itch.io

Thanks. You didn’t miss anything, just wasn’t very clearly set out that once you clear a room you need to walk to the right hand side of the screen. Ran out of time to put more tutorial stuff into the game unfortunately.

Simple concept which was well executed. Love the idea of having to do all that work just to get a black and white image to load… Life in the 80s would have been so hard :)

Yep, definitely how it goes in a game jam. Any plans to work on it further? I really enjoyed that and would love to see the concept expanded upon.

A nice simple game, would be perfect as a mobile game. It’s sometimes a bit unclear or hard to read which direction the frog was facing; there’s a couple of times where I’ve looked at the gap in the lilypad and not the facing of the frog (when they’re facing a similar direction). Overall, a neat fitting concept well executed.

Really solid feeling platformer. Not having an ending is probably the game’s biggest flaw, but you’ve only got so much time so it’s understandable that it’s not there. Regardless, you made the game feel really good, and the game looks nice too. For a first game, well done.

Really awesome game considering the time period, the atmosphere is amazing, the game is a lot of fun considering how simple of a concept it is and it’s so satisfying to work through the upgrades and watch more dice get rolled while the number goes up.

This format worked well for the jam, but if you expand upon it (which I hope you do) it needs a loss condition (e.g. must be completed in a set number of rolls/rounds). I’m sure this would present other challenges to the game’s format but would give the game a real roguelike feel which could really benefit it.

Overall, loved the game and enjoyed lagging the hell out of my browser with an excessive number of coins on the table.

Really loved this. Platforming section felt really flowing and smooth, and I feel like there was probably a mix of sonic and crash bandicoot making the influence for this game.

I would maybe add some time limit to fit with the story, or if there was one it wasn’t very obvious. Having things get darker as the game falls closer to night time and the time limit for John Armadillo would have been the icing on the cake.

The poem at the start of the game was great, exceptionally creative. As was the ending cutscene; I assume that video was taken mid-jam as you were refueling :). Overall, a really nice game.

A very solid top down, almost survivor-like game. Conceptually, the game is great and fits well with the theme. I like the risk/reward of standing still to charge the weapon, although in earlier stages there’s very little risk to running a fair way ahead of enemies and charging an attack through them. That being said, there’s definitely ways to build on this concept.

Timing the cane attack is quite hard to start off with as the cane spins so fast. I felt like half of my attempted charges turned into dashes the other way. While charging, it might be worth having the cane continue to spin at a slower rate, so that there’s time to correct the path that the attack travels in. This is combined with the fact that there’s a couple seconds between charging the next attack, which does give time to get away from the enemies but feels almost like a punishment for missing the spin, even though it feels like I’ve timed it right.

I love the concept of the food chain though, it’s really cool, and the animations for the enemies are very neat as well. Overall, a solid game.

It may be a simple concept, but well executed. Love the gameboy aesthetic to the game as well, both visually and sounds.

How much testing have you done on balance? Having a smaller board means everything becomes a lot closer, and I wonder how that impacts the game compared to regular chess. I think spinning makes knights very powerful as one can spin an otherwise non-connected tile in range of a knight if you’re not careful.

May have another go of this with some friends and see if we can have a proper few games to see what it’s like.

I really want to love this game, because the art looks so good. But I have no idea how to progress through the Go section of the game at the very beginning. I’ve never played Go, and I can’t work out the goal of the game. I don’t know if there’s something else I’m mean to be doing apart from playing the Go game or what’s going on.

It’s not fair to judge on what I’ve seen so far, because I don’t think I’ve seen it all. Please let me know what I’m missing, because I genuinely would love to see more and check out more of the hard work your team has put into this from what I can see in the images on the Itch page.

Absolutely love the groovy music through the game, and your sound effects in general, they add a lot of life to the game.

It took a second to work out how the game worked, but once I did it was a really neat little game that felt right on theme. Your tutorial is not especially clear, and I didn’t realise straight away that the direction the finger points in is the next button to press to keep spinning. (I also didn’t realise that you could move in the tutorial; that might just be a me issue though).

As a small note, while I didn’t have the dexterity to do it myself I think it’s possible to win without moving at all by just building up an absurdly long spin and maintaining it; this strategy enabled me to get my best score. Speaking of difficulty I found it to be a challenge to just maintain the spin, let alone also moving around and processing everything else that was going on, so just something to keep in mind.

The feel of the game as you hit enemies with the briefcase felt solid, and meant there was a lot of pressure and reason to keep the spins up; if I’m not mistaken each time an enemy took a hit you lose a small amount of momentum. The game has so much juice which is awesome, I just wish it was a bit easier.

Really nice, simple little game about fishing. Really love the visuals and the amount of variety in fish types you had present in the game. Also really love Mr Natafish’s writing. Does he ever return to explain further mechanics? I wasn’t able to progress very far in the game, and was unsure how to upgrade my rod as was mentioned in the description.

I wish there was more feedback to catching fish, and a bit more of an explanation as to how fishing worked. I take it the aim is to keep the fish in the gap in the circle, but there’s no sense of progress. The central circle feels like it’s time left to catch the fish? Correct me if I’m wrong on that front. I’d also love some calming ocean sounds to really hit the vibe of sitting on a small pier and catching fish.

Overall though, game is right on theme and has a strong core, especially if you can educate players about how the fishing mechanic works.

Hey, thank you for playing and leaving your thoughts. I know that the battle phase is a lot weaker than the narrative sections, but if I’m being honest I focused a lot more on the creative parts of the game than on the battle, and there’s no doubt it shows as that part is not nearly as well executed. I plan on continuing the game and making it a little longer, so that ending section would serve as an end to an introduction and would have a clear ending; with the time I had left, I thought that leaving the message on screen would be enough (maybe I should’ve stopped the health bars from reappearing at this point). Thanks for pushing through and playing to the end though, it means a lot :).

Thank you for your extensive feedback. You’ve given me a lot of things to think about :).

• This is my first game with Monogame, which is a framework not an engine, so I’ve had to build a lot of things over time to use. I agree however that even though I didn’t have anything immediately available, it needs a lot more to sell the effect of dealing damage.
• The lights you see at the start of the battle will get darker when you’re hit, although I wish I had contained the arena so that one of the lights is always on screen.
• Skipping the cutscene was a small thing I didn’t think to add, maybe eith some more playtesting someone would be seen it and I wouldve been able to add it.
• I wanted to force fullscreen, but this caused issues with the game - the lazer wouldn’t follow the mouse, and the game would sometimes sit partially offscreen. Under time constraints and without knowing how Monogame/KNI Web export worked properly (as I’ve never used it), I decided not to worry about it; that sort of thing can come later.

Thank you so much for the kind words, I really appreciate them!

Hey, glad you enjoyed the ending. I was really happy with how that turned out :)

Thank you :). I didn’t even think about using those colours in the game section, and I have no idea why. I guess I wanted to make sure they were separated visually. I also tried associating the purple with the enemy (for example the health bar), so I don’t think it would make sense to give the player that colour to use, but I certainly could’ve made the enemy black and purple to drive that choice even better through the game. You’ve given me a lot to think about, I really appreciate it.

Hey, glad you were able to see the game that way. I had hoped that players would be able to interpret the message of the game in many different ways, so this is proof that maybe I succeeded on that front :). In saying that though, I still think those concerns should be addressed if I do persist with this game. Thanks for playing though, and I appreciate the kind words.

Hey, I thought this game had a really cool concept, being under time pressure trying to find objects adds a level of depth to the point and click game I found really fun. I couldn’t get past the entrance pt 2 though, I don’t understand the hint you provided or how rotating the books is significant… maybe it’s a skill issue. I saw on another comment you stated you should give the candles a bit more time and reset them after losing, and I agree with both of those things, otherwise the game is too hard. The art style is really good, I love the visual style of the game, and your voice acting is really good. I think it has potential, well done :)

Thank you :). I’m really happy with how the creative side of things came out, although I agree that the action part definitely needs some work. Glad you found it interesting though.

Oh my god this game is so sweet and so beautiful, you knocked it out of the park with the graphics. Gameplay is so simple yet it works really well, and it’s used to tell such a cute story. Even the ending is so simple but it fits so damn nicely. You’ve done so well to capture the feeling of having a crush on someone and staring at them, suddenly looking away as soon as they turn your way so they don’t catch on to you. My only small criticism is that the characters look a little uncanny as they move towards each other in my opinion, but honestly that’s such a tiny concern when you consider the rest of the game being visually stunning. Well done.

Hey, the concept of this game seems like a cool idea, and visually the game looks really nice. The lights are clear and obvious, and the player becoming smaller in the lights makes it easy to tell when you’re about to lose. Unfortunately, the goal of the game doesn’t seem to be very clear as I got stuck in the second room after extinguishing all of the lights. I saw the text in the top left of the room but I’m unsure what that means. A little more clarity would be nice. Feedback for standing in the circle to finish the level would be nice, as I noticed in the first tutorial room nothing appeared; the classic circle of power with a magic rune being lit up (or maybe a lit rune turning black to be more fitting) would be good to indicate that you’ve completed the goal and won the game. None the less, well done; this is a really good game for your first solo submission.

Hey, I love this idea, I think it’s really creative to put yourself in the background of the theatre and make sure things run smoothly. I agree with a lot of the points to be made, the platforming is quite difficult (especially when you’re under time pressure to get to the next lever), and it’s hard to time them if you get to them too early. The consequence for failing (going back to the start) is understandable but a bit frustrating. I also think that having someone actually saying the dialogue instead of having to read it while under time pressure would make that element of the game a lot less stressful. None the less, I thought it was a cool idea, well done :).

I agree, something like that would be good. A little more time and polish and I think this could turn into a really cool short game.

Hey, the game is really simple but fun none-the-less; a really nice casual puzzle game. I’d love to see more content, but for a first game it’s really impressive to have functioning physics and an environment that can be interacted with like that. The shadows add an interesting touch to the visuals of the game but I feel like they could be leveraged more to make the game a little more interesting (so you have to use your environment to find where the ingredient is dropping from - this might be too frustrating, but it’s an idea).

In discord you asked what the most important things were, and I think enemies or global obstacles would be a great way to add more content and complexity to the game.

Overall, the game is fun, and I hope you keep making things :).

I loved your story; you set it up well explaining how the world works, and had a bit of a nice twist at the end. I love the use of colour throughout, and the art generally was really pretty and well done considering the time constraints. I would like to see a little more from this game, I think it has a lot of potential for something bigger. The sounds were also really fitting as ambiance, although I think actual music would do wonders to make the final scenes even more emotional.

I don’t know if it’s intentional, but some of the enemies swords are much faster than others; I noticed it was more prominent when I was further away from the enemy, so I’m wondering if the vector to get the direction of the player gets normalized? It’s only a small thing because I think the game was really good, but little things like that add a lot of polish to the game. I’d also like more use of breaking pots, seeing as you added them in, although I’m sure if you expand on the game in the future you’ll find a way to add them in.

As I made a game with similar ideas, I like the way you’ve chosen to interpret the theme, and I think you did it really well, so nicely done :)

I love your character design, your little alchemist is so damn cool. The game was a lot of fun to play, although in my opinion a little harsh; I would appreciate a few more checkpoints, or a little more lenience when touching the black mist (shadows?). The game felt really nice, with movement and jumping all good, and I liked having to use the enemies to throw the jump pad gel thingy where you needed it. All in all well done you guys :)

Thanks for playing :). I definitely worked hard on the creative aspects of the game, and I know as a result the gameplay is a little scrappy due to less focus and testing, but I love the ideas I’ve created and I think with some more work it could work out pretty well.

This game is so creative, I’m really impressed. The puzzles are all really unique and interesting, and I found myself wondering what the twist was with each level as I loaded in, really well done. There’s a few small glitches, such as getting stuck in the floor on some jumps, and touching the fireballs killing you seems a bit harsh in my opinion as there’s not much room to move (same thing as someone below). The cutscene is awesome, really well animated especially considering the short timeframe, and the music fits really well, although it gets a little repetitive; silence could work well in a game like this, maybe only playing the music once you’ve thrown a light? Overall I thought this game was great, definitely one of the best I’ve played so far :)

Really cool game, it’s definitely got potential post-jam :). Visually the game is stunning, and the audio fits so nicely. A better tutorial is definitely needed, as I got very confused at first (I closed out of the PC without creating a pet at first and the game didn’t work properly, so I had to restart it), and a little more clarity about what the failing conditions would be nice too, as I got a sudden game over without really knowing why.

I’m not much of a pet simulator person so I’m not an expert on the genre, but I feel like some sort of real time element with pets losing happiness or fullness over time would make gameplay more interesting; you’d have to manage all of your pets, switching between them, making sure they’re all happy to ensure you don’t game over that way. Maybe that’s not the direction you see the game going in, and that’s alright too - while it’s a really charming looking game, it’s probably not the sort of game I’m going to want to sit and play constantly enough. I’d also like to know how you plan on expanding the core mechanics further; at the moment I’m unsure of how much depth the systems you have would keep people playing for longer than a few minutes at a time.

None the less, the game looks amazingly polished; the game as is looks almost ready for Steam, I just think it needs a little more depth to keep people interested for longer.

Fun game, although I would’ve liked more of a focus on alchemy. The movement felt fluid and it was satisfying to dodge attacks and get yourself into the right position to deflect multiple bullets in quick succession. Enemy variety is great, and the bosses are fun to encounter. I think the player’s deflection hitbox should be slightly larger, a little more polish in some of the boss fights (notably - the first boss probably shouldn’t spawn bullets right on top of the player), and maybe adding a way for the player to heal up would be nice, but it’s a really good start how it is :).

Hey, really really cool game, especially for a first gamejam game made without an engine. You’ve got everything, from a fun game loop to effective visuals and great sounds. I especially like the portal design and how you leveraged what you could do with the tools you had to make it look mystical. Everything is there, and it works perfectly. If you continue to work on this game, it only needs a little more detail in the graphics, some more balancing/scaling and a little more polish (things like a retry button on the game over screen to take you straight back to playing without the intro). Well done.

Loved the music (gave me og doom vibes, I was almost expecting a boomer shooter from the sounds) and the visuals are really nice. I also encountered a crash at the white potion door; I did not open all of the gates to get to the end, does that make a difference? Only other thing I’d like is some sort of visual in the centre of the potion making screen to show what potion you made once you brew it, as it looks like there’s a spot for it but I never saw it while brewing. None the less, I had fun playing :)

Thanks for the feedback. I wish I’d contained the arena a little better so it’s not infinite and keeps the lights that you wouldve seen at the start of the fight to use those as a permanent reference for movement. What browser were you using?

Thanks. There’s a few subtleties to the later that I wish I could explain a little better. I have a few ideas for ways to continue this game, and I’m thinking if I do go ahead with it I’ll probably scrap the top down element of the game and replace it with some RPG battle mechanics, although it’s not set in stone yet (and before that I’m taking a break from gamedev for a week or 2 to recover from making what I did make in 2 weeks :)

Man I get Gregg (I too am chronically addicted to coffee). I thought the game was a really good start, gives me solid mobile game vibes; I can see myself playing a single day or two in game as I’m waiting for a train or something, because the gameplay is simple and a session is really short. It also reminds me a lot of rhythm games, and I think the game would be 10 times better if you had more feedback when you grab a coffee (a sound and some sort of energy), and some sort of indicator that the bottom of the screen is a cafe, because it looks like people (myself included to begin with) didn’t quite get it at first. Overall, a fun little game, especially for your first; hope this encourages you to keep making more :).

This game is so atmospheric, I really think you’ve nailed the ambiance. The story you’ve told is great given the short time of the game, and the puzzles were good from what I played, although I wish we had an easily accessible reference for all the symbols. The game froze for me shortly after looking at the recipe, so I didn’t play through it completely, but I’d love to give it another try, because it felt like it was going to be really good (maybe with a desktop version to try and avoid the issues WebGL might be causing).

I like this simple concept and think it could be a fun game (multiplayer maybe? I can imagine driving around with friends in a car mafia, although I know multiplayer probably isn’t the best place to start with making a game). I agree that sounds would be great for the game, but it’s a good start in my opinion.