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My friends, it is time!

I played through all of the entries for b3agz Jam 2025, narrowed the pick for potential winner down to about 4 entries, then played those entries again because it was bloody hard to pick just one. And, while it would be nice have a bunch of winners, to be blunt, I ain't got that kinda cash to throw around lol.

So, first off, congratulations to the devs behind Habubis Trading Card Inspector (ReindeerFlo, shin, and Otocky) for coming 1st overall in participant ratings. You guys have won the $50 Community prize! Habubis Trading Card Inspector brought an interesting deduction-based gameplay mechanic together a clean 1-bit pixel art style. Their interpretation of the theme was solid, with the player having to determine which cards were not collectibles, and their accessibility feature was comprehensive, allowing the player to choose from a large selection of colour schemes to suit their preferences or accommodate things like colour-blindness. Well done!

Now, the judged winner. This was very close in the end, and I will be explaining why I chose who I chose... because the community ratings don't exactly agree with my choice lol. The four games I narrowed it down to in the end are:

• Snot Much (Foolbox)
• InCollectible (Ring But Not Starr, Thekal Lucas, JP Itze)
• Mine Over Matter (Reve Lab, Admurin)
• Hyper Loops (NotHappyGameDev)

And the winner is... InCollectible!

InCollectible had what was, in my opinion, one of the more clever interpretations of the theme, taking a relatively standard dungeon crawler like Zelda and putting the player in the role of the gold coins that would usually be collected. The devs demonstrated clever use of the game camera and animations to convey the emotions of a tiny pixel art coin, and the gameplay itself was fluid and satisfying. The art style and audio design went together nicely, the game provided plenty of instruction without presenting the player with walls of text, and there was a nice difficulty curve over the short length of the game. The accessibility feature wasn't the greatest (I'm assuming the option to use game controllers was the accessibility feature) but the restriction was simply to have one, we're not judging on how good it is.

Of the other three honourable mentions, Snot Much, as cursed as it was, was probably the most polished game of the bunch. It felt like something that could be released today (I'm not saying you should release it, though). Mine Over Matter crammed in a remarkable amount of gameplay depth. I played for perhaps an hour in total and I don't think I managed to breed all of the monsters in the game. Hyper Loops was pure arcade crack, a perfect example of how you don't need much to make a fun game.

Nobody should feel disheartened by the results, in making and submitting a game in the 7 day jam window, you achieved something worth celebrating. I narrowed my picks down to four entries that were particularly hard to choose from, but it was far from easy choosing those four in the first place. Some games had a flimsy theme interpretation, some games had a dubious (or entirely missing) accessibility option, but all of the games were interesting.

And that wraps up b3agz Jam 2025. All being well, we'll be back in 2026 to do it all again!

Regarding the two winners and the prizes, both games appear to be team efforts, so talk amongst yourselves and decide how you want the prize money sent (can send all to one person or split equally between team members) and contact me on Discord ( https://discord.gg/TzfkjZDsRn ) with PayPal info so I can get your prizes sent over.

If you don't have Discord, drop a comment under this post and we'll arrange some other way to communicate (email probably).

Thanks you everyone for your amazing efforts. And, whether you keep working on the games you made for this jam, or go and start something new, I hope it helped you get the creative juices juicing.

Really sorry, I could not get this game to run. Every time I hit new game it crashed out with a fatal error. It looks great from the screen shots, though.

Love the humour, great twist on both the theme and rock paper scissors. The main thing I would say is it would be nice if the arms that we win had more of a potential upside to using. There was only really the muscle arm that changed the game at all, and even that was not really an advantage per se.

In a world where Balatro is making all of the money, I definitely think a game like this has potential to be more than just a quirky game jam entry.

Well done!

Solid mechanics for a game jam entry. Android only was a bold choice, don't feel too disheartened if you don't get many ratings, the Android-only will play a big role in that.

The 3D models looked good and fit the theme well. Not sure if the scoring system was incomplete but I still enjoyed the little that I played.

Well done!

Nice and consistent art style, always tricky when using assets. The character controller was little rough around the edges, and would regularly get stuck and even fell through the floor at one point.

The game itself is a solid idea, and I can definitely see potential in it. The main thing holding it back as a jam entry was some kinda crucial parts missing, like icons for items in inventory and instructive text.

Definitely worth pursuing, would love to see you keep working on it.

Nice, fluid controls, visually appealing environment and characters. The main issue is content. You've a large open space and lots of buildings etc, but it gets repetitive very quickly. I also found that I could cheese the game by standing in front of the portal and hacking up anything that came out.

Solid foundation for a good game, keep working on it! Well done!

Lovely artstyle and pixel art, not sure what to say about the game; it does what it is designed to do. Maybe the balance is a little off at the lower end of the scale, but for a game jam game, it was a solid result. Great work, well done.

Love the pixel art, the controls were very slick, the animation style was cute, especially the jump animation. The levels look great, and also there was decent amount of game for a short jam.

The font was a choice. Super ironic in a game jam that requires an accessibility option to use the most unreadable font I've ever seen.

HOWEVER

I did enjoy the game and it was very well made (except for the font). Well done!

First of all; stunning artwork. If you made that all during the jam... dayum.

Gameplay was mostly fun, a little frustrating in places, but nothing game breaking, and some it is down to skill issues. I think with some more time to develop the core mechanics, this would be basically ready to go as full game (once you added more content obviously).

Great entry, well done. Love it.

Interesting take on the theme, I liked the unique (at least to me so far) interpretation. The artwork was really good to say it was for a 7-day jam.

The main criticism I would give it is that it very quickly gets repetitive. Perhaps some other mechanics or some more interaction with customers might help.

Well done!

Super interesting concept, could see this going far, especially in light of Balatro taking over the world. Love the 1-bit art style and the milions of options for the two colours. If I was to make a recommendation; give it some squanch (or juice) and it will really make the game pop.

Regarding critcisms, some of the instructions could be a little clearer.

Great entry! Well done!

Loved the art style, excellent pixel art, surprising amount depth for a game jam game, lots of fun to play. Found myself playing it quite a bit longer than I expected to. Potentially the only criticism is that I found it a little easy to defend the mine, and if *I* find it easy, it's probably too easy.

Great entry!

Love the art style, and the intent to make something bigger than just standard platformer game. This is definitely the kind of game I would play if/when it was finished, and would love to see you keep working on it.

As far critique goes, the main was the hit detection of the axe is a bit unreliable.

Great work!

Had to stop due to wanting to finish all of the games this year, but solid gameplay loop, cute artstyle and music choice, smooth controls. The only complaint I can think of is some of the shapes are a little unforgiving. A square, for example, could be any of about 30 objects, and having to trial and error things always feels a little unsatisfying.

HOWEVER

I enjoyed, great work as always.

Love the art style/pixel art, controls and gameplay were smooth and nice to use. Writing was funny. Was a little unclear what exactly I was supposed to be doing due to the random presence of a rock with eyeballs. But other than that, enjoyed it.

Only thing I would add is a bit more guidance for the player, but it's a small gripe for a game jam game. Great work!

Love the premise, nice twist on guessing games. Graphically impressive for a game jam. Most of all, love the voice acting.

Loved the bean people, very funny way to get around time-consuming asset creation in a game jam. The only criticism, and really it's just for the sake of making a criticism, would have liked some more customer dialogue as it got repetitive pretty quickly.

Great entry, well done!

Positives, love the premise, story, the whole shebang. This is a game that on paper I would love to play.

IN PRACTICE. It may be just skill issue, but I just could get anywhere, and unfortunately I had to move on. It would be nice to be able to rebind the keys (I kept accidentally shooting when I wanted to rope, I realise that's a me problem, but lots of gamers have "them" problems).

Would love to see this worked on more as the premise of the game has a lot of potential. Well done!

Cool take on the theme, I enjoyed nomming all of this tiny little universe and leaving the sole other occupant to watch in horror as his reality was devoured around him. 10/10.

The controls were... not ideal (but you know this). I could definitely see succeeding that weird niche of games like Katamari.

Well done and thanks for entering!

Love the premise, nice music and art style. Strong impetus to keep playing, I can definitely the game being an addictive b*****d with more power up type things to keep the player hunting. The slidey floor was devious. Possibly a little too frustrating for naff gamers like me, but that might not be your audience.

Only real gripe is it could do with more control options, I particularly struggled with the controls, and it felt any of the more conventional control schemes would have been easier for me. Other than, great entry, would love to see you keep working on it.

Solid game premise, complete gameplay loop (which is nice in a game jam), great pixel art, funky choice of music. The only complaint is the collision detection is a bit squiffy and doesn't always register items on the scales/in the feathers/in the science box thing.

But that's literally the only issue I can think of other than just adding more stuff (which is a time thing).

Great entry, well done!

Well, that was an experience. One thing I noted that other seem to have noticed is the AI can't or won't draw scissors, which kind of breaks game a bit.

THAT BEING SAID

You made in 24 hours, it looks good, it has a gameplay loop and audio, and I think it could genuinely be a little bit addictive if the scissors bug was fixed.

Head pats.

Well, it was very well made. The pixel art was good. The music good. The game had a lot of satisfying juice to it. It ran slick as hell especially considering it's a game jam game. The options were good. Love the CRT effect.

What the hell is wrong with you?

First, great premise, excellent interpretation of the theme, and a funny narrative considering how small the game is. The writing was excellent, the art style was cute, movement controls were nice and fluid, and shooting mechanic was satisfying.

The only real gripe was the fact that certain (like shooting and dashing) were a little clunky to use either together or in quick succession, but this is a solid entry, and I would love to see development on this continue.

Love the mouth sounds. Game is a funny twist on, let's face, one of the most well-known computer games ever. And given that you made in 6 hours it's especially impressive that it's not just the game, and has all the menus and UI elements.

There's not much I would say that isn't just a matter of developing. Giving clicks and explosions a little squanch would make a huge difference, but you can only do so much in 6 hours.

Great game, especially as I know you're not the most experienced coder. The premise was new (to me) so it was a refreshing experience. The riddles funny. The range of options in your settings menu for a small game jam were impressive as hell.

The main criticisms I would have about this game are all related to coding things, which is just matter of practice. Specifically things like the movement controls were a little janky, and some things like having more of an impactful interaction with objects.

But these are minor gripes, the premise game was very solid and I enjoyed it.

Excellently addictive little game. Love the retro Tron vibes and simple controls for a simple gamer. The art style, while simple, worked perfectly and did not just feel like programmer that wasn't finished. The only real criticism I would have is it would be nice to have some indicator that discs are about to change.

Couple of things I would suggest, power ups or multipliers for things like getting two discs in quick succession, similar to the current chaining discs of the same colour mechanic.

Would love to see a version of this game that you worked on for longer.

Hey guys!

First off, congratulations to all of you that made something, even if you didn't manage to submit it. Tomorrow ( Friday 14th ) at 9:30 AM GMT/UTC I will be streaming playing through all of the entries. The stream will go until all games have been played (excluding any games that won't run). There won't be any particular order to the games, but I will try to prioritise games of devs who are in chat at the time.

Quick reminder, there are two prizes on offer. The main prize of $100 will be chosen by me and the community prize of $50 will be whoever gets the best overall rating from other participants (so if you haven't played and rated the games yet, please do). I'll be leaving feedback throughout the stream but I'll be doing my ratings and choosing the winner over the weekend. Being the sole judge of nearly 30 games is a bit stressy and I don't want to rush it.

That's all. Hope to see you there!

The theme for the 2025 b3agz Jam is...

THAT'S NOT A COLLECTIBLE

You can interpret the theme however you like... or even ignore it completely. Just remember you will be judged on your theme interpretation, so if you don't incorporate it, it will hurt your chances of winning.

And don't forget the restriction that your game must have some kind of accesibility option. You don't have to go all out with screen reader menus and colourblind modes (though you can If you want), just add something that makes your game a little more accessible. Some low-effort accessibility features might be a warning for flashing lights or sensitive themes, or even just a volume control.

AND DON'T FORGET TO HAVE FUN!!!!!!1111one

Good luck everyone!

This was a super fun little game, and the sound design (while lacking controls :p ) was great. The collection sounds perfectly matched the music, good choice. Gameplay was fun. The only gripe I have is the controls were a bit funky. I don't know if this was a bug or an intentional choice, but pressing up or down moves the player diagonally on the screen, and you have to press, for example, left and up together to get the player to go straight up. It felt a little unintuitive. Other than that, great entry, well done!

Great entry! It's a pretty standard tower defense but the level of polish you've achieved in such a short time is impressive. The visuals/audio were nice and cohesive, the gameplay was addictive (I played this for way longer than I intended to) and there was a good amount of escalation with each wave. Well done!

Such a simple-yet-fun idea! The overall aesthetic was nice and cohesive (always a challenge in game jams, especially if using assets) and the controls were nice and easy to pick up. Throwing in extra challenges like blizzards and sneaky sodding gingerbread man were also a nice tough. Also, having a full level rating system in place for a jam is good going. Great work!

Super fun little game. The aesthetic was cohesive and cosy and the gameplay was easy to pickup. I'm a big fan of Hidden Folks so this type of game appeals to me. I'd love to see more scenes (and more detailed scenes) if you decide to carry on working on it.

Start with the good: the music choice and art style was great. Really reminded of the 16-bit platformers I used to play like James Pond. The shrinking and growing mechanic was an interesting addition (would have liked to have seen more done with it but I liked it).

The main complaint is the jump; it's extremely inconsistent. I'd estimate 1 in every 3 attempts to press jump just didn't do anything, which isn't ideal in a platformer where you have to time your jumps.

Character controllers are notoriously hard to do well so it's a completely understandable problem, just unfortunate in this type of game. Good job!

Start with the good: the music choice and art style was great. Really reminded of the 16-bit platformers I used to play like James Pond. The shrinking and growing mechanic was an interesting addition (would have liked to have seen more done with it but I liked it).

The main complaint is the jump; it's extremely inconsistent. I'd estimate 1 in every 3 attempts to press jump just didn't do anything, which isn't ideal in a platformer where you have to time your jumps.

Character controllers are notoriously hard to do well so it's a completely understandable problem, just unfortunate in this type of game. Good job!

Great work. I've done my share of working in catering so this really peeled the scab off of that trauma! But seriously, great effort in such a short time. Solid gameplay loop, cohesive art style, good progression. One thing I might suggest for games like this would be to experiment with lighting a little more. I know you were going for cosy but the low light and long shadows gave it a little bit of an eery horror game vibe (visually speaking). It's a minor thing, though. Appearences are the last thing to stress over in a game jam.

Really enjoyed this one. I was a point-n-click child so this appealed to me even more, and the writing was great! I loved looking at and sniffing and licking all the things to see what you'd added. The art was charming as well. Great job!

Great vibe/aesthetic, nice and simple gameplay with a good introduction to tell the player how to play. My only gripe was the jumping felt a bit unsatisfying sometimes. It looked like you were well clear of a log and then suddenly you're stuck on it. Amazing work for the shortened timeline you made this in. Great job!

At first I thought it was going to be a walking simulator through the snow and I was cool with that. Was a nice surprise to find some game mechanics lol. Great job!

It was a lot of fun!

So the community winner has already been chosen by you guys. The main winner will be chosen by the judges and announced on my stream on Monday, around 1-2pm UK time. N3rk is handling the sending of prizes, so I imagine he'll be in touch with said winners once the judges pick has been revealed.

Great work everyone!