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The summoning mechanic and the UI were all very interesting! Since the protagonist doesn't have any fancy magic to rely on, you instead have to pull out your summons and carefully balance between guarding and attacking, and using your summons to lend you a hand and do a lot of the legwork. 
I'm not sure whether it was just a me issue while playing the game, though, but I had a bit of a hard time once I reached the bats. The bats hit incredibly hard, and their confusion keeps your summon from attacking outright. Given your summon is your key healer, this means that I often found that my summon would get stunned, then promptly wiped, leaving the MC alone and vulnerable. While I know it's possible to avoid the enemies as well, I had a hard time with dodging the enemies, as I couldn't move fast enough to escape them.

Of course, like I said, it could have just been an issue with my playstyle, but I thought it was worth sharing just in case you wanted to adjust things in the future. It was an interesting game regardless, though, and I like how it's an unconventional take on the "use monsters to fight for you" genre of games. Good work!

This was a very short and sweet game, and one that I really enjoyed (though I might be biased because I have a preference for narrative/puzzle focused games, admittedly)! The story was straightforward and went smoothly, the puzzles were fun- albeit difficult near the end- and it had a nice little charm to it. I liked the characters and the writing, and all in all, it was a nice little story that did what it came to do, and I enjoyed my experience. I do think that the "ok" spam part could be made a biiiit shorter, but that's honestly the only real bit of criticism I have to offer.

This was a delight to play! Great work!

Hello! I made another forum post, but thought I'd take after another person on here and make a post looking for games to play. While I've been trying to work my way through the games, I'd love to put together an order in which to properly get to them. I'll try to play ASAP, and leave a review/comment!

Unfortunately, I have trouble playing .rar games so I might not be able to get to those as easily, but when it comes to browser/window games I can get through those pretty quick. 

Looking forward to seeing what everyone has to offer!

This was a cute, educational little game to play. It reminded me a lot of old flash games from when I was younger, and while it was simple, it had a fair bit of diversity in the different quests the colors went on. I also learned a fact about the color indigo that I didn't know before along the way, which is always a plus! 

I would have loved it if there were more songs used in the game, though, especially as the different tracks could have emphasized just how different the various colors are. 

While simple, the game did its purpose very well, and seems great as a learning tool for a younger audience. Good work!

Thank you! That's very helpful. I'll try to get my feedback in soon!

I really loved the art style of this game, as well as the chiptune(?) music it rocked throughout. The look of it gave me massive OFF vibes, whether intentional or not. I was intrigued about the story and what was going on, and I liked how you gained new abilities by finding them out in the wild.
I do wish there were more enemy variants, though. I'm also not sure if there was any poison resistances I could pick up anywhere (if I did I didn't find it, which is on me), but I wound up developing a burning hatred for those poison slimes at one point or another, haha. If there isn't any poison resistances, then I'd suggest lowering the odds of the slimes poisoning you, as I wound up having to backtrack to heal at the shrine quite often because of them.

Also, while playing, I ended up getting an error and had the game crash because of it. I'm not sure why, but I thought I should share it so you were aware. IT read "Script 'RME' line 1364: NoMethodError occurred.

undefined method 'flash' for nil:NilClass.




Overall, this game was quite charming, and I liked the aesthetic that you were going for with it. Well done!

Playing through the game, I can tell you put a lot of time and effort putting all the maps together and decorating the locations. There were a fair deal of places to visit, and both the interior and exterior areas had a lot to look at. I think a great addition to the game would be if more of the NPCs had things to say, as the game largely revolves around talking to NPCs, and possibly also if a few more mechanics were added as well. The game was fairly simple and straightforward, but it was interesting to explore and see everything you put in.
I also noticed at some point, when talking to a bartender near the start of the game, you get a pair of options that are in another language. It wasn't too big of an issue, but I wanted to just point it out for future reference.

I could definitely see the Misao inspiration while playing this game! The start also gave me big Full Metal Alchemist vibes, though that might just be me. I found the plot and premise interesting, and I liked the diversity you put into the puzzles. I do wish that for some of them, they gave the player a bit more direction, though. I caught onto the lightning puzzle fairly quickly, but with the bamboo/trial and error puzzle, I struggled to figure it out despite the little arrows directing me (though that might just be a me thing). 

I also liked the sense of humor that was sprinkled here and there, like the reference to the isekai genre. It's a pretty simple game, but it had good direction and mechanics. Nice work! 

This was a classical RPG experience, and pretty entertaining from what I played of it! The premise is simple enough that the player catches on fast, and it was fun blasting my way through the various enemies that wound up in my way. 

I think that the difficulty scaling could be a bit off in some places, though. Some of the characters, like the guards and the mice, did no damage right out of the gate, even when I was lower level. However, I'd walk into another type of enemy in the same area, and they'd take massive chunks out of my HP. I think if things were balanced out more evenly, it could be even more entertaining than it already is!

I think the addition of more soundtracks would be good as well, especially for the different types of battles, but that's a minor issue and wasn't something that bothered me too much.

Good work overall! 

I just want to preface this by saying I absolutely adored this game. It oozes charm, and has that nice, comfy, "good for playing on a rainy day" vibe that games like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon have. The music is pleasant, the characters have fun designs and quirks, and the gameplay, while simple, is soothing. I also loved the touch of the color scheme changing depending on the time of day: that must have been a pain to implement, and it adds a really delightful atmosphere. 
Sometimes all you wanna do is sit, fish, and sell your fish to buy gifts to impress the townsfolk you just met but would die for. It was even difficult for me to pick someone I wanted to pursue, as I found myself wanting to get to know quite a few of the characters. (I found myself getting close with Marinnel in particular, since he seemed cute and was easy to please with seashells)

In the future, I think it would be good to add different soundtracks matching with the time of day, but given this was a game jam that's a very minor nitpick. I would love to see this game and its premise further developed in the future! I had a really cozy time playing it. 
Excellent work!

Hey! I've been trying to play Eurydice, and I really like the visuals and the art so far! 
I got stuck on the second puzzle, though, because I am just wildly unobservant. Would you opposed to giving me a hint as to where the crescent moon is, so I can progress? If not, that's fine!

A short and simple game. I liked the sprites and character portraits that were used, and I'm interested in seeing where the game will go from here, as I believe at the end that it implies that there's more to come! I think it would help a lot to add music and sound effects, though, unless there was a glitch and they didn't just play for me.

The game had a very interesting premise, with our dear protagonist Bread winding up isekaing himself into a zombie apocalypse instead of getting anything good coming from the end of the dungeon! The assets used complimented the aesthetic well, and I liked the music chosen to compliment the game. 

I will say I found myself wishing that I could run (though if there was a run button and I just didn't notice, feel free to let me know!) The way the game is structured means you have to spend a lot of time wandering around the city, looking for the little brains, and later, bodies. However, because I couldn't run, it was a slow process of checking around everywhere I could find for the next item I needed to progress. I would have liked it if there were more bodies or ways of getting into places as well, as it could be difficult combing the town for that one last object (though I think that adding running would alleviate the issue a fair bit.)

This was an interesting game, and I'd love to see what you do with it in the future! 

This was a very simple, but fun and engaging game regardless! The puzzle mechanic was simple (just avoid the giant Ds/other souls), find the keys, and get through the mazes, but each level had plenty of variation to keep me engaged. The visuals were simple but still pleasant, and given the straightforward nature of the game, it complimented what was going on perfectly. I also enjoyed the music that was selected for the background, and the sound effects were a great choice as well.

I do wish that the game saved after each level, because if you close the game and open it up again, you have to do the whole game all over again. Also, near the end of the game (I believe?) there's this puzzle where you have to get through the maze as another lost soul chases you. I found the timing was really tight, and while it makes sense for a puzzle near the end of the game, I think if the soul was a little bit slower that would help, as sometimes I would end up bumping up against a few corners and end up caught with how fast the soul caught up to me.

This was a lovely little puzzle game, and I really like the ASCII art style you went for. Good work!

Hello, everyone. I'm Whyms, the lead writer/narrative designer for the Hotel Ouroboros. I thought it'd be fun to make a community post talking about the game, some of the development, and just generally chatting. If you play and/or rate the game, feel free to speak up, and I'll be happy to get around to yours! (Do bear in mind I have a hard time playing .rar games, so please keep that in mind.)
I'd love to see what people's thoughts on the game are! Especially the writing/characters, since I'm sort of biased. Thanks to time constraints, the game is sort of buggy, but think of it as a proof of concept/demo for things to come. 

You can find Hotel Ouroboros here:

https://itch.io/jam/igmc-rebirth/rate/1649437

Also, for funsies, enjoy this high quality fanart of one of the game characters I did in MS paint.
Followed by the music composer's high quality contribution to said fanart. 

From the moment I laid eyes on the game's thumbnail and screenshots, I was intrigued. It gave me massive Pocket Mirror/Mad Father vibes with its aesthetic, and the protagonist is adorably gothic lolita. The pixel art and scenery are gorgeous, as is the custom art for the puzzles, characters, and pretty much everything. I loved the music and sound effects, too. The puzzles themselves were pretty simple, but still fun, and I'm very much interested in where the game will go from here, seeing as it's a demo.

I will say I noticed a few places where I feel as if the grammar can be cleaned up, but that's a pretty minor issue and it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game. My biggest critique is likely with the candle finding near the end, though. I'm not sure if there was supposed to be an indicator and it didn't show up for me, but there was no sign or hint as to where I needed to search for the candles. I had to go around the castle and interact with every object I found, and while it wasn't too big of an issue given how short the game is/the size of the play area, I think it would be good to give the player more of a nudge in future versions of the game.

I really liked this game, overall! Like I said, it reminded me of classical RPGMaker Horror Games with its aesthetic, and I can see it going far in its final version. Well done!

I only realized after checking the comments here that the version I played, the one in browser, was in hard mode, which explains a fair bit about how quickly I wound up dying while playing it, haha. This was an interesting game, with some very cool mechanics, such as the permadeath, the torches going out over time and having to be replenished, and the sound cues whenever a monster got close to you.

I found myself having a hard time navigating and getting around, though, as there weren't many landmarks to distinguish where I was, and my torch often ran out before I could find a new one. There were also times I seemed to get "stuck" on a monster and couldn't push them away for a few hits, and whenever I opened a door, I couldn't seem to find any way to get avoid getting hit, as the monsters would end up waiting at the door for me to leave. I also noticed a few issues grammatically, but that's a very minor nitpick, especially if the game maker is ESL (as that'd make it a lot more difficult). 

 I think if this project was worked on in the future, adding in some landmarks to make it a bit easier for the player to navigate would help a lot, but all things considered, it was a very neat little project! 

This was an incredibly cute and charming game to play! I can tell a lot of love went into the spritework, the  music- just about everything, really. I've always loved games that let you run your own shop, so the game hit a really soft spot in my heart because of that. I love how you were able to interact 4 whole endings, I really liked the story, and honestly it was just a very fun experience.

I do wish that the "cleaning item" minigame had some variations, or another way to play. By the end of my playthrough, my wrist was starting to hurt a little from the button mashing, which was unfortunate as it discouraged me a bit from playing again to see other endings. I also think that the weeding game would be fun if it were timed or had some other variations, but given it served as a good way to serve extra money/time constraints, I understand why it worked the way it did.

Other than that, I more or less agree with the other commenter here. I would have loved more flavor dialogue from the NPCs, but the game stands well without it. It was a short, delightful little experience, and definitely one of my favorites so far.

Hello, everyone! I'm Whyms, a casual writer and narrative designer that's written a few things here and there. My good friend and teammate Carcosa and I have participated in two GJL Game Parades in the past, and wound up winning Best Narrative in the GJL Game Parade of Fall 2021. This time around, we've decided to participate in the IGMC: Rebirth contest, which we're very excited about.
Our team so far consists of two writers (one of which is myself), an in-game engine person, a dialogue bust artist, and a composer. What we're in serious need now is someone who can handle the pixel art side of things. This would include making tilesets and character sprites, preferably.

 Our team is pretty casual and just here to have a good time, and we have a strong passion for classic RPGMaker Horror games. Think Mad Father, Ib, The Witch's House. If you're at all interested in joining up with us, feel free to let me know, and I'll be happy to get back to you ASAP!

I really enjoyed the idea of leaving behind your ghosts to help you in your journey to break the loop! It meant that you had to plan out where to leave your previous loops in the best way to help you in the present, without having your past routes take so long gathering resources that it ends up leaving you in a tight spot in the present. I agree with other commenters that the premise has a lot of potential! Good job!

This was a very challenging game, which made it all the more satisfying when I managed to get past a particularly difficult section! I wasn't able to get past the first level, unfortunately, but I still had a good time with what I did play. I'd suggest adding a checkpoint here and there, especially in the first level, just to make it a bit easier in the beginning, but that's personal preference more than anything else. I would also suggest adding some background music, as well, as it being only sound effects left the game feeling quiet (outside of the sound of me dying repeatedly, that is, haha).

Nice work!

I really liked the premise behind the game! Having to discard/leave behind cards in order to move was a fun way of interpreting the theme, and I enjoyed having to balance my energy and the cards I had on hand. At one point I kept drawing armor in one round, so I played all the cards, and tanked against the enemies who were trying so hard to fight me. As mentioned in other comments, audio and sound effects would add a lot of atmosphere to the game! I look forward to seeing where you might go with this project in the future!

This was a pretty straightforward game, but I still had a blast playing! You had to be careful in where you threw your arm and positioned yourself, as if you weren't careful then the enemies could manage to get a good hit in. The bulk of the game centered around the mechanic of smacking enemies around with your projectile arm, but there was a platforming section that I found interesting (though I misjudged the distance and my jumping height a few times and leaped to my doom, haha). I would have loved to see more levels like that, but even without it it was still fun! I also agree with other comments that the addition of music would have been great.
It was a fun, fairly chill experience, and I had a good time. Nice work!

This was fun! I liked the mechanic of leaving the robot buddies behind as guides and markers to help you when the lights shut off, and the platforming was simple, but still fun, with the darkness adding a good bit of challenge to it. I had initially thought that the robot's colors would make them do different things, but when I realized that wasn't the case I was able to use the different colors to mark out different things, like blue for being at the edge of a pit, and green being safe. I agree with another comment that adding different effects could have been cool, and that the art styles clashed a little bit due to the assets used, but it wasn't so jarring that I was really paying attention after the cutscene ended.
I'm not sure whether this was just on my end or not, but there had been no music playing during the cutscene. Let me know if it just glitched out for me! I think music there would have been nice, and also that an ending cutscene could have been good as well (again, if there was supposed to be one and it just glitched out for me, do let me know!)

Overall, it was a nice little platformer, and I had a good time. Good job!

This game reminded me a lot of games like Octodad and Goat Simulator, in that they're both silly games with strange premises, and, in the former's case, that you have to teach yourself how to work with the controls in order to progress. The models were very cute, the music fit the restaurant ambience well, and the sound effects fit well! I did have the issue of the game lagging out hard on my computer for some reason, making it a bit difficult for me to play, but that could just be an issue with my system rather than anything else.

Nice work!

Cute game! The rescue concept was interesting, and it wasn't difficult to get a hang of playing. The helicopter felt smooth to control for me, too. I agree with what another comment said about possibly adding a UI in game to check the controls, as I also didn't know that I could pick things up until I checked the page. I also agree with another comment as well that adding damage via contact with the water or some sort of weight mechanic would be interesting as well, but I know that that does take time to implement, and I imagine is no easy task to put in in a week, let alone by a one person team.
Good work!

This was a simple, but still fun little game! I spent a while going through as many of the little rooms as I could, trying to get good enough gear, because I had been terrified to face the boss at first. I thought that only being able to carry on one item from the last level was good, as it meant that while you could start with a step up, you weren't at a massive advantage: especially when, after one level, I ended up getting switched from the mage to the knight!

I sort of wish there had been more variety in enemies to fight and music, but given this was a solo project and you only had one week to put everything together, I don't blame you for not adding more. Good work!

I'm admittedly sort of terrible at platforming games, but I still had fun playing it! The mechanic of leaving your bodies behind and then using them as platforms later on is both creative and delightfully morbid, and also means that, theoretically, if you manage to die enough times, your corpses will act as a safeguard from keeping you from dying in a particular area again. My favorite part of the game had to be the art style, though. The little character is adorable, and the pixel artwork is very pleasing to look at and fits together very well. 
Excellent work!

This was an incredible game, doubly so because all the assets were apparently made singlehandedly by the game maker! The puzzles can be a brain scratcher at time, especially when you start having to play with the mechanics of getting your wheels to fall in certain places, but they never felt unfair or anything of the sort. The robot and bird were both adorable, the music fit perfectly, and all in all it was a very enjoyable experience. Excellent work!

Playing this game was pretty relaxing, seeing as it's based around destroying structures at your own pace. I spent a while just running around turning everything to rubble, just because I had the option to. I also appreciated the fact you could turn off the camera shaking effect.

I sort of wish that the player character was a bit lower off the ground, as in the second level I felt a bit "sunken", so to speak. I also agree with the other comments, in that other things to destroy, or different ways of doing so, would have spiced up the game and added more variety.

Good work either way!

Thank you so much for your kind words! Everyone on the team put in a lot of effort into the game, and I think the end product came out all the better for it. I'm also really glad to hear that you enjoyed the characters, since they play such a big part of the story. It's a shame you weren't able to get through to the ending for some reason, because our artist made lovely artwork for all three endings of the game. 

What follows after this is spoilers, so if you'd rather avoid those, stop reading now!

You get the last party member by pushing the statue into the shadows behind the wall and "out of the light", rather than into the pit to break it. The statue will then give you the guitar pick, and that's it. There are three endings in the game: the bad ending, the neutral ending where you only save a few party members, and then the golden ending. 

Thank you so much again, and I'm glad that you enjoyed our game!

I enjoyed playing this game! I completely forgot the "leave one enemy alive" premise when I first got into the game, but the second I realized it become a lot more challenging and more fun. In order to get the highest score you can, you have to leave at least one enemy from a "batch" alive, but by doing so you end up having to dodge more enemies and projectiles along the way. The "don't hit face" enemy also made me smile, too: I loved the silly little dude. As mentioned in another comment, the fact that there's no music for the final boss is sort of jarring, especially when the rest of the game has that catchy tune behind it.
Overall, great work!

Cute game! The NPCs had some very adorable and funny lines to them when interacted with, and I loved the blocky style and design of them as a whole. The lack of music is probably my biggest critique, but I see that it's already been brought up and addressed in other comments. Good work!

This was a fun little game! The gameplay itself is pretty simple, what with the player needing to fend off against hordes of enemies and gather more ammo to replenish what they lose, but the mechanic of having to sacrifice something of yours after each level was both creative, and added good flavor to the game too. You have to go over several choices, none of which are good, and decide which will be the most manageable to deal with going forward. I ended up turning myself into a glass cannon at some point, which was a mistake.

While I was playing, though, I think that I ran into a glitch. On one of the levels I was on, for some reason the enemies suddenly stopped generating. I still had one point of health left, and I could run around, shoot, and collect bullets, but there were no enemies. Because I hadn't killed enough to progress, I ended up stuck.

Overall, it was a nice, simple game, and one that I think has a lot of potential!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed! Before the game jam started, I'd actually gone back to watch RPG Maker Horror playthroughs to get in the mood for the game, haha. 

Glad you enjoyed! Our artist and composer had put a lot of time and effort into the environment of everything. 

The art of this game was really pleasing to me, and the music loop in the background really hyped me out throughout the game! I sort of wish that there was a change in music for the final boss, to set in the stakes of the situation, but I know that when you only have so much time to work that you're sort of limited in what you can add.
I think that I found a glitch while playing, as well. Like another person mentioned, I was able to spam the "all attack" option even when the enemies were attacking, letting me sweep through battles. I ended up losing to the Almighty Beast, though. For some reason, the game then sent me back to the first enemy I fought with all my wizards. When I progressed past that one, it let me take two wizards to the final fight, instead of one.
I decided to take my fire wizard and lightning wizard, and not only could I spam the all attack, but for some reason neither of my wizards took any damage throughout the fight. Because of this, I wound up beating the final boss easily. 
Overall, this game was a blast, and I enjoyed it! Good job!

Old school RPG Horror games used to be my bread and butter when I was younger, largely because of the stories they told, so it's a high compliment to our game that you compared it to them! I was concerned people would just rather click through all the conversation and dialogue, so I'm glad you found it compelling enough to read through. 

This was such a wonderful game! I could tell that a lot of heart and love had been put into the visuals for this game, because it really does show. It took me a while to get used to the controls, and the physics of the sword bumping into things, but I managed to fight my way through the whole game and enjoyed myself doing it. I noticed that there was a voiced line in the beginning of the game that I think might've been from the sword (the "talking sword?" voiceclip), and I found myself surprised the sword didn't say more. The little text pop-ups of the sword complaining was cute either way, though, and a nice touch.
Great work!

Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the game and its story that much.