congrats on making it to top 100! I knew this game had it in it
Tiny Capybara Games
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number go up, player be happy
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would :)
However I do have a feeling that I didn't get the intended experience, maybe...? I didn't seem to face any challenge or opposing force by the AI whatsoever. Did I just misread what was happening on screen? Or did I uncover some sort of obscure bug? (Or am I just too good to be faced by a measly challenge? /s). If this is a misread by me, it's either me being dumb (I apologize), or there was actually a bug (sad)
In any case, I think you could try adding a bit more juice to the game and it would be bloody fantastic (adding satisfying noises when your cash ticks up or you reach a milestone or you're now able to upgrade a building, etc). Good stuff!
this was very enjoyable and nice to look at too! I believe you could just have an almost full game in your hands.
The only complaints I have are that 1) as someone else said, the obstacles are not particularly clear in how they work, and 2) the last level was just a bit overtuned in comparison to the rest of them haha. I spent a while in the last level and almost quit after trying a bunch of times, but then I went "well this looks like the last level... might as well give it another shot" and magically figured out the right combination of movements after just two extra tries.
Besides that, you could add a bit of extra juice, make just one or two extra mechanics (don't have to be huge) to switch things up and you got yourselves a full game! I honestly think so (I played the heck out of 2048 so I'm kind of biased). Good entry!
Good stuff man! The levels were very well curated in difficulty scaling, and mechanics were simple yet well used. The movement felt crisp and the levels were delightfully designed - not overly complicated, not overly simplistic.
If I were to nit-pick, I would only wish there was an extra tiny mechanic to complement the existing ones. It feels like just the tiniest extra mechanic could exponentially grow the game in complexity and variety, as you'd have to think about another variable during each level. However, I can see you did this in 48 hours (!!!), which means adding the smallest mechanic would entail dramatically increasing the design and programming time, so think of my comment as a "random internet guy's" ideas to a well-established foundation.
I'm glad I found this in the "Random" sorting!
I like where this is going! I believe you got yourself a good canvas here. You have so many directions where you can head - like different sorts of surfaces where you either can't walk on or swing from; you can use the tongue mechanic to grab and pull stuff (e.g. pulling levers, coins, enemies, etc); you can have dexterity checks where you test the player's ability to leverage momentum to clear long jumps too.
I loved the art style and the presentation too. Please keep working on this!
the mechanics are very intuitive and there's almost zero friction - I always love to see that
I think the only slight feedback I have is that difficulty is perhaps not very challenging. I'm not sure how bad this is in the context of a jam, but I would have liked some puzzles where difficulty scaled up a bit. But I may be nit picking here. Perhaps some other types of scalable objects or interactions could push the last bit of potential you have
simple, readable, intuitive, fun - good stuff!
my god it's always fun to see toy soldiers doing what we always imagined as kids. I loved the art and the whole idea
I will only agree with the other comments about difficulty being a bit overtuned, but I won't repeat that. Instead, I think my main piece of feedback would be the controls. I kind of got the grasp of the controls after a few tries, and it may make some sense since you're a tank and the view is isometric, but I feel like this would be a lot more enjoyable and probably help with difficulty tuning if you had natural controls (like up is really up), and more so if diagonals were available. And also, I couldn't tell but it felt like the damage dealt when small was reduced (if this is false, disregard the rest), which makes sense but is also a very punishing positive feedback loop (you're doing bad, you'll do worse). I think maybe giving some more advantages other than "being smaller helps avoid damage" could be an interesting endeavor.
still, the art and the concept is quite charming and I did find myself doing a few runs just to witness what my childhood imagination always wanted to see <3. You should definitely keep working on this, maybe adding like some sort of campaign with maps and obstacles and such, it could be cool.
edit: I just read some other reviews and I think you already got all of this noted down, so yeah I'm just repeating what you already know haha
my goodness this is one good entry! I instantly got hooked and got the grasp of the gameplay
I don't have a lot of feeback besides maybe splitting the controls into keyboard->jump and click->interact. I don't really know if this would make it better but at times I felt like my mind couldn't deal with the mouse being the two mechanics in parallel. The one other nit pick would be that the clickable area of the objects may (and I mean just may barely) be a bit better if it were ever-so-slightly bigger so it's a bit more forgiving, especially in sections where the camera moves. You already added a bit of coyote time which is oh my god so highly appreciated, so this would be of similar nature
All in all, great submission and it for sure deserves a high spot! well done!
this brought me back to my childhood when I went to small streams and built small rock piles with my dad
I loved how this concept fits the theme! it's both super relaxing and super stressful at the same time, just like in real life haha
If I were to give a single piece of feedback it would be that rotating pieces should probably be part of the controls. I'm partly against my own suggestiong here, since rotating by pushing your piece against others feels tactile and kind of rewarding, but there's also a bit of frustration involved in it. If this frustration is intended then perhaps it's not wrong, but I imagine there's enough frustration with getting the whole thing to stand to begin with so IDK xD
thanks for bringing back good memories and for such a simple yet well made entry!
cool idea! I like the take on the theme, and it really felt like I was the bad guy with the whole ambiance and style
as a piece of feedback, I would strongly encourage you to pay a lot of attention to visual clarity and game feel. Even more so than adding details or lore. It usually pays well to show in-game indicators or visual effects to really convey what is happening, especially in the context of a game jam where you develop your game for a short time for people to play it in an even shorter time. e.g. I had difficulties understanding how RMB was affecting the lights, and where I should be going next.
In any case, I can appreciate the effort and I do think you should keep pushing this forward past the jam to see where it gets you. I don't recall ever seeing anything like it so it could lead you somewhere interesting!
I loved it! I found the switching to be super intuitive and the fact that score is based on travel distance kinda hints you away from spamming the OP biggest size. Good solution to a META strategy!
If I had to nit pick anything it would be that difficulty ramps up a tad bit too slowly, but it's no dealbreaker. Also, this is just personal and maybe not your cup of tea, but I would've loved to see varied weapons (like slow but wide shotguns, powerful but slow rifles, and such), instead of just a single machine gun with extra projectiles as upgrades
good stuff man!
I loved the concept and the art! autobattler RPGs are always good fun, especially if you add gear as purchase options :)
I do however have to agree with one of the comments below - I don't think it earns you anything to be able to buy just once per round. I think it would be nice if I could just try spending all my money (and if I could earn more of it from the start) at once and see how a small army of simple dudes fares against initial levels, and also the speed may need a bit of a tweak. I think this latter point is mostly just because of the context of a jam. In a real game with well balanced values and a good default speed you could do without a speed up button
in any case, I enjoyed playing this and I would definitely play a full version
I originally thought the game may be a bit too slow but then I managed to get my first level up and immediately felt the boost. I ended up enjoying it!
I do agree with some of the other comments, perhaps having a bit more accuracy or having resource spawn be slightly more generous during the day could make you feel more powerful, if just ever so slightly. Also I liked the minimap, but I think I could've used a waypoint to the grindstone. I couldn't find the center the first day and night
all in all, a good entry and an enjoyable loop. Good one!
holy smokes! this is by far one of the most polished games I've seen so far. The style is so well defined, the mechanics are well thought, and the challenge is hard but doable.
the only piece of feedback I have is maybe not that terrible but the jump in difficulty from the tutorial to the first actual level is a bit too overtuned. I don't think this is bad bad but I couldn't put 2 and 2 together right after the tutorial ended, though I did get it from then onwards so that shows the design works
thanks for such a good entry!
Holy twist of the theme haha
I love the comments, they feel so familiar that it hurts inside xD
I have one tiny observation though, which is that some parts of the level are intended to be solved with a mechanic (like gravity), but in reality you can just dash your way to victory. I guess you could try to nerf the dash so you need to hit the ground before reusing it
I love the art and the sound when the enemies die! Also the controls feel snappy. I do have some suggestions though:
I imagine you thought spamming was going to be bad, but I think if you made the weapons automatic it would be so much easier on the fingers. You can always balance spammy shooters with recharging ammo or something.
Also, maybe at least one more type of enemy that challenges you when you're bigger could be interesting.
Good foundation though!
haha I was breezing through the first levels and thought "hey I'm good at this!", until I just moved right out of instinct in one of the levels and got instantly proved wrong xD
I really enjoy the style, the transitions are surprisingly smooth too! it may be a bit too harsh to be sent to the beginning though, but other than that, good stuff!
good job using inception as a driver for the theme! we originally thought of using it and iterated over some ideas for a while, but ended up ditching it entirely. as soon as I destroyed my first outer asteroid I smiled haha
I do have a slight problem - I'm not sure if it's a thing with my ultrawide monitor or what but I had a really hard time seeing what was up outside my square. But boy does it feel satisfying when you align a shot
quite enjoyable! it's interesting to see the concept of "scaling stats" or "scale of opponent"as the theme
I managed to get to level 6 and eventually ran out of the little brain juice I had left from all the *intense* development. I would keep going but I seriously can't, as things stand lol
edit: I forgot to point out, this could very well use at least a tiny sound effect when things take action, I imagine it would elevate the experience even more
interesting take! quite literally building something to scale haha
I only got to level 3 though, not sure if there's a way to extend the timer or if it's supposed to go down that quickly :(
maybe make the enemies easier to hit as well. I often found myself slightly misjudging my range and immediately getting punished (I do like the idea that it just costs time and not life)
cool idea! like some others said, it's simple yet fun, and there's a nice play of difficulty there with being good making it harder
though I have to agree you do get some periods of downtime where you can't really do much about your situation. perhaps it could be a good idea to randomly switch the player every now and then (with a good telegraph, of course), just so you get a new objective
being your first game, you have something really good on your hands! keep it up
I'm surprised to see that one of the first games I tried is actually one of the main ideas we had (and ended up ditching due to scope!).
I think you're on the right track here - some exploration with varying degrees of difficulty. However, and I see you're aware of this, the difficulty is a bit too unpredictable. This is probably due to the fact that spawns are random and you can face huge enemies right off the bat, and that your health is too proportionally tied to your power. Perhaps if could be worth exploring some variation where being smaller makes you stronger (e.g. shoot faster and consume less ammo)? Like a glass cannon.
You should definitely further explore this idea of "explore and conquer". It really brought a smile to my face that we were not alone in thinking this concept could be interesting.