With "juvenile", more than "oriented to kids", I intended "wrote by a kid", and I didn't intend it in a offensive manner, but in a objective way. If kids are your target than I guess it's an approriate style of writing!
Unfortunately I can't be of any help about finding such a specific community for game makers. I only know "general porpouse" ones.
I'm really nostalgic for that period in the mid 2000s when I was a teenager making silly games with RPG Maker (...XP) with no care in the world, and this is clearly a game made with that spirit! So just for that you have a thumb up, but a really subjective one.
The writing is juvenile at best but the characters are really intertaining! I actually liked all of them! they were characterized and fun enough, even for such a small time! This is actually an achievement!
The art for the most part, is promising. not going to tell you "great" because it's not, but there are some drawings that show promise, and you should keep practicing!
Now, if you'll ever consider game development on a professional level, I'll give you some ***Constructive Criticism*** to help you improve!
Hope I helped! Overall I had a nice time playing! Keep going! ;)
Since you are a couple of good willed students I offer you some *** Constructive Criticism ***
The controls need a lot of tweaking: the mouse and movement smooth must go, AT ALL. The character's hitbox must be changed to something that is not a capsule (or at most can be maybe a thinner capsule). The point is that I shouldn't be able to "egbe grab" involuntarily. Speaking of which, with these controls, platforming is either too easy (green key) or too hard (red key).
There are some unclever choices even for unexperienced students: for instance, on the green key "platform puzzle" why did you lower the platforms by "a bit" and not the all way down? Why is the pit so short? Did you know you can step on lowered platforms?
The outworld path can be improved by placing the grass better and by adding some obstacle to justify the shape of the path, like hills or something. A flat field with a snakey path and nothing to see? It's pointless!
Also, the performances are really bad. The framerate becomes incosistent since the moment you take a key and the pillars falls. And this is not just an aestetic issue since it lags when I turn, losing my sense of orientation on a map that doesn't help at all on giving sense of orientation.
The music is really energetic and the graphics are simple, but a nice kind of simple, I've definitely seen worse!
Now I offer you some ***Constructive Criticism***. Consider them points where to focus your next improvements:
The idea of a picnic is nice and fun for a turret defender! Your work on the camera following the wave of enemies and the option to see the blocked areas are good and very useful features for the player! Thumb up!
I suggest you to add a hold middle mouse button mechanic to move the screen (because edges hovering is really unfortunate for browser based games), to add a grid for placing turrets (or if you prefer, to increase the one existing), and most importantly give a clue to the player when he can't place turrets because he's blocking the way! (I didn't get it at all the first too-many times!)
Overall, for a jam, nice job! If there were more depth (like more turrets) I would probably kept playing since this games are very addicting to me!
I won't call it "bad" experience... that's a stretch. You don't play this kind of projects expecting triple-A quality: you play them to see the passion and enthusiasm of the developers! And I saw it here!
Yes, I did notice and appreciated the landmarks, that's a nice touch! The glitches I saw (constantly) was about the walls changing in front of my eyes, which also gave me the impression that the maze was ever changing and generated at runtime. If it wasn't true (that is the maze was generated only once at startup) than either I have a terrible sense of direction or there was slowdowns when loading assets. I repeat it was constant: almost every corner failed to be ready when it was supposed to be and I always had the impression that there was no reason to backtrack because passages would have changed (but maybe that's two separate problems: slow loading assets and too high chance of "no returns")
If you'll ever go back to work on this project I suggest to fix at least the scarecrow. Make it disappear after a while or, if it stays there, at least place it farther. Right now it's almost at arm's reach and when it's standing still (but posed) it's sad...
*** Constructive Criticism ***
A nice practice on non-euclidean spaces (is this what they are called?) but as a game, even for jump-scare based standards, it falls flat. First, Is it too glitchy (in the sense that the walls literally glitches when they change) this breaks the immersion, and disorient in a cheap and frustrating way. Second, Without the possibility to backtrack in a maze the player is forced to roam randomly until something new happens, and this is just not clever design. Third, the scarecrow monster needs some animation or to be harder to see: when left this obvious and this harmless is just sad.
***Constructive Criticism***
The dialog tree need a lot of work... everything seems to happen out of player's control and it is just not fun. The writing is not engaging, the humor doesn't land, and the art is very amateur.
Maybe, to improve the writing, you could consider to remove the scene of the bed and to add some "safe" dialogs with all the characters, so the player get to know them and it will be prepared when it's time to "test" his conflict resolving? Just a thought.
What a lovely little ...treat of a story! Yes, very predictable but you can assume the player is looking for all this easy to obtain positivity, so it's fine! I liked the art and I noticed you color-coded the "animals" which is a detail I appreciate! The writing is very anime and never boring, it's clear where you took inspiration! I'm glad this spawn a little "franchise" (a little less glad for its NSFW entries but whatev)
Now, the ever unpleasant ***Constructive Criticism***:
***SPOILERS*** (I guess)
Hi Sasha! I didn't realize you were the artist when I posted, otherwise I would have used another tone... sorry!
About the screenshots, I didn't pay too much attention to the itch.io page of the game before playing, as I usually do it after I'm over with the game! I was referring to the normal form, so technically you are not spoiling anything... I just meant that based on my personal experience I wasn't expecting such a well executed (and I must say original look) for an overused concept as an angel, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it all at once. I just imagine that other players may enjoy it too the way I did, so you could consider to design the early phases to make this more likely? Perhaps I was just a lucky exception so don't mind me too much!
About the art, again sorry! I meant that they show signs of inexperience. There are cases when it's clear they are hasty. It's unfair to point that out on a game made for a jam, I know, but when you see Kisabel (good) and the Seer (bad) in the same screen it's almost disbelief breaking! I can't tell you in the specific "what is wrong" and "how to improve it" as I'm not a skilled artist... maybe I only have this: is it possible that the sprite of the seer is taken from a drawing on paper that is too little?
About the smiling face of Letti... yes, that smile grows contageous but maybe it's those big eyes that make it creepy? Or maybe are the separations between teeth...? Or the combination of both?
Hope I helped your professional growth with my rudeness, i'm looking forward to see more from you :)
Overall, I liked it and left me sad (I think I got the friendship ending). Since I replayed to try other endings and I spent time talking about it here, I guess we can say you did a very good job!
And now, for the unpleasant part: ***Constructive criticism***
The face of Letti is creepy when she smiles. The art is not too good, apart from Kisabel which I really liked. His voice also is very good, but the Seer voice actor is too amateur. Also, if you could voice only 2 characters in a 3 characters story why leaving out the main character? Yes, she has 10x lines but seems not much of a good choice...
I didn't like much how many times there are walls of text to describe a cool scene with no visual clue for the player, however this brought to an impacful Kisabel reveal (the normal form) which was cool and unexpected (too bad the average player will have it spoiled by the screenshots). You should consider to add some image there, something subtle thou, like just shapes.
I see all the other commenters got it, maybe it was me too stupid to get it...! However from my point of view I was quite intrigued until I felt trolled... Maybe it doesn't matter talking since it was just a speed project but if you'll ever do a "serious" project I suggest to pay more attention on the way it closes.
PS: The voice acting was a pleasant surprise, but maybe next time you should consider to have a voice for the narration part too.
Overall, I liked it! For a jam, this is great and what a jam is supposed to create: a nimble project, not to be taken too seriously, that entertains for a short while, and that clearly shows that it was made by people that had fun making it!
Of course the writing (of dialogs and events) is improvable (for example there are too many "Alright" and generally is hasty) but again, it's understandable for a jam.
I didn't get why you pass the final fight by saying the truth. Maybe you didn't convey too well that the main character it's a detective, a "man of the law". Maybe because of the hasty writing or its look too punky (it's a jam, so it's forgiven!). However it was the best part because it's where the humor really kicks in! (I loved the AutoMoles!)
And of course, the arts are top notch! Not just by their technical quality, but the character desing too! A nice touch was that singular frame (only one, pity) where the tail lights when he's shocked!
Good job! :)
