itch.io

Biome Balancer

https://retrocoder.itch.io/biome-balancer-gamedevjs-2025

Theme: Balance

In Biome Balancer, you must restore balance in nature by returning animals to their correct biomes.

https://retrocoder.itch.io/biome-balancer-gamedevjs-2025

I’m RetroCoder and I’m an indie game developer.

I create my games in pure JavaScript without any game engines. I take part in the GMTK Game Jam every year which is a great challenge for me. I will be taking part in the Gamedevjs Jam this year which is all JavaScript based, so right up my alley.

I post updates on Instagram with my games and any jams I take part in. I am beginning to work on a large game project which will take a long time to complete but I will be posting more about that nearer the time.

Please check out my games and feel free to leave any feedback as that would be appreciated!

Hidden Helper was my GMTK Game Jam 2023 submission. The entire game was coded in pure JavaScript in a weekend without any game engines.

https://retrocoder.itch.io/hidden-helper-gmtk-2023

Please check it out and feel free to leave feedback on it!

That’s very strange. Nobody has had this before. Maybe use the arrow keys to move the camera across and try again as it may be a problem with the “Submission to GMTK Game Jam 2023” button. The also helps if clicking the end block doesn’t work.

It could be that you’ve highlighted the game by double clicking. If this is the case then click somewhere else on the page (not the game) and then continue playing.

Thank you so much for your feedback!

The screen should definitely not go red so I don’t know what’s happening there. Could you send a screenshot of the problem?

Some other people have had problems with the end block but if they refresh the page and try again it seems to work. I don’t know what’s happening there as it’s only happened once before.

I think we’ll leave the game as it is as this was a jam submission and I like to keep them exactly as we made them. We may create a new version and update it in the future though!

I took part in the GMTK Game Jam 2023 with Shrudders and Zaperno. The game we created is called Hidden Helper. I was wondering what people think of the game. What could we do to improve our game jam submissions? What makes the game enjoyable and fun to play? Thanks

Let me know what you think!

If you haven’t already then read the game instructions below the game as it outlines the game and how it works. You play as the level and you can move certain elements of the level to help the character reach the end.

Thank you. The art was done by Zaperno. The game is playable in a web browser as long as you have a mouse connected!

Hidden Helper for the GMTK Game Jam 2023

Thanks for your feedback. I understand what you mean about the crates. It fits into the theme because you control elements of the level rather than the character!

Great game! I really enjoyed playing this. I never thought a game like this could ever work! I think the text appearing in the IDE window could be faster or skippable as I felt that was a bit slow but I thought it was a great concept and executed very well!

This is a really cool game! I really enjoyed playing it. I found the controls a bit confusing to get my head around to begin with but after a while it became easier. Great game!

Thank you so much! Shrudders did the music and it was his idea to add the rain to the soundtrack! I’m glad to hear you like the game!

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed playing it! We made the entire game and then focused on loads of levels towards the end!

I’m happy to hear you liked the game! You’re right, there isn’t really a tutorial level but I think if we had more time we would’ve added one. Thank you!

I’m glad you enjoyed the game. I did write in the description that you have to click the green box to continue. I think clicking anywhere to move onto the next level is a great idea so thank you for that!

Yes, that’s a good idea! I think if we had more time we would’ve added some tutorial levels but I’m glad you like the idea! Thanks

I enjoyed playing this game! I think it would be better if when you get caught it’s easier to start again rather than clicking space a couple times. Other than that I think it’s a great concept and executed well. Good game!

I loved playing this game! The mechanics were easy to grasp. I like that there’s lots to think about. Great job!

I like the concept for the game! When I was playing, the game got stuck and nothing happened when it was the enemies turn. Aside from that I think it would be useful to see what the different abilities are because I couldn’t work out what difference they made to the card! All in all great game and good job!

I liked the concept behind the game except for me the rules for each minigame went off the page unless I played in full screen mode!

This is a really interesting concept. I never thought reversing a rhythm game would work but you found a way! Great job!

I love the aesthetic of the game. Very simple but effective. My only problem is that it was very hard and fiddly to get some of the pieces in place but apart from that I really enjoyed it!

I thought this was a great concept! I loved that it was a platformer and getting larger reduced your speed. Great game!

Great game! I did get stuck on one level because of the hitboxes but apart from that it was fun! I also love the pixel shader that you’ve used!

Thank you! I’m glad to hear you think it’s a cool puzzle mechanic!

Thank you! I’m glad you thought it was a great entry. We found the theme quite hard this year but we gave it a go!

Thank you so much! We’re glad you enjoyed playing the game and liked the mechanics! Would it help if I made the controls clearer in the game description?

Amazing game! I really enjoyed the level design and how you gradually add each mechanic of the game. The levels will get complex focusing on one mechanic and then get easy to teach you how another works. I think this way of level design works great! The whole concept of the game is great and having a strong mechanic makes the game so much more enjoyable. The magnet is a great idea and I think you’ve executed it really well. I have nothing bad to say about this. I watched your Dev Logs and couldn’t wait to play it. Amazing job!

Very well done. Love the music

Well yes, I'll just get rid of the narration

I made it so it gets your frame rate, has a timer that goes up every frame and then I divide the timer by the frame rate. It works for me and my friends so I'm sorry it doesn't work for you. Because you can't make a timer in Python (at least you can but it would take too long to design with 2 hours left) so I thought this would be a good decision that would work but obviously not. I'm sorry about this issue. Because we can't change it during voting, I'll fix it and change it afterwards!

The timer shouldn't be broken, it's just that we made the game so we got especially good at it. The voice repeating was the only major bug in the game, I'm glad you like it though! Thanks for the feedback

Good game. Maybe have a title screen? I understand that they're hard though but I really like it, well done! Also, the logs are a bit too slow so you could speed them up a little bit!

I played your one. Great game!

Thanks, it took us a long time to make. We coded it in Python! This is also our first Game Jam we've ever done! Glad you like it!

I hope you like it

Great idea but the moving Start button is annoying and I didn't notice the player at the top of the screen lol. Other than that, great game. Well done!