What I really like actually is how temperature was worked into a simple game, but adds so much. It basically works very well because it prevents the player from just "hiding out" in a corner of the map, and also adds like moving with the music.
I had an idea to make it more engaging and to entice the player to keep building, what if as you build the world comes alive? whether NPCs or even just different little animals walking around. But maybe nothing is needed and that wouldn't fit in just a puzzle game.
Very cool idea and gameplay. In my opinion unless there is a reason to do so (like horror or purposefully limiting the player's vision), the camera should be offset the opposite when walking, so you can see where you're going?
Awesome particles, nice character design. Lots of varying content to play through.
I have to say it does feel a bit stale after a while of using the same flamethrower.. waiting for the cooldown etc. Usually some kind of cooldown mechanic keeps things engaging. Just an idea.
Very cool simple game and original idea. The core gameplay is here, it just needs more built off of it to keep the player engaged. Even something as simple as "beating levels" with a star system and different levels with different layouts and challenges would add SO much.
Menu music is.. interesting. Very nice menu control and transitions though.
The actual gameplay is very nice and unique, the turn the axis to control the fire mechanic is cool. Sound is nice feedback that makes it fun to work the axis.
I actually think this would translate well to mobile. It's a little awkward with mouse.
Something to fix would be that coins don't spawn inside objects.
Very cool game, nice polish including the chicken view lol.
I REALLY like the beginning of the music, then it seems to divulge into some chaotic mess, which might be the vibe lol.
Fun shooter with some abilities and boss battles. I really dislike spamming click though. Give me burst, full auto, or slower and more impactful shooting and I'm happy personally. Also in my opinion the game field is a bit "noisy", like a lot of the flowers and mushrooms in the grass it's hard to keep track of the bullets, enemies.. etc.
Really nice game. The switching mechanic is such a good core mechanic, you can build a game off of it. The addition of the abilities makes the game have depth.
The only thing is I think the abilties should be upgradable, if not by money or whatever, just a skill upgrade as you use it type of thing. I find the abilities kind of weak and I wish they were more impactful personally, especially as you get to wave 10+.
Fun simple game. I think making something like after each run you can buy more snowmen to build a group of them that walk around like a group of penguins would add a lot! Just a specific idea I thought of but you get the point
If you look at the game page and the README, it says you have to make it to the road to the East (right). My one regret is that I don't convey this anywhere, especially when there's a bare bones intro that could've perfectly had the text go across the screen. Unfortunately I didn't think of it until the next day.. Thanks for playing, glad you got the comfyness of the fire.
In my opinion to have music play during gameplay you need to make sure it's a really good non-annoying loop or else you're better off having nothing because it hurts the polish. Also holy exposition dump grandpa ice cube lol. Level win screen and having to go back to main menu needs polish. I actually liked level 3's music a lot better.
Nice platforming mechanics, double jumping, dashing, crouching. Double jump bug definitely makes level 3 a little hard. What makes it easy is the dash bug?, you can spam dash, assuming that's not intended?
However I think making it "top down" would have made it a bit more engaging? Basically you have no control over anything, the flowers come from the right, your snowmen come from the left. Being able to strategically place them in formations would have been cool.
Snowmen stacking is definitely a cool touch. The game needs choices though.
I love games like this. I see you weren't able to finish it but you should, I'd play it.
Some feedback, the metal hit enemy sound is more suited for something that tells the player you shouldn't be hitting it, like a wall. It makes me feel like my hits are doing nothing. Fighting enemies with a short range melee weapon isn't very fun to me though. Definitely needs abilities or upgrades to be fun to me.
Lol "There is no sound because there is no atmosphere."
Basically it's actually ok to have no sound because you actually have a good reason. However, this game badly needs polish in the form of feedback, and the lack of sounds makes this even more so. Lots and lots of feedback makes the core mechanic (shooting/combat) fun! But it's still a cool game.
Thanks. I was going to make the sound controls more involved or let players turn off the ambient sounds, but then I decided it was essential to the experience. Maybe in the future I should just let players decide sfx and music for themselves lol
This game sure likes crashing and making me hunt down the music process in task manager lol. Nothing is posting to the log file so I can't help you I'm playing on the exe.
The music when everything switches to fire is really cool though. It's also cool that everything goes through seasons, apparently fire is a season? lol. The enemies are pretty cool, combat is kinda hard because you have to get so close and their attack speed is fast. I feel like you don't really need to fight the enemies and it kinda incentivizes you to just hide for 8 minutes. 8 minutes is a pretty long time, and you don't get rewarded for choosing combat. Maybe you could get health or powerups from killing the enemies?
Anyways I beat it and got the credits screen. Again, beating a game is more rewarding if you give us something, like how many enemies we killed or something. Cool game
I actually like the dissonance of the title theme, the actual game music loop isn't nice to listen to lol. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing? Destroying the flower things I guess. It seems like my fire effects proc at random? I killed the first two I think. Moving around the map is also very clunky imo but it adds difficulty.
I'm not sure if this is actually beatable because as you say on the game page I don't think your ability works unless you get enough speed, which some of them you can't build up speed before they kill you, I think.
I had errors the first couple times I tried to launch the game, not sure what that was about.. but anyway, I can't figure out how you're supposed to play the right way? I had to modify the code to start the mini games? I'm assuming the rhythm mini game isn't complete? Also I didn't really look into it but I think there's supposed to be music and sounds, and the silence is deafening.
I also don't know Dune, so I'm probably missing some charm. Cool snake mechanic though.
Edit: I finally was able to play the rhythm game properly, very cool. Also I like how all of a sudden it goes HARD
Definitely a cool puzzle game that makes you actually use your brain and spatial reasoning.
Good tutorial, simple but deep mechanics that allow for varying level structures that keeps it fresh too. The music works. Everything feels cohesive.
I actually applaud this take on the theme, cement heating up hell. I do agree that there could have been just an extra temperature something thrown in somewhere interacting with the mechanics, just to give temperature vibes, but it's fine as is.
Pretty cool concept. Adds a lot of depth to puzzle solving. Perhaps if no checkpoint system, just save the position of objects around a puzzle/hurdle. Forcing a player to redo a puzzle is just tedious, will make players have negative thoughts about the game. (This is of course ignoring time constraint and just a comment about the game if in the future).
Does the camera purposefully lag behind? I don't like not being able to see where I'm going, unless the goal is to slow the player down/make them cautious. Also your collision rects seem a bit off for some objects? Interesting that objects die if they hit spikes, not sure how I feel about that. I tried to put a block over a spike so I didn't hit it lol.
Cool game. I think you could definitely work on this post jam, pump out some nice little assets and polish and it'll be a quality platformer.
Edit: also it would be cool if the different objects you control, control differently. Would make it feel like you're really controlling different things and make the game feel less same-y
Finally got around to playing your game. I saw you showcase it a bit ago in the PGC discord. Wanted to play it since you showcased your boss fight.
I know there's a brief introduction on the itch page, but a simple introduction like in Undertale would do wonders. Players just picking up the game might be a little lost. The title screen art is very nice though.
Minor nitpick but the theme music is a bit amateur sounding. I've been trying to get over this myself so maybe I'm projecting it on an otherwise good song, but to me a LOT of indie game music starts with something, then another layer comes on.. etc. It was just very noticeable to me. (Aside from the theme, all the music seems fine, and doesn't get repetitive)
I have no idea what I was reading in the starting area, I'm assuming it was a map? But it was moving to different sections or something. Perhaps I'm not supposed to know what it is initially. (Oh I'm reading the full itch page now, it's for customizing the mine.) I know it sounds stupid, but I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who doesn't read the whole itch page. Just something to consider for a lot of aspects. Also the customizing is still confusing.. maybe I'm slow.
Mining is a fun mechanic, some subtle feedback with it. I like the boss talking sound lol. Good enemy diversity. The enemies seem smart, I think? They appear to hide, or run if they're low on health? The enemy knockback and stun is brutal though. Getting caught in a tight spot with enemies on two sides of you is HARD. Drains your health.
Wow this game is hardcore. At first I thought I liked the difficulty, but now that I'm putting some serious time into it, it kinda feels like it prevents the player from experiencing the game unless they sink serious time into it. imo, an indie game like this, I think you need to do more quicker to keep the player's attention. I'm not sure what that is, maybe closer resources, cheaper costs? I don't know. My current problem is most runs I don't find one resource, I have no idea where to get it. I like that I can't breeze through it, but also I feel like I'm dying before I really got to do anything. I'm on my third life so maybe it'll get better. It took until my fourth life until I found julite, maybe it's my fault for not exploring far off enough. I never found the middle black resource in all five of my runs? lol.
It seems even with upgrades it's pretty hard to handle the onslaught of enemies from every direction. Training is my go to strategy. Maybe I'm fighting them positionally wrong. Holding left click and using WASD to weave in and out is what I've been doing. Even something like a little bat rekts me if it's behind me. Maybe only certain enemies should have knockback and stun? lol
I think with each shift you're making the difficulty harder? I'm not sure how I feel about that. I feel like it negates my upgrades and I can't keep up. It seems like the enemies even start to reject my training by going to the opposite side of the room as me to shoot projectiles. Smart enemy design.
I only found one bug, a bomb flew across the map to me lol. I was on shift 6, trying to get one more upgrade, and then I died. So I decided screw it I'm doing the retire boss fight with no upgrades. VERY cool boss fight. Also very hard. I have no idea how to avoid his laser lock on attack. Died a bunch. I played five lives. One thing I want to add is this game is very dark and tbh does get a bit "samey" after a long play session. When I found the julite room it was like I emerged from a dungeon, finally color! Kind of light!
These are just my thoughts on my first session. I may return to it. You may take my criticisms on the balance/difficulty with a grain of salt if you'd like, but I think I'm above average in games usually for reference. I'm assuming there's two endings, shift twelve and retire battle. This game is definitely polished though. Feels like any old indie title. Good job!
I've never made a game for any console, nor am I familiar with what APIs work with the gb. Looks like gbdk has a simple wrapper although I'm really interested in digging deeper into the workings, out of scope for the jam though..
