Gameplay/Fun (5 stars) - an awesome little tower defense game. Very satisfying. Only complaint is that it was initially unclear that I had to buy "slots", or how to switch slots.
Graphics/Art (5 stars) - it's really quite beautiful
Audio (5 stars) - nice music and sound!
Theme (4 stars) - I suppose you're "enhancing" your tower, but that's true of pretty much every tower defense game.
Devlog (0 stars?) I couldn't get to the link
Gameplay/Fun (1 star) - I have no idea how to play this game. I saw in the comments that you press space to open chests. I did that. Now what? Blue squares chase me. Can I stop them? I have no idea. I collect all the coins a few times, and then ...? It's unclear.
Graphics/Art (2.5 stars) - there are 4 pixeled objects in this game: the player, the cacti, and the chests/coin. The enemies are blue squares. It's sparse/basic, but what is there is good looking. (edited)
Audio (1.5 stars) - like the graphics, very sparse. But there is also no music.
Theme (0 stars) - As I couldn't figure out the game loop, I'm not sure how to rate it on the theme.
Devlog (0 stars) -- no devlog
Gameplay/Fun (4.5 stars) - a pretty by-the-books scrolling shooter. Starts to get challenging at level 4 or 5, and it's pretty entertaining overall
Graphics/Art (4.5 stars) - a consistent, cartoony, cute style throughout
Audio (3 stars) - servicable, but the music gets a bit grating after a while (especially because the shooting is almost, but not quite, on tempo)
Theme (5 stars) - the player gets enhanced as they go from level to level, and you can see the previous levels on the screen as you "zoom in" -- nice touch! The little prompts telling you how you got enhanced are also nice.
Devlog (5 stars) -- looks like you did a ton of work, and all by yourself!
This game was very fun! I got heavy Doom vibes as I was playing this.
Below, I will post my ratings for each category and my reasonings behind each rating I can be detailed with my feedback
Gameplay/Fun (5 Stars) - Honestly didn't see anything wrong with the gameplay design. I like the idea of tying your HP to your ammunition so you have to balance between spending essence to heal, waiting to kill the turrets until you have essence or risk killing yourself, etc. The design of the enemy types could've been a bit more varied. Both just shoot a projectile or beam, but for what it was they were still very well done.
Graphics/Art (4 Stars) - The low-res graphics really added to the theme of a deserted planet and the floating enemies and Deserted NPC are both creepy and add to that further.
Audio (4 Stars) - The music tracks sounding similar but more hyped up really let the player know the difficulty is ramping up. That and the SFX in general were all well placed and added to the game.
Theme (3 Star) - This game does fit the theme but the theme doesn't play much of a role in terms of game design. The only direct enhancement you feel as the player is the ability to shoot faster, but because you can't waste ammo freely or risk spending HP as ammunition, so the upgrade feels very risky to invest into. Enhancing the ship is the core plot device but, again, this has no bearing on gameplay itself.
Devlog (4 Star) - I liked the attention to detail, especially adding some insights into the methods behind many in-game actions.
Altogether a really solid game that I'd love to see get expanded on. This could sell well!
Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. Idk if you noticed but the player would have a red outline when you got hit. Those were supposed to be the i-frames but I didn’t even notice that they didn’t seem to be working properly until after I submitted. I’ll be sure to fix those whenever I get back to this project!
This game was very basic and simplistic. I don't really have much to say about it for my initial thoughts.
Below, I will post my ratings for each category and my reasonings behind each rating I can be detailed with my feedback
Gameplay/Fun (2 Stars) - Your game idea was very basic and I've seen it implemented many times before. There also wasn't much content in terms of gameplay elements other than dodging asteroids. If it wasn't for the fact that you at least had a core design, I would give it one star but it IS a game so I feel the need to give it something above 1.
Graphics/Art (2 Stars) - The graphics were extremely simple and there wasn't any animation on the ship. The parallax scrolling was a nice touch, however.
Audio (1 Star) - I noticed there was a volume slider in your game settings so maybe this is an issue on my end but I didn't hear any audio when playing even when turning up the volume slider. I even double checked my own sound settings on my computer.
Theme (1 Star) - This game doesn't fit the theme in any way that I can see.
Devlog (1 Star) - This game does not have a devlog.
Thank you so much for playing and leaving your playback! I agree that some of the levels can be very frustrating with some of the enemy placements but we didn't have too much time to further polish that :( Also, I told Xander about your feelings on his music and he very much appreciates it. This is his SoundCloud if you're interested: https://soundcloud.com/alex-kopitz
I had a great time playing this game. It wasn't too easy, I had to use my head for a quick minute but it wasn't too hard that I was sitting at my desk with steam coming out of my ears either. The aesthetic combined with the puzzle mechanics gave me hardcore portal vibes but it also had some Assassin's Creed Brotherhood vibes with the Animus puzzles when you played as Desmond.
Noticeable bug that I encountered: on the first level that block splitting is introduced (Level 3 I think?), there is a noticeable bug where if you push one of the green cubes a little too far to the left of the split pillar, it will get stuck in the floor and prompt you to press Space. I assume this is because that level still has whatever code/prefab you used for the mechanic from the previous level where you could jump on the green cube. Just a heads up! I thought it was intentional at first cause it happened like right away when I first started the level, I didn't realize it was a bug until I realized what the purple pillar actually did.
Below, I will post my ratings for each category and my reasonings behind each rating I can be detailed with my feedback
Gameplay/Fun (5 Stars) - Honestly didn't see anything wrong with the gameplay design. It was honestly a triple-A design. The game just needs some more levels, puzzle mechanics and programming polish (bug fixing) and I'd believe it to be a triple-A title if I didn't know any better. I did, however, get a little frustrated with your behavior for moving the cubes around. It was a little annoying and quirky but honestly I'll let that one slide in terms of the rating since it was just something I could probably get used to. However, I would suggest that you make it snappier or find a different way for the player to move the boxes.
Graphics/Art (3 Stars) - The graphics were very simplistic but I did like the sprite for the player. Simplistic doesn't always mean bad so I can't give it anything lower than 3 but I also can't give it too much more since there wasn't really anything impressive about it. I was content with it.
Audio (4 Stars) - There wasn't much in terms of quantity when it came to music and sounds but the quality of those few present audio files were enough to prompt me to give it 4 stars. Good job!
Theme (3 Star) - This game does fit the theme but the theme doesn't play much of a role in terms of game design. It is essential that you enhance all of the cubes in order to get to the door at the end but most of the gameplay involves figuring out how to navigate the cubes. I give this a middle rating of 3 since it isn't a bad take on the theme but it doesn't play that significant of a role in the game either.
Devlog (4 Star) - Honestly, I have to be in a mood to read devlogs as it isn't something I always enjoy doing (I much prefer watching video dev logs cause I had crippling ADHD lmao) and I don't even know why there's a rating for the devlog when the devlog is optional. I did skim through it and it seems like you put some effort into it. I like the structure of it and your use of images and your placement of said images so it seemed 4 star worthy. Nice job!
Bro give us more levels and expand on this game please. I could genuinely see it becoming a popular game on Steam with some more content. I'll be following its progress if you decide to continue on it! Also, check out my game if you get the chance!
Honestly, I completely beat this game in about a minute. I'm gonna have to be honest and say that I'm not really sure what you were going for here. It doesn't really fit the theme (at least not in a way that I could see or interpret) and the gameplay was extremely simplistic. If I did miss anything, please let me know.
Below, I will post my ratings for each category and my reasonings behind each rating I can be detailed with my feedback
Gameplay/Fun (1 Star) - I was able to beat this game in about 60 seconds, literally. I didn't have much fun considering the only mechanics were the ability to walk, run and jump.
Graphics/Art (2 Stars) - The graphics were pretty simplistic but I thought the ambience of your scene was slightly interesting.
Audio (3 Stars) - I thought the music was pretty creepy.
Theme (1 Star) - This game doesn't match the theme at all in any way I could see. I understand that in the second level, it says you can "now walk" but I notice no difference in gameplay other than a map change.
Devlog (1 Star) - The devlog is very non-descriptive and uninformative about your dev/thought process.
I believe you could drastically improve this game with more levels and more gameplay elements. It's extremely barebones and could use more features. Perhaps more advanced parkour, maybe more mechanics as the game progresses (wallrun, double jumping, etc), maybe some enemies, etc.
Since I'm going to be doing a lot of commented reviews, I'll keep it well structured by supplying you a reason with each of my ratings.
I just wanna say that this game was honestly near perfect. I couldn't really find anything wrong with it. I might even go play it again after I leave this comment! I'm usually one and done with game jam submissions but yours makes me wanna go back and beat my score! I tried REALLY hard to think of a reason to bump any of these ratings to 4 stars for the sake of fairness and there's only TWO things I gave you 4 stars on and you'll see why when you read my reasonings below.
Game Design - 4 Stars - Game design is nearly flawless. The fact that the cloud starts progressively dropping more and more candy kept me invested in the game and the time limit you set wasn't too short but it wasn't too long either. I very much enjoyed how you can control multiple pinatas at once which leads me into my reasons for giving you 4 stars instead of 5: The fact that there were only two enemies the entire time made this game way too easy. I think more enemies should pop up as time goes on to balance out the fact that there's way more candy to pick up.
Fun - 5 Stars - I just had so much fun playing this. Watching all those pinatas pick up all that candy was really satisfying to watch. Great job!
Innovation - 4 Stars - I can't recall anything specific but I've definitely seen/played games where you gain the ability to control multiple characters at once that mirror each others' movements. Actually, one of the games I saw submitted in this jam has a very similar mechanic. Because of that, I can't give it 5 stars in innovation but it's well deserving of 4 stars since it was a very unique take on the idea.
Theme - 5 Stars - Game fits the theme really well. When the game started, it had me questioning "Why was this game submitted for a chaotic theme?" and I was thinking "Oh maybe there will just be lots of stuff on the screen at once by the end" and I was exactly right. The pacing for the chaotic increase is perfect and it fits the theme so well! Excellent job! I do think it could be a TAD bit more chaotic if you added more enemies as the game progresses like I stated earlier.
Graphics - 5 Stars - I LOOOOVE the art style and I love the little 3D pinata for the volume slider! I love your use of in-game objects as buttons for the main menu! Very well-made!
Audio - 5 Stars - Music was very exciting and catchy and fit the setting of the game PERFECTLY! Once again, excellent job!
Overall opinion: If I was a judge, I would consider this for the number 1 spot. It is absolutely phenomenal and I wouldn't be surprised if you were in the top 3 or even number 1! You can go and check commented reviews I've left on other games and I am very critical. It took some good thinking to figure out the gripes I had with this game and as you see, I could only think of two. FanTASTIC job! I would love to check out other stuff you've made!
Since I'm going to be doing a lot of commented reviews, I'll keep it well structured by supplying you a reason with each of my ratings.
Game Design - 3 Stars - Honestly I feel like you have the potential to do way better with your level design. Most of your levels were incredibly easy and some of them, I didn't even need clones to complete! Honestly the hardest level was getting to the start button lmao. There's also a glitch where you can stick to the side of floating platforms so I used that to get my way through some of the levels without using any clones. I think your level design needs polish.
Fun - 3 Stars - I had a fair bit of fun as I was faced with a bit of a challenge at the beginning since I really had no idea what to do or what I should be doing. I almost quit but I was determined to figure out how to use the clones to climb and move around and I eventually got the hang of it. I think your cloning mechanics could use some work and polish since it's really wonky.
Innovation - 5 Stars - I honestly think this is the most unique take on the theme I've seen so far and I'm impressed with your idea, but I just think your game design needs some work.
Theme - 4 Stars - It fit the theme pretty well since it took a "chaotic" amount of clones to reach the destination for some levels. I think it could've been handled a tiny bit better (Hence 4 stars instead of 5) but it was pretty good! Nice job!
Graphics - 3 Stars - Nothing really to say about the graphics. I liked the effect you put on the clones but that's about it. It's pretty simple, not really bad or good.
Audio - 1 Star - Bro that music was so irritating to my ears. I really have nothing positive to say about it, I'm sorry.
Overall, I'd say this has the potential to be a very good game if you put more work into it. You said you only made it in 5 hours at the end screen but you had a whole week to make it! I think you should've put just a little more effort into polishing and making sure everything worked properly at the very least. You did a decent job but this has really high potential to be wayyy better than it currently is.
Since I'm going to be doing a lot of commented reviews, I'll keep it well structured by supplying you a reason with each of my ratings.
Game Design - 3 Stars - The game design was pretty simple and the game was very short so I wouldn't call it spectacular but I wouldn't call it bad either. It's average and simple.
Fun - 4 Stars - I did have a decent bit of fun breaking everything and shooting at that big dude at the end but the reason it didn't earn 5 stars is because I could only shoot at each thing once. If you made it so the props kept dismantling into smaller and smaller pieces as I shot them, it would've earned 5 stars in this category.
Innovation - 4 Stars - I was thinking about putting 3 stars here since your take on the theme was very simple and somewhat literal but when I got the boss area, I definitely felt like "ok this is exciting looking" so I decided to bump it up to 4 stars.
Theme - 4 Stars - Once again, I was going to put 3 stars here but your boss fight was definitely an interesting/unique take and so I decided this category should get 4 stars as well.
Graphics - 3 Stars - Graphics aren't bad but they aren't great. They're very simplistic and I can tell your gun was just the default one offered with the Unreal Engine. I don't know if you drew that little goblin but he's pretty well-drawn. I liked him!
Audio - 4 Stars - I like the sound you used for the gun and the music was short and simple but it fit the setting pretty well.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't consider this game for top 10 if I was a judge BUT it's a nice little demo game to show off your skills with and I would NOT call it a waste of time since I did get a few minutes of fun out of it. Good job!
Since I'm going to be doing a lot of commented reviews, I'll keep it well structured by supplying you a reason with each of my ratings.
Game Design - 4 stars - The genre of game you made follows the rules at a very basic level so I can't give it a bad rating but I can't give it 5 stars in this category because it just feels too simple.
Fun - 3 stars - Level of fun I got out of it was pretty average. Not too bored, not too thrilled. However, this is mainly because I'm not super into these fast-food restaurant simulator type games.
Innovation - 1 star - I'm sorry bro but this game is a straight cookie cutter copy of all of the fast-food restaurant simulators you see on mobile app stores.
Theme - 4 stars - This genre is definitely a chaotic one so since you followed the rules of the genre so well, it fits the theme pretty well.
Graphics - 5 stars - I have absolutely zero complaints about the graphics. Very well-made sprites and effects you used for the wait timers.
Audio - 5 stars - Once again, I have absolutely zero complains about the audio. The sound design is pretty much perfect and the tracks were very catchy, fitting and entertaining.
Overall good game. If I was in charge of picking the winner, I don't think I'd pick this game given the idea for it was very unoriginal but I could definitely see it being in the top 3 or top 5. Good job! :)
Sure! I'll do a rate for rate! I think you'll really like the music in my game! My friend is VERY talented! https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-6/rate/1177948
It's definitely an interesting idea having pieces of the map flicker on and off and move all around and you definitely had me in a state of anxiety for the first minute but I soon realized that nothing was ever going to happen. It was just you walking around with a flickering map and nothing else. What is the point of this game? I walked around that map for a good 5 minutes before I got too bored to continue. If I missed something, please let me know.
