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awesome! Yeah it is tricky. I make little rpgs and often struggle with the “well do I really NEED to include a tutorial that you use the arrow buttons to walk?” and - yes! It turns out. You do. Like for example my mother hasn’t really played a video game since Pong and didn’t know to use the arrows to walk or that Enter was select and a host of other things. 

It’s really tricky! I’ve found that over explanations are never as obnoxious as they seem to you. Ppl who know it skip over it no issue and ppl who don’t, appreciate the pointer. 

And I should confess I still have no real idea how minesweeper works haha 😂 so I guess this all also speaks to the human urge to click buttons for happy brain chemicals. Silly humans lol. 

Okay! I had zero idea what I was supposed to be doing. And if it weren't for me trying to play enough to give meaningful feedback I otherwise would have quit almost immediately. I thought I was supposed to line up the numbers 1-9 since that's how many slots there were but when I made a row nothing happened. I don't understand the correlation of the colors since nothing happens when they touch. I finally looked up the rules and I would never have figured out I needed a chain of colors to do things. I think just some kind of visual feedback will help the player a lot. Some kind of Ding or Sparkle to let them know they're on the right track. If I need to stack 3 boxes but when I stack 2 nothing happens, I'm not very inclined to even TRY the 3rd box, you know? 

Otherwise it has the makings for a fun little idle puzzle game, like Minesweeper or something. I liked that I didn't have to wait for the dropped cube to go all the way down before I was able to move the next top cube, that was good. It functioned and the UI made sense! Really great look to it. 

The most recent RPG maker horror jam just ended and there's some really great games that came out of it! Just wanted to share the one I completed. It definitely still has some typos and bugs in it, but it's the most I've polished a project from the ground up since I've started doin these jams. Looking for any weird soft locks or visual bugs, getting stuck as a certain character, that kind of thing. 

I've learned a lot, any more feedback is more than welcome to keep growing. 

https://broodygaming.itch.io/invasive-species

Maybe bring some tissues it's a bit sad! 

thank youuuuu!! I’m glad the vines were rewarding. I really was going for that feeling so I’m so stoked it worked. Giving the players lots of things they can see that they will be able to go get but - not yet, so hopefully it feels cool and rewarding when it actually happens. i had a lot of fun with this one, thank you so much for ur kind words! 

ahh! Haha thank you!! I had a lot of fun with this one. Ohhh I rly hope you do do the next one, people have some really cool ideas! 🐠🐠🧜‍♀️

Ohh this is so creepy and cool!!! I really felt immersed in the darkness. 

Ahahaha! Thanks for this comment omfg!! I always love hearing your feedback. I had a lot of fun with this one. Like two months ago in the jam discord I was literally like "think I'll f around and do a love story next" lol. I just love writing a sad love story, SIGH. It's been really cool slowly trying to get better at the engine aspect of things so I can focus on what I really love, which is telling stories. And sharing them with lovely people like you who celebrate them and are willing to give me their time and attention. <3 

Yes glyphosate is a real thing! It's not as like, cartoonishly evil as I make it out to be haha, I don't think people are drinking it. But it is bad and I have a lot of passion about nature and ecosystems. I love thinking critically and creatively about systems of power and abuse. And in many ways I think "big ag" functions like a cult. You buy into it and can't leave OR ELSE, kind of energy. It really bothers me. 

FOREST  YURRIIII hahahaha gods that's so real omfg, me out here like alright if there's not gonna be enough sad weird gay games ILL JUST MAKE THEM >:D 

(I really hope to keep doing my OSTs!!! Maybe in the future once I have a good list going I'll drop a disc. What do kids do these days? drop a track? A spotify playlist? Idk I'll drop some music somewhere in a list type format lol)

This was so cute!! I needed that laugh, haha the start really caught me off guard. Made sense, felt fun to work through, good writing beautiful art! Real gem.

Thank you so much! I’m glad it struck a chord with you. I live in a place that’s constantly fighting against blackberry bushes (they’ll take over ur house if you stand still too long lol) and I liked the idea of both extremes of that. I don’t like to use poison to kill things that are inconvenient to me. It’s harder and slower to fight then back by hand but better for everyone in the end. 

Plus I really like weird sad stories haha so that’s what I end up writing most of the time. Super glad you enjoyed it!! I really enjoyed making it. 

Ohh that was fun! It wasn't what I expected it to be. I think the layout of the maps was clear and made sense, I agree the tileset art could use more details. A cool minimalist feel is always great but this doesn't feel like it should be minimalist so it just feels like it's missing something. I don't remember finding any major bugs?? And I always felt like I knew where I was supposed to be going. 

The writing was good! Only saw a few grammar mistakes, nothing serious. Each character have a distinct voice and I felt like I immediately picked up everyone's perspectives and motives within the friend group. The character bust art was really good, I loved how much all of their poses had good flow to them. They weren't just standing there, they were all emoting really nicely. 

I liked the jump scares and the dream sequences. I wish it were longer but it's a really solid spooky game. Hope to see more from y'all! 

I played an earlier version and I really see the improvements! I think the option of different characters is really cool and felt rewarding as it still took me a few tries to complete. The opening video was easier to read as well. Looks really cohesive and functioned well!! 

Finally got a chance to sit down and finish this one! I really like the style of the sprites and the maps for the most part. I see what you're going for. There's something about your cover art,  I feel like you're really selling yourself short. TO ME it makes it feel lower effort than this game actually is, if that makes sense. Like making a cool gift and putting it in boring wrapping paper. I like the reflections on the ice but something about the font doesn't pop out. I dunno haha. 

The ending was a little goofy but fun. I like the idea of the snowy research place and the one character we had an introduction to besides our MC perked my interest. And the prosthetic leg! So curious what that's about. The totem puzzle was a solid idea, I think if it had been worked into the lore of the world better it would have made more sense. My silly brain was positive I was spelling "nope" hahaha. Thankfully the last three letters of nope led me in the right direction and I got there. 

Few bugs, when I left the to the forest after the camp was destroyed I interacted with a totem once and even though I clicked no when I went back to the camp the damage had been reversed and the gate was again shut. I reloaded an older save, no worries.

My favorite part was exploring the facility at the beginning and I LOVED the look of the big trees in the forest. Those looked really neat. 

Thanks for playing!! 

oh phew I’m glad it worked for you in the end!! Thank you so much for giving it a go and for the feedback. Every jam I try new stuff and try and walk away with a better understanding of that skill and these comments really really help! Super appreciated. 

The vibe and style for this is great in many ways. I loved all of the hand drawn images, they all were easy to read and so creepy and nightmarish. They had a good mix of recognizable shapes mixed with body horror ick. Like someone had a figure made of clay and squished it and added gore. Very cool! Gross haha. 

There were some tile/map issues and it really detracted from the really high quality writing and atmosphere. Like, I actually liked the hand drawn sketchy look to the house furniture but then the walls made 0 sense and looked just odd in a confusing "pulling me out of the moment" type way. And the forest had issues with trees being in half or weird corners and such. Not huge problems but the juxtaposition of the care put into the hand drawn images and the maps was jarring at times. 

In general really fun! Ran into a few bugs or not knowing what to do but largely the writing and the genuinely creepy art and vibe of the story made up for any issues. Really cool! 

Wow! There were so many little details that really pulled this together. It's so easy to drift into the realm of just blocks of text but this felt visceral at every moment. I really liked the dissonance of their internal dialogue and what was happening around them. That sense of being alone against the world and questioning everything you say and do and how others think of and perceive you is really real and heavy. The art all fit together in the world really cohesively. I can tell everything you draw is really intentional and it looks exactly how you want it to look - and i love that kind of vibe in art. It all FITS really well, you know?  It tells a beautiful story and effects emotion and that's what matters. I love it when it's weird and gritty and different. And recognizable! That's SO important to be recognizable!! 

Things like when text would shake and quiver and one word would stay still was really cool and effective, emotions wise. All of the really active parts of the story it barely even felt like I was reading, I was so pulled into the scene. I didn't run into any bugs, everything worked, no issues saving or loading in and all that jazz. There were a few grammar and spelling mistakes but nothing crazy and for a jam game especially that's almost unavoidable. Sorry I didn't take pics, in hindsight maybe I should have but they're not major, I'm sure you'll get to them eventually. 

Can't wait for the rest!!!!! Even just the name of the story, Veins like tapeworms paints such a vivid vibe and image. Really cool, I'll be thinking about it for a while. 

!! Thank you for taking time to play and write this fantastic feedback!! There were so many risks and new things I tried and it's always always a learning experience haha. I put a lot of love for my personal forest into this game. I live out in the woods and it's a magical place that's easy to take for granted. I really enjoyed pulling inspiration from all of the big big tall trees that surround me, covered in moss and ferns and fungi haha. You're completely correct on all the improvement suggestions. The hair thing is so funny, I AGNOZIED over it haha and eventually left it as is. I wanted the hair to be all 4 party members at first but that looked even more disjointed and I just couldn't figure out a better solution so it is the way it is as a mix of hair and flower petals haha. Maybe with more experience or a future different engine I can make it how I picture it. The way this community and you give with your advice and helpful points is really amazing. Especially with things like the vine border. I wanted to try something LIKE that but I'm just me and what I experience is different from the next person, so telling me that it made you feel dizzy is SO helpful, or I would never know, you know? It definitely needs some fiddling, I know it blocks some of the balloon icons too during some cutscenes. On the list! 

I feel a lot of passion about the environment and healthy land practices. I really enjoy weaving a bit of reality into the supernatural of my games. That way hopefully people learn something and walk away with a good message in their heart. Really really happy it struck a chord with you and REALLY excited to keep making stories to share with y'all!! <3 

oh no! Thanks for giving it a go. Are you hitting spacebar to jump onto the vines or are you unable to move at all? If ur on solid ground you have to jump (space) to get onto the vines. 

Wow the look and design of this one is so good!! It looks really polished and readable. The decaying oxygen and health mechanic was really clever and original! It worked, felt pretty fair but added an element of pressure. I don't love that the timer keeps going when you're reading a text box. I think sometimes that's okay, but if there's multiple instances of a lot of reading and it's all under a timer I just end up missing info cuz I'm skimming. But the writing was good, I felt like I knew what I was supposed to be doing all the time. I liked how dialogue changed on certain items as I progressed in the story, updating me on what to do next etc. (like look for the pick in the bunker type hints, super useful). Loved the look of it, very cohesive. Good job!! 

Really very creepy! I got ending 7, very happy with that one haha. I was really rooting for Lucy the whole game she seemed very focused and clever. Loved the music, found myself like rocking back and forth to it the whole game haha. The jump scares were effective, I almost died a few times simply cuz my hands left the keyboard I flinched so bad haha. Your puzzles are always really well structured. Just the right balance of simple enough to not feel frustrating but layered enough that they're super rewarding to complete. The color palette of the trees and forest worked really well. I think you used those trees in Billy, right? Or similar? They're stunning, just really cool depth like a Bob Ross painting, with the light coming through them. 

I loved the flashbacks, the contrast of the styles worked really well. There were some trees with awkward spacing of non walkable tiles, I'll post a screenshot on discord later. But it felt like I was far away from the tree and it was weird there was a big invisible impassable block. But the vibe of the flashbacks was awesome, the tiny pixel sprites worked really well for that "older" feel, like a bad photograph or something. Really clever. 

I think I liked the chase sequences in Mausoleosis better? Maybe just cuz that was the first one of your games I played so I'm biased haha. But I liked that I had to switch directions in those, it made it really intense. This felt a bit like, okay just run. But the jumps and the sound design of Bigfoot are top notch. Love how weird and melty he looks. Super creepy. Great game dude!! 

THANK YOU gods that was hard but a fun challenge haha. Like wtf @me why did I feel the need to do that haha. Who knew you could draw ur own font?!? So cool. 

Egg your kind words mean so much! Thanks for this wonderful feedback. I had a lot of fun making this and it's so cool to see it well received. I'm really glad you mentioned Rubi's "aloof" ness, that's such a good way to put it. I really wanted to try and drive home that she's almost the enemy of another story, even if she doesn't see it that way. She's still a destructive force on the forest. I'm glad you liked the art style! I'm really starting to nail down my look and every project I'm honing those skills more and more. And thank YOU for the wonderful fan art you made of these two, really moved my heart. <3333

Thank you!! ahhhh <3 <3 

Thanks!! Had a lot of fun making it.

This was cool! Sweet and simple, functioned and felt satisfying to figure out. I liked how it panned over and showed the player the maps, that was really nice and balanced move. There were some grammar issues, but I understood what was going on. I thought the mechanic of the eggs worked and made sense. It felt easy to implement but also not always necessary and that's a good balance to strike. For the most part I found myself luring the chickens out of my path and then bolting for it, but when I got pinned or stuck having the egg power there to blast through them was very fun. 

Good job!!

No worries!! If you want to, think about joining the Discord for the jam! Super friendly community, you can get more resources for playtesting and bug fixes etc etc. Pretty active community and I've learned buckets of things since I joined. I was just talking about this game and that bug and I guessed the tree thing being switched was the reason haha. Super reasonable and easy thing to miss. Really stoked to see the rest of it, your art looks super freaky and cool. I'll finish it up later tonight!!

Hey! I love the look of this, really stoked to give it a go. I unfortunately got almost immediately stuck. Seems like a misplaced tree perhaps? It feels like I'm supposed to be able to go through here but am unable.

Beregon noted on the discord that someone played this! So I thought I'd share here too incase you didn't see.

Oh my gosh! I totally forgot, haha. I'm doing a lot of game jams this year and it's been a marathon.

**SPOILERS**

Eat the normal charcoal, knock on the tree with the body hanging in it (there's one tree that has a body all the rest are the same two trees) and the person with the unreadable scribbles is the person to kill, there's a hint to that in the newspaper at the beginning. Hope this helps!! It's a dark game for sure, don't feel any pressure to go through it all again. Thanks for giving it a go! 

Heyy!! Thanks for giving it a go!! This was a fun one. Huge challenge. I rly double booked myself with jams and this one overlapped with another. You’re definitely not missing any context, there is no real context haha. Hawk zombie is a streamer who does a lot of indie games and he did a jam where he was supposedly retiring his bird mascot, so the only premise was the green bird must die. I took extreme liberties if anything making the green bird just a conure and not a sentient zombie figure haha. But when I read “the bird dies” my first thought was canary in a coal mine and I ran with that idea. 

The bad guys thing is so funny haha. Ur completely correct and I just plumb ran out of time lol. My long long term plan for all of these quicky game jam games is to circle back maybe next year and remake them all one by one in a new engine, im thinking GoDot, and make them perfectly, with no rushing and the like. So for now I forgive myself shortcuts and weird quirks haha. 

Self doubt and self worth issues is something (unfortunately) a lot of us creative types struggle with. I’m sorry it resonated, really. For me writing out my issues like this really helps me. Now, quite literally, whenever I’m being too self negative I hear Hawk the streamer go “Bwak Pretty Boy Tweet Tweet” and it makes me smile haha. 

Thanks for ur kind words and time! 

omfg, wait that was SO actually legit scary in parts! I don't think I've ever like, felt dread while pressing arrow keys on my keyboard like that before. I have so many things to say, I feel almost creepy how quickly I dropped everything to play this haha. So glad I did. 

The pacing of your stories really blows me away, there's so many moments where it lingers and a part of me goes "?? is it.. stuc-" to be immediately hit with whatever the next beat is. I don't know how you get that timing down so well, but it gets me every time, haha. I forget which door it was but there's one with a red flash jumpscare that legit had me yelp.

The themes of this one really moved me at the end. I didn't find all of the special items, but I will be definitely giving it another go. The first half really reminded me of Bo Burnhams Inside! It all had a very liminal feel to it, it also reminded me of the feeling I get playing The Beginners Guide. And the end REALLY struck a chord with my creative side. It had a very desperate edge to it, like clinging to lifeline. 

You assets are spot on. This sounds so silly, but I'm SO jealous and impressed with how simple and clean it looks. To me, for example, line art is harder than painting or sketching. This feels like really good lineart and worked SO well. Felt clean, readable, wasn't too repetitive or busy. Fit the mood. 

I didn't love the camera puzzle, I feel I got through it on sheer luck haha, I had no clue what I was supposed to be doing. I could kind of tell when I was progressing but it was a moment where the simple look of everything was a detriment cuz I couldn't tell where I was. Had a similar issue with the mirror puzzle, which I freaking ADORE conceptually (literally shouted in my room "am I in a mirror realm!!!" haha). But I thought it was glitched at first and resetting me before I realized that I was doing different levels with similar starting areas. Maybe like a little number counter or progression indicator might help? Loved the doors puzzle, felt like I knew what I was doing and felt clever while doing it.

Sorry I've written you an essay, haha. I really liked your last game and I was so stoked to see you posted a new one. Really excited to see what you make next and to unlock the rest of this one. <3 

Hey thanks for playing!! I had a lot of fun with this one and I agree the story feels more than a little too vague. That's alright, I have plans to fix it in the future haha. There's things that were cut simply because of time, as it often goes in jams. 

I feel a bit silly about the credits. I do everything, haha. And what little I don't do I really go out of my way to acquire them from sources that are creative commons use / no accreditation required. And then even then, I edit them to make them my own truly. I did the main title credits song and one of the mini game songs entirely on my own  and then everything else is multiple pieces of music I downloaded from freesound dot org and then layered and edited and made loopable, etc. Some I changed a lot, some I only changed a little. But all were edited for the game and acquired correctly. I have a lot of weird anxiety about doing credits but I worry about exactly this - that people might think I'm stealing others music without giving credit. I'm figuring out a new music editing software so I'm hoping for most of my future projects I should be able to do almost all of it entirely on my own! But I suppose ME knowing it's all done by me doesn't actually help anything if I'm not making that clear on the game page. 

Thanks again for giving it a go! I wanted to make something that wasn't really deep or tragic this time, just something spooky and a little ephemeral. I really like choice based games so I'm sure when I'm out of jam mode I'll come back to this style of story telling, I had LOADS of fun with it, haha.

Cool addition to the series, your characters have a very specific vibe to them and it's very original and recognizable. I love that cool, almost like VHS filter you use. It isn't distracting and works really well with the vibe of your stories. 

I loved the battle parts, they were hard and rewarding. I'm not the best at those types of games, but I was still able to progress and that's what matters. It felt well balanced. Had a lot of fun too! The enemies felt like I could master their movements and even if something was hard, I could try again and get better each try. I'd say my only complaint is I felt myself Constantly wanting to back up and still shoot. That was a hard one to shake, cuz I'd just end up turning away and wasting ammo. But a lot of that is just a me issue, haha. 

While part of a bigger series, this one I think still makes sense just on it's own. You'd be a little lost on the nuance of the characters, but the major story beats and the battle sequences are still very fun.

Ran very smoothly, didn't run into any major issues.

Thank you!! I really like the idea of time loops and choice based games so this was a really fun challenge to tackle. And the feeling of being kind of dropped into the middle of it all with no memory is 100% what I was going for, so that feedback is really nice to read. I had a lot of fun making this and every jam I'm honing in my style and story flow ~~. Helpful feedback like this is just that - really helpful haha. 

I'm planning on doing most if not all the rpg maker horror jams this year, I hope to see you in more down the road! <3

Ohh, good point! I've seen others add in a notes file in the distribution folder. Maybe I'll try something similar. Thanks for giving it a go! 

Yes it does! Each step has three major options, except the tree which has three options And a correct tree. With the killings at the end there’s a correct person to kill annddd there’s a hint as to who it is in the newspaper at the top of the game. To get the happy ending you need to get each step correct. If you get any wrong all along the way you get the bad ending and if you pick the worst options each time you get the worst ending. 

It’s a dark game. I wanted it to feel like a no win scenario but I had to include a happy ending for my own heart and peace of mind haha. 

Three! It’s definitely a tragic, careful what you wish for type story. So there is a happy ending it’s just not easy to get. There’s a worst, bad and good ending. Thanks for playing <3 

Awesome, haha. Had a lot of fun with this one. I knew it was longer so I waited until I knew I had some time to sit and dedicate myself to it. Your style and flow has such a distinct feel and I really really love that. I feel as if even if I played a game shadow made my you I'd recognize it, if that makes sense? Really cool. Obsessed with how nice the mapping looks, the depth of the parallax images looks SO nice. Even just walking around I found myself going back and forth just to watch how things moved and looked. 

This was funnier than I thought it'd be, haha. Love all the cheeky names for items and abilities, being able to curate your own party was a lot of fun. Reminds me of those older FF games and really makes it accessible for a lot of different players. 

The boob thing is funny if a bit much, haha. Everyone has their things. But on one level, I wanted to share this with a friend but felt myself feeling a bit embarrassed to? And it's a tricky balance cuz, it's okay if not all games are palatable to everyone but I'd hate for something so trivial big picture wise to ever deter someone from playing your games. But like I often make weird sad stories and those don't land for lots of people, so it's always fair to stick to your niche and do it well, which you do! 

It all worked so smoothly!! I agree with what someone else said on here, this barely feels like a game jam game. REALLY smooth, didn't have any issues or soft locks that I ran into. It moved right a long, made sense, made me laugh, spooked me out. The platform style and the way the sprites bobbed worked really nicely. You have a good eye for balancing contrast and color and i always feel like I learn a lot about design when I play your projects.

Thank you! I had a lot of fun. The text box thing was a kind of late addition that once I noticed i COULD do it my whole brain was like "well now you HAVE to" haha. Really glad it hit home for you! 

ohhHHH in hindsight so obvious hahaha. I swear I tried about every idea except color related haha. Thanks so much!