itch.io

This game has such a cool concept! It feels like a sort of reversed-stealth game, but each enemy has their own way of hiding and way to be countered

I love the game feel a lot too, all the flashy effects make it really rewarding to shoot down enemies and stuff!

A way to pause would be good but that's just a nitpick, this is a really cool game

Totally fair about the tutorial! You do have a different viewpoint on it with the colors though, which is very useful. You do help me realize that the significance of the colors is a biiiit confusing. 

The color of the background, level completion screen and tiles are purely for aesthetic purposes, but the color of the enemies does signify some things about their behaviour (at least, for the enemies there are - 4 isn't a whole lot, heh). The colors the background and enemies use are the exact same though, so I can understand that that creates some confusion. Especially with the tiles, you can hover and de-hover over them to randomly make them black or white, but this is also just for game feel - which, understandably, also creates some confusion!

It might be cool to add 'modifiers' to levels based on the background color. Could be as simple as increasing the chance for enemies of said color, or something with generation that benefits that color of enemy more, or both, or something completely different!

In any case, more stuff to think about for me. Thank you for your perspective!

(Also, adorable pfp)

Very charming game! Very pick-up-and-play.

I think the challenge could be improved with different shapes, like an L or T shape. Currently, I could just drop down any item in a slot, without having to think ahead much.

Also, I had issues with healing the hero, it seemed that they would still become unhappy when I healed them, since I'd have to drag out a piece of loot (the potion).

Still! The art is adorable and charming, and it was a fun and unique experience!

I'm extremely biased cause I love dragons and kobolds but this game is great!

I do feel like the gameplay can get a bit same-y after a couple minutes or so due to there only being 4 types of knights alongside only 4 items. I also noticed that how full the pride meter doesn't really matter, and seems to serve more so as a time-out after buying an item or being defeated by a knight. Maybe the meter could be repurposed in a way? For example, that being hit by a knight only takes a percentage, and if you still have pride, you can try again. Or that buying an item also only takes a percentage. Or both, or something else! I can see the pride meter as something that can be used to give more progression to the game in an iteration!

Other than that, I really enjoy the premise and the art is wonderful too. I especially appreciate all the little actions, like the little talking-blips with the talking sprites, and the sprites just slightly moving around. Not to mention that clicking the dragon makes em bounce for a bit, which is adorable.

Also love the soundtrack and how it changes depending on the circumstances, it's really pleasant!

RAAA FEAR ME IM GODZILLA RAAA

...wait, godzilla cant summon lighting or water or fire. ah well.

Still fun to destroy everything and good interpretation of the theme!

I think I would've preferred it if the town was pre-built, and that you had a time limit to destroy everything. Re-building efforts would still be a good challenge, though! I think it would help with letting 'attacks' do their full range of attack, instead of 2-3 structures.

Still very fun to mess around with and to experiment with the attacks!

Yeeees! Love this. Pick-up-and-play, no unnecessary confusing mechanic fluff, just simple to understand with plenty of opportunity for depth.

It'd be interesting to see more enemy types, but the game as is is really good. I guess I'm not entirely sure how I healed - since I seemed to, every now and then - but this game is super solid.

Love the art too. Looks very clean and matches well with the UI elements!

Firstly, congrats on your first itch game!

I think this game is very fun to mess around with. It's fun throwing the rod out there and just getting a cat, getting coins, getting a stronger rod, etc.

I did struggle at first with the shop and resetting! I tend to skip text cause I'm lazy so I didn't read that you needed to press enter to open the shop - instead, I just clicked on my coins and coin total, which I feel would be more logical to open the shop with?

It also seems like resetting the rod doesn't reset the velocity, which makes it hard to grab again when resetting. Using the rod also took me a little while, since it's more like a slingshot.

Still though! It's a fun game to mess with, and I can definitely see ways to iterate on it. Reminds me of games like Learn To Fly, in a good way. I also very much like the little tooltips when you catch a cat (they did seem to no longer appear after a while, though), if more species were to be added it'd be a fun indirect way to learn more about other species of cats! 

RAAA IM GODZILLA FEAR ME RAAAAAA

...okay, that aside, really nice game! Usually, I do prefer themes implemented mechanic-wise rather than story-wise, but this is just a really fun take on it.

Getting so many different tools was quite difficult, though - in the end, I did just end up spam-clicking in the hopes of getting the right tool for the right mant. I feel like using icons instead of text at the bottom could've helped to more easily know what tool is next, since the game does have a fairly fast pace.

Still though! I do very much like the animations, though, despite their pixel-ness they do still feel very alive, and I think the 'level selection menu', if you can call it that, is very original and helps with immersion.

Very unique game! I really like the concept.

I do think the gameplay can be a bit faster or have a some progression - maybe that the rate at which enemies and blocks spawn gradually increases?

Still! Fun to play and mess around with. Controls also feel quite nice to play with!

Such a pretty game! The sprites are very pretty, and they also work very well in a game context.

I do think that the mechanic of gaining health upon dying can be quite dangerous - you do help players who are struggling, but this does bite back in the final battle. Since players who die more often are probably not as good at the game, that'll mean they'll have a harder time beating the final boss.

(unless there's something in place where the player's boss will get more HP when they die, too - admittedly I haven't checked)

But still! The concept is cool, and I really like the idea of having to suffer something negative from taking something positive early. It creates some interesting choices!

Excellent game! Really cool interpretation of the theme, and sneaking around is very fun.

I do think that the game introduces quite a lot of elements at a pretty rapid tempo, which did make me feel a little overwhelmed at the start. I think it might've been better to limit it to a few abilities and make some more intricate levels with those abilities? I didn't really feel 'smart' most of the time, since the introduction of new mechanics made it feel like I was still in a tutorial of sorts.

Still, the art style is fun and lively, and the game is very pick-up-and-play with plenty of in-game feedback! It's a very good game jam game!

Thank you!

And yeah - from what I've gathered, a bit more of an explanation could definitely help!

Thank you!

Yeah, causing chaos with a bunch of enemies is very fun.

Glad you did manage to figure out the scoring! I am curious, actually - since a lot of feedback does say that they want more of a tutorial, do you think explaining the scoring system a bit more in-depth would help, too?

That's perfect! I do think that's what I want from this - that, after a while, you get the patterns of the enemies so that you can figure out the best route, without having the pressure of time.

Whoops! Yeah, the game does lack a bit of a tutorial so I don't blame you.

And also a bit of a mistake in my explanation - for every level, every enemy you place gets more score (first 1 point, second 2 points, third 3 points, etc). The amount of enemies is limited by the available tiles, so this means that there are more points to score in a level with 100 tiles than in a level with 2 tiles. The score per enemy throughout the game does stay the same.

As for the generator making a straight line - yes! that is possible. Although, to make it truly impossible, that would also mean that the player has to spawn on one end, and at least one button at the complete other end. if there's space outside the 'line' between the player and the farthest button, an enemy could be placed there, but that would also likely have to be a green enemy.

I'm sure there are some calculations that could be done to calculate the chances of that happening but in any case, it is possible!

Alright, ramble done, haha

Thank you!

Thank you very much!

I'm not sure if you were using WASD or the mouse in this case - in either case, it is true that the blue dots can't be clicked (only the tiles can be clicked on, and, well - since the dots don't block it, that could result in misclicks), and it's very understandable that that's misleading and something that I need to fix haha. Thank you for pointing it out!

As for keeping the rounds beatable, this was mainly via playtests and tweaking plenty of variables, and a bit of coincidence, too. The target score grows exponentially to make it more and more challenging, but I do think that thanks to the way the levels are generated and how scoring works, it's theoretically always beatable.

The way levels generate is decently simple - a value representing the number of tiles is given, and the code will then repeatedly select a random tile and place a tile next to it at a random available direction. Every level the amount of tiles is increased by... I think 2, not 100% sure, but in any case, it keeps on expanding over time. Depending on how many tiles there are, it'll spawn in an amount of buttons, to increase the amount of distance the player needs to traverse to beat a level. Main takeaway, levels are randomly generated, but the amount of tiles a level will have isn't.

...in any case, since the level keeps expanding, and since the score per enemy placed also increases, I think it's technically possible to keep going forever. Also, you get more levels per round beat as you beat more rounds, so that also helps. It does mean that levels will also become more and more challenging due to the large amount of enemies required.

...bit of a ramble, but I hope that helps explain the design behind the scoring, haha

Thank you!

And that's definitely something that I was thinking about - the non-confused eyes yellow enemy is far less dangerous than a red enemy. I do personally like the 'predictability' of how many points you'll get. Still, maybe something that manipulates what enemy you get could help, like getting a difficult enemy after many easy enemies and vice versa. In any case, food for thought!

Thank you for the feedback!

Thank you very much!

Yeah, as someone cleverly pointed out in another comment, there isn't really an opportunity for the player to learn how the game works, so some way to let the player learn would be a great addition.

Music was also something I would've liked to add, yeah! I'm blaming the lack of it on the jam deadline, heh

Also, Yveltal is probably one of my favorite Pokémon!

Thank you so much!

Glad you like the UI elements, cause that's definitely something I was uncertain about.

Thank you for playing!

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the visuals!

Thank you so much!

It was quite a challenge to get the core mechanic right, so I'm glad you like it!

Thank you!

And totally fair! That's not on you. As someone explained to me below, the player doesn't really get to experiment with enemies and stuff, so a tutorial would help!

Thank you so much!

And same haha. Overconfidence is a slow and painful killer!

Thank you!

And yep, that's what tends to happen to me as well, haha

Thank you for the feedback!

I think you're making a good point that I didn't realize myself! From the playtests I did it seemed that players slightly preferred learning how the enemies themselves worked - but I didn't take into account that the player doesn't really get the opportunity to experiment with how enemies work. Letting the player learn how the enemies work should feel rewarding, and although I'd like to assume it does at the moment, you are definitely right that the player shouldn't have to put themselves in a worse position to lose something - or, at least, lose something significant. In later rounds, just trying 1 enemy on a level can already be very dangerous. And, well, that's assuming that the player figures out how the enemy works in one level.

I did consider making tooltips at first, but if I were to iterate I do think I would like to still give the satisfaction of learning how an enemy works. Maybe by putting them in a situation where losing isn't as significant - maybe some alternate mode with pre-made levels and a pre-made list of enemies, where the objective is just to complete the level, and failing only resets the current level. That would be a completely different mode, though. This is good food for thought though, to say the least!

Again, thank you for the extensive feedback. This was definitely a blind spot I missed so I'm happy you could point it out for me!

Thank you!

I will agree that the player could use some extra help with how the game works, but I'm glad you figured it out!

And yeah, waiting is definitely a frustration saver haha

The dreaded jam deadline comes for us all!

And why thank you! My icon is of my dragon character themselves! The more dragons the better, I'd say!

Thank you!

I'm glad you did enjoy the challenge of the experimentation - it's definitely been a 50/50 so far between people that would like a bit more help figuring out the patterns of the enemies and those that want to do it on their own, so I'm glad you're on the 50/50 side that this game is tailored to!

I like dragons so I had to play this!

The dragon looks adorable. I especially like the sprite animation when they turn around! looks really flashy and goofy

It would be nice if there was some form of progression in the game - I've already seen upgrades mentioned, but different enemy types over time would be neat too! maybe an archer who shoots arrows which you can also reflect, for example!

Still a really cute game. The dragon didn't deserve to get their gem destroyed, they're too cute for that!

Such a cute game! Love how the dragon moves, feels so majestic. Reminds me of the movement of Terraria's wyverns!

I feel like there are some difficulty spikes here and there with knights using weapons which are challenging, and I wish there was a way to restore your health (maybe with even more cuddles?), but this is a fun game and its nice to just knock down a bunch of knights at once!

What an aesthetically pleasing game! Really love the black-white with a touch of neon stars.

It was a bit difficult for me to spot the asteroids when they spawn in though, partially due to the stars in the background making them less contrasting with the background. Maybe it would help if, in the asteroid spawning area, there were fewer stars?

I also think the asteroid dragging physics are pretty funky, but it does add to the space theme and it does make the game more challenging - at least, if the meteor would just match your cursor I think this game would be way too easy!

The AI is also very good, but I did notice that it tends to lock onto one meteor, and only that meteor - so I could use a decoy meteor and then use a different meteor to smash the ship. (Although not doing that and playing the game as intended is just more fun!)

Still, really neat game and it's fun messing around with the physics. Also love that particles whenever something gets destroyed!

I'm a sucker for kaijus so I had to play this!

I love the character design, first of all. Cute lizard with pretty colors!

I did struggle a decent amount with the combat, though - I think a noise on getting hit would help for instant feedback since getting hurt causes a fading red glow at the moment, and a health bar would also be nice! I also think it'd be interesting if the towers fired a bit slower and had varying shot speeds, so you don't have to dodge everything all at once, but instead get the challenge of dodging slower 'waves' of bullets.

Regardless! Always fun to wreak havoc as an unstoppable giant lizard! Or, well - a stoppable giant lizard, in this case!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you very much!

And yea - random generation can definitely screw you over! Something that counteracts that a little bit is that you do get to place the enemies but there are definitely moments where rng just screws up, like when you get a red enemy right next to you and there's a button which you can only enter from one way. It's definitely something I want to spend more time on if I do spend more time on it whiiiiich honestly knowing me is likely no

Thank you for the feedback!

Yeah, that's definitely the thing about the flavor text! there is just important stuff in there. A log would definitely help there.

And that ending is kinda depressing! But, I do suppose there's a core of truth in there. Still just gotta move on afterwards!

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed!

What an amazing game. Definitely in the top few of the games I've played in this jam so far, if not at the top.

The art style is really unique, yet everything is also very coherent, including the music!

Aside from that, I do love some good time-loop shenanigans. Makes everything feel more impactful!

The only criticism I have is that clicking through text can be painful after a while if the player has already seen the text. Maybe that clicking and holding down the button for a while skips through text faster or just skips it entirely if there's no interaction with the player.

The ending is also a little freaky and abrupt - I see that others have already mentioned it, but I am curious what you had in mind for the actual ending aside from the game 'breaking'!

Still, the dialogue is immersive, the aesthetic is amazing, and I really enjoyed playing through this, so, uh, thank you for making it!

Neat little game!

I think the game could use an obstacle of sorts, or, at least, a way to punish the player if they drop the cube/play badly. I feel like something simple like a time limit could already do the trick, but adding negative-score cubes could also help!

Still though, it is fun to mess around with for a bit, and I do very much appreciate that the platform moves at the same horizontal speed as the cube, even when moving up!

very cute game with a cute story behind it!

I personally did struggle quite a bit with winning! looking at the screenshots though, it seems that the cats are randomly generated? So I might've gotten RNG-screwed by getting a cat with a very long-range attack right at the start.

I think it'd also be cool if there were more different abilities for the toys? Maybe a slower toy that takes the damage of nearby toys, or a toy that shoots stunning projectiles, or something else!

Still, the art is very cute and, albeit small, I really liked how the tooltips were still in theme!