It's fine that your first attempt on this kind of game is confusing, especially when production time is short. Everything that matters in development and any other art - repetition and reworking, which requires a lot of time.
And it's usually easy to say, that one needs to keep it small and simple, but the truth is: until you do something big and complex you never know, what is small and simple, because one understands the meaning of things in relation to other things.
I might miss something in the tutorial, but I would make it easier to remove objects, for example with the right click over them. It becomes a little tedious if you just misplaced something after placing other elements and you need to reset the whole level.
I'd tell players that sometimes they won't need all the items that a level gives you, if that is a conscious choice. That's a completely different topic, anyway.
The idea is great, I like that text rhymes, I think it deserves a full version!
Great game! Unfortunately, it's very difficult for me, but I still had fun thinking of the right strategy and trying different tactics. By the way, I didn't see spacebar in the control list, I accidentally hit it and got some slo-mo. Is it intended, or did I just find a secret key :))?
I'm very sorry to hear the game frustrated you :( I think some aspects of the game are not clear, which I'm gonna continue working on.
Unfortunately, I don't have enough resources to test out the game, there could be a problem in how it counts beats on your device, might be some input lag, which differs greatly across devices. If you have time, I'd appreciate if you could record a video of you playing, it would help me figure out how different players play and how the game behaves. If you can't, no worries!
I wish noone frustrates over my games, I only want people to have fun as I do. I wish you a good day and I hope you get some rest after unfortunate experience, I know how a game can spoil a mood :(
I love all those dialogs in the beginning and in the end, reflecting on the beginning ones. Such a good humor!
I tried browser and linux versions. In my situation, browser version was playable, but it performed not well enough, so it was difficult to maneuver in several situations. 2 out of 8 days I was able to reach the boss and just died there. On linux version I was able to win immediately, it was easier to input all the arrows and maneuver around. It's not a big surprise, browser games usually perform worse thank desktop ones. Your game is much more enjoyable on desktop! Just in case, maybe you should consider suggesting players try desktop version.
Smithy dancing in the background is a nice idea :)) I wanted to have a line of customers moving to the beat of the music, but, due to time constraints decided to keep everything to the minimum.
Definitely gonna work on more visual feedback in the full game!
Oh! OH! Thank you! The thing was... I didn't know that I need to use ARROWS to choose a dialog option! When arrow symbols appeared in the dialogs, at first I missed them, but then I knew, that something is going on! Maybe they mark something or they should work as buttons... After you told me I can choose a dialog, at first I was hitting WASD and QR, but nothing happened. I accidentally tried arrows - it worked! Did I miss something in the tutorial?
It was fun running after some hood stealer :)) There I saw the reasoning for walking a square at a time, because you have to use your skill of button mashing to chase the guy. It still needs to be easier while just walking around. I don't know what solution to offer, but, as I said, it was interesting for me to run after the guy step by step :)
Thank you, I'm gonna replay it a couple of times later!
Yes, after the Jam I'm gonna continue the development. Have some ideas on extending the pattern system, like alternating patterns and finishing pattern :)
Cool idea, nice levels, good music! For me, abundance of proper tutorial kinda kills the engagement - at some point I just wasn't understanding what was going on, why things behaved like they did and it overwhelmed me. It's fine not to give player everything, but the basics are must have.
Good idea! I wish this game was more polished. My characters fell through the level walls, but the third was fine and i was able to finish :) Anywan, good job, I would play the finished version.
Interesting concepts. Sometimes some of the monsters appear just next to the ship and hit me, it's difficult to fight back in time in such situation. Upgrade system is a little unclear. But it's fun to play!
The only issue that I had was with the movement inertia - most of the time I'd press the movement button and keep it pressing. And then, when I wanted to stop, I'd release it only to move one more unnecessary tile and die or take a color that I didn't want. I'd suggest to make controls more precise.
Puzzle designs made me think of the level dynamics. It's interesting how some of them looked simple, but were complex to solve, and others looked complex, but were very straightforward. Some of them contained several solutions. I think a player would need some sort of this dynamic, when levels do not just become more complicated, but from time to time allow the player to relax a little and do something simple and linear, even if it looks complicated. Nevertheless, it's surprising, like, what happened, did the game just gave up on making harder levels :)?
Nice concept! I like the music, it's very good! Overall, it play like an engaging game with an interesting story.
Unfortunately, the game in the end after several playthroughs left me confused - does it have branching story? It seems to me that the only way is to fail, because I didn't find any alternatives.
I guess, the game is still work in progress, for example: every time you enter the room with the bell, the ability to rewind time activates. In the janitor room for the first time the door gets locked and it kinda forces you to use the ability, but then you can freely enter the room again, get the ability, get out and use it. I thought it had to be that way to investigate other rooms and maybe avoid contacting the bartender, but nothing was happening when used outside the janitor room.
Each time you enter the rooms with the bell, their state resets: I go to the janitor room, it's evening. I rewind time, it's afternoon. I go the vault - it's afternoon. I rewind time - it's morning. I go back to the janitor room: it's evening :) I got lost, where shoud use the ability? Only in the rooms with the bell, or outside, too?
So, if your story has other endings, please tell me the solution, I'd like to continue playing :)
I agree with Chugwig on the movement and talking with characters issues.
Anyway, I think this game has potential, especially because how you shaped it.
Very, very nice game! Nice art use, great music! I mostly agree with other commentators. My personal problem was that I sometimes couldn't read the moves of the opponents. For example, the octopus always has his limbs up, so it's difficult to differentiate if it moves even upper from that position. Or the mermaid, whose tail is a little ambiguous. I think it's an interesting task how to make those moves for those characters more obvious. I like how you animated the characters overall! Your game is very engaging, great job!
Interesting concept! Only thing that bothered be was difficulty in level design - levels seem to be very easy (except the first one with bats, it was difficult for me to get the grip of it at first), while these levels contain a lot of elements, which seem to be sometimes unnecessary (like the final level with 4 or 5 jumping platforms). Does your game contain secrets which I didn't reveal? Anyway, good job! I would play a full version.
Nice game! Only thing that bothered me - reading the instruction while receiving damage. I like the idea and overall looks. I'd like to have a longer experience of it, if a full version is in the plans :)
This is soo good! I wish pathfinding was a little better, but sometimes I exploited it against the enemies ;) Very satisfying and fun game. I wish for a full version!
Thank you very much! Was your idea including blacksmith, too? :))
I already had some experience in rhythm games before this jam, so, yes, I would say if you have to make a rhythm game in 48 hours without prior experience it might be a very difficult task, mainly because of input and output lags everywhere. They are easy to solve, but require some time and heavy testing.
For example, in my game I was kinda forced to remove hit sound for the player, because it had output lag and messed the player's rhythm. I believe it is possible to optimize it, but I didn't have time to do it.
Hey, GabrielShaw! Interesting game! I like that a player has to strategize how to modify its tail on the go. Unfortunately, my game froze a couple of times. It wasn't an issue on the second level, but it made upset on the second level because of the lost progress. I was snakin' hard enough and I was fast as possible...
Anyway, good job! If you fix the freezes, it will be a great job ;)
When I started making the game I immediately did use the same hitting sound for the player as for the teacher. Actually, teacher was made later and used the player's sound. Unfortunately, I had to remove the player's hit sound due to performance reasons.
Somehow, when the player hits space, there's a very small lag when the sound plays, depending on a device. Even if the lag was super tiny, it still affected the playing so much that I couldn't play any rhythm at all - I would slow down or just mess the rhythm. It was a difficult decision for me, because it is somewhat illogical from the reality point of view, I decided to remove the sound until I optimize the lag.
Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm very glad you liked my game, thank you!
I have plans for a full game, so I'm gonna definitely work registering issues out.
I'm glad you like my music! Unfortunately, I didn't have time to write according sound effects for fail and success, so I used Kenney music jingles, but I will write my own for the future game.
I'm really interested what was happening with your playthrough. So, if you have some spare time, I would be happy if you could send me a video of you playing, that probably would help. Anyway, though, I'm gonna work on difficulty curve adjustment, like more training levels, adjustment to the music tempo, so it's slower on easier levels etc.
Thank you very much, I hope you will be back when the full game is done :)
Good game! It just requires some polishing here and there (like, ending animation when you find something, otherwise it's unclear for how long I should dig). Good job!
Hey, Doomerismo! Thank you for your feedback! Is it possible for you to elaborate on your suggestion? What would you recommend to make the game visually more clear?
I agree with diagonal movement - absence of it makes the game a little more difficult than it needs to be (storywise, too). Like the use of wall assets for the keys :) Good job!
Unexpected us of assets :)) Interesting idea! It seems that jumping over the enemies is a little difficult and not as rewarding as I'd like it to be. Anyway good job :)
