itch.io

We apologise for the initial low quality review. Here is a review from a new judge:

Your game shows some solid principles and as a fan of rhythm games I enjoyed the challenge of it, however it has plenty of room for improvement.

GDD

Your GDD shows a good vision for the game. You clearly lay out how you want each part to be like. It'd be great to have some more details on your plans for artistic direction, maybe a sketch for how you want the main gameplay to be laid out, and some planning around your target playerbase would be good to see. I like the prioritised to do list.

Art and UI

I found the art throughout the game to be alright but not all elements were very cohesive with each other and sometimes lacked consistent proportions or amounts of detail. I think with some more iterations and polish it could look quite good.

I liked the floaty menu UI. The rest of the UI however could use some more work making it clear what's what and could do with following some UI design principles for layout and distinguishing what different things do/mean.

Music

The music was great. I especially liked the spacial audio. Maybe that could be correlated with where the enemies are coming from in the future.

Playability

The game was lacking quite a lot in playability. While it may be generally familiar to those who have played similar rhythm games before, there was no indication of at what point you were meant to swing at or whether you were early or late in your swing. A tutorial would have been very much appreciated.

Overall I believe this game could go far with some work. I hope you continue working on it!

## Judge 1

The dark humour and artwork set the theme, and I could appreciate the vision as you laid it out in the GDD under Theme Interpretation.

I really loved the shop and the strategy it offered with the different fun items you could buy and having the option of which limb or body part to pin cushion the dude before he goes out on his auto-battling crusade. I felt like I was winning fights a bit too easy at times, yet other times I was hanging on for dear life. The horror is real. Great game overall; keep up the great work. I felt the passion through your words in the GDD and your game. I can't wait to see you flesh out your ideas more and explore. your vision

## Judge 2

The game was absolutely fantastic. While the mechanics of an auto-battler and the relatively simplistic graphics helped establish a gritty atmosphere, the gameplay itself was highly engaging. I had an absolute blast experimenting with different builds, whether focusing on speed or hard-hitting strategies. Taking a wrong turn—or being too greedy—and losing one of my six absolutely necessary and vital arms felt like a punch to my 16 hearts.

The soundtrack was fantastic, perfectly underscoring the chaotic and harsh reality of my seasoned fighter. The upgrades at the black market were almost always useful, though I personally wouldn’t buy from a place that just has hearts and stomachs lying around—seems a bit unsanitary!

The GDD was fantastic, with graphs, diagrams, and animations providing deep insight into the development process.

Overall, this was an amazing game. I was genuinely sad to see it disqualified at first since I spent over an hour playing it in my spare time. I truly hope you continue developing this game further, with more bizarre body parts, enemies, and possibly even bonus stages and bosses. Keep up the great work!

## Judge 3

Excellent GDD in terms of scope and planning. The planning that went into the game is really exceptional with excellent use of concept art. Really good at conveying your intentions with the game. Only lacking point would be a well-laid out workflow.

Now to gameplay, a simple design executed well. The simple UI and graphics made for a smooth running game with space to focus on the gameplay itself.

I didn't even see half of the body parts I think but I could already see a lot of different strategic combinations. This gives a lot of depth to the game. Great variety and a good game overall.

I didn't write the review but I will pass on your thanks to the judge who did

I should clarify I wasn't personally the one to judge your game, I'm forwarding the review from the real judge to protect their identity. I'll pass on your kind words to them :)

After further review, your game has been disqualified for being a nearly identical clone of an existing game, "nodebuster"

We apologise for the late review:

This was a fun experience! It was very easy to pick up and the upgrades all felt very nice to add.

Some notes:

- The game window didn't shrink when exiting fullscreen

- There is no concequence for not destroying something - I quite enjoyed juggling things to prevent any enemies from reaching the right edge until I got too powerful for it to be tricky. An insentive to keep doing this would be great!

- The text on the progress bar got obscured by the progress

- It wasn't made clear in game what the things you are fighting are

- There wasn't any audio

- It'd be nice to see some polish such as more customised UI, a background sprite, a menu, high score etc.

Your game design document is really good and will give you a strong foundation for developing this further. Well done!

We apologise for the late review:

First of all, your game oozes with style. The red white and black aesthetic is really cnice and the music and UI are all very fitting. It however wasn't always very clear what was going on. The game could do with some more TLC to the player experience when switching between scenes.

I found a bug where if you shoot an NPC while they are dying, their animation will reset. NPC behaviour also seems generally quite janky and could do with some polish.

Also when the upgrade box appeared I wasn't able to close it and got soft-locked.

You can also run off the side of the screen in the starting area.

It'd be nice to have QoL like being able to click through dialogue instead of just pressing space. It would also be good to have an indicator that you do in fact need to press space for dumb people like me.

Your GDD contains a lot of cool story-related stuff but it'd be great to see more than a few points about inspiration, gameplay, art, music etc.

Overall I enjoyed playing. I hope you choose to develop this further!

We apologise for the late review:

Very well put together GDD,I am very happy with the completeness and number of sections. I particularly like the concept art and your workflow schedule. The GDD was effective at setting the games vision and showing where you wanted it to go.

Game ran smoothly without any issues. I really like how you have to take the terrain into consideration when movin, especially when encountering ranged enemies. That being said you can also use the terrain to your advantage. Great level design overall.

A nice set of uniqueness with the different abilities that the player is able to learn. The fuel gauge also means you can't spam your attack mindlessly so you need to pay attention.

The theme music is great, the ability sound effects could be tweaked to be more congruent with the rest of the audio.

We apologise for the late review:

GDD

Very well-made document; every single section has plenty of details, and the timeline is well fleshed out. The only thing I would add is a few images for the mechanics and art sections.

Gameplay

Since on the itch page the feedback asked was if the game felt intuitive, I decided to play it before reading the GDD. Yes, it's very intuitive. The movement and exploration feel amazing, and the combat section is very fluid.

At first, I thought that the time was very generous and the threat low. Then I got careless, and the big green balls kept sneaking up on me. After that, I focused on keeping the balls in check and forgot to manage the heating. Then I pulled my recovery but almost ran out of time. The hubris. Difficulty and time seem well balanced now.

The exploration section is amazing. I am well versed in checking every nook and cranny, and the small, silly comments really did an amazing job of setting the ambiance. Very enjoyable gameplay.

Art

Very charming art; it did wonders setting the tone from the beginning until the end. The animation is super smooth; I love how you made the two halves of the robot move semi-independently.

Great color palette and so many little details on the assets. And I found a kitty.

Sound design

Very chirpy BGM, animated music. With all the other components, it enhanced the atmosphere the team built. The SFX is on point for every interaction. The guns feel great, and the panels are breaking even better.

Last thoughts

What a nice experience, and very well paced. I loved the little environmental storytelling too. I felt like an armed Roomba checking every bit of the rooms.

I especially loved the last bit, after the third puzzle with the four green balls shooting thingies on each side; I hope my fellow judges enjoy it just as much as I did.

The vagueness is intended; they can read the rating. Shhhh.

We apologise for the delayed review. Here is the review from your judge:

Oof, your itch game page has a giant banner across the top: not really part of the review, but it did make it harder to notice that the comparatively tiny game window was actually the game versus the giant CHOSEN logo.

So, your game runs a bit slow and laggy in Chrome, but way too fast in Edge. Not sure what causes that, but it might be a setting in Unity. The chat boxes and audio run about twice as fast in Edge vs Chrome. Beyond that, this game is awesome! I love the way you interpreted this theme and made a narrative game about being the proverbial "sword in the stone." I absolutely love the allusions to Arthurian myth and "worth", and seeing how that plays out in the character stories. The graphics are very well done, and the art style is unique. I like the different dialog options based on your glow/resistance, and your timing. I wish there was a better idea of the actual result of the ending was more understandable: maybe make a story banner that explains what the endings are and mean for the story of the sword? Though maybe it's just bugged since the whole right side of the screen is filled with red dialog that reads different options based on the story path taken. The only other things I suggest improving on are the lack of a pause button, and making the text boxes be able to be clicked or accepted to move forward so that slower readers have time to read what the characters are saying. The lack of music would normally be a gripe, but the background sounds added a lot of ambiance that I really enjoyed.

Your GDD is really thorough and well organized! Well, minus the random images at the end, but I get the last minute rush. I really like that you included a lot of image examples of the art style and UI layout. My main gripe is that you didn't add all your team members to your tieam on itch: you should do that for any future jams. I think you absolutely succeeded in making a narrative game for this jam. Awesome work!

We apologise for the late review:

Since your game is disqualified for failing to be a browser game and is instead a download, I will be reviewing your GDD.

Your GDD lacks a development section that covers your goalposts and timeline as well as any potential stretch goals. It also lacks any examples of the game's graphics or sketches of the UI/layout or mechanics, so I cannot judge if it is visually interesting or easy to understand. I do like that you've been very descriptive of the game feel and influences, and that makes me all the more interested in playing the game if it is released as a browser version. The basic descriptions of the mechanics are good, but you should include the controls in that section to be more clear. Overall, your GDD needs a bit more information, but it is a solid base for beginning of a more fleshed-out version that covers all the basics.

I hope that you are able to continue development on this game, and that you're able to bring your vision to life. This feels like a good start from your GDD.

We apologise for the late review:

GDD

I like your spirit. The GDD was your brainstorming of the game. This is really useful for us to understand how you developed the game. However, if you put this with a well-structured GDD like the template we gave, the judges will get a better idea of your developing process, and you will have something to help you to structure the developing of the game.

The GDD works as a guideline for your own game, what to make, and what is planned. What to focus on and what fleeting idea to scrap. It can be used to check if that thing you thought about at the beginning still matched what you developed so far, since when you are making a game, a switch of vision or focus is natural.

This can be of great help for you; it can be very simple as well, just to add structure.

And all that can be put after your brainstorm—I really liked to see that.

Gameplay

What a blast (get it? get it?). Something so simple was just so fun. A little sandbox of mayhem. The mechanics are in their infancy but still well implemented. I was impressed that you actually need to pick the landmine with one of the legs; most people would take the approach of making an invisible sphere to work as a hitbox.

And the physics are just mayhem. When you position yourself just right and a landmine goes off, the speed boost is massive. I loved making laps around the world.

Art

The use of the assets to populate the world was enough to make it feel bustling. I was confused about the ring around the world, but it turned into a challenge, trying to launch myself there (I failed).

Simplistic, but it did the job, and it gives you room to expand whoever you like.

Sound design

At the time of this review, there was no BGM or SFX implemented.

Last thoughts

Naaaaaa nanananananana landmine damacy. Very fun concept, and can fit in any setting you want. If you lean more into the physics you developed, it may become a very wacky game.

Here is your review:

Playability:

Jumping from pillar to pillar was disorienting. The area wasn't detailed enough to easily gain cardinal orientation when swapping pillar perches. Mouse sensitivity issues prevented engaging distant pillar unlocks. Weapon fire cooldown was harsh and felt largely unrecoverable at current difficulty curve. You had to get every shot to hit every time and count to stay on complete pacing.  I'd say this felt like a very hard mode at the current state of play. Switching with A/D was not intuitive, maybe moving the mechanic to pointing and right clicking for ease of use.

Cleverness:

I really liked changing the gameplay like this to positioning POV focused than AoE coverage, I could see maybe this being mixed in a bit with traditional Tower Defense mechanics. There's an old LAN Party big team battle game favorite of mine called Savage XR. That used Co-Asymmetric gameplay. Each side had a commander in a RTS view, and the rest of the team in an Action 1st or 3rd person POV and class character or vehicle. Though it might be worth a look, https://www.savagexr.com/

Artistic Style

Art style was not varied enough when applied in design of map, not able to maintain cardinal directions/dizziness from gameplay and POV jumps.

No setting to adjust sound/SFX levels. Was harsh hearing both the music and the melody play simultaneously. FOV slider up to 120 for those like me that get nausea from low FOV games.

GDD:

For a game of this genre, I was curious what diagramming was made in preparation for development, but didn't see any available. I liked the direction of the Upgrades system as described, but was not implemented in the build provided as far as I could tell. Further development could really benefit from fleshing this document out fully before development. It's a great concept I want to see developed on, refined and tuned.

But you did it, you made a complete prototype and it communicated the mechanics you were envisioning! Glad I got to play it and get what you're trying to do! It just needs time. Keep at it!

We apologise for the late review:

The Western theme from the trigger pull of the intro was just on point and had me instantly feeling like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, but mechanised.

The detail was so in touch with the theme, and there was so much of it for such a short period of time. I was super impressed with the polish, and that was just the intro.

The gameplay had me so invested to the point I had to drag myself away to write this review fast enough just so I could get back to playing the game!

The strategy and timing just feel so good with the physics and the movement speed, also having that awesome UI to help keep track of the stop clock, which had my heart constantly racing, and I could go on. Every detail in this game just feels like a chef's kiss and is tied in with the next system so well. Once I had cleared my enemies by projecting myself at them with the limited boosts I had, I was again racing against the clock to hit the final bell, which popped out of the centre of the map for a final ding.

The map design in this was also very interesting, and I liked not being too trapped with the freedom to move about and LOS.

Overall, this was one of my favourite games so far.

We apologise for the late review:

GDD

Nice to see the proper credits given to the creator of the template. The GDD is very well detailed; I could clearly see the team's vision. I would like to see some images, but I understand that with the time constraint, it has low priority.

The point of the GDD was met; it was very useful at seeing the mechanics that are still to be developed.

Gameplay

It started very floaty; there's no precision at all on the commands. The slime is extremely bouncy and hard to control. I see that combat and enemies are not properly implemented yet, just a couple of static assets.

Then I decided to treat it like a tech demo and explore. Everything fell into place. The floaty and bounciness meshed together with the grappling; I spent a lot of time just slinging me around as fast as I could, seeing how high I could bounce and if I could save a botched play. I don't know how much time I spend hurling myself from wall to wall, and the pleasant surprise when I messed up and fell, only to bounce super high and save the progress.

It was loads of fun; I think you guys are onto something there.

Art

Lovely art, even though simple for this stage. It's a blank canvas that can be painted however you wish.

Sound design

Really sweet BGM; it blended well with the feel and style of the game. The SFX were minimalistic and did a superb job. Very well synched and responsive.

Last thoughts

I will level with you guys: as it is, the game has nothing to do with the theme. The planned features could make it fit more, but at this point, I would advise the team to keep developing those core features you already had because I had a blast bouncing madly around. It was so much fun that I don't see how enemies or other things that would fit the theme will enhance the potential gem you guys created. As a pure platformer/speedrun/puzzle, this game has loads of potential.

Congratulations on your first game jam.

We apologise for the late review:

An interesting detective game where you play the weapon of your own murder. A fantastic premise with an interesting style to it. The pixel art is simple but effective, and the color palate reminds me of old GBC games. The game felt very polished for the most part, but had some character portraits that didn't sync up with the mirror, and trash can at the intro. The Music was very funky and well put together. The in game scene with the cross-examination mechanic broke when I tried to select evidence. Making the screen go black. Other than that the games runs really well. The GDD was lite, missing some key visual aids and some text. Overall a fantastic game that just needs a little more added to make it fully realized. Keep making cool Games!

We apologise for the late review:

The main character model was cute and reminiscent of Bomberman, or with the 2D retro art style, it really took me back, and I liked the background musical theme. It was very relaxing and had me lounging in my chair, right-clicking and sending out the grapple. I had to hit R to restart the game when I couldn't interact with the benchtop in the middle of the room, which was simple yet eye-catching. The UI upon restarting the game was also very simple and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

I would like to be able to interact with more objects in the game and have the ability to attack the enemies or interact with NPCs when I hover over one. It lights up, which I also thought was a good indicator of interactability and, again, was aesthetically pleasing.

We apologise for the late review:

GDD

Very well-made GDD. There's a lot of detail on the topics, and while I appreciate images, you guys used GIFs to enrich the GDD. Amazing. I would like to see your points about the sound design, a bit more on the art, and a timeline of development.

Gameplay

Very fun gameplay. It mixes speed well with precision. It was the first time I saw the execution of this idea where the enemy can pick you up and take your bullets. Very cool idea.

The game is fluid, and the level design is quite nice. And the writing is pretty funny; I got mocked quite a bit for my old man skills.

Art

Lovely art. Everything meshed well with each other. The color palette was very pleasant. And the animations are on point. Very cool top-down approach.

Sound design

Really? A squeaky noise when I graze the shot? Rude.

Great BGM; kept me going for a while. Really set the mood. The STX is on point, the practical effects, and the mockery. I loved it all.

Last thoughts

I had a lot of fun. Lean more on your sense of humor; the mockery was very lighthearted and got me to giggle quite a bit. And I particularly enjoyed the snappy gameplay and threats.

We apologise for the late review:

GDD

Very well-structured document. It went into details on every single development topic. I would like to see more images of the amazing assets you made and a timeline of development; it really helps us to get into the dev's head.

Gameplay

The gameplay is straightforward; I enjoyed myself with its simplicity; the classic RPG mechanics are there. Out of the bat, I felt that the gameplay was there more to showcase what you crafted. The writing is very well done, whimsical, and funny; it had so many absurd things that left me convinced that chaos was the norm in this work. You did well on leaning into your creativity.

Art

I felt that the art was very personal. It's very charming and one of the highlights of the game. As funny as the writing is, the art complemented and elevated it. An almost perfect mix.

Sound design

The BGM is vibrant; I can see the inspiration you had crafting it. As for the SFX, it hit the marks; every action felt distinct.

Last thoughts

Very fun little game. You have a gift for silly writing. It meshed so well with the art, that even stretching the theme to its limit, it worked very well.

Now tell me, did Grob got to confess to his wife?

We apologise for the late review:

simple yet effective gameplay I liked the simplicity you were able to portray using blocks and simple jumping and shooting, which all had a nice feeling. The physics were well executed, and the sounds had me in the zone.

loved the blue hue of the background too.

I was able to jump on an enemy's head and stomp them into the ground, rendering them ineffective for the most part, which I wasn't sure if it was a bug or a feature; nonetheless, it was very entertaining to do so.

However, this made me unable to progress to the next level via the doorway, which I also noted had some very cool effects that changed whether the level was cleared or not. Overall, it was a fun game to play.

We apologise for the late review:

Unfortunately, your game  only shows properly in the browser if you maximize the browser via F11. The game runs smoothly and without a lot of lag which is nice. The camera movement with the mouse is a bit disorienting as it does not make sense with the chess-card battlefield layout. Upgrading yourself with the cards you pick up is really neat, but it can be hard to actually know if you've put the upgrade in the right place. This is made worse with the mouse causing the camera to also move with it, potentially obscuring the proper area to set a card to upgrade your character. This also includes attacking: it is hard to see where the enemy is to attack. The turns don't seem to have much effect, and the stats on the top left are difficult to see at a glance. I suggest making a UI element that is very distinguishable from the background so that the character stats are easier to see. I do like the art style and general game layout.

Your GDD is very bare bones and lacks the most basic of information regarding your game. The GDD is your guide to how you plan to make your game, so it should at least have the basics in it. For future work on this game, I suggest you fill out the GDD and include all the relevant information regarding everything you need to move forward in development of the game. I also suggest that any future game dev projects you go for also start with a GDD before any development happens.

I do hope you continue development with this game and finish it. Have fun and make games!

We apologise for the late review:

I like the idea that you have for your game, but the game is difficult to follow since the autobattler aspect is not clearly represented. Updating/changing the autonbattler UI to be easier to understand would be good as there is no tutorial to show you that you need to use items from your inventory to assist your pilot. There are bugs with the items that you pick up from some mobs that are stuck and moving all around the cursor, not allowing them to be picked up. I like the retro 3d aesthetic, and the graphics fit that well. The music in the level is a bit basic and doesn't really feel like it fits the game aesthetic, but I understand putting it there for ambience so the game isn't entirely silent.

Your GDD lists all your team members, but they are not on your itch team for the submission. Remember next time to have them on your team on the itch submission.  The art and music design sections are very minimal and could use some more detail on the inspiration and direction of both. Listing more information about the primary mechanics would also be good, as well as UI wireframes for the autobattler at least (which is honestly quite chaotic and hard to understand).

I feel like this game could be enjoyed by many people once a few things are updated and fixed. Keep at it, the base idea and mechanics are solid and a very nice interpretaion of how the game could be.

We apologise for the late feedback:

I like explosion magic! This will be a fun game once you finish it. I hope that you are able to continue working on it and complete it. I really do like the concept of charging your explosion and giving it different effects as you level up. The various different upgrades are interesting and feel good. There are enough different types of upgrades to feel like it's not too simple, and the upgrades are absolutely noticable. The spawn location of the mobs in the center of the map can make the gameplay a bit difficult if you get caught in the spawn when the mobs appear and they kill you basically immediately. Adding random spawn locations within a certain distance of the character would be better, or random location off-screen. The lack of assets does make the hurtbox of the character along with the hitbox and hurtbox of the mobs difficult to feel/notice. I feel like this will get better as you add more graphics. I also suggest that you add an option to use other keys or the mouse to charge the explosion. If you could add a ghost outline of the potential explosion while charging, that would also be neat.

Your GDD is pretty bare-bones as you yourself admitted. Next time, focus on the GDD first as it will be your guide to your goals and expectations for yourself on development and design. This will help you in the future with any other games you choose to make. Adding the art design, UI wireframes, music, theme, aesthetics, and all the other things you'd expect in a GDD would also be good.

Even with the setbacks and constraints you had, this game was still fun and is absolutely a great place to start from.

We apologise for the late feedback:

I appreciate that your game page lists the current bugs/issues with the game so that players know what to expect. It is difficult to tell if the game has frozen or if you have died since there is no indicator that you have died. I auggest that you add a "You Died" or similar pop-up to allow the player to know that they died. The music stopping on death is a bit abrupt, so I suggest that you either tone the music down or change it to a different theme. The concept is neat, and I do like how it played, though the controls are a bit too sensitive. A slight mouse movement can cause you to rotate more than intended and cause you to have to restart the level.

In your GDD, you do not list the development software you used, music, or art credits (if any). It's difficult to tell how much of the art or music you did yourself without this information. The layout is good, if a bit simple. This is not bad: the game is fairly simple by design, so it can be appropriate. I like that you had goals to introduce story to the game, but without seeing your timeline and stretch goals it's hard to see where your time might have been lost or poorly spent. This would be good information for you to have in the future, so I recommend putting a trackable timeline in your GDD in any future games you make (jam submissions or not).

I feel that your game will be a lot of fun once you solve the bugs and tune the turning aspect of the character model. I hope you continue developing the game and put it out there for others to enjoy.

We apologise for the late feedback:

This is the most literal interpretation of the theme I have seen yet: literal anthropomorphized weapons. What a neat idea for the jam! I really like the art theme as well as the choice to use pixel art for a visual novel. It felt like it took a bit too long to get to the first dialog choice, but the story is absolutely interesting. I would suggest that, when you fully implement the choice system, that the option to make a choice happens sooner in the story. I'm not sure if it  was intended, but the occassional glitching of the characters during certain lines was an interesting addition to the feeling of the lines at that point. The music is a little disjointed in theme, but it is understandably hard to find cohesive music for free use online that suits the theme you are going for. Unfortunately your master volume slider does not affect the music volume, and the song with the strings lacks audio balance compared to the other somgs (it is louder).

Aaaaa you left edit access on your GDD! You should lock it down to prevent people from messing with it. I like the way your GDD is laid out, and the great amount of detail you go into for each section. Listing the roles and info for each person on your team is something I love to see. More examples of how you intended to handle the UI and choices would be nice (even if just using a Ren'Py standard layout) along with a list of the art software used. Otherwise, very nicely done.

Thanks for entering the game jam, and I hope you all continue development on this game and publish it because it is really interesting! Look forward to seeing where  this goes!

We apologise for the late rating:

You did an excellent job for your first game jam! The implementation of the controls and progressive introduction of game mechanics is great! The addition of your body only becoming "solid" in a way shortly after using your gun to move is a great idea. The solid black and white art makes the game easy to look at and makes the boundaries and objectives easy to understand. The art is simple, but your sprites are also good. The music is also simple, but not too much. I like the theme, but I think the loop needs to be about 30-50% longer before it repeats to keep it from sounding too repetitive. The mechanics of movement feel really solid and polished, and they are easy to understand.

I like that your GDD lists your assets along with your development software. Adding some graphics that show your art design and how the mechanics work would be a nice addition. The design goals and ToDo list are nice to see, and an addition of goal/completion dates would also be good to go along with those. Everything else is described thoroughly and well.

You are a boss for doing so well for your first jam. You have a great sense of what good gameplay mechanics feel like, and I see that you took criticism from gameplay testers well and changed unintuitive mechanics to be more fun. Great job, and I am excited to see where you go with your future game dev career!

Your entry has been disqualified because your game design document was written using AI

We apologise for the late review:

I am partial to racing games or anything related to cars, so your game immediately caught my attention. I like the idea that you have, but the controls and visuals need a bit of work to be easier to understand and navigate. The car reacts a bit slowly, and the Nitro boost also has some lag before it registers so the timing can be difficult for the casual players you are targeting. The spinning obstacles also make the timing of when to use Nitro harder. Your car design is good, and the procedural generation of the enemies works well. Otherwise, the art and models are pretty basic and could use some improvement. The GDD says that you can fall into the void and that it loses you hearts, but I kept bouncing off the edges: whichever one is the intended behavior needs to be described and implemented.

Waiting until the day of submission to make your GDD defeats the purpose of a GDD: it serves as a guideline and place to organize your thoughts about how to design and develop your game. I suggest that you start with a basic GDD to start and add goals and changes as they happen. Your proposed development timeline seems fine and logical, and recognizing and noting that you didn't follow that timeline is good. Otherwise, your GDD is very basic and does not offer a lot of other information than the absolute minimum of listing the mechanics (not even talking about the controls or what they do).

I hope that you continue development on this game and take it forward into the game style that you enjoy. I know that game jams have the "calm peaceful atmosphere of hell," so I hope that you didn't burn out and that you can cross your own finish line.

it's not set to be publicly accessible

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

All right, you've got me hooked. This game is a ton of fun! Controlling different projectiles as they are slung from a slingshot is a great way to interpret this game jam theme. I love the ragdoll effects when you hit someone, and the various different projectiles you can purchase (hello grandma!). I really like the way that you can progress even if you are not great at the controls, and the various different pathways that you can take with both power upgrades as well as the different projectiles. The art style is simple and easy on the eyes. The sound effects are also very satisying, especially when you hit a person or the middle of a target.

Your GDD is very thorough and describes your game path, workflow, and aesthetic very well. I like the layout and the way that the different mechanics are described. I will warn you that you shared a version of the GDD that allows edit access, or it changed to allow edit access. Make sure you lock it down in the future to prevent potential issues.

Overall, your team did a great job on everything, and I really enjoyed playing your very addictive game! Do not forget that all your team members need to be in your itch team for the submission: your two artists and Miroslav all need to also be in the itch team submission. Please take note of this for the future.

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

So right off the bat I want to say amazing work on the Main Menu UI. I can tell that you put a lot of time and effort into making it look nice and feel nice. It was super easy to use too. A suggestion for the Main Menu UI though is allow Left click to work as E did. I clicked so many times before realizing that I had to use E to select anything. Also when changing any settings, I don't know if this is an HTML thing or not, if you return to main menu it resets all settings back to default.

Now onto the overall gameplay. The guns felt really good and felt like what they should be based on the weapon. Having drop off on a grenade launcher is something I did not expect nor did I expect a grenade launcher to be part of the kit. Once I got the hang of W for jump and Space for dash I got into a really nice groove. This all came crashing down though once I hit the Robot green eyeball monster. I could not figure out if I had to kill it or if I had to solve something to exit the doors. There was no HP bar or indicator on if it was dieing though. I eventually died and was not able to move on from that point. The music was really good and kept me feeling like at any moment I would be fighting a ton of enemies so it kept me on my toes. Even though you said you aren't good at pixel art in your GDD you did a great job and gave the game a great vibe. I can't wait to see this game with some polish and new features.

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

I really like this game interpretation! Playing as a dungeon killing waves of enemies and keeping your old allies safe adds a nice flavor to the theme. You did an excellent job for your first game! I think having no repercussions for enemies getting through the traps is probably not the play, but I can understand if you ran out of time. One thing I noticed is that your volume setting does not pause the game when it pops up, which I would change. The ability to turn the FPS counter off would be nice as well. Overall, the game does run smoothly and well. I am curious where the music came from, as it is very nice.  You should list it in your GDD to credit the artist, or show that you have the rights to use the music. The art you have done is really good! The cute blobs are easy to distinguish from each other and notice who is friend or foe; good shape and color language!

Your GDD has the most bare bones description of the mechanics, and the key bindings for them. A UI wireframe and some image examples of the art would not be remiss, along with more descriptive explanations of the art and music theme and how they fit with the game feel. I noticed that you finished this game in just 7 days, so I really am curious to see where you take this game going forward!

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

I really like this interpretation of the theme! As an antivirus software fighting viruses that are trying to infect your machine, you are absolutely the weapon against those viruses. I love the idea of the computer being represented as the Wild West and that you duel it out with viruses in an old-school style shooter. This reminds me a lot of the movies Tron and Tron: Legacy for their interpretation of the computer being highways and buildings. The music has a nice ambiance, the sound effects from the gun shots and when a virus gets through are solid as well. I think my main suggestions would be to keep improving the art (already great, and I can see how awesome it could be in the future), add more custom music, and refine the UI. The shooting mechanics are simple, so adding some sort of waver to the targeting would make it feel a little more difficult.

Your GDD is pretty well laid out and descriptive, though your development progress section is a bit chaotic. I understand that can be difficult to figure out how to implement and keep track of, so no judgement there! I like the sketch layouts of the main two screens, but more detail on the UI wireframes or other mockups would be good to see. The mechanics are simple enough to not need a lot of detail, and the download progress bar is easy to understand. I also would have liked to see the roles of each of your developers in the GDD: this can help also keep everyone on track and keep duties separate as needed.

Overall, really enjoyed your game! Awesome job on using new software and exploring new art styles. Thanks for this submission to the game jam!

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

Hello Pirate Jammer,

Thank you for the submission. Starting with my experience playing the game.  I’ve got motion sensitivity and the screen was flying all over the place when I tried to fire to move around, some stronger camera controls and smoothing would be great. I like the general concept of hide and seek, gun style, for the theme interpretation. It will be interesting to see where you go from here. As far as I can tell there was no sound in this game, even some simple free sound can make a game a lot better. Finally, the GDD you made was good but more details would be better. One extra thing that could make your GGD stand out even more is some concept pictures and extra things that didn't/would not have made it into the prototype, knowing more about what you wanted to do would have been cool.

Thanks again!

We apologise for the late feedback:

This game does not fit the game jam theme except by the thinnest thread of self-improvement with a final goal to fight a bear. Your game lacks a lot of the common features of a roguelike that would make the grind fun, such as seeing any sort of progress. At the moment, clicking the ToDo list buttons does nothing to show any sort of progress, and lacks any sort of feeling whatsoever. When the game ends, there is also no way to go back to the start except to refresh the page, which is a major issue. The idea of tackling a ToDo list as a way to become stronger and fight a final battle against something (Bear?) is a great concept for the idea of improvement, though. The lack of sound effects and music also help contribute to the lack of connection to the game or any sort of feeling of progress. Perhaps visual or audio clues to assist in knowing progress would be good, like a grunt during the pushups, a lightbulb during reading, etc. These all would help the game feel more like progress is happening.

Your GDD is very bare-bones and has only the most basic of information. More information regarding your intentions, ideas on future improvements, and the inspirations you drew from would be good to include. The mechanics in your game are simple enough that the description for them is sufficient.

Thanks for your entry to the game jam. I hope that you can take this critique to heart and make an awesome ToDo list slaying roguelike because that does sound fun!

We apologise for the late feedback:

I don't think i've seen too many games that the key character is a wizard staff, so this is a great interpretation of the theme. I think the foundation of the game is very good, but does require some fixes.
The movement mechanic is very cool, but it would be nice to have control over the movement when you get picked up by a wizard. On that note it is a shame that the design that you have created for the different elements doesn't show correctly, because the artwork in the GDD is very nice and detailed.
The 2nd page of the GDD isn't showing at all, it says there is an issue loading the page, so I cant use any information that was on there.

The music and sounds that accompany the mechanics are very good. Probably one of my favourite bits of the game!

Overall you have done a good job with crafting this game, with more time to work on getting the finer details this game would be very fun to play in full. Great Job!

Your entry has been disqaulified because your GDD is inacessible

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

I think your interpretation of the theme was unique, but I don't know how thoroughly it links to the theme. As you say "the player embodies a space station with a death ray", in my opinion this makes you not the weapon but the facility that holds the weapon. But skipping past that the game was fun to play. It was extremely slow at the start of the game, it took a lot of time to get through to customisation options and upgrades, but that is only really an issue when judging a Game Jam with time contraints. One of the major issues I had with the game was the laser sound, it was constant and very grating. And there was no way to turn it down from the game so i had to adjust my system settings to be able to continue playing the game. It would be great to see a settings menu/option for customising things like sound and sensitivity.
The GDD contained a lot of good information, but it would great to see it further fleshed out with more information around your ideas and introduction.

Overall this was a fun game to play. Thank you for entering it into the Game Jam!

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

Firstly i would like to address your GDD, it was absolutely fantastic! The amount of detail here really shows the level of planning that you have done for the game. The formatting could be adjusted to make ingesting the information easier as it contains rather large walls of text, and it would be great to see more illustrations.

Now for the game, the first thing i noted was the settings menu at the start of the game contained no text but that wasn't an issue as its obvious which setting was for the sound level. The visuals and artwork for the game are fantastic, it really provided a sense of "impaling" thanks to the shadows and dark aspects of the game. The movement felt good but could really do with some smoothing. It feels like it takes multiple seconds to turn around which in a game of this style can cause some issues with playing it.

Overall this game was very fun to play, it has the bones to be a fantastic games once some "final steps" are taken to finalise the game. Please keep working on this game. Great Job!

We apologise for the delayed feedback:

For a game that is usually not my style, this was really fun to play. I think you have a nice and unique interpretation for the Theme, which definitely sets you apart. The artwork and overall design for the game was fantastic, i did notice that some of the shooting animations aren't shooting in the correct direction, its worst when you are climbing above them. The use of music was good, but it wasnt anything that particularly stood out to me. It would be great if you could implement a more custom approach to the score with reactions to different actions taken in game. The idea that I thought could work is when you switch to a new host, changing the music. This will indicate that you have changed life form, and you could make it so the music gets faster as you lose biomass.
The GDD was short but contained some useful information. It would have been nice to see this a little more fleshed out, but that is one of the issue of a time constraint like the Game Jam.

Overall the game is a fantastic entry, please keep developing it. Great Job!