idea for the theme. The graphics are pretty simple but get the point across, I noticed and liked all the small touches you added, like the objects fading out when you're behind them, or the text scaling up on hover.

It took me a while to find food, and I reloaded several times. I think maybe having a minimap could've gone a long way in helping the player figure out where they're at, both location-wise, and food-wise (although that can be really hard to implement). Or maybe an option to zoom out for a moment if you stand still and press a key ? Even an arrow pointing towards the hive would've been super helpful in keeping track of my position, it's really hard not getting lost, although I guess that's part of the experience of being an ant :)

I think you did a great job at explaining the concept of the game, although one thing that tripped me up is that I figured out leaves were food only like after 10 minutes of playing (since you cannot eat bushes and trees, I thought leaves were also decorative only), so having a list of food at the beginning could fix that.

Regarding the UI, I feel like you can't reassign the number of workers on a particular food? But the windows still shows up if you click on it. Having to type in a number is a bit jarring, maybe having a + and - button on top of that could make things smoother. I'm also not sure if there's a way to get the exhausted ants back to work, I couldn't find an explanation for that.

I feel like I've talked a lot about negatives and possible improvements, but all in all it was still relaxing to walk around and assign workers on food, it would've been really great with small tweaks and QoL improvements here and there. Well done :)

The visuals are cool and full of personality, and made me think about Hyper Light Drifter. I think you could really spice it up and make it go from good to extraordinary by adding some particles, but all in all still great!

I think the mechanics get some time to get used to, but I managed to finish the game. The only thing that I thought was very unclear was what you meant by "retaliate" -- I first thought my character was shooting at the ghosts and it was a bug, but it turns out they were trying to steal my energy -- maybe changing the retaliate visuals and sounds so that they're not almost identical to the shooting animation could help. I like how it's ultimately better to try to bring them two by two, harvest one from each, and then move onto the next group.

The audio ambience is really nice, I think the only thing worth changing about it is the activation sound for the stones, it's twice as loud as the other sounds, and it's a bit jarring.

The pause menu is a bit bugged, pressing escape once does not freeze the game, but pressing it twice does, but since that makes the UI appear, it's not really helpful -- probably forgot to reset the time.timescale here. 

All in all a very stylish submission, nice job