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The Gems's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #1 | 4.313 | 4.313 |
| Graphics | #3 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Overall | #4 | 4.281 | 4.281 |
| Gameplay | #13 | 3.844 | 3.844 |
| Innovation | #19 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Theme interpretation | #85 | 2.781 | 2.781 |
Ranked from 32 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
GitHub repository URL
https://github.com/sharpfives/the-gems-game
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Comments
Impressive entry. Artstyle and music is amazing. My main issue is that some animations take too long, which is annoying, like door or entering the jumping demon.
5/5 game, only 4/5 for gameplay because I got stuck by non-intuitive tasks a bunch of times (swing, squirrel, music) and almost missed the entire game because of the swing
Excellent art (4-color palette I believe, awesome execution!) and music!
Great, besides not obviously being related to the theme of this jam. Because of the very simplistic graphic it is easy to miss it.
Yes it is. :D Character growth, leaping, dodging and diving and boundaries.
Another classic from sharpfives! 😁
Alas, I can't rate as I didn't enter - so all I can do is give praise. 🤷♂️
This is such a great game. Amazing music (again) - so atmospheric. I really am so envious that you can do it all: code, art, music & story. So talented!
Love the simplistic, almost "LCD game" pixel graphics style.
The animations are so lovely - as always.
You seem to have improved your engine recently? It's SO smooth now.
There were a couple of minor collision quirks, but was fine for the most-part.
Great tension & high stakes (e.g. having to shoot under time pressure without killing good guys)
The creature aesthetics were wonderful. That ROAR?! Scared the crap outta me! 😱
Love the humour - the death/ghost character particularly.
Are you a "Scrubs" fan by any chance? (Hey Dorothy, Nancy) 😂 #DrCoxFTW
Had a mini-LOL at the rather specific amount of mushrooms for a "dude" to need! 😂
Finally, THANK YOU for making the ability to resume/continue the game.
I wasn't sure you could (so did it in one sitting on this occasion), but that's definitely a welcome addition. Great usability feature! 👏
⚠⚠⚠ SPOILERS BELOW - YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! ⚠⚠
Loved many of the mechanics (shooting, ropes)
The cave of sleeping demons was a neat touch.
Also, thought the "cage" mechanic one particularly clever (and also reminded me of Another World) 😊
I nearly lost my mind trying to catch the squirrel (I see it's a common issue) - and would've probably kept trying (as it almost seemed like you could). Thankfully, I saw another reviewed mention about a "Speed Boost" and realised I needed to look elsewhere.
BUGS
If you're interested - I did spy a few potential bugs along the way...
Again, such a lovely little game. 🥰
You really are one of my favourite indie developers right now - coz of how great your story-telling adventures games are. 🤓👍
Thanks for the very kind review Paul! Great catch - I am indeed a Scrubs fan, tried my best to channel my inner Dr. Cox :) i originally had the ghost guy's "dickish-ness" ramped up WAY higher, but wound up dialing it back because it was just a touch harsh lol.
The squirrel-chase does seem to be a common sticking point. It's kind of a throw-away puzzle, but i liked having another use for the feather in addition to beating the jumpy boss (and just making it quicker to get around the levels). Maybe the dialog with the squirrel should change after your third unsuccessful try, and have him hint at needing an item to go faster? ::shrug:: maybe that would prevent some rage-quitting
And, as always, thanks for the helpful feedback:
I really enjoyed this game!
Extraordinary game that really felt well :)
Gameplay:
I really enjoyed gameplay that consists of shooting, puzzles, dodging etc and it's just with a mouse. The only thing that bothers me and also made me not finish the game were the colliders. When there are puzzles like with chasing squirrel or horn tasks then the part you have to click is so small and not accurate that it's hard to beat and chasing squirrel got me.
Graphics:
This game has a crazy aestetics. Simple pixelart with well made particles good color pick and cool map design. Sometimes some animations get stacked on another, but it's a minor bug.
Audio:
Great music with a lot of variety and good sfxes. :)
Innovation:
I really enjoy that interesting plot (that I really want to see to the end, but squirrel is too hard for me) and variety of tasts we have to make. Well made characters and animals etc.
Theme:
It's an interesting approach to the theme. Imo not perfect, but good enough.
Overally this is one of the best games I played this jam. Congrats :)
The game is a lot of fun, the dialogues are stereotyped to the right point and the game mechanics are well designed.
The only downsides are the speed of movement which is too slow for a game that requires a lot of backtracking and in some places the commands are not as responsive as they should be.
In any case well done. Great game!
Awesome game, very polished for a game jam. And a really cool art style!
But I have no idea how to beat the squirrel or how to defeat the demon that appears after you play the tune for the deer :(
I couldn't find a way to get to the squirrel fast enough but still a really fun and interesting game!
Amazing that this was put together in a month! Great intro, good soundtrack, legit scary.
thank you! :)
I got a shell.
Very cool game, really enjoyed the pixel art & music - great work!
I had some difficulty on the jumping demon (bottom left door) due to an intermittent bug where I could not move at all, clicking on the ground did nothing but I could still fire the bow. Also I think the hitbox for that demon is a bit unforgiving.
thanks for the feedback! i'll see if i can clean up that area and make the hitbox a little larger. you currently can only hit him while his eye is open, for what it's worth.
I meant the hitbox for the demon, sometimes it felt like it killed me when I wasn't actually touching it
good call, the boss hit box was extending outside of the sprite by too much. i fixed that along with a bunch of other bugs, hopefully this new version works out better for you! thanks again for checking it out :)
Pretty good, but could not figure how to dodge jumping demon (bottom left door). Even if I move at full speed, he still lands on me.
there's another item you can get to help you beat that guy :)
very good, Graphics, Audio and general vibe are fantastic
thank you!
It's awesome.
Though I would like to report in the bottom right door, when there were birds and demons spawning everywhere, there was still 1 demon when the scene ended.
Also after the scene when I went back it froze/crashed. Also another player sprite appeared.
thanks for the feedback! i'll take a look at fixing that issue with the demon coming in after the scene is done.
just perfect, a lot of fun, extend it and publicise it, what i especially enjoyed is the humor and the change between calm and hectic scenes. great entry!!
thanks for playing and for the kind words! :)
Good work, my guy! Excellent game! It's too bad its so buggy. Had a lot of lag when taking shots that frustrated the pace of the game for me. I died to many a demon due to lag. Also, I didn't get the speed-up perk until after I had already collected all the gems (for some reason I thought there were 26, so I went back to sing with the birds at the pond). Also, it wasn't obvious to me how to use the shell. It took a lot of trial and error to figure it out.
I've given you the highest review of anyone yet! Not a perfect game, but very well done for what it is. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
thanks for checking it out! sorry to hear about the lag, sounds like it could be a browser performance issue. if you wouldn't mind, let me know if the executable downloads work any better than the in-browser version. i tried running the downloadable windows .exe on a pretty old, low spec windows laptop and didn't have any issues, so that might prove better. hope it works out and you get to experience it in a better light.
i'll definitely give that a shot!
Really love the music and writing, awesome job.
thanks! :)
Awesome. Wat else can I say?
thank you!
Just finished it. What a pleasure! And that final arrow... Soooo well deserved!
Ahem... And the technical stuff... Outstanding!