itch.io

That was super cool! I liked that it was half factory builder and half alchemy game and it blended the two seamlessly. I also like the "scaling" system where the game literally goes "cool design, let's see if it scales." It was kind of nice to setup a good system and then just kick my feet up and watch the cash roll in.

If you're doing a post-jam build I'd love some QoL user experience stuff like being able to select and move buildings, copy-paste, etc.

Really awesome submission, my favorite I've played so far!

I love that the title screen is a tutorial. Within the first 10 seconds I'm already fully understanding and playing the game! Well done!

For the high scoreboard it would be cool if it showed me where I placed relative to other players rather than just showing the top 10. You don't need to show the whole scoreboard (that would be overwhelming) but just like the 5ish people ahead of me and behind me.

Hey! Another submission with a portmanteau of "Architect" in the title! (Although I liked Inky's title suggestion too)

I like what the game is trying to be, but I feel like during the puzzles it's hard to tell what state I'm in and how that differs from what state I'm supposed to be in. In the tutorial I didn't realize I could grow the building one more "notch" because I guess I wasn't giving it enough room to grow? Then in the first "real" level I felt like I had everything in the right place but maybe I was off by a grid square? I couldn't really tell because I didn't have a good frame of reference from my top-down slanted perspective.

I look forward to your post-jam build if you choose to do one!

Thanks for the kind words! I put links to our respective portfolios on the game page for your stalking convenience.

Oh! I think know why it puts you in debug mode. That's uhhhh... Not good. I'll fix that in the post jam.

I have a "run with debug mode.bat" file next to the game exe and I guess itch is choosing to run that in favor of the exe.

We sort of have a sandbox mode in the post-game after you build the Monument, because you get every resource for free in infinite abundance. For the post-jam I might add a proper "sandbox" mode where you have total free reign to build whatever you want from the very beginning.

Thanks so much for the kind words! Quarkimo (our composer) will be so happy to hear that you noticed the changing soundtrack :)

I deliberately made the game very forgiving so even if you're "bad at Tetris" you're not "bad" at this game because there's no incorrect way to play.

The graphics were lovely! It created a very cohesive cozy vibe.

Once I understood how it worked this was really interesting! I had a neat moment where I collected lots of water but then was unable to squeeze my way back to the flower so I had to drain some water out in order to get home.

It took me a minute to figure out what the controls were (I kept clicking on stuff not realizing I was supposed to use WASD). I also kept getting a "Game Over" for (what felt like) random reasons.

I had trouble getting the game to run but conceptually it seems really cool!

also -- Hello fellow MonoGame dev!! ✊ (there are dozens of us, DOZENS!)

The art is gorgeous and I really liked the narrative framing.

The overall gameplay was intuitive and fun but I never understood what the two bars at the bottom meant.

Very clever interpretation of the theme! 

I think the controls could have had a bit more feedback, maybe a highlight on objects that are within range to be picked up the tweezers?

This was very nice. I liked how seamless the mechanics fit together and how immediately intuitive the controls were. I didn't need a tutorial or anything I just... started playing!

You got a lot of graphical mileage out of primitive shapes, love to see it! I loved how every mechanic felt like it was multi-purpose. 

• I need to shoot enemies to destroy them so I don't get overwhelmed -- but I need to be mindful of my position whenever I shoot.
• I could use my own recoil to move more quickly to get out of a jam-- but not too much because I might run into a wall. 
• I could shoot-to-shrink to squeeze through a gap-- but not too much because then I can't shoot at all.

Everything was on this very delicate tightrope. Very nicely done!

That was delightful and very tightly designed! I have 2 small suggestions for the post jam build

• I think the catalogue should be expanded by default, I spent the first few turns not knowing what to do because I didn't realize I was supposed to open the catalogue to understand the game.
• The scoreboard should show your relative placement as well as the top 10. I didn't score nearly well enough to make the top 10 but it would have been nice to know "you're in 97th place" or something like that. Maybe also show 10ish players ahead of me so I know how close I am to beating the next person up?

These are both little flourishes on an otherwise excellent submission. Great job!

Thanks so much!

You're the first person to post a screenshot! I like that you made room at the bottom for the monument.

That was very sweet, I liked that a lot.

Thanks! For what it's worth there are actually 3 music tracks (3 variants of the same track) that change as you zoom in and out.

I think our post jam build will make you a happy man ;)

Saving is on my radar and should be "easy" (we'll see!). Building variation is definitely where the time constraint finally caught up to us.

Thanks! I always strive to make my jam games feel like complete games. That being said, the main menu was made in like an hour.

Out of curiosity, what part of the game's main UI felt underdeveloped?

No worries! If you do a post-jam build with other resolutions support feel free to drop a reply here so I get notified. I'd love to check it out!

In your life?! That's high praise! Thanks so much!

So glad you liked it, thank you!

Thank you!

Thanks for playing! I'm so glad you liked it!

Very neat puzzle game concept! It would have been nice if there was some feedback if I was currently magnetized to the bolt I was standing on.

It would be interesting to see what other mechanics you could layer on top of this. Right now it feels like there's basically one puzzle and each level is a more complex variant on that one puzzle.

Congrats on your first solo jam!

I think it was the second level with the Y-axis scaling. The one featured in the very last screenshot your game's page. I got through the vertical drop but then I had to jump over a series of short walls and I was struggling, even when I scrunched the world down as small as it could go. After 4-5 attempts I just kinda gave up.

This is very tightly designed! You have just the right number of things to keep track of and the balance created a great push-and-pull feeling!

The execution is a little rough but the idea is super solid. The concept feels so obvious given the theme and yet I haven't played any submission that played with "scale" in the way that your game does. 

I got stuck on a level because I kept messing up the controls and tripping on a collision box. I felt like I understood the "puzzle" but I couldn't execute on the solution.

I'd love to play this but I'm on a 4K monitor so I don't think it ran properly.

This is a very good submission! The timing on the window expansion animation is absolutely top notch!

Very cool vibes! I there there could have been more of an integrated tutorial because I didn't really understand the mechanics at first.

I've done a lot of game jams-- this jam was my 33rd game jam.

As such, I've played and rated a lot of game jam entries and none of them compare to mateemaliklol's 2024 magnum opus: ShrinkIt. Never has a game kept me at the edge of my seat, leaning in towards the screen, wondering what's going to happen next. Truly a masterpiece that will be remembered throughout the ages.

I love seeing the little guys run around, it makes the whole thing feel alive like an ant colony. The UI bugged out for me and I couldn't place any buildings after a little bit, which was a shame!

That's a fun idea! This game is several years old at this point so I probably won't be adding anything new to it but user-generated content sounds really interesting!

Thanks for playing!

Love to see LÖVE! Very cool puzzle framework with the potential for a lot of interesting puzzles. It's cool that you can go into previous rooms, but I worry it can lead to you getting stuck because you made a mistake 3 rooms ago (maybe you've ensured that's not mathematically possible but it sure felt that way when I got stuck).

Very creative concept! Could do with some quality-of-life stuff like a reset button to reset the level back to the start (Undo would be awesome!). It would also be helpful to see a history of all the transformations I've applied to a shape.

As a tall person I have long understood that longer legs means faster walk, and I love to see a game that validates that. Very stylish game, I loved the dynamic soundtrack!

Very simple and to the point! I liked the transition from the city to the clouds to the stars!

Fun spin on the theme! I wish the camera were a little bit zoomed out so I could see where I am if I'm jumping off the very top-most note.