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Absolutely amazing game! The amount of polish you guys managed is impressive. So freaking hard though haha.

If you decide to keep working on it I do have a few suggestions, but considering this is a Jam game I certainly wouldn't consider them essential. The first is that there was around a minute where my dumb ass didn't realize that the yellow switches said 'E' on them, so I didn't know what to do. I mean, this is probably a me issue, but if you really want to be explicit a popup in the level where they're introduced may have helped a bit. The other is more minor, but I'll mention it anyway because why not: I think a few more sound effects would have made the game feel fuller. Granted, your sound design was on point, but the biggest thing I felt was missing was a 'level win' sound effect. I don't know though, you guys really outdid yourselves!

I feel like I need to do that now! Thank you very much!

:)

Holy. Guacamole. I think most would agree that this game jam has had some especially good submissions. To be frank, I haven't even really found a bad game yet. That said, yours is without a doubt my favorite game in this jam. What you were able to accomplish in such a short time is nothing short of astonishing. I mean, really, incredible (especially on the PICO-8; I mean, man, I really need to bite the bullet and learn it at some point). My only real critique (well, critique isn't quite the right word; maybe "observation"?) is that the game played more like a story than a game. It just seemed like the "gameplay" was really only there to build an atmosphere for the story. I mean, it doesn't even really seem possible to lose. That said, I prefer it this way. It was a great, hilarious story, and I honestly think that I might play through again because of how great it was.

Seriously, wonderful, wonderful job! Thank you very much! I hope you know that you'll always have at least one fan, wherever your game development journey takes you.

Wow! Thank you so much! That's a very good point about the dialogue sound effect. If I keep working on this, I'll definitely exchange it for a softer sound. Again, thank you so much for this! Words don't describe how much it means to me that you took the time to play all these games on stream. 

I really enjoyed this one! Although the solutions didn't take too long to find, I can definitely see this concept being extended into a really great game. Please let me know if you continue this! I'd really love to see where you take this concept. I do, however, have a few ideas. Absolutely no pressure, though.

First: the controls. While the actual button choice was really intuitive, the movement itself felt a tad stiff, in my opinion. I think that this can largely be boiled down to three very minor things. For one, the player can't jump unless they're on solid ground. While this makes sense in the real world, many platformers actually use a timer-based system, so that if the player leaves the ground there's still an extra  fraction of a second where jump inputs are accepted. This makes jumping from one platform to another feel much more fluid, in my opinion. It might be worth experimenting with. I'd also add that perhaps a variable jump height would add to the degree of player control and make everything feel a bit tighter. Furthermore, the amount of time it takes the player to jump up is the same as the amount of time it takes to fall, from what I've seen. While this is absolutely how free fall works in our world, this has really never been true for the classic platformers. In Mario, for example, it actually takes less time for the player to fall than to rise. This definitely adds to the snappiness of the controls, and can really pull things together, if for no other reason than this is what a lot of people are used to.

Next idea: more feedback. As it stands, pushing buttons makes things move, but that's where the player's interaction with the world ends. If you just added some particle effects whenever the player picks up coal and maybe a few sounds for item pickup and movement, I think that this game would be taken up multiple notches. I highly recommend bfxr, by the way. You can get an entire library of custom sounds specifically suited for your game in literally five minutes.

Again, I really enjoyed this! Thank you so much for the game!

Thank you so much! That's a great idea! I had originally planned for the different emotions on the blocks to interact with each other, or for the current emotional state of the player to somehow work into it, but, alas, time. Really good suggestion, though, thank you! Please have a great day!

Oh boy; this brings me back! I grew up in the era of Flash, so I've probably played fifty games similar to this one over the course of my childhood. The one that comes to mind more than the others was called "Scary Maze Game," I think. I mean, this is pretty much a new and improved version of that without the jump scare, so I'm not complaining. Nevertheless, I do have a few suggestions, which you by no means need to take.

First and foremost, I think that a bit more explanation within the game would really elevate this. It doesn't even need to be seamlessly implemented; just telling the player what to do directly is better than nothing. That said, there are definitely clever ways to explain things without directly explaining them, and you actually used one when you made that safe screen that just allows the player to find the goal on their own. A bit more explanation would have certainly been welcomed though.

Next, I'll say that the rooms never really felt like a maze. I always knew exactly where to go and never felt lost. Maybe adding multiple, branching pathways with several dead ends would help with this. Or maybe make each room start dark, and have the player "map" it by walking around. That might be really cool.

I'd also add that the game mechanics seemed relatively inconsistent. Sometimes we needed to push a box toward the goal? But the goal looks almost identical to the goal where we don't need to push a box toward it. How was that communicated to the player? It just doesn't seem to make sense within the game world. Maybe if you made the "box goals" blue or something it and the "regular" goals green would make more sense? It would at least be distinct. I don't know, though. As far as puzzles go it just doesn't seem to stimulate the mind. Maybe if the boxes could instead be used to hold down buttons that opened doors! Now we have a puzzle!

Finally, I think that maybe having some simple sound effects would really take this game up a notch. As is, there's not too much feedback when a player does something. I mean, the character moves, but just a simple blip when the player dies, or a pushing sound when the box moves would make everything soooo much more satisfying. Those are just examples, but there are several places where this would be good, I think. There's some great free software (maybe try bfxr) that can generate all the sounds you need in a few minutes. 

Anyway, thank you so much for the game! I had an absolute blast playing it, and I really hope you add more content! Please let me know if you do, as I'd love to see where you take this!

This is a really cool idea for a game! I honestly wish that more people saw it, as anyone who passed this up is missing out.  It really makes you think about who you are and your place in the world. That said, I do have two suggestions. 

First, and this is by no means an attack on you, sometimes the phrasing was really confusing. I think that going through and fixing up the grammar a tad and maybe adding some extra explanation in places would really improve the experience. During the end game, for example, I didn't really know what I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to go back through the events you provided, or come up with my own? I thought about it for a while, and the latter seemed to make more sense, so I went down that route and had a lovely time (seriously; great game). Similar assumptions were made throughout the experience. That said, my confusion may be on me, as I'm pretty slow with this sort of thing. 

Second, I would recommend maybe slowing down the progression a bit. I only had three journal entries before the end game, which seemed low. I was on the fence about re-rolling to get more entries, but opted to play as intended so that I could give better feedback. After I'm done here, I'll probably play through all of your events, though, as they're really fun! Maybe instead of 2d6 + the number of journal entries, you could suggest 1d6 + the number of journal entries to get the next event number. Or the player could just go through all of them. That may be fun!

Anyway, thank you so much for the game! I had an absolute blast playing it!

What an intriguing idea for a game! Rhythm Tetris? Amazing concept! Honestly, if you decide to keep going with this (which you absolutely should) please let me know. I'd love to see how you expand it. That said, I do have a few things to note.

For starters, I wasn't entirely sure what to do at the beginning. I saw my score going down, so I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I had no idea what that was. I later remembered the genre combination and decided to try moving to the beat, but it took an honestly embarrassing amount of time to figure that out. It's probably more on me for being a bit slow with this sort of thing, but maybe it would be a good idea to communicate the goal to the player more explicitly. 

To that end, I think that where each beat starts and ends is a bit ambiguous. It just felt like sometimes I was hitting the button at the right time but still losing points. Again, it's probably on me, but I'll at least mention it just in case. 

This next point is a bit nitpicky, but whenever a level is loaded, console windows appear all over the screen. Again, it's not game breaking, but it's definitely a tad jarring. 

Finally, I would suggest giving the player some more feedback when they clear lines or move at the right time. It would just make the game more...satisfying, I think. Like maybe add some sound effects. Or some screen shake. Or only change the colors when the player does something on beat! That would feel really powerful and satisfying. Not to mention:  it would reinforce the need to move on the beat. 

Overall, you've got a super neat idea here! Please keep going with it (sorry to be forceful, no pressure :) )! 

Oh, and really cool music! It got stuck in my head, but I'm not complaining.

Holy guacamole!! Thank you so much for the detailed review! Those are wonderful tips, and they're definitely going in the final version, if I end up making it. You really made my day with this. I mean, really, I'm honored. Thank you again!

Really cool game! First and foremost: it looks awesome. Unity is really stepping up its 2d lighting game, and you clearly know what your doing on that front. You also give a lot of great feedback when an enemy is defeated, making the every shot very satisfying. I do, however, have one major suggestion: maybe you should add more colors/conditions to the puzzles. As of now, all you need are two white adjacent squares and you win, removing the logic aspect. Also, it sort of feels like two games, rather than one seamless game. Like the puzzle is just an extra step every time an enemy is defeated. That could absolutely work depending on your goals, but I just felt that I should mention it.  Anyway, thank you so much for the game! I really enjoyed playing it!

Very cool game! I never in a million years would have thought of this. The shooting is satisfying, and dodging the swarm of enemies is really fun. That said, some different types of enemies would definitely be beneficial, I think, or maybe just some different enemy behavior, as right now it's pretty easy to win just by moving in a circle. Also, while the healing puzzles are a great idea, sometimes it felt impossible to guess the word. I got the start and end of "flamethrower" with no middle letters, and I was at a complete and utter loss. Who knows? Maybe I'm just not smart enough for this. If you decide to expand this idea at all (which you absolutely should), I would also recommend implementing some different types of healing puzzles, as that would really add to the chaos! I'm seeing a Warioware style shooter in my head, and I'm loving every second of it. Thank you so much for the game!!

Wonderful, wonderful game! Everything about it is great! Clever puzzles, great dialogue, neat mechanics: what more could you want? If you decide to make a full game out of this, please let me know. I'd love to play it! I do, however, have a few suggestions. 

First, additional feedback when an enemy is destroyed might make solving the puzzles a bit more satisfying (not that it isn't already). Like maybe add some explosion particles, some more sound effects, and perhaps a bit of screen shake whenever the laser fires. I would also lock progressing the dialogue to one button, as I kept accidently scrolling, causing it to close unintentionally.  Lastly, and this is minor but important: a restart button. Killing yourself to restart the level certainly isn't ideal. That said, it did lead to me discovering the hilarious death dialogue, so that was a plus!

Thank you so much for the wonderful game! It absolutely made my day!

Thank you so much! Please have a great day!

Fantastic job!!! As soon as I grasped the concepts, I simply couldn't put it down. I even played through twice! If you're willing, you should definitely expand this into a more polished game and put it on the app store or something. I would have loved this back in first grade, and it would have been a great teaching tool. That said, I think the "one use tiles" should probably be more distinct from the "multiple use" tiles. Perhaps make them a different color? And maybe each number should have its own color as well: to add another layer of distinction and variety (the color of the laser could reflect this). I would have also appreciated the ability to control when the laser fires; simply to give more power to the player and to make the finishing blow more impactful. To that end, some screen shake when an enemy explodes would certainly add to that impact as well. 

There were a few bugs, but they certainly weren't game breaking. First, the "wall blocks" appeared to be too small to cover the entire width of the screen on my aspect ratio (16: 9). Maybe just extend them a bit? Or just use a consistent aspect ratio script. Oh, and it was really easy to trap yourself by skipping past the enemies and then getting stuck behind the wall that appears behind you. Maybe just divide these regions into two different levels? At the very least there should be some way to go back after the enemies behind the barrier are defeated. Otherwise, a reset is the player's only option, which does not seem like a good reward for defeating all the enemies in a later section of a level. The last problem I encountered occurred at what I think is the end of the game. The camera simply stopped scrolling, but there were more enemies in the level. Maybe it was a time constraint thing and that's the end, but I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of it.

Thank you so much for the absolutely wonderful game! Please have a great day!

Thank you so much! Those are great ideas! The game was designed with something similar in mind, but, well, you know...time. If I continue, I'll definitely take your advice to heart! But yeah, thank you again! I'll go check out your game now! Please have a great day!

Mmmm, tasty! Thank you so much for playing!