itch.io

"This is a game where information is dangerous."

This is honestly such a great idea. I really like it! I think games in general could become quite a bit more interesting if they explore elements of enemy AI being able to sense the player through sight, sound or even smell. It's something I don't think we see enough of. Great entry, and I wish you all the best with the jam!

PS: This might simply be an issue with my screen's brightness, but I found that turning the light down completely still allowed me enough vision to navigate without issue, but this a minor balancing element. It could be neat to have some non-lethal hazards that are even more difficult to spot in the dark, or even optional rewards that *only* appear in the light. You know, just a little something to entice players to use their light a bit more!

The artwork is adorable. I love the little crow, and it's great to see Godot entries! Congratulations to everyone on the team for participating in their first game jam, too! It's an awesome accomplishment and you absolutely should be proud of it!

A game with a pun for the name? Most excellent.

I love the concept. I think it works extremely well for the theme, especially as someone who has a genuine fear of the ocean. There's so much to it, such vastness, and it's a great illustration of risk vs reward - there's much to discover, but ... well, there's also much to *encounter*. xD

And, well, I found that out first hand as I was thoroughly beaten and bullied by a kraken and shark. xD

All the best with the jam!!

This. This is fantastic. I was so excited to see the two of you again as I loved Cape Town Rental Simulator last year, and this is honestly even more charming. The presentation alone deserves so, so, so much praise. It's adorable and extremely amusing. I never thought I'd be budgie jumping for the Mexican cartels... 

The game itself is really fun, too! There's a delightful layering of various risks and rewards. Staircases upon staircases. Stairception, even! 

I'll be cheering for you! I wish you all the best in the jam!

The art elements of this are great. There's a lot of charm to the character, aesthetic, and presentation! I like the idea behind the gameplay, although some sections felt extremely punishing whilst others extremely forgiving. The buzzer sound could also be a bit softer. It's rather jarring. xD

Overall, a great entry! I wish you the best in the jam! :3

Hey all :3

I'm very excited to be a part of this once again. I have no idea what kind of theme we're going to get, but I'm eagerly awaiting the reveal, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone cooks up this year. All the best, and happy jamming!

... and please remember to eat and drink! xD

Thank you so much for giving it a whirl and providing feedback! I'm glad you found the house cute. At some point I was worried it looked a bit too much like a bird house, but that's also oddly fitting given the chicken legs. xD

The core gameplay is that you damage enemies by moving over them, and they deal damage to you in turn. Kill enough and you can select a power up. Space is a jump that will give you a brief moment of invulnerability, and deal increased damage in a radius around where you land.

The theme element is such a learning experience for me. My original vision was one where you would decorate your home and gain powers in the process. Add a cauldron? Unlock potions. Add a chimney? Get the ability to launch projectiles out of it. Add a crow nest to your roof? Get a supportive companion, etc! Essentially management of both passive and active abilities based on your choice of furniture, and I wanted that to be represented visually too!

While I loved the idea in my head, it proved too much for me to personally implement. I looked at what I had on Sunday and realized it simply wasn't going to happen, and so I redirected my efforts into making a playable loop with what I had and opted to implement my original plan as the power up names and descriptions instead. In the end, my adherance to the theme was reduced more to... "You want a game about home? Well, here's a witch murdering people with hers." Messy, but alas. xD

Thank you so much for giving it a try. I'm really glad you had fun!

I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the writing and description of the items! I've been finding that I enjoy writing more and more lately, and I'd love to do creative writing like this - either as just fleshing out a future project with more descriptions or even tackling a more narratively driven experience. It means a lot to me that you liked it!

... especially the pun. I was prepared for either love or pitchforks with that one. xD

Thank you so much for giving my little project a whirl. I appreciate it, and I'm glad you found it easy to understand. I've realized I actually could have done a lot more to convey some of that to the player, but I'm glad you figured it out!

I actually have not gotten around to giving Brotato a spin yet. I'll make a note to do that. I'm intrigued! :o

This is some excellent feedback. Thank you, Jaco!

I like your assessment. It is contrary to the fun of trampling large groups of enemies to find yourself chasing a singular mage down all of the time, especially since their danger is supposed to make you prioritize them, but in the current state that simply results in you continually chasing one guy across a field while the situation escalates furthers.

The idea of a either a stun or a herd script would work wonders. I'd especially like to try and figure out how to get them to herd together as there's some room for experimentation there too to perhaps have some kind of effect on the projectiles or spell used depending on how many of them have banded together to cast while also keeping them together for the player. Could be neat!

Thank you for the kind words, for playing, and even including a screenshot! It means a lot to me! That's one hell of a sea of fire on screen. Gosh, those fire mages really do get out of hand... xD

I would have loved to have added more creative stuff to it. I had originally wanted to include further non-passive abilities such as tossing potions out the window, launching stuff out the chimney that could fall on surrounding enemies, or even a crow nest upgrade that would send out birds to retaliate upon taking damage once in awhile. There's a lot of little possibilities for some fun that I want to explore!

I honestly cannot believe that you both took the time to record your first impressions of my tiny little project! I smiled so much at this and you have no idea how much this means to me! You are both just so wholesome! Thank you! You've made my week with this, and I am going to treasure this video!

It was really educational to see how you approached it. It's very valuable feedback, and a great look at just what made sense, what caused confusion, what frustrated, etc. I realized with some horror that I did a really, really terrible job at explaining how to actually play in terms of controls and what your abilities (such as the jump) actually did, but I'm glad you figured it out regardless. The jump itself does more damage where it lands and also gives you invulnerability for the duration of the jump.

You are absolutely correct about the nature of the power ups and the connection to the theme. I had wanted to include a house design segment, much like how you would place furniture in Stardew Valley, etc - but time constraints led to me implementing it as a more simplified "pick a powerup" system and scrapping the home design.

I am also truly sorry for the trauma that the fire mages caused. xD

Thank you again for trying it!

Godot is amazing!

That is perhaps one of the things I'm most pleased about having discovered from this Game Jam. I had heard of the engine in passing before, but never given it a whirl until now, and it's extremely pleasant to work with. Signals in particular stood out to me as an "Oh, that's hecking neat" feature, and the scene system is great too. I'll probably discover more things I like as I tinker with it further!

Thank you for taking the time to play my little project and provide some meaningful feedback about it. It's much appreciated! The fire mages definitely need work. I'm almost amused at this point how much universal frustration they've manage to cause. I wanted them to be a nuisance, but... this was far too much. xD

And yeah, as mentioned in another message, the adherence to the theme turned out to be a problem. I cut away a lot in order to finish, but at definite compromise with the theme.

Oh, and I'm glad you enjoyed my use of the folk-story! The world needs more Baba Yaga, and not just the John Wick kind.

Thank you!! I'm glad you had fun and found it cute!

The theme absolutely caught me off-guard. I don't know what I expected, but the moment I read it my mind went completely blank. "Oh" was about the only thought on my mind for awhile, and that was one of the reasons I was so damned impressed when I discovered the project you and Diyanka put together. It was just so creative! "Wow, yeah. This is a great implementation of the theme"

Me? I just went with an insane chicken hut. xD

I'm definitely aiming to explore it further. Both for sake of trying to complete what I had originally wanted to do, and because I'm actually curious of how I can get it to tie together nicely with what I've established so far.

Yeah, adherence to the theme turned out to be a bit of a problematic element for me. I had originally envisioned the power ups as things you would actually place around the home - fridges, tables, etc - so one half of the gameplay would be a more decorative experience that took place inside the house itself. Hell, I even wanted some of them to visibly change the player, such as a chimney or additional floor to the building, etc. 

All that was ... an ambitious plan, and I realized it just wasn't going to be feasible given the timelimit and my skills, and as a result ended up axing the part that most closely adhered to the theme and trying to incoporate the spirit of that into the names and writing. Unfortunate, but we live and we learn! It was quite an eye opening experience honestly, because this idea was what I had deemed the one I was most likely to finish and it was still stressful and way too close to the deadline. I'd hate to know what would have happened if I had gone for one of my other plans. xD

Thank you very much for giving it a whirl, and especially for the kind words regarding the writing! I'm very pleased that you liked it! That's an element I'd love to explore more in a future projects. I've the itch to try and craft something more narratively driven, perhaps even a visual novel!

This is a very neat home maker, and I'm impressed you got as much done as you did within just 48 hours! Good entry and good luck!

Haha! This is great and I had a lot of fun cleaning! There's something oddly satisfying behind it. xD I just... really wish cleaning my own home felt as enjoyable as this. Perhaps I need to practice my trash throwing skills in real life, huh? xD

Seriously, though! Great concept and execution, and the addition of a leaderboard is very neat!

PS: I noticed in the description that you've been on a game development journey - that's really awesome! I wish you all the best as you continue to learn and grow. Please do keep it up!!

This is a very interesting implementation of the theme! Terraforming is one thing, but competitive terraforming is another thing entirely, and definitely not something I expected to see! Great work and entry. It's cool, and I rather love the artstyle and music too. Some good polish here!

Honestly, I found this very satisfying to play and I'm personally also very fond of the fact that you encourage experimentation. Experimentation and discovery is an element that I honestly wish we saw more in games. It's just such a little joy to me to work out things about a world. Kudos for that!

Good luck with the jam!

PS: I rather enjoyed getting into a bit of a mirror match with my opponent xD

It's great to see a tower defense entry here, and you did it well. I had some fun defending my little home and a laugh over the name as well. Good entry and all the best with the jam!

I honestly love that we both ended up with some variation involving Baba Yaga as our interpretation of the theme and I absolutely *adore* the house! Seriously, that's some fantastic artwork!

I found it to be quite challenging and a neat concept! I've played couple of rounds now to try and outrun this ol' hag, but she's quite persistent.

Good entry and all the best with the jam!

Hahaha. Well, I will always live by the words of Hana from Fire Emblem: "People who say "no pun intended" are cowards. Intend your puns, weaklings." xD

Thank you very much for the kind words, though! I'm glad you enjoyed stomping away!

Thank you! I'm glad the description had some effect. I've been wanting to polish my writing more and so that's good enough for me! I definitely agree that the gameplay needs some work and polish, but I appreciate you taking the time to check it out all the same!

Aww! Thank you so much for the positivity! It really means a lot to me that you found it fun and enjoyed it, and I'm particularly glad you enjoyed those silly little feet. xD

Thank you so much for the feedback! It's honestly all pretty on point. I think one of the big mistakes I made is that I simply did not budget enough time for playtesting. All of my balance calculations were done fairly hastily and last minute, and it shows! But, I do think I'm going to continue to polish this a bit more in the coming weeks as a personal project so hopefully I can get that a bit more under control. 

Re: the fireball casters, there's a part of me that's glad that you hated them. I wanted them to be a nuisance, but not quiiiite as much as they ended up being, so I think a reduction to their health and speed would be quite good. Their ability to run off screen is entirely unintentional, too! I did a last minute change to the collisions because the melee guys would get stuck on them when they stood still, but I forgot to make sure they could still collide with the invisible boundries I had established after my changes. xD Aaah... what's that expression? 99 bugs in the code, 99 bugs in the code. Take one down, patch it around, 137 bugs in the code... ? xD

Oh, this is cool! I like a lot of the elements that you chose to work with here. I played a couple of rounds of it and found it quite challenging. There is lots of potential to polish this up and turn into something more! I skimmed through some comments and I definitely like FluffyPankreas's suggestion of having spaces influence each other.

I'd also perhaps like some way of refreshing a hand entirely? Perhaps on a cooldown or at the expense of not earning anything from the discarded cards, etc. Sometimes I just found I had the entirely wrong cards and burning them one by one wasn't bringing up what I needed.

This is a great entry, though - and all the best with the jam!

PS: I also figured I'd share this screenshot - if you could have only witnessed the tangible relief that I felt when I drew Galactic Era's Tour. xD

The game crashed for me (on Windows 10, 64 Bit), but attempting to run it full screen as suggested by Xelanybor seemed to help. It still took multiple launches, but it eventually worked and I was able to play further without issue. It is potentially something related to the Windows build as I tried a few attempts on Linux and had zero issues there. It would launch without fail every time!

As for the game - this is pretty neat. I found the concept of a survival game somewhat daunting, but you've made it work here. It's a good entry!

I did find it a little confusing to figure out which rocks I was meant to collect. I went toward the left at the start, but all of the rocks on that side of the island seem to be ones that you can't interact with. Perhaps a bit more distinction or some kind of indicator on what you can interact with would be helpful?

Wow!

This is great! You leaned into the management of human desires and needs so nicely. It creates a really satisfying gameplay loop, and I really like the overall theme of life being more than just survival - it's about living, and about *home*!

I was absolutely obliterated in my first run, but I managed to get all three endings eventually. Great writing, design, and a fantastic entry!

... I just don't understand why those damn marsquakes hate my karaoke bars so much. Is their singing *that* bad that the planet itself visits with such fury? xD

I love this so much! It's a really, really creative idea and the thought of designing something around timed furniture placement and rental paperwork hadn't even crossed my mind. I think that's something I really love about this game jam experience - just getting to see how creative everyone is and this is GREAT!

And, I've always been a sucker for the little details - the eyes of the couple and the cat following the cursor is a wonderful and really cute touch!

It wasn't immediately clear what to do during the second half as I initially tried to match things via dragging. It took couple of seconds to realize it was two separate clicks, but after that things flowed fine. It's a good gamification of how stressful all that paperwork can feel. xD And, honestly, I moved this year so I can really feel how ridiculous some of the asks are. My blood type? WHAT DO YOU WANT MY BLOOD TYPE FOR? xD

I am scared to admit how long it took me to position the fridge next to the kitchen counters. One of them would slip and wobble the other out of position, and then I kept dropping them back into the wrong spot and... oh god. It's like the PTSD of moving flats, but in an entirely different flavour. xD

This is a very neat idea and a great entry! I had fun trying to get things to behave the way I wanted them to!

I also gave the Extra Juice version a bash, and I love the improvements! It's amazing what some extra sounds, movement and transitions can do. It's a lovely layer of polish!

This is a neat concept, and quite cute! Hunger is most certainly one of my primary needs, and you made good choices with the assets. The art and music combine really well!

I... I fear for our lives though once these chickens learn from the ones in Legend of Zelda... no one... no one will be safe...

I really enjoyed this! You've used quite a unique and satisfying visual style, and I noticed quite a few little details in the art - the movement of the waves, the edge of the water, the dripping in the cave, etc. The scenery paints a great picture, and you've blended that with some lovely writing. There was something quite immersive about it all, and I even chuckled over some lines. Great work!

I'm really sorry that loadshedding interfered so much, but it's a great entry despite it!

This was also my first encounter with Bitsy. I noticed you named a few favourites in one of the comments belong so I'll definitely be checking those out too!