Oh thank you so much, it means a lot. And, you know, we are starting to seriously consider developing this into a full game. I'll keep you updated if it becomes a thing. Also I quite like your suggestions, especially the health thing, or maybe checkpoints, I think it would help making the game more accessible. With the timer still offering great challenge to the players who want it. Not sure about the story though, none of us really write, and I wouldn't want to make something underwhelming in that regard. What seems a lot more feasible though is making a much more defined atmosphere for the game, and maybe have it evolve throughout, hinting at things that have happened or are happening there. Anyway, I really appreciate the detailed feedback, it is very encouraging.
Thanks a lot for your feedback! And yeah, I'm not incredibly proud of the visuals. That was my first jam and turns out it's bloody hard to come up with an artstyle and produce quality visuals over such a short period of time while also taking care of the game and level design. At least I'm happy putting a lot of effort in the parry VFX was worthwhile. By the way, if you have tips or specific feedback on this, I'm all ears. Producing visuals during game jams I mean. Anyway, I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and that you noticed the reference :>
I'm not easily impressed, and yet! Your art... have impressed me!
On my first playthrough, the instructions were a bit unclear, but once you understand how to play as the critic, you start racking up some impressive insult combos. This is actually a nice blend of gameplays, but there's a pretty low skill ceiling in my opinion. Maybe adding some extra ways to build up points while painting could do the trick? Either way, this is a nice little game that totally fits the jam's theme. Well done!
Neat little game, a good blend of puzzle and action elements. The level design gets very difficult very fast, but some are actually pretty well designed and require some outside-the-box thinking. I think the game is missing a tutorial for how the main mechanic works, had to die a few times during the first level before figuring it out. Otherwise, considering the time limit, it's a nice concept packaged with a few levels showcasing its different use cases. I could definitely see this as a standalone game. Continuez comme ça !
Cool idea, the notion of weight creates a nice tension. Having to sacrifice the many cards you get is a good idea too, but you often have to sacrifice all of your cards just to catch up. There should've also been a way to evaluate how well you did at the end of the game. Other than that, nicely done, well presented, a good little game!
What a sweet little game! The mechanic itself is pretty good. I stood out of my chair when I read "Bug can't jump" because it's such a simple but effective way to create challenge. With better level design and stronger feedback / sound design, this would've been a strong contender.
Interesting game. The idea of sacrificing abilities and re-exploring the level is really neat, if only the levels were clearer in terms of direction. A lot of the time I was just wandering around trying to find the way to progress, and I feel like some parts were pretty difficult to clear. With the way the game is presented, it felt like I was playing one of these unfair NES games that YouTubers like AVGN or his French counterpart JDG would play, for better or for worse!
I gotta say it does feel like there's been quite a lot of work put into your game: there is plenty of content, the game is relatively long compared to other jam entries, the music is nice, so mad respect for that!
NB: Was the game supposed to close (or crash) at the end of level 2?
The music is cool, the game has an aesthetic, and the idea seems interesting. But apparently it doesn't work? When I hit another character with the boomerang, the "roles reversed" screen appears, the game freezes, and never continues. Is there something I missed?
Pretty fun, the uprade system and the way it always feels so possible to do a perfect round had me hooked quite well (pun intended). Speaking of the upgrade system, I think it could be improved by using the score as a currency (and getting a big score bonus if all fish survive a round). This would reward playing well and taking risks a lot more. And add some granularity to the upgrade system, make it not just a 'yes or no', but a 'how much'. Also sometimes the QTE windows get completely impossible, and I think that's a bit unfair. Essentially punishing the player for surviving so far. But still, quite nice. ඞ
Thanks a lot for all your feedback! Your suggestions are really interesting. Early during the jam, we did consider the inversed parry direction, but not as something tied to the bullets, just a different way to make the mechanic, which wasn't great. But making it a level design element is brilliant! It's a much better idea and would allow for a lot more variety in the levels. The possibility of deflecting bullets is great as well, maybe a bit contradictory with our take on the jam's theme, but otherwise I like it. I think it'd have to be optional though, perhaps binded to a different input, so the player could choose which enemies to destroy to reduce danger and which ones to keep to aid him in his completion of the platforming challenges.
The visuals are very impressive, it looks like a real game. I don't know how you managed to make something that looks so nice in so little time. I quite like the idea of switching between characters as well. However it is very difficult to actually understand how to play I think? One thing that was hard for me to get is that you need to press space AND have your mouse over a character in order to switch to them. It almost discouraged me from playing the game at all because it just felt like the switching wasn't working. And more generally, it feels like you don't have quite enough time to do the whole switching and parrying thing and it's a bit frustrating. Or maybe I'm just very tired. That being said, it's really interesting, and could be damn enjoyable if it was a little more accessible.
Brilliant job at balancing the encounters to always keep the player feeling like they're barely scraping by. The enemy uses more dangerous moves based on how low their HP is and how early in the act it is, right? It feels like if you get them down to a third of their health on floor 1, they start using very strong attacks that they normally keep for floor 4-5. Not sure I understand that correctly, but it works well. It keeps the tension up all the time.
Maybe the game could use bigger feedbacks, especially on attacks. You could make the slash sprite bigger and maybe display damage numbers as well. Make it pop, make it spectacular, I want a battle for the ages and explosions that don't fit the screen. Okay maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but I think generous and spectacular sound and visual effects do a lot for a game's feeling.
Debuffs applied by the enemy might be a little too strong? Sometimes they feel like they just completely keep you from having an impact on the fight. I think sticking to percentage based effects on those would be better. Also more generally, I would have wanted a little more control, I think situations where I just played what I could with the cards I got without making meaningful decisions happened a little too often. But other turns I had to make real unsolvable choices. I think is mostly due to the time limitation.
Also it's interesting to be playing as a succession of expandable minions. I only did two attempts, but it feels like there is something there to further explore, a nuance in how to behave as said character at said point in the act. It changes the way you think about your actions and I'm all for it.
Nice concept, and the character has some very satisfying controls! It's a shame that the projectile control mechanic completely locks you into place. One way to get around that would be to separate player and projectile control, and maybe letting the character move, but slowly. Aside from that, the graphics do look very good, and despite the lack of sound, the visual feedback is translating the action very well!
The gameplay is a little too simplistic, could've needed a bit more variation on the bird's trajectory, but it's really not that bad for a game made in 3 hours!
Funny concept, the writing was great! I feel sorry for Bigger Jim... 😔
We have some feedback for you: We didn't feel like the choices we were making were interesting. The player is told the ball is going one way, but the direction feels a bit randomized. One way to improve the decision making would be to make the pins heavier relative to their morale, so we could use them to shield the weaker pins at the expense of their morale.
Now that's an action game! Very fun, lots of feedback, giving Hotline Miami vibes. Congrats on the amount and quality of levels produced. If anything, using the body crushers is a little bit frustrating, hard to time right. It kinda slows the game, which goes against its frenzied nature. Still really enjoyable regardless!
Really good art direction, visuals are on point and the music fits well. We really like the mood set by this game. We think this lacked a bit of audio feedback, and we didn't know exactly how to progress during the fishing sequence. Maybe this sequence is too long compared to the others? Otherwise, this experience was neat!
Interesting idea, and congrats on your first game! However, steering the bullet is too slow. It feels like we can't really hit multiple enemies in a single shot, and can only hit the one that's automatically targeted. One way to make this better would be to allow players to make sharper turns, perhaps balance it out with an increased move speed, and make a bigger play area. Hope to see more from you soon!
Glad you enjoyed it! We are aware of the level skip bug, but only realised after the deadline ended so we couldn't upload the fix. Also you might be interested to know our best times are 15.9 seconds on the 1st level and 15.7 on the 2nd one. Would love to see someone beat those.
