Not sure if i'm doing something wrong, all I can seem to do is walk toward the mountain using W/up arrow and walk away using S/down arrow. If I can get a hint with the controls I'll give it another shot!
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Like nabladeveloper, I was also stuck at the elevator section until i read the description below the game mentioning the Enter key to interact with objects. As the game did a really good job teaching me controls within the game, I did not think to look elsewhere for more controls. A small suggestion that I think would fix this issue is including the Enter to Interact hint on the sign next to the elevator that mentions elevators having a size limit.
Also, by scaling myself to the smallest size and running into the wall to the right of the elevator, I somehow managed to go through the wall and fell into the world.
Overall, a solid concept that fits the theme well, and effectively teaches the mechanics to the player in an organic way.
Really like that I not only have to avoid being shot, but I also have to guide the person trying to shoot me to shoot the fake ducks instead! Not sure if its a bug, but I do feel like having more than 1 of the cardboard ducks above the player at any time could help incentivize jumping more, because quite soon after starting I just resorted to moving just left and right as it was a less risky strategy, but that might just be me. All in all, a solid entry!
Reverse Pokémon is surprisingly really fun! The "taking care of yourself" part actually feels more stressful than the battle itself due to the real-time nature of it, I wonder if this is intended, or if that part is supposed to be more relaxing? Either way, this is one of those GMTK game jam entries where I hope it becomes a full game one day!
Though I have seen this theme concept a few time already, how you have implemented stands out among those I have tried, and I really like the gameplay you have done! The switch-parry mechanic is extremely fun, although I can't quite guess if I should parry when at the red or green part of the bar as I can't notice any differences. The known bugs, especially targeting the same goblin over and over, did kind of take away from the switch-parry mechanic quite a bit, but I can definitely see myself playing this on my own, like e.g. on my phone to kill time. Well done!
Good first attempt at a turn-based strategy game! Also really like hypnotizing mechanics in any game, so already went into this with a good impression.
Some small improvements that I think you can make, I noticed that even when hypnotizing an enemy, they'll still take their turn anyway afterwards. I think consuming their turn by hypnotizing them could add more strategic debt to your game. Also, some potential UI improvements include keeping buttons at generally the same place. For example, the fact that the okay button shifts sometimes when there is more text makes it harder for me as I keep having to move my mouse. In addition, I have misclicked heal so many times when I actually intended to click attack because attack is usually the first button.
Some larger improvements to consider if you intend to improve this game, or for future games, it is generally always better to keep mouse movement to a minimum to make things easier to navigate to. e.g. if you want to keep mouse clicking to selecting targets, tying the selection of actions to keyboard buttons instead (e.g. 1 to attack, 2 to do nothing) could make the gameplay more streamlined.
As for bigger gameplay changes, I understand that this is a game jam entry, so content-wise you would be very limited due to time, but having more unique enemies, with differently acting moves would make the whole hypnotizing mechanic much more enticing. The healing enemy is a good example of this, and others could include enemies with AOE effects, buffs, debuffs, etc. That way, the choice of who to hypnotize again adds more strategic debt. I also find the choice to do nothing a bit useless currently, I cannot think of any scenario where I would do nothing for the current state of the game. An interesting way to incorporate it if you really want to keep doing nothing, which honestly could be an interesting choice, could be e.g. a bomb enemy that explodes within a certain number of turns, and doing nothing restores more turns to when it will explode.
All in all, the fact that you got me thinking of so many potential things for your game definitely shows that you are onto something here with what you currently have, at least in my opinion.
Usually with every GMTK game jam there will always be a standout game where I feel the idea is so simple, yet it turned out incredibly fun, and currently this is that game for this jam for me! Seeing as you mentioned that this is not the full vision for your game, I can't wait to see what more you add to it!
I read your disclaimer on the game page, and I have to say, this, in my opinion, this is a solid game jam entry. My main suggestion for improvement is just changing selecting the attack to use was to keyboard input instead of clicking the button, as I feel that would be easier to perform. I had some difficulty sometimes where instead of switching attacks, I end up attacking instead. Other than that, a very good try!
Wanted to make a twist on vampire survivor too, but I wasn't sure how to make that work. Gotta say, what you guys managed to achieve within 2 days is surprisingly very polished, to the point where it feels like a full game that could potentially compete with vampire survivor itself if actually made endless!
Some improvements I feel could make the core gameplay loop better are, firstly, maybe having at least the more basic pigeons be auto-cast off cooldown each time. After a while, my hand started to hurt from spamming the pigeon button. I think it could also be interesting to be able to choose where certain birds will spawn at, especially the jacks since they fly in a straight line. I realized halfway through my playthrough that if I am lucky, I could actually use the jacks to move the "Player" towards steven, or a bunch of pigeons, so being able to choose where jacks spawn from could add more strategic depth.
Other than that, I really love this game, especially the upgrade that adds more birds to each time I press a button, and I would definitely appreciate an endless mode!
Really love the art style for this game, and the music you have made complements both the theme and the art style nicely! Concept-wise, I love this idea, almost like the pet is helping their owner go through something like depression.
However, I have no idea how to actually properly take care of them. It feels like there is not enough food in the level to keep them fed till 8pm. I would also have loved if there was a way for the cat to interact with the human, like playing around or petting, to increase their happiness.
All in all, I love this game, but wish there was more to it. If you ever expand on this idea, I would love to play a more complete version!
Interesting idea, although I would have preferred having the add ship and "bring it" buttons be keyboard buttons so I could press them without forcing my ships to be stationary. Although it might help add to the challenge, the spread of the ships once you get 3 or more makes it very hard to maintain if I have to let go of my ships to perform another action.
Like the others I had no idea how to control anything, but somehow through random button mashing I managed to go through that first stage with the adjustable bars, and from there the gameplay, which consists of you sending in enemies to fight the hero, some of which actually secretly heal the player, actually had some potential.
From reading your game page, the role reversal seems to be more than just villain, but that you, as the villain, actually have a crush(?) on the hero, but your job demands you to defeat them, so you have to try and send a balance of actual enemies and fake enemies to try and satisfy both needs. This base concept and gameplay mechanic actually sounds very interesting, however its not really supported by what you currently have made, as it seems I can "progress" the story by just sending out everything and having her die. Sometimes she also just 1 shots everything, or heals on her own somehow.
In summary, this does feel like a good concept, especially for the jam's theme, although it does feel like it fell short execution-wise.
Really fun game! It crashed on me during my first playthrough (not sure why), and the first time I played it, I was not sure how to select the enemies for the wave, had to spam click everything I see to figure it out. Otherwise, its a pretty fun game, and my favorite strategy is just sending as many purple triangles as I can to rush the player!
One cool thing that you can maybe explore if you ever want to expand on this game is swarms using flocking AI. This could allow for enemies with what looks like minions following them around, either protecting them, or helping to deal more damage as you run head first into them.
What I like most is the added "weapon testing" part to the (at least from what i've seen) common idea to now being an rpg shopkeeper. Another thing that I like is the discovery aspect of your game, where I had to figure out which ingredient contributes to what stat. My only complaint is that sometimes I would get a long string of merchants, and other times a long string of customers with no more ingredients to craft with, but other than that, really solid game!
YES! This kind of game, with this kind of humor, was something that I wanted to try making for this jam, but I had no idea how to pull it off. Not being able to walk left and right was weird, but if you made a comment on it in the audio I would have honestly accepted it as part of the humor. Same as the cursor being visible the whole time. Thank you for pursuing an idea I did not have the confidence to try out!
Really love the art style and vibe of this game. Without reading how your game fits the theme, my first thought was a role reversal of super meat boy where instead of leaving blood marks as you die, you clean it up, which I feel could have been a more interesting take than playing as the reset button. My main gripe is that cleaning up the red stains feel very separate from your other 2 mechanics, the box and the coins, which work off each other well, so it feels like the red stain mechanic is just an additional chore I have to do.
With regards to level design, I really like your intro levels for new mechanics, it was a good facilitator for learning them. Your other levels were not very challenging, I could immediately figure out what I had to do on first view of all levels, but that could be a good thing?
All in all, a really solid entry, and I'm surprised you don't have more ratings!
Really like the art style, and the music and sfx complements it nicely! The recipes feel a bit unintuitive though, and eventually I had to have the recipes constantly open to know what I need, and I keep giving the wrong weapon to the wrong adventurer because they get blocked by others. Otherwise, its a solid core gameplay loop that I can easily see becoming an addictive phone game!
Right now how it works is that those willing to join will just join you and adopt a similar, but darker color to the color of your character. Those that need to be forced would be those that start shooting at you. Generally speaking, someone who is able to attack (by unlocking the volley skill for themselves), or has more followers than you won't willingly join your ranks, so wittingly down their numbers till they either can't attack or they decide you have too many will coerce them to join.
You are right though, that I didn't make it clear, it didn't occur to me until you mentioned it, so thanks for bringing it up!