itch.io

I'd suggest putting a warning for flashing lights because the boss sprite flashes a little heavily. It has a really strong and consistent style to it, but could use some indicators as to what's happening. I like how the moving parts of the bosses are animated, and how the spaceship and powerups are 3D modeled.

If you were playing on normal, the first boss actually gets buffed with 3 more skills after you die to a later boss, so that's probably why it seemed like the coins didn't show up. I actually balanced the game with the goal of there almost always being a black slice on the board because I actually hate waiting too long for openings in games (lol). Technically it wouldn't be unfair to make the player wait, since there's no consequences to waiting, but I decided to retain the current speed after stopping and guaranteeing board changes in the player's favor to minimize wait times to keep the fast pace of the game.

The ASDF abilities are more geared towards playing not on max speed and going more for consistency, where it's useful to drop the speed back down after resetting the minimum speed if you accidentally wait too long, and flipping the board for better openings on the second boss, so it's for accommodating different playstyles... and also I didn't know what to put there so bam, skill panel. I think it's a somewhat different experience to go for consistency instead of going all in, so maybe give it a try if you want.

I'm pretty glad to hear you enjoyed the game! It's my first time doing so many animations in the actual game engine- usually I'd just go for frame-by-frame animation, so it's good to hear that people like it.

The art is clean and vibrant and the animation is impressively smooth. It's nice to see 2d animation in a 3d environment because it's just a really nice aesthetic.

The grappling tends to break at times and there's not much momentum to it, which feels a little weird. Coupled with the bottomless holes, I ended up trying to minimize my usage of it. It just gets stuck whenever there's any solid ground between the grapple target and the player character and then you have to slowly wiggle your way out of it, so I'd definitely say it needs some work.

I think part of the tradeoff of using 2d sprites is that hitboxes aren't as clear and it looks like there isn't any feedback when attacks land on enemies. It would be helpful to know whether something is going to die or not even though there's infinite ammo, probably through just modulating the color of the sprite or adding particle effects whenever an enemy is hit.

It's also hard to figure out the timing for the snake and bat enemies, since the snake gives up easily and the bat projectiles are small enough that the only indication of it attacking are based on the attack animation. I would suggest differentiating the snake's idle and chase state somehow and increasing the size of the bat projectiles. It would also help if there was directional sound attached to each enemy instance because it's a little hard to keep track of enemies, especially when they just spawn in (which could also benefit from a sound cue and/or visual effect).

The map design could use some work, since the lighting is pretty dark and it's not very clear where to go without taking a moment to look around. There could be graffiti arrows or some kind of set design to differentiate entrances from exits and naturally lead the player to the correct passageway. On the first large room, I didn't really think about looking up the random cubbyhole with a health pack because it was very dark and I assumed wrongly that maybe the random floating platforms would lead somewhere.

Lastly, you should probably reset the player state to idle (if you're using a state machine) or at least reset the direction and speed after a cutscene. Not a game-breaking bug but I assume you probably don't want that.

Overall, it's very nice visually, but could use some work for a better player experience. Good luck with the full game (I hope my suggestions weren't too harsh).

I'm kind of impressed and horrified at the same time that inventory bug could happen...  I ended up googling it and apparently it's an engine bug that's hardware related and changing the renderer should probably bypass it. so I did that. but if it doesn't fix it... well... not much I can do about that. in short... your computer is in fact haunted. sorry for the news. anyway, thank you very much for playing once again... even if you've broken things once again.

It's a great game all around, from the likeable characters to all of the visuals. I particularly liked Jack's section (and not just for the Project Moon reference) because he's such a dork and that bad ending sequence, as painful as it was to click that button, was incredible. Only suggestion I'd have is to make some of the BGMs a minute or two longer before they loop because it got a little annoying to listen to it constantly looping after a while.

take my upvote out of anger D:<

The story seems pretty interesting so far, especially with those last CGs. The 3D backgrounds with the 2D sprites also really added to the overall atmosphere of the game. Some suggestions I have would be making escape open up the phone and also adding an inventory to keep track of items (if there was one, I didn't notice). Just one other minor note, I think you may have accidentally left a save in the game.

I really enjoyed this game! I sat down and got all the endings because of how well-written they are where each ending leads you wanting more information and it was definitely worth it. Also gotta love the banter between the MC and all the other characters and even just him thinking to himself-I had a great time reading through every piece of the dialogue.  Words cannot describe how much I think more people should play this D:

I like the clean art and the stylistic choice of the background being cropped, as well as the design of the textboxes being tilted. I thought the pop noise that plays sometimes for important character dialogue felt a little out of place though. As for the story, Dr. Hibiki's characterization feels fairly rushed. Initially, I thought there could've been a supernatural element to his sudden personality change, but the endings seem to imply otherwise. I think the story would've benefitted if it had taken place throughout the month of October rather than just 5 days before Halloween, so that it could've at least been implied that he had interactions with the daughters off-screen. Also, the subplot with the dog feels forced in for the shock factor, since they all seem to quickly forget that even happened. Overall, I did like the twist in the story, but everything up to it could've used some work.

I like the overall presentation of the game as well as the music, but I feel like Ashina transforming to scare the protag could've had a little more impact via a screen shake effect and/or a sound effect. It would've also been nice if there was some kind of indicator when the auto option was selected (I had it on to listen to the voice acting at the beginning).

pest control technicians hate this one trick!

(cough cough i'm totally not responsible if the amount of bugs in your house suddenly increases)

Thank you very much for playing! I'm very happy that someone likes my weird sense of humor.

I'd suggest just grabbing it out of the game folder (it's in images under the name "cg turned_marie.png") and throwing it into any photo editor and turning up the brightness. If you want, I can also just upload the no background version of it in a reply since other people will probably also miss it. Depending on reception, maybe I'll do a sequel, but it'd be far off because I have a couple of things already lined up.

Thanks for playing! I'm glad to see that you enjoyed the dialogue as much as I enjoyed writing it :D
(that first empty was completely unintentional lol)

As for your theories and questions, here's some answers:
- there is in fact an actual CG displayed in the second fade to black during Marie's first ending, you'll have to turn up your screen brightness to see it :)
- Each scenario happens in a different timeline, selecting the scenario determines who gets infected... as for the actual time period this takes place in, I have no idea because I just wanted to put in an old TV for aesthetic purposes lol
- I can confirm you're correct on the first question, but I won't confirm anything on the other two, although I do think your theories are pretty interesting.

If you're wondering about progress on the update for Catching a Date, unfortunately it'll probably be done some time next year, partially because I burned out on drawing too many fish waifus and partially because (and don't quote me on this) the update should at least double the available content in the game in addition to the visual overhaul. I'm also planning to work on a different game while I work on the update to try and reduce the burnout, so that's another reason why it'll take longer.

As thanks for last time, I've attached a drawing. Hope you like it!

After the cutscene in Y's route, I got this black screen. The filter still loops but there's no music. I can't tell if it's intentional or a bug? There were no credits.

After checking my previous footage and considering the other conditions that might've caused it, I think I misidentified the cause and it's actually an issue with how the front door is handled. If you walk up to the door, leave, and then hit the enter key anywhere, it takes you to the next level even without checking if you're in range of the door. For context, I happened to be at low health at the time because I was trying to see if I could kill all the monsters before trying the door (I was really desperate at the time) so I had walked into range of the front doors, left to clear out other sections, and then decided to double-check a room to see if it was clear, and the only reason it appeared to reset was because the door was broken at the time. I tried reproducing the bug with the new build and it takes me to the next level. Sorry about the misidentification.

The door in section 8's nighttime part (the branch if you pick "Trust Y") keeps taking me back to the beginning of the section. Also, the retry button if you die to monsters in that section doesn't work. I've also encountered some erratic behavior where sometimes, at low health, it just automatically kicks me back to the start of the section.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F6KJCx5iANXLFwXsJ-K1FelxyI3GLKJW/view?usp=shari...

I love the writing in this game- it hits hard exactly when it needs to and the comedic parts really make for a good contrast with the later half of the visual novel. The art is also super pretty. The only suggestion I'd make is to maybe improve the music or use copyright-free tracks (I think a lot of people use DOVA-SYNDROME?) instead. It's a good attempt, but I think it lacks some structure. Here's some fanart I made (I can also send the PSD if you want it for any reason).
Anyway, good luck on whatever you work on next!

Played it for a bit, but the game crashed on me twice so that's nice. Possibly because I got impatient and spammed the interact button in hopes that things will happen faster, so probably my fault. I wouldn't worry about it too much because anything I touch has a tendency to break somehow. Some notes on what I did see in the tutorial and the main game (btw i haven't played VOTV or among us for that matter):
- The black text for printed player input in the terminal is barely readable.
- could add up arrow to autofill with last command in terminal
- I wish the options menu was selectable using WASD because my mouse scrolls too fast
- It was kind of annoying to move my hand off my mouse just to hit enter
- controlling the jet ski gets really weird once it turns around too much, but maybe that's intentional
- it would be nice to be able to grab things before getting on the ladder instead of dropping items on the floor, getting on the ladder, and hoping you don't fall off the ladder before you grab the item
-I lost my jet ski after getting off of it, watching it flip over, having the terrible idea to get back on it, getting a good look at the inside of it, and then getting off and having no idea where i was. Granted, the average player probably wouldn't make such choices, but it would be nice to have a recall button or be able to ping it for some hope?
I was hoping to see more fish but it's still pretty cool. Good luck with development.

This was pretty cool. The background was somewhat blinding, since it was a bright saturated blue, but other than that, I thought the visuals were pretty charming. Bright, saturated background colors have a tendency to cause visual fatigue, and when you factor in the playtime of the player, it's more likely than not that it'll have an effect. The hitboxes for the chest and bubbles could've also been closer to their sprites. The game could've used a level progress indicator to motivate the player. Overall, it was a satisfying game to beat, despite the difficulty. I played it in a call with my friend, and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed watching me suffer... lol.

The platforming was very slippery. You might want to spend more time looking for assets that look similar to each other. Good luck with your next game.

Cool game.  Thought the pufferfish were a little too fast, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Insanely good for the timeframe given. Would've liked visual indicators of keys. Also, it was a bit silly to get a key and then proceed to use that key... only to get another key.

The writing was cool, but I feel like this is missing a lot of context to be able to understand which are typos and which are in-universe greetings, as well as normal, everyday occurring events and email domains. In addition to this, the definition of phishing in this game is much broader than the actual definition, which is deceptive emails sent to steal credentials. A lot of these seemed to be just unfortunate coworkers who got their account already stolen and are now sending out malware and links to malware and plugging in terrible USBs and telling people about them, to be completely honest. At this rate, the network has already been compromised.

I feel like this has a lot of potential. It would be better if there was UI showing what day it was and if it was easier to keep track of who was at which locations. Character scenes were also very disjointed because they assumed you were following just one route, but it's hard to follow a route when you don't know where to go. Yes, it was indicated in the letters, but there's no log function so it's not that helpful. I was also somewhat disappointed in the portrayal of the sturgeon. He looked like a lizardman :(

It was an interesting story, and I liked the minigame. I thought the music resetting on every scene change was a little annoying, and I wish we got to know the characters' personalities a bit more. The fishfest logo was a fun touch. Overall, it was a good game.

The concept is cool but there are some pacing issues. The endless-runner-like section before the boss felt kind of drawn out with no real direction or progression since it felt like I was just being hit over and over again with random spawns out of three different enemy types. The semi-transparent boss projectiles were somewhat hard to see and sometimes, I was just shooting offscreen and hoping I was actually hitting something. Consider adding impact sounds upon bullets making contact with enemies. The combat was also somewhat slow, considering how many shots enemies take to die. I would've enjoyed the combat more if I felt like my actions had some impact to them and the gameplay didn't mainly consist of circling around enemies until they died. Overall, it's not a bad game. I think it would be fun once the pacing issues are fixed so that the player is reacting to the game rather than waiting for the game to react to them.

It was pretty fun for what I played. I liked the second boss (I think I beat it on my second try), but I gave up at the third boss after dying once because I honestly didn't want to go through the first boss too many times. I rarely play bullet hell so I assumed it would've taken some time to learn the patterns. Some notes I have on the bosses is that the first boss isn't very fun due to the short time frame for counterattacks (partially because of the timer and partially because of how attacks linger for a long time), making it a drawn out fight unless you counterattack during enemy attacks, and there's basically only one attack pattern that won't just end you if you dash into the enemy during that time. One minor note here: I would suggest changing the bullet sprite for the bouncing spread attack because it took me some time to notice that the nondirectional spread attack bullets don't bounce. The third boss bullets are a little bit hard to view against the background and the boss blocking the view of them doesn't help, though I get the feeling that this is purposeful. As for enemy attack choreography, I would've appreciated longer windup animations instead of only having the stamina bar to rely on for any indication an attack is coming, but this mainly only impacts boss 1 because of its lingering attacks causing my focus to be divided. Overall, I enjoyed it. Honestly, beating this game seems more achievable to me than normal difficulties in Touhou games (that's how bad I am lol). Although I will say I don't have as good as a feel for the hitbox in this game. I'm assuming it's probably a circle around the point that the cursor is over when you're not moving, but it's a little hard to keep track of once you start moving.

It was a cool concept, but I felt that the player experience was lacking. I collected the last items on the last level, but nothing seemed to happen. The walls are really tall compared to the player character, making it hard to see the beams of light in the sky, although they are viewable from the reflections in levels 2 and 3. It is also really hard to differentiate breakable and unbreakable walls, especially on level 3, where I didn't see any ruins textures. The lighting is also iffy, because smacking face-first into walls when trying to break them also causes your vision to go dark, making it hard to tell where you are. I wish there was an option to turn off the snarky commentary because it was demotivating. I thought the enemy models were very nice, though. It was kind of weird that they moved like roombas (especially the jellyfish) but I liked the use of lighting on them.

The animations are really nice and the art is very clean. I couldn't really get a feel for how to eat the bait without getting hooked. Maybe there could be a sprite change for the progress bar to indicate whenever it's possible to eat the bait. Also noticed that you can just ascend into the sky... there's nothing preventing this fish from flying, I guess. Or swimming off screen in general. I think it also might be possible to get locked into place if fish hooks keep spawning in the same location you're in. But it's not too much of an issue unless the player has extremely bad luck.

in a weird way it's really pretty to see the fish biomass collective increase and spread out to conquer the ocean
also gotta love the irony and horrible implications of the popup achievements, very funny

Fun concept. Poison seems a bit overpowered though. It took me a while to understand how the inventory relates to the autobattle section because I didn't realize it was one attack per occupied slot. Would be nice to able to rotate fish.

It felt kind of weird that the spawn indicators have collision. I got caught on them quite a lot and it turns out that after you die and restart the game it just brings you back to the wave that you were on. I did like the electricity field. It was very satisfying to use.

I thought the goal of the game was kind of unclear. I wasn't sure what the form switching was for, but I thought it was cool. I'm guessing it affects the amount of points you get from eating fish but I don't really know. The tutorial didn't explain it. On one occasion, I died in the middle of sharks and it kept respawning me there to get eaten by sharks again until I finally got far away enough. Seems cool though.

Cool beginner game. The map design could use some more direction like landmarks and unique shapes. I liked that you could bump into other fish and cause them to spin rapidly at the very end.

I really like the animations for the pirate and I thought it was pretty fun. Only minor note is that I died just as the pirate died, and now the retry button doesn't work anymore, lol.

I'm assuming the starting money is probably for ease of access or debug purposes. After catching one fish, I checked the shop and I had 8 different copies of it somehow. Respawning is also kind of weird. Sometimes you respawn in front of the last place you were at, sometimes you respawn in front of the house. One time I respawned inside the pier and just fell through the map for the 3rd, maybe 4th time. I also didn't really see any way to catch more than one fish per boat trip. I didn't really like the spearfishing too much, because it shoots at a weird angle, so I would often miss and then have to restart. Shooting fish sounds fun though. I wish I got to do more of that in this game.

The hint arrows were very helpful... I've been staring at too many fish to identify them correctly. Would've liked some more audio feedback when flipping fish based on good flips and bad flips. It's a very cool concept for a puzzle game.

There's no real incentive to make any noise for the player to actually trigger the monsters to come. If they actually swam around under your boat I'd at least feel some kind of tension. If there were jumpscares or audio scares, maybe the player might scream? The only category of players actually affected by this mechanic, if we ignore hardware limitations, would be people talking over the game, so not your average player. It would also be nice for it to clarify that it's actual user volume and not in-game volume because I thought at first that the noise level was based on the fish-catching noise and not me making noise, so I sat there thinking "why is nothing happening besides fish". Funnily enough, my earbuds' mic is broken so I had to plug in my actual mic for this to actually view the game over screen by pspspspsps-ing the spooky fish for an extended period of time like it was a cat. I think it was worth it- the monster fish designs are nice. Overall, the concept's there, just not very well executed.