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I love games like this that make you run around a room or vessel and manage a bunch of different machines to keep it going (Barotrauma, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, FAR, Unrailed!, etc). The slow controls and lack of instruction made it a bit hard to get into, but I still enjoyed figuring out what each machine did (at least, I think I figured them all out, ha!) and shooting for a decent depth. This is cool stuff — you could definitely expand more on this!

Such an excellent use of a few key elements, and a ton of clear polish! The wavering walls and objects, the particle effects, the haze and camera shake, the different stages of the animated portrait are all super striking and well-executed details. The actual gameplay got repetitive fairly quickly (understandable for a jam game), but there was enough juice to it that I still felt interested in finishing the game and seeing how many enemies I could get in one blast. (Four!) If you wanted to expand on this with more enemy and attack types, the visual style and the destructible environment could carry you a long way. Awesome stuff!

Love, love, LOVE the use of the case reports as a framing device to dive deeper while diving deeper! What a great double-dip on the theme! The narrative was fun to uncover and I appreciated the dark but somewhat satirical tone. Would love to see more!

You did so much with just a few components here! The camera effect when falling is really cool (disorienting, but totally appropriate for a short moody game like this); I love that you can see the jetpack trails, and the decision to have it recharge quickly on the ground but still charge slowly in midair is a really smart game design choice! I was really excited to get some of those answers when I first encountered the tree island, but I didn't run into anything afterward, even when I gave up on collecting lights (at about 30) and just tried to fall as far as quickly as possible, which was sort of a fun challenge in its own right. I'll second the desire for a clearer objective or goal but I love the vibes and got lost in the fall for longer than I expected!

I love all the submissions that played around with the theme in new and interesting ways, and I LOVE how you combined the typical nautical approach with a more abstract mental dive!

The rapid ascent after a dive threw me off at first, but I eventually realized it was a really smart choice; I appreciate the overall speed and responsiveness of the game, especially in selling everything after a run. The quick-sell feature, and the instant ascent when you max out your weight, are both really smart inclusions and are much appreciated.

I like how you used the simple, cutesy aesthetic to your advantage — I definitely had a harrowed look on my face when I reached the last depth level. Kind of reminds me of that old free platformer Eversion, in the best way.

Awesome stuff! Thanks for the fun time!

I love a good meta concept and I was amused by the voice lines, but without any extra abilities, the thought spawning ended up either making me shoot good thoughts right as they spawned off-screen, or made too many overlapping thoughts to shoot them all in time; I was never able to build up the Focus meter as I kept getting hit by these massive barrages that knocked me back down and forced me to shoot the few good thoughts hidden underneath. Still, it was good for a laugh and I did give it a couple tries. Nice work!

Felt a little lost in terms of the best way to conserve energy and make useable paths, especially with the character's floatiness, but I like the concept and the aesthetics were on-point. The physics of the marbles sometimes made it difficult to get them out of corners, but I managed to get some into a bowl. Scored 45 before I ran out of energy!

I'll second other comments' desire for more to do in the downtime between prompts, but the overlapping characters and recorded timestamps make for such a cool idea for a puzzle game! I had a couple great moments of surprise when the first switch happened and when I had to correct the course at the helm. And, of course, the visuals are absolutely top-tier. Awesome work!

The little touches really make this game work. On top of the graphical details like the character's footsteps and squishing when they hit the ground, and the animations of the tutorial sprites appearing and disappearing, I was so pleasantly surprised and delighted when I saw how the gun's recoil would affect my air movement. I hit a second moment of awe at the first text popup, and the idea that there was something more to explore compelled me to finish the game. I was amazed by the boss and had a third moment of awe when it turned out to have multiple phases! There's a lot of potential here if you wanted to expand on it, but as it is this was a really fun short adventure.

I'll second that this could easily be a fun light game with some extra mechanics, but as it is I still found it cute enough to shoot for a high score! Unfortunately, I think my resolution caused some trouble, as I was never able to get close enough to the top and bottom edges of the screen to pick up fuel that spawned there, so I invariably ran out before getting much farther than 1 km. Still, loved the style!

I love all the games that went for a non-nautical theme and switched up the core premise! My team was planning something similar before we pivoted. I got stuck in the second-stage room with two wall buttons and two crates, but I enjoyed myself up until then — being able to destroy and revert objects has so much puzzle potential, and I would love to see more expanding on that idea, and more interactions with different types of objects if you decide to continue with this or make something with a similar mechanic.

What an incredibly clever twist on the Flappy Bird formula. I can only second what many others have said, but the realization that the game wanted me to intentionally fall into the water and then actually dive deeper myself — what a cool expansion on the concept, and needing to time your returns to the surface (and still dodge pipes there!) is a crucial detail that keeps it from being too simple. Awesome stuff!

I concur that this is criminally underrated! Your presentation is top-notch and I can't believe how much you managed to fit into this game in the jam timeframe. I mean, the enemy variety? The scale? The upgrades? The animated robot arms? The options menu alone!

The ballast system for ascent and descent is really cool and unique, and I appreciated that there were more upgrades than just numerical bonuses, like the smart ballast and the different weapon types. The only thing I thought was lacking was some way to get a map, but the sonar upgrade basically performed the same function, so I can't complain too much.

Coming from a team who also often overshoot our targets and make too much content for jams, I am in awe of the level of dedication here. While I can sympathize with the errors you noticed after uploading, I gotta say, they pale in comparison to what you actually accomplished. In honor of our shared reach exceeding our respective grasps, I decided to sit down and actually finish this game. And even though the final boss might not have had the right hit points, the reveal was awesome!

The way jams like this are structured can make it hard for good games to get attention, so please, no matter how the rankings turn out, be proud of your work. This is my personal favorite submission, for whatever a stranger's opinion is worth!

I'll second that it was hard to navigate and figure out what to do (I got pushed out of the level by the moving platform), but I absolutely adore the papercraft visual style — that kept me going, just to see what other cute details there might be!

The presentation here is incredible! I love the hand-drawn style of the visuals and the way the different pieces move and bob around the screen. These kinds of "interface management" games are always a favorite of mine, but they're usually less frantic than this one; I think there's a really cool game idea in trying to manage a bunch of different buttons and switches while simultaneously piloting a vehicle safely through a treacherous environment. It's definitely quite hard, and I absolutely don't have the reflexes to get a high score (I maxed out at about 45 seconds) but I had a great time diving!

I was really impressed by the presentation here! The environment design, use of light and particle effects, sound and music, and the voiceover all feel nice and polished for the jam timeframe. I thought the main music that played while fighting the wraiths felt somewhat at odds with the tone expressed by the narration and visual style, but I did like it a lot. Everything else was well-balanced, distinct, and nice to look at; I especially liked how the design of each level felt meaningfully different without using a ton of different assets.

I think the style here is strong enough that you could expand this into a much larger game if you wanted to. The vibes are on point; greater use of enemy types, abilities, and incorporating the environment more could make this a fun and even moving experience if the story was extended. Nice work!

Thanks so much, that's awesome to hear! Since the setting is designed to be customized to the table's preferences, I can't give many specifics, but I am (very slowly!) working on the full book, which will have some sample locations and mysteries for inspiration.

At the base level, the world is the American frontier in the latter half of the 19th century (so about 1850–1900), but with the addition of whatever flavors of weirdness you and your players find most interesting. Personally, I started this project with a sort of Shadowrun-esque mix of reality and fantasy in mind, where genre staples like elves, dwarves, dragons, and wizards were integrated into the world on the same level as caravans, outlaws, six-shooters, and steam trains. Throw in some mad science a la Frankenstein and Wild Wild West and you've got a lot to work with.

To start, I'd suggest asking your group what kinda stuff they'd be interested in, picking one or two of those elements to focus on for your first session, and expanding from there! The world is yours to explore and evolve.

Cute and fun little adventure. I had some unexpected trouble with the platforming but I managed it all eventually! It was also just pleasant and refreshing to have all the NPCs be so friendly and kind (Scratchy somewhat included) and willing to help. Reminds me of A Short Hike, so it's in great company!

You're kidding. I would have sworn I clicked everything in that room half a dozen times each. I must have missed it by a pixel! Thanks for the tip, and good luck on the next project :)

An interesting core mechanic packed with a whole lot of style! The trails, background effects, the fluid pixel animations — this is just so pleasing and satisfying to play, with lots of room for expansion and future development if that's something you're interested in. New enemy types, level variants, and different ways to use the two dimensions could elevate this from a fun, short arcade experience to a deeply engaging action game. As it stands, though, it's already dripping with polish and was a delightful surprise!

There's a neat concept here! I think the use of video games and other interactive tools as educational tools is still underexplored, and I'd love to see more space games like this that focus on real, tangible problems and goals faced by modern scientists. Unfortunately, I also clipped right through the planet at the end, and wasn't quite sure if I'd done something wrong 😅

A really excellent arcade action game with an unbelievable amount of style and polish for a game jam submission. My eyes were starting to hurt by the end, but I powered through for Aria's sake!

What a cool, fun idea. I feel like there must be dozens of artistic tools and concepts that can be turned into gimmicks for new abilities or enemies. I can envision a whole roster of characters coming to life as you work your way through their files and fend off the encroaching void, perhaps even with a Beat Hazard-style musical vibe. I hope you're super proud of this, and I would love to see more!

With the recent surge of mystery games with unique resolution mechanics, I think a full game focusing on compiling evidence from different photos could make for an incredible experience. The idea of comparing details from multiple shots and drawing conclusions really appeals to me.

For this iteration, I felt that the clues given were somewhat lacking, and I was fully defeated by the kitchen photo. I missed a conversation that appeared to the right  of the stairs at first, and the limit of clicks per attempt made the process of trying to figure out what I was looking for, being forced out, and having to leave and come back to trigger it again rather tedious. I can't ask for a hint as it would spoil it for others, but I hope someone posts a playthrough or something for those of us who didn't make it to the end!

That said, I still love the concept, and I'm looking forward to whatever project you follow this up with!

I found the dimension-switching difficult to get a hang of without being able to see where the platforms would be each time, but the concept has a lot of merit and could easily be refined to something more accessible. With the wall-jumping that everyone has (rightly!) called attention to, I was put in mind of an entire game that's just that one level from Titanfall 2, but in 2D — how wonderful would that be? The theming was fun, too, and I was delighted to explore the adventures of this weird little kingdom and their weird little problems. Fun stuff!

We didn't realize how big the difficulty spike was until we were almost done, but it's been awesome to hear from people who pushed through and figured it out, especially with so many submissions to play and rate. Thanks for sharing your experience and the lovely feedback!

I am continually amazed by the things people can do in Twine. Every time I try my hands at it, I end up getting lost in connections or frustrated with variables. I suppose this is as good a reason as any to try again. Looking forward to seeing more!

Took a few timeouts to understand the objective, but once I did, I really liked how the simplicity of the switching mechanic fed into itself with the larger grids, using the afterimages to speed up and quickly knock out several shapes in succession. Could even be a nice casual mobile game (perhaps with a photosensitivity warning).

Funny and fun to play around with. Such a simple idea but the absurdity and the illustrations make it work. I only managed three achievements, but I think an expanded version of this with more to explore and more weird branches to go down could do quite well. I couldn't tell if or when the two dimensions were affecting each other, and focusing on that aspect (not necessarily making it more obvious!) feels like it has a lot of space to grow. Was this made in Twine, by any chance?

Absolutely love the concept, and there's an impressive amount of game here. The retro art style is delightful, the theme and use of color is great, and I would love to see more expanding on the gameplay inside the RPG world and its connection to reality. There's so much potential here and I would be super excited to see this get more attention and development. Definitely a high point of this jam for me!

Really surprised to see a working FPS in this jam! It felt like a scaled-down version of the Sanctum games, and I found myself compelled to keep playing. The first few waves were quite difficult with only the starter pistol, but once I got the rifle, the enemies felt much more manageable...until I got overwhelmed by the swarm on wave 7. Before I figured out how to pick up the rifle, there was also a fun bug where shooting with the pistol also caused the rifle to shoot from where it was stuck in the wall. Might not have been intentional, but it sold it as a tower defense, haha. Neat stuff!

An enjoyable platformer with a cute aesthetic. The extremely floaty air control made precise jumps quite difficult, especially when dealing with springs or smaller platforms, but everything otherwise felt quite nice. Hope Dany got lots of treats for lending her likeness to this game!

A combination of GIRP and Jump King, the bane of browser-based gamers everywhere! The ramp-up on the power bar was too quick for me to get the hang of, but there's some nice juice with the screen shake and sound effects that made it satisfying to try anyway. I also had some trouble expecting (and failing) to grab a wall when only a small portion of the sprite was covering it; I'm not sure if that's a reflex issue or a hitbox that could be refined. Lastly, I think bouncing off the side walls would be a welcome tweak, as it would allow you a chance to recover from some missed jumps rather than falling all the way to the bottom. As a fun diversion, I had a good time. And the cutscene I imagined was a breathtaking experience :)

Love the choice to adapt 20,000 Leagues into an abstract geometric bubble-popping adventure — you can't get that kind of intriguing weirdness anywhere but game jams and the dark depths of the Steam store. I did get stuck with the first liquid mass, but with some polish and a smoothed-out introduction, I can see this being a really fun puzzle game with a unique vibe.

You're totally free to post it! I'll just put a link here :)

The fillable template is up now! Let me know if you encounter any problems with it. Looking forward to seeing your custom playbooks!

Wow, I would LOVE to see custom playbooks! Luckily, the design here is pretty simple. I can try and make a form-fillable PDF of some kind or just upload a basic InDesign template. What would be helpful for you?

I have indeed learned how to make form-fillable PDFs since my last update here, so that's an excellent idea! I've reuploaded the base game with the corrected Hotshot sheet, as well as pack of form-fillable playbooks. Let me know if there's anything else I've missed, and thanks for checking out my game! :)

Aha! Thank you, I must have copied that and not adjusted it when I redid the layout. I'll fix it soon!

As an indie designer, I can receive no higher praise! Thank you for sharing, and for playing my game! <3

Ah! I wish itch.io had pinned comments! Thank you so much :)

Hey there! We just finished a demo of our game for SuNoFes and we could use an experienced Ren'py programmer as we expand forward. We were looking to submit to Spooktober, but probably can't as we did start working on it before September. Is there any chance you'd be interested in joining our team anyway?