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Yes.

I might not understand your question right, but what planning on our end would be required for that? 🤔 If you want to write a postmortem for your jam entry, go ahead! If you post it under the jam's hashtag, we'd gladly give it a boost on Mastodon, of course. :)

Glad to hear you're having fun so far! 🙂 No promises yet (we'll wait for the final results of the jam first), but yes, we're considering turning this into a quarterly event with separate editions in March, June, September and December each. Once the jam is over, keep an eye on our Mastodon account for further announcements!

Thank you for asking! :) I've just added the following paragraph to the rules section:

"Submitting your game to multiple jams will be tolerated, as long it complies with all the rules of both this and the other jam(s). We reserve the right to disqualify submissions that overdo it in this regard (e.g. submit to 5+ different jams).

When in doubt, please get in contact with us before submitting your game."

Hi! :) To keep things simple, we decided to go with "no neural networks whatsoever". And yes, that includes models self-trained on your own data and your own data only. Anything rule-based, like ELIZA or e.g. behavior trees, is allowed. When in doubt whether your game fulfills these criteria or not, don't hesitate to ask again.

Have any questions regarding the jam's organization? Ask here!
Want to propose a change or addition? Comment away!

Very nice presentation & atmosphere! :) The connection to the theme is rather... loose, though, haha! Personally, I'd have liked the game more without the "Adventure" window. Sure, it gives some sense of place and scale, but I found it rather annoying having to run around to collect all images first. Especially since it's not always obvious where to go. Also, yes, the puzzles do get bigger, but not really harder, which made me grew a bit tired of them eventually.

Still quite the achievement for only 48 hours, though!

To be perfectly honest, I didn't enjoy the gameplay too much. Maybe it plays differently with a controller, but at least on keyboard I found it hard to land precise jumps sometimes and some levels rely pretty heavily on your ability to do that multiple times in a row. That being said, I really like the idea and the various level designs you got out of it!

Interesting! The core idea is quite similar to our game, but bringing color matching into the mix... We didn't think of that! 🙈 I mostly went for combinations of 3, but I like how it's possible to aim for more. :)

Really liked the enemy design! :) Their hitboxes feel a bit too big, though? Especially in the early game, it's easy to get trapped with no way back to the tower. Also, it would probably be good to lock the tower entry for some time in the beginning: I accidentally stepped back in multiple times. Not sure if that even matters (i.e. there's a day counter or something that affects which enemies spawn), but found it a bit annoying still. In the late game it's mostly a walk in the park then, and I felt severely held back by the maximum amount of pickups. There's really no reason to stay out longer than it takes you to fill up your inventory, which is a shame. Think I would have had more fun without that limit, trying to hold out as long as possible for harder enemies and more valuable rewards. Lastly, it took me ages to understand that the presents were indeed powerups. ;D Probably because the bullets are so small and the effect is hard to notice, but also because the different powerups override each other. Given the theme of the jam and the adjacency to the Survivors-like genre, it would have been fun to stack their effects instead, and go wild I feel. Love the ending sequence and how it rewards you with a longer animation for building a higher tower. :)

Hey, just came across this game and was wondering if you're aware / involved in any way? At least, judging by the screenshots, it looks like a pretty blatant copy of your game with only minimal changes to the art style...

In one word: Beautiful! Really dig the puzzles spanning over multiple screens. :) Would benefit greatly from resetting you just to the last safe state instead of the beginning of the level, though. But it's understandable that you didn't get that covered in a game jam! Were you in any way inspired by "SCHiM" or is this completely unrelated?

A bit loose on the theme maybe, but I absolutely ADORE the core mechanic. Feels like there's a lot of untapped potential here! Also, great job on the overall presentation. Definitely one of my favorites this jam. :)

I HATE it. I just fell down and ARGH!!! So... great job, I guess! 😁 Very solid entry, especially for your first jam!

Strange... Just tried it again, for me (playing the web version on Linux) it's definitely Y / the top button. 😅

Gets a bit monotonous after a while, but still surprisingly enjoyable for how simple the core gameplay is. Also, nice interpretation of "Think Inside the Box"! 😁 Zooming into the screen once the game starts was a cool touch as well!

Very cool idea, great job with the art style and an impressive amount of content for a jam game! I agree that it's fairly tough, though, which is always risky in jams because people might already quit before getting to the best parts. Also, standing in the shadows to cool myself down and grow back to full size got a bit annoying after a while. Probably less of an issue if you're really skilled at the game, but to me, it felt like I was spending most of my time waiting... Oh, and: I played with an Xbox Controller, and it said to press X to roll, but I actually had to press Y?

What do you mean? This is a real game! 😁 But seriously: Thank you for the kind words! :)

Thanks! :) And yeah, apparently fly swatters made of leather are a thing, you can google it! Of course, ours is using synthetic leather! 😁

Okay, listen: Of all the games I've played today (and I've played quite a few!), this is by far the best. It's a fucking crime that I'm only the eighth person rating this. You should win this jam. Seriously. Fantastic job!

(The player hitbox during the knife fight is a bit bullshit, though ;D)

Nice one! Surprisingly polished for a jam entry! Accesibility-wise I'd have liked a mode that doesn't require holding down the mouse button all the time (i.e. one click picks the lamp up, another click puts it down). Also, sometimes I had issues picking up the lamp, but that might also be because of the web version.  Progression is nicely done and well tutorialized, maaaaybe a tad bit too straightforward for my liking – but that's probably best for a jam. Sadly, I found the actual "escape" part of the game (i.e. the spirits turning purple) more frustrating than fun (for the few levels where it actually played a role), so the connection to the theme feels rather light to me here.  But great game nonetheless, captivated me enough to finish all ten level will full marks, after all!

PS: The main menu music isn't looping. :P

Made it to level 2 before quitting and can only echo some of the points others have already voiced. Checkpoints and/or a life system would have been nice, as replaying the same section over and over again gets annoying real quick. It only made me rush through the level even quicker, often ending in killing myself (as the flame) by falling into water I could barely see when starting my jump. And yeah, clearer feedback on triggering a switch would have been nice: I spent a while smashing the first switch before realizing it had already switched. Other than that: Very solid entry! :)

Nice one! :) Your girlfriend did a great job with the sprites - very cute characters that give the game a lot of personality and charm. I also loved the sun's laugh, haha. The music loop is a bit repetitive, though, and it would've been nice if there was a way to advance to the next level without using the mouse (i.e. the keyboard).

Very ambitious project! The 3D graphics look great, although I can't help but think the game (at least in its current state) would have worked better without it, by throwing you into the terminal right away. I spent my entire first run aimlessly searching the room for something to do. And even once you do realize that the gameplay mostly happens on the terminal, expecting the player to figure out the different commands under time pressure is a bit much. Also, switching between the event log and the terminal feels needlessly tedious. Did I miss something there?

So yeah, all in all, didn't have too much fun with your game, sorry. But again, kudos for tackling such an ambitious project and good luck with fleshing it out more once the jam is over. Original take for sure! :)

Nice intro scene, really effective at setting the mood! Wish it was skippable, though – at least on repeated tries. Rewatching it after each failed attempt gets a bit grating. Speaking of which: I couldn't quite figure out what to do in order to escape! There's that locked door and if I take a certain path the monster will bump into it once, but if I then went there afterwards again, the voice just said "I'm working on it" – but... working on what? Left me quite clueless of what to do next, and then "that thing" got me and I had to start over again. If there's any more strategy to this, then I didn't get it, sorry. :(

I like the overall vibe (and the music adds a ton here!). More in-game hints regarding the controls would have been nice: I had to look up the action button (dunno why, but I expected 'E', not 'F'), accidentally quit the game once (since I expected escape to pause the game), then struggled tremendously with moving from the first moving platform to the second (still not sure if one can double jump or have to abuse coyote-time there) and even after finishing the game I don't quite understand how the flight mode works (felt like looking up makes one fly a lot farther?!). Don't want that to come across overly negative, though: I enjoyed your game enough to finish it, after all. Good job! :)

Connection to the theme seems a bit light, but aside from that: solid game! :) The visuals feel very "Limbo"-esque, but I guess the minimal black-and-white aesthetic makes it a good choice for jams, and the music complements it nicely. I stopped playing when I reached the rotating stones, though. I get how you're supposed to solve the puzzle there, but didn't feel too motivated doing it with that somewhat awkward jump. Adding a long wind up before each jump might have been a design decision, but none that I particularly dig or saw any real need for up until that point.

The workers felt a bit too observant, like they have eyes in their back. Later, I then realized that they won't notice you if you stand still, which is a nice (Prophunt inspired?) touch. However, doing so isn't particularly fun given how slow they move around... All in all, I'd say my escape strategies didn't change much between props, which made the game feel a bit repetitive in the end. Being able to dive under shelves as the screwdriver was a cool touch, though! Also, I should probably add that I didn't finish the game: I stopped playing when I got to that crate on the shelf. The camera constantly clipping through the roof here made this part really annoying.

Not the most original interpretation of the theme, but expertly polished! The minimal art style works great, and the soundtrack is a real banger. Controls are fine as well, although I agree with other reviewers here that the jump felt a little floaty and made it quite hard to properly land on some platforms for me. In terms of level design, I would have loved some more shortcuts (maybe only available after you shoot certain wall tiles) to increase the replay value, but well, time was ticking... Curious where you will take this with the post-jam release. :)

Love the concept, although I feel it's a tad bit too difficult. I found it already hard enough to properly aim for the next planet without getting lost in space. That you can also get stuck on a planet felt needlessly frustrating to me. Would have appreciated an option to bounce yourself back into orbit here! This also made me give up on collecting all the stars relatively quick, and instead just went for getting to the green planet as quick as possible. I think tracking the completion time of a level would have served as a nice (and easily implemented) secondary goal here.

Thanks! :) Yeah, the light gave me some serious headaches, because that all works a lil' differently in Godot 4 now. There's some minor issues with it still, but all in all I'd say it was very much worth the effort!

I LOVE the dude with the camera in the rhythm mini game! Kudos to whoever painted that. 😂 Also, playing as a 2D character in a 3D works surprisingly well and makes the game stand out visually. For the rhythm game I think the score label should have been closer to the actual inputs, though. I found it hard to keep track of how I was doing while looking out for the incoming notes.

Lovely illustrations! However, to be honest with you: The controls felt a bit clunky to me. Almost gave up on the first level 'cause on your first tries it's pretty hard to make out what's an obstacle and what's part of the background and there's no way to catch up. The second level was nice, although I struggled a little bit with reliably triggering the wall jump and falling down can get quite frustrating. In the third level I fell down a shaft and couldn't progress any further, as there seemed to be an invisible wall and I didn't manage to wall jump out of there. I really like the idea of having multiple mini games telling an overarching story, though. By the way: Am I the only one who thinks the main menu music sounds a little bit like "Candy Shop" from 50 Cent? 😂

Very nice in terms of polish! :) Shame that you didn't have time for more levels and a proper difficulty curve. That being said, I liked how the first level required you to drop down from higher above to get all the cheese. That was a nice optional touch in an otherwise pretty straightforward level design!

Fun one! And very on theme! The power ups are a nice way of rewarding the player for knowing the map, although I feel the game doesn't really require you to use any of them. Also, personally I would have preferred having multiple lives per run (side note: TIL cats don't have nine lives everywhere :D) – sometimes losing can come real quick. The absolute highlight for me was the music, tho. Well done!

On that note: Your volume sliders don't work correctly! With good headphones / boxes you can still hear the mice at the lowest setting. Also I'm pretty sure the steps are linear. However, human volume perception is not! There's a `linear_to_db` method in Godot to work around that fact – look it up!

Haha, soooooooooooooooooooooo glad to hear that! I spent way more time than I should making the movement feel good. And way too little on making sure the actual game was fun to play, I'm afraid... Anyways, glad you enjoyed it! :)

Thanks! :) And perfectly fair feedback! I got a little carried away with making the movement feel right, haha. So in the end I had barely any time left to think about the actual gameplay – and one can definitely feel that! I'm happy there is a game for you to play at all! 😄

Hahaha, appreciate the honesty! I drew the bushes as a placeholder quite early on, in like 2 minutes only using my mouse.  Later I figured they were too small and scaled them up three times. And of course, in the end I simply ran out of time and didn't re-do them properly again... 😅

Thanks! :) Yeah, the controls are a bit finicky still. We started a few days late, so I had no time to fine tune the thresholds once everything was in place. To be quite honest with you, I'm happy it's playable at all! ;D

Hey, thanks for giving our game a go! :) Yeah, really happy with how the tutorial turned out!