Neat little game.

It seemed unfair that even though I had all drinks set up almost all the time the later nights brought in guests that couldn't get to a drink and would get angry waiting. Perhaps I'm missing something with how the drink brewing work.

Either way the core gameplay worked without any bugs which is very impressive in a 2-week game jam. The art is nice and easy to look at and the music is enjoyable.

Good job!

First off, I have to say the music in this game was fantastic! It set a great atmosphere and kept me engaged right away from the title screen. The core gameplay loop itself was fun and engaging, but it started to feel repetitive after about 10-15 minutes. One suggestion might be to add more strategic layers or decisions for the player. For example, managing different types of orders at the bar—some who need a drink from the left side like you have, and others who you need to serve food (or braaaains?)—would add an 'Overcooked' style mechanic that could spice things up and make you plan your  optimal path between the left/right. I think also making a certain type of enemy actively fight you and force you to use combat every once in a while could be cool too, cus I was able to keep ahead of it and never had to fight anyone in my play by just serving the whole bar with drinks.

I did encounter some technical issues during my playthrough. I softlocked in my first run and didn't realize till about 3:50 in my video, which was frustrating as I wasn't sure what had gone wrong. Also, figuring out the keyboard controls wasn't immediately intuitive for me. I got my controller out, since the controls were explained, but the softlock made me wonder if something was broken with it! Seems like some bug that wasn't activating any of the hitboxes on the bar.

Luckily refreshing fixed everything and it was smooth sailing from then on out.

I had a solid run up to day 7! At that point, I felt like I'd experienced most of what the game had to offer and decided to wrap it up there. You've built a fun and engaging game here-- just needs a few tweaks to add a bit more depth and variety. But I had a fun time!! I think my movement build was def the way to go :D

Wow this game is awesome, I can tell you had insane amount of work for those two weeks. I made it to night 9. Graphics are so good, lots of cool sprites, great music and sfx. I had a bit of trouble figuring out the controls at first, but then it was all nice and smooth. Very well done!

Hi there!

First off, the pixel art looks great and the music was good– really good job on that front!

However, I did notice a few areas that could use some improvement:

• Music: It didn't feel like classic bartender games music but definitely matched the halloween style. 
• Gameplay: While it’s got potential, I felt it was like most bartender games and could benefit from some unique mechanics or twists to make it more engaging and distinct.
• Controls: I found the keyboard controls a bit unintuitive. Streamlining them could improve the overall player experience.
• UI: I think there is room for improvement. In the brew scene, some elements were out of their panels and the text of the igredients bonuses was sometimes hard to read on top of the background text. When I placed a beer and a weird purple drink appeared, I initially thought it was a bad drink and had to remove it. Changing drink models was confusing because the UI at the bottom left always showed beer. Don't get me wrong, they looked cool just maybe ease them in to the player in some way. Lastly didn't even notice until some nights later that there was a clock at the bottom right, but i found it didn't have any meaning to me cause i had to pay attention to the customers and i was gonna serve them no matter the clock.

• Themes: I understand that mixing ingredients for the drinks is the "alchemy" aspect, but I wasn't sure how it fits with the shadows theme, apart from having zombies and vampire customers.

Overall, you've got a solid foundation and of course i understand that no game can be perfect especialy in such a sort time. But addressing these points could make the game even better. Keep up the good work and happy developing!

Really loved this! It was surprisingly relaxing to play :)

A really simple idea with almost flawless execution!
I died on night 11, but that might be because I only chose movement speed buffs in the first 9 rounds, because I didn't realise customers got impatient because the bar was full. The movement, placing drinks, going back and forward was addictive enough to make me keep playing. I did personally miss an element of strategy,  like playing a game of basic uno, I had decisions but they felt really clear on what the best choice was. I do encourage everyone to try this! The art is cute, the music is great, really beginner friendly gameplay.

A final positive note is the dog, great mascot, we love Otis. Final negative note is that Otis just has to sit there every round (but maybe that's the surprise at lvl 12 I couldn't reach). Otis could be a really cool gameplay element, like walking around, getting pet and calming customers down if you upgrade him. Maybe press a button and Otis goes shadow jutsu and duplicates so you have multiple Otis's calming people down. Maybe Otis brings around free samples.  

Anyway, great project, thanks for the game :) 

I WAS SO CLOSE!!! At first I thought the game was too easy but my eyes were opened to the value of DoT. I think some kind of wind up animation to the enemy attacks could be useful, right now they just walk onto you and you get hurt. Maybe a way to prevent damage like with knockback or something, because I felt like I just died because I didn't upgrade my attack/health enough. Even a way of knowing attack ranges so the enemies can be kited would help. That way there's a variety in play styles, rather than I just messed up earlier by not buying offense and now there's nothing I can do about it. Other than that I had a lot of fun with this game, the art and music are great, and overall this game feels very complete. Nice job!

Ok so, I think it's fair to say I played this game quite a bit. Honestly, I found it really REALLY fun. I enjoyed how you guys implemented different enemies and attributed distinct things about them, like how fast they'd go towards the drink and all. 

The art is really nice, the character designs really help to tell the different enemy types from one to another, the music is simply a complete banger, sound effects fit well and the general idea of running a bar where a giant bug monster just sits beside a vampire and a werewolf and they all just chug on some demonic beer is really funny to me!

It was fun trying different combinations of upgrades, seeing what worked, what didn't, combining different ingredients in my brew and getting some mad cash in return!

I'd say my personal biggest suggestion would be to have something visual for attacks, both from the player and enemies. For a lot of the time I played, I wasn't sure how far could I attack an enemy from and how big their attacks were. On later nights, confrontations with "esteemed guests" became unavoidable, so it became something really important.

Honestly, incredible work guys. I had a lot of fun with this one, truly. And thanks to it, I feel like I can finally say that I... am... the ULTIMATE BARTENDER.

Cheers.

Sooo fun! I really enjoy the challenge aspect of it, I will be playing again until I hit level 12. 

I did get a bug on my first run, where I was unable to grab or place drinks. To be fair I didn't read the instructions and was spamming, so it may have been user error. 2nd round went much better, made it to level 10 :)

Very fun, addicting gameloop!

oh gosh theres so much i can't really fit everything into one comment

Music = good. Animations (especially small yellow bar when you hover over a drink box) = good. Sound effects (especially dropping ingredients into the cauldron *perfection*) = really good.

I liked how you introduced new characters over time, and they each kinda have their own charcteristics. I noticed the werewolf has high attack damage, and the zombies were usually driven away in one hit. The others weren't obvious to me (mummy, vampire), but I only got to night 9 anyways.

I liked how I could try to be efficient and preset drinks out even when there's no patron, makes me feel more organized and efficient. During each shift I was carefully eyeing each yellow bar, making me feel like I have to look after everyone and manage all the timings correctly. I see why you call it "high stress" now.

I didn't realize that the cauldron doesn't lose ingredients over nights, and didn't read into the effects of the ingredients at first. I just thought all of them got them more drunk, and if I didn't get them drunk enough with a stronger and stronger brew each night they would get mad with my brew and attack me (I'm really just a poor reader, oops).

I love how each night ramps up in customer volume, and it really adds to the tension and stress.

Each decision you make in this game (ingredient mixing, alley-way buffs) really matter, because at some point you just either have too many customers waiting around, not enough customers getting drunk fast enough, or not enough money because all my customers are fighting me! It's great!

I did encounter some weird bugs, such as after replaying the game after losing once, I couldn't place any drinks + the yellow animation for each drink box wasn't playing. And then another time I had a lone mummy patron that walked out after last call, got angry after last call, and came back in the bar and tried to fight me! (however there was no red anger bar over the mummy). Otherwise, game was solid.

What a fun experience!

Digging everything about this! Took a second to get used to the controls, but after that I was locked in and playing a completed game, not a demo or a prototype!

Simple pixel art, does the job, nothing over the top but that is the exact amount of graphics a game like that needs. The UI is very clear, you immediately understand which spots are empty and which are filled, and the bars over the monsters' heads are contrast enough to not blend in with the bar table.

The music really fits the atmosphere, I did not think a game could make me feel like I'm working in service industry again yet here we are. :(

Very interesting mechanic with the cauldron between nights, optimizing your perfect cocktail, trying to find a balance between getting more tips, and therefore upgrades, and getting customers drunk and freeing up the spots before the others start a sober fight with you after a hard day. The shade giving permanent bonuses is a little random, also haven't figured out whether move speed is always a must get to rush to the tables or if I should be picking more combat-oriented upgrades.

The combat feels fair, you're a bartender, not a warrior, so you can't not do your job and just perma fight and kite the enemies, your attacks lock you in place. So better serve your drinks and hope the monsters drink them fast!

My PB so far is night 9 but I will probably be playing more to figure out an optimal strategy to get on the leaderboards.

8 nights on the 1st try
Imma break that 12 barrier! Just wait!

Overall very polished game!
Music, sfx and art match very well.
The UI animations are also great!

Progression system is very simple and intuitive - although 1st few nights I did not know why would I need attack damage and then it happened...

Great entry!