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This is such a fun and clever theme for the deck-builder genre. The whispering as you stack the ingredients is perfection. I also enjoyed how the music changed speed depending on the game state.

The only thing I would add would be the name of the ingredient on the main screen when you are choosing to keep/discard. When I first started playing I was staring at a patty and had no idea what I was looking at because of the simplified art style.

The reaper character looks great and the colour palette is awesome too!

I think you could benefit from some seamless textures for the scrolling parallax background because the flicker as textures changed/moved made it hard for me to focus on the jumps. I do think your collision box could be a bit more lenient too.

Thank you for the kind words, Ben! 

Earning money by rolling above the target is an important mechanic because it incentivises the player to reroll for a higher amount (and higher payout) even when they've already rolled enough to meet the round target.  There is a risk then, of course, of rolling lower than your current roll and missing the target entirely, so it is a calculated gamble on the player's part. This is where the "midnight staircase" part of the jam's theme comes in. Does the player keep rolling to attempt scoring higher, or "get off" with their current roll?

If I continue working on this post-jam (which is likely), I think I'll change this to align with feedback you and other people have provided, because it does just break completely once you get enough dice and the game becomes impossible to lose.

This game is a feast for the eyes! Adore the different characters. I had a couple of false starts until I realised I had to strategically choose wrong answers to avoid being possessed, while also bringing in enough money to reach the target. Clever balancing act!

My only gripe is that I wish the pacing were a little faster. The characters take a long time to enter/exit and say their piece, especially once you've played 4 rounds like I did.

Thank you for your considered review! I agree with all your feedback/observations, and I think you've got some very nice ideas here. I will make a post-jam version and address some of the balance issues.

You are right, once you get enough money it basically becomes impossible to lose. I didn't have time during the jam to playtest thoroughly, but I'll probably make a post-jam version that addresses these balancing issues.
Thanks for playing!

Thank you for the feedback and good ideas!

Why did I choose to kill my target on the day of the town's annual fun run? 🤣🏃

Really cool take on blackjack mechanics. Took me a few rounds to realize I could click on the icons to affect the score.

This game sounds fantastic! Really sets the mood/atmosphere.

I finally know what it feels like to run a game studio, although I don't know how I feel about having a game called "Sausage Slingers" be my life's work...

The grid is such a clever mechanic for handling both resources and health. The power-ups added some interesting choices and prevented the runs from getting stale quickly. 

Great entry!

Kinda relaxing ngl

I was very pleased to find out I could shake the machine but sadly I didn't shake loose any gachas 😞

Guess how many times I blew myself up with a landmine?? More times than I'd like to admit.

I got too confident in my zombie-slaying abilities, chose the "difficult" option and was promptly eaten alive 🤣👏

Turns out I'm really good at finding the numbers on the right side of the board 🥲
Solid entry, I really dig the lo-fi aesthestic! Only thing I'm missing is UP/DOWN keyboard buttons to change rows when selecting boxes.

You guys absolutely nailed the atmosphere in this one. The sounds in this game are phenomenal, everything was carefully considered. The creaking floorboards, the person gently snoring on the couch... I really felt like I was sneaking around the house at night! 😴

At one point I dropped the jam jar on the floor and the person on the couch stirred and I actually held my breath!

My only criticism is that the hands were difficult for me to use. I feel like we need a way to move them up/down as well as forward/back like they currently are set up. I never did get as far as making a complete sandwich (though I did have a lot of fun trying) because when you drop something on the floor trying to pick it back up is its own different adventure game (that I didn't always win). 😝

Fantastic work, guys!

P.S.
In trying to close the fridge door, I instead managed to keep opening it until the door was inside the fridge. Close enough? 😂

I found this very intriguing to play. I was wholly invested in tracking down my stolen item. I think with a wider cast of characters, more story options and some solid voice acting this could be a very compelling game to play!

Some feedback I gathered while playing in case you decide to work on this more:

- I like that the conversation is presented in speech bubbles like a text message.  It would be cool if you could scroll up to re-read something already said.
- I would love it if the characters had some recollection of talking to me before and not say the exact same script every time I talked to them.
- The background ambience does a great job of selling the atmosphere of a location, but it should loop! I was in the Market for long enough that the sound stopped and everything got deathly silent... Also fading between areas as you transition would be super nice!
- The signposts look like they indicate your current location and not a means of travel. They could benefit from having arrows to indicate that clicking them will take you there, something like "Port --->" perhaps?
- I encountered a bug where my arrival in Mombasa interrupted a conversation I was having with the boat captain.

While investigating Mombasa something happened and I couldn't interact with people anymore :( I could still transition between areas though...

Well done on putting this together!

I love this

Nice work Eric! I had a huge grin on my face when I realised why this game is called what it is and who doesn't love a good bit of physically simulated destruction?

Totally fair! Thank you for giving it a go.

Spot on with the feedback, thank you! 🕺🏾🎵

"Paint the streets!"

Splatoon, but with cars! 

The vehicle handling is really good! I like the different multiplayer modes but, alas, had to one around to play with so I was left juggling both controls like a multitasking lunatic. I will have to wait for the online multiplayer update.

Would have liked a way to return to the main menu to try the different game modes without having to restart the game. If there was a way, I couldn't find it.

Nice work!

Love the idea of a freestyle section during the song!

Thank you for playing! I agree with wanting to watch the character dance, which is why I added the Silent Disco mode! 😁

We welcome our first member to the F club! 😂😂

Glad you liked it Rodwin, but in the interest of everyone's safety, do not attempt the third track!

Not sure what's up for you, seems to work for me and everyone else... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

May the Yetis forever prevail!

Fun idea! The way the icebergs and ships bob around in the ocean is so satisfying. The half-submerged text is also such a neat little detail. Everything is really well put together here. Well done!

Holy moly, what a fantastic little entry! The polish on this guy is phenomenal. Well done!

The concept is simple but your presentation is superb. I think your choice of colour is fantastic!

The swimming animation was so simple and "reel" effective! We need to do something about the trash in our oceans though.

But the real fun is chasing a skier down for 15 seconds until he collides with a tree

I love this, the music, writing, and premise fit together really well! Only downside is I got 3 exact same cards in a row once.

I saw that "*" thing once in the final hour of the jam and thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me. No idea why that happens, must be something funky going on when converting an int to a string. I'll see if I can fix it post-jam.
Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it!

Hello, enjoying the rules so far! Reporting a minor typo on page 45:

> Phantom creatures may attempt to terrifying wanderers into running away

I know all too well how quickly those 48 hours go by!

I think you guys have a great visual style here and the game feels really solid to play. Would have liked to see the puzzles explore one or two more mechanics on the later levels to make them more challenging but otherwise this is a charming little puzzle game!

Really clever and fun take on the theme! The only drawback was the speech bubbles covering the dice while I was trying to stack them.

Ah,  you make a very valid point!

Higher rolls mean you get to shoot first. If you roll higher than someone aiming at you, you can potentially kill them before they even get their shot off, saving your own neck (dead folks can't shoot). That's the idea, anyway.

Thanks for playing!