itch.io

Sorry to hear that. What computer are you playing on? And did you see the fullscreen button in the upper left once you pressed itch's "Play Game" button?

Ah just saw this. Yeah the version mismatch was the issue. All good now regardless :D

Didn't go far enough. Updating all the way to current version (scary but whatever) did the trick. Implemented without a hitch. Thanks very much!

I'm actually getting an error when trying to install the local package. Tried opening your demo and it gives "failed to load project". Tried updating to 2022.9 and didn't work. Any advice?

Cute little thing :) Enjoyed
Would be cool if it wasn't just about defending yourself from the rockets. Yeah, it's a highscore thing right now, but maybe you could get temporary super-abilities for slashing enough in a short time, or you'd get rewarded for getting aggressive somehow? Maybe you only fill one HP per level cleared and you can graze rockets to slowly get HP back??

Anyway, solid concept. Liked the models :)

Oh man! Just saw this. Super good. I'll have to try it out soon! Thank you :)

!!!! Thanks so much! Weird that that doesn't show in the individual collection editor.

Appreciated.

Hello,

Would it be possible to perhaps get a way to change the order of games in a Collection more easily?

At the moment, it's just a queue where you push games in, which makes it a bit inconvenient for when you want to display your games sorted by collection on your User Page but they're in an unfavorable order. This is especially annoying for larger Collections.

Thanks for your time!

Woah. What an experience. If I'm being honest some of it was a bit vague for me even though that was kind of the point, I'm assuming.

The music, colors, and style all around were all super cool, though. I'd love for there to perhaps be more build up or introduction right when you're dropped in to guide the player on a possible way to interpret what's going on - I'm not sure if I just happened to stumble into music-based conversations or if those were the primary ones to find (besides talk of non-existent giraffes and space babies).

Thanks so much! I'll take some of that into consideration! Can I also ask how far you got, and, if it happened, where perhaps the game became frustrating or stale in the mechanics introduced? I'm wondering about how different ideas to be in order to mix things up versus keeping the cohesion of the small idea intact.

(The main classical music here was Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Movement II, Op. 90 ;) )

I'm not sure how to send my browser data (or what exactly you mean by that - I'll be happy to if you elaborate!).

You can't see my mouse in any way of capturing my screen that I could think of so I'll just explain what I saw. The game acts completely normally until I scroll down, at which point the mouse seems to continue using some in-game-window-based origin or something. After scrolling down, there's a vertical offset to the mouse, causing me to need to move my mouse higher than is visually necessary for the text as it appears. For reference, my mouse is at the top of this screenshot, but the top button is selected. Here I try to mark around where my mouse was.

Definitely a cute idea! It felt a bit shallow, if I'm being frank, but perhaps this just isn't a genre I dip my feet into so often. - don't take that too harshly, it didn't need to be anything bombastic, but if you want more than slow-ramp-up flow, then perhaps consider adding a few more possible options. Perhaps a ball type that sums numbers together (modulo for >10, etc.), or one that allows for diagonals, or one that you can even store for later on the side, allowing for a bit more reserved player choice.

The sound effects were really fitting and quite nice, and the clarity of the game was exactly as it needed to be - nice job there as well!

I had an odd issue when trying the HTML version (which I attempted before the downloaded version); it seemed as though there were some odd offset between my mouse and the cursor in-game. They didn't line up, so I'd have to drag my mouse high on the screen and outside of the bounding box just to hit stuff in the middle of the actual screen.

This does have places it can go, and I think it's a neat concept.  

These types of RPGs aren't particularly my style of game, so to be transparent in this review, just know that it would have been hard to keep my attention particularly long here unless something super insane happened. 

From what I've seen, there's a lot of care being put into this, which I can appreciate. I also got the Italian options menu that I saw someone else mention, for what that's worth.

If I could make one direct bit of feedback as to how your game feels (not sure that I can truly inform anything else), perhaps try detecting when a player is clicking on an object so that the path routing doesn't accidentally take them through another door tile. Sometimes, I'd be right at a door at the bottom of the screen, press an object to walk towards at the top and a bit to the left, and my character would begin by moving left towards that point... and interact with the leftmost boundary box of the door trigger zone that I just entered from and was standing in the middle of. I really like the addition of a click-to-move system in addition to the normal arrow keys or WASD (might be worth making WASD work, too, for those more comfortable, by the way), so rounding off those little corners will make it even more optimal for use.

As someone who made their first puzzle game semi-successfully, I can say that I really, really enjoyed the concept here. The design is just elegant, what can I say?

I would make it more clear how the "combined force" push works when breaking more complex shapes apart. It's something I can see players missing but being able to ignore in the simpler application of it in the final level (which would become frustrating should you make more levels which depend on the mechanic, for example).

Yeah, simple shapes, sound design, and mechanics, but nice and very modular depth (my brain couldn't help but smile when I saw that I had to trap myself in that U-shaped one to get past it). I would play more of this - shoot it my way if you want some more feedback on future levels!

The primary environmental hint I was referring to was the blatant stuff, yeah. Examining stuff in general is the whole fun, and one I can see you working hard to deliver on. It's good stuff. Know that the stress of school isn't the only thing that can push you here. I like what you're doin' ;)

Dang. This was pretty cool!

I'd recommend changing your emphasis in a few places:

1) The hints you give in the menus as to controlling the different applications are a bit overdone and therefore overwhelming. Don't worry - it's quite intuitive, so you can probably strip around 80% of the text. Don't make the same mistake I often did and cradle the work you've already done. Now that you've done that work, you can assess what you should keep. Maybe just keep basic functionality descriptions of each application.

2) The controls are also a bit overwhelming in their descriptions. Find a way to reduce that information through a visual of the buttons, or grouping together similar buttons into a single pictograph to reduce visual load on the player; you don't want them leaving your cool experience just because of some UI!

3) Kill the environmental hints. Things like pointing out the computer code within the light box are a bit much and certainly the most immersion- and challenge-breaking of these three text-overload points. Something like the notebook on the table was nice, as it seemed more naturally a part of the environment. 

I'm not sure if the game box was a red herring, an Easter egg, or both, but it was fun to manipulate. I really enjoyed the physicality of the drawers and levers, as well as the sound design and atmosphere combining to form a real sense of interactivity.

Keep going!

I agree with the other commenters on "blind" jumps, but I'd also recommend making the player stop when the movement key isn't pressed in the air. As it stands, there's no friction, which makes mid-air commitment quite high. There's something weird with the attack hitbox as well, which might be worth looking into. It could just be that it's a tad small.

Maybe decreasing respawn time would also help get back into the nice-looking/sounding world you have here more quickly. : )

I'm not sure why exactly, but the game's visuals, I would guess, are the primary source of the game's lag. It looks alright, but at what cost, ya' know? This looks like a Unity project; if so, it shouldn't be so much different to export this as a downloadable executable, which I'd recommend doing so that we can properly playtest your project! :) 

Pretty interesting idea. Adding some pauses between rounds to avoid constant streams of consecutive wins would be nice (especially against a CPU opponent who just instantly goes for the ball as soon as a match starts... and before you can react), and shortening sounds would help reduce some of the excessive noise. Overall, I think that I couldn't get super into the otherwise interesting base of a gameplay loop because the sounds, small UI, and quick match starts (and lack of pauses) made it difficult to follow.

Also making clearer exactly what isn't alright to touch (the goals and stuff, especially) would make it more accessible right off the bat. :)

Nice colors, sprites, juice and sound (with the long "LET'S GO" overlapping a bunch, as mentioned above as an exception).

Pretty neat little idea! The main menu being so complete was a nice thing to see, being so rare and having so many nice details like the external links, but perhaps allocating more time to the in-game UI (making it readable even when on the already-white walls by outlining it with black, for example) or adding some sounds might have made for a more fleshed-out core experience. 

The most interesting part of your game was the constant need to switch between guns. Maybe emphasize that by adding more reason to do that. Add a timer that kills or damages you if you wait too long between pick-ups. Make the next gun more powerful if you miss less shots with the previous. Make pick-up combos, where you switch quickly enough between guns to then get a rarer one spawned in. 

Of course, emphasizing which gun you have would be easier with the UI change I mentioned earlier. Minimalistically speaking, you did a good job as well. : )

Wow, pretty polished and smooth, fitting especially well into the minimalist mold.

Some more explanation would have been nice - I'm assuming that what I was upgrading was min/max roll values? It also seems a bit arbitrary at the beginning to have just random fight-tick values (I lost a round to a single square and then won the next one...?) but I suppose being minimalistic in fight mechanics was the point here, so...

Yeah, pretty neat little package. Felt complete for the small experience that it was.

Definitely a super solid entry as a first game. The transitions and basic concept did what they needed to, you explained anything necessary... nice.

Keep going, making small steps! Add some sounds, visual effects, some more levels, maybe in the future even a random level generator for an endless mode. Don't overscope; continue making approachable games like this, and I'm sure you'll find your way.

Not sure why this doesn't have more ratings - it was quite well done!

I really enjoyed the art style and the cheeky "only three colors on-screen at once" use of the restriction. It wasn't super clear what the different emotions did in terms of impact, which I feel was a bit of a missed opportunity if there was supposed to be a difference there (it seemed like there was, based on your description?). The SFX were a bit "blinky" I guess I'd call them - sort of noisy in an arcade-y kind of way, but that stuff is hard to balance, so I get it.

I must say that the dash was a weird inclusion to me. Like, I get it - you want to give the player the option to move more quickly, especially in a world of avoiding many projectiles and traversing a space that's larger than a single camera's view surface. However, when adding something, consider why; if the player has no reason not to press dash, then don't make it a button to press at all and simply make their movement speed higher (here, they don't have a reason not to dash, as the enemies only have collision-boxes, not damaging flags, as far as I've seen). 

Still, the polish here is really nice, and it complimented your emotions mechanic well (could have been even better in terms of mechanical clarity, but you brought something unique already, so..).  

Word-for-word what @Edgor said (damn dude, it's like you're in my ahead a few hours in advance XD).

-Could be fleshed out more

-Wish there was a bit more consideration to what a player is likely to press (such as wanting to immediately see the yield of their latest platform movement) or what they might need/want to see (it may be that you wanted to prevent the player from viewing every layer at once on purpose to add an element of memory, but just consider your design goals and see if it makes more sense for them to be able to view all layers at once). A similar thing happens with the arrow showing the player's spawn location. Logically, they'd think the player always spawns there, but they don't, they spawn up top (which is fine, just be sure to playtest early I never find time for this either but it's important I swear and see what the average player's expectation is for a visual cue like that).

-Pretty interesting idea, though, and nice music. The art served what it was needed and the controls felt snappy, simple, and well-fitting as well. No need to overcomplicate there.

-Perhaps instead of listing Enter as "starting the game," it should be listed A) on-screen, as it is critical, and B) as "spawn player" or "run current layout" or something.

Don't stop here, though ;)

Hey! I don't know how much experience in games you have, but there are some things I can suggest to perhaps make your game keep players in a bit longer:

1) While interesting, having the WASD controls move you relative to the current mouse direction doesn't execute that well. Again, it's pretty unique, but it doesn't seem to add anything and in fact just takes more time to get used to when everyone is already used to the normal "absolute" movement of WASD (W always moves you up, for example). In general, if something doesn't add anything or change the way you interact in a significant enough way, perhaps just stick with the traditional way of doing it (this isn't always true, just consider it here).

2) Reloading was a bit long.

3) Your audio and visual feedback for hitting the zombies was pretty good, so I knew what was happening there, but there was no real preparation for a wave starting - even if the player can be smart and be sure to stay in the center when killing the final zombie of the current wave, it would help to flash some text or exclamation points to give players a bit more urgency and awareness to the new threats.

Continue creating! It's great that you participated, and you learned something just by making and finishing what you did. : ) 

Definitely an intriguing concept. There were some weird situations with the controlled circles going off-screen or suddenly jumping forward to avoid going off-screen (?) and there isn't much feedback, but the mechanic is actually something I haven't really seen in this way, and the art looked pretty good!

Don't stop here. : )

Pretty well-explored mechanic by the end, even if the curve building up to the interesting gravity-reversal mechanics (which, to me, were by far the best use of your concept) was pretty slow and made frustrating by some really slow friction. For future games maybe reconsider some of the ways you implement sound - entering and exiting those gravity-reversal zones made a tone that didn't quite match the frequency with which the player would be entering them.

Make sure everything builds towards the joy of your central mechanic, which, in the end, did have quite a bit of room that you afforded it. Make sure to emphasize your strong points. : )

Pretty interesting! Certainly a bit buggy and unpolished, but let it be known that you freaking finished something and that that's great; a first step to building a creative habit! Keep going, even if it's just exactly this game with a few improvements. : )

Though obviously taking the theme to likely its most extreme logical conclusion, it's clear that there would have been many ways to be tempted even a bit in one direction and add something else that wouldn't have been necessary. 

Thanks for inspiring me by reminding me that polish can also come from deliberate inaction and restraint (or, at least, the forethought and planning to make it that much easier to be restrained later in the process). Cute little thing already, but if you did want to take it past minimalism, I'd encourage you to continue the emotional spirit of this simple game into a larger version. : )

Definitely impressive for the awareness of your assets and using them efficiently and effectively. Obviously, music would have been the thing to bolster your experience to the next level, but very well done. 

I must say that this one was quite challenging in a bit of a floaty, uncontrollable way. The particles and little bounces and friction slides were nice, but the game was quite punishing. I'd suggest either adding checkpoints, speeding up the overall gamespeed with some physics value adjustments, or both. You did a good job of using the jam's restriction to your advantage, however, by making it clear what the goal was and what would hurt you, so kudos for clarity and a clean art style - controlling the arrow felt nice and responsive, but making it longer to make it easier to judge the effect of an angle over large distances wouldn't have hurt either. 

I'm not sure if I was supposed to hear sound, but, if there was, I didn't hear it.

Maybe tighten up the controls and make the game a bit more forgiving, I'd say. :)

Yeah man, no worries about not literally making a hyperdimensional game, it was just my surprised and intrigued brain being hasty. Good stuff all around : )

Thanks so much! I'm glad that this methodology ended up working on at least someone... I was getting worried by the results of my family members.

Yeah, splitting yourself into multiple pieces was the thematic concept. Thanks for playing! I think I'll keep expanding this one. : )

Gotcha. Well, know that it was pretty darn cool, and I enjoyed it. Felt tight.

Kudos for having this work, be challenging, and be quite energetic, given the time frame and the many possible things that could have gone wrong. A bit more beat-emphasizing pulsations or effects might have helped, even if they would have maybe been "less minimalistic", but super job.

Can I ask what your system for programming the notes was? I'm curious.

I second everything that everyone below me said - they were accurate. Another modifier to the current formula could maybe be that the multipliers push you away, with higher multipliers boosting your further, allowing you to strategically position yourself to ride the wave away and thus be tempted to get even closer and play even more riskily!

You've done a lot with a little. Super!

Pretty clean! A way to speed up the game globally may have alleviated a bit of the tedium of restarting when I was so close, but I suppose that that's just my impatience speaking ;)

It's wild how just placing the player in a different starting position and altering their control scheme to something like this can have such a profound effect. Nice stuff! I'd have liked to see more interactive elements, but discovering the quirks of the movement and bouncing along to the little backing track was *chef's kiss*.

You both need to be at your goals simultaneously, if that wasn't clear.

It was cool to realize the abilities of combined balls, but I agree with @Edgor when they say that a bit of explanation (or feedback to let us know that we're progressing... I'm still not sure if the levels were just infinitely randomly generated) may have helped.

I agree with the rest as well - the only thing your game is missing to be really close to an idea that you can run with is a few other interactables, which would in turn spawn specific levels and thus a bit of progressive structure (or randomly spawning levels, whatever you'd want)... and maybe a soundtrack that's a bit less stressful. XD

Nice concept!