(I am now in a rush to test as many games as possible to help, so please do not mind the cursory reviewing style.)
Semi-on-the-fly remarks:
- Controls are QWERTY-only instead of layout-independent (I have an AZERTY keyboard), BUT arrow keys are enabled.
- Very detailed, including how those little cute cookies turn to the other side by 2D-flipping! :)
- At first, not easy getting what is dangerous, what is a bonus/collectible, and what is decoration. I would suggest introducing things more gradually to help readability, although I guess we can already infer by playing repeatedly.
- Oh, there IS a pause feature (with the P key)! :) Not obvious, since "PAUSE" is not written and the still animations are still (!) playing. I would suggest mentioning the key on the game page, for now!
- Weird, no doughnut upgrade suggested the second time! Does this mean the available upgrades are randomly selected?
- When pausing, the experience chunks apparently still finish their ways to the player character — which may be on purpose.
- Now having double sugar, banana, and cone: this makes it hard to differentiate between what I shoot and what the enemies shoot! I definitely think some visual change could help readability. Like, a couloured-glow, with one colour for the player (and one or none for the enemies)?
- Oh, as for pausing, same thing for the projectiles, including bananas! :o They can destroy enemies during the pause! I think this is unexpected.
- I feel like I gain experience very quickly and become superpowered!! Maybe some balancing is needed? (I noticed you said on the game page that the game gets either too hard or too easy, so you are aware of it.) Although this is great for playtesting faster and seeing all the (numerous!) abilities. And the game is still pleasing. :) And I have yet to see a boss (since the game page mentions them), so things may get harder!
- Sometimes, when there are many cookies, you conflate your cookie with the other cookies! X) Although I guess this is linked to the way you integrated the theme (you are not the only cookie).
- UI is really great, especially the upper-right pane as recap for what abilities we have, and the upgrade selection panel with descriptions. :) Very detailed and user-friendly game. Although I notice not all abilities are there (for example, speed and damage); I would have liked to see everything, but I guess you were afraid this would take too much space. Maybe replacing the dots with values/numbers would do the trick? Although this would be less cute.
- Apparently, one drawing per ability LEVEL!! You really went far in the level of details, this is nice! :)
- Ah, you can unpause the game while selecting an upgrade! :o I wonder if this is expected. I think not, because it means you are in danger while selecting. (And I think I gained an upgrade while in pause, which then UNpaused the game for the upgrade selection. TEST: no, discard that, does not happen! Now at 1 HP because of this test!! :o XD)
- Oh, a big cookie! Is it a boss? If it is, then spawned at 04:00 instead of 05:00!
- I like how the camera shifts according to the mouse. :)
- If you pause while colliding, you get damage regularly!! :o Definitely a problem with pause handling; I think you only stopped character’s movement (and timer), but not the rest of the logic, such as collision handling.
- Out of anticipation, I realize we may not be able to heal anymore once reaching 10 in HP ‘ability’; if this is the case, then this might be a long-term problem. OR make the game stay difficult, which can be a good thing!
- 05:00: no boss? So, definitely 4 minutes instead of 5 minutes for boss spawning? If this is the case, then the game page should be updated.
- Just upgraded dougnut damage, but still damages the oval-shaped ‘friends’ (enemies, really XD) (are these ice cream cones?) by 1; is this normal?
- Ah, now, I realize you chose to display dots (for abilities) in columns because there are various aspects (speed, damage…) for the abilities you display! And you only wanted to display those with multiple aspects. So, this dot system might be a good idea, in the end. (Discard my previous comment on showing numbers.)
- So many things on screen that I have trouble seeing the MOUSE and aiming!! XD Maybe show an aiming drawing to help?
- The game really makes me want to get all abilities to the max. XD This is more addictive than I would like to admit!
- Giant ice cream around 08:52, so I definitely think bosses spawn every 4 minutes instead of 5. By the way, one suggestion: in boss phase, make all enemies disappear (or wait for them to be wiped out), and then have a big fight against only a very powerful and very large boss? Not sure if this could be interesting, seeing how many powers we have.
- Ah, the dots are actually NOT displayed in columns according to sub-aspects! SUGGESTION: do it? :) (See above.)
- Seeing how the experience chunks/powder stays where we took down enemies, I wonder if they stay even when we get really far, and how you manage memory!
- By the way (now at level 42 — haha, not chosen on purpose! ;)), I did not follow your advice about getting an elite ability and instead chose to see a mix of everything, and I am still very powerful.
- Pausing: I realize my four dougnuts all have a different colour! :D I thought I had three black/brown and one white, but I do not. The amount of details in this game is somewhat crazy and great. :)
- Oh no, getting back to the game after a long pause, no more sound! :o I think this may be a pure navigator issue independent on the game, as this happened to me recently for another one.
- Even though increasing again normal damage, got back to 1?? Weird. Or do the enemies get more armour as time goes on?
- Bug: having paused by coincidence right when taking a hit, my character stays white after unpausing! X)
- So powerful that this is actually a bullet hell FOR THE ENEMIES. XD
- Skipped too fast, but maybe a misspelling "banans" for "bananas" about the damage upgrade; unsure.
- Do the bosses give you more experience? I would say yes, but not sure.
- Test: what causes the FPS to drop a little is apparently our numerous projectiles; things get smoother as soon as I stop clicking.
- For a lot of time, I have now thought that the most dangerous thing in the game is the cupcakes’ (? I mean, white with cherry things) projectiles. So, I think you could make the game more challenging by adding firing enemies.
- Got dougnuts of doom; stopping regular firing to increase FPS. XD
- Level 58: weird, the experience bar experiences jolty forward jumps before going back. There is a boss, so this might be linked to him??
- Definitely "banans" instead of "bananas" in the elite chocolate description.
- Experience bar smooth again at level 59.
- "BANANARANG" for elite bananas: the names are funny. XD
- Apparently, the upper-right panel does not show when some ability has reached elite level; I would suggest putting some indication there. For example, a change of color for the dots or/and icon.
- The panel suggests the elite cone upgrade, but I already have it! Maybe because I am close to having all elite abilities? Nevertheless, healing is no more suggested, as I had anticipated…
- Level 72: only five upgrades suggested, this time! So, I am wondering if the elite cone thing is a specific bug. By the way, what happens when you have all the upgrades? Do you get stuck on an empty upgrade panel? Or is there some limit level?
- I want to see all elite abilities, so this game takes me SO MUCH time… Currently at level 74; I would advise making it shorter in the context of a game jam, for fussy testers like me that go out of their ways to see as much as they can. X)
- Level 76: everything at elite level! I just wonder what happens if you also set your basic capacities to the maximum…
Takeaway: super funny-juicy action-packed game! Action and details are really great, although there is a difficulty imbalance in the long or even middle run, but this could be fixed by tweaking power parameters (and adding shooting enemies, see above).
Actually, the real game-jam-related criticisms would be that I feel the game is only loosely connected to the theme (this basically amounts to ‘there are other cookies/delicacies like you’) and not necessarily original. Although the game jam page does say not to necessarily target all criteria, so… not that serious in itself, I feel the game is GREAT! :)
Side note: my last-minute game does the exact opposite, focusing almost solely on the theme and originality (and still on gameplay to a possible extent). XD