itch.io

I enjoyed the game a lot. I think the art style is really awesome and cohesive, with the simple shaders and animation breathing a lot of life into the environment and unifying the light theme and feel. The light scenes are extremely picturesque as well. The music is ambient and fits the game tonally. The eye for environment makes the game feel complete and is so impressive for a jam game.

It did take a minute to even understand the logic of the game, even with the instruction booklet... but other than that blip, it was well telegraphed, and played flawlessly. I was skeptical about the logic of the game and how far you could take the light mechanics, but I found myself puzzling along seeing the increasing challenge (and realizing that yeah you can probably take this pretty far if you wanted, especially by restricting items). I thought shadows were a really inventive take on these light puzzles.

Unfortunately, I did not see a win condition due to a black screen bug in normal mode after about 12?15? levels.

Any criticisms I have about the game are minor and mostly out of scope for the jam. A few quick things in-scope would be: Level indicators in normal mode would be nice and a level reset/step-back button would also be nice.

Otherwise, outside of the jam, my number one add would be an in-game tutorial.

Other opinions I have: I didn't necessarily feel like scrolling between light sources added too much to the challenge. I feel like it would have been fine for each level to have one light-theme. I am a little conflicted on the items menu UI collapsing; it tends to add more clicks than necessary, especially flipping between items and item settings but I wasn't annoyed by it so it was noticeable to me but also probably fine.

Finally, I think that levels can get really, really busy with the million light rays which become more of a challenge to deal with than the actual puzzles, but I have no clue how you'd rectify this and it's probably totally fine and a skill issue for me.

Very prolific dev work, congrats to you both for the release!

If this was playtested you are a god at platforming. I actually really like the mechanics of this, the feel and learning curve is unique, awesome and genuinely fun to learn and get good at. Without checkpoints though, its hard to brain jump from one set of mechanics into another, especially with limited practice using the other set. 

Like I want to play through it in its entirety. Admittedly I did not finish the first non-tutorial level after I change into the red sprite.

Otherwise an awesome looking release.

Just an FYI, something appears to have happened to the game - kinda late notice. Tried on firefox and chrome... doesn't appear to be my end, worth a follow up at least.

Lots of great homages and some explicit copying of Faith (which is okay! thats how art works). The gameplay in this is relatively slow (meant literally with walking speed) and very unclear (e.g. grabbing the key, breaking the door down). Otherwise it is a nice little game, even though the outcome was more or less expected.

I did particularly like the stairs walking downstairs of all things, kind of random I know. Also CRT off is always a great option, appreciation for that.

congrats on the release.

yeah just to clarify, no malice intended on the trolling comment, just thought it was a funny thing that happened and the thought that went through my head lol. I get needing to balance design with the actual aesthetic of the area; a book case with like 3 books might look totally scuffed. I guess you couldve had a lot of books that were obviously not interactable, mixed with some that are (or something along those lines)

I felt like I gave this a good go, I didn't see a win condition but got 5 anomalies on both attempts using all tools. I like all the tools although, they all kinda do the same thing with slightly different ranges. As it works out,, you kinda go around every setting about 4 times minimum and still might miss an anomaly. idk, maybe I am just bad.

Something nice would be a counter to know how many anomalies are left to find, just for gameplay reasons.

I think the compass probably shouldnt point arbitrarily east when it isnt in range of anything, I'd suggest either a different colour or to have it constantly rotating.

I like all the lore stuff and think its a solid prop hunt in a solid setting, although when there are 20 books and your thing is lit the fuck up, there is a thought that the dev is trolling.

congrats on the release.

comments work, I was definitely feeling the burn of the controls and somewhat uncertain premise but everyone liked it so much I went back and figured it out, and I had a good time. I enjoy the details in your three worlds (especially the overworld) and your final boss design.

The combat is very strange, starts off very grindy, becomes very easy and then ends with a very grindy tank-boss. I get that it probably was less about balanced combat and more about the representational symbolism of the enemies. 

The models and the combat animations are very nice though and reactive, pleasant to just roll around. I could take or leave the drum sfx though.

One error I encountered is that powerups do not work near enemies, and in general, their recharge is kinda scuffed, often just waiting around for relatively long periods.

The thing that carries is that you really did build a big RPG in such a short time and the world feels lived in, congrats on the release

Ah really good, I actually was expecting a potion making game with not much going on and was very pleasantly subverted. The art is really nice, feels like a full indie release

I think the only thing I'm sad about is the short length, but it was for a jam so its wrong to want more. It's probably a credit to you because of how complete your settings are and the world that you set up. (How much further could you take the mechanic though realistically)

Anyways great release, congrats

very short fun game with extremely clear and clean presentation. Very clearly based off that gif of that german dude cutting a pretzel in half. Actually very german in the presentation too loool.

congrats on the release.

always fun to experiment in a new engine, big ups for using Bevy.

Rusts a hot thing to know these days so I think learning it is probably the real reward.

congrats on the release

lol worth it just to see the unhinged end screen in full.

The platforming is actually real smooth on this game, really enjoyed the animations. I'd say its a bit simple for a mechanic that could get really fleshed out but for the jam its all good. learning the tech on the last jump was interesting.

congrats on the release

Short game, wonderful endings, but which one is the good end hmmmmm.

art is really great, and you had the option of making this a 20 level slog fest but chose not to and that is appreciated lol

congrats on the release

Very original concept and very inventive. I have an astigmatism so I couldn't figure this stuff out (couldnt ever get stereoscopy to work for my degree). I forced my partner to play though and they had a blast.

They made it to level 2 on the bear game, which strained their eyes but was definitely doable. So the tutorial definitely works and so does the gameplay.

will def keep this on hand as its  a pretty polished and well-explained tutorial evidently, so kudos to you for that and grats on the release

Haha this is hilarious, as a person who has been in chainedIN hell having to get rejected from 100+ applications and having to see literally the worst human scum imaginable on my feed, this is all very relatable.

 Easily one of the most aware games of the jam.

congrats on the release and hopefully we see a day where chainedIN is destroyed for good.

congrats on getting a project out there. Combat all works as intended and you can reach the end so thats already a step in the right direction .

The main things are things you are already aware of (flags to force people to engage in combat, more variety in gameplay between modes)

grats on the release

Funny ending and maybe theres something fun with the concept if it was fleshed out more. I think the platforming and level design needs quite a bit for a few reasons:

There is flyback on wall jumps which is annoying and unusual for walljumps in other games, also affects wall grabs I feel, makes the whole traversal worse.

The lit area is way too small, You are making blind jumps and blind falls that may reset you or might be the correct route. Level design is not super intuitive as well partly because of the previous reason.

Some background elements are pretty similar looking to platforming elements which is momentarily confusing.

congrats on the release!

my favourite platformer puzzler of the jam, 49 levels for a jam is a bit unhinged though ngl. I personally would not change anything about this. The floaty slow fall strafing makes more sense for later levels anyways where you have to actually use it. The tolerances are super tight but that makes it feel genuinely good to beat a puzzle, and requires some real planning and outside of the box thinking. All your mechanics work in tandem and are very inventive. I even like the puzzle pacing where one puzzle is omega hard and then you get a few breathers.

very, very good underrated release

cool game, probably needs a bit of polish (and a new control scheme) but functional regardless. I am not super sure if it's engaging gameplay to do transforms that would be somewhat arbitrary in a tool program like illustrator, but I do like the idea and some spatial reasoning people might like it. Admittedly I didn't finish it. Also a level reset button would be nice.

Also upon review it seems like their might be an issue shearing relative to the frame. Doesn't appear to consistently shear on x-axis. Not sure though.

I imagine for you it was a good experience to learn how to transform shapes programatically which seems like a very useful skill to know lol, hopefully you got exactly what you wanted from this release!

good implementation of the lasers, pretty fun, although more of a tech demo than a puzzle game, which is fine. I actually wonder if there is a cap to the difficulty of puzzles because it seems like it would always be straightforward to solve any mirror puzzle like this with the singular mechanic.

a bunch of suggestions have already been mentioned (minimap, multi-coloured lasers, snapping)

I'd note multi-coloured lasers dont necessarily need a new mechanic, just do it for organization (although youd probably want a new mechanic)

A thing to experiment with would be remotely controlling the laser from anywhere (i have no idea if this would feel good or not but it would save some tedium. Also I think you could probably get away with lasers always firing, no need to toggle on/off with the singular mechanic)

It is a step up from the mirror puzzles in mournings end part II on runescape lol.
grats on the release

I got jumpscared exactly once lol. I think the AI handles decently well, in the sense that that once you hear it, you have a chance of actually escaping from it - instead of it being an immediate instakill, as Ive grown accustomed to expect with more primitive AI implementations. I think the coinflip is okay, definitely a jumpscare moment and wondering why you're still alive - could probably have a better lore reason or something. I liked the wall illusions slowing you down, I like the shaders, I like the outside area (although I didnt realize they were all connected at first) and I like the overall lighting of the interior maze.

I think you put the monster too close behind a wall, so your heartbeat actually gets triggered on your way to the exit screen after youve finished the game.

Also your exit easter egg was a little unclear, I just ended up jumping off.

pretty fun pretty solid little challenge maze congrats on the release

When i die and go to hell, I am 100% certain that this is what I will live through, over and over again just endless searches for milk through abyssal grocery aisles.

The most cinematic journey for milk I'll ever take. The mechanic isnt super obvious at first but once you get it, its actually a pretty fun puzzle (when Im not getting motion sick lol)

I know its supposed to have an actual end cutscene based on lower comments (RIP btw) but theres something poetic about being in blinding light the whole game looking for milk and when you get it, you just have to sit and listen to it in the dark.

Lovely unintentional irony. very underrated release, congrats.

Also its unreal engine, 1Gb is a pretty normal size for that engine.

presentation is great, I like the models, the combat and the weapon modifications based on the kirby-looking character. I also thank god everyday that you didnt make cursed kirby feet for the foot powerup.

It is a fun sandbox to mess around with different weapons and movement styles to just go around wrecking angels. The progression at the front feels better than the late game progression, which is just a grind. The UI menus also probably couldve also be mixed together into one area, but it was a minor thing.

 I like the dithering on this one and also just now notice its supposed to be like the windows background

The end scene was totally serious and totes aberrated. Congrats on the release!

okay you definitely have something special here. I had to look up ace of aces because I've never heard of it. It is a very cool piece of gaming history and definitely worth the translation into a virtual game. I hope you eventually have plans to finish this because I think its a cool portfolio piece if nothing else. I assume, you basically just made a game you wanted to make, and am hoping that means you want to finish it even with basic rules (but intermediate would be sick), even if it was lifted verbatim from the book.

I have no idea what you didnt have time for vs what you didnt consider but i'll post some things I noticed off the bat:

I would like two game boards, one for your frame and one for your opponent, and I guess you would need some sort of splitscreen or toggle between players... This ensures that both players are selecting moves properly relative to their frame. The codes are actually also not labelled anywhere, so as it stands, its very confusing for your opponent to actually make sensical (or any) moves from such a large selection subset. 

As I said, I think copying things like the 'trailing' mechanic in the book would be a cool addition, and the damage scaling I imagine was going to be copied verbatim as well. As well as the system of ties.

UI wise, I think toggleable hide/show for the board, and/or just auto showing it at the start of a turn (after movement) is probably the way to manage the loop.

It is very niche so I understand if you're finished with the game, but for wholly selfish reasons I totally would want to see this finished. congrats on the release and thanks for the introduction into a cool piece of gaming history!

Legitimately fun, short, complete game. I am actually surprised at how well you telegraphed all the objects in the game and their use for puzzles. I think the inputs and output zones on the particle accelerator could be a touch clearer. I like the star-trek-tachyon-almost-science writing that you have going on.

The gameplay was smooth, I know nothing about Bevy, but the game played great.

 "fu2cio" is so personal and you are so real for that.

congrats on the release.

I like the model of the first monster quite a bit. I think the first part of the game is okay - it's balanced well between sprit and run but it is wholly too long (3 full sprint cycles). I'm not sure if your moon is supposed to be purple or the asset went missing, I actually thought it was a distant light. 

The labyrinth was much less playable for me and I unfortunately couldn't find the win condition. I had trouble understanding the voice modulated message (closed captioning would be nice, if you wanted to keep the aesthetic). It was pretty much game over if I encountered the small ghost, which was inevitable throughout, especially because its attacks disabled the ability to use my light, and it was just faster than me even with sprint, to deplete my sanity nearly instantly. Just kind of balance fixes.

The navigability in the darkness was a problem for me personally, as navigating in the dark, being punished for using my flashlight, whilst being chased was not a great gameplay experience.

nevertheless, congrats on the release!

This is a cool prop hunt. The shaders are very nice, parhaps inspired by the lethal company video. I think they work really well in the setting.

The gameplay loop is pretty fun, and I did get jumpscared once or twice. The sound is also great, love the fuckin cabinets kickin down doors and shit. The only thing I didn't like is that its actually kind of hard to actively hunt down props and somewhat easy to cheese 5 or 6 evil props. If you stand in a corner, many do come to you through the doorway and get picked off- although hunting down the last ones roaming around is fun. Iunno maybe this is even okay for the loop lest it become too easy.

all in all pretty great, congrats

ah the leaderboard is cool. I liked the model of the aberration things and the settings I liked were the lake and the city but honestly it seems like you didnt need to model all these locations that are kinda counter to the open and fast hit and run experience.

The physics in this game is not great - spent more time flipping my car over than actually playing, drift also pretty unnoticeable.

Music also should more closely match the timeout or just loop rather than the silence at the end.

congrats on the release

shame you ran out of time, at least the environments look pretty and you got something out there - congrats on that.

bob l'eponge reference in there

dithering effect is cool and not overwhleming. I liked the skybox too. The gameplay is very much Faith-pilled, but the character design and interaction is cool.

A definite ending would be nice but the experience is good. Maybe a better checkpoint system as well, but all kind of optional-for-a-jam things; nothing really major

congrats on the release

Graphics are nice, you build a good environment - was enjoying the rebellious gameplay loop as well. Unfortunately things get out of hand without any relevant context starting with the death of your phone leading to endings that are not impactful. I think the sleep ending is visually good but just feels super random. The good end is kinda weird a) because 'horror' is randomly inserted and b) because you're prompted to interact but really its just a cutscene. I think the flavour text used for the endings is a bit weak as well.

Horror is like a big joke, you need a lot of tense context set-up which builds to a punchline.

congrats on the release.

this is really really cool and super smooth demo. The camera work is great and the snapping feels so cool and spider-like. There are moments where I get heebiejeebies because its so spider-like.

 I think the only thing thats messed up is gravity in some cases. oh and the saves dont work.

congrats on the release, indeed a W

Pretty fun, challenging and unique

The puzzles themselves are well crafted and feel good when brainpower is applied to solve.

Would comment on some of the UI for your info but the post-jam build really fixes it.

congrats on the release

Fun dialogue, couldnt become a doc but i could become duc.

The jump buffering thing is probably my main criticism as well, feels like spacebar clicks are dropped - good thing to learn for something in the future.

congrats on the release

The physics feel really nice, which is important for a golf game. I like the echolocation theming as well, that is pretty smooth. 

I'm very conflicted about whether I like the all-or-nothing level design. On one hand it kinda hurts the golf par aesthetic. On the other hand, hole-in-one single solution golf seems fine...

I think tutorial should explain the decoy system even though it isnt impossible to figure out. It might just be because I played in the dark but going from black to white screen is like a flashbang.

congrats on the release

Very interesting book with lots of mysterious endings that spark imagination. If I had read this when I was young, certainly I would remember this for years, hell I still might - lots of cryptic stuff to turn over in your head. The writing is really unforced and natural feeling. 

{SPOILER ALERT}

I especially love a single page in this book that is illustrated but not referenced. It kind of makes the whole thing for me, and it's so timeless to those old cyoa books. Also the lead-up reminds me of a certain classic creepypasta comic called the bongcheon-dong ghost.

A few linkage errors here and there, the most critical is:

P.48 referencing to go to P.61, should be P.62 I think

I guess a bunch to do with unlinked stopwatch interactions.

P.12 is unlinked (to P.15)
P.14 is unlinked (to P.9)

P46 is unlinked to P.48
P.64 is unlinked to P.66
not an error per se, but you can bypass pilfering the pocket watch - seems a little weird as it is important to the story. (P.9)

hmmm I wonder if I'll ever really know totally whats going on in this and thats the beauty of it. grats on the release.

The thing I really liked about the game was the aliens that disappear before you can actually encounter them. Thought it was playful and dramatic in the same vein of your soap-operaesque anti-dialogue. Was hoping there would be some climax there until you actually encounter one. (Although apparently I did)

Only way I beat it without backtracking was finding the easter egg first (perhaps I missed a key in the maze?). Also I dunno if it was just because of the web build but performance was strangely bad and stuttery, so probably something worth investigating for future projects

congrats on the release

Everyones said everything that needs to be said about this game (notably about powerup menus)

will just throw a compliment in to say how much I liked the polish on the assets and UI

congrats on the release

I enjoyed, There are a lot of good chromab puzzles this jam. This one is an interesting mix of platforming and puzzles. I don't think any of the puzzles were particularly challenging here but there was definitely a bit of a learning curve for platforming timing which was enjoyable casual experience.

 I liked the character design too, good way to telegraph the puzzles. I think a little colour shade when the eyes are closed would be nice, just to have the visual link of on/off per channel - but thats nitpicky honestly.

congrats on the release.

a test that you cant get perfect on; i know its a bug but it seems fitting for an average school test lol.

At some point the answer boxes for Q7 allowed me to click multiple boxes, confusing the audience.

its like the impossible quiz, which kinda succeeds because theres an internal logic to all the questions. I think there's an internal logic to most questions here except maybe 11 and 12, and might have to be brute forced, which affects gameplay, unless of course I am illiterate. 

anyways, Jerma meat grinder references will always be classic. congrats on the release