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Straightforward and fast-paced. The controls were responsive, and the full premise was easy to understand.

I like that the objectives are just line up one after another, and that there's a massive light indicator for the power sources - that helps keep the player moving ahead without worrying about passing the objective and having to backtrack. 

Upon dropping the bomb, it would be nice to have your completion time indicated on screen as you wait out the timer. The bomb only exploding after the timer depleted initially confused me, but then I realised that's where the 20 second timer comes into play. I thought that this is a clever touch. 

I like the concept of using the recoil and momentum to manoeuvrer around the level. The level layouts were interesting, and I appreciate the gradual introduction of enemies and concepts. 

I found the aiming/walking controls a little awkward, specifically when hitting the ground and walking into the direction that I was aiming. This lead to a lot of my retries on the final level as I would accidentally walk off the ledge as I tried to aim right, and then walk off the right side of the ledge upon touching the ground. A potential change could be to forgo being able to walk left and right, and dedicate the directional buttons for only aiming.

I like the graphical style and the music - they complement each other such that it gives the game a retro aesthetic.

I like how clean the interface is. The simple questions make for a perfect 20 second time sink, though a larger pool of questions would be nice. I think the sheer brevity and simplicity of it is charming.

Thanks for taking the time to play my game and for leaving a reply.

The scores are local only - I really need to learn about setting up online scoreboards given the number of arcade style games that I have made.

There are sound effects for using the tools, but a last minute addition for the walking effect overrides the tools' sound effects - It's a mistake on my part for not realising that the order of events results in this occurring. I have made a minor fix and uploaded a version with the sound effects fixed in case you are curious as to what the items' sound effects are. Thanks for bringing this up!

I like the Christmas theme and that the "lives" are bells that give a chime on a failure. I think that the timer and simple controls helps with focusing on making numerous snap decisions and quickly moving on from failed guesses instead of mulling over the probabilities. The bells making a noise does help with making the player realise their previous guess is wrong.

I think a potential improvement would be to have the cards slightly bigger to make the card values easier to read, and therefore make quicker decisions.

I like that there are separate scoreboards for the 12 and 20 second modes, and that your highest combos for the current run is tracked by the snowflakes. The best score I got on 20 second mode was 3410, and 12 second 1736.

I like how fast the character moves to get around the store. It was difficult to keep track of where the character was going as the camera wasn't able to keep up. A potential improvement could be to zoom the camera out and show more of the surrounding area. 

I like that the colour scheme for the items help them standout from the background elements. When collecting the items, it would be nice if there were some sound effects on the item collected, and an item counter to know how many items are left to collect.

The premise fits the 20 second nature of the game jam, and I like the set up in cutscene. Given the 15 second timer, the game timer pausing after each interaction is really helpful, as it gives the player some time to think on where to check next. If you wanted to make it more difficult, you could make it so that the timer does not pause after the interaction. 

I enjoyed scavenging through shelves and cupboards to find the tools. Some slight randomization to the items' locations would add variety to the game, as well as a "skip intro" button would be helpful on repeat playthroughs.

I like the story setup at the start as it helps set the mood of the game. The automated firing helps keeps the player moving without having to think too much about precise aiming. 

Triggering the  automated shooting felt inconsistent, as sometimes the gun would fire immediately on mouse-overing the enemies and other times it wouldn't unless I aim at their heads. A potential improvement could be to increase the trigger area to be slightly larger than the enemies' model, and to have the player model switch to an aiming stance. The aiming stance would also mean that the bullet is firing from the center of the character model instead of from the player's right hand. There also didn't seem to be a detriment to being shot by the enemies - Given that a level is 20 seconds long and that the enemies also die in 1 hit, it may make sense to have the player die on a single hit as well.

I enjoyed the random level layout generation - It adds variety to each run and fits with the "explore" aspect. However, given that enemies were not much of a threat, I felt that the levels felt very short when only finding 3 codes. Would it be possible to vary the number of codes that need to be gathered per generated level as well? I think you may be able to get away with 4 or even 5 codes in a level, and it would add a surprise factor for the player per run. 

A rather unique twist to Tetris - it reminds me of Eggmania. It was fun controlling the blocks and the ghosts - I managed to make it up 7 rows. I like the audio and the sprite work - it made the game feel oddly calm despite there being only 20 seconds to get to the top.

I found that a lot of my time was consumed by 4 things:
1. having to readjust the ghost or the blocks to avoid a 2+ block high wall situation
2. having to rotate the blocks to a desired position 
3. checking that the ghost wasn't underneath the block
4. waiting for the (sped up) block to hit the ground 

For points 1 and 2, a lot of my time was trying to make 1 block high stairs, which limited how I could place blocks. The player would have more freedom in their block placements  and could shave off time for block placements were the ghost able to jump 2 blocks high. For points 3 and 4, a small improvement could be to show the block's landing position so that the player can start speeding up the fall rate with confidence instead of having to determine whether the block would land on the ghost. The additional freedom and the time saved from being able to make quicker decisions would give the player more chances to build a higher and climbable tower.

The controls felt responsive - the ghost didn't feel floaty, and the blocks moved side-to-side quickly. The mercy shoving when the ghost was placed half a block off a landing block is very useful too. It would be interesting if something were to happen if you could make a row, like if half the screen would fill up or if more blocks fall at once.

I like that there are patterns to the random layouts - learning and recognising them helps on later runs on how to react and dodge to that type of layout. Saying that I only got 331 ^_^,

A potential improvement would be to have hazards and dangers have a similar colour scheme so that dangers and hazards stand out more in your peripheral vision.

Simple casual fun.

Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

The movement is admittedly very clunky - Due to the way that I've implemented the controls, it checks for the last pressed input and there is a delay for the input. Ironically, it was to prevent too many instances of the robot unintentionally zooming across. I did want the player to have the option of zooming across and be able to turn on short notice, but I wasn't able to get the controls to feel correct.

I'll keep the feedback about the difficulties in mind - initially, I was worried that the lower difficulties were too slow and easy, and that the harder difficulties would still be too easy due to the amount of items that spawn in higher difficulties. Though that's great that you managed to survive every level despite the difficulty - Excellent work!

I like the main mechanics - it's like a reverse Osu! I like that the patterns are the same on each attempt, and the ticking in the background helps maintain the rhythm for the trickier levels. The area attacks feel fair as there is some warning before they go off. The turret type attacks are interesting as you need to account for the path that the attack travels and to not accidentally teleport into it after initially dodging it. The attacks feel fair when you have space to move around and are aware of when they go off.

This did make levels 5 and 6 (boxed and dizziness) feel a little unfair on initial playthroughs:

- Boxed had little room to move around, which is fine given the level's name. However, it felt like an increased spike in precision and timing was demanded. You need to dodge in a small zone whilst also accounting for the attacks' passing over in rapid succession, whilst also not accidentally clicking into the red zones. I think the issue I had was that I needed to pay attention to where my cursor placement was whilst also paying attention to the timer on the other side of the screen. If I focused on the timers, I might move into the red zone or the path of an attack by accident; if I pay focus on the cursor placement, then I might mis-time my dodge. A potential solution might be to have the timer as part of the laser sight instead, as that would be tracking the player.

- Dizziness feels like it can only be beaten with prior knowledge. Aside from the points on the floor and the level's name, the attacks will go off without an initial warning, the initial order, and the initial direction. This contrasts with previous levels where the timer shows gives a clear indication on which attacks will go off first.

The decision to restart the level after 3 hits is a good design choice, as it allowed me to maintain focus on the level's pattern - I eventually managed to get no-hit runs on all the levels as a result!

I like the simplicity behind guessing the type of danger based on the audio. The sound effects go on long enough to get a clear idea on what the caller is.  A potential improvement could be to have a custom end screen per "failed" ending to further differentiate each outcome.

I think that the choice of audio for each caller is also good, as they felt distinguishable enough to pair with the correct answer.

I like that the maze and helium drops are randomly generated per attempt, and the music was done well.

The dash mechanic was extremely useful for getting around in the 20 seconds - once I got an idea on size of the maze and that the helium wasn't tied to the dash, I started using it liberally. 

I think a potential improvement would be to include a restart button - As general movement is tied to helium, a run can end prematurely when you run out and are stuck in a dead end. Being forced to wait out the timer is somewhat frustrating - in several attempts, I lost the coin toss and picked a dead-end with no helium left, and  was forced to twiddle my thumbs. 

I eventually got to the end and got my slushie though.

A floaty, mad dash of a game.

I enjoyed the multiple ending aspect, and the alliterative appeal of the names. 

As their are multiple combinations to go through, with some leading to similar outcomes, a minor potential improvement could be to fade out some combinations as you go through them. 

The range of dialogue is the strongest point - It motivated me to go through all the combinations of the names as I was curious on how the gunman and his associate's reactions would pan out.  I also like how the clues are spread out that indicate the other endings. 

I like the art style and the music. It's feels like a picture book. 

It feels a little slow, as there is only one intermediate stage between planted and harvestable and also as there is only two pots at the start. This feeling is less apparent when growing the fast-growing flowers on a clear day, but it becomes noticeable with the slower flowers. This is more noticeable at the beginning where a new player may be tempted to try the more expensive slow flowers when then have fewer pots. Having more intermediate growth stages would help mitigate this feeling, and having descriptions about each flower's growth rate and sell value would help with onboarding new players.

I like that that the weather and time of day affects which plants you can grown. It would be interesting to see a mechanic where certain flowers grow better under different weather conditions aside from just having a linear scale where clear days are the best and cloudy and snowy days is the worse. I'm not sure on what the precise effects of watering, pruning, and fertilize are beyond "it helps the plant grow". Do they each provide different benefits?

The UI is functional, though it can use some improvements. I would quickly try to manage my flowers so a lot of the flower options would overlap with adjacent ones. A potential improvement would be to close the flower options when clicking a different pot. One of the plant's watering option on the upper rows could also be blocked a flower on the lower row, though this may be an issue of it being on the wrong layer.  

Overall, it feels like a good start for an idle game.

A quaint flower growing game.

Edit: Forgot to finish a thought about why flower option may have been blocked.

Edit 2: I saw the screenshots and there were the sell prices and growth times! Perhaps the in-game text bugged out for me :S

I liked the resource management aspect, and having to balance the input and output flow of hydrogen. Learning about the game mechanics and structures was difficult due to not know how to achieve the goal. From the instructions on the title screen, I knew that keeping the hydrogen flow rate within the white zone was "good", but I didn't know that I needed to keep it within a specific region of that white zone in order to grow the star in a meaningful manner. I did notice that the star's image in the list would glow when I'm in the right zone, but I didn't initially catch on. A tutorial process during the first stage that explains the hydrogen flow mechanic, as well as adding more distinct zones within the hydrogen flow bar to indicate what would cause stable growth/decay would help prime new players on how to grow the star to the next stage.

The UI was very informative, though it felt extremely cluttered along the right-hand side, as the build queue window and celestial bodies list are always visible. Having the option to click on a planet to select them to be actioned on in addition to clicking them on the list would be helpful, especially when having to deal with critically low/high hydrogen flow rates. 

Adding to this, managing flow rates across multiple planets is hampered by having to wait a few seconds after selecting a planet. This can become a problem when experiencing under/over flow as the 10 seconds you have to adjust the flow rate is eaten up by waiting for the bars to appear for the corresponding planet and waiting to see how the adjustment has affected the flow rate. It would be nice to have the control bars for a planet's planet crackers be visible immediately after selecting them. 

Outside of critical flow rates, it felt rather therapeutic when you achieve a stable rate of growth through managing each celestial body's output. With the random events, it was fun to switch from a steady pace to a frantically micromanaging structures to prevent failure. The game state did seem to stall, as I wasn't sure how to acquire antimatter to build any of the late game structures like the Star Lifter. Is antimatter acquisition tied to an event?

The music is fitting for the setting, and it was ambient enough that it didn't grate on my ears after a while.

Overall, the core concept is there, and I enjoyed what is available after figuring out how hydrogen flow works. I think needs a little more polishing up.

A resource-management game about revitalising a dying star.

Thanks for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

Even though I've fallen short this time around, it means I have something to focus on and learn about in the next game I make. Thanks for the encouragement!

Toby is a really lovely protagonist. I like his bright sprite design, and how animated he looks as he moves around. I felt rather invested in getting him home.

The music is extremely pleasant to listen to, and felt perfect for finding your way home during a winter's night.

The controls felt a little strange. This was because of how much horizontal speed you could gain when jumping, and how much you slide on landing. It made platforming on certain small platforms that are at the limit of your jump difficult as you accidentally slide off. This issue is compounded further by some parts of the level where the next platform is out of view for the player - you feel forced to take leaps of faith and hope that there is a platform to land on and that it's long enough that you won't slide off. You feel helpless as you can't determine where you are going, which can lead to unfair deaths. 

The platforms being off screen may have come about from the large amount of horizontal airspeed and distance that can be gained, so you might have felt a need to position the platforms further apart to compensate. A possible improvement would be to have the platforms in view, either by having the platforms be close enough to be within camera view or have the camera look ahead slightly as the player moves. You could also include a tall vertical background element on the platform as a form of visual indicator for the player to aim towards as they jump.

Overall, I like the setting of the game, and I would like to see more adventures of Toby the fire sprite with further refined controls.

A short platformer about getting back home on a snowy night.

I like the little sound effects as the bulb jumps, and when you pickup the collectables. I was initially confused by how you pick the collectables up - I didn't know that it's only confirmed as collected only after you touch the ground, and I only figured that out in the ghost rooms. Was there a particular reason for this design choice over immediately picking it up on contact?

I liked the usage of platforms and the ghosts being used depending on the light state. I was confused in the room where you had to jump through the platform in order get ahead of an advancing spiked wall, as it wasn't well telegraphed that I could jump though the thinner platforms. A possible improvement would be to make these types of platforms a different colour. 

I would have liked to seen more levels that include both the platforms and the ghosts.

The music is rather fitting for the setting and also because of the ghosts - it gives it a haunted castle vibe. I like the sprite artwork - It is very useful that the spikes have a white border to help them stand out, and that the harmful things are the same colour to make it intuitive to the player that they are detrimental.

A straightforward, light-switching platformer.

Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

The lack of a win/lose state was a last minute decision, as I wasn't able to program in the effects that the amenities within the lighthouse would have.  I switched it from an arcade-style game to its current incarnation - at best, it's probably closer to a simulator.

Thanks for complement about the fuel gauges! I normally go with numbers and text in the player's UI when denoting statuses of things, so I wanted to have these elements be more diegetic. It was supposed to help with a mechanic where, with the exception of the top floor, each floor is obscured in darkness until the player moves into the room. Having some uncertainty about the exact state of things would have would have the player move around the lighthouse to keep the amenities and yourself topped up.

Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

I'm glad to hear that you found it easy to grasp. I was generally worried that the control scheme would be too unintuitive, so I tried to take steps to ease the learning pains as much as I could.

That's a good suggestion - A local or maybe an online high score table would definitely fit in with this type of game. It would also be great if I could also include the song that's associated with the scores as well.

Ah so there are 6.
At the time of the previous comment, I found: 

- the one where you fill out the entire list,

- the one where you add nothing,

- the one where you add an equal amount in each tier

Then I found the one where it's all S-tier only

Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

Ironically, it was the opposite of my original intended idea - it was supposed to be a more arcade style game where you had to manage and maintain the fuel levels of various amenities in the lighthouse! I wasn't able to program the effects of these amenities in, so I switched it to the cozy game that you now see.

I like the ever present and dwindling candle in the UI - it really adds to the tension as you're reminded of your limited resource. I did find it slightly problematic that the candle was constantly lit, as it feels like I am being forced to move along the game instead of having the chance to explore the room and soak in the ambience. A possible improvement for the candle mechanic may be having the option to choose to put out the candle to conserve it for later and then relight it with another limited resource (e.g. matches) to add to the resource management aspect. 

I'm not sure if there was an in-game effect, but does sprinting affect the rate that the candle burns down? It could affect how a player deals with the second and third stage creatures as well as general exploration.

I like that the candle affected the enemies' behaviours depending on how bright it was burning. The third form of the the creatures did feel impossible to dodge though, so I did feel like I had zero chance of surviving when going through long chains of rooms where there were no candles. The animations for the transformations were really well done, as well as the accompanying sound effects.

I like the "safe" room and the alternative music it has. It reminds me of the Resident Evil safe rooms. There appeared to be a hidden doors throughout the manor, but I couldn't find a way to reveal them - were there more areas planned initially?

It feels like a demo for a much larger survival-horror game. Its a good setting with a fitting mechanic and suitable protagonist. The candle itself could open up a range of puzzles and interactions within the game world itself.

A short game about fetching a photo within an ill-lit manor.

Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

It's opposite of what I intended it to be, but at least the core of it (looking after a lighthouse) could still be shown.

I like the sun and corrupted flowers aspect. I like that the flowers have different sprites when purifying and after being purified. It was also a good idea that collecting them gave additional energy as well as points. It was nice that the game was forgiving in that you get 3 hits before having to restart the level (and lose points).

I found that the toughest combination of enemies to deal with were ones that encroach on your space and fire upon you at the same time. I think that the non-boss waves were fairly balanced - I wasn't overwhelmed with too many firing enemies, but I still had to keep focusing to avoid being hit. As for the bosses, this is how difficult I found them:

1. I found the 3rd boss easiest. The attack pattern was relatively simple and the clouds are fairly easy to dodge, and I didn't die to that one. You're also only dealing with the one boss, so it keeps things relatively simple.
2. The 4th boss looks overwhelming initially with it's varying attack patterns, but is fairly straight forwards once you start figuring out the paths. The second pattern was a little more difficult to figure out a path though - I died around 6 times to this boss, and that was mainly to the second pattern.
   
3. The 1st boss was next, though I don't remember that one as much. I did die at least 3 times from trying to deal with enemies at the same time, which affected how you dodged.
4. The 4th boss was the most difficult, as the extra eyeballs that come out could potentially also shoot at you from behind, which was a unique tactic for this boss and enemy. I died to it the most, mostly from having to dodge around the extra eyeballs. It did seem as though you could purify them, but I never managed to do so. This boss fight might have been more manageable if they could be purified more easily.

Generally, having to deal with multiple patterns simultaneously made the fights more difficult. However, I never felt that it was unfair at any point when I died, and only that I needed to use the arena's space more effectively. As such, I think the difficulty was fairly balanced throughout.

Sound effects were quite good - Did you make the "beam" sound effect yourself? The artwork and colour scheme were good too. The dark void of space really helps makes the sprites stand out! The only thing I wasn't certain about was the effect of the powerups. Overall, it was a difficult but still fair game.

A sunny, but occasionally hellish bullet-hell game.

Thanks for taking the time to play my game and to leave  a comment.

Giving the player the option of going as fast as they dare is one of the reasons why I've included the "mistakes" and "combo" statistics at the end, as well as the bonuses - it encourages replaying for flawless and faster playthroughs!

The playing of the fruits during the results screen was planned from the start. I was tempted to make the game be more rhythmic, but it didn't feel like it meshed well with the randomised notes. Also, I felt like it would be more rewarding for the player to to go from listening to a garble of noise to a more organised result fanfare that is based off of their efforts.

It's a really nice and relaxing experience - Just the sounds of the waves, the creaking ship, and the bell after a catch. The graphics also lend to this feeling of pleasant simplicity.

The gameplay is easy to catch onto after a few clicks. I like that the timer starts only when the first catch has occurred as it gives you the chance to make that first haul count by waiting for a large cluster of fish.

I like that the boat's position is slightly affected by the waves. A potential chance to add variance could be to have the amount of ocean that is visible be affected by vastly higher and lower waves. Another potential improvement is to have a basic scoring system and have the fish be worth different amounts based on size. 

A peaceful fishing game.

Thanks for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

I'm glad to hear that the layout helped reinforce which keys and fruits are paired together. It's difficult to test control layouts as you get used to them after a while, and you can't tell whether it's alright to use that scheme because it's intuitive or just from the sheer amount of practice ^_^,

I like the idea that the strawberry travels along different paths depending on which button you press or whether you fail the timings.  I think the notes that you are meant to hit plays a nice melody with the backing track. 

There is a massive difficulty spike between "easy" and "normal": 

• I think you are on the right track with the "easy" difficulty. There's plenty of spacing between notes to adjust between button presses and looking ahead for the next one.
• the "normal" difficulty feels like there's too many notes being introduced sequentially. Reducing the number of notes for the "normal" difficulty may help give the player more time to look ahead and react to the next required note. 

As a general note for both difficulties, there is less time to react to notes that come from the lower levels when the strawberry is falling downwards. This is due to the camera view being biased to be above the strawberry's head height. It may help to have the camera pan downward slightly when the strawberry is falling. In addition, slightly increasing the valid timing window may also help when handling rapid sequential notes.

I think another potential issue is something that I also encountered when I tried a similar control layout for my game during this game jam: I also tried to use keys that were clustered together horizontally and had a key per finger (SDF, and JKL). I would end up using the wrong finger when I tried to press different keys quickly. I experimented a little and found that using keys that were slightly spaced apart (WAS, and IJL) reduced this issue , as well as using spacebar.

I like the art style for this - The skipping strawberry and colour scheme gives the game a jubilant feel. The bloom effects feel a bit too bright, so it could be toned down a little.  

A sweet, fruity music game.

I think it sounds more positive now. It also sounds like an actual elevator chime now as well. 

Thanks for responding to the feedback and implementing it.

I enjoyed the aspect of anticipating the next item to sort, and having to make a snap decision on where I would rank it.

The table is clear and pleasant to look at. I didn't initially notice that the item's text was also at the top of the list in addition to to being on the tile. I spent most of my time reading off the tiles, which made identifying the item more difficult than it should have.

The controls are simple and straightforward. It is a good idea that the additional controls came after the screen where you learn the main controls. I like the little musical notes that played as you switch to different tiers, and that the list wraps around so you don't have to navigate through the middle tiers to reach either end.

I think something that would have been nice to have is the option to choose the subject in addition to how it currently gives you a random subject.

How many bonuses were there? I found 3 and I feel as though there's a fourth based on the layouts but I'm not sure if there are any more.

A quickfire tier-listing game.

I like the graphics and music - It's feels really upbeat and cheerful.

The score mechanic is quite clever, as you need to balance filling up the bar, avoid making an obstacle of yourself as you collect fruit, and build up the multiplier to make maximise each fruit.

The controls feels odd at first. You're more inclined to press the wrong direction as the WASD layout doesn't intuitively translate to an isometric directions, moreso when you are frantically trying to eat fruit within 20 seconds. I do like that the game is forgiving when you run into yourself. 

I'm mixed about the movement. On one hand, a tile-per-keystroke is extremely helpful for getting around within 20 seconds. On the other hand, all of this is being carried out by the left hand, so it cramps up your hand quickly. A possible solution to mitigate this may be to have more fruit instances appear on the field or have the snake keep moving forward quickly and limiting the player's inputs to turning left and right. Maybe the snake can move forward in rhythm of the background music's drum beats.

A game about a happy snake making juice to some swinging beats. 

I like the physics handling of the drone, and how the movement is heavily altered once you're tethered onto the box. The time limit and level length is really tight though - I managed to beat it after 5 attempts, and only barely.

The graphics are quite nice. I think that the use of fewer colours adds to the charm. I like that the battery functions as the timer in the UI. 

The music feels a little ominous. Were you aiming for a droning feeling?

It would be interesting to see more levels where the objects varied in the ways that they affect the drone's movements.

A fun little drone game.

Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

Funnily enough, I was extremely tempted to change it to a rhythm game towards the end of development so that the fruit sounds were more in rhythm to the backing track. So your comment makes me feel glad about sticking to my initial idea where the player ends up creating their own result screen fanfare.

I think your the only person I know of that uses an AZERTY keyboard! I am sorry that I didn't account for this. I will try to keep this type of thing in mind when it comes to key checks. It sounds like a very curious issue as the W key isn't working :/ After a bit of mulling over as I wrote this comment, I looked at my code and realised what the issue was:

I was getting and using the key code instead of the physical_key  code when doing the checks. The input mapping was using the physical key (which corresponds to your observations), but I wasn't getting the physical_key for the checks. This is my fault, and I am sorry for that mistake.

I've uploaded a new version where it should work base off of the key's position. In theory, you can now use Z and Q in place of W and A.

I like the neon aesthetics in the tunnels and on the obstacles. It also makes it easier to spot obstacles and their gaps.

The controls felt a little awkward. The mouse and keyboard control was extremely confusing at the start: it took me a while to catch onto the fact that the rate of turn is determined by the distance between the screen centre and the pointer's current position. Though I did manage to pass the normal difficulty, I found it unintuitive to have to return my mouse back to the screen centre after a turn. The controller was easier as the pointer returns back to the centre automatically. I did try the advanced controls, but it felt more distracting and so I preferred the simpler schemes for both controller, and mouse and keyboard.

I accidentally found the extreme difficulty, and I gave it about 20 attempts. It think it is very good design that the obstacle rotation cycles start the same way on each run. This meant that you could brute force a strategy with patience and time: I got to the last quarter of the first cave tunnel after the red bulkheads before writing this review. 

I think a large part of the difficulty stems from a combination of the controls and the obstacles:

• You have 20 seconds, so speed is a priority. You can rapidly pick up speed with the boost on top of the normal acceleration
• As you are in space, it makes sense that you need to also be pressing the forward button whilst pointing in your target direction to actually turn. This is fine and is logical
• The method to turn feels fine when travelling at high speed and you have the space to swerve around it
• The bulkhead doors close shut over time, which adds some degree of urgency. On it's own, this is fine
• The laser and physical obstacles have plenty of gaps to exploit. These are manageable at high speeds provided that you have the time and space to react

I think the issue occurs when all these elements are used together: the time limit, controls and high speed encourage linear movement with few detours and deviations, but the spacing between consecutive obstacles and the cave layout encourage slower movement and tighter turns. As the ship is quite fragile, you are punished quite heavily for going at high speeds as you are unlikely to avoid things. This is a larger problem on hard and extreme difficulties.  Compounding the issue further are the targeting lasers that will hit you at lower speeds as you enter the caves, which also encourage higher speeds in an area where there's turns and obstacles. 

Here are a few suggestions that may help strike a balance between these elements:

• increase the spacing between consecutive obstacles. This would allow the player to move at higher speeds by giving them more time to react and reposition themselves after passing each obstacle
• remove the targeting lasers. The speed of the ship should be for getting to the goal in time, and the player's ability to react and manoeuvre should be the factor for safely bypassing an obstacle. Alternatively, have the lasers gradually point towards you instead of instantly locking on
• have the turns be more gradual. The cave walls are quite dark, so it's not easy to gauge how much the player needs to turn. Alternatively, have the level be more straight
• have the bulkheads close partially instead of fully. Thematically, it makes sense for the bulkheads to shut fully. However, if the bulkhead is nearly shut, this reduces the space and options that the player can use when attempting to take on the next obstacle. Leaving a gap would give the player some options for manoeuvring and help with predictability. Alternatively, have it so that the bulkheads start shutting only when the player is in range

I think a good example of obstacle spacing would be F-Zero GX on Chapter 5.

I like that the short time to restart also encourages retrying. Overall, the foundation of this game is fairly solid, and it is still a fun game once you get your head around the controls. 

An epic escape game that needs a little more tuning.

I really enjoyed the mechanic that the background music fades out until only the instrument that the watermelon is playing is at the forefront. I also like that the tempo and animation speed increases as time goes on. 

I like the blocky looking graphics, as well as the design of the watermelons. The ending screens were funny. The combination of the characters and the music make it feel the ending of a detective-comedy film. The music is spot-on for this type of scenario.

I did have an issue with the hint: I initially misinterpreted the hint as listening out for misplayed instruments or that their hand movements were not correct. That led to a failure to accuse anyone and then a false accusation. It took a few attempts, but I eventually found the actual clue that led to the imposter. 

A possible improvement could be to speed up the rate that a person's instrument is isolated and also make it slightly louder when you inspect them, as it took a while to figure out the difference in sound.

I had a slight issue when I couldn't look around properly when attempting to look away from a suspect, which cost valuable seconds. 

A quick-fire deduction game with a dramatic soundtrack.

Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.

The compliment towards the idea is much appreciated :)

I like the powerups and and artstyle, though I needed to have it in full screen in order to fully appreciate the pixel art. There was a lot of lag when starting from the title screen, at the start of the first run and then in later runs. There is a tendency for lag to occur when taking multiple hits.

I like the little animations that occurs in the character portrait when collecting powerups or taking damage. A possible UI improvement would be to have the enemy health bar always be on-screen, as it would make it easier to determine why the game has ended

I had a minor issue with determining what counts towards the "accuracy" criteria for scoring, as I initially thought that only my sword swipes counted towards it. I was surprised to learn that the reflected attacks counted as my own attack and also counted towards my accuracy. More scoring criteria could cause variation in a player's strategy. For example, time bonus for faster kills; no-hit bonuses; sword-only or reflection only bonuses; No powerup runs (this might not be feasible in the game's current state)

A bullet-hell game with ratcheting difficulty.