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No worries, and I can only apologise for my game ranking higher than yours when yours clearly had more game in it!

Let me know if you intend to continue development, as I'd be interested in playing further iterations of this game for sure!

Congratulations on the solid submission! Really interesting concept for a puzzle game and very distinct gameplay.

I found the Plorbs difficult to control on the second level, as it seemed to make some interesting decisions about which Plorb to focus on as the main one being controlled. I think the idea controlling all Plorbs at once is interesting but its execution was just a little off in my personal opinion; I'd rather have only controlled Plorbs that are attached to the Plorb that I'm controlling, though this may have made the puzzles too easy perhaps.

A little bit of background music may have enhanced the experience, but I appreciate the time constraints of the jam and the gameplay is more important (something I kind of failed with myself haha).

Great work, and there is a solid idea here to build from if you wanted to.

This was a great submission, particularly given the time taken, congratulations!

The concept was great and really worked within the context of the gameplay. I think you did a great job designing the pole to complement the adventure-platformer vibes, as that could easily have dominated and turned it into a puzzle-platformer.

Great art style, the music fit nicely and the opening UI was decent. My two critiques would be that the pole was a little bit too slow for my liking and I would have liked for there to be checkpoints in-game so that I didn't have to restart the whole level again (note: I didn't test whether save spawning was doable or not as it has only just occurred to me lol).

Overall, I had good fun and there is definitely enough here to work with going forward, if you wished. I hope you get more eyes on the game, though this close to the deadline, I sadly think that is unlikely.

Congratulations on the submission! This had just enough mechanics to be enjoyable but avoided being unapproachable, nice job on that front.

Personally, I would have liked the scaling rows to be differentiable, perhaps different colours or with iconography. I'm also not sure why there were four because I could only seem to scale down for the top two and up for the bottom two. The scaling was also a little glitchy (it seemed to have to scale my player character twice before staying at the intended scale) and I also soft-locked the game on the first non-tutorial level by touching the bottom orange bar; the player character wouldn't move and I had to quit and restart.

There is definitely potential for a nice puzzle game here though, should you wish to develop it further.

Congratulations on building your own game engine, that is remarkable, and if you keep using it in more game jams, it will slowly and surely become a stable, roadtested engine (unlike some, not naming names).

However, I am rating this end product, and I didn't really understand what was going on and there were seemingly no panels to provide any information (although there were certainly plenty of panels). The game didn't seem to progress after 'wave 2', which may or may not be correct terminology lol.

Do keep developing the engine though and do keep making games out of it. Best of luck!

That sounds great, and I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for the next iteration!

This was an excellent submission, congratulations! Aesthetic was great and the gameplay was simple conceptually but challenging in reality. For the most part, that challenge felt pretty fair, although minor personal complaint: the purple bullets did feel unavoidable.

The ship modification process was very interesting although at times felt a bit arbitrary - perhaps the modules could synergise in some way based on their placement? I appreciated the dilemma of having more stuff versus becoming bigger and thus more likely to be hit though, that was nice.

The game could have done with a little more enemy variety, but I appreciate the time jam constraints probably didn't permit that, although the enemies presented here were good for the first few levels.

I got to level 11 before deciding to end it. I did encounter a couple of bugs:
1. After having applied multiple "Leader spread" upgrades, my Leader just stopped working entirely which lost me a lot of firepower. That probably unbalanced levels 10 and 11.
2. I was unable to place any modules in a certain slot on my ship despite them being placed there in the "Party management" screen. I've attached a photo demonstrating the bug in case you wanted to develop the game further in future.

Congratulations on the submission and I know absolutely nothing of Scratch, but I imagine that what you submitted likely took a lot of effort, so well done!

Simple mechanics and an enjoyable little game loop, although unfortunately the player character's collision with the environment hindered the experience as it was fairly easy to almost get stuck, and then I had to stop playing when I got soft-locked between a cloud and a platform (in the transition to the third environment).

Nice work overall though!

We did win, my friend. To be 2 of 7,658 entries when ~32,500 people joined is a glorious victory haha!

And you haven't seen a fish swim backwards? Tsk.

Haha, thanks. I'm just stoked I managed to get something out there in my first game jam using an engine that I had only practiced in for a solid couple of days beforehand... bottom 2% here I come (just kidding, the ratings don't bother me in the slightest)

Understandable, wise decision I think then! I've just this moment randomly thought that your idea might be kind of cool as a turn-based strategy game lol; clearly a sign that the concept affords a big design space, so great job coming up with the idea in the first place.

Beware, "game" is a bit strong for my submission haha.

For yours, I think it could have been solved with a quicktime event, such as something falling to block off the small entrance / exit. Or perhaps that raised wooden area could have had a box on which the player had to push off to jump off onto the starting side; this would then create a platform for them to get up to re-enter that second area. Just a couple of ideas off the top of my head - I'm no level designer by any means so don't take this as gospel haha!

Art style was great and going 3D in a game jam is always a bold strategy, so kudos for pulling something together in the time constraint! The control scheme felt very unnatural to me and movement seemed to become awkward at places where the elevation changes; I'm wondering if voxels may have been the way to go?

The game felt surprisingly chilled given that it's pretty much a mob-survival game, but the music and art worked well together. I read in another comment that you were solo, so as a fellow solo dev, I commend your efforts here and congratulations on the submission!

Definitely an interesting idea being explored here in general, although the link to the theme is extremely tenuous in my opinion as the 'scale' isn't really affecting the gameplay or decisions made by the player. The control scheme wasn't really manageable because the mouse cursor didn't wrap around screen edges and it took me several shots before I realised there was even a power meter on the right.

I think a tutorial or even some UI text explanation would have greatly helped the overall approachability. Well done for getting a working submission though!

I think the concept / mechanic explored with regards to the scaling is great, but too briefly explored for my liking. The level design was unexpected (in a good way) but I soft-locked myself in the opening trying to head back to the well; it was the first thing I interacted with as a player and so the assumption was I had to go back there with the water. The level design here could have been tighter to either prevent this or provide another way to get back on track.

Compared to that "UE gloss", the UI felt a little rushed and I still don't honestly know how I completed the objective or what my aim really was, other than collecting / dispensing water to change size. The game could also have done with something in the background, even if it was some wind sounds.

Kudos for using Unreal and for being able to submit something; that is much better than I could have hoped for in UE haha.

Thanks for playing! I think it would have been interesting to see how the game looked had I started with this idea, but what's a game jam without tossed-out code haha...

Antarctic Ascent wasn't your first idea?? Wow, incredible, I thought your game smashed it.

I agree with this. Currently, I don't see why the lizard civilisation would choose a rather costly mech over say a land vehicle, as the mech is basically a glorified transporter.

No worries, thank you for taking the time and effort to make and submit it! My spatial awareness in 3D isn't great, so really this is not a game made for me. Unfortunately, the Enjoyment rating is what it is, but the level of polish you achieved in the time frame is truly amazing and I'd love to see what you could come up with if we had had, say, a week!

Awesome, I look forward to seeing the next iteration / final version in the near future then! ;) Good luck for the exams too!

I personally didn't click with the gameplay at all, but I cannot deny that it is an interesting mechanic implemented with a high level of polish in both visuals and SFX.

There's no doubt that with some additions, namely gameplay mechanics / features for mid- to late-game, there is a perfectly realisable game here. Solid submission, congratulations!

No worries! You've already succeeded because we're here commenting on your submission so I think your scoping was spot on.

I've no idea of your experience with games, but if you're new, I'd recommend seeing this one through to completion if you can. You've done the hard part - come up with a neat concept - and expanding the game, incorporating player feedback and producing a final 'product' will be a great exercise and experience you can take with you to another game and / or jam.

Enjoyable little taster and the setting (dilapidated computer) was great. Solid presentation overall.

Like others, I got confused as to why "down" didn't work in the first rhyme and I liked another commenter's suggestion of highlighting the target words. This would also allow you to expand the design space, for example, maybe some letters have been rubbed off the card, so now the player doesn't have all of the info. Great work weaving the glitches into the the setting / lore - an enviable feat indeed!

My biggest critique really is that the link to the theme is rather tenuous - I personally think the 'scale' aspect needs to be linked to player input / actions in some way and I didn't feel that was the case here. Perhaps the cards could be different widths and heights, and you have to scale the card to meet a certain-sized slot in the computer, or maybe to change what shows on the cards - for example the down arrow could have been all four arrows and the player needs to scale it so the down arrow fits into the computers scanner slots.

Congratulations on the solid submission, and providing an enjoyable few minutes.

As someone else noted, this is an obvious but strangely under-utilised take on the theme but the scaling mechanics were implemented really well within the puzzles. I also felt the puzzles introduced each scaling feature really well too.

Unlike others, I found the platforming to be satisfying, although the death flowers could have been a bit more lenient collision-wise perhaps. No bugs, and everything worked as I expected.

Had to mark down on style though; the game would have benefitted from background music and more sound effects (most notably in my opinion, falling onto the death flowers or failing in general). A strong submission and great concept to expand upon in future, if desired.

Thanks for checking it out, and I'll check yours out shortly! I'm really pleased to hear you found something original in my attempt.

I had designed a leaderboard-style ranking system in my head; knew exactly what it would look like and then ran out of time, so I 100% agree with your comment haha. I didn't have the last day of the jam off work which was limiting, but that's life.

Thanks for giving it a go! I appreciate people are reluctant to download .exe files and I don't blame them - it was unfortunate that I could not get Godot 4.3. to give me a working web export despite me seeming to do everything correctly. Heigh ho.

And yes, it is way too short which I think is my fault - I bumped the objective timer up for testing and then forgot to reduce it for the submission *facepalm*. I'm just pleased that I was able to act upon my pivot, and for the first time of putting something out to the world, I took a lot away from the experience!

Haha, I sensed that might be the case. I appreciate the fact there was a goal - I've played other idlers where there was no goal and they felt less satisfying because the time invested didn't lead to any real pay-off, so thanks for that!

I wish you the best of luck with its development, and message me with a Steam link when the time comes to wishlisting.

If a truly idle game is the intent, then I think you're absolutely right. In that case, you need to identify the "just one more" incentive - the reason why I would switch back to the game window and pay attention to it instead of whatever else I am currently doing, otherwise it is little more than a soundtrack or a glorified interactive wallpaper haha.

Whoops - sorry about the name clash! Yours definitely fits the name better haha.

Fish seem to be a common theme (I am also guilty), but this is by far the most unique take on it I've come across so far. Awesome work, simple yet effective. My only critique is that the more I ploughed into the speed of the auto-descaler, the less accurate it became; not ideal.

Still, a very interesting idle game that benefits from having no real motivation other than seeing numbers go up! Congratulations on the submission.

Automation games are really difficult to pull off for a game jam, so congratulations on making the submission!

Unfortunately, the game doughnut did not have long enough to bake in the oven - must be those ordering raw dough eh. Once I worked out how the duplicator worked, it was nifty (very Shapez-esque), but the lack of UI and any information screens really harmed the overall experience. and made it a game of experimentation through confusion and lack of information. 

The core idea is there though if you wanted to expand on it, but I would prioritise the UI and the system providing feedback to the player.

Others have summed it up pretty well; beautiful aesthetics / ambience, repetitive gameplay that became a bit tedious and no real incentive to progress other than refusing to lose.

Must be my inner designer, but I picked up pretty quickly that you had painted the sandy-coloured paths to lead back to the totem, though I do agree with their suggestion about adding a working compass (which is a more thematic solution than a mini-map in my opinion), perhaps even if it was something you had to craft within the first couple of rounds.

Nonetheless, good job with the submission and congrats for co-ordinating a team!

I think what Vlopes is indicating is, as I noticed, when you trigger the fail-state and get the Game Over screen (basically "you lost"), the game engine's time scale is reduced but not stopped. Therefore it is possible to continue to play the game (albeit at a slower speed) whilst the Game Over screen is showing.

Really missed the ability to call a planetary mate...

Well done for submitting something to the jam, that should always be championed, and from my perspective, for getting a Godot web export working (I was on 4.3 and the web export would just not work on Itch for some reason).

Balance was the biggest issue with the game, as huge and / or quick planets would appear out of nowhere and end the run, whilst I was trying hard to look for edible planets and finding only vast emptiness. Apt, perhaps, but not particularly engaging. I didn't not enjoy it, but the enjoyment feels shallow.

Really missed the ability to call a planetary mate...

Well done for submitting something to the jam, that should always be championed, and from my perspective, for getting a Godot web export working (I was on 4.3 and the web export would just not work on Itch for some reason).

Balance was the biggest issue with the game, as huge and / or quick planets would appear out of nowhere and end the run, whilst I was trying hard to look for edible planets and finding only vast emptiness. Apt, perhaps, but not particularly engaging. I didn't not enjoy it, but the enjoyment feels shallow.

Solid submission, congratulations. Nice physics-based puzzles and there was a good amount of variety for a game jam entry. Personally, I felt the game didn't really hard enough into the 'scale' aspect; I didn't feel like my actions were causing things to get bigger or smaller, rather that was the natural consequence of putting more stuff into the play area. Purely subjective and you are others are welcome to disagree haha. I do think a design space could be explored if the players were able to manipulate the size/scale of the objects though...

Overall, I had a great time with the game and kudos for getting in a number of levels - always the challenge with puzzle games in game jams haha.

The play area scaling was somewhat overwhelming but still enjoyable in retrospect. I didn't get too far, so if this happens already then ignore me, but I think you could have explored non-linear scaling, for example, making the play area twice as tall as it is wide. Graphics were really nice and I liked the visual processing of, e.g. the particle FX.

The spawns felt slightly unfair, and I think it might have been nice if these were cued in some way, for example a short warning indicator giving the spawn position and angle. I think it would be perfectly fine to not indicate what the bullet type is, as then that leaves the player with something to react to.

Great job submitting!

Great interpretation and a unique concept, well done! The buildings being physics objects really did add to the fun of the gameplay, and my demise came from something unexpectedly falling off and causing the other side of the scale to rocket upwards - very satisfying even as a game-ending move haha!

The design of the UI felt quite out-of-place, though I appreciate the time constraints of the game jam may be a factor in that, and I think some extra polish can bring it all together in a very satisfying manner. Overall though, I rather enjoyed playing this game!

Firstly, congratulations on the submission! Secondly, whilst there are games out there similar to this, this concept feels very unique to me, so bravo! This game demands that the controls be tight and on a laptop trackpad, they weren't; they were fiddly and awkward. I think an easy win would be to make the zoom function in fixed increments rather than on a pseudo-absolute scale as-is. For some reason, I missed being able to tilt up and down too.

I think the concept is worth continuing though, so hope you continue and best of luck!

I suck at platformers and almost gave up with this, but glad I didn't and just "got good"; well, not that good, but enough to enjoy the game. My first 5 stars in the Style category and well-deserved, it all felt really well polished, thematically cohesive and topped off with a late-night lounge version of Deck The Halls!

Like others have said, I think the very beginning could have been made clearer, though the wrap-around is clever and well implemented. Additionally, I wonder if the grey platforms could have been permanent, to act as "safe spaces" for the player - almost like a checkpoint; there would then be room throughout the game to introduce new surfaces that were less safe - slippery ice blocks, or ones that fall after a few seconds of shaking etc.

Great job overall though, and my penguin, like my game development aspirations, never really got much off the ground haha.

A solid submission, congratulations. Not much to add that hasn't been said below really, although I personally missed a goal / objective such as "Grow at least one flower to X height". I wasn't a  massive fan of the art style personally, though I can appreciate the time and effort put into it, and I cannot deny the bees were amazing haha.

Definite potential to develop this further if you wanted; points to consider would be balancing / game progression arc, introducing some form of disruption to the player (for example, insects that eat the plants) and slight UI improvements. Overall though, well done!

This has good potential for a 3D platformer game and the levels (lighting / post-processing effects) looked gorgeous, great job! The key component of a 3D platformer game are the controls and those were off sadly; the jump was too floaty and the surface colliders were too unforgiving / 'slippery'. I was also able to glitch onto the wall and kind of wall climb near the end of level 1, which was actually a blessing as I was getting mildly infuriated with the controls haha.

Personally, the village presentation feels totally out-of-place to me, but that aside, the camera definitely needed to be zoomed in, or the player otherwise brought closer to the quest-givers.

Congratulations on being part of the jam though, and I think with some improvement to the controls, there could definitely be possibilities for post-jam development.