Very cool game, the visuals are stunning! And I see what you mean about the computer textures, in the menu with the fixed camera angle they serve their purpose perfectly at that resolution. A lot of fun to play, and for sure a fresh take on the genre. Really it seems like you have a good handle on where you want this game to go, and it is already really solid so I won't even try to give design notes on those areas. My only critique really would be the music, I always prefer to see a human composer getting their stuff out there over AI generated music. Of course that can always be added at a later time when you find the right person to work with. Awesome jam game, if you are on the fence about continuing to work on it I would definitely say it's worth your time.
AsE_CG
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I had fun, the concept is very cool. I had a lot of difficulty finding the other submarines, the mechanics were pretty clear but I just never could quite locate more than 1 or 2. I'm used to bullet hell games with a much faster pace, it took me a second to adjust to a more cautious and thoughtful play style but overall I kinda liked it, it took the concept of bullet hell and built on it instead of just being a carbon copy of the classic arcade games. If I were to come up with a design note my only thought would be maybe having an easy mode with a faster sonar rotation. I think it is playable as is but it would give new players to the game a chance to get their legs under them before jumping into the regular challenge, and I see it has been called out already but just some level boundaries. Overall really solid, great work for the limited amount of time!
I enjoyed the gameplay, this is a fun rts and I enjoy the spin of no direct control over the units. It you up to think strictly about production and resource management which has always been the more enjoyable parts of rts games for me. Very challenging, had victory torn from my grasp at the last second lol which was frustrating but I think I could get there with a few more playthroughs.
-Controls were easy for me to understand. It took me a second to discover that double clicking a production building would select all of that type but once I got that I was having a lot of fun.
-I did not wind up using the scout, I did build outposts at other resource sites but never felt the need for a scout unit. I could see it being more useful on larger/less symmetrical maps.
-Played on the web for convenience/time constraints, and it played pretty smoothly that way. Concept seems solid enough that I would download to play if you wind up with a large enough game/asset list to need it though.
Cool game though keep up the good work!
Had a lot of fun, a really solid time management game. Took a little while to get into the swing of things but I was playing fairly well before long. General vibe was good, I didn't even mind the controls (played on keyboard) although it did take some getting used to. I had a few issues with mismatched dvd's getting stuck on the top shelf or behind the shelf that I was unable to pick back up and put away correctly, not a huge issue but frustrating when there is time left at the end and I know my score will go down because of that one troublemaker lol. Foundation seems solid excited to see where it goes!
-oh yea as an afterthought, maybe some kind of symbol on the dvd cases/shelves to go with the different colors, I could see the gameplay being difficult for players with colorblindness.
This is a very cool game concept, I have only played through a few of the levels completely at this point but I do feel like this might be one I will come back to and play further in my downtime. I am an avid fan of the Megaman X collection so I was feeling right at home with this gameplay style. I found the mechanics engaging and easy to understand but I do have a lot of playtime on this type of game and that my have made it easier for me to pick up, I thought the exposition explained things pretty well but my perspective may have been skewed by that.
Gameplay and controls felt pretty good, I generally prefer to control my characters with the D-pad in 2d sidescroller games but the joystick control was not bad. I really liked that traditional style platforming and shooting controls. I am also interested to see what you do with the movement upgrades as the game progresses, I made it to the double jump upgrade and I was pretty excited to see some of the level design stuff it looked like you were planning with that mechanic.
I had fun and found it engaging. There are enough upgrades and interesting stuff to find to drive the game forward and keep players attention. The interface was neat and user friendly as well, nothing major holding you back there.
I think I may have found a minor bug on world 1-1, in the cave area where you find the first upgrade. I missed the platform on my jump and ran out the exit without grabbing the upgrade. When I went back into the cave through the exit door I could not see my character and it seemed like I might have been soft locked in some way. I reset the level and played through the second time with no issues but it might have been something weird going on (or possibly I was just stuck on something in the doorway I'm not entirely sure).
Very cool looking game though, and the style is very consistent. I always appreciate art direction in indie games. The attention to detail is for sure doing you favors here! Excited to see more.
Hi 1StepCloser, good to see you in the jam again! I am loving the game title, and the game thumbnail looks new to me as well. I feel like the pixel art style for the title image fits the game really well. I had not noticed the smaller size of the UI buttons on previous versions of the game, but the updated button size seemed like it was working well. I had a little bit of an issue with the pool mini game where I accidently clicked too far outside of the screen and it exited the mini game as a loss. Other than that I did not notice any problems with mis-clicks or selecting the wrong things in the menus.
I really liked the addition of the pool mini game overall though. I was disappointed to click out of the screen mostly because I was having fun with that one lol. I was also able to find the soul fragment in the flashlight mini game this time, I think I just had trouble because I was playing on a track pad the last time I was testing it out.
I wish I had more critique to give but other than the mini game thing I really didn't have any issues, the game played smoothly and was an engaging experience. On a more personal note I am curious if you have any suggestions for an .ico converter. I would like to have custom icons for my games but I'm always a little wary of the online image converters. If you used an online converter and thought it worked well I would be interested to hear your recommendation.
Hey Docile Fright, good to see you in the jam again! I also had my zip file extract separately, it's surprisingly easy to do on accident (I have for sure compressed things in the game folder instead of compressing the whole folder). Once I gathered up the pieces and made a new folder for them the game fired up and played for me just fine. I like the new setting and I could tell there was some additional effort made to establish some storyline and world building elements, which I always appreciate. It's starting to feel more and more like there is a bigger world to discover by exploring the levels and talking to the NPCs.
The gameplay still feels very much like the the version that I played last time so I don't have any new critiques or comments there. I liked the controller support (Did the version in IMGJ 30 have that already? If it did I don't think I tried it out) but I did have some trouble accessing my level up menu without using my mouse. It might have been an operator error but I think I tried all the buttons and the game paused and everything, I just couldn't access the menu's with the controller.
The follower/helper creature also seemed like a new addition, and I like where you are going with it. I was a little unsure of what the creature was doing, it appeared to be doing some straightforward attacks to help out but maybe it was also doing some sort of character buff as well? I could tell something was happening but you might add something to signpost more clearly what the helper is doing for your character. Seems like some distinct improvements though happy to see all the new stuff!
It's great to see Docile Cry in a jam again, my bad on taking so long to get a comment/rating in. Had a lot of fun and seemed like distinct improvements since the last time I played (IMGJ 28 I think it was). Didn't get to try out the new skill but I loved the movement tips and the personal improvement challenges, I don't remember those from the last time but they improved my ability to play significantly. I've been super short on time this jam so I didn't make it very far, not even as far as I did on the last playtest, but I did want to make sure I at least fired it up and gave it a try since I recognized the game. The sprites are very consistent and look like they belong together so I gave some extra points on Visuals because I always appreciate custom and consistent art. Keep up the good work!
I was hoping I would get to check out some updates for TBD in this jam, I'm pumped to see all the progress and effort still going into this one. Still a super fun game, and it even seemed like it saved my progress from the last game jam in spite of being a totally fresh download which I was impressed by. Enjoyed the new skill tree, it made sense and kept my character levels but just returned the skill points to be re-assigned so all the updates seem like they are functioning really well. I was miserably unsuccessful at the soul fragment hunt, and I have yet to actually gain anything from one of those levels but I'm still trying to figure out the mechanic. I will need keep trying though I feel like I was getting close, had to play on a trackpad during the playtest so maybe when I have a mouse close by I will be able to play those parts more effectively. Game is still looking awesome excited to keep seeing more!
I always love a good mech game, but I very rarely play MOBA games so I was a little on the fence about this. I had a ton of fun though I'm glad I gave it a try! I had a little bit of trouble finding the upgrades menu on the first playthrough, the tab is clearly visible but it just didn't catch my eye until I had been destroyed once or twice lol. I guess maybe if it flashed or indicated itself until you opened the menu the first time might be helpful, but this could be something I would have immediately looked for if I were more familiar with the style of game. I felt like there was maybe just a touch of continuity issues with some of the visual style, some assets looked very smooth and higher poly while some looked a little bit lower poly and simple but that is a very minor thing (and it might only be noticeable because it's something I've sort of trained myself to look for). Overall had a really good time, will probably play more when I have the time.
This is a cool precision platformer... I don't know if anyone else in the jam is old enough to remember this but it reminds me of Blackthorne for the SNES a little bit. Even to the point where the movement feels deliberately difficult and frustrating at the beginning but quickly becomes a part of the challenge as you get used to the arc/distance of the jumps and stuff. I didn't make it very far but the parts that I played were really solid, I could see coming back and trying more when I have more time lol. Everything feels thought out and deliberate, so really no suggestions on the gameplay overall. Had a minor issue with the ledge hang at one point, the animation played and i stuck for a second before clipping through and falling back down. This was right after a screen shift, I had fallen from a section into the section below and caught on to a ledge near the top of the screen before clipping through (I'm not sure if those details help but I figured I would include them anyway). Cool game though, excited to see more!
This was fun, and I'm terrible with mental maths so I was a little surprised! I think I would be better at it if there were more educational games that were actually entertaining. I really liked the storytelling and the powerups/pickups found around the dungeon, it made the overall experience feel more like an adventure even though the combat is focused on solving equations. I feel like that helped keep me engaged as the enemies/problems became harder to solve. I think it's just down to the detail work and polish for this one, the gameplay seems like it is working really well... I wasn't able to make it too far but I might come back when I have more time and see if I can find out what happened to all the magic lol!
This is a fun concept, I like the challenge of one bullet that you need to continuously pick up. The art is simple but it's consistent so it all looks like it belongs together, although I would love to see some flashy art updates for this game maybe down the road. The game plan looks solid in the devlog though, it sounds like you have a pretty good handle on what you want to do from here... enjoyable gameplay!
I had a lot of fun, arcade/high score games just have a way of drawing people in. The mechanics are solid and it's fun to play! At this point I feel like the only critiques would be maybe some art updates to really make it things pop on the screen, and a few different brick layouts or levels would really add some variety and a sense of progression in the game. It really shows how designing around limitations (like a one button limit) can still make really fun and enjoyable games and add an interesting twist to a classic game.
A good demake is always enjoyable, and I thought this one was pretty fun! I had a little trouble navigating the world, at times I struggled to determine which grounds/textures I was able to walk on and which ones indicated walls or obstacles. I played the browser version and I had some trouble with the Pikmin that was supposed to follow me. After moving the box he was stuck at the bottom of the screen in the next area (where you find the engine) and when returning to the first area he just sort of wandered off to the south and disappeared lol. I got a little stuck in the engine area anyway so that was as far as I made it. I do love the pixel art style and you can instantly recognize it as a pikmin game, so visually I feel like it's working well.
Neat browser game, and I loved the premise! Solar power advocation is always a good thing lol. I feel like the bones are really good, the game is fun already and I can see a lot of potential for some tycoon-esque and puzzle game elements that could start to come in to play. I didn't mind the memory game aspect as it is now, I was able to come up with a system for the sales pitch and installation that worked pretty well for trying all the options with minimal accidental repeats. I do agree with the other comment about some visual cues when the game starts to scale bigger, I could see trying to remember things on a larger grid being more of a challenge. Good start though I would be interested to see where you wind up taking things with the project.
Feedback Question: The game ran smoothly and I did not notice any issued with lag or game speed. I played the web version and had no issues during gameplay.
I have run short on time during the week and I was only able to check out the gameplay video, but this looks like it would be a lot of fun to play (not that I would have been too helpful with play testing probably, I appreciate watching people play but I am absolute garbage at fighting games). The characters are adorable and the art style overall is looking great, and the moves seem to be diverse and allow for some strategy (at least based off of the character featured in the video). I know how challenging hit detection and interactions can be in fighting games so I am overall very impressed with the work!
If I needed to be picky and put on my artist hat, my only note would be the animations look a little stiff for a game that relies so heavily on the expressiveness of it's characters. The primary poses are looking great, but as eventual polish there could probably be some work on the momentum on the character when she flips or rotates during the jumps, and perhaps a feeling of more weight when she lands on the ground. I will quantify that by saying these are as good or better than many of the animations I personally have done, but a friend of mine who's primary focus is 3D animation would want me to bring it up lol.
To mention the other side of the character animations, I'm very impressed with some of the lip synching on the close up shots. Lip synch can be so hard to get right and I found these very believable, the movements looked very much like the character was actually forming the words they were saying.
Overall it looks like a very good game!
Thank you for playing! I will need to work on making the hazards/damage more apparent in the future, there is truly nothing worse than an unexpected death in a game due to poorly advertised hazards. I am very happy to hear that the gameplay was relaxing overall, I do want this to be a fun and challenging game but I am hoping it will also be relaxing enough that my nieces can play it when they get a little older lol so that note actually means a lot to me.
Thank you again for playing and best of luck with your future game developing!
Thank you for playing! I will try to make sure I address these issues and improve the game through this feedback, so I do appreciate all of it! A visual tear sounds very distracting so I will be trying to look into that issue aggressively.
The zoom states do seem to be a point of interest for many people, be it positive or negative. It doesn't do much in the early levels but as the player progresses it becomes a gameplay mechanic to adjust the view while playing (there are areas where you need to see more surroundings paired with areas that block your view when zoomed out so the player needs to plan their view while playing the game for additional challenge) and overall I stand by the decision but it does still need some dialing in lol. I'm also thinking about adding a "peek" option that will rotate the camera around the player by just 20 degrees or so, allowing the player to have more of a look around the level environments. I do need to get a feel for this in general though, and find out what feels right for the most players.
I love to hear that you enjoyed the music! I always have though that music choices can make or break certain games (and platformers in particular).
Yea lol and I don't know what to say about the mushrooms on the beach.... I guess I kinda figured you can find mushrooms and decomposers everywhere but I really don't see them very often in the sand. At the end of the day I just suppose I just thought they were fun, but the enemies will probably be getting some new models down the road (especially the mushroom and the frost enemy found in the snow levels). The Longnose Gar fish was intended to be an enemy, but with it only causing damage when you are hit by the fishes nose I can see how it might read more as a platform. I am thinking I might make the player pass through the fish in the future to help with that.
I feel bad for not making the health bar more prominent, the 3 bubbles in the top left are the players HP (I thought it would fit the theme better than hearts but it may be causing some visual confusion). I will work on making sure players are made aware of the UI early in the game to avoid future frustrations.
Thank you again for all of the feedback, Good luck with all your future game development!
Thank you for playing! I appreciate the feedback, this will help me improve the game and help me make things fun for more players for sure! Level select is a great call out, interaction would be a good idea along with just making it more spacious in general. I have even toyed with the idea of making it a top down view more like Super Mario World or Shovel Knight and just make a Hub World map that opens up as you beat levels... I might get more serious about implementing that as well. I'll try some things and see what works.
I hear you about the design confusion, the Longnose Gar (fish) character was not intended to be a platform but rather just an enemy (they are a natural predator of crabs among other things) that players could ride on or use as platforms if they wanted to. I may set the collider so the player cannot stand on the fishes back in the future, it should not be necessary to complete any of the levels at this point. I got this note twice just here at the end so it does feel like something I should try to address. And the flipping is not a bad idea as well, I like the visual of the fish actually rotating around but gameplay is king for sure, I don't want it to make the game feel more frustrating and less fun.
Thank you for the Opacity fade out suggestion for enemy deaths though, I will start looking into that right away I think I could improve a few of my games with that feature. The instant removal can be a bit jarring. Plus I could probably use the same effect for the player during invulnerability frames... good idea for so many things!
I have run really short of time this week, and I don't think I managed to get to your game over the weekend but I saw the gameplay video was posted. I'll be sure to at least check that out and give a rating!
Thanks again and good luck with your game development!
Thank you this is very helpful, I feel like the game with improve a lot thanks to this feedback! Coyote time does seem like a good idea, I had been toying with the thought of adding the extra jump forgiveness as a powerup but with the double jump already implemented it might be a good idea to just have it as a default setting, especially as the difficulty increases in the later levels.
I for sure need to do something to telegraph the enemy attacks, the enemy attacks in general were intended to be placeholders but then I keep getting distracted by other things and the updates slip through the cracks lol. I was mostly just thinking more dynamic and expressive but a proper "wind up" will for sure make the game less frustrating in the beginning. I will probably also have the "toxin cloud" and sound effect play every time the player triggers the attack sequence instead of just when they are hit so it can be timed if the player goads the mushroom into attacking and then backs away.... either way that one is definitely going on the to do list.
I can't believe the water level drop in slipped through the cracks this long to be honest, now that you mention not being able to see the fish when you drop it seems so obvious but I really hadn't even considered it. I do think I could cook up a "peek" mechanic that would help with that while keeping the game challenging... and maybe even open the door for even more sneaky hidden areas that can only be found by peeking around the right corners.
First encounter pop ups are also a good call out, plus it's quick and easy to implement so I am always happy with that lol and checkpoints for sure I was looking for a way to add difficulty settings down the road anyway and that one seems like a great solution. Oh and thank you for the positive call outs as well! I need to know what's not working but it's nice to know what's working as well :-).
Best of luck with all your game developing!
All the pieces are there, but I just couldn't get the hang of this game. It might just be a "git gud" issue but for me the enemies were either coming in too fast or tanking too many hits and I just couldn't get out of the negative scores lol. My only note would be maybe dial back the speed and hits and add some evasive movements to keep the game challenging but a little less overwhelming. Still it worked well and it is for sure the groundwork of a good "asteroids" style game.
This is a cool dungeon crawler, and the second game in this jam that has given me Daggerfall vibes. It is cool to see that style coming back in some indie games! Gameplay was solid as well, seems like a well made tabletop style rpg with graphics. I think one of the gold pickup icons glitched and just showed on my screen for the rest of the time playing but I was still able to click and interact with things so it wasn't game breaking for me.
I would personally love to have a little village to run around in during the town sequences, maybe with different shop keepers or quest givers that could add additional objectives during the dungeon crawls. It was pretty fun just running through dungeons and trying to keep the party kitted out either way so for sure off to a great start, I'm not sure if this is more of a quick jam game or something you were intending to build up a bit.
Fun game though, nice job.
I think this works as an RPG with a map, although I do miss top down RPG games in general so it might just be a personal play style preference. I thought the combat was fun though, once I figured out how the card system worked I started to really get into it. I also enjoy the narrative so far, can't go wrong with the hero's journey story arc lol always makes for a compelling tale. Art is for sure the star in this one I really liked your enemy sprites and dialogue boxes. Overall very cinematic and polished, if I were to have any noted it would be to maybe up the resolution on the human sprites to match the enemy art (just a little less pixelated and more illustrated)... but it's not enough to really detract from the experience. I didn't have time to sink my teeth into the story completely yet but I could see playing this one through for a while to see where it goes. Nice work overall!
This is a cool RTS, fun to play and requires some strategy to achieve the win condition! I noticed a few minor bugs but nothing particularly game breaking, the capital letters in the text prompts were not showing up when I was playing is the most noticeable thing I found. On a second playthrough I think the letters are showing up they are just not moving with my view but are maybe locked to a global point on the map. Also the green mottled texture that starts as the UI background would migrate onto the map and get stuck there for me, occasionally blocking my view of the map and making it difficult to play.
I was able to destroy the mill however by building on the right side of the map where the texture wasn't blocking any of the view and I had a lot of fun playing. I liked building up the oak walls and positioning the pine tree towers in protected places. I think this could really be expanded out into pretty intense experience with more challenging lumberjack buffs, possibly multiple saw mills around the larger map/maps, and a few more trees with different costs and effects.
I did run into some minor frustration with the pathfinding, but I was able to get around it by being very specific with the move command instructing the wisps where to go very deliberately, they seemed to have some trouble going long distances without getting stuck but the move command worked well as long as there was a direct route to where they were going. Maybe something to address down the road though.
I could see putting some hours in on this game once it is expanded out a little more though, the framework is definitely solid for a fun game. Oh and I love the story as well, I would much rather be a tree fighting the lumberjacks than play as the lumberjacks trying to kill all the trees. I really enjoyed playing from natures perspective.
Thank you for the thorough review I love to hear things that people are interested in from the players perspective. I will start thinking about the rotating platforms idea for sure, I do think using those as a timed launch would be great for a challenge level or even as a way to reach a secret area or something (maybe even a power up to let the player take extra hits). I have also considered checkpoints, or even an easy/hard mode where one has checkpoints but they can be removed for an extra challenge. I love the interactable objects idea, logic and physics puzzles are always fun and it would add that variety.
Animation updates are for sure on the list as well, I'm still trying to decide if I want to try and implement them in a way I'm familiar with (using the baked animations and just adjusting them until they match up with the game speed and things like that) or if I'm ready to start looking into unfamiliar territory with procedural animations. I know I need to start getting familiar with those I'm just dragging my feet lol.
Anyway thank you again for all the feedback, this has given me some new perspectives on the project that I think will really help. Good luck with your games as well I'll make sure to check out your entry today!
Thank you :-D I like to think that weird but not in a bad way is kind of my life motto lol. I will continue to try and polish up the effects and the environments, but I'm glad the overall aesthetic s working for people. I'm also glad you liked the pause menu, with as strange of an art style as this one has I can never tell if other people will think stuff looks cool or weird. I appreciate all the feedback!
Beautiful art friend, you definitely have some illustration chops if these are your custom assets! (From everything I was reading it seems like they are). I think I took a similar unity course to the one in your devlog, not the exact one but something designed to help me get familiar with the basics. Your final product turned out much better than the tiny prototype I was able to develop! No major bugs or issues on my end (except for the high score record but it looks like that is a known bug) and really I'm just impressed with the art style. I hope to see you continue to make great/fun things!
Very cute and fun platformer, enjoyable game. I didn't find an upgrade path that I loved right away, but it seemed like all the pieces were there. I will just have to play some more to try and find a way through... Loved the enemy sprites though, funny and emotive. Animations could be made a little bit smoother maybe but they were at least consistent so I could accept it as a style choice. I'll have to come back and play some more but no major issues occurred in my playtest.
This is another very solid entry, I don't have much to critique here. If I were going to be picky the voice over was a little hard to understand at times, but I hesitate to bring it up because the rumbly dark voice fits the theme of the game so well and with the subtitles (and the skip back through dialogue option) the confusion was always short lived. I got drawn into this one, I was starting to feel good about my strategies and gameplay but I still felt like I was only scratching the surface. It seems like you have a plan and are executing well on it, so for sure keep up the good work! I'll be interested to hear what the final title is as well, and I'm sure I'll keep playing to see what other cute/cool creature sprites I can unlock.
I am very unfamiliar with your origin story for the game, although I did find it interesting lol. Going in blind and just commenting on what was in the build it seems like a solid start, the game plays well and I didn't notice any bugs or major issues. And I really feel like the UI was well implemented, I always find that part to be kind of a slog to get through so it's nice to see an indie developer take the time to put some thought into it. I really loved star fox growing up so overall I had a great time playing, even when I was intimidated by the bosses dominating T-pose lol.
Really the only thing holding you back here is the recycled assets (and I can sympathize, my primary skillset is in the 3D art pipeline and there is a ton of stuff to learn in order to create custom assets). Nice game though, fun to play and I could see it expanding quite a bit.