itch.io

Hey there, what an awesome project! I'd love Santa's Surprise to be as accessible as possible, so feel free to port away :D It's really awesome to see my game running on a handheld, thank you for your amazing work.

Shoot me a comment / message when it's available, I'd love to know more. Also let me know if you need something else from me to ease the porting process.

Cheers and happy (early) holidays!

https://pirate-shell.itch.io/santas-surprise

My newest pixel art platformer - Santa's Surprise has just released! It follows Santa on his epic quest to bring a cute dog to his wife this Christmas. If you are into platformers with multiple gameplay styles and  are looking for a bit of extra holiday cheer this year, give it a try! Happy holidays to you all!

https://pirate-shell.itch.io/chicken-a

Chicken A is the only 2D retro-inspired platformer game where you can be both a chicken overlord and a cute chicken pet. Play through 4 action-packed levels, each giving you the choice to augment your chicken genetically. Based on your choices, your chicken can turn out to be anything you want!

(As long as that anything fits within 4 pre-determined ending options, that is.)

It's most likely because they want to keep the top 10 games a surprise (no pun intended) that is revealed at the stream today. You'll probably be able to see your ranking afterwards, I'm guessing.

I liked the concept quite a bit, although I will agree that the gameplay changes take a little while to kick in. I though the controls were tight and the game was fun enough (although I may be hindered by the fact I played on my own haha). That said, I'd love it if you tweaked the ball physics a little, because I found it rather easy to make it just bounce in a straight line, which is not exactly fun (an element of randomization to the bounce might do the trick here?) Finally, a bit of a pause or some other transitional element when the styles switch would be great to get the players prepared for having a new rule set. Overall, neat idea and good work on the execution!

Cute game! I think it's a neat concept to pack so many different things into these slots and have it be a true surprise what you get. The games themselves are also quite charming and almost instantly reminded me of old games that used to come built-in with the Windows OSes. That said, I do agree that the randomization of the placement of the numbers makes it rather confusing. Also, some of the art styles clash a little (such as having high poly 3D models next to pixel art). Aside from that though, neat concept and nice execution!

This is a charming game. I thought the art and music worked well together, and I especially liked the background. The surprise element was a little vague, but I did understand at the end. I thought the controls were nice and tight, and the game was fun overall. However, I think the collision detection was a little unforgiving (especially on the ground spikes). Furthermore, restarting the entire game if a player dies is also not pleasant. You could argue that as a design decision, but I do think if you keep it, at least don't replay the opening dialogue every time. Good game though, and good effort!

Very cute game! I absolutely love this storybook-like hand drawn style. The gameplay is simple yet effective and it kept me amused for quite a bit, despite not really being super deep or anything. The game also just has this pleasant wholesome vibe that I really like. Now, if I had to nitpick, I'd say that the WOO's of the penguin got a little too much (especially considering all the other characters had several lines, I think you should give the penguin the same treatment). What's more, I didn't really understand what the percentage meter was, or what it did, so maybe a more clear explanation? That said, this could be entirely due to me not paying enough attention. Regardless, cute game and a good effort! I definitely enjoyed it!

This was a cute game! I thought the visuals were quite visually appealing and the music had a nice soothing style that made the whole experience quite hypnotic in a sense. The gameplay was simple, but functional and I enjoyed my time playing. A few points of improvement though: I think the synthetic sound of the jump is a little out of place for the live-soundingmusical track, so maybe something more natural would have been better? Furthermore, I found the game rather easy, which is both a good thing because I could just zone out and enjoy the relaxing music, but also could stop players from wanting to play more and more of this after a few rounds because not much seems to change. Moreover, I think the camera angle of the game is nice, but a little too zoomed in. Zooming out could help with allowing the player to see more of the level ahead of them, thus, permitting even more interesting obstacle types to be implemented. Finally, I love the idea of making the chicken surprised to make it move, but I feel this is not communicated really well in the game. Perhaps some particles or some coming book style bubble saying "BOO!" or something when you scare the chicken would be a nice touch. Overall, good effort and good solid game!

I enjoyed the simple visuals and I quite liked the music that you picked. I'm not 100% sure what the narrative was about but it did feel oddly somber at the end. Either way a nice experience! (having to pick up the ball constantly was a little annoying though).

Pretty cute game, I liked the art and the sounds effects were pretty charming. I think the concept was cool, but it really relies a lot on communication or having lighting fast reaction times. That's of course the point, but I do think it can get a little frustrating at times. Also, the slipperiness of the character movements also contribute to this. Overall, it's a cute game, but I think it would benefit from a bit more polish. But that's the nature of game jams, I suppose. Good work!

This game was great! I really liked the core mechanic and it definitely took me by surprise, especially since I didn't look at the screenshots. The art is also quite cute. I do think the music fits, but it's a bit stressful after a while (I think because of the changes in pitch). It does very much sound like "cat music", though, for lack of a better term. Overall, I really liked this, great work!

I liked the game, especially the inclusion of ammo is something that is interesting and I don't always see in these types of games. Also the season changing is pretty cool. I will say the game felt quite easy to me and also I'd have liked it if I had more to do while the turrets are shooting the enemies. Maybe let me pick up money from dead enemies or something along the lines? Overall, good work!

I really liked the art and aesthetic and the game played pretty okay. however, I do find that the combination of the weird 3D-esque environment and the way the aiming works made things a little unnecessarily hard. I'd say a more standard point and shoot type of aiming system would have greatly benefit my enjoyment. Other than that, impressive game with quite a bit of charm. Cheers!

Really good game! I absolutely love the take on theme and the concept is polished and well executed throughout. I actually felt motivated to keep playing, which is really good! I have some minor issues though. The controls feel a little off, mainly the fact you slide off the corners of edges. That makes it feel like the character is more slippery than they should be. Furthermore, I think some of the level design is a little cramped feeling and doesn't completely encourage the speed running mentality you are going for. Finally, I think the waiting time once you die is a little too long. I'd like just a quick fade and get right back into the game instead of a death animation, a fade and a door opening. Minor issues though, overall, fantastic game!

Pretty cute game, I liked the art and sounds! The gameplay was also pretty fun, but I do feel like there are quite a few bugs that impacted my overall enjoyment. They are mostly related to the camera / movement being a little jerky and the collision detection sometimes being a bit off. Other than that though, cute game! Good work!

Really liked the game! It has an impressive amount of content and polish for just 48H. It's also quite fun to play, and kept my attention for longer than I expected (I'm usually not really into Sim type games). My only two points of improvement are that it felt like there wasn't really any real possibility of me losing and that during the night nothing happens so it's a little tedious to have to just sit there and wait for morning to come around again. Overall though, great work!

Pretty cute game! I liked the Santa sprite and the concept is solid and works fine mechanically. I would say it would benefit from a few more mechanics (like maybe something that falls from the sky and hurts you, so you don't have to collect everything). Aside from that, everything presented looks and plays good, and it has a simplistic sort of charm that reminds me of old flash /  phone games. Good work!

Pretty good game! I liked the concept and the execution is also quite nice for the time frame. I especially like the artstyle and the sinister Doom-like Christmas remixes. Voice acting is also a nice plus! My only issue is that there isn't enough visual feedback when you hit an enemy / get hit (think screen shake, freeze frames, flashes, etc.), so the game feels a bit less impactful than it would otherwise. Maybe something to consider for a post-jam version / if you ever make a game of this type again. Cheers!

Thanks a lot! The "team" was just me, myself and I, hahaha. I was planning on doing sound and music, but I was unable to do so in the time frame. Otherwise I would have totally went for it. I'll definitely consider it for a post-jam version, if I ever make one. Thanks for playing and commenting!

I really appreciate the kind words! It's good to know my level design turned out okay, since I think it's kinda not my strong suit. Appreciate you playing and leaving your thoughts!

Thanks! Those issues are definitely due to the 48H time limit. The game actually had 6 more levels originally featuring more stealth platforming type gameplay, but I had no time to wrap up the graphics for them so I cut them. Similarly with the music. Maybe something to consider for a post-jam version? Thanks for playing!

Thanks for the kind words! And yeah, as OSmart32 said, the theming if mostly in the story. I planned for that part to be a lot bigger with cutscenes as stuff, but as we all know game jams have a way of making sure at least half of the things you want to do, you don't have time for hahaha. Cheers!

Thank you! I can see the Celeste in it now that I think about it, ahahaha! Appreciate your thoughts!

Thank you for the kind words! The sound was something I really wanted to do, but I only got around to it an hour before the deadline, so I figured it's better to not have any than to rush it and deliver something lackluster. Maybe something to plan better for the next jam. Cheers!

Thanks a lot! I like that touch, too. The first time I used it in a game it actually resulted from a bug in my code. But hey, it's not a bug, it's a feature right? :P Thanks for playing!

Thank you, much appreciated! And yeah, I can see the difficulty being a bit too high, especially for people who may not play this  genre of games as much as me. Unfortunately, game jams don't always allow the time to balance things properly. Cheers!

This game was quite a bit of fun. I thought that the graple mechanic worked well and when I managed to shoot multiple enemies at once and then hurl myself across the map it felt great. I agree with the previous point about having a bit more incentive to move around, and I also think the game would benefit from a bit more punch to everything. For example a bit of screenshake and visual feedback when getting hit/hitting an enemy would have helped a lot. I have to mention the charismatic soundtrack as well, I loved how you added a quacking sample to it and made it work. Overall, pretty great entry!

This game is pretty nice. It definitely had quite a bit of charm and personality for a game jam title (mostly due to the voices you added). I found it quite fun to play and I thought the granade mechanic had a satisfying feel to it. I do, however, think that a bit more incentive to not eat the animals would have added more depth to the mechanic. Perhaps there is a better ending or something if you don't kill any of them, but I didn't reach the end so I can't know. Overall, a good entry!