GMC Jam Voting The Thirsty 33rd GMC Jam - Voting Topic

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GameDevDan

Former Jam Host
Moderator
GMC Elder


Get The Games
ZIP DOWNLOAD (666 MB) | Games Topic

Voting Deadline
June 10th, 12:00 UTC



  • As soon as the Jam ends on May 27th at 12:00 UTC, a zip folder of the games will be created and posted in the voting topic so that players can download all the entries at once if they wish.
  • Voters will then have around 2 weeks to play and rank the games and voting will close on June 10th at 12:00 UTC.
  • Any member of the GMC can vote, even if they didn't enter the jam. You cannot vote for your own entry.
  • Votes shall be posted in a single post in the voting topic. You may create a post and continue to edit it as you review more games, do not create more than one post for your votes.
  • Voters are encouraged to rank as many games as possible, and their final votes must include at least their top 3 games.
  • The top 3 votes must also be accompanied by a short review of why you liked the game and voted for it (any beyond the top 3 do not need a review, but it is nice to have).
  • Voters can also vote for the best game in each of the following (optional) categories: Best use of theme, best concept, best presentation (gfx/sound) and best devlog (as written in the games topic).
Voting Template
(optional but helpful)

XYZ'S REVIEWS AND VOTES

1st Place - Game Name by Author Name
I voted for this game because...

2nd Place - Game Name by Author Name
I voted for this game because...


3rd Place - Game Name by Author Name
I voted for this game because...


Best Ofs
Best use of theme: game name by author name
Best concept: game name by author name
Best presentation: game name by author name
Best devlog: author name

Full Ranking
1. game name by author name
2. game name by author name
3. game name by author name
4. game name by author name
5. game name by author name
6.... etc.

That's all you need to know!

Get playing and voting and enjoy those jam games :)

Boring technical info about how the votes are counted: Entries receive points based on where each voter ranked them, following the formula 1/(rank+1). So if a voter puts a game 1st, it gets 0.5 points. If a voter puts a game 6th, it gets ~0.143 points. These are all added up by the Jam Host to find the overall rank for each game.
 
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HayManMarc

Member
<----- This guy's Votes and Reviews

TOP 5 (reviews below)
  1. pagefault by @TehPilot
  2. Motti by @Relic
  3. TOGGLD by @lazertrax
  4. Grid Pause by @The M
  5. Blabbit in the Headlights by @GameDevDan
  1. Bestest best game
  2. Real awesome game
  3. Fantabuliffic game
  4. Super duper game
  5. Pretty neat game

***These reviews are intended to be helpful, not hurtful. Some reviews may be slightly cheeky in my feeble attempt to make a lighthearted joke. If you take offense by these criticisms, I'm sorry. Offending anyone is not my intention.***

General comment:
I am not clairvoyant. I don't have a crystal ball. I cannot read minds. For the love of mercy, please include some kind of help/intro screen in your games. It's very annoying (as some of you may read in my reviews) to "trial-and-error" my way to learn the controls. Also, some games have no beginning explanation at all, so I don't even know the premise of the game. Even more annoying is hunting down your game post devlog to see if I can find any more info. By the time I've done all of this, I've pretty much had it with the game. After this jam, I won't be going that far out of the way to try to figure out your game. ReadMe's aren't the best, but they are okay -- at least they're packaged right there with the EXE. When I see a ReadMe, I always read it first before playing the game.
It might seem unfair to some, but if I can't just start up your game and play it and know what I'm doing right off the bat, chances are that I won't bother much more with it. Sure, I'll give it a fair shot and try some basic traditional key controls, but if it becomes a lesson in confusion, it will outweigh my tolerance.
It takes a lot of time and work to playtest all the games and write all the reviews. Unfortunately, the time I make for this must be shared with many other wants and needs, many of which is higher up on my priority list, or quite frankly, sometimes, just more enjoyable.
Even so, with all that grumbling, I still appreciate the work and effort put into jam games, even when a game turns out horrible. Creating a game in 3 or 4 days is no easy task and the effort alone is commendable. The ability to submit a lackluster game (knowingly or not), then grind through all the critical reviews pointing out all the flaws, and still come away feeling fine, enlightened, and ready to try again deserves the highest praise. In this regard, we're all winners of the jam.
Go ahead and pat yourself on the back. You deserve it.

Rankings:
  1. pagefault by @TehPilot
  2. Motti by @Relic
  3. TOGGLD by @lazertrax
  4. Grid Pause by @The M
  5. Blabbit in the Headlights by @GameDevDan
  6. Lights Out by @TinyGamesLab
  7. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by @wkaudio, Kara-Lynn Cosplay
  8. TIMER by @orSQUADstra
  9. Break-Link by @Alice, @Siolfor the Jackal
  10. Powerout
  11. Hungry Thing
  12. NEET Retreat
  13. Save the Lights by @KPJ
  14. Server Reset by @MikeeyBikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
  15. Computer IT by @Michael McMullen
  16. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by @NAL
  17. How We Find Home by @Lt. Farfetch'd, @DanielDochertyMusic
  18. ooo (...) by @Misu, @Yal
  19. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley ONeail, @Sk8dududu
  20. Something Scary by @Bearman_18
  21. GR1D_0 by @Baukereg
  22. Once Upon In Albimore by @MilesThatch
  23. Occupational Hazard by @Cheshy, @SamSam
  24. Reflector Sector by @woodsmoke
  25. Lightbulb by @sp202
  26. Cat Factory by @Toque
  27. RoBros by @BeardyElf
  28. Greenshield the Brave by @Mercerenies
  29. Gung-ho Pro Commando by @Roa
  30. Matsu Switch! by @TheMiningBoyAlpha
  31. Ghost Light by @DougM
  32. On and Off, Back and Forth by @Mercerenies
  33. Off and On in the Octagon by @Bentley
  34. game_end() by @ghandpivot
  35. Switch Glitch by @Silas the Dev
  36. Shield Shuffle by @curato
  37. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio, @mimusic
  38. Fun Park by @Bart
  39. PAINTB___H 2.0 by @Lukan
  40. Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison, @Ax8472

Reviews (41):
Blabbit In The Headlights
by @GameDevDan
Pretty well done, but still don't like playing games in the dark. Graphics, sounds, and music were nice. Presentation and instructions were great. All around a well made game, although extremely familiar.

Break-Link
by @Alice @Siolfor the Jackal
I sure am glad to finally be able to make my “homemande” jam! :p Jokes at your expense aside, pretty neat game. I had some trouble totally understanding some of the explanations until I just tested the level out with semi-random placing of objects. Graphics for the blueprint phase were great, but the 'run' phase graphics seemed less so. Even so, cool concept to have the two different modes graphically. The background scenes correctly matched the elements, but their quality seemed a bit amateurish, though they still did their job for purposes of a jam game. The game held my interest until I completed it. I imagine I would have played through 16 levels if they were there. The lack of sound fx is unfortunate. The music I assume Siolfor the Jackal created. All four songs reflected the elements really well, imo. I really liked Earth and Air. The drums in Air were great (hi-hat). Fire was a bit repetitive (sitar(?) melody), but I think on the right track with the feel. Water was cut short, obviously, but I think the beginning high-pitched line (Xylophone?) goes on a bit long making it seem a bit repetitive also. However, I liked the direction it was headed. (Love the Jackal's music, so as a fellow musician, I had to put my two cents in on that as well, with the utmost respect!) All in all, a good, solid jam game, imo.

Cat Factory
by @Toque
I got 295 points! Woot! Funny little game. Needs some goofy music, haha! Fullscreen option would be nice (game setting in the IDE to allow player to switch using ALT+ENTER). That's just my personal preference. Art was great (love your art), and the game was simple but complete. Nice job, Toque! However, you kinda missed the theme, I think. Though the machine looks to be turning on and off, the player is not turning anything off and on, we're just sorting things and trying to keep up. It's in there, but I think the theme usage is kinda weak, since it's not really doing anything with the gameplay or the storyline.

Computer IT
by @Michael McMullen
Lol – I played a long time, but ended up with a score of 1. Love the little computer sprites and animations. Everything was fine for a jam game, but the music got pretty repetitive and coulda used more sounds, maybe (reboot sound, sale sound). The instructions said to see how long you last, so score based on time played would be better, as it seems you're at the mercy of random circumstance and failure is inevitable. Neat little game.

Dusk
by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail (@Sk8dududu)
Pretty good game, but I found it frustrating, personally. Starting out the game, with no crystal ball or ESP, I had no idea what the game was about or what I was supposed to do. I didn't know what my abilities were, if any. Through an annoying trial and error process, I figured the stuff out, to the best of my knowledge, but still wonder if there is more that I didn't find. Eventually, I made it to the end with time 5:46. Not a bad game by any means, but I would have enjoyed it more with some kind of intro and instructions.

ADDENDUM: I want to add that the graphics were very atmospheric and really great, with the centipede being a great highlight for me. It's unfortunate that I played this game after playing only a handful of games with no instructions for how to play. It made me sour to the element of discovery you intended. Even so, a little bit of storyline or something would still have helped this game, imo.

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark
by @wkaudio, Kara-Lynn Cosplay
That's a pretty funny game. I failed my first time thru and got caught around 12:30, I think. The next time I was more careful and made it all night. I scored 9 points on Cactus People 7!

Fun Park
by @Bart
This game looks like a victim of over-scope. Perhaps if you just concentrated on a single ride and made the game around that, it may have worked out for you. The Ferris Wheel ride, like you said in the readme, was the most complete, but even then, it was too much trouble to line up the ride for passengers to get on. The 3d models were pretty nice for the time you had. Looks like it could be a fun game if all the mechanics were in place properly.

game_end()
by @ghandpivot
I'm not sure I played this correctly. After the exit buttons were removed, I used the task bar to exit the game (level 3). Didn't know how else to do it. (shrug)

Ghost Light
by @DougM
Once again, no ESP or crystal ball, so through an annoying process of trial and error, I figured out the controls to the best of my knowledge. Also, the game just drops you into the action with very little time to respond to the level-ending threat. On top of that, I guess this is way outside my personal taste, but I found the on/off mechanic of seeing the level and not seeing the level very annoying. After trying and failing miserably a few times, I abandoned this game. The graphics, from what I could see in my short experience, looked pretty good.

GR1D_0
by @Baukereg
Well made, but too brainy for me. I played thru several levels. Couple minor things to mention – Sometimes I lose my cursor when the level resets, which is slightly annoying. Also, it seems kinda glitchy when lining up at the edge of the puzzle, when the hover shape disappears/reappears. Pretty good puzzler.

Greenshield the Brave
by @Mercerenies
Either the game is lagging like crazy, or the movement is agonizingly slow. I played thru a couple rooms to the falling stars. When I died for the fourth time, I gave up (because of the slowness). I don't know if you used the theme, but I didn't see any turning off and on in the short time I played.

Grid Pause
by @The M
Hella bullets everywhere! I suck at bullet hell games (they're just not my thing), but that pause effect was pretty cool. Game seems well made, the bullet and ship flying patterns seemed good. Graphics, music, and sounds were great. Game itself, besides the theme-pause, seems pretty standard. Still, a solid jam game, esp. with an online leaderboard (love seeing those). Experienced some slow down when the screen was full of enemies and bullets. Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it was nice since it allowed me to see what was happening so I could maneuver away from harm easier. Lol

Gung-ho Pro Commando
by @Roa
Love the title of this game! The game is pretty neat, but it seemed like the collisions were a little off. I could get thru several rooms, but I always died. Too bad there were no sounds and music – would have stepped up the intensity feels. The enemy was pretty hard to hit, especially with the way aiming accuracy was randomized to be off a bit. I get that it adds a sense of realism, but coupled with the enemy AI to avoid bullets, it seemed sllightly much (little on the 'too hard' side, for me). On top of that, it seemed like some of my hits weren't hitting, but I dunno. I used keyboard/mouse controls and they worked out pretty good. I'll try it again with the gamepad... ---Using gamepad: Rolling with the B button is kinda nice, but I guess I got used to the key/mouse controls because using the gamepad was more difficult for me. Cool shmup. Needs more medkits. Lol

How We Find Home
by @Lt. Farfetch'd, @DanielDochertyMusic
Nice little experience, albeit slow. The ending has a nice metaphoric payoff. Not much game play. (GAME SPOILERS NEXT) I thought it was kinda funny that the first reincarnation was a bird, and it was referenced as being kinda like hell, and it was basically Flappy Bird. Lol I think you succeeded in creating a moody piece and invoking feelings and emotions. I'm having trouble seeing the theme usage, here.

ADDENDUM: Okay, after the explanation given in the discussion topic, I can see the theme. It's quite hidden, and more part of the background than part of the game, but it is the main theme of what is happening.

Hungry Thing
by @Shadow_Lancer
Weird stuff, but kinda neat. At first I was like, “Where's the theme?”, but then I realized I was using the theme the entire time by moving around. Haha! Graphics are clean and consistent. The calm, floatiness of the music was good, but it didn't seem to quite fit the quirky, cartoon style of the graphics. Sounds were quite minimal. The gameplay wasn't all that exciting, and rather easy. I continued on after the win message and made it to a larger expanse of water, but made a mistake and died in the water. Not sure what comes after, if anything. Is there more?

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On
by @NAL
Funny and quite different from the norm. After wandering around the 'site' a bit, I finally realized this was a clicker game (once I hit the fast-forward button). So, I tried playing the Slola clicker game, but became pretty bored with it after about 5 minutes or so, as I do with most (all) clicker games. This would make a great joke site if you could afford the URL. :p

Lightbulb
by @sp202
Nice work using a save system to “reset” the game. At least I think that's how you did it. Pretty clever. Cute little game, but it seems we're never able to get the light to actually turn on? Lol --- Okay, I checked the walkthrough readme and now I can finally see the light. :) No music, but I guess it didn't really need any. Still, an ending with a little ditty would have topped it off nicely.

Lights Out
by @TinyGamesLab
Not a fan of moving in the dark, not seeing the level. But I gave it a try anyway. There seems to be some unbeatable levels. Graphics were nice. Music and sounds were good. Nice presentation.

Matsu Switch!
by @TheMiningBoyAlpha
First try to play this game was frustrating. No instructions given so not owning a crystal ball or possessing ESP powers, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. After testing all letter keys, I figured out that all that was available was move, jump, and shield, and apparently shield didn't work since bullets still hurt me. I found what looked llike an on/off switch for a possible bridge up ahead, but I had no way to toggle the switch (at least that I could figure out). I'll go check your devlog. --- Okay, not much in the devlog either, however it says J to shoot, which I didn't notice in my previous play/test. Trying again... Ok, made it through this time. Score: 21900 DC: 4 Shield worked sometimes, and sometimes not. Got stuck between the spring and the switch. Honestly, I didn'I have much fun with this game. I believe the game could be more fun if movement and collision mechanics were improved, along with some instructions at the beginning. You nailed down the theme, though, and the maze-y parts of the game weren't too bad.

Motti
by @Relic
Great game. Presentation, graphics, sounds, and music were great. The lighting effects were well done, and the levels seemed nicely thought out. I experienced some bugs, moths to be exact. Made it to level 5, but had to move on to get these reviews done in time. I will come back to finish this at a later time.

NEET Retreat
by @JacobV
Game has great graphics and sounds, but was kinda boring at the beginning. Made it to the cabin after fishing, got woke up in the middle of the night, tried walking to the dock, then experienced an error. I was able to ignore it enough times to see the monster get me. Game restarted at the cabin, tried to go back to the car, made it several screens, but error happened again. Couldn't ignore past this one, had to quit game. Error message:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_player:

Invalid surface dimensions
at gml_Object_obj_player_Step_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_player_Step_0 (line -1)
The game was pretty neat (no pun intended, haha), too bad about the errors. (I guess the boring-ness at the beginning is a nice contrast to the excitement at the end, but the error kind of interrupted that. I'll be looking for a 'fixed' version of this game.)

ooo (...)
by @Misu @Yal
I played for a bit, but I kept dying without getting very far. At first, the shadow-cloud things were killing me, but I realized I needed to turn the lights on to make them go away. But then, even tho I turned the lights on, they'd come back and get me anyway. So, I tried to hurry, but then I would fall down a crevice. So, I tried to remember that, but then I couldn't jump and turn the light on at the right time. At this point, the game became more difficult than my patience would allow. I'm sorry. The graphics were really nice, but it was pretty hard to see the enemies. The sounds and music were good. Music had a nice spooky feeling to it. The presentation was fantastic. I didn't like the variable jump. If the gameplay was more forgiving to a casual player like myself, I would have probably played longer. I guess the difficulty spiked to quickly for me.

Occupational Hazard
by @Cheshy @SamSam
Not bad for a jam game. The line connecting the player to the target was unnecessary and a little off-putting. I wasn't a fan of the jump sprite either, tbh. I didn't like using space to jump – The W key would have been better. I made it to the level with a big gap and had no clue how to beat it. The music was nice and relaxing, and the clouds were neat.

Off and On in the Octagon
by @Bentley
I'm not really sure what I'm doing here. I'm shooting red things at other wizards trying to knock them off the platform, but I don't know what this thing in the middle is that I turn on and off – sometimes. I made it to 4, then got pushed off the platform. The game left me kinda confused.

Office Shape Saviour
by Pixel Poison (@Ax8472)
I tried the game and could move around the office and click on blue blocks, but the coffee machine caused a game breaking error. I read your devlog (nice devlog, btw), and understand why I couldn't figure much out with this game. Sorry you had such a rough go at it on your first try with a jam. Reminds me of my first, lol. Looks like you fell victim to what most people fall victim to --- game scope. Hope this experience doesn't put you off from trying again, because your idea and the amount you accomplished (for your first try) is still commendable. “Never give up! Never surrender!” :)

On and Off, Back and Forth
by @Mercerenies
Okay, that was more fun to screw around with than I thought it would be. The graphical keyboard was nice, but it would have been neat to have a status bar somewhere that listed the names of the 'options' you had toggled. It's unfortunate there were no sounds or music.

Once Upon In Albimore
by @MilesThatch
That music choice sure does make it spooky. Then when the rooms change with the light switch, it got really spooky. Too bad I could never figure out how to progress. All I managed to do was find a rope in a closet (that seemed to disappear after I thought I took it. I saw what looked like inventory slots, but nothing ever showed up there.) I found a music box that said it was missing something. Never found that something. Saw a utility hook, but nothing else happened with that. I found a flashlight that took me a while to figure out how to turn on/off (after button testing my way through the keyboard). Don't really know if this is a good game or not. After my experience, I'm inclined to say not so much. But the graphics are great and good choice in spooky music.

pagefault
by @TehPilot
Really cool, loved the idea, but I kept getting stuck with no way to get out (I believe it was level 4, bottom-left room). Still one of my favorite entries. Graphics, sounds, music, presentation were all superb.

PAINTB___H 2.0
by @Lukan
Here's my PB drawings...

"Me playing PAINTB___H 2.0"

"PaintBeach"

Surfaces are volitile. Floodfill for 3.0! :p

Powerout
by @Cat @var
Nice, simple graphics. Music was great. I found the gameplay kinda neat, but really tedious. I think adding the shift key to turn things off was an unnecessary complication. In fact, I wouldn't mind using the mouse on the icons in this situation, even with keyboard controls. I made it to the bullets, but I couldn't figure out how to actually shoot them. Anyway, I'm probably a little biased towards this game as it reminds me a lot of my JamCraft game “CraftBot”, giving me the warm and fuzzies.
CraftBot Let's Play starts at about 8:25...
However, you got much further with your game than I did with mine. :) Great game concept, just need some tweaks to make it a little more user friendly, imo.

Rebot
by @HayManMarc
Stupid deadlines make this game unfinished. :p

Reflector Sector
by @woodsmoke
Interesting concept, uses the theme, but the game itself gets to be a bit of a tedious waiting game on top of depending on luck and chance. I guess I'd like more control, somehow. I failed a lot, but I made it to level 2 before giving up, lol. Graphics were pretty simple. The squiggly cyclops was cool looking. Music was great, and sounds were minimal, but fitting.

RoBros
by @BeardyElf
This game was way, way too fast-paced for me to get into. I'd shoot a few enemies, then I was already out of energy. Then, before I could get my bearings and recharge the shooter guy, and change character control, I'd been attacked several times and I'd die before even firing a shot. This was after trying the game several times. I'm sorry, I just couldn't get the hang of it and be fast enough to enjoy it. The graphics look like they might be pretty great, but everything was very dark and hard to see. Music and sounds seemed minimal but okay for the little bit I was able to see.

Save the Lights
by @KPJ
Graphics are simple, clean, and consistent. The gameplay seems to be what it's designed to do, but to be honest, I didn't really enjoy it that much. Just clicking on things before a timer runs out, and that's it. The game is well made, as a whole, but for me, it's lacking in “fun factor”.

Server Reset
by @MikeeyBikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
Well, graphics and sounds were minimal, but ok. Gameplay was fine, last level was the hardest. Had a great ending. Took a while to figure out what was going on, but I eventually figured it out. Presentation of the controls and such was a little strange, but worked.

Shield Shuffle
by @curato
I think the idea was pretty good, but I kept hitting the wrong button for the control I wanted. I think the way movement worked messed me up, and then trying to get the right color seemed too random at times. The game felt like it didn't give me enough control. Perhaps the barriers approached too fast, I don't know. Graphics were okay. Sounds were minimal. Some space-action music would have been good.

Something Scary
by @Bearman_18
Seems like a pretty well made game. I kept confusing the light and character controls. Made it thru a ways then died. Tried again, starting all the way over, got slightly farther, then died. Difficulty is pretty high for me, with a very unforgiving level restart after failure. Perhaps I'll come back to this one later – I don't have time to keep trying. Nice graphics and sounds. Didn't hear any music. It was unfortunate that there was no spooky music during that great intro.

Switch Glitch
by @Silas the Dev
Well, that looks like a nice start to an okay menu. Couldn't get the game to start. I'll go check your devlog for info, I guess. --- No info there either. (shrug) Okay, I saw your post in the discussion topic. After clicking all over the place on the start screen, I was able to start the game. I don't know what level I started on. I played through a few levels and heard the computer voice, but still feel like I'm lacking information. Some of the places I had to be kinda half on/half off when switching colors. This seemed wonky and not very clear. The game in general seemed very straight forward, but perhaps I quit playing too early to see more puzzle-y elements in later levels. The game ended in an error when a drone bot(?) killed itself on some spikes(?). To be honest, this game wasn't easy to enjoy for me. The graphics were really basic, but got the job done. The computer voice coupled with the absence of music really gave the game a sterile, strictly-business feeling.

TIMER
by @orSQUADstra
I'm sorry, I couldn't figure it out. The controls were numerous and split between mouse and keyboard, which seemed cumbersome. After a few tries, I figured out how to move the crate and drop it on the platform, but then I was stuck with nowhere to go, that I could figure out. Graphics were pretty nice, sounds were good, music was moody and good. Presentation was great, and the tutorial nicely informed of the controls. What the tutorial didn't do was lead you through a level, which would have helped me out, I think.

TOGGLD
by @lazertrax
Holy binary, Batman! That's difficult when you don't know binary. Very well made game. Simple but effective graphics. Sounds were good, music was great. Presentation was superb, with online leaderboard which is fantastic. I played this with my 12 year old daughter. She figured it out on her own and helped me learn binary numbers. Lol!

Tricky Farming!
by @mimusic (Paul and Sergio)
First thing I noticed, the game window opened with the bottom fifth out of screen. I had to reposition the window to see the whole thing. Second thing is the font wasn't the best choice, IMO – it was hard to read in places. (I had the same problem in my entry.) Ok, well that was just some kind of intro screen. After I got past that, I made it to another title screen, I think. It was unskippable, but there was a countdown, I guess, or I wasn't doing something I should have. I don't know. Then the screen changed and it looked like a level, so this must be the start of the game. Umm... I could make the wind blow in different directions, and I could turn on and off the sun, wind, and the rain. But I couldn't grow crops because I was given no information on how to do so. Needs a tutorial level, but even an info-dump would have been better than nothing at all.
 
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Sk8dududu

Member
Game Rankings / Reviews

1st Place - Adventures of a Broken Robot by Var & Cat
Beautiful art style, and a completely unique take on the theme, which is actually enjoyable to play, sounds are great. I really enjoyed it, I originally ranked it lower but went back to play it again just because, so it was obviously better than I had first thought.
2nd Place - Lights Out by Tinygameslab
Even though the theme integration was pretty cliché, it was done very well, in a mobile type art style that I'm very into. It felt very refined and it didn't shove text or instructions in my face. I was able to just open, and play a great game. I kept finding my self only settling for 1 "lights switch" per level, if only it was mandatory.
3rd Place - Elephants Don't Play Video Games After Dark by wkaudio & KaraLynn.Cosplay
Such a cute game, if it was harder or if it got progressively harder towards 0700, that would have been even more amazing. This reminds me of being a young child and playing a game or something in my room when it was bedtime, then getting busted and going to sleep. Very enjoyable game.
Best of categories:
Best Use of Theme - GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
Best Presentation - Neet Retreat by Jacob V
Best Concept - Elephants don't play video games after dark by Wkaudio & Karalynn.cosplay
Best Story - How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd & DanielDochertyMusic
Best Devlog - Timer by orSQUADstra

Full Ranking
1. The Adventures of a Broken Robot - Cat, Var
2. Lights Out - Tinygameslab
3. Elephants don't play video games after dark - wkaudio, karalynn.cosplay
4
. Gr1d_0 - Bauke Regnerus
5. Once upon in Albimore - MilesThatch
6. … - Misu, Yal
7. How We Find Home - Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
8. Something Scary - Bearman_18
9. TOGGLD - Lazertrax
10. RoBros - BeardyElf
11. Blabbit in the Headlights - GameDevDan
12. Shield Shuffle - Curato
13. Game_end() - ghandpivot
14. Computer IT - Michael McMullen
15. Fun Park - Bart
16. Motti - Relic
17. Neet Retreat - Jacob V
18. pagefault - TehPilot
19. Hungry Thing - Shadow_Lancer
20. Timer - orSQUADstra
21. Tricky Farming - Paul, Sergio
22. On and Off, Back and Forth - Mercerenies
23. Save the Lights - KPJ
24. Grid Pause - The M
25. Greenshield the Brave - Mercerenies
26. Ghost Light - DougM
27. Reflector Sector - woodsmoke
28. Break-Link - Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
29. Switch Glitch - Silas The Dev
30. Off and On in the Octagon - Bentley
31. Cat Factory - Toque
32. REBOT - HayManMarc
33. Gung-ho Pro Commando - Roa
34. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On - Allison James
35. Occupational Hazard - Cheshy, SamSam
36. Lightbulb - sp202
37. Server Reset - Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
38. PAINTB***H 2.0 - Lukan
39. Matsu Switch! - TheMiningBoyAlpha
40. Office Shape Saviour - Pixel Poison
I originally had a full breakdown for each game but I redacted that as I think just a list works better for my self. It's too many games and I just don't wanna clutter it up with all the breakdowns.
If anyone from the game jam would like my personal input in detail about their game, pm me and I'll be more than happy to let you know what I liked/disliked. I really enjoyed not only competing in this game jam as my first jam, but playing everyone else's games and sharing this together as a community has been such a pleasure.
 
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var

Member
Top 3
1. pagefault by TehPilot
Fun puzzles, fun idea, enjoyable atmosphere. Other than fixing the things you've already mentioned, the only thing it needs is Windows 95 Shutdown Sound.

2. Grid Pause by The M
Overall an excellent entry. The diferent enemy types being threats in different situations makes for constant decisions about when to reprioritize. You can do well enough on your first or second run, but more practice lets you figure out srategies for certain situations, so that you can do even better. Only area I would improve is graphics.
Also,

game on

3. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
Very fun experience, only two issues. Adding your own mouse cursor makes it lag by ~1 frame, which feels awkward to me. In the later stages of the game, one mistake generally means that I die in a few seconds, because it's so high-paced that I can't recover quickly enough.

First Impressions
Keep in mind that these are just first impressions, so for many games I haven't had time to even figure out what I'm supposed to do.
Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan:
Simple concept executed well

Break-Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal:
This one's gonna be fun!

Cat Factory by Toque:
Not sure how it fits the theme

Computer IT by Michael McMullen:
Satisfying to play

Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail:
I like the visuals, especially the fact that you did lighing on the menu screen!

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay:
Simple concept executed well

Fun Park by Bart:
Fullscreening issues on my computer :(

game_end() by ghandpivot:
I love the concept, but I got stuck after the first 30 seconds

Ghost Light by DougM:
Not exactly sure how it works

GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus:
Hard, but in a good way

Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies:
I move so slow

Grid Pause by The M:
A little to hectic to get much out of it right now

Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa:
3D graphics are cool! I'm not sure they do much for this game tho

How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic:
Too slow for a good first impression

Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer:
Wacky graphics! I like that you can spin, which changes how you control yourself.

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James:
oh no it's an idle game

Lightbulb by sp202:
WHAT

Lights Out by TinyGamesLab:
Best execution I've seen so far of the "you can/should only move in the dark" concept.

Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha:
Don't know how to turn it on

Motti by Relic:
Looks like it'll be a nice puzzle game!

NEET Retreat by Jacob V:
Classic JacobV graphics

Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam:
Great concept, graphics are inconsistent

Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley:
Could use a HUD

Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison:
Needs a consistent control scheme. Also crashed the first time I tried to interact with something.

On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies:
Award for the best game with so little gameplay.

Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch:
Love the atmosphere! Very creepy vibe

ooo by Misu, Yal:
nice atmosphere

pagefault by TehPilot:
It actually feels like a real desktop!

PAINTB---H 2.0 by Lukan:
I want to load my artwork :(

Powerout by Cat, let, var:
pretty boring so far tbh, whoever made this game is probably dumb

Rebot by HayManMarc:
Is this on an ice rink? Can tell this is a cool concept!

Reflector Sector by woodsmoke:
Best concept so far

RoBros by BeardyElf:
Crashes on launch, issue with the shaders

Save The Lights by KPJ:
Bigger font would have been nice, can't really read them

Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker:
Not much variety in the first few waves I tried

Shield Shuffle by Curato:
"___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation
ShaderName: glr_shader_blur_hor

memory:67:22: error: syntax error, unexpected NEW_IDENTIFIER

at gml_Script_glr_draw
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Script_glr_draw (line -1)
gml_Object_oGlare_Draw_0"

Something Scary by Bearman_18:
Love it so far

Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev:
Can't figure out how to start level 1

TIMER by orSQUADstra:
Fullscreening issues on my computer :(

TOGGLD by Lazertrax:
Great presentation, intuitive gameplay, good for learning binary too

Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio:
Oh god this is gonna be hard

Full Reviews
This is my feedback for your game, from a more objective standpoint. I put in a brief rating for each of many facets of your game, and then write any additional notes at the end. If you think that I missed an important part of your game, or I got stuck too early, let me know and I'll try to play it some more!

Concept: How unique/interesting/fun your game's concept is; Gameplay: How much I enjoyed the execution of your concept; Overall atmosphere: How immersive it felt; Music, SFX, Graphics: How good they are, and how well they fit the rest of the game; Story: Whether or no a story exists, and if so then how much I liked it; Use of theme: How much it uses the theme IMO.
Time played: How long I spent playing the game (not including my first impressions); Game length: How long the game was relative to how interesting the gameplay and mechanics were (essentially: whether you could have made it longer or should have made it shorter).
... (ooo) by Misu, Yal
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Extremely frustrating; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: Ambient, excellent; SFX: Excellent; Graphics: Excellent; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Meh.
Overall almost a great game, but 3 issues make it extremely frustrating: 1) Slow acceleration but instant direction switching make for unintuitive movement. 2) The enemies' hitboxes seem larger than they should be, so it's difficult to hit the lanterns' super-small hitboxes before an enemy gets me. 3) in a few places it's impossible to see ahead as much as I would want to, turning the first run into "jump ahead and die so that I'll know what's there next time around." Gave up when it blackscreened shortly after checkpoint 2.
Time played: 12 minutes; Game length: Not sure.

Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
Concept: Fun; Gameplay: Good; Overall atmosphere: Okay; Music: Decent; SFX: Decent; Graphics: Great; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Decent.
Couldn't figure out how the badgers move. Gave up after 5 minutes of trying to figure out the fox level.
Time played: 9 minutes; Game length: Good.

Break-Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
Concept: Excellent; Gameplay: Good; Overall atmosphere: Great, but not exactly fitting; Music: Decent; SFX: None; Graphics: Good; Story: None; Use of theme: Okay.
Fire 3 can be easily completed without solar panels. I love all the mechanics that were introduced; it would have been great with more levels.
Time played: 11 minutes; Game length: Too short.

Cactus People 7™ by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
Concept: Completely unique; Gameplay: Excellent; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: Excellent; SFX: Excellent; Graphics: Excellent; Story: Excellent, really felt like I was in the desert there.; Use of theme: What theme?.
"I thought nothing could top Cactus People 6™, but they've done it again! wkaudio and KaraLynn.Cosplay continue to revolutionize the endless runner genre with their brilliant masterpieces. I would say this game will be remembered for years to come, but I fear that Cactus People 8™ may end up surpassing it. Overall, Cactus People 7™'s non-stop jumping action kept me enthralled for far too long. 10/10."
Time played: 60 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Cat Factory by Toque
Concept: Okay; Gameplay: Kinda boring; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: None; SFX: Good; Graphics: Great; Story: None; Use of theme: None .
Scaling up the graphics by a non-integer factor gives the sprites a wonky look because each pixel isn't a consistent size. Two easy UX improvements you could make: don't drop a cat into a box until I let go, so I can drag cats over the wrong box to the right box. Give a small visual effect to an item when I hover over it, so it's obvious which one I'm hovering over and so I know how soon I can drag it after it comes out of the machine.
Time played: 1 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Computer IT by Michael McMullen
Concept: Okay; Gameplay: Fun, somehow; Overall atmosphere: Okay; Music: A bit repetitive; SFX: Okay; Graphics: Good; Story: None; Use of theme: Great.
Wasn't trying very hard, so by 20 minutes I was down to one computer left, but it was blue still, so I probably could have spam clicked it to survive for another hour at least.
Time played: 21 minutes; Game length: Way too long.

Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
Concept: Standard; Gameplay: Good; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: Good; SFX: None; Graphics: Excellent, except that everything looks blurry; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Not that I can see.
Being unable to move while colliding with a wall feels bad.
Time played: 5 minutes; Game length: Good.

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
Concept: Okay; Gameplay: Decent; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: Good; SFX: None; Graphics: Great; Story: Excellent; Use of theme: Good.
Funny
Time played: 4 minutes; Game length: A bit long.

Fun Park by Bart
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Unfinished; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: Personally I found it annoying, but it was definitely fitting.; SFX: None; Graphics: Excellent; Story: Decent; Use of theme: Decent.
Can definitely tell it's unfinished. First good use of 3D graphics I've seen though!
Time played: 5 minutes; Game length: N/A.

game_end() by ghandpivot
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Interesting puzzles; Overall atmosphere: Not much; Music: None; SFX: None; Graphics: Excellent; Story: None; Use of theme: Great.
Unique, and pretty funny.
Time played: 4 minutes; Game length: Good.

Ghost Light by DougM
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Fun, but got boring quickly; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: Almost perfect; SFX: Good; Graphics: Great; Story: None; Use of theme: Good.
The ghost chasing me made it a nice challenge.
Time played: 3 minutes; Game length: A bit long.

GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
Concept: Good spin on a classic puzzle; Gameplay: Excellent; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: None; SFX: Great; Graphics: Excellent; Story: None; Use of theme: Good.
Feels very polished. Well done! Only thing that I would add is music.
Time played: 16 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
Concept: Standard; Gameplay: slooooow; Overall atmosphere: Okay; Music: Decent; SFX: Okay; Graphics: Decent; Story: Okay; Use of theme: Not sure.
After spending 10 minutes to get less than 20% of the way there, I gave up. It feels like it was balanced for 60 FPS, and then later changed to 30 FPS without increasing the player's speed.
Time played: 10 minutes; Game length: Way too long.

Grid Pause by The M
Concept: Superb; Gameplay: Excellent; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: Great; SFX: Decent; Graphics: Good; Story: None; Use of theme: Great.
Overall an excllent entry. The diferent enemy types being threats in different situations makes for constant decisions about when to reprioritize. You can do well enough on your first or second run, but more practice lets you figure out srategies for certain situations, so that you can do even better. Only area I would improve is graphics.
Time played: 23 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
Concept: Okay; Gameplay: Okay; Overall atmosphere: Meh; Music: None; SFX: None; Graphics: Okay; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Not that I could see.
I love that you tried 3D graphics, but unfortunately that's the only notable thing about this game.
Time played: 8 minutes; Game length: Too long.

How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
Concept: Kinda cool; Gameplay: Not much; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: Excellent; SFX: Good; Graphics: Excellent; Story: Great; Use of theme: I read your explanation, but still....
A nice experience, but I wouldn't really call it a game.
Time played: 6 minutes; Game length: Good.

Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Difficult in a good way; Overall atmosphere: Would have been great with different music; Music: Decent, but not fitting; SFX: Good; Graphics: Great; Story: None; Use of theme: None that I could see.
Unfinished, but looks like it could have turned out great.
Time played: 5 minutes; Game length: Too long.

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
Concept: Standard; Gameplay: It's an idle game, what do you expect; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: Excellent; SFX: None; Graphics: Great; Story: Excellent; Use of theme: Okay.
A pretty standard incremental/idle game, but with a funny story. All the descriptions of the artists and whatnot made it actually fun to sit there in the game while waiting for stuff to happen.
Time played: 25 (+ way more idle) minutes; Game length: Good.

Lightbulb by sp202
Concept: Unique, surprising; Gameplay: Not much; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: None; SFX: Good enough; Graphics: Good enough; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Meh.
First game that literally made me laugh out loud. I love that it loops.
Time played: 3 minutes; Game length: Short.

Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Feels unintuitive, not necessarily in a bad way; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: Good; SFX: Good; Graphics: Excellent; Story: Good; Use of theme: Good.
Please make the death screen skippable.
Time played: 15, of which ~5 was spent staring at the death screen. minutes; Game length: Long.

Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Kinda boring; Overall atmosphere: Very cohesive; Music: Good; SFX: Good; Graphics: Decent, but I personally wasn't a fan of the "streched out" pixels; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Okay.
Score: 19900, death count: 3
Time played: 7 minutes; Game length: Good.

Motti by Relic
Concept: Excellent, unique; Gameplay: Good, but got boring; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: None; SFX: Excellent; Graphics: Great; Story: Decent; Use of theme: Great.
Objectively a pretty good game, I just was not a fan of it for two reasons: using the mouse to aim in a direction (as opposed to towards a point) felt awkward, and there were not enough mechanics introduced to be worth a ~30 minute game.
Time played: 20 minutes; Game length: Too long.

NEET Retreat by Jacob V
Concept: Was there one?; Gameplay: Meh; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: None; SFX: Excellent; Graphics: Exellent; Story: A bit; Use of theme: None.
Excellent presentation, but not much game to play. Even with the sound to "guide" me, a lack of unique landmarks makes it essentially impossible to keep track of where I am (this is coming from someone who never gets lost IRL). Feels unfinished.
Time played: 14 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Good; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: Decent; SFX: Good; Graphics: Good; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Great.
Pretty fun until the level with the 4 computers down the right side of the screen. Not sure if there's some some trick I'm missing, but there's no way I'm gonna be able to click all 4 while falling.
Time played: 7 minutes; Game length: Not sure.

Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Decent; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: Good; SFX: Good; Graphics: Excellent, except for the stone which looks out of place; Story: None; Use of theme: Meh.
Not sure what the gem in the middle does.
Time played: 4 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
Concept: Not sure; Gameplay: Okay; Overall atmosphere: Meh; Music: None; SFX: None; Graphics: Meh; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Not really.
Couldn't figure out if there was a way to fix the coffee machine, which I assume would have moved the crowd so that I would be able to save the 4th blue guy.
Time played: 4 minutes; Game length: Good.

On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
Concept: Fun; Gameplay: Great; Overall atmosphere: N/A; Music: None; SFX: None; Graphics: Good enough; Story: None; Use of theme: Good.
Quite fun to experiment with different combinations. Y and K were my favorites. Couldn't figure out what X does.
Time played: 10 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
Concept: Not sure; Gameplay: Not sure; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: Great; SFX: Great; Graphics: Excellent; Story: Good; Use of theme: Good.
Once I got the thing from the wardrobe, I couldn't find anything other than empty rooms after flipping the switch for several minutes.
Time played: 5 minutes; Game length: Not sure.

pagefault by TehPilot
Concept: Excellent; Gameplay: Great; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: Excellent; SFX: Great; Graphics: Excellent; Story: Good; Use of theme: Good.
Fun puzzles, fun idea, enjoyable atmosphere. Other than fixing the things you've already mentioned, the only thing it needs is Windows 95 Shutdown Sound.
Time played: 23 minutes; Game length: Good.

PAINTB---H 2.0 by Lukan
Concept: None; Gameplay: None; Overall atmosphere: None; Music: None; SFX: None; Graphics: None; Story: None; Use of theme: None.
Excellent
Time played: 1 minutes; Game length: None.

Powerout by Cat, var
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Good; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: Great; SFX: Great; Graphics: Great except for the battery sprite whoever drew that must be an idiot lmao; Story: None; Use of theme: Good.
Constantly needing to switch systems got a bit old. Dying near the end of some levels was annoying. I didn't like that I had to move off of signs to see my HUD. I wanted to climb the beanstalk in level 2 :(
Time played: 15 minutes; Game length: A bit long.

Rebot by HayManMarc
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Frustrating; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: Good; SFX: Good; Graphics: Great; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Great.
Being so slidey in a game about fast but precise movement does not feel good at all. Gave up after 3 minutes of failing level 4.
Time played: 6 minutes; Game length: Long.

Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
Concept: Unique, interesting; Gameplay: Good; Overall atmosphere: Okay; Music: Okay; SFX: Great; Graphics: Good; Story: None; Use of theme: Great.
Surprisingly fun to play, but it's a bit irritating how little agency I had when I noticed that I was heading towards the monster.
Time played: 11 minutes; Game length: Long.

RoBros by BeardyElf
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Great; Overall atmosphere: Good; Music: Good; SFX: Okay; Graphics: Great; Story: Okay; Use of theme: Okay.
Pretty interesting concept, but it started to get just annoying after a while.
Time played: 5 minutes; Game length: Not sure.

Save The Lights by KPJ
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Okay; Overall atmosphere: Decent; Music: Good; SFX: Okay; Graphics: Great; Story: None; Use of theme: You only turn stuff on, not off.
Voice was a bit annoying. Patterns in the later levels would have been cool, instead of randomly placed lights.
Time played: 3 minutes; Game length: Longish.

Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
Concept: Standard; Gameplay: Surprisingly satisfying; Overall atmosphere: Meh; Music: Started to get monotonous; SFX: Could have used more; Graphics: Decent; Story: Decent; Use of theme: Meh.
I liked the ending sequence
Time played: 9 minutes; Game length: A bit long.

Shield Shuffle by Curato
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Decent; Overall atmosphere: Okay; Music: None; SFX: Okay; Graphics: Okay; Story: None; Use of theme: Good.
An interesting concept, could have used more polish. I think you could make it more challenging by increasing the number of fuel pickups, and decreasing how much they give.
Time played: 3 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Something Scary by Bearman_18
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Good; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: None; SFX: Good; Graphics: Great; Story: Good; Use of theme: Great.
Overall an excellent entry. Couldn't figure out how to get past the area with the first monster that crawls over a switch.
Time played: 10 minutes; Game length: Not sure.

Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
Concept: Good; Gameplay: Good, but buggy; Overall atmosphere: Okay; Music: None; SFX: Decent; Graphics: Good; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Good.
A pretty nice puzzle-ish game. Great amount of content. The main problem is that it's buggy: I can't figure out how to select the right levels, sounds broke at one point, and the entire game crashed twice.
Time played: 14 minutes; Game length: A bit long.

TIMER by orSQUADstra
Concept: Simple but otherwise great; Gameplay: Unintuitive, but intriguing; Overall atmosphere: Excellent; Music: Not really; SFX: Excellent; Graphics: Excellent; Story: None; Use of theme: Okay.
Very interesting concept, took a while to get used to but is super cool once I did. I feel like there was so much more you could have done with the mechanic, but I assume you ran out of time. Only three minor issues: 1) It's really easy to screw up a playthrough irrecoverably, but that's okay in this case because the level is so short once you know what you're doing. 2) Getting the switch and the duck in the pit required pressing D, F, and E in quick succession with precise timing. This was kinda awkward to do, because I want to use the same finger for each of those keys. 3) The fact that jumping gives the character momentum was a bit unintuitive, and took a while to get used to. Overall, an excellent entry that is only kept from first place only by weak use of the theme.
Time played: 12 minutes; Game length: Short.

TOGGLD by Lazertrax
Concept: Excellent; Gameplay: Very good; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: Excellent; SFX: Excellent; Graphics: Great; Story: None; Use of theme: Good.
Very fun experience, only two issues. Adding your own mouse cursor makes it lag by ~1 frame, which feels awkward to me. In the later stages of the game, one mistake generally means that I die in a few seconds, because it's so high-paced that I can't recover quickly enough.
Time played: 11 minutes; Game length: N/A.

Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
Concept: Great; Gameplay: Excellent; Overall atmosphere: Great; Music: Excellent; SFX: None; Graphics: Great; Story: Not much; Use of theme: Good.
Easier than I expected from the first impression. Quite fun overall.
Time played: 8 minutes; Game length: Good.

General Feedback
Consistency. Consistency is key for many things in games, but graphics and controls are the two things many games don't keep consistent. It's hard to make a graphics style that looks objectively bad, so pick any style and go with that style only. 100% low-effort MSPaint graphics looks better than 70% MSPaint and 30% high-quality art assets (original or downloaded). Even more important, though, is controls. Ideally, you should choose either WASD/Mouse or ZXC/Arrows and stick with whichever you chose. However, nearly anything is better than switching control schemes (e.g. the menus are mouse-controlled, but the game is ZXC/Arrows) or using a non-cohesive scheme (e.g. WASD, Mouse, and also the Enter key—I don't have 3 hands, and I don't want to move either of my two hands in the middle of the game).

Rankings
Rankings are independent of my full reviews, and are largely subjective. I have ranked the top 28 finished games.
  1. pagefault by TehPilot
  2. Grid Pause by The M
  3. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
  4. TIMER by orSQUADstra
  5. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
  6. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
  7. GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
  8. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
  9. Break-Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
  10. On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
  11. Motti by Relic
  12. Something Scary by Bearman_18
  13. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
  14. game_end() by ghandpivot
  15. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
  16. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
  17. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
  18. Lightbulb by sp202
  19. RoBros by BeardyElf
  20. How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
  21. ... (ooo) by Misu, Yal
  22. Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
  23. Rebot by HayManMarc
  24. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
  25. Ghost Light by DougM
  26. Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
  27. Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
  28. Computer IT by Michael McMullen
 
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T

TinyGamesLab

Guest
One line of the keyboard died mid-reviewing.
I'll post all my comments so far but will not make a final rank as I was not able to play all games properly.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

KPJ

Member
KPJ'S REVIEWS AND VOTES

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2nd Place - Game Name by Author Name
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3rd Place - Game Name by Author Name
I voted for this game because...

Best Ofs
Best use of theme: game name by author name
Best concept: game name by author name
Best presentation: game name by author name
Best devlog: author name

Full Ranking
1. game name by author name
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3. game name by author name
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Reviews

Reviews here
 
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Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
Reserviewds

Top 3:

Motti by Relic
A great entry with a good tactical element to it and a neat execution of theme.

Powerout by Cat, var, let
A pretty fun puzzle platformer, though its controls and feedback could be improved in some places.

Rebot by HayManMarc
I've found this entry pretty enjoyable, with quite an original and well-integrated take on the theme (also, music).

Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: Rebot by HayManMarc
Best Concept: Lightbulb by sp202
Best Presentation: NEET Retreat by Jacob V
Best Story: Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James

Full ranking:

  1. Motti by Relic
  2. Powerout by Cat, var, let
  3. Rebot by HayManMarc
  4. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
  5. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
  6. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
  7. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
  8. Lightbulb by sp202
  9. game_end() by ghandpivot
  10. pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue
  11. GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
  12. Grid Pause by The M
  13. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
  14. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
  15. TIMER by orSQUADstra
  16. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
  17. RoBros by BeardyElf
  18. Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
  19. On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
  20. Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
  21. Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
  22. Computer IT by Michael McMullen
  23. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
  24. How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
  25. Something Scary by Bearman_18
  26. Ghost Light by DougM
  27. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
  28. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
  29. ... by Misu, Yal
  30. Shield Shuffle by Curato
  31. Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
  32. Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
  33. NEET Retreat by Jacob V
  34. Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
  35. Cat Factory by Toque
  36. Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
  37. Save The Lights by KPJ
  38. Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
  39. Fun Park by Bart
  40. PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan

Comments (#1-20):

Rebot by HayManMarc

(review #1)

This was pretty hectic, yet pretty entertaining. Still, I'm kinda glad it's got no more than 5 levels. ^^'

First things first, because that's what caught my attention at the very beginning. The help font, stylized for this computer-like appearance. It works well for something like titles, but not as much for the large blocks of text. It's not like it's very unreadable, but it still requires more effort than more typical fonts.

In particular, I had trouble with disable blast, because I couldn't quite recognise the character there. At first I thought maybe it's H, then I tried K, eventually X is what worked for me. That's the thing - while I can process entire words based on what's "supposed" to be there, I cannot rely on that for recognising single characters (and X was heavily stylised here).

Putting aside the difficult beginnings, though, using my knowledge from the introduction and some trial-and-error I managed to complete the first level without too much hurdle. After the second one I began to appreciate the somewhat simple yet pretty unique* logic behind this game, which was further confirmed in level 3. Overall, I've found the gameplay quite enjoyable, with enough tension to keep me engaged and some tactical element (planning the route). As I realised on a replay, the tension is diminished a bit by the quickly regenerating disabling blast (it seems to replenish faster than enemies recover), but it's actually helpful when playing Jam entries.

The visuals are pleasant and work well for the game, though I feel the door could have a different colour than the walls - it looks like an obstacle, when it's actually perfectly passable. Maybe make the colour somewhat dimmer, so that it doesn't feel like a part of a foreground? There are a few sound effects, but what I liked most about the presentation was the music. It just fit so well with this navigating through the mazes and making the escape while pursued by the drones.

Overall, I've found this entry pretty enjoyable, with quite an original and well-integrated take on the theme (also, music; why there are no credits? >.<).

*with this game being the first reviewed, there's a whole lot of games ahead that might use a similar mechanic, but overall it's not something I see often

Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan

(review #2)

I'm getting a strong Lost Little Hero vibes here, except this time with light-switching mechanics.

When I read the Readme, I wondered what could be so challenging about figuring out the enemy patterns, but then I noticed the game is turn-based. Not that I mind, it actually puts more emphasis on planning.

Except when badgers are involved. Then I just kept turning lights on and off after each turn, checking which field definitely won't be entered by a badger and then proceeding towards that field. It kinda sorta reminds me of these bugs from Lost Little Hero, but I think back then the bugs covered also the neighbouring fields, not just their own. Either way, I found the badgers easier than these bugs, somehow. I didn't quite expect to have 10 levels in the game made in 3 hours; then again, I suppose once you have core mechanics down, then adding new levels is pretty easy.

The game artwork is somewhat simple, but coherent and pretty cute. The choice of music and what seems to be SFXR/BFXR sound effects work well with the game, too.

The use of theme is clear, though perhaps not exactly original. I specifically recall seeing in the Jam discussion some screens with a platformer based around the same idea (move only when the lights are off), though I've yet to see if this platformer has been made.

Overall, a cute little puzzle with a straightforward, but adequate use of theme.

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James

(review #3)

This game has got the most personality out of the entries I played so far. I mean, it's the third entry I've played, but I still think any subsequent one will be able to beat it (I'd like to be proven wrong).

It's another idle-ish game presented by Allie, though this time it's thankfully much shorter to complete. The surrounding concept and its execution is hilarious, with a seemingly self-made daughter having her hit oh-so-subtly promoted by her rich father. All this complete with a streaming platform interface with various tidbits about the artists and the covers from the album hits. Also, lots of thinly-veiled references to British politics, apparently.

Last but not least, the song itself which apparently was made by Allison herself (though vocals were actually provided by Rytmik samples). Oddly enough, I completed the game while having the song playing the entire time; there was an option to tone down volume to zero, but it wasn't necessary. Damn you, the catchiness of the pop songs!

The theme is kinda there, in part when you "replay" the track to get more plays (which can be stretched to be an equivalent to switching off an on), and in part with the song itself
and the other song mentioned in the ending
. I wouldn't exactly say the use of theme was integral; if the theme was PIZZA, the song could be called "How I Crave You" and it would still work (maybe even better with the pineapples of doom).

Overall, I've found the game to be quite entertaining and very well made, if maybe with a barely significant use of theme.

Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley

(review #4)

I get the general objective, that is throwing off the enemies from the map. I also get the general spell-casting and spell-switching mechanic, though the spells didn't seem to do much compared to spamming the main attack.

What I don't get is what the giant crystal in the middle is supposed to do and why no matter how I switch it, it always says "ON". And if switching the crystal is not the main theme mechanic, then what is (making enemies fall from the map so that they end up "off" the octagon or what)?

Aside from that, the audiovisuals are passable, though not outstanding. I would have liked having a wider view of the game arena, though...

Overall, a mildly entertaining if confusing entry. On my playthrough I made it to the 4th round, aparently.

pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

(review #5)

Alright, so the concept of opening the windows in the operating system of sorts and have the programs interact with each other is pretty unique and enjoyable. I wonder how the game would turn out if it put more emphasis on the windows themselves than the puzzles and platforming (though adding that kind of variety would likely mean more work).

The puzzles and platforming were alright, though they weren't particularly original themselves; it's mostly the framing that sells it. The level design could definitely use more polish. I seemed to have run into every possible major level design problem - the softlock in level 4, the invisible wall at the start of level 5 (I had to consult TehPilot on this one) and the hidden number in level 6 . These issues (especially, the forced replay of the game in level 4) soured my impression of an otherwise pretty cool concept.

On the other hand, the audiovisual side of the game is pretty great, with a variety of eye candy, special effects and old-school Windows style. I've found the music fun to listen and fitting as well.

While I guess there are some hints about the theme use (admin remark at the beginning, opening and closing windows and switching network settings), none stood out to me as very specific to the theme. The core gameplay mechanics seemed more focused on the binary than on turning things on and off. There were these network tools, but usually it was obvious when to use them; solving the binary operations felt more time-consuming and thus more "relevant". Likewise, the ultimate solution to the problem was "navigate through file viewer with all its obstacles", not to actually turn the thing on and off.

Overall, a game with a great presentation, unique framing, decent gameplay and an underwhelming use of theme.

Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam

(review #6)

After dozens of unsuccessful attempts at the four computers in a column level, I ragequit. I can't even imagine how touchpad users are supposed to complete it...

Too bad, because the game itself is based around a concept I'd have liked to see more uses of - that is, turning off and on specific environment elements. Probably the most unique use of this mechanic was sending the birds down to switch a computer for me.

The presentation was decent enough. The platforming itself felt somewhat slow and awkward, especially with a pretty odd main character animation. The controls didn't help - I'd rather have had W for jumping (alongside A and D for walking) instead of a spacebar. Speaking of the controls, Enter has got to be one of the least intuitive choices for a restart button. I mean, it can also be interpreted as a "Return" button, but...

Overall, an entry with a great use of theme, but also with a lot of room for improvement in platforming aspect.

Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison

(review #7)

I played both the Jam and the post-Jam version. I'm going to rank the Jam one, but give feedback to both.

The Jam version is an early quit because of the game-breaking coffe-maker bug that doesn't allow me to reach one of shapes in the first level. So I can't even meet the first boss.

In the post-Jam version I can actually reach the boss, then advance to the next level and defeat another one. Since walking into the elevator after level 2 didn't seem to do anything, I assume there are no other levels.

When it comes to the gameplay, it could definitely use less button mashing and more forgiveness. It takes only two hits from the boss to die, and after that I need to button-mash the office workers back into happiness. I didn't dare to find out if running out of health on level 2 means starting the game all over again; thankfully, I didn't have to learn it the hard way. There have been some naughty shapes that kept following me, which was pretty stressful; I'd rather have them e.g. move around in fixed paths - it still gives the challenge of avoiding them, but at least allows the player to take a break once in a while (also, doesn't result in automatic loss of health when the player finds themselves in a dead end). The second boss on the other hand used pretty much the same bullet patterns as the first one and I managed to dodge them without fail.

The graphics are very inconsistent and the individual pieces aren't really great, either. There is no audio whatsoever. There is some attempt at use of theme, but it's quite a stretch. ^^' The story was kinda cute, though.

Overall, not really the greatest entry, but still gave me some enjoyment. If only the Jam version didn't have that game-breaking bug...

Computer IT by Michael McMullen

(review #8)

Well, this took me like 20-30 minutes to eventually lose this game with a magnificent score of 1. I guess to maximise the endgame score I needed to stop fixing computers when they were too costly to repair, and just let them die...? Too bad I know this after the fact. ^^'
(just for the record, I had about 250 cash maximum throughout the game)

I appreciate the honest and straightforward use of theme and it maybe could have worked pretty well, but several design choices make the game increasingly boring as the game progresses. The game seems to be done in a "decremental" fashion - the difficulty doesn't really increase, but every second an error is shown a small amount of computer health is depleted. It basically means that if you aim to fixing errors ASAP (rather than saving money and not fixing the expensive ones), for several minutes you just fix blue screen at about the same rate, then eventually some bluescreens become red screens, then finally the computers burn. And the rate of interesting events happening is pretty uneven - relatively long periods of boredom when nothing happens, separated by occasional error fixing and money collecting. What's worse, once computers are burning out, the player is left with fewer and fewer computers, leading to even less things to do and more boredom.

I liked the graphics - they are pretty simple, but also detailed and lively at the same time. Pretty good job with these tiny computers. The music is alright at the beginning, but it gets stale after a few minutes of gameplay, and this game seems like it involves pretty long gameplay rounds.

A game with a pretty cool theme use, but foiled by its core boredom-inducing mechanics.

Save The Lights by KPJ

(review #9)

Alright, but seriously. Keyboard controller menu in a mouse-controller game? I even had this power lightning cursor in the menu and was wondering why it doesn't work, when I clearly use mouse here.

The game itself has a lot to do with recovering the lightbulbs energy, but nothing with turning them off and on again. Basically, the player is tasked with clicking on lightbulbs to keep them from running out of energy, and if they fail to keep a lightbulb running, they lose a life and the lighbulb. To make things more complicated, there are viruses which, when clicked, also take one life.

Both these mechanics on their own and together are somewhat unforgiving. The lights, especially the red ones, run out of energy rather quickly and it's hard to keep track of ~8 of them at once. What doesn't help keeping track is somewhat weak feedback - a bulb gradually goes from pretty bright to somewhat dim, which - as a gradual process - doesn't draw attention to bulbs nearing their energy expiration. It could have worked better if e.g. bulbs with lots of energy were glowing while the bulbs nearing the end would have their glow blink or disappear. At the same time, there are these viruses that keep appearing near-instantly at various places, often taking the player by surprise.

The thing is, the lights part - especially at later levels - requires player to click about as fast as possible to keep up with all the lightbulbs; yet at the same time, the viruses discourage too fast clicking in favour of more careful approach. These contradictory goals wouldn't be so bad if both elements were toned down - having more time for specific lights and making the virus' presence telegraphed (e.g. with some kind of target mark or a growing virus shadow or something) would probably make the game more balanced and reliable. As it is now, I kinda feel like just clicking fast and just counting on my luck not to have a virus suddenly appear under my cursor.

The game's audiovisuals aren't particularly great, but at least feel somewhat consistent. It could have used some more feedback e.g. to indicate a light running out of energy.

Overall, a decent if unbalanced entry. Too bad it pretty much misses the definition of the theme.

Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha

(review #10)

Please make sure I can find out the necessary controls without checking the post in the Games topic.

It's an ordinary platformer with pretty ordinary pixelated graphics, ordinary music and SFX, ordinary theme implementation through an ordinary platform-toggling mechanic and a pretty underwhelming boss (all I needed was to just spam bullet at him).

The things that stood out to me - the riflemen (they literally stood out of the bushed they were hiding in to shoot me) and the lack of means to exit the game properly (such as an Escape key, exit button or even Alt+F4). Also, no info about the controls, neither in readme nor the game itself. With such an unusual control scheme as A/D + Space + J, the information about the controls helps a lot.

Overall, I ended the game with 1 death and 20200 points. Aside from that, it's a pretty ordinary Jam entry.

RoBros by BeardyElf

(review #11)

This time, it's switch between different characters, huh? Well, when I control one character, I definitely turn the other off so it matches (it wouldn't if they weren't robots).

I must say, the presentation of this game is pretty great, with exciting music, sound effects, all these cool pixelly graphics, atmospheric light and OHMYGOD SPIKEMAGGOTDOGS ARE HERE!

Speaking of the spikemaggotdogs and the gameplay mechanics in general, though, I feel it could use improvement in some areas. First, the Electro - they have no function of their own except for recharging the Shooto, and thus aren't exactly interesting on their own (contrast that to Shooto, who has the important task of shooting down the monsters, even if they need to recharge every once in a while). I'd have preferred if there were some other things that could be charged; I dunno, maybe the locked doors, or maybe some power devices link to the teleporter, and Electro must charge all of them before the teleporter is functional? Or maybe have Electro's beam stun the spikemaggotdogs? There are definitely quite a few options.

More importantly, the procedural level generation. I'd suggest either considerably tweaking the levels, or just stick to the fixed layout, because a well-designed level will usually trump a well-generated one, and always be preferable to a poor procedural generation. Sometimes, I ended up with a somewhat narrow and linear corridor, with no spikemaggotdogs in sight. Other times, I ended up in the middle of a large room surrounded by these pesky monsters and their spawn holes, with them quickly taking all the health away. Sometimes, the teleporter ended up less than a screen height away. Other times, I could search for it fruitlessly pretty long. Simply put, a dungeon generation algorithm is nowhere near enough to make a fun and engaging gameplay, if you don't seriously consider the procedural generation balancing.

I'm somewhat dissatisfied with how the game turned out. It seems like it has some kind of end goal, with level 1-3 each having a different track and a different tileset, but I can't bother to keep going - the game is way too luck-based. With my playthrough often ending at level 1, sometimes level 2, only once level 3, I don't really see like I'm improving. The fact that apparently you can't restore health and don't get it back between levels just makes things even worse. >.<

Overall, it could have been a pretty fun entry, but the unfair procedural generation kinda spoils it. Too bad, because the audiovisuals are pretty great. As for the theme, it's pretty standard but it's there.

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay

(review #12)

I managed to stay up all night with the final score of 16. ^^

That's a sweet short game and a really cool use of theme, both in terms of the gameplay integration and the story behind it. I particularly liked the artwork with various details like the Cactus People 4 poster, the ghost behind the window or the toast that replaces the game itself during the nighttime mode. XD The gameplay mechanic of playing the game in parallel to watching out for mom was quite enjoyable.

There's not much else to say. While it's simple, I've found this entry to be quite entertaining, and it uses a theme in a creative and fun way as well. Good job. ^^

Lights Out by TinyGamesLab

(review #13)

Thank goodness the game explains it is keyboard-controlled in the readme, or else I could have spent on the main menu much longer than I'd like to admit.

This game, like Blabbit in the Headlights, uses off-to-move-on-to-see mechanic, yet its use seems fuller. More specifically, the game keeps track of how many times the light have been switched, actively encouraging the players to minimise the number and displays it alongside other player statistics (which seem to be taken from web? If so, well done!). I just wish I could see the number of players that completed a given level. Also, it seems I can quickly skip the level completion screen, but must wait out for the death screen. If all this wait is your idea of punishing the player for failure, please don't do that again. Most of the times allowing the player to restart immediately keeps the game flowing and is the way to go.

As for the gameplay itself, I enjoyed it. The start was somewhat slow, but things got fun with the goombersatzes and cannons appearing - these were actually nice indicators of where I should position myself. In fact, I wouldn't mind if the game itself emphasized the eye-positioning aspect over the playing from memory one. On the other hand, spikes on the other hand were not fun at all, especially when I was supposed to jump right between them. Also, I'd have liked some kind of level number tracking, perhaps alongside the total number level, to get the idea of the progress. Either way, I eventually managed to find the princess.

I don't have much to say about the audiovisuals except that they're all around great and work well together.

Overall, quite an enjoyable entry with a solid use of theme. Well done.

GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus

(review #14)

This is a pretty cool and enjoyable puzzle concept, trying to figure out how to use shape-based toggling to draw a specific code somewhere. There is enough options not to make the optimal solution immediately obvious, yet few enough to find some close enough patterns. In that regard, the core gameplay is pretty cool and I wouldn't mind seeing it executed as a "pure" puzzle - i.e. with specifically designed levels, rather than randomly generated, and with all information (the shapes available) being immediately available to the player. Conversely, the bomb seem pretty unnecessary and overpowered, as I can't really take them down safely and they can disable a chunk of the grid. I feel the game would do better without that addition.

My personal record is a progress of 52%. It looks like the game is supposed to have a definite end, but I don't exactly feel like replaying the randomly-generated game from start over and over again in hopes to maybe, possibly finish it eventually.

The audiovisuals are simple, but aesthetically fitting. There's no music, but it's not a problem in a game like this.

While I see some light being switched on and off, I feel like this game is rather on the sides rather than the center of "Turn it off and on again". Probably because the overall goal is to get the lights to the specific state, rather than switch them off and then back on.

Overall, a game with an enjoyable concept that I'd like to see executed as a pure, non-random puzzle. Without bombs.

game_end() by ghandpivot

(review #15)

So, I got to this: "Ambitious! But it's actually over :)" screen, and I just kept replaying it like 10 times or so just to make sure. I suppose there really is no content after that (and if there is, you really shouldn't have put it after that many dummy screens.

It is quite an entertaining concept, taking the theme to the boundaries of the game and beyond (granted, it's not the first time ghandpivot has done something like that). The general premise and execution is pretty nice, too, except for that damn level 5 with the nimble button. And yes, it takes way more than pressing the window against the corner to ensure the success. Also, the Pastery/Paint level was tricky; I kinda thought I'm supposed to Ctrl+C "Paint" then Paste it or something along these lines, until I just tried typing in "paint" and apparently it worked? o_O'

Overall, a short and entertaining curiosity of the Jam.

Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch

(review #16)

I tried. I really tried to find something interesting in this game. But it seems that either random number gods conspired against me or that the game operates in ways that only a Great Old One could comprehend. On my first playthrough I kept getting the room with some weird scrap in the middle and the desk where the flashlight lied and that shadow attacked me, until I eventually kept getting the wardrobe sector. When it comes to the wardrobe, after N-th look at it a rope appeared on it, so I grabbed it. Then, after more light-switching I eventually reached the area with a car and a kid who wanted a buddy. Then I got caught by the kid, it was game over and I had to start over again.

On 4th iteration I eventually ended up with a teddy bear, the wardrobe rooms repeating ad nauseam and a distinct impression that I had already collected the rope during that run, but it was nowhere to be seen in my inventory. Since I had no idea how to reliably advance and maybe get the kind of room I seek, I eventually quit; it was already taking too much time for the humble amount of content I've seen. There seems to be some kind of story here, but I can't progress.

That's too bad, because the entry itself had pretty cool horror atmosphere going for it, both with the graphics and the audio. I just still don't know why the protagonist is apparently naked...? Seriously, why?

As confused I am by the gameplay itself, at least the use of theme was pretty obvious and intuitive.

Overall, something that could have been a cool horror game but somehow the random/confusing room switching mechanic makes it way more tedious than it should have been... u_u'

TIMER by orSQUADstra

(review #17)

On my first playthrough, I was totally confused about what am I supposed to do. In part it's because I expected the object rewind to apply to all interactible objects, but eventually it turned out these power-box like things were rewindable. Once I found out that the ropes sustaining the platform can be cut by shooting at them, things started coming together and, actually, I've had some pretty good experience with this game. I managed to complete the first (and apparently only level) with 5 ducks out of 6. I wasn't among the ducks, though. :<

When it comes to the gameplay mechanics, they feel overly convoluted and require way more buttons than a human being can conveniently handle. In particular, the sliding required a pretty painful combination of keys and I had some trouble getting it to work (sometimes the character would end up sliding, but in place). It's mostly the Shift/Control/Space that are the oddballs here and make the game controls annoying. That, and the fact that mouse is required in this game, too. I feel like if you got rid of targetable elements (the power button, the platform ropes) and instead capitalised on the player's own rewind and movement, the game would have been much simpler to understand. Plus, with the need for mouse control gone, you could have spread the controls more evenly across the keyboard.

The graphics are beautiful, the music atmospheric, the sound effects matching. The use of theme is preeetty loose (basically, another game with some kind of "switch some kind of ability" mechanic).

Overall, a decent platformer adventure entry, though it has lots of issues with the controls and - on the first gate - with the discoverability of the required action (it's not 100% intuitive that one needs to shoot the rope, especially if that rope doesn't react to time powers).

Shield Shuffle by Curato

(review #18)

The gameplay is pretty simple and understandable, with the shield switching, the upcoming shield indicators and the fuel container appearing sometimes, to be collected without the shield on. If it was just restarting the shield to get a different colour, the use of theme would be pretty weak (why not just switch between different shields, then), but since the shieldless mode is used for collecting fuel, the theme use is decent.

As for the fun factor, it is there, though after a while the game gets stale, with seemingly no increase in difficulty. Having some difficulty progression (like having white blocks more often, or regularly requiring the player to switch their shield colour to the next ahead, or even one after that) would increase the overall tension and engagement in the game.

The graphics are plain and feel inconsistent (especially the ship and the fuel container compared to the shields). There's no music to be heard. The sound effects are sparse, but they're there; pretty ironic for a game taking place in space. Also, there's a small issue with the colourful rain effect - at the beginning of the level the space is black before it gets filles with "raindrops". You could mitigate it by creating the rain effect not only at the top of the map, but around all its height at room start. Other method (if you use particle systems) is to repeatedly call the particle-generating code and part_system_update() at the level beginning, making it look like these special effects were created there for a while.

One more thing: you should reset score between playthroughs - on replay, I kept the score from the previous play.

Overall, a decently enjoyable entry with an adequate use of theme.

Motti by Relic

(review #19)

I ain't afraid of no moths! *plays Intended Difficulty mode*
(still, though, I appreciate the addition of Jam Difficulty for those who cannot spend too much time on entries)

I must say, I love the gameplay here, in terms of the general idea (guiding moths with the strongest light around), the additions (candles, glowsticks and such) and the theme implementation. Overall, I enjoyed all 9 levels (even if I had to repeat the 7th a few times). One slight "weakness" is that the player eventually learns the level layout, so the unfamiliarity difficulty wears off, but even then, the player needs to make a good use of flashlight and other utilities and make sure to avoid the moths.

The audiovisuals are generally well-made. There's no much in terms of music, but this kind of game doesn't exactly need it. The important part - the moths flapping - is there and is crucial to the completion of the game. However, the game suffers from lag. I don't know how much of it is caused by my CPU-integrated graphics in laptop and how much by the lack of optimisation, but even a few lights on caused the game to slow down significantly, making it longer than it should have been. Turnign flashlight on has been particularly bad, maybe because it tends to cast complex shadows.

From other things, I enjoyed the story - its setup, progression and conclusion. I also liked various developer comments spread around the maps as easter eggs (one even alluding to how buggy their games tend to be).

Overall, a great entry with a good tactical element to it and a neat execution of theme.

Something Scary by Bearman_18

(review #20)

There's two kinds of switching here - light switching (actually turning the light on and off) and character switching. The light switching changes the layout of the map, allowing the characters to advance to the exit.

After a while, I eventually figuerd that I might as well keep one kid around the second switch (being in a perfectly safe spot) while the other keeps travelling. Sure enough, I reached the exit without much issue, and there I've found another safe switch. So the game effectively boiled down to one kid doing the trip, then the other following through the same route. At this point I kinda wonder what's the point of having multiple characters, if it basically completing the same route twice with the light switching mechanic. ^^'

Aside from that, I wasn't overly fond of how the level design was handled, and that lots of the game's difficulty comes from a trial and error gameplay - especially in a game where a mistake means starting over from the beginning. Two elements stood out to me in that regard - the shadow/light world platforms being connected by just a single tile, and the part near the end where you need to drop the character on a ledge to the left if you want to make sure they aren't taken by a shadow below. Having some sort of visual indication what kind of tiles are in the light and shadow world would help a lot, I think. Still, the gameplay was somewhat entertaining once I figured out what to do.

The graphics and sound effects worked well within the game. There was no music, but it wasn't necessary here.

(also, I wonder if leaving the house was the good idea with this creepy thing occasionally appearing behind the window; well, the ending screen didn't show the kids being caught by the monster, so at least there's that)

Overall, a decent platformer entry with not exactly original, but adequate use of theme.

 
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wkaudio

Guest
wkaudio Voting Thread

1st Place - Gr1D_0

2nd Place - Grid Pause

3rd Place - Server Reset

Best Ofs
Best use of theme: game_end()
Best concept: Gr1D_0
Best presentation: Dusk​
 
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Lt. Farfetch'd

Guest
My reviews will go here. Since I just about killed myself writing essays last time, I’m just going to give each game a score and a few bullet points.

I’m also pretty keen on people utilising the theme somehow (solidarity @Sk8dududu), so I’ll be factoring that in more than last time.

Progress: 0/40
Not going to fill in the order until I’ve finished the reviews.
 

Mercerenies

Member
Mercerenies Dastardly Maniacal Evilicious Reviews

1. Powerout - Cat / Var
2. Break-Link - Alice / Siolfor the Jackal
3. Gr1D_0 - Bauke Regnerus

Full rankings:
4. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On - Allison James
5. pagefault - TehPilot
6. game_end() - ghandpivot
7. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark - wkaudio / KaraLynn.Cosplay
8. Toggld - Lazertrax
9. Blabbit in the Headlights - GameDevDan
10. Occupational Hazard - Cheshy / SamSam
11. Lightbulb - sp202
12. Ghost Light - DougM
13. RoBros - Beardy Elf
14. Grid Pause - The M
15. Cat Factory - Toque
16. Save the Lights - KPJ
17. Lights Out - TinyGamesLab
18. Rebot - HayManMarc
19. Something Scary - Bearman_18
20. Computer IT - Michael McMullen
21. PAINTB---H 2.0 - Lukan
22. Hungry Thing - Shadow_Lancer
23. Shield Shuffle - Curato
24. Gung-ho Pro Commando - Roa
25. NEET Retreat - JacobV
26. Dusk - Dallas Riley / Riley O'Neail
27. Off and On in the Octagon - Bentley
28. How We Find Home - Lt. Farfetch'd / DanielDochertyMusic
29. Once Upon in Albimore - MilesThatch
30. ... - Misu / Yal
31. Fun Park - Bart
32. TIMER - orSQUADstra
33. Motti - Relic
34. Matsu Switch! - TheMiningBoyAlpha
35. Tricky Farming - Paul / Sergio
36. Reflector Sector - woodsmoke

Best Use of Theme - game_end() (ghandpivot)
Best Concept - Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark (wkaudio / KaraLynn.Cosplay)
Best Presentation - pagefault (TehPilot)

Reviews

I'll be reviewing every game and rating them across five categories: Gameplay, Graphics, Audio, Theme, and Personal Opinion. Your total score is not a definitive indicator of my vote for you; I determine my votes holistically. And don't be discouraged by a negative review: remember that I'm dastardly, maniacal, and evilicious, so I'm giving constructive feedback to everybody. We're all friends, and it's totally awesome that you managed to produce a game in the first place.

Reviews will be listed in alphabetical order by the name of the game.

... - Misu / Yal (15/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (5/10)

I'm sorry, this seems like a really cool game, but what keeps randomly killing me? Sometimes I'm approaching a light, sometimes I'm just walking, and I die. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be avoiding.

Blabbit in the Headlights - GameDevDan (25/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

Well, it looks like we're certainly starting off on a high note here. A very simple concept but very well executed. The concept is certainly neat, and the graphics and audio fit perfectly with the game (including the whimsical teetering and bouncing of a lot of objects). However, I don't know that I actually learned some of the movements correctly. Obviously, beartraps don't move. Lobster-thingies go up and down, plant monsters left and right. The skunks I think had a predetermined movement path that they didn't deviate from. The dog, he was just out for blood and I have no idea what his exact pattern was. I did finish the game, though, and I'm very happy I did.

Break-Link - Alice / Siolfor the Jackal (25/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (8/10)

As I expected, this is a fun, engaging game which takes complicated mechanics and introduces them incredibly well. The graphics were excellent and the audio didn't get in the way (which is a good thing in a puzzle game). Some of the levels were cheese-able, but that happens in a game like this. I do sort of wish there was either more content or fewer mechanics. It did feel like every level was introducing a new mechanic, and there's only so much difficulty you can put into an introductory level. Still, I played all the way through and enjoyed every minute.

Cat Factory - Toque (12/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (5/10)

Well, that game-over screen was unnecessarily dark. I got a baby kitten of my own a few months ago, so I guess it just makes me uncomfortable for that reason, but whatever. Anyway, the gameplay is pretty simple. The hitboxes on the cats are pretty fickle at times, but the game itself does what it's intended to do. The difficulty definitely spikes as you go on, which is good for this style of game. The theme was fairly absent, aside from an on/off switch that didn't seem to do anything.

Computer IT - Michael McMullen (18/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (6/10)

It took me a minute to realize I had to turn the computers back on after clicking the broken ones. Once I figured that out, I pretty much had it down. Unfortunately, it's a pretty mundane game after a few minutes. It doesn't feel like it gets harder or easier; you're just kind of doing the same thing repetitively. So I guess it feels more like an actual IT job than a game about one.

Dusk - Dallas Riley / Riley O'Neail (12/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (1/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

While the gameplay is reasonably intuitive, it is always nice to have some explanation of what's going on. Why am I, a firefly, trying to collect these flowers? How do I move? Are there obstacles, or just walls? I figured out the answer to one of these questions (and not correctly; at first, I thought it was the flowers that let me see further). But ultimately, once I figured it all out (as much as I could), there just wasn't a lot to it. The game looked really nice (genuinely, well done on the graphics), but the gameplay is just a fog-of-war maze where the dark color scheme makes things even harder to see, even when the "lights" are on.

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark - wkaudio / KaraLynn.Cosplay (21/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

First of all, great concept. I love "game in a game" types of things, and this does it well. You've got two things to focus on: staying hidden and playing the simpler game. Well-executed. Unfortunately, at around 4am, the mom stayed in the room so long that I fell asleep and lost.

Fun Park - Bart (13/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (3/10)

So, looking at the readme (which, as I've said many times before, is better than nothing but is not a substitute for a proper in-game tutorial), I'm apparently supposed to have my right hand on the mouse, and my left hand ready to press SPACE, CTRL, ESC, and the number keys? Every Jam, I tend to need to remind someone that as a human being with ten fingers, I can only have them on so many buttons at once, and it looks like you're the lucky one this time. On the other hand, ignoring that, I still had no idea what I was doing even after reading the readme. I clicked the ferris wheel and then started it and people started screaming about first-aid... so yeah. Good concept, execution needs a lot more explanation and introduction.

game_end() - ghandpivot (19/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (0/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

And the award for the dumbest thing I've done today goes to.... .... Okay, but in all seriousness, that was a really creative concept, and, while short, was very well-executed and had some really interesting puzzles. Well done.

Ghost Light - DougM (18/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (5/10)

Simple but workable. A nice platformer, and the tile sprites were not half bad. The game could've done with an explanation, as it took me awhile to figure out that SPACE turns the lights on. Interesting approach to the procedural generation, though. Did it just take a few pre-made levels and glue them together? Because I started in a different area each time but I felt like I saw some repeats.

GR1D_0 - Bauke Regnerus (20/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (1/5)
Theme (3/5)
Opinion (7/10)

When I started this, I thought it was going to be the pretty generic "rotate everything to look the same" puzzle, but I was pleased to see a unique twist on that concept. I like the idea of randomly generating stages (which is easy to do for this game) and then just letting the player decide where to put their "solution". I will say, on the other hand, that the bombs didn't do anything for me. They didn't add any strategy and simply made it occasionally inconvenient to do what I was trying to do.

Grid Pause - The M (24/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (6/10)

Good concept, and I love a good game with a highscore table (Is that 90,000 score legit? Or was that for debugging?). My criticism is that I wish the game had had a bit more of a build-up that was easy so I could learn the mechanics before going full-on bullet-hell. Also, I had no idea what my own health was, and I couldn't figure out what the bars in the lower-left were doing (although I could only glance at them for a second at a time).

Gung-ho Pro Commando - Roa (10/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (0/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

A cool concept, and it looked very nice, but I couldn't figure it out very well. It said to use the mouse to aim, but I always seemed to shoot backward regardless of where the mouse was. Also, I ran out of rockets immediately and have no idea how to get more. Was there something I was going for, like a collectible or something, or was the goal to eradicate all the baddies?

How We Find Home - Lt. Farfetch'd / DanielDochertyMusic (14/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

Huh... that was dark at times. I figure that's kind of what you were going for, but it didn't feel like a thematic darkness; it just made me feel unpleasant. It's cool that you were able to do a bunch of those backdrops and tiles in this short a time to have basically two different minigames (and the plant one, which had no interactivity as far as I could tell), but this just didn't make me feel good.

Hungry Thing - Shadow_Lancer (15/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (5/10)

An interesting concept, but the slow movement and the controls made this pretty difficult for me. I know that you were going for having him be difficult to control, but with all of the rotating it was just very difficult to even know which side would thrust when I hit a given arrow.

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On - Allison James (29/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (4/5)
Opinion (10/10)

Welp. I was hoping to play some other Jam games at some point, but there goes an hour of my life. This is an incremental game in disguise, and it sure fooled me at first. I will say that parrots are incredibly OP. Once I had my first two parrots (which I got at the same time), mass emailing and mass telemarketing became completely pointless options, because why would I target 1000 people with a 10% success rate when I'm already generating 10 horses every couple of seconds?

Lightbulb - sp202 (17/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (1/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (6/10)

Short but sweet, which definitely works for a Jam game. I will say the second game (when I had to spawn a second instance) crashed with something about converting a string to a number.

Lights Out - TinyGamesLab (18/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (5/10)

A pretty basic platformer, but there wasn't a whole lot to it. Turning the lights off and on was a neat mechanic, but it didn't add all that much, since most of the stage was static anyway, and the moving parts were visible even in the dark.

Matsu Switch! - TheMiningBoyAlpha (8/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (3/10)

I'm guessing there's something I was missing here, because that first row of toggle blocks could obviously be turned on somehow, but I tried jumping on the "OFF" switch, I tried spamming spacebar, WASD, Z, arrow keys, clicking everything, I had no idea how to proceed. This could be the best game in the world past that one intro obstacle, but if you don't explain how to play then nobody can play your game. Also, you need to make it possible to exit your game. I shouldn't have to go to the task manager to do so.

Motti - Relic (10/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

I don't know what I was supposed to do. The first switch didn't seem to do anything (or maybe I wasn't clicking it; I couldn't see where my mouse was), and the moths chased me. It said to not let my flashlight be the brightest light but I don't know how to turn off my flashlight. So I was swarmed to death by moths. On the first stage. Cool.

NEET Retreat - Jacob V (13/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

So as far as I can tell, the gameplay here was "hold right arrow and shift, and occasionally tap X when the beeper starts". I'm sorry to say that just wasn't that interesting to me. The graphics look pretty good, and the ambient music was excellent, but the gameplay just wasn't that interesting.

Occupational Hazard - Cheshy / SamSam (23/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

That was actually really fun. The idea of turning on and off the actual blocks you're standing on is a unique concept, and I found it to be well executed. I did find it a bit tacky that I had to restart the level manually after falling off the stage, but that's a small complaint.

Off and On in the Octagon - Bentley (12/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (5/10)

An interesting idea. I don't think I ever really got a full feeling for what the different spells did. And the collision masks were really weird. Like, I could stand on top of another wizard and cast a spell at him and it would apparently somehow pass through him?

Once Upon in Albimore - MilesThatch (23/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (6/10)

Well this is a really cool concept, and I really thought I would enjoy it. But I picked up the flashlight and it stopped letting me change rooms. I have no idea how to turn off / put down the light (clicking it doesn't work, no key I tried works, and putting it back where I found it doesn't work), so I was stuck in that room.

pagefault - TehPilot (24/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (10/10)

I really wanted to finish this one, but I got a bit stuck. There's a softlock on level 4 if you fall into the lower left room with the green button switched the wrong way. I ran into it twice, and afaict the two networking buttons won't help you. I got as far as level 5 and didn't know what to do with the memory manager (I was stuck in the lower right room and it looked like the manager was telling me about the upper left). Regardless, this was an excellent game which reminded me of Screens in places (the last Jam I participated in, coincidentally), and I loved every minute.

PAINTB---H 2.0 - Lukan (11/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (0/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (5/10)

I have to give it a graphics 5/5, because someone could theoretically make the best graphics in the universe using this.

Powerout - Cat / var (28/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (9/10)

This is an excellent entry. Having limited power to fuel all of my functions was a brillaint idea, and having even the basic functions like walking and jumping require batteries was a wonderful touch. While I can't imagine a situation where I would give up walking, it's nice that it's an option. And the graphics fit very well with the theme of the game as well. Well done.

Rebot - HayManMarc (21/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

A fun game, to be sure. The concept is simple, but the execution is well-done. The movement felt a little too frictionless and it made sliding by the power terminals and tapping them off or on a bit hazardous sometimes. But still a very fun entry.

Reflector Sector (What's your Vector?) - woodsmoke (8/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (1/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

So... there's no explanation here. I chose to assume my goal is to use the white blob to wipe out all of the black blobs. As far as I can tell, the only control I have is to hit LMB to switch which reflectors are on. Which made this an incredibly long waiting game to get the blobs to happen to line up. Then, some time into the game, the white blob just exploded and told me I failed. ... ... What did I do wrong?

RoBros - Beardy Elf (18/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (6/10)

I like the concept, and I like the execution. Switching between what is essentially a healer and an offensive unit in the midst of combat. I also really like the stage generation (I assume the stages are generated and not just drawn from a large pool, but either way they're well done). The graphics were very nice and the perspective fit well with the game. It took me a minute to realize I needed to fire Electro at Shooto to get him to recharge, but that was pretty intuitive once I figured it out. Also, I'm pretty sure you owe @ElectroMan some royalties for the use of his name.

Save the Lights - KPJ (16/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (6/10)

A fun game idea, to be sure. I assume the red / yellow lightbulbs countdown faster than the green ones, but I was too busy panickingly clicking my screen to pay too much attention to the timings. Regardless, the virus bugs added a nice level of unpredictability to what would otherwise be a pretty mundane game.

Shield Shuffle - Curato (14/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (1/5)
Theme (4/5)
Opinion (4/10)

A pretty basic game, but unfortunately it got old rather quickly. It pretty quickly became a matching game of "find the color that I'm going to be next and click where it is in the shield belt". I'll grant you points for the graphics, though, which fit nicely with each other and with the theme I think you were going for, especially the background stars.

Something Scary - Bearman_18 (16/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (4/5)
Opinion (5/10)

A pretty basic platformer with switching mechanics. The two characters were mechanically identical, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I liked the way the house shifted when the lights changed; it was unexpected but it didn't need to be explained because it was pretty clear what was happening, and that can be hard to do sometimes.

TIMER - orSQUADstra (13/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

So... how do I get the crate onto the pressure plate? I can't target it with RMB, and I can't push it. So... yeah, didn't make it past the first stage.

Toggld - Lazertrax (21/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (1/5)
Opinion (7/10)

A simple but fun game. Takes the mechanical notion of producing binary numbers and somehow finds a way to make it exciting and engaging. It seemed to be really fickle about the streaks though. Like, I would make a mistake and immediately correct it (before the projectile was anywhere near) but the streak would still end.

Tricky Farming - Paul / Sergio (12/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (3/10)

*sigh* If you're going to do a mechanics-heavy game, you have to explain how the mechanics work. Okay, I control the sun, wind, and rain. Great. Okay, I want to help the farmer, cool. Obviously, rain puts out the fires that seem to spontaneously burst out of everywhere. But when do I use sun and wind? And does rain serve any other purpose? Why wouldn't I just leave the rain on 100% of the time: no fire anymore. My point is, I couldn't figure out the answer to any of these questions, and it's not my job as the player to guess what your rules are.

Unplayable Games

Office Shape Savior - Pixel Poison
Code:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of  Step Event0
for object obj_mrcoffee:

global variable name 'debug' index (100031) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_mrcoffee_Step_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_mrcoffee_Step_0 (line -1)
Got this at the very first coffee machine.

Server Reset - Mikeey Bikeey / Aaron Baron / Nacky Slocker
Code:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Keyboard Event for <Down> Key
for object obj_main:

Unable to find any instance for object index '1' name 'obj_player'
at gml_Object_obj_main_Keyboard_40
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_main_Keyboard_40 (line -1)
Got this at the very start

Switch Glitch - Silas the Dev
Am I really dumb or... how do I start the game? Clicking on the level indicators does nothing.
 
Last edited:

woodsmoke

Member
1ST - GR1D_0

2ND - Powerout

3RD - Tricky Farming!

4TH - TOGGLD

5TH - pagefault

6TH - game_end()


REVIEWS, CRITIQUE (Hope I'm not too harsh with my critique, but I think praise doesn't help much to improve.)
Blabbit in the Headlights: Nice squishy animations everywhere , chill music , cute presentation, walls could be more cute, their "pointyness" doesn't fit to the rest. Good puzzle gameplay idea, but I personally didn't have too much fun with it.

Break Link: You really would have hit the spot with the gamejam theme if you didn't have a loose screen, instead just turn it off again to rearrange. Would rather have had SFX than music. I'm a bad puzzle gamer had to give up at level 3. Winning did't feel rewarding. Could use some nicer presentation or some sexy graphic effects.

Cat Factory: Lovable pixel graphics with good animations, macabre spin to it which was cool. On/off didn't seem to be working. If it doesn't do anything its very distracting, makes me feel like I'm missing sth. Gameplay got boring quick only sorting cats carefully.

ComputerIT: Description was missing that you need to click on working computers, but I figured that out after the first play. Gameplay was really good then. Didn't quite hit the gamejam theme for me because you are only turning on and repairing (I guess you can see that as turning off(restarting)) and not turning off. Sound effects would have been cool at least for the explosions. In-game graphics are nice and clean, maybe some small details to give the computer shop more personality.

Dusk: Interesting graphics and music style. Controls felt a bit too direct/precise for flying. Gameplay felt a bit like work (fetch quest). Often got stuck on walls. Really like the glowing eyes of the enemies. Landing to see more didn't feel like turning something off/on.

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark: Liked the hand drawn graphics, more details in the room would have been cool, looks a bit empty. Fulfilled the gamejam theme nicely. Gameplay got boring quickly for me. What's up with the toaster(bread) !? Haha! XD

Fun Park: Lots of creativity, phyisics where fun the watch and play with. Nailed the gamejam theme. Couldn't get anyone one the ferris-wheel because the carriage kept swaying when the wheel was off. The punisher had funny texts. Carousel was lame but I guess that's realistic, lol. Graphics were rather crude but functional. Quite a lot to see and do :] Didn't really understand what was going on in the bottom right corner. Goals not obvious enough.

game_end(): Gameplay was really good! Instantly reminded me of Pony Island (and also a bit of Stanley Parable, You Loose Chess). Couldn't get past level 5 :´( How do I get past that level!? Still, well done, good ideas! Got the gamejam theme built in. Certainly one of may favorite games in the jam alone for the idea. I want to conquer the game! Edit: I managed to keep the window still by holding down LMB outside of the window then going in. >:[

Ghost Light: Took me a minute to find out the important thing with the space bar. Cool random rooms. Ghost felt a bit too close at the beginning. Gameplay was too hard/punishing for me (not seeing stuff wasn't that fun). Graphics were good though.

GR1D_0: I'm not much of a puzzle game but I like this, kudos! Beautiful presentation and colour palette. Excellent use of theme. Instantly on my top contenders list!!

Greenshield: I'm not much of a fan of platformers especially generic ones, and couldn't see the gamejam theme, which is important to me. Not feelin it, sry.

GridPause: Bullet hell games stress me out and ain't my cup of tea. The gamejam theme felt kind of slapped onto the bullet hell formula. Massive auto-shooting was very satisfying though and I liked the idea of switching thte energy from shooting to shielding. The on/off felt like cheating to me.

Gung-ho Pro Commando: Cool 3D graphics but no sound at all. Make the bullet projectile more visible! Looks like a big game that's too big for a jam. I see no gamejam theme so not much interest in this.

How We Find Home: Intro took so loooong. First level was kind of lame gameplay wise. Oh no not reading again. Sorry not for me. 2min in, now I'm a frog and still no ON/OFF system? PASS!!

Hungry Thing: Again no ON/OFF system, not that interested. Graphics are okay, and I like how you gotta think a bit about controlling your character when he has spun a bit. Don't see any long term fun in the core game play but I only played briefly, so maybe I'm missing sth.

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On: So we got some "clicker game" action going on here. Music is funny. The music on/off system is probably going to be unique in this jam. Didn't have much fun with it though. I'm just not a clicker game person. Usual formula got old quick. Horses seem to do nothing, at least it wasn't immediately evident to me.

Lightbulb: Got the light bulb in then the game seemed to not continue. Heard this game was done last minute, probably not finished? Cute start though too bad the project started so late, unused potential. Edit: Just read the walkthrough. But it kept bugging out starting on first level again, maybe because I was too quick.

Lights Out: Well executed presentation, although I'm not a fan of that art-style. Gameplay was more frustrating than fun. Not being able to see anything isn't that fun.

Matsu Switch!: Only with pure luck was I able to find out how to shoot (J), then how to switch (shoot switch). The retro look with the colours and long pixels was the best part of the game for me. Gameplay was lacking.

${Motti}: Nice in-game control info. Solid graphics, although the green grass too saturated for my taste. I used to like moths till I played this game. XD Didn't play too much because of the annoying moth attack sequence got repetitive. If the movement wasn't so sluggish I may have played a bit more. The sprint speed should be the standard speed (maybe even quicker and no fatigue) in my opinion. Probably also just not my type of game because of the puzzles.

NEET Retreat: I adore the setting and the graphics and sound are relaxing. Couldn't get the first geocache with x when it's beeping continuously. Walked through a few rooms with seemingly nothing in them, then reached a dead end. The game doesn't seem to have an ON/OFF system. That's when I stopped playing and moved on to the next game.

Occupational Hazard: Very cool ON/OFF system. Clouds look amazing! Main character looks like a mess though? Played about 8 levels and realized I was only turning things off. And started seeing standard plattform elements and felt like a plattformer where you just destroy the landscape. I was left with the feeling that the very cool ON/OFF system could have been used better.

Off and On in the Octagon: I like the simple hand animation and standard shooting. Graphics and gameplay could use A LOT of polish. Not much fun in it's present state. Music was cute. You are not that bad at drawing, practice makes perfect!

Office Shape Saviour: Crashed on first interaction (coffee machine). Restarted, tried to interact with blue thing. A bar appears nothing happens even when it hold X. Game seems to not work.

On And Off Back And Forth: Very silly. Reminded me of Ataris breakout game which also had litte quirky game mode options you could switch on. Wasn't very appealing to play though because it's just pong. And if you are going to play pong it's most fun in local multiplayer mode.

Once Upon in Albimore: Horror isn't my genre, but the atmosphere and especially lighting is really good!. Couldn't find the figurine. Maybe in the cupboard it zoomed into but I couldn't open? And it's point and click too, also not my favored game type. ON/OFF system seems to be just a room change at it's core.

ooo: Again horror isn't my genre, but I tried. Gameplay often felt a bit unfair. Couldn't get past that ultra fast boss. Tried over ten times and gave up. The little dude did't help me at all either. XD Enemies are too borderline hard to see, a wee bit more contrast please.

pagefault: OS style is really nice to use, clearly alot of love was put into it. I got pretty far I think (through the [7] wall) but got stuck in the room where you generate numbers and didn't get to use the antivirus. I'm bad at puzzles.

Paint B___h 2: MSPaint 4 lyife B___h!!

Powerout: Ohhh, I love me some 1bit artstyle! Nice music. Little death scene animation, it's all about the details. Somehow reminds me of FTL, maybe it's the music and having to power your systems. Needing to press CTRL to push crates wasn't evident. Finally 3 power I don't need to switch every few seconds. Yeah I thought so another system, well at least it's shooting. But how to shoot...1min passes...found out it's LMB. Man this switching is getting annoying. Cool systems can be upgraded, thats neat. Got to the stealth part now. Man these all systems are starting to get too much to remember. I do like the multiple options to get past enemies. I just died at the spikes where you can't jump (tried gliding and failed). I might get back to this, but I'll leave it here for now. Very interesting, although switching did get a bit annoying. May be because I'm trying to get through all the gamejam games and am not being patient enough.

Rebot: Graphics are neat and the movement fells good running past the circuits and switching them at the same time. Gameplay-wise I think it's not that special turning the switches on and off to get past the level. I see the enemies can switch circuits too, so you have to look out for their movement and stun them strategically, but it didn't feel that fun. Maybe I need to play further, it's too easy to stun them in the first levels

Reflector Sector: This game sucks to the max. Who made this load of crap!? Nah just kidding this is my game. Too bad I didn't get the new colour palette in and bugged it last minute so the program ends instantly in-game when you press escape without going back to the title screen first. And screen-shake, how could I forget that!? The new sexy sunset version is here. BUT DON'T USE IT FOR REVIEWING OR VOTING!!

RoBros: Graphics are exquisite. Shooter loses energy so fast it doesn't feel like I'm turning him of by choice, but because I have to. Got frustrating loosing energy in the middle of a fire fight. I like the concept though and I can see this becoming a cool game with more time. I think a third character with a shield could be cool, but maybe I played too much Lost Vikings as a kid.

SaveTheLights: Didn't really feel the ON/OFF theme here, and the viruses pop up instantly making the gameplay very luck based which isn't that fun.

server_reset: The server feels out of place in a forest between huts, and what seems to me a fantasy medievil setting. Right button didn't work for me.

ShieldShuffle: It's more of a colour switch than ON/OFF. Having to switch off to get to the next colour instead of an instant switch just feels slapped on and hinders the gameplay in my opinion.

Something Scary: The spider got be two times in a row without any time to react. Then I got past the spider and tested out everything I could think of with the lights, but got stuck. Horror isn't my genre, but I gotta say you are good at creepy games.

Switch Glitch: You sure got the gamejam there right. The first levels are too easy for too long. Wasn't having fun stopped after a while. The computer voice was very fitting to the games overall style.

TIMER: So much game mechanics. After the rubber duck collecting info I just felt overwhelmed by too much info at once. The player should get a chance to play with new features more before the next one is introduced. Didn't get far enough to see the ON/OFF mechanics.

TOGGLD:
Game was fun for a few runs, I like the binary number system. There is some educational value to this game. I like the idea you had from the gamejam theme (1/0 ->binary number switch). Solid graphics.

Tricky Farming!: I really enjoyed the god feeling switching the weather on and off, fresh and creative use of "Turn it off and on again". Graphics and setting were very pleasing to the eyes and ears, loved the farming theme. Sometimes didn't know how to play but found out through experimenting. Couldn't get past the level where you need to collect 5 wheat (after level collecting 30).
 
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REVIEWS

Ranking:

Reviews:
P.S. Just A small note on my game "Switch Glitch". I made a mistake with my level select. Apparently some people are having trouble getting into level one. Either Click on the right edge of the button or Just Select level 2. All you need to know is you are bot G3M3C and the voice is Primus. Hope that helps if anyone is interested.
P.P.S If 2 doesn’t work keep clicking each button number until one opens
 
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Josh Chen

Member
1st Place - GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
I voted for this game because it was simple, creative, well planned out, and made good use of the theme.

2nd Place - Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
I voted for this game because it was the most entertaining, and it made good use of the theme.

3rd Place - Timer by orSQUADstra
I must admit that I didn't play through the whole level, but I am placing it third because of the incredible graphics and sound effects.
 

curato

Member
Reviews
Top 3:
Something Scary by Bearman_18
Ilike it the atmosphere, very puzzly, good use of theme. overall well put together
TIMER by orSQUADstra
I like the concept. The controls feel a little wonky for all the jumping and sliding.
Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
Cute Idea. Good use of the theme. Not a lot of depth but fun anyways. I would not make the sleep key shift. Sticky keys kept interupting the game.
Best ofs:
Best use of Theme: ...
Best Concept: ...
Best Presentation: ...
Best Story: ...
Best Devlog: ...
Full ranking:
  1. Something Scary by Bearman_18
  2. TIMER by orSQUADstra
  3. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
  4. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
  5. ... by Misu, Yal
  6. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
  7. Rebot by HayManMarc
  8. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
  9. Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
  10. RoBros by BeardyElf
  11. pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue
  12. Grid Pause by The M
  13. Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
  14. Fun Park by Bart
  15. Powerout by Cat, var
  16. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
  17. Ghost Light by DougM
  18. Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
  19. Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
  20. Computer IT by Michael McMullen
  21. Motti by Relic
  22. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
  23. GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
  24. NEET Retreat by Jacob V
  25. Save The Lights by KPJ
  26. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
  27. Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
  28. Cat Factory by Toque
  29. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
  30. On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
  31. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
  32. How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
  33. Lightbulb by sp202
  34. Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
  35. game_end() by ghandpivot
  36. Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
  37. PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan
  38. Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
  39. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
  40. Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
Comments:
... by Misu, Yal
Neat concept. I was trying to get something spooky together for the last jam with grue and didn't quite have the time to pull it together. My only complaint really is that the grue blend in too well it was hard to see them until it was too late and they seem to hang around the light post so you would die maybe/maybe not when you got to one. Realistic, but does hurt the playablity a bit when they insta kill you.
Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
Again I don't really like the you can only move in the dark mechanic, but this is done much better than most. The grid helps you judge where you are going much more effectively. I got to also say the orginal title I saw of Dan's Joke Game, I read as Dad Joke Game and I was prepared to be destroyed by puns.
Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
I like the concept. The implementation felt a bit clunky and overcomplicated.
Cat Factory by Toque
Very I love lucy except chocolate we are saving cat and mulching dogs. I am not sure I want what this factory is making. Not sure where the them was but blinking on off lights

Computer IT by Michael McMullen
Kind of an infinite runner with out the running. Not much to turning off and back on. I found myself just double clicking after a moment. No value to the computer being off. More like a debuff to get rid of.
Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
I see the light/dark theme. I am guessing all the flowers were supposed to light up to let you proceed? I flew around one of a while it wouldn't light up but the others did. Idk if I missed something or what. The sound is brutal I had to turn my computer volume way down to even attempt this game.
Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
Cute Idea. Good use of the theme. Not a lot of depth but fun anyways. I would not make the sleep key shift. Sticky keys kept interupting the game.
Fun Park by Bart
Theme is in the story I suppose! I wouldn't advise turning the pace maker off and on again though :p. Decent enough amusment park sim otherwise.
game_end() by ghandpivot
Nice joke game. ALT-F4 wasn't as forbidden as advertised.
Ghost Light by DougM
Good use of theme, but the implemtaion leave somethign to be desired. Combining jumping to platforms combined with not being able to see them is a bad combo inmho.
GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
I see the theme flipping the square back and forth. Tried it a few times it kicked me out at zero percent before I could make the pattern match. Not really sure if I was doing something wrong or what.
Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
Seems like standard platformer. It would have made more sense to have the item you need to use jump before you need to jump to get something.
Grid Pause by The M
Looks cool. put together well. tougher than it first appears. nice old school ship game. Needed a little more heads up indication you were taking damage. The bar in the bottom corner is a bit subtle compare to everythign else going on.
Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
The control are really wonky on this pressing M to move and ctrl to aim while using wasd to move and still pressing the mouse is awkward. It might be better with a control.
How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
Looks nice, but there is a ton of unskippable story that leads to game play that doesn't really matter you just die.
Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
I like the steering concept better in theory than in practice. Nice consistant art style. Not sure about the theme usage.
Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
is the a media player and advertisment for that artist or what. I don't get it as a game or the theme other than I turned the song on heard and and turned it off again.
Lightbulb by sp202
closed the game a few times and fliped some switches. I guess I did what I was supposed to do.
Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
I don't like the concept of jumping around and not being able to see. Nice consistant look. Decent controls.
Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
Not sure what you are supposed to do here but die, not be able to exit, and almost have to reboot my computer to get rid of the death experience.
Motti by Relic
I liked the concept and the overall vibe. I didn't have much luck getting the moths to do much other than eat my sweater then me.
NEET Retreat by Jacob V
I definately like the look. The bird sounds are way too loud and the geo cache sound is much softer. So, if you turn down the volume enough so the birds are tollerable you can't here the geocache beep.
Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
interesting concept that everything can be turned off and back on again. kind of became jumpy after a few levels. I would have prefered it stay puzzly
Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
I like the idea. I tried some different spells. I didn't really see the difference of one to another. I am not sure what the center on and off does. Could have some potential with a bit more development. Maybe more like super smash brothers or something.
Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
Crashed at the first coffee machine. The controls sounded really complicated should have used arrows to move all the time and that would resolve your choice to use A and X for the interactions. Standard would be X and C and wasd to move, but you may have been going for matching the controler which I understand.
On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
Its Pong! The AI is a touch too good to make it interesting
Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
I like the concept and atmosphere. The first room was almost too dark to see I needed to click on something. It took me way too long to see that. I got all kinds of places in the house and eaten once. I am not sure what I was supposed to be using. Also I am not sure if the kid has clothes on or not. That was a little wierd to me.

pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue
I can releate. I have actually gotten some tech support like that.
PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan
It does paint as advertised. Not sure what else to do with it. Don't really see a game as such or the them.
Powerout by Cat, var
good use of theme to be able to turn and off features.
Rebot by HayManMarc
you definately do a lot of turning it off and back on again. neat little concept. main thing that bothered me was the drift when you stopped moving. It would have been better to kill the speed if there is no input imho. The instruction font made it a little hard to read. I could tell if I was supposed to push X or H.

Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
I like the concept here. It is a really good use a theme. The randomness makes it so that it throws you at the eyeball every so often.

RoBros by BeardyElf
Decent idea, but the emenies AI is way too good and they are way to fast to even appreciate the concept as you die in about 10 second while you tring to see what is what.
Save The Lights by KPJ
very clicky. Seems like one of the light always goes out way quicker than the others. still cleared the level, but I would click a light then move to the others and by time I get back it would be out from there it wouldn't be an issue no matter how many their were
Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
Not sure what I am supposed to be doing. I hammered the server and ran around not sure what the objective is. some of the instructions under objects on the maps.
Shield Shuffle by Curato
Mine. Pretty good even if I have to say so myself lol!

Something Scary by Bearman_18
Ilike it the atmosphere, very puzzly, good use of theme. overall well put together
Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
Couldn't load past the menu. I finnally got level 7 to start, but just died a lot. No idea what I am supposed to be doing at that point. I would like to see it in working condition though.
TIMER by orSQUADstra
I like the concept. The controls feel a little wonky for all the jumping and sliding.
TOGGLD by Lazertrax
Binary brings back my old computer science days. Original use of theme. Pretty well put together. might be rough if you don't speak binary. There are only 10 kinds of people those that know binary and those that don't!
Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
I made it rain, shine, made the wind blow never went to the next level. I wasn't sure what I was looking at was I don't good or bad no idea. About all I figured out is if a fire starts make it rain.
 
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B

Baukereg

Guest
Reviews

Top 3:

1. Tricky Farming!

2. game_end()

3. TOGGLD

Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: Break/Link
Best Concept: Tricky Farming!
Best Presentation: Dusk
Best Story: game_end()

Reviews:

... by Misu, Yal

Great atmosphere, but the gameplay itself it pretty basic. Don't know what else to say, sorry.

Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan

Considering the short development time, nice job! The patterns weren't clear to me at the start, so it would be great to have some intro stages to teach me. Also, and this might be very personal, the constant switching between light and dark is kinda annoying after a while and it's a bit out of context (what is making the light go off and on?). But I understand it's part of the concept.

Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal

Not a bad game, I just feel the different modules should look more destinctive. The framerate seems to be rather low when I press run.

Cat Factory by Toque

Simple concept, nothing that stands out but well executed. Extra credits for cat theme!

Computer IT by Michael McMullen

Clicking on computers without a lot of strategy. The colours and bars were kinda confusing at first. Didn't feel the need to play for long.

Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail

Beautiful graphics and nice use of shaders. It's pretty short, but there is definitely a foundation for a full game here.

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay

Lovely interpretation of the theme, but not a game that keeps my attention for long.

Fun Park by Bart

I have no idea what the hack is going on and there's no fun factor for me. Not much else to say, sorry.

game_end() by ghandpivot

Brilliant. Utterly brilliant.

Ghost Light by DougM

Good graphics, nice colours. I was kinda frustrated some times, but that's probably me. Simular basic lights on/off concept to other jam entries, it is missing a unique gameplay element to stand out.

Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies

Solid platformer with a touch of metroidvania. Yet I feel the scope is too big for a jam game, so the overal experience still feels too much like a prototype. The physics aren't to my liking as well, but overall nice job.

Grid Pause by The M

Pretty cool shmupp with nice visuals and audio. But like many games in this genre it has trouble doing something really unique

Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa

Technically impressive and lovely PSX-era aesthetics, but the gameplay is too much all over the place for me to enjoy it longer. Needs something to elevate it from just being a basic shooter.

How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic

Awesome graphics! I do feel the story telling is breaking the momentum too often, and there isn't much gameplay in between.

Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer

Right now the level design lacks excitement to keep me interested. But I hope you continue development, because the astetics are good, and so it the premise of floating around like a blue ball. Potential.

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James

Confused me quite a lot at first, but I can see its intention. I love the satire, but clicker games grow old rather quickly.

Lightbulb by sp202

Simular concept as game_end(). But after closing the game twice, it seems the game just starts all over again. Bug?

Lights Out by TinyGamesLab

Cool graphics. Very basic interpretation of the theme though, missing something to make it special. The iconography isn't alway clear to me as well.

Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha

I actually like to DOS/atari graphics. But the gameplay execution could need some polishing and should contain a twist to make it stand out as something unique.

Motti by Relic

I like the concept of this game, but too much wrong decisions. For example, stamina doesn't have any significant impact on gameplay and the sluggish movement is annoying. The mouse controls are hard as well.

NEET Retreat by Jacob V

Beautiful presentation. The idea of just wondering around didn't work for me.

Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam

Neat concept, pretty well executed although I got stuck a couple of times (which was not much of a problem, since I can turn tiles off). Turning off birds was funny. Could need some refinement, but overall good job!

Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley

Great idea but lacks polishment. The game isn't much of a challenge and the camea is too much zoomed in to allow for any strategy. Also could use more variation.

Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison

Many crashes and no real purpose.

On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies

Feels more like an experiment than a "real" game, but I love how you completely ****ed up pong. All the weird things happening on screen sure made me laugh.

Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch

Many times I just randomly switchs lights on/off in the hope of finding something. The premise is quite good, but right now it lacks guidance to the player. I dig the overall atmosphere.

pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

The Windows theme is pretty cool, although I feel there's room for improvement to make it a more consistent experience with more interaction going on between the operating system and the platform game.

PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan

Not as good as MS Paint ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Powerout by Cat, var

Neat little platformer. I have a weak spot for minimal graphics, good job. I don't feel the endless switching between modules is enhancing the gameplay though, it gets bothersome after a while.

Rebot by HayManMarc

Solid design and a concept that turned out better than I thought when I started. There have been some hectical moments with me dodging the bullets while trying to reach that one switch in time. An ocational crash prevents me from ranking this any higher.

Reflector Sector by woodsmoke

Great minimal graphics and subtle use of particle effects. The premise is really good: simple concept and easy controls. Yet I feel I depended too much on luck. It's also possible to get stuck when switching blocks at the right moment.

RoBros by BeardyElf

Awesome pixel art. Having to recharge over and over again is bothersome though and disrupting the action spoiled all fun for me.

Save The Lights by KPJ

A lot of random clicking and enemies spawning without any warning. I can't see the fun factor here, sorry.

Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker

Rough around the edges, but the concept of defending a "base" against hordes of enemies is quite enjoyable. Sometimes it's a bit too hectic for me, but that's very personal. Good job!

Shield Shuffle by Curato

I died several times thanks to the clunky mouse controls. Also it refused to pick up fuel sometimes (hitbox too small).

Something Scary by Bearman_18

The graphics are nice and the concept is really good. What spoiled the fun for me were some cheap deaths and having to start all over again.

Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev

Too bad it's so rough around the edges, because I like the colour palette and abstract style. It's clearly not finished and needs a lot of polishing to make it more user friendly.

TIMER by orSQUADstra

Great visuals and animations. Yet I feel you try to do too much for a jam (platforming, rewinding, puzzles) and those elements don't come together to present a unified user experience. I'd recommend next jam to pick one element, base your game around it and nail it perfectly. I've fallen into the scope trap many times myself. :)

TOGGLD by Lazertrax

I think you should improve the tutorial. But very nice concept and executed well. I didn't get far thoug because I totally suck at binary. Good job!

Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio

This is so cool! Reminds me of Simmiland, especially the graphics. The god game concept itself is pretty hard to nail and there is room for polishment. It really could do with some instructions on how to play. Definitely one of my favorite entries, well done!
 
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dadio

Potato Overlord
GMC Elder
Dadio Review Time!
I just wanna say before ya read these that I had limited time to play through these this time. Apologies in advance if my comments seem to negative/critical. Most games were only given 1-5 minutes of play. My biggest piece of advice (and issue with a whole lot of games this time is...) please explain what the game is about! - what you're meant to do, and how you play (especially control keys!) Too many games leave it up to the user to guess what to press/do. Don't! Now without further ado...

Top 3:

1. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay

2. Lightbulb by sp202

3. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch


Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: Lightbulb by sp202
Best Concept:
Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
Best Presentation: Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
Best Story:
Lightbulb by sp202
Best Devlog: N/A sorry didn't read any

Full ranking:

1. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay

2. Lightbulb by sp202

3. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch

4. Pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

5. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke

6. Cat Factory by Toque

7. Something Scary by Bearman_18

8. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies

9. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James

10. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan

11. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab

12. Ghost Light by DougM

Comments:

... by Misu, Yal

Hmmm... tricky to judge this. Loved the mood/atmosphere and general concept. Music and sound were especially effective. But... it just didn't play nicely! Wish more effort was put into the gameplay/level design and into explaining a bit exactly how to proceed properly. A decent effort!

Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan

Only move in the dark mechanic... 3rd one... *but* this one had very cute art and music pushing it up a bit. Didn't ilke the sound use. Being grid snapped, this one has a different, puzzle-like feel compared to the other 2 (so far...) doing this. Nice work!

Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal

OK puzzle circuit type thing. Music was alright, graphics were functional but very bland. This kind of thinky gameplay is not my cup of tea.

Cat Factory by Toque

This was alright! Pity there was no music. And some kinda sound FX/visuals for when other things did go off the end and smushed coulda added a lot to it. With better art/sound/presentation I could see this being a fun mobile game.

Computer IT by Michael McMullen

Was OK. Repetitive. Simple idea, reasonably well executed. Clicker thing really, hopping between computers.

Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail

Another moving around in the dark with no/limited view game. Not a fan of this. Glowbug, flowers, frog thing... I liked the graphics and retro music a lot tho!

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay

Very nice! Cartoon elephant playing a video game at ngiht. Simple, clean, well executed concept! Neat art. Music. Sound. Loved this one. Great job!!! (Best game... so far!)

Fun Park by Bart

Odd... mixture of stuff. Ferris wheel... 3D bits (fair play) another "not sure what to do" game (come on people!) Was "ok" I guess.

Ghost Light by DougM

Neat pixel art. Nice retro music. Platformer. Hard. The whole "light off can move, light on can't" mechanic again. Was "ok, but I don't feel that this gameplay (memory platforming) is really "fun!" - sorry!

GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus

Meh. Nice crisp retro visuals. Sound use. Not my kinda thing at all. (Tile flipper puzzle thing.)

Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies

Was reasonably good. Platformer Anti-virus thing. I quite enjoyed the level layouts and later access to parts you've seen before. I always dig seeing that in games. Music was ok. Wish the graphics were better and that it was faster paced with more refined control/jumping. Solid effort!

Grid Pause by The M

Scrolling shooter where you can pause/unpause bullets. Interesting. Decent gameplay and music. Bit too unoriginal/simple imo.

Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa

Ok. 3D with billboard pixel characters. No sound at all *booo!* Poor controls. Glitchy graphics. Gameplay not fun. Props for doing a thing in 3D.

How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic

A story more than a game. Coulda been faster paced and still got the message across. Was ok. Decent presentation/art/music.

Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer

Weird alien floating blue blob game. Was alright. I like the propulsion movement. Nice music. Wish level design/gameplay was better.

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James

Full marks for presentation. Very slick/pro UI. Mad graphic design skillz on display here. Interesting idle/clicker idea, I liked the pokes in he text. But I'm not a fan of these kind of games in general. (And I dunno about it fitting into the Theme so well...)

Lightbulb by sp202

Really liked this a lot. nice art and sound use! Great concept and execution! This will go high on my ranking for originality/fun! (Pity it's a one trick pony with zero replayability, but then this is just a Ham sooo....) Nice!

Lights Out by TinyGamesLab

Good theme use. Gorgeous art/music/sound/presentation. Platformer but in the dark. very clean/minimal/tight design. However, it just wasn't a whole lot of fun. Platforming by memory is just... not nice tbh. Fantastic job on everything tho (bar the core mechanic.)

Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha

Wasn't sure what to do. Retro pixel (C64 style?) graphics were decent. Music wasn't up to much and was way too repetitive. Bad controls. Still gets points for that retro style!

Motti by Relic

Interesting. Good presentation and mood. Solid sound use. Dem moths in a house in da dark. Slow paced. Fiddly. Gameplay left a lot to be desired. Didn't really "work" for me.

NEET Retreat by Jacob V

Nice retro pixel style. Mostly I just ran from left to right through a forest... wasn't sure what to do...Very nice sound use!

Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam

I liked the ability to turn on/off blocks etc! Neat! But the whole PC on/off thing not so much (too typical for this Theme.) Presentation/art/level design could have been better/tighter. Interesting tho!

Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley

Weird wizady hat things fighting over a giant crystal. Uh-huh. View was way too cramped/limiting. Gameplay was poor. Needed a better explanation of what what going on.

Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison

Threw errors/crashed too much to play. Sorry.

On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies

Pong + breakout + on/off camera wobble. Um... yep!

Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch

Very spooky and atmospheric horror type game! Kid waking up in the night. Switches change rooms. There's a ghost/demon thing trying to get you. I liked it! Nice job!

pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

I liked this. Clean retro visuals. Decent music. Neat gimmick with the file system/apps/desktop thing going on. Nicely thought out and the on/off thing had a bit more depth here than most. Good job!

PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan

!... a tiny paint program? Mmm hmmm.

Powerout by Cat, var

A decent entry. Fairly straight platformer. I like the simple consistent retro pixel art visuals. Great music. Not a fan of the whole switching things mechanic, just seemed a bit too fiddly. Solid presentation tho.

Rebot by HayManMarc

Was decent. That music was a bit over the top lol! I liked the robot control. Another one of these that falls into the "not really my cup of tea/ not really "fun" category for me tho.

Reflector Sector by woodsmoke

This was a nice idea, with a neat breakout on/off twist. And pixel art and just looked and felt appealing to me. Wish I had a bit more ways in which I could influence the ball... or that it was easier somehow. Neat enough entry!

RoBros by BeardyElf

Fast paced top down shooter thing. Not sure that it fits the Theme. Was ok for a quick jump into. Gameplay not so great. Slick pixel art/lighting.

Save The Lights by KPJ

Low res pixel light "clicker/avoidance" combo game. Was "ok" I guess. Not much to it. Bit too simple a concept I think, or needed better art to make it feel nicer.

Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker

Weird. Server on/off thing. With a little world there. Wasn't really sure what to be doing. Looked like effort put in but needed more handholding to let users know what it was/how to play.

Shield Shuffle by Curato

A simple dodge em up. Very basic. No music.

Something Scary by Bearman_18

I liked this. House light switching monster thing. Consistent art. Neat little story. *Wish* there was music! Wish the controls were better (diagonal movement etc.) Good job!

Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev

Couldn't figure out how to start the game - sorry!

TIMER by orSQUADstra

Neat glitchy/pixel presentation/style. I dug that part. Control/gameplay/movement was just a bit too fiddly to ever really feel comfortable/enjoyable tho. Good effort!

TOGGLD by Lazertrax

Another one with binary hmmm. Mini tower defence kinda thing with switches. "Ok".

Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio

Another game where I wasn't sure what to do or how to do it. Be more clear with your explanations/controls people! Graphics looked neat and consistent, music was alright. Coulda been a decent game, pity!
 
Last edited:

Micah_DS

Member
function ( Micah's Votes & Feedback ) return

Top 3:
pagefault by @TehPilot, TheFugue
Holy carp!

Firstly, this theme is really hard to use exactly, as in avoiding a use where you turn something on then off again, which is reverse of turning something that is on, off, then on again. So I noticed a ton of people going more loose with it, simply making it mean to toggle things off and on. So I want to say this isn't a super strong use of the theme, but at the same time, toggling things on and off is at the core of everything here and it's so interesting and good, so I guess I'll have to say this is one of the best uses of the theme out of all the jam games (I can say this because, at this point, I only have 5 more games to play).

I expected you'd make a great game, because you always do, but I was still blown away. This is so good, it's disgusting!
TehPilot and TheFugue - you guys are my favorite game jam team. You guys kill it so good. Ugh, it's glorious.

Yeah... so, I love everything. I'm also old enough to have fond memories (er, at least to have memories..) of Win 3.1, 95, and 98, so that only makes more love over the love I already have. So it's like a love layer cake, where even the icing on top is layered. ... Yeah.
I don't know what I'm saying at this point, so I'll just shut up.
TOGGLD by @lazertrax
Ohh, snazzy!

A very well-polished game. Good use of the theme, good pacing, good gameplay all around, etc.
I don't really have anything negative to say about it. I'm impressed.
The only reason I didn't play it more is because of lack of time, which is sad.
Break/Link by @Alice, @Siolfor the Jackal
Wow, seriously great puzzle mechanics, using the theme very well. I shouldn't be surprised though, since puzzles are Alice's thing.
Not much to say, other than it's very well done. There's enough depth to make for some good puzzling. Love the music, too, btw.

Best ofs:
Best use of Theme: Break/Link by @Alice, @Siolfor the Jackal
Best Concept: pagefault by @TehPilot, TheFugue
Best Presentation: TOGGLD by @lazertrax
Best Story: NEET Retreat by @JacobV
Best Devlog: Fun Park by @Bart

Full ranking:
  1. pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue
  2. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
  3. Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
  4. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
  5. TIMER by orSQUADstra
  6. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
  7. NEET Retreat by Jacob V
  8. Motti by Relic
  9. GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
  10. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
  11. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
  12. Powerout by Cat, var
  13. Grid Pause by The M
  14. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
  15. Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
  16. RoBros by BeardyElf
  17. Rebot by HayManMarc
  18. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
  19. Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
  20. Something Scary by Bearman_18
  21. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
  22. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
  23. Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
  24. Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
  25. Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
  26. Computer IT by Michael McMullen
  27. ... by Misu, Yal
  28. Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
  29. How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
  30. Shield Shuffle by Curato
  31. Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
  32. Fun Park by Bart
  33. Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
  34. Cat Factory by Toque
  35. Save The Lights by KPJ
  36. On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
  37. Lightbulb by sp202
  38. game_end() by ghandpivot
  39. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
  40. Ghost Light by DougM
  41. PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan

Comments:
... by Misu, Yal
I rage quit. ... I'm not proud of it.

The shadows move so dang fast, and they linger for a bit after turning on the lights, so I'd often die right after turning a light on because I'd hit them as they're disintegrating.
I'm also not seeing a very strong theme usage. You turn on lights to kill enemies, but that's not really turning something off then on again. It's the opposite, and it's also only halfway too - just turning something on.
Really great visuals and atmosphere though. Sorry I couldn't bring myself to go through torture again, like I did with ROYal RUMble a couple jams back. :p
Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
3 hours?? WTH?? But it's so pretty!?

Great use of your limited time. The mechanic of turning the lights off and on again here feels pretty good. I played another game where that wasn't the case, and I think this is much better because it's turn-based, not action-based, so it plays pretty well.

Love the graphics and the shrink and grow tweening stuff really makes for some quick and easy visual interest. I'll have to take note of that for my own jam games in the future. ;)
Cat Factory by Toque
I didn't really see the theme usage as being good, and the gameplay wasn't all that fun to me either, sadly.
Cute graphics and good sfx though. And you could call it a complete game, so there's that too.
Computer IT by Michael McMullen
Not a half-bad clicker game. With these games, balancing and scaling is everything. It's pretty slow to increase difficulty. I'm not even sure it gets difficult enough to be challenging, tbh. I had to try pretty hard to fail, and it took a while. For a jam, that's much more favorable than making a game too hard, but for this particular game, it still could've used a little more spice in the difficulty department.

Still the game is very complete, the concept makes good use of the theme, etc. Nice!
Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
Some of the music is slightly grating on the ears, but overall, not bad.
You might think it a little thing, but I find that 'sticky' walls really hurt gameplay a lot, so in the future I'd advise avoiding walls that you stick on when holding into them.

The light mechanic is a pretty nice use of the theme. You're forced to turn it off to continue through the level, but you also need to turn it on again to see various threats and passages. Great use of the theme!
I love your ending visuals - it really makes completing the game more satisfying than a simple "you win!" sort of thing, so that's awesome that you took time to do that.

I'm also thankful that you kept it short and sweet. Jam games should be short. It sucks when people make games that take 30+ minutes to beat, because with 40 games at 30 minutes each, that's 20 hours to play all the games, which is asking too much for most people's schedules.

Overlooking the sticky walls, this is a really nice little jam game! Well done!
Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
GASP! Teaching kids to stay up all night playing video games?! For shame!

But anyway, it's a pretty funny premise and a well-executed concept. It's perhaps just a tad too long for what it is, but it's not bad.
I was able to win, but the lights were out, so after waiting a little on the ending screen, it said I lost by falling asleep, XD
Too bad it doesn't save your high score. That would've been nice.

All in all, a good cute little game.
Fun Park by Bart
So many games are leaving me wondering what the heck I just played. Your game is no exception.

That's not exactly a bad thing though - it makes playing jam games interesting.
I just feel a bit at a loss for words.

It's obviously incomplete. I can't say it's all that fun, and the theme usage doesn't seem all that strong because there's no real reason to turn anything off and on again, likely due to the incomplete state of the game?

I gotta say though, the ridiculous deaths by Ferris wheel and the airhorn made this pretty entertaining.
game_end() by ghandpivot
Clever! I know it's pretty much a joke game, but it's entertaining and a good use of the theme, so I'm kind of impressed, actually.
Ghost Light by DougM
Waaaay too hard. That ghost is simply too fast to stay away from. There was a place I could maybe jump up between some platforms for a slight shortcut, but it was like I couldn't fit - I'd always bump my head, and even after barely passing that area, the ghost seemed to catch up far too easily shortly after.

In this case, I'd say the mechanic didn't work out to make good gameplay. You did well to stick to the theme, but the real challenge isn't to make a game that follows the theme, but it's to make a game with fun mechanics which follow the theme. The mechanics here give more frustrating difficulty than fun difficulty. But that's fine - it's a jam, and sometimes the concept doesn't make for all that great of gameplay.

I must also say that I had no idea what was going on in the beginning, because the tiles would flicker for a split second then it was blank. There was no readme to explain the controls or goal either. But I figured it out after dying in confusing a few times. Please ensure you make time to include a readme next time, or better yet, in-game tooltips or some other user-friendly help.
GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
Dude, this is cool!

I'm gonna give the crits first though:
In the 'How to play', it would've been so much nicer to allow the player to choose when to advance to the next information, and also to go back and forward. Auto-advancing information is usually a very bad way to go. It's good to give the player total control over it so they can read at their own pace and not miss anything should their attention be diverted by something like a cat.

Other crits?... hmm, nothing coming. I must've liked this one!

I got a final score of 69%. ;) Not bad.
I reached stage 7-2. I would've gotten further, had I not been stupid about placing pieces on bombed areas. I was all like, "woah, is it rotating?"... yeah, no, it was using up the pieces. ^^'
Totally my bad there, and I lost too much to get past the 7th stage at that point. It's fine though. I might not have made it anyway, and I doubt I would've made it past the 8th stage.

The theme usage is pretty good, though I wouldn't consider it super strong because it's not so much 'turn it off and on again' as it is just toggling between states.

All in all, a very solid little puzzle game.
Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
Total time 34:02:79
Death count: 135
I hate you (but not more than I love you).

Annoyingly tough for the weak, but that's the point, I guess.
The theme usage is there, but it feels like it gets a bit lost in the other mechanics, so it's like it's 'part' of the game, and not so much the 'core' of the game.
Grid Pause by The M
Really interesting mechanic of turning it off and on again.
Nothing is really coming to mind to say for this. It's a bit weird to move with the mouse - I'd prefer arrows or WASD. Still, a pretty fun game that uses the theme well.
Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
Way too many enemies, so it takes a really long time, and if you fail, it starts all over.
It's cool that you went 3D, but the lack of sounds, and having all the controls throw at you at once kind of makes me feel like it would've been better to do something else where you didn't have to skimp on other things.
A very weak use of the theme, as it's just in the story. It definitely feels throw in there without much thought, sort of defeating the whole idea of using a theme in the first place.

Gameplay-wise, it's not terrible, but it's not that fun to me either. It was a bit hard to hit enemies, maybe due to shot size and speed.
Graphically, it's pretty dang cool. The main thing that killed it for me was that it just took too long to beat.
How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
Could've used a quit button a keypress to trigger quitting at the end at least.
I didn't really find this all that fun or entertaining, but I guess it uses the theme pretty well, as if turning life off then on again. So that's cool, but aside from that and te art, I can't say I enjoyed it, unfortunately.
Still, no one really tried to use the theme in a 'deep' story sort of way, aside from this game (or maybe it's more like an interactive story), so that's something.
Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
An 'okay' use of the theme. The theme implies something is already on, and you must turn it off, then on again. Here, it's more like you turn something on, then off again. So I wouldn't call it a strong use of the theme because of that.
Game mechanics that are quick and simple to pick up. Pretty nice fun and clean graphics. The difficulty and length was great for a jam.
Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
I could not bring myself to go too deep into this, but it's hilarious. That's a pretty sleek GUI, BTW.
The beat is so dope fam!
Lightbulb by sp202
Short, sweet, cute, a bit clever, somewhat entertaining.
Nothing fancy, but it's cool.
Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
Got this when rapidly pressing ESC after the restart, during the Tiny Games Lab intro screen:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Key Press Event for 1-key Key
for object o_persistent:

Moving to previous room before the first room.
at gml_Object_o_persistent_KeyPress_49
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_o_persistent_KeyPress_49 (line -1)
Sorry. My impatience broke things. ^^'

Great game. The only negative thing I can say is that the death screen was sooooo slow to get through, so it became very annoying. The user should be able to immediately skip through it at will.

Aside from that - great use of the theme, great graphics, fun gameplay, etc. etc. Well done.
Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
Death count: 5
Score: 26000

Why is there no quit button? If there is one, I couldn't find it.
And it took some doing to figure out "J" was shoot. Please include a readme file in the future.

The game wasn't great, but it wasn't half bad. It really gave a good oldschool vibe, like C64 or something.
Motti by Relic
Okay, so the first time I played this, the feeling I got from rotating the character with the mouse without seeing a mouse cursor was so strangely unsettling that I literally quit playing and placed it super low in rank, not expecting I could get over the feeling.
I've never had any game's controls make me truly feel bad until that moment, so I was a bit taken back and really sad too, because the game looked so good.

BUT

Thankfully, I gave the game another go after playing all the other games and I was able to get mostly used to rotating without seeing the mouse cursor. But I thought I'd tell you my first experience anyway.
The game is really good. The theme usage is more like the reverse of the theme, turning things on, then off, rather than turning things off then on, since nothing is ever on to begin with. But whatever.

The game was also a little too long. I almost made it through, but I ended up just playing the first 7 levels, skipping the 8th and went straight to the 9th.
5 levels would've been plenty, in my opinion.

That said, the mechanics are great, the little dash of humor text outside some windows was a nice touch, etc. I'm so glad I gave this another go!
NEET Retreat by Jacob V
Dammit man, I was taking my sweet time reading the beginning message, but it went away automatically. Had to restart the game to read it. :p
Also, press 'C' to reel in the fish? XD I guess you changed the key to 'X' and forgot to update that.
Neither of these things are big deals though.

Oh, here, presents!
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_player:

Invalid surface dimensions
at gml_Object_obj_player_Step_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_player_Step_0 (line -1)
^ This showed up when I ran to the right after the 'sirens' went off and I wasn't covering my ears and got close enough to the tall dude. Hitting ignore enough eventually let the game continue.

So anyway, is 'turn it off and on again' about turning the car off, then turning it on again to leave? Or is it covering your ears, then uncovering? Both? More? Other?
I can see the theme usage if I look for it, but it's not immediately apparent. And, if it's your ears, you really don't have to uncover them once you cover them, so it doesn't feel like a strong use of the theme there. It's cool though.

BTW, the first time I tried to leave, it transitioned back to daylight when I got back to the starting area, and I couldn't leave. Thankfully, I tried again (had to go all the way back to the cabin) and it stayed night and I was able to get in the car and leave. Weird. Also, after driving away in the car, that IS the end, right? I wasn't sure because there wasn't really much feedback to conclusively tell me the game was over. I just wanted to be sure I didn't miss anything.
Also, is the night fishing a thing? I was hoping to do some night fishing, like I saw in the GIFs, but alas, every time I tried to get back to the docks at night, I would meet those big friendly tall guys.

All in all, very cool. As expected, awesome art. The SFX gave a lot of great atmosphere too, but man I was just playing with a little delayed pad sort of sound on my keyboard while in-game and realized the right music would've made an already great atmosphere even greater still. Just putting that out there.

Loved it!
Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
A very good use of the theme.

Got stuck on the level where you have a conveyor belt moving to the right and a huge gap with 4 computers on single block wide ledges all the way to the right. Isn't that impossible?
If it's not, it's certainly disgustingly difficult. It was great up till that point. I can't help but feel there's a mechanic I'm missing to get more distance, but that fact is, if there is, you didn't give any information to let me know, so I'm afraid that's going to hurt my ranking quite a lot. Even after a prolonged second attempt, I was finally able to turn off all the platforms, causing all the computers to fall, thinking that's how you solve it, but nope, another fail.

You can get stuck in blocks, but it's not an issue since you can simply turn them back off again.
I had to randomly press some keys to figure out how to reset a level, so that's a bit of an oversight to not tell how to do that.
It actually would've been nice and easy to implement an auto-restart when you fall off the bottom of the screen too.

Negatives aside, I like the art, the music is soothing, the concept was realized pretty well with a mechanic that was simple enough to understand while also having enough depth to make for some decent gameplay, and the levels had enough varying content to keep things interesting up to the point where I got stuck.
Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
Interesting. Turning the gem on/off does nothing though, right?

I don't see a strong use of the theme at all, and there's not much here, so I'm afraid I can't rate this very high.
That said, it's got a certain charm to it, and I really love the art style, even if it is a bit rough, it's cool.
The overall idea is a pretty good one too. I'm curious what your theme usage is supposed to be.
Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
The first thing I did was walk up to a coffee machine. It said to press 'X', so I did, and -- I BRING PRESENTS!:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_mrcoffee:

global variable name 'debug' index (100031) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_mrcoffee_Step_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_mrcoffee_Step_0 (line -1)


I tried walking around, made love to all the shapes, but couldn't reach one of them. I walked through the bosses door... literally?
Couldn't see anything else to do. 10/10

Seems incomplete, but at least it was short and a bit entertaining, so I really didn't mind playing it.
I like the art and colors for the office tiles. It felt very inviting, or something along those lines.
On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
Beautiful game! I turned everything on and within a minute I was throwing up rainbows... shouldn't have had fruit loops for breakfast.

I really don't know what to say about this. It's kind of interesting, but not really all that fun for me to play.
It's not exactly a great use of the theme, in my opinion, mainly because it's not so much about having to turn something off and on again, but it's more like toggling options, which doesn't force you to turn something off then on again.

In the end, it spiced up the jam game pool by being unique, so that kind of thing is always welcome in my book.
And it is fairly imaginative too.
Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
"Sup, I'm a naked kid with bad hair. My parents ran away without me because they saw shadow people who wanted to eat them. I can't really blame them for leaving me behind... my parents were probably naked as well - it's a family thing... they're probably getting arrested for that right at this moment."
Uh, right, gotta make comments on the game.. *ahem!*

- 1ST PLAY -

I'm not sure if it's just incomplete, but I got stuck. I had a rope, but it somehow disappeared and all I had left was the wind up part from the car. And the flashlight, of course. I thought maybe the rope was for the clock, to reach what looked like a figurine up there(?), which is what that music box was missing. Maybe I'll get around to playing it later, but there are quite a few games and I might not have enough time.

In any case, this is quite well done. I was a bit confused on how the room transitioning worked though, but I realized that the left switch essentially goes back and the right switch goes forward.
But the wallpaper can changes, so I wasn't sure rooms were actually the same - I thought it was always just a new randomly generated room at first.
So it could've used a little more clarity in that regard, but that's really all I have 'negative' to say about it.

- SECOND PLAY -

When I had the rope and the wind-up part from the toy car, I tried placing the wind-up piece on the utility hook, but noticed my rope disappeared from my inventory. AHA! So that's what happened the first time too!
Really sucks, cuz now I have to start over.

- THIRD PLAY -

Alright, I beat it. Truthfully, it's not actually my third play, since I died at the clock part. The shadows come in just a tad too quick for how slow they die, imo. Even on the second try, it was close, flipping the lights on again.
On that note, when I came back to the room, the shadows were still there so I had to do the light flip once more. Is that intended? For a second, I thought I had to rush the clock and do something. It really sucked because I didn't want to die again because it resets eeeeeeverything, and it was already becoming such a drag to play through what I already know.

Anyway, very cool. Great atmosphere, and a solid use of the theme, where you actually turn lights off, then on again, closely following the theme. Some people simply did a toggling mechanic and called it good, so I'm happy to see that not everyone did that.
PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan
Um, wat...

I think I'd rather have a joke game that uses the theme in some way. I mean, I guess it's kind of cool, sure, but pretty out of place for a jam, imo.
Powerout by Cat, var
Very, very cool game. Sadly, there was a point where a room took too long to beat again after dying to an unfairly placed shotgunner (you pretty much have to stealth through a sniper, then you're sandwiched between him and the shotgunner), and I just didn't have the desire to put myself through all that again, because you have to push and pull boxes, etc.

That's a shame, because the game is really quite good. Keeping rooms much smaller would've solved the above issue, so dying wouldn't be so punishing.

I love the 1-bit art, the gameplay is fun, the use of the theme is good.
Rebot by HayManMarc
Ooops!
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_init_level:

Push :: Execution Error - Variable Index [0,6] out of range [1,6] - -5.rm(100013,6)
at gml_Object_obj_init_level_Step_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_init_level_Step_0 (line -1)
^ Happened when it tried to transition to level 6.

Anyway, pretty cool little game. I like how you used the theme. It felt like it made sense and it made for some pretty solid gameplay mechanics.
I'm sure others have said it, but I totally thought it said 'H' was the offensive key, but yeah, it was 'X'. I figured it out on level 3 or 4, because I was having a hard time at that point without using it.

Not a game to write home about, but certainly jam-worthy. Nice work. :)
Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
A very interesting idea but the lack of control is simply too great and it becomes luck-based and frustrating, even on the second level.
The big eye dude was just too difficult to avoid. Even in breakout, it's largely skill-based, because the ball will always come back to the paddle, and you can fully alter it's trajectory. With this, there is just too much lack of control, so it's not skill-based enough.

Still, it's a really cool idea, and I did enjoy it for a bit. I'm sad it didn't play better.
RoBros by BeardyElf
Looks terribly fair (graphics are awesome), plays terribly unfair.

I played 30+ times, and couldn't get both robots to the teleporter no matter how hard I tried. Most of the time, the level generated with me in the open, surrounded by a swarm of enemies, so I had no chance.
Perhaps balancing would've solved the issues, like making the energy decrease slower and/or increasing the fire rate, or dropping enemy spawn rate, etc.

The luck element really killed this one. The theme usage is pretty good though, and the music really slaps!
Save The Lights by KPJ
The text was a bit hard to read, so it made reading energy levels a bit tough as well.
I wouldn't consider this a great use of the theme, but it's not bad. Overall, I just find the game 'okay', but it's great that you were able to submit a game, at least.
Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
Presents!
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Keyboard Event for <Down> Key
for object obj_main:

Unable to find any instance for object index '1' name 'obj_player'
at gml_Object_obj_main_Keyboard_40
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_main_Keyboard_40 (line -1)
^ Soooo, pressing down is a bad idea. Got it! (it appears you can do this at any point in the game to get the crash)

After learning to avoid the down arrow key at all costs, I... still have no idea what's going on, but I beat it, just the same.
The lack of explaining the beginning almost made me think there was nothing to the game, but it seems it automatically starts after a while. That was very confusing though.

That issue aside, this thing is weird and awesome. Thankfully the difficulty is pretty good, and it's fun to fight off waves of enemies with the various things.
The setting is whacked, but that's actually a good thing for a jam, in my book. It makes things more interesting. Nice work, guys!
Shield Shuffle by Curato
Lack of saving a highscore to beat your personal best really puts a damper on giving reason to play this. That said, it's a fairly interesting take on the theme.
Something Scary by Bearman_18
Got stuck at a switch at the top of the level, then ended up unfairly getting caught after immediately switching a light off, only to find the entire thing started over.
Oh boy, I can't bring myself to go through all that again. Sorry to say that it quickly became tedious instead of being fun.

That said, the story is pretty interesting and the graphics aren't bad.
Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
I bring presents!
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Alarm Event for alarm 0
for object obj_vision2:

Unable to find any instance for object index '101048'
at gml_Object_obj_vision2_Alarm_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_vision2_Alarm_0 (line -1)

I only played a few levels, but I really like how you used the theme of turning it off and on again to switch various enemies and hazards on and off.
TIMER by orSQUADstra
Really cool looking game with a solid amount of depth to mechanics. So it's basically turning time off and on again or something?
I got stuck pretty early on in level 1, then had to go to work.

After work, I played some more and - after quite a bit of working at it - I finally beat the level after 20-25 minutes.

BTW, regarding the platform near the beginning of the level, where you have to freeze the switch then shoot it:
First, the mechanic of freezing time on things wasn't explained well enough. Why does shooting the switch cause the platform to move, but only when it's frozen? And sometimes the switch repairs itself, but other times not. It seems like it's supposed to be recording time, then reversing time, just like with the player character, but it doesn't consistently and it feels like nonsense mechanics.
When I finally figured out how it all works, I was not feeling satisfied from solving it, but more like, WTH? That's not my usual reaction after solving a puzzle and I think it's because I solved it but remained confused about why it all works in that way.
Second, one time I shot the switch from the platform (since you have to or you can't make it to the door that opens), but the bullet hit the rope and I fell. Not great design there - should've definitely made sure the player couldn't shoot the ropes in that situation. Also, the player character slide to the right along with the platform, as if still on the platform, though I was on the ground below, so that was weird.

The platforming collisions were a bit wonky, often allowing me to get "soft-stuck" in them, especially on the slanted roof, and sometimes sliding under something didn't go through, but I think in that case it had something to do with part where you slide through to backtrack to get two ducks above, midway through the level, because I didn't have issues with sliding under things anywhere else.

I'm not a fan of how a mistake often traps or kills you and forces you to start completely over. If you expect people to use the time mechanic to constantly check ahead, that's not a great design choice, since it's very tedious, not fun. With more experimental games and in jams, it's probably better to go crazy with checkpoints than not at all.

There were times I wasn't sure I was de-selecting a time-stopped object. I did hear the sound, but maybe my volume was too quiet, but it faded in pretty slowly - it really needed an immediate indicator that I did in fact bring the time back to normal for it.

Despite the rough edges, there's a lot of great presentation work here, coupled with an interesting time mechanic, and naming the ducks after GMC members was a nice touch. A very good jam entry that I'm glad I got to play, despite my mild confusion over the mechanics and my frustration with some of the parts of the level.
Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
Cool, but - as it's titled - very tricky. Too tricky for me, in fact.

I got to the second level where you need 40 crops and just couldn't do it.
The game lacks explanations on all the mechanics, so perhaps I'm missing something important.
One thing I'm still not sure of is what actually causes the character to harvest. Can you only harvest in one go? If there's water, can you get rid of it so the character can cross?
So I have a lot of questions and some are hard to get conclusive answers for just by fooling around.

I'd only consider this an 'okay' use of the theme, because it's more like toggling things on/off or turning things on then off again, which is the opposite of the theme. But it's certainly an interesting use of the theme, that's for sure.

It's a fun idea, but being confused over the mechanics has really put a damper on this for me. Sorry.
Love the graphics, various details, and the music though!
 

Toque

Member
Its been fun playing everyones games. I love the variety. Great games. All subject to change. I had some written reviews. I really couldn't see much difference than what everyone else was saying. I don't think my numbering is a true reflection for a lot of the games. I would say a lot would be ties. There are no games that belong in the bottom 20.

1) PageFault Teh Pilot The Fugue..........Funnest
2)Lights out TinygamesLab....................Funner
3)Rebot HayManMarc............................Fun



4) Elephants Dont play video games after dark. Wkaudio Karalynn
5)Reflector Sector woodsmoke.
6) off and on in the octagon Bently
7) off and on back and forth Mercerenies
8) Gr1d_O Bauke Regenerus
9) Hungry thing Shadow Lancer
10) Grid Pause the m
11) Timer by orSquadstra
12) Green Shield the Brave Mercerenies
13) RoBros BeardlyElf
14) Blabbit in the Headlights GameDevDen
15) Motti Relic
16) server Reset
17) Lightbuld Sp202
18) game_end () ghandpivot
19) Something Scary Bearman 18
20) Computer it Micheal McMullen
21) The adventures of a broken Robot Cat var
22) Save the Lights KPJ
23) …Misu Yal
24) TOGGLD Lazertrax
25) How we found home Lt Farfetched, DanielDorchertyMusic
26) Dusk Dalas Riley, Riley Oneail sk8duddudu
27) Ghost LIght DougM
28) Neet Retreat Jacob V
29) Shields Shuffle Curato
30) Matsu Switch
31) Occupational Hazard Cheshy Samsam
32) Ghost light DougM
33) Gung ho Pro Commando Roa
34) Jasmine Laslo Switch you on. Allison James
35) Break Link Alice Siolfor the Jackal
36) PaintbXXXh 2 Lukan
37) tricky farming Paul / Sergio
38) Fun Park Bart
39) office Shape Savour Pixel Poison
40) fun park Bart
 
Last edited:

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
Reserviewds
("post character limits are so short" edition)​


Comments (#21-40):

TOGGLD by Lazertrax

(review #21)

I got the 3rd rank with the score of 75772. Yay.

That's a pretty cool gameplay mechanic. I kinda like the streak system, because it forces the game to keep sending enemies with only single bit of difference between one another, yet it also makes pretty fair in a way - the player isn't foiled by a bad luck by getting an enemy that requires a particularly large number of switches to get its number. Overall, the game flows pretty nicely; if there's one thing I'd like, it's permanently showing the value of each bit - after it gets to 7 bits, it becomes hard to keep track of which bit lands where, especially if not long ago the leftmost bit had a completely different value.

I don't have much to say about the audiovisuals, except that they're pretty cool and work well together.

The use of theme is more on the side of "switch between one and zero" than "turn it off and on again", but it still works, mostly.

Overall, a cool and well-presented binary arithmetic game with.

Fun Park by Bart

(review #22)

It looks like this game is in a very unfinished state.
The carousel seems to be the most reliable in generating happy customers, even though it's not visible at all. At some point it even went whitescreen, and I just had to go back to menu and play again.
The ferris wheel seems to be the most dangerous, as it generates dead customers occasionally, even when they just pass by. I have no idea how that works? It didn't generate happy customers for me.
The punished generated neither happy nor dead/lost customers, even if I left it for so long that people screams to the right filled the screen.

At least the game clearly stays true to the theme - the most reliable method of accumulating happinness quickly is to repeatedly restart the carousel, because you get 2 free happy customers right off the bat.

Aside from that, the visuals are decent, but nothing special. The music is fitting, I suppose.

Overall, the game is too unfinished to properly play. Maybe your next Jam entry will turn out better...?

Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev

(review #23)

Ah, another game with a layout-switching mechanic.

I spent on it a while, restarting occasionally, as the game seemed to have a problem with audio (after a while, it would stop playing sounds, kind of like so many sounds were playing that the game has ran out of "slots"?). Also, in level 11 I experienced a crash when the bullet hit the enemy. Another visual bug relates to the layering of elements - it seems like all main objects are on the same layer, in particular resulting in a bullet being drawn below a bridge. I guess the game stays true to its name...
Also, I skipped level 13 because I couldn't be bothered to complete this hell of precision switching and bullets avoidance, especially when I could go to the next levels right away.

Eventually, I completed the last level, mostly thanks to the boss using the homing rocket attacks 3 times in a row and getting subsequently hit by all three. Then, the protagonist appeared in an all-white room with black borders around left, bottom and right. When I went to the top and tried using switch, the window turned black and the game became unresponsive? Well, that was anticlimatic.

The graphics are pretty simplistic and sometimes not clearly readable, especially when the same colour is used (e.g. the same shade of gray for a lower-placed floor and the defective bots hull). The synthesized instructions were often hard to discern; having a subtitles aside from these would definitely make things clearer (and be more accessible to players who can't hear the game audio). The sound effects were appropriate, I guess. There was a music in level 13, but it stopped upon restart.

Overall, a game with a pretty typical use of theme. Could use much more polish both in the general design and the levels.

On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies

(review #24)

So... this game had no soundtrack, so I decided to play that track instead. I mean, just look at that intense arcade action!

That was a fun entry to play around with. I love all the chaos that ensues from stacking the options together. I can see why Y and K would be people's favourite. I also found U and L interesting, and C certainly makes the game prettier. T is helpful for navigating all that chaos, though I'm disappointed that it doesn't describe the additions from U and D, for instance; just the paddle and the ball.

Definitely one of the more unique entries this Jam. ^^

Grid Pause by The M

(review #25)

At first, the enemies were just swarming way too quickly and I basically never entered the shield charging mode, because then there would be even more of these opponents. Usually I would get scores around 60k (give or take a few k).

Then, it finally clicked. Literally. I found out that by pressing LMB in what I through was gun mode I got even more pew pew (but less shield shield). What I thought was two modes was actually a spectrum between a full offensive and a full defensive mode. I suppose it would help if the controls described not as "LEFT/RIGHT - TOGGLE GUNS/SHIELD" (which implies two states), but instead e.g. "LEFT - INCREASE GUNS POWER" and "RIGHT - INCREASE SHIELD POWER". Once I figured out that mechanic, I've found controlling the enemy crowds much easier and overall experience more enjoyable, with some tactical use of power mixed in. In particular, I enjoyed the bullet-freezing execution of the theme and the balancing of guns output and shield regeneration.

I would have liked more variety of enemy patterns, and maybe balancing some specific enemies - e.g. make individual packets of converging exploders slightly directed to allow tactically taking down specific packs. Also, have these vertical shooters appear with some kind of warning, so that they don't ram into the player right away (it's particularly important for these vertical shooters, because when taking down the already present vertical shooters, the player needs to place their ship on the lane where new shooters arrive). Finally, I'm not sure I like how restoring even a little bit of shield can save the player from losing a life - it somewhat rewards the low-regeneration mode over high-regeneration mode and perhaps gives too much leeway for the developer to make overly insane bullet patterns...? It's harder to see the game as unbalanced when you can get away with being hit every few seconds or so and only a massive barrage can break through that.

The audiovisuals are pretty great in terms of general aesthetics, though all that flashiness is pretty confusing. I feel the gameplay would be more clear if the core elements were emphasized and the various trails and afterimages dimmed (maybe draw them on a common surface at full alpha, then draw the surface to the screen with lowered alpha). One thing I would improve in UI (aside from maybe making it prettier, because plain rectangles are a bit... well, plain) is converging the shield power and attack power bar into one. E.g. a red gun/bullets icon to the left, a blue shield icon to the right, and three bar sections between them indicating how many bits of power go into the bullet and how many go into the shield (e.g. 2 red sections and one blue section would indicate attack LV 3 and shield LV 2).

By the way, for some reason I got my highscore name input on 2nd position, even though I ended up on 1st (at least I didn't get an illegal URL error).

Overall, an entry with lots of eye candy and cool concepts, but it could use more balancing.

PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan

(review #26)

I made a fanart of my favourite entry thus far!

A nice sequel to the original Paintbrush. The brush tool is pretty cool, though a little bit unpredictable (especially when you try to make dots). Would be nice to have an ordinary pencil tool.

Almost as good as the GM:S 2 sprite editor, though I don't see much relation to the theme here. ^^'

How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic

(review #27)

So... my impressions related to specific rounds:
Before first: I wonder if the protagonist ended up in the literal hell.
Before second: I'm pretty sure the next incarnation is not gonna end well, either.
Before third: No bird, no frog, no man... maybe a plant then?
Third: *sees a pine cone* Nailed it!

I guess souls just need to chill out every once in a while.

That was a pretty sweet entry, and the presentation was more or less fitting (both the graphics and the music). The gameplay part felt a little wonky, in particular oversized frog collision box. The third round, on the other hand, had no issues with the gameplay mechanics whatsoever. When it comes to the intermissions, I didn't quite like that they can be neither skipped or sped up. At least the game didn't crash and I didn't have to start over, so I didn't have to replay these.

When it comes to the theme... there was definitely a distinct sound of turning the life support off in the intro, and I guess each death could be considered "turning off" while each birth could be considered "turning on", though this use of theme feels a bit too metaphorical.

Overall, a nice short story with slight technical issues. Good job. ^^

Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies

(review #28)

"Jump is the mankind's greatest invention."
Pffft, fleas got the patent ages ago.

Either way, that was an enjoyable metroidvania, if maybe sometimes frustratingly difficult (especially the bug in the second column from the line at the bottom). From the gameplay flow standpoint, I feel like the controls were a bit too floaty (and the ice blocks that accelerate the character seem a bit over the top; I'd usually imagine them to keep whatever speed the player has). Also, one of the worst parts was transitions between rooms - it feels like the game was designed as a one large level and then split into 6x6 grid, and the temporary freeze during moving the camera often broke the movement I was trying to perform.

One thing I appreciate was the minimap showing the bugs and the abilities; though maybe the abilities could have been shown with more attention-drawing method (e.g. colour the entire cell cyan instead of just the corners). One thing I didn't appreciate was the lack of the information about the firewalls state. In the area with this long firewall floor above the spikes I needed to make sure I have the right firewall setting before dropping down to the cell, and without such an information, I had to get to other area with a firewall or just perform a leap of faith (note: the first leap of faith ended with a spiky death, because the firewall floor was disabled).

The graphics weren't particularly great, though at least they felt consistent. The audio was fine. The story was nice and kinda meta (especially with the allusion to other Mercerenies' entry). I just don't feel that there was much of theme use, or maybe it was just peripheral - in a way, lots of obstacles (clock-based walls, step-disappearing walls, jump-toggle walls, firewalls) often switched between the solid and passable state. Even then, it doesn't feel like theme was integral to the game.

Overall, a cool if difficult metroidvania with a vague theme reference.

NEET Retreat by Jacob V

(review #29)

I got the "invalid surface dimensions" error at night when dashing around. Then I tried replaying and went the other way from the cabin, and I still got that error.
I guess I won't find out what happens during the night, then. Too bad, because it was somewhat intriguing; I wondered if it's some wild dangerous animals or maybe something supernatural or something else altogether.

The gameplay is... pretty calm. Mostly walking or dashing around (though dashing doesn't really make things that much faster compared to how large the areas are), enjoying the forest scenery and finding various geocaches. Also, fishing. And then exploring the forest at night, but that's the point where the game crashes. The gameplay is somewhat relaxing, but also slow, and becomes a bit of a hassle at the initial stage, where the player explores the forest and doesn't yet know the various trails. The fishing part is fine, but at first I was confused and tried to reel in with C button, as the game told me to, even though it was actually X all along - so you might want to fix these faulty instructions.

The presentation is fantastic as usual. I noticed this time the game relies more on sound effects than the music, which is perfectly fitting here. The sound is emphasized even further by an ability to cover the main character's ears and hear the sounds muffled - that was a curious touch (though I still could hear the beeping!). The story... is probably there, and there's likely more going on than just fishing, but the game crashes before I find out what exactly. I'm not sure what the theme use is supposed to be - is it the muting? Then again, JacobV isn't exactly known for best theme uses... ^^'

Overall, a pretty and relaxing entry, though seriously brought down by the crashes it has.

... by Misu, Yal

(review #30)

Please mind your difficulty. u_u'

These crazy fast enemies leaving barely any room to light up the lantern are already bad enough. I mean, I know darkness is faster than light*, but still! I've had enough after the another attempt at the jump after the second "talking" shadow (the one saying "... ..."). No matter how far I stretch the mouse cursor, I can't see the shadow below enough, and without that I have no reasonable chance of timing the jump right.

Too bad, because the game is otherwise somewhat climatic; though the voice sound effect after the checkpoint/lantern lighting is getting annoying pretty quickly, with how often it's repeated and how conspicuous it is. The graphics are pretty nice - I particularly liked the touch with different light colours - though maybe it would be even better with a bigger variety of graphical elements (e.g. different kinds of lantern). Also, are the club-shaped cyan things relevant for anything? If not, maybe make them more faded so that they feel more like background than an element that's relevant to the gameplay?

If I were to describe the story, it'd be probably something like "...". If I were to describe the use of theme... I suppose the lanterns are turned on, but then automatically turn off again? But isn't that the opposite of the theme?

Overall, an atmospheric, but a tad too difficult platformer (I mean, these shadows are ridiculously fast, not only in terms of gameplay but also the general impression).

*because by the time light gets somewhere, the darkness is already there

Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa

(review #31)

I've played around for a bit. First I didn't quite remember the instructions and somehow assumed that I must hunt down every single enemy in the level, and spent a while searching for that last one before finally noticing that this pillar-like thing has an elevator on it. On the next playthrough I re-read the instructions from the beginning, which clarified the level objective. Also, there was this timer, but it didn't seem to go as fast as the real time (i.e. 1 second per second). It felt more like 1/fps was deduced from the timer every step, except the fps used was the hypothetical maximum, not the actual game speed?

When it comes to the gameplay itself, it didn't feel particularly satisfying. The rolls were cool, but hitting the enemies was pretty annoying, especially with getting no visual feedback whatsoever when the enemy was hit, nor when they died (they just disappear). There was a feedback when I was hit by a bullet, but not when I took damage due to a rocket blast. Combine that with vast levels where the player is supposed to navigate through lots of pretty similar chambers and take down a certain quota of pretty similar enemies., and the game grows pretty stale due to the sluggish progress. So, while I reached level 2 (even twice), I didn't really feel like going for another round.

One other thing I'd like is for the game - if not enable targeting by default - then at least keep the setting between the levels. Also, as I found out, the mouse centering doesn't work so well with two displays - when I moved the game screen to the larger display, it turned out the mouse kept being centered on the smaller one.

When it comes to the visuals, they were pretty consistent and generally worked, though I wouldn't mind having the enemies and the player bigger in general (compared to the rooms); aiming at these tiny sprites is such a hassle. Also, I often encountered a little visual glitching here and there, like a collectible disappearing temporarily or these weird lava-coloured boundaries between rooms. There is no music nor SFX to speak of. The use of theme is hidden in the introduction story, and generally hard to notice if you don't actively look for it.

Overall, a decent shooter with way too large levels and enemies numbers.

Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio

(review #32)

That was a nice little puzzle game. Its general rules were clear, its UI readable and its mechanics logical (though some finer details required figuring out things a bit). After I completed level 5th or so, the game looped back to level 1, so I assume there's no more content past there?

One thing I'd like is starting out in an "idle" state, i.e. when there's no wind blowing or rain falling (sun shining may or may not be enabled, I guess? I didn't notice any effect of the sun on its own). It would reduce the need for initial crop control, when I disabled whatever was activated so that I wouldn't end up with too many weeds, and then I started to properly plan the strategy for the level. Other than that, though, I've found the puzzle mechanics somewhat enjoyable; I wonder what kind of additional puzzles would be made using these.

Both the visuals and the audio are fitting and well-made; I particularly liked the variety of animations when crops or fireballs fly along with the wind. The game does involve turning things on and off, though it's more of a method than an objective.

Overall, a solid and well-made puzzle entry (though I'd have preferred some ending screen instead of looped levels).

Reflector Sector by woodsmoke

(review #33)

Oh thank goodness, it was only 3 levels.

The gameplay concept is pretty cool, though execution is pretty rough around the edges. Specifically, the edges of the reflectors - it feels like the reflection system was based on pixel collisions rather than truly flat surfaces. As a result, it's often hard to tell where the player orb will bounce to. Also, there was this jitter when the orb was caught near the edge of the reflector, and died when it got somewhere in the middle; personally, I'd prefer if in both cases the ball would just freeze in place, not switching directions.

There's also this creepy eye thing. I don't mind creepy eye things at all, but it seems the game minds me colliding with one. Also, I feel the collision area for the eye was a tad too large, making an already difficult game even harder.

Another factor that contributes to the difficulty - the randomly generated levels. I feel the game would work better with fixed levels, so that there's a guaranteed way to win (even if it might require a very specific sequence and timing of reflectors switching). As it is now, sometimes I end up taking down a black orb right away, other times I start on the way towards the eye with no reflectors to save me. In a game with input this limited (toggling the state of randomly distributed reflectors) leaving so much to the chance might result in unwinnable levels all too often.

Graphics are simple, but work. Audio is fitting. Use of theme is pretty generic - switch between two states, essentially.

Overall, a neat concept, but with a tad too much randomness and unforgiving difficulty.

Lightbulb by sp202

(review #34)

Pfffthaha, alright, this was actually brilliant.

I enjoyed this short story, especially with the twist at the end, when the cycle of stealing lightbulbs completes. That's a pretty great use of metagame and also very creative use of theme.

The graphics are rough and doodly, but consistent and have some degree of animation to them (maybe the dialogue box could have had thicker frame, to match the Paint-drawn gameplay elements). From audio there was only the talking sound, but it worked well enough for this game.

One little technical issue - sometimes when I ran the game, it immediately closed. I guess that might happen when the game resets from an unexpect state or something...?

Overall, a pretty great curiosity of this Jam; you even outdone game_end() at metagaming.

Powerout by Cat, var, let

(review #35)

Totally a juegOS ripoff.

This game uses a pretty entertaining concept (I know, because I came up with something similar myself) but I would have preferred if the level design didn't require switching the abilities so frequently, especially in the early stages. On that note, I feel the game wouldn't lose much by dropping the flashlight upgrade; it was relevant only temporarily and never to be used as soon as the character left the caves (contrast that with other abilities who deal less with areas and more with specific situations).

Maybe abliities switching wouldn't be as troublesome if it wasn't assigned such cumbersome controls. The game already requires use of mouse; why not have it done by clicking on ability icons (e.g. left-click to add, right-click to subtract)? Also, I've found interacting with crates somewhat troubling as well, with Ctrl being held to allow interaction (and it had to be pressed next to a crate, too). I feel like the controls could have been assigned better. From other technical issues, I've found it pretty hard to gauge exactly how much range I have. Maybe having a laser line similar to the sniper bots' would help? As it is now, I've often found myself nearly shooting an enemy, but not really.

Putting these aside, the game is quite enjoyable, though sometimes more difficult or lengthy than I feel it should have because of the aforementioned problems. The new powers were introduced well, and the variety of abilities allowed a variety of tactics. The graphics were clear enough, the sounds fitting and the soundtrack pleasant to listen (though I'd have liked it even more if there were a few tracks for different areas). The theme use isn't quite letter-to-letter, but it's acceptable and similar to many other entries.

Overall, a pretty fun puzzle platformer, though its controls and feedback could be improved in some places.

Ghost Light by DougM

(review #36)

It looks like some kind of unholy cross between Blabbit in the Headlights and Lights Out.
More specifically, both these games use the move-only-with-lights-off mechanic, with Lights Out being a platformer like Ghost Light, and Ghost Light main character kinda resembling a rabbit (at first I thought it held a carrot, not the Artifact of Light). And unholy because of this ghost.

To be honest, I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two. Apparently, it's a procedurally generated platforming challenge, and the goal is to go as far as possible? But then there's no score nor distance tracking, no hiscore, no end, nothing to strive for, really? Just running away until the ghost catches up.

Also, the mechanics are built in a way that the flow is constantly broken, encouraging lighting up the artifact as soon as the characters lands on the ground to make sure they're at the right position. It would help if could have more exact information about my current position, like Lights Out did with the main character's eyes - maybe it would help to divide the challenge into rooms, and not scroll until the room is cleared (instead of always centering on the main character)?

There are also these things that look like the kind platforms you can jump on from below, but act as solid walls. I feel like making them proper platforms, as well as allowing the player to drop from these using the down button would allow making more fun platforming layouts.

I don't have much to say about audiovisuals - they aim for the retro aesthetic and they do it well. The theme use is pretty standard, but I guess it's one of the more obvious things one can think of with this theme.

Overall, an interesting platformer, but could use some balancing and seems to severely lack a goal.

Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer

(review #37)

That's about the first game I see that uses "End" button to actually end the game. XD

Aside from that, I appreciate the game being more on easy side, especially with this being one of the last entries I review. I enjoyed the relaxed pace and I got to experience a bit of the wonky yet fun mechanics (specifically, the hungry thing turning around, with its exhaust pipes likewise rotating; at one point I rotated full 90 degree and had to land somewhere safe to then let the physics rotate me back around a ledge. Eventually, I collected all the required fruits (peaches?); apparently, there was even at least one to spare - helpful if someone happened to skip one.

The game has this nice calming aesthetic to it that I've found in Shadow_Lancer earlier entries (especially the one with the bees), both when it comes to the graphics and the audio. Theme use... I'm not sure, is it turning on and off the specific exhaust pipes to navigate the hungry thing?

Overall a nice and relaxing entry, though maybe not particularly obvious about its theme use.

Cat Factory by Toque

(review #38)

You know what this game misses? A soundtrack. For example, this one.
(for the record, I just randomly searched for intense orchestral music and eventually got to this track)

The general concept is simple and enjoyable for a while, but after some point the game difficulty doesn't really increase (I dunno, maybe make the conveyor belt slightly faster or something?). And just as I'm about to relax and keep sorting these cats, I end up touching the wrong box with the cat. Personally, I'd prefer if the cat sorting was checked on drop rather than on collision, so that I can just grab the cat and move it straight to the correct box, regardless of whether I happen to touch other boxes along the way or not. It's particularly relevant for the red striped cat, whose box is furthest away from the conveyor belt.

Also, maybe change the scoring so that it's not +5 for everything, but e.g. +3 for cat and +2 for non-cat? (I assume non-cat should get lower score, because it requires no dragging from the player)
Then again, it comes from a person who is irked by scores having some base divisor (i.e. all possible scores are a multiple of some number, e.g. 100), so you might want to take it with a grain of salt. ^^'

I generally liked the graphics - the pipe with the next critter going through it, the machinery spewing the critters, the background, the critters themselves (would have liked a bit more variety, especially among non-cats, but it was still nice); the cartoon violence maybe not as much, but still. The sound effect was fine, though there was no soundtrack (vide recommendation above). The theme use, on the other hand, feels kinda forced - if not these ON/OFF indicators of the machine, I would have no idea the theme is even used here.

Overall, a nice arcade entry, though it could use some difficulty progression and checking the cat boxes on drop, not on drag.

Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail

(review #39)

Seriously, people, please do include some instructions. At least which controls are used - which apparently is arrow keys for movement and mouse to operate menu (why? Why mixing mouse menus with keyboard controls? ;-;). It's pretty hard to learn the game naturally when you have the whole keyboard and mouse at your disposal instead of measly early Gameboy D-pad + A/B.

That aside, I like how the concept of switching between dark and light was executed here - not by specifically pressing some switch button, but rather by staying on the ground to spread the light and flying around to stay in the dark. The enemies also worked well with the light/dark mechanics, with the spider running away and the caterpillars being attracted to the light; kudos for that. My main complaint about the mechanics is that switching between the dark and light doesn't always work properly; maybe it's due to some unpolished collision system, but sometimes it felt like the character should stand on the ground but they weren't. The most obvious example would be holding down button all the way - sometimes, the character would still register as "floating". Other times, even if I didn't intend to spread the light, I still did.

The aesthetics are generally a strong point of this entry - the backgrounds, the main character, the little lights following around, the enemies... maybe the exit could be somewhat larger, because it seems like important stuff. The music was quite fitting as well. I didn't notice any sound effects in particular, though. While the use of theme is slightly remote, I appreciate the creative execution of the lights-switching concept.

Overall, a short and enjoyable entry with some nice variety to it.

Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker

(review #40)

And that's a wrap!

It was a pretty simple action entry, though it had some nice elements to it, like the different kind of weapons and powerups (mace is OP again), a variety of enemies or the cutscenes playing as an intro, outro and intermissions (the intermissions might be simple, but they do give the feeling of progress). I enjoyed blowing enemies away with the windstaff or crushing them with triple hammer, all that while protecting the server first powering down, then powering back up. I like how it's not as much "go to the point X" kind of gameplay but more of a "protect the checkpoint" one.

Aside from that, I have not much more to say. The retro-styled audiovisuals might not be the best I've seen, but they work well enough. The story is clear and well-presented with the cutscenes. The theme also plays an important role in the gameplay.

Overall, a pretty enjoyable (though not outstanding) entry.
 
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Relic

Member
Top 3:
Grid Pause by The M
The clarity of the mechanics shown through the use of colour was impressive, as was the variety of enemy design. All movement was smooth and responsive. The only negative was perhaps that choice between shields and firepower. The game was too intense for me to make choices about swapping between firepower states and the pausing mechanic simultaneously. I feel the game could have gone without this mechanics and been none worse off - but I still had the choice.

Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
Very well presented. While one of a handful of "lights out while moving" games this jam, this was the best executed. Only negatives were at least one instance of poor spelling and that the platforming could get repetitive. I did not play through all the levels so unsure if more that the basic enemies and holes were added as obstacles.

Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
Another well presented game with well chosen sounds to give a suitably spooky setting. An excellent take on the lights go on and off style of game we saw plenty of in this jam. The metroidvania like exploration of these halls, perhaps leading to a solution (I did not find one) was a good idea, but could have been executed better. Reading other reviews I've learned that there were ropes in cupboards to be found - but I gave up going in cupboards after the first few were empty. Some refinement to help encourage opening everything, such as having unique messages/lore/clues to keep encouraging exploration could have helped. Instant and unavoidable(?) deaths with no save feature was also harsh.


Full ranking:
  1. Grid Pause by The M
  2. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
  3. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
  4. Powerout by Cat, var
  5. GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
  6. RoBros by BeardyElf
  7. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
  8. Rebot by HayManMarc
  9. ... by Misu, Yal
  10. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
  11. Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
  12. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
  13. Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
  14. pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue
  15. Ghost Light by DougM
  16. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
  17. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
  18. TIMER by orSQUADstra
  19. Something Scary by Bearman_18
  20. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
  21. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
  22. Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
  23. How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
  24. Computer IT by Michael McMullen
  25. Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
  26. Save The Lights by KPJ
  27. NEET Retreat by Jacob V
  28. Cat Factory by Toque
  29. Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
  30. On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
  31. game_end() by ghandpivot
  32. Lightbulb by sp202
  33. Fun Park by Bart
  34. Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
  35. Shield Shuffle by Curato
  36. Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
  37. Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
  38. PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan
  39. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
  40. Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
 
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Bearman_18

Fruit Stand Deadbeat
BEARMAN_18'S TOP THREE!

I'm too physically lazy to write a full review or even place all 40 entries, but here's my top three.

1: TIMER @orSQUADstra
It was short, but I loved the controls, mechanics, collectible ducks, and artistic direction of this game. I would love to see more, complete with checkpoints. How did you make the sun?
2: MOTTI @Relic
I didn't think moths could be scary until I played this. The story was cool, and the atmosphere was perfect. Love what you did with the shadows.
3: GRID PAUSE @The M
Very novel bullet hell, and the first one I've played where I felt a health bar was reasonable. Extremely difficult, but intuitive. Beat the highscore first try.

Honorable mentions:
Didn't vote for these, but only because they didn't match the theme, so it felt unfair to do so.

JASMINE LASLO -SWITCH U ON
@NAL
The theme was "turn it on and off again", and unsurprisingly to myself, my favorite game was the one furthest from that theme. Lol. The entry felt oddly realistic, and appealed to my hunger for power. Great job.

NEET RETREAT
@JacobV
Great atmosphere and art. Very relaxing. The only problem was that it was a pain in the butt to navigate, and that the game crashed when the monster appeared... Is that Siren Head?
 

The M

Member
A couple of reviews + votes!

Top 3:

TOGGLD by Lazertrax

pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

RoBros by BeardyElf


Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: game_end() by ghandpivot

Best Concept: pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

Best Presentation: TOGGLD by Lazertrax

Best Story: Lightbulb by sp202

Best Devlog: ...


Full ranking:
  1. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
  2. pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue
  3. RoBros by BeardyElf
  4. Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
  5. Powerout by Cat, var
  6. game_end() by ghandpivot
  7. TIMER by orSQUADstra
  8. GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
  9. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
  10. How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
  11. Lightbulb by sp202
  12. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
  13. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
  14. NEET Retreat by Jacob V
  15. Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
  16. Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
  17. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
  18. Ghost Light by DougM
  19. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
  20. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
  21. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
  22. Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
  23. Save The Lights by KPJ
  24. Something Scary by Bearman_18
  25. Motti by Relic
  26. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
  27. Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
  28. Cat Factory by Toque
  29. Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal
  30. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
  31. Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
  32. Rebot by HayManMarc
  33. Shield Shuffle by Curato
  34. Computer IT by Michael McMullen
  35. ... by Misu, Yal
  36. Fun Park by Bart
  37. Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
  38. On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
  39. Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
  40. PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan


Comments:
... by Misu, Yal

The game is very atmospheric and unsettling, mostly thanks to the audio but the weird, slightly creepy visuals contributes as well. Unfortunately, the darkness of the game makes it hard to discern any details and the environment looks pretty boring because of that (for example, looking closely around the lights it seems like there's some parallax layering going on with the background but that effect is lost in the darkness). The darkness also makes it hard to see the enemies because they're basically black silhouettes agains a black background and this actually hurts the gameplay in my opinion. I died more than once because I couldn't see where the monsters actually were (the smoke somewhat helps you see that there is a monster somewhere but it also covers and hides the monster itself) and that's a problem because the gameplay boils down to trying to time your movement to the positioning of the monsters in order to reach the lights before they reach you. If you can't see the monsters, that timing becomes so much harder and failing becomes frustrating.


Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan

You sure know how to make much of very little when it comes to animation. Despite being static images the bounciness of the characters, together with the cheerful music, really livens up the game. I think the game is interesting and pretty fun but it also gets annoying having to constantly toggle the light on an off again, especially when dealing with the badgers that, as far as I could tell, moved randomly. I did like having to figure out the movement patterns of the enemies, but I wish there was more to see when the lights were off than blackness, for example having a darkened outline of the level where objects were invisible.


Break/Link by Alice, Siolfor the Jackal

After having played through the entire game I still don't understand it. From what I saw it seemed like you had to shoot the power button twice to win, which makes sense given the theme but I honestly didn't think of that until after a few levels. You then introduce several new mechanics and tools that either are only used for that one level or aren't used at all. For example, neither the inductors and solar panels are actually needed to solve the levels. I'd have liked a few levels where you let me play around with the stuff, say having three levels per new tool or so.

As a side note, it'd be nice to have tool tips that indicated what was what on the circuit board too, especially when you talk about object that I don't have in my inventory. Oftentimes the symbols worked well but sometimes they were hard to differentiate at glance. Another idea is to colorize the objects that come from your inventory so that you know what you can modify. On more complex levels that might be useful for the player.


Cat Factory by Toque

The game is pretty straightforward but does its thing well. I can't help but missing music, it would make it so much more engaging and potentially stressful with a fitting tune. As a cat person I don't mind throwing the dogs into the garbage bin but I did find the blood effect a bit gruesome (honestly, I think a dust cloud would have fit better).


Computer IT by Michael McMullen

The game looks and plays well and I like that it's got a few neat visual effects which makes it more fun to watch and engage with. However, I don't think there's enough game to be had here. Thing is, you don't really get to do a whole lot. If you have cash you spend it as quickly as you can and if you don't, you just wait. The only thing that really matters is how fast you can click on the monitors as their level of brokenness remains next time they break down but the game last for too long for that to be an interesting challenge in my opinion. I'd either like to see a smaller set of computers and a faster gameplay cycle for a more arcade-like feel, or have more things to do with money (upgrading computers, buy new equipment, etc.) to add progression to the game.


Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail

The game has atmosphere and I like the way you have to land to get your bearing at times to find your way in the dark. When I played the game I often got stuck on the walls, ceiling or floor. Since you're navigating such narrow passages it'd be great if you could, for example, still move vertically if you moved diagonally into a wall. Some of the animals were creepy, the glowing eyes of the caterpillars were great! I had some issues with the spider, mostly because of how it appeared out of nowhere, seemingly without warning, and it got me more than once. Good thing you don't have to re-visit all flowers! Finally, I wasn't really a fan of the music, it was a bit too loud and noisy for my taste and I think a calmer piece would have sold the atmosphere better.


Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay

It's such a charming game I can't help but smile. The game is pretty basic but it's enjoyable and doesn't outstay its welcome. My only gripe is that I often had to pause the videogame mid-jump, before it awarded any score, which then wouldn't count. Sure, I guess that's the price you pay when playing after dark but I'd still prefer if it continued where it left off.


Fun Park by Bart

Operating the Ferris wheel was pretty fun but also annoying because the peeps just refused to get on in an orderly manner. Managing to fill the cabins were difficult but the physics on them was cool and it was fun to read all the visitor reviews. I'm not sure if the experience was chill or the complete opposite but it was interesting if no less.


game_end() by ghandpivot

I had a similar idea for another jam game but that didn't work out. This most certainly worked and really entertained. The game perfectly matches the theme and was really clever. I admit I had to cheat on the last level because I couldn't figure it out. Very well done!


Ghost Light by DougM

The first time I started up the game I saw the world flash once, then a ghost came flying and killed a mouse that then died and went to heaven. The second time I tried to press a few buttons to move around and managed to walk a bit before getting stuck and dying to something. Third time I found that you can view the world by pressing space and could finally start playing in earnest.

The game is pretty fun and it's cool to see the generated levels, though it gets a bit weird when the same pattern repeats itself several times. I think I like the ghost because it adds some tension and urgency to the game and forces you to move fast. The music helps selling the intensity, I just wish it'd loop more smoothly. I'd also have liked some sort of progression. Sure, I managed to reach the end of a level but the next one is just the same thing over again. I'd almost prefer hand-made levels so that you could feel yourself getting somewhere.

A different way to make the game more engaging would be to add some kind of scoring method, for example based on how far you got and how much money you collected along the way. Then you'd have an incentive to continue.


GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus

The game was interesting and very stylish but it quickly grew too overwhelming for me which made playing it very tiring. I enjoyed the early levels when you could create the requested patterns with just one or two moves but that wasn't as easy with the larger patterns, especially when you have to remember the positions of bombs as well. Maybe I thought too hard about finding the optimal solution rather than finding a solution.

I think it'd be interesting if you could see more than one piece ahead and potentially "store" pieces as well because at times I thought of something good but couldn't use my current piece for it. I'd also have liked some chill music that'd help you get into the zone when playing.


Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies

I like the premise of having one virus per area and having to find a way to navigate the maze. The map gives away just enough information to be useful but still requires the players to think and create their own mental map of the level. The upgrades were kind of neat, mostly because they filled up the controls part of the screen which gave a sense of progression and accomplishment. If anything, I'd have liked to see more unique abilities than just the very standard skill set.

I did not like the physics. The slow, sluggish movement of the player combined with great inertia and unforgiving obstacles made the game frustrating to play and I felt like I had to overcome the controls just as much as the environment.

The stat count at the end was a nice touch. It took me half an hour and 272 deaths to beat the game.


Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa

The game looks cool and is certainly an interesting experience but it's to repetitive to be fun for any longer period. I think two things would make the game much more interesting: audio and variation. There are a lot of visual effects, like the screen shake and the flipping of characters but there is no sound to really sell the impact. As for variation, right now every room is basically the same and the game mostly revolves around navigating a maze with no real directions as to where to go. If the map was a bit smaller and more linear (or rather, made you feel like you progressed more frequently) I'd be much more engaged.


How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic

That was a very different experience. The gameplay wasn't particularly interesting as it was very straightforward but that didn't matter so much (plus, the bird part was kind of fun). I think it's a nice change of pace to have a contemplative game every now and then and this certainly qualified as one. Well done.


Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer

It's a peaceful and calming game, until you get flipped around and frantically try to regain your balance. The visuals and audio were nice and very much contributed to the relaxed feeling, but they didn't stand out as very memorable, despite being well made. I liked controlling the balloon but being able to freely fly around also meant the game wasn't very hard as you could just fly over enemies. What's more, because the fruits all were high in midair you had even fewer reasons to land. I do think that making the enemies rather forgiving was a right call, as it wouldn't have been as fun if they killed you. Now it was fine to be somewhat reckless and you just had to deal with the messed up controls if you hit something.


Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James

I think you've made a really cool system of interfaces and it's one of the most complex clickers I've seen (which I think is a positive thing) and I'm sure it could be used in other projects as well. While I enjoyed seeing my privileges grow, I feel progression is too slow (then again, I suppose that's the point). I just don't have the patience to keep the game around to play itself. The writing did make me laugh!


Lightbulb by sp202

I have to admit, seeing the game windows interact with each other was awesome and the twist that after you steal the lightbulb from the other game window that game's character wakes up and misses the light was brilliant.


Lights Out by TinyGamesLab

The "only move in darkness" mechanic was nicely implemented and there was a good amount of variety to the levels which kept them fresh. I would have liked some better explanation because when I tried to use the arrow keys to move nothing happened and that confused me a lot until I figured out the gimmick of the game. It was cool and fun to see the stats of other players but you lacked the most important ones: 'how many have beaten the level before you?' and 'were you the one to get the best score on a level?'. It's a missed opportunity to incentivize and reward players who are among the few to beat particularly tough levels.

While the transitions were well made I have one nitpick and that's that they are both unskippable and long. The third time I die on a level I would rather quit the game than review statistics that I already know about. If you have difficult levels there must be a way for players to quickly get back into the action.


Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha

When I started the game I struggled a lot to find the controls and having a guy shooting at me didn't make it easier. As a general rule of thumb, never place enemies so they can attack the player where they spawn because it gives the player an unfair disadvantage and that's never fun. Once I'd figured out how to play I found the game to be pretty straightforward but enjoyable. I liked how the levels progressed and you could tell they were connected, like how you moved into the temple area at the end of one level and started inside the temple in the next.

My score was 22000 and I died 5 times.


Motti by Relic

The game kept me on the edge as I had to toggle between seeing things and not getting eaten by the moths. I think the light mechanic was interesting and cleverly done but it was also frustrating to deal with. The moths often came one at a time or in small groups so the best way to deal with them was often to let one out before going after the next so that they don't surround you. This turned out to be a very tedious strategy and walking back and forth with limited sprinting wasn't very engaging. I liked the houses and the furniture were nice obstacles that added a bit more atmosphere to them but I felt like I often got stuck on them when I tried to more around in the dark which made it harder to navigate, it felt like I should be able to slide along them better than I did.

On a side note, I constantly used the 'E' key to interact with the buttons rather than the mouse button which often resulted in me getting mothed a bit extra.


NEET Retreat by Jacob V

The game has a lot of ups and downs; it's beautiful, especially the fish art and the sound design is great, but it's also slow and while some parts are excellent, others are left unpolished.

Walking through the forest was exciting at first but grew dull when there was nothing to find but dead ends. I liked the uneasiness that came with the torn signposts and the geocaches were a fun distraction. To me though, the fishing was the highlight. It was very confusing at first because you have little reaction time and the game tells you to press the wrong button but once I got a hang of it, it was quite enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the game crashed when I was walking back towards the lake during the night so I didn't get to experience the rest of the game (if there was more?). Apparently some surface error but I was too quick to close down the error log to copy it.


Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam

This was a great take on the theme a very curious game. I think most levels got pretty easy when you could disable the ground (though I love the fact that you could) but some were still really tough (I never beat the level where you had to jump and restart monitors in mid-air). The visuals of the game are weird. I think they're beautiful on their own but together they don't match all that well, though perhaps that's mostly the ground. That you could jump on computers to restart them was a neat touch too.


Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley

I think the game would have been both more entertaining and more manageable/understandable if you zoomed out the view a bit. Right now, the player covers the majority of the screen (it's a good thing that you're partially transparent but I feel that shouldn't be needed). With more stuff on the screen you could not only see everything that's going on but also be more strategic in how you play, rather than just reacting to what comes into view.

It was cool to use the different abilities, especially the dash which not only was really powerful but felt awesome (and a bit risky) to use as well thanks to the sound and visual effects. I think a nice user interface that showed you the cooldown of abilities would streamline the gameplay a little. It'd also be great to have a little more variety to the enemies to spice things up.


Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison

The game looked alright but I was a little confused as to what to do at first as I couldn't find a way to interact with the talking cylinders. The cubes were nice though and I really liked the prompt buttons that appeared when near them (the way they moved around as you walked made them feel very dynamic).

Unfortunately, I couldn't reach the fourth cube and got an exception when interacting with the coffee machine.


On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies

I tried one button, nothing happened.
I tried another button, ohmygodthescreenisspinningpleasestop!
I tried a few more buttons.
Then I said screw it and mashed all the buttons.
I was not disappointed.


Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch

I really liked the visual style of this game and together with the honestly spooky music it made the game really unsettling. At first the game was incredibly confusing but I eventually learned that you could use the switches to move between rooms and after trying every key on the keyboard I learnt how to disable the flashlight as well. I felt like I got pretty far when I gave the car the teddy bear but I never found a use for the crank or the rope so in the end I got stuck. The game has a little too much walking around to it, especially since it's mostly aimless wandering where you hope that the room is interesting ~this time~. Unfortunately it's not, most of the time and the game gets tedious.


pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

The game has so much atmosphere it's crazy. I love the wacky music that changes depending on which tools you have open and the desktop environment feels really smooth (thanks for keeping keyboard input despite me giving focus to different windows!). The way new tools were introduced was great and it was exciting to constantly get to play with new things and seeing how they affected the game. However, I think that the platformer gameplay was a little weak and didn't feel as fun as the rest, mostly because of the winds that stole away your jumping and falling. I couldn't figure out how to use the memory viewer so I had to give up at that point. I guess I'll have to wait for a video playthrough to learn how to beat that one.


Powerout by Cat, var

The game looks and feels great and I love how many upgrades there are (I'm also a sucker for optional "secret" upgrades and power-ups). The use of theme is really strong in this entry and while it's fun at first to toggle your abilities on and off, the novelty of it soon wears off and it gets more tedious than engaging (this despite me having found most batteries, so I had points to work with). I think a key part of it is because of the controls. At first I didn't see the point of having to press shift to unassign points when you might as well just have a toggle but I understood as soon as higher tier abilities were unlocked. I still think it'd be more intuitive and less cumbersome to just cycle through the power tiers, but maybe that's just me.

The length of the game and the amount of variety to the environment and enemies were great and kept me going. Unfortunately, I don't think the level design was as good as I often found myself dying to an unseen enemy or killed by a sudden spike, forcing me to redo large sections over again. Overall I liked the game and I think it did some really neat stuff but was a little too tedious for me to really enjoy.


Rebot by HayManMarc

I like that I get to be the one to trigger the alarms by choosing where to start the reboot, it makes the puzzles more interesting. Because the shockwave ability has unlimited range and recharges faster than it wears off on the enemies you can freeze them in place indefinitely, which is kind of cheesy and takes all the challenge away (then again, if you don't use it you're pretty much screwed). I feel the game needs a little balancing to compensate for that, possibly by shortening the range of your ability to only your immediate surrounding, or maybe have a line of sight condition?

Also, I got an error as I started level 6. Perhaps there were only five levels?

FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_init_level:
Push :: Execution Error - Variable Index [0,6] out of range [1,6] - -5.rm(100013,6)
at gml_Object_obj_init_level_Step_0


Reflector Sector by woodsmoke

The game's core concept is really clean and simple and the graphics matches that really well. There something fun about guiding the ball and predicting its movement but it's also challenging and at times frustrating because of how limited your control can be. At its most extreme, I lost a level because the ball spawned flying towards the monster, with no blocks around to change its path. Thankfully, the game quickly lets you try again. I think it'd be interesting if you could interact with more than just the white ball, for example if every ball was affected by the blocks. That way the player could approach the game with a bit more strategy.


RoBros by BeardyElf

The game makes a really good first impression with a stylish menu and energetic music that gets you excited. The gameplay mechanics are well explained and interesting, though also rather cumbersome to handle as you had little control over the situation when both bots were exposed to enemies.

I think my biggest issue with the game is the terrain generation. In my experience the levels were either too easy (no enemies around and the goal next to spawn) or too hard (spawn in an open area with enemies all around you). I suggest adding a constraint on where stuff can spawn so that there are no enemies right next to you (which is especially important on the first level) and to make sure you have to explore a bit to reach the goal. I'd also like some indication of how enemies spawn because they seemed to appear randomly or respawn right next to me.

The in game visuals are great with plenty of details and visual feedback on your actions and the various environments are neat. The first area is very dark which makes the characters a bit hard to see (I've got light reflecting off my monitor which makes it even harder). While the music is awesome, you could add a few more sound effects to really bring it all together. For example when enemies are hit, or when they attack or notice you.


Save The Lights by KPJ

The game was really stressful and didn't leave you with much margin of error. I quickly learned to "sacrifice" two lamps to keep the rest going which made most of the challenge come from the viruses. It didn't feel like there was much to be done about those because if they showed up just when you were about to click you were screwed and while you could avoid them you had very little time to find a free spot. With that said, I still enjoyed the game, it had some cool transitions and a clean look to it and it was fun (if daunting) to see the number of lights constantly grow.


Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker

There's something inherently fun in smacking hordes of enemies. There's also something fun about upgrades and this game does both very well. It took me a little time to get what I was supposed to do but once I'd understood what the idea was I was all for it. There's a good deal of variation to the game, both in terms of enemies and upgrades and it was exciting whenever I saw a treasure chest to see what was inside of it. I also liked the small touches, like being able to carry civilians home or riding round a fire extinguisher for no reason.


Shield Shuffle by Curato

I liked how you had to juggle keeping the next colour in mind while deciding which part of the wall to go through. It'd be nice to have some sort of progression that made the game more difficult over time to spice things up and keep it from getting stale. While the graphics weren't that interesting in game, I though the menu graphics was really nice. Funnily, the multi coloured rain gave the illusion that the wall was moving.


Something Scary by Bearman_18

I liked the duality between the characters and how you could only move one at a time because you needed the other to manipulate the world. The game was spooky and getting caught by the shadows made for some intense moments as I'd scramble to hit a switch with the other character. It was nice how you could hide under the tables to avoid getting caught but I'd have liked some indicator in the light world if there was a monster nearby because now you had to flip a switch and hope there wasn't a monster on the other side (and if there was, tough luck). Also, when a monster grabbed me I managed to get stuck inside a wall and had to restart the game. Finally, the intro was both ambitious and impressive, well done.


Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev

There was an overwhelming amount of content to the game, each time I thought I'd reached the end you kept introducing new stuff. Unfortunately, the audio bugged out and broke down halfway through so I didn't get the rest of the story. The first part was pretty cool though, with the synthetic voice over and all.

I think the gameplay was alright but there are ways it could be improved. I'd like to see a bit more visual flare and polish to make the characters and environment stand out a bit more. The switch mechanic was interesting and used well.


TIMER by orSQUADstra

The game has a really beautiful art style which gives it great atmosphere and makes exploring exciting. The visual flare and cohesiveness makes it stand out from most other jam games.

I found the mechanics to be curious but awkward to use, and that goes for both the time rewind and platforming in general. My issue with the latter is how slippery you are. Dashing and sliding feels great when you pull it off but is really annoying when you fail, fall off a platform and have to go back and start over again. The gun works fine and I was impressed by the physics involved in shooting the crane platform.

The time rewind mechanics could have worked but I don't think it does in its current form. The problem is that you rarely know in advance when you should put a point to rewind to, especially since you can only have one such point and the game doesn't seem to limit how far back you can rewind. This means you might either be forced to wait for ages while the game rewinds, or you didn't place a rewind point early enough and now you've failed the level. It's a bit ironic that the game would have been much better with fixed checkpoints when you can place your own.


TOGGLD by Lazertrax

There is something relaxing about chaining streaks of enemies. At first I thought the game would be incredibly frustrating but thanks to each enemy only modifying one digit it remained manageable far into the late game, or at least until you mess up. When you make a mistake and have to find your way back it's suddenly incredibly stressful as you need to find exactly what you did wrong and what the next move is. Basically you have to change three digits instead of one and that easily gets out of hand. I'd have liked if the screen was cleared if you fail so that you get a breather.

I think the user interface is really nice. I like how smooth and polished it feels, though if I have one nitpick it's that clicking on another alternative doesn't choose it but the one currently highlighted. Having an online highscore table makes it all the more fun.


Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio

Tricky farming indeed. I thought I understood the game once I'd beaten the first level but then I couldn't clear the second one no matter how I tried. The game could really do with a tutorial, or at least some easier levels where you only need to use one or two different mechanics (simply increasing the counter when you have planted something correctly instead of at the end would go a long way to make it easier to track and understand your progress).

I think the game does some interesting things and it's fun to see how the different systems interact. It also have some neat touches like the transition effect and dialogue box when a farmer dies. Overall it's a neat game that only suffers from being too complex too early.
 
D

DougM

Guest
Doug's Radical Reviews!!!
My Top 10

1st Place - "Jasmine Laso - Switch U On" by Allison James
For being relatively simple in concept, I wound up spending the most amount of time playing this game, which must stand for something considering how obnoxious the song was! A hilarious parody of the music industry and pyramid schemes.

2nd Place - "Motti" by Relic
Fun set up and a great use of light mechanics to solve puzzles. Somehow creepy and funny at the same time.

3rd Place - "How We Find Home" by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
An emotional game with an interesting take on reincarnation and finding peace.

4th Place - "TIMER" by orSQUADstra
Awesome mechanics, I loved the rewind feature.

5th Place - "Something Scary" by Bearman_18
Weirdly reminded me of The Lost Vikings mixed with House of Leaves. The light puzzles were cool.

6th Place - "Pagefault" by TehPilot
7th Place - "Server Reset" by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
8th Place - "Dusk" by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
9th Place - "Grid Pause" by The M
10th Place - "Blabbit in the Headlights" by GameDevDan


Other games I enjoyed, in alphabetical order:
Cat Factory by Toque
GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
Lightbulb by sp202
Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
Powerout by Cat, var
Rebot by HayManMarc
RoBros by BeardyElf
Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev
 
Voting Post

Top 3:

GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
At first I was playing completely playing the wrong way, but once I realised what I had to do, it was quite challenging and enjoyable.

PROS
-Super simple gameplay that is easy to understand(As long as you pay attention, unlike what I did).
-Great presentation and style.
-Challenge level seemed juuust right to me.

CONS
-No music :(
-I feel like despite the difficulty/challenge feeling good, it could still use something like a way to reclaim an extra life, though I could be wrong and that would ruin it.
-A greater variety of shapes for the flipping could have been nice, but that's a minor nitpick at best.

Powerout by Cat, var
Like FTL as a platformer, nice. At first I wasn't sure about this idea, but it turned out to be a pretty interesting game. I like to think I got pretty far but I didn't finish it just yet.

PROS
-Simple art style worked pretty well, everything was communicated pretty effectively.
-The one music track was a bit nice.
-The abilities and order you unlock them in was good, the way the different levels of upgrade worked was great.
-Enemy variety and difficulty seemed well balanced to me.
-The platforming was solid.
-Sniper sight line changing brightness to indicate when he was going to fire was a great idea.

CONS
-As good as the one music track was, it was getting a bit grating towards the end of my session.
-Shooting just didn't feel good. There was no hit feedback from enemies which made it feel flat.
-The controls. I spent most of the game playing one handed because all the controls are shoved on the right side. I understand this makes sense due to the left hand being needed for the mouse, but since the game wasn't purely a shooter, my left hand was often sitting there idle. I think my biggest issue here was how clumsy it felt to manage you power cores. Holding shift and then pressing the number was often annoying. I had two ideas on how I would approach this:
1. Pressing the number key when that ability is full or you have no more power cores, cycles it back around to 0. or:
2. Press the number key to add power, and hold it to remove.

Something Scary by Bearman_18
Considered an idea similar to this myself, I'm expecting to see a few more like it. Definitely a solid use of theme.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to beat it, as I didn't want to spend too much time attempting to, but I feel like I got far enough to see what it was about. I'll definitely come back after voting and ranking and reviewing to try and beat it, maybe even before if I have more time.

PROS
-Great presentation, the opening story intro was well done, with nicely made story images.
-Sound effects were well chosen(even if they didn't fit with the art style).
-Character designs were nice and contrasting.
-The implementation of the main light switch mechanic was handled well, the placement of the first switch and stairs giving an instant introduction to the mechanic.
-Crawling under tables was a great idea, I loved it, it fit well with the mechanic and the setting.
-Sprites were simple but good, animated well enough for the style.

CONS
-Really could have used some spooky music to sell it more and create more of an atmosphere
-The movement and jumping could have used more work, the jumping was especially weird(I believe the ascent was too fast and descent too slow, with no hang time).
-Whilst I loved the crawl mechanic, I feel it was underutilised. It was only used where a light switch was which was a shame(Feel free to correct me if there is a later part where it gets used more and more independantly).
-Switching between characters was nice, but there were a couple of sections where they were too far out of sight yet I needed to switch the lights off and there just happened to be a monster right where they dropped down to, and then I had no time to recover.
-No checkpoints... I got a bit tired of playing the first sections I had passed several times over and over.

Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
Best Concept: Powerout by Cat, var
Best Presentation: TIMER by orSQUADstra
Best Story: PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan
Best Devlog: ... by Misu, Yal
Best Music: RoBros by BeardyElf

Full ranking:

  1. GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus
  2. Powerout by Cat, var
  3. Something Scary by Bearman_18
  4. TOGGLD by Lazertrax
  5. TIMER by orSQUADstra
  6. Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam
  7. Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail
  8. Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer
  9. Rebot by HayManMarc
  10. On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies
  11. Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay
  12. Lights Out by TinyGamesLab
  13. Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker
  14. Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch
  15. Motti by Relic
  16. RoBros by BeardyElf
  17. Grid Pause by The M
  18. Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio
  19. Reflector Sector by woodsmoke
  20. pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue
  21. Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan
  22. Ghost Light by DougM
  23. Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies
  24. Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha
  25. Shield Shuffle by Curato
  26. Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa
  27. Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley
  28. Cat Factory by Toque
  29. ... by Misu, Yal
  30. Lightbulb by sp202
  31. Computer IT by Michael McMullen
  32. Save The Lights by KPJ
  33. NEET Retreat by Jacob V
  34. Fun Park by Bart
  35. PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan
  36. game_end() by ghandpivot
  37. How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic
  38. Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison
  39. Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James
  40. Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev

Comments:

... by Misu, Yal

Another light-based game, but a bit too brutal for me.

PROS
-Overall presentation seemed good, I especially liked the whiteout fade.
-Lights and general atmosphere was spooky and well done.
-Sounds effects and music were well chosen, all adding to that atmosphere.
-The shadow monster things looked great, very spooky.

CONS
-The player sprite looked strange and wasn't very well animated.
-The font used on the menu and info screen was hard to read.
-The camera panning did not work at all, the mouse appeared to nothing at all for me, the camera would not move.
-The game speed seemed too fast to me.
-The difficulty spikes so quickly.
-The enemy hitboxes are too large, and they move way too fast.
-The last two cons combined made for some really frustrating sections, some seemingly unfair moments where you can't see the spot you're about to jump towards and there is a monster there(perhaps a result of the pan not working).
-The use of theme wasn't very solid, you turn lights on, but that's not interesting in and of itself.

Blabbit in the Headlights by GameDevDan

Very cute but too familiar.

PROS
-Cute art as usual.
-Nice and short with an ending.
-Great overall presentation as usual.

CONS
-You made this game before but better in a previous jam :/
-Badgers were the random enemy, right? Still no good.

Cat Factory by Toque

Cute but disturbing. I'm sorry but as a dog person, I have to rank this even lower(kidding, but seriously, those poor puppies... you monster!)

PROS
-Very cute sprites and sounds.
-Simple concept.
-Gets intense quickly.

CONS
-I didn't like the layout of the boxes, made the far right one annoying to get to. Mostly because if I accidentally touch the wrong box that's a failure, really feel like you should need to release the mouse button to drop, or click to pick up and click again to drop to prevent this. I ended up losing more because I would frantically try and move one cat to one of the right side boxes and accidentally touch the wrong one.
-I thought I'd be able to turn the conveyor belt on and off but I guess not.
-Wouldn't really say this fit the theme well if at all.

Computer IT by Michael McMullen

Simple little management sim.

PROS
-Easy to understand.
-Nice smooth art(Did you make it?)

CONS
-No end condition.
-Computers just turn off after giving money.

Dusk by Dallas Riley, Riley O'Neail

Very cute and very well made.

PROS
-Art was excellent, I'm not overly fond of minimalist styles especially pixel art, but this just fit too perfectly together with the concept.
-The concept itself was simple but good.
-The enemy variation in the 3 short levels was unexpected and well done. Especially the spider who reacted to the light!
-Soft checkpoints was a great idea, thank you.
-Loved the logo and the ending image.

CONS
-Movement would really benefit from being smoother. By that I mean a wee bit of acceleration and deceleration, and sliding against walls when moving at an angle towards them(as in, moving up and right then you hit a wall above you, you shouldn't stop dead, you should stop vertical movement but slide along to the right still).
-Not really feeling the theme though, as much as I enjoyed this.

Elephants Don't Play Videogames After Dark by wkaudio, KaraLynn.Cosplay

Very cute, and strangely a wee bit addictive.

PROS
-Cute sprites.
-Simple gameplay(both in general, and the cactus game) that tied into the theme well.

CONS
-Got a bit tired of the music constantly restarting.
-It was a little too easy, Mum elephant could have used some fake outs or something to make it a bit more of a challenge.

Fun Park by Bart

I was looking forward to some wacky theme park style game, but this was sadly very unfinished.

PROS
-3D stuff was cool.
-The Carousel was cute.

CONS
-There was no real way to play or progress.
-Some rides were locked off.
-The Ferris Wheel just murdered anyone who tried to get on, no matter what I did.
-During the Punisher ride, the text just overwhelmed the screen.

game_end() by ghandpivot

Eh, I get what you were going for but I just wasn't into it.
I accidentally passed the first few levels by ending the game via my taskbar before I realised what was happening.

Ghost Light by DougM

I did expect to see a few games that use light as a mechanic, but almost halfway through and this is only the second one so far!

PROS
-Sprites were nice.
-Music was catchy(did you write it? No credits).
-The idea worked ok with some minor issues that held it back.
-Loving the death animation.

CONS
-Levels seemed random?
-You could still move after death, it was very weird.
-No frame or reference for movement when the light is off, even just a static or parallaxed background of some sort to give me a sense of how fast I am moving would have made the experience a little more enjoyable.

GR1D_0 by Bauke Regnerus

At first I was playing completely playing the wrong way, but once I realised what I had to do, it was quite challenging and enjoyable.

PROS
-Super simple gameplay that is easy to understand(As long as you pay attention, unlike what I did).
-Great presentation and style.
-Challenge level seemed juuust right to me.

CONS
-No music :(
-I feel like despite the difficulty/challenge feeling good, it could still use something like a way to reclaim an extra life, though I could be wrong and that would ruin it.
-A greater variety of shapes for the flipping could have been nice, but that's a minor nitpick at best.

Greenshield the Brave by Mercerenies

How is it you had time to make twoooo games?! TWO! I know both were simle but they were both still good. I hate you :p
I got about halfway with the bugs but didn't beat it. May come back after the jam to finish it off and see if there is an ending!

PROS
-Fun little meta story.
-Simple concept.
-I liked the upgrade path.
-Cool music and cute art.

CONS
-The game felt really sluggish to me, I'm not sure if it was running slow for whatever reason or that was the speed it was meant to be.
-Gah, static jumps are a bit the worst, especially when they are so slow.
-Not sure if the theme was used, but I can see some areas you could argue it is.

Grid Pause by The M

Whoa that was insane!

PROS
-Very intense and fun bullet hell.
-Art was nice and clean.
-Music was awesome.
-Concept was very cool, fit the theme well.

CONS
-Too intense too fast I think, but maybe that's just how the genre is, I'm no expert.
-Controlling movement with the mouse rarely feels good. Even less so on a trackpad.

Gung-ho Pro Commando by Roa

I appreciate the effort of doing a sort of 3D game, but playing it didn't really do much for me. Theme usage was presumably only in the intro(many spelling mistakes btw, but no big deal) and goal.

PROS
-The name.
-3D games are almost always a wee bit more impressive.
-Gamepad controls!

CONS
-Basically just a stripped down top-down shooter, the main gun was very unsatisfying to shoot, I feel the shooting speed was too slow.
-There didn't appear to be much in the way of hit feedback, making the impact of the gun feel even less. I wasn't sure half the time if I was hitting an enemy or not.
-Enemy variety. I only recall seeing two types of enemies, red and blue guys and the only difference was one shot missiles.
-Procedural generation is great and all, but it leads to some pretty boring level design.
-No sound whatsoever was a real shame.

How We Find Home by Lt. Farfetch'd, DanielDochertyMusic

A walking sim with no walking. This game was all fluff and no actual content unfortunately, you seemed to have spent all of your tie on the presentation and none on making a game which is unfortunate because the presentation is great.

PROS
-The art is great, animations could have used some more frames but still looked good.
-The overall presentation was very slick, all the white fades and individual text line fades.

CONS
-You forgot to make a game, man!
-The first part was a really shoddy and boring kind of flappy bird.
-The section with the frog was not done well either, the platforming could have used a lot more work, and the collision box was a little too wide.
-There was a tree, then the end?

Hungry Thing by Shadow_Lancer

Interesting and adorable. I didn't even realise I had fuel until I won!

PROS
-Loved the art.
-The controls worked great and I loved that I had to readjust if I bumped into something. Not sure if that was intentional design but it worked.
-Choice of font and music were great. Music was very calming.

CONS
-It wasn't clear if enemies were there to kill me or just to be a minor annoyance.
-Maybe a little too easy(needs something else to spice it up).

Jasmine Laslo - Switch U On by Allison James

Probably missing something here, but it seemed like there was nothing to do but listen to that one song.
Looked slick as heck though.

Lightbulb by sp202

More of this idea than I expected, but this entry, as short as it was, I think really did it the best.

Lights Out by TinyGamesLab

Very polished entry, even if it is a popular take on the theme.

PROS
-Smooth and consistent art.
-Platforming felt good.
-Great version of this idea.
-The death and light tallies at the end are cool.
-Happy ending, unless the Princess doesn't like you haha.

CONS
-Whilst the concept is cool and all, it makes for some very frustrating levels.
-Your fades are too slow, the death screen wait was excrutiating!

Matsu Switch! by TheMiningBoyAlpha

Final score: 21100
Deaths: 2

PROS
-Your style is consistent.
-Game length was good for a jam game, and it's always nice to have a completion screen.
-Platforming and variety through the levels was good.
-Good simple use of the theme,

CONS
-I get you're going for a specific style, but the wide pixel look just makes things look unnaturally stretched.
-Got stuck in a toggled block at least once which was unfortunate.

Motti by Relic

Cool and unique concept, even though it like many other entries are light-related.

PROS
-Lighting looked and worked great.
-The moth images on the sides were spooky and fittinga as a sanity meter.

CONS
-Oh boy, the movement pace was soooo bad. That is way too slow, and the sprint cooldown was too long(I switched to jam difficulty after the first treatment).
-Mouse aiming is fine, but maybe let me see my cursor so I can aim better. I kept losing relative position which made it difficult to turn around right.
-The sluggish movement is the only thing that really holds back this game in my opinion, that and some of the opengameart stuff seemed a bit inconsistent.

NEET Retreat by Jacob V

Got lost in the woods for like 15minutes finding geocaches then quit.

PROS
-As expected, the art is nice. The backgrounds were especially well done.
-Sprite animations were smooth(expect the head bob on the sprint was a bit much haha)
-Good sound design, al lthe sound effects were crisp and well chosen.
-Overall presentation was nice.
-Z to close your hands over your ears was a neat idea.

CONS
-I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do beyond wander about finding geocaches, game was very unclear about that.
-I tried following the sounds like suggested but I ended up either more lost or going in circles.
-Not really sensing much if any usage of the theme here, unless it's in part of the game I couldn't find...
-No fullscreen option... I'm playing on my laptop so you game window is larger than my usable screenspace...

Occupational Hazard by Cheshy, SamSam

I really enjoyed this idea, but the implementation was a bit lacking. Definitely interesting.

PROS
-Nice unique concept.
-Use of theme is really a strong part of the core mechanic.
-Nice presentation.

CONS
-Art style seemed really inconsistent as if all the assets were from different places.
-The player sprite was super weird...(What was he?)
-Movement and jump could use a little work, movement felt too rigid and the jumps too floaty.

Off and On in the Octagon by Bentley

Big fist wizards!

PROS
-I enjoyed the sound effects.
-I liked the art too, mostly the hands and spell attack.
-Very simple concept, could be a fun multiplayer game.

CONS
-As much as I enjoyed some of the art and sound, it didn't all fit together very consistently.
-I didn't understand the point of turning the thing of and on again and how that related to the battles.
-Man, you got to enable fullscreen, especially for mouse shooting games(Kept clicking outside window...)
-I don't have a mousewheel at the moment so I was unable to change spells.

Office Shape Saviour by Pixel Poison

Sadly this looks very unfinished and unplayable.

PROS
-Not really sure to be honest. I liked the idea of cheering up co-workers and the controls to do so worked well enough.

CONS
-Crashed when I tried to get coffee.
-You really shouldn't use controller icons if you don't have gamepad functionality, it is confusing and misleading.
-I didn't understand the controls, how could A be an interaction key as well as a movement key?
-I wasn't able to get the last block guy because ironically, he was blocked off... by his co-workers near the coffee crash machine.
-Which means I couldn't fight the boss(If there was one).
-A bit concerned by that logo... It looks as if you took it from an existing game and poorly MSpainted over the second word...

On And Off Back And Forth by Mercerenies

I can appreciate this, some of those were wacky and a handful I couldn't tell what they did but it was neat.
Make it two player and release a post-jam version!

Once Upon in Albimore by MilesThatch

Long and confusing, then I got killed cheaply and quickly.

PROS
-Overall presentation was good.
-Solid use of theme(even if I didn't fully understand what was happening)
-Spookiness was well done.
-As was the light and torch effects.

CONS
-It was too confusing, there were too many variations of the room and it wasn't clear at first that the two switches work differently.
-Ummmm, was I... naked? That is concerning.
-I activated a toy car and a shadow just sped at me and game over, I had no chance to do anything...

pagefault by TehPilot, TheFugue

As per usual, TehPilot and TheFugue come in with something simple looking and stylish as heck. The gameplay itself was a bit standard puzzle platformery and basic, but the way it's all put together in the context of the desktop theme is a bit neat and fun. The jam theme however, that's tough. The core puzzle element seems to be binary puzzles, which I suppose you could justify since 1s and 0s represent on and off states. Closing and opening windows makes more sense but seemed to be secondary.

PROS
-The desktop looked very nice.
-Music was excellent.
-Visual effects were good too.
-Puzzles were a bit standard but well executed.
-Progression and addition of more files and permissions was neat.

CONS
-The actual platforming was a bit boring by itself(That said it was still done well)
-I feel like more could have been done with the window manipulation perhaps, but then again that may be too similar to one of your last jam games.

PAINTB***H 2.0 by Lukan

Cool GMSpaint.

Powerout by Cat, var

Like FTL as a platformer, nice. At first I wasn't sure about this idea, but it turned out to be a pretty interesting game. I like to think I got pretty far but I didn't finish it just yet.

PROS
-Simple art style worked pretty well, everything was communicated pretty effectively.
-The one music track was a bit nice.
-The abilities and order you unlock them in was good, the way the different levels of upgrade worked was great.
-Enemy variety and difficulty seemed well balanced to me.
-The platforming was solid.
-Sniper sight line changing brightness to indicate when he was going to fire was a great idea.

CONS
-As good as the one music track was, it was getting a bit grating towards the end of my session.
-Shooting just didn't feel good. There was no hit feedback from enemies which made it feel flat.
-The controls. I spent most of the game playing one handed because all the controls are shoved on the right side. I understand this makes sense due to the left hand being needed for the mouse, but since the game wasn't purely a shooter, my left hand was often sitting there idle. I think my biggest issue here was how clumsy it felt to manage you power cores. Holding shift and then pressing the number was often annoying. I had two ideas on how I would approach this:
1. Pressing the number key when that ability is full or you have no more power cores, cycles it back around to 0. or:
2. Press the number key to add power, and hold it to remove.

Rebot by HayManMarc

Loved the presentation and the clean looking sprites. Somehow the error message for levels out of range seems apt.

PROS
-Art was clean and nice, little robot dude was cute.
-Nice and clear use of the theme which led to an interesting idea. Switching all the switches on is pretty normal, but switching them all off then having to switch them all back on is an interesting take, especially since you have to dodge enemies and they can disable switches.
-The music was strange but oddly fitting, did you make it?

CONS
-I feel like you move too fast and slide too much, it was a little unwieldy at times, but no too bad.
-The blast was OP, level 4 and 5 felt impossible without it, but way too easy with it.
-If X wasn't right next to C, I may have had issues with the controls as they were explained. The font you used(which is great for this type of game) made X look like a H or something, initially confusing.

Reflector Sector by woodsmoke

A fun and reasonably simple idea, with a good use of theme.

PROS
-Theme is right there in your central mechanic.
-Simple goal to destroy other balls.
-Simple colour scheme and art style works well for this sort of game.

CONS
-Considering the main mechanic revolves around reflections, it is a bit of a shame that sometimes the reflections themselves aren't accurate enough or behave in ways they shouldn't.
-The procedural generation sometimes meant the monster started right in my path for an instant game over basically.
-Sometimes the player ball would get stuck on corners or inside the edges of blocks.
-Due to the getting stuck and not-always-correct angles, it became a bit difficult to accurately aim yourself.
-Oh boy, I got stuck on level 2 for so long!

RoBros by BeardyElf

Cool looking entry, did you make the music?

PROS
-The menu looked great, loved everything about it.
-Sprites and background art looked great too, overall the art was really good.
-Music was sweet.
-Concept was cool.
-Random level generation is neat.

CONS
-Sometimes the random levels would put you in very unfortunate starting positions.
-Run out of energy too fast.
-Switching between robots to recharge and shoot was fiddly and annoying for the pace of the game.

Save The Lights by KPJ

SImple concept, but maybe a little too simple.

PROS
-Easy to get and play at the very least.
-Nice clean intro and howto screens.
-The variety in lightbulbs was a good idea, and it was represented well with the colours.

CONS
-These kinds of games generally aren't all the much fun as they are manic.
-Levels were over so quickly.
-I think I can see where you were going with the theme usage, but it didn't quite hit it.

Server Reset by Mikeey Bikeey, Aaron Baron, Nacky Slocker

Fun idea that fits the theme.

PROS
-Nice consistent art.
-Upgrades kept it interesting as you progressed.
-Nice short and sweet 3 levels.
-Great overall presentation(apart from the floating words left over)
-Cute ending and nice credits.

CONS
-Is your name really Aaron Baron? Why do your parents hate you?(Kidding of course)
-Upgrades made you OP very quickly.
-This feels very similar to a previous jam game with the hammer and mace...

Shield Shuffle by Curato

Cool concept but the execution was not ideal.

PROS
-Simple and interesting idea.
-Fit the theme well with the shield managment.

CONS
-This should not be controlled with the mouse, and on click release to move... that was a bad idea, really annoying to control that.
-That's about it really, the mouse controls were so bad that I just did not want to keep playing.

Something Scary by Bearman_18

Considered an idea similar to this myself, I'm expecting to see a few more like it. Definitely a solid use of theme.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to beat it, as I didn't want to spend too much time attempting to, but I feel like I got far enough to see what it was about. I'll definitely come back after voting and ranking and reviewing to try and beat it, maybe even before if I have more time.

PROS
-Great presentation, the opening story intro was well done, with nicely made story images.
-Sound effects were well chosen(even if they didn't fit with the art style).
-Character designs were nice and contrasting.
-The implementation of the main light switch mechanic was handled well, the placement of the first switch and stairs giving an instant introduction to the mechanic.
-Crawling under tables was a great idea, I loved it, it fit well with the mechanic and the setting.
-Sprites were simple but good, animated well enough for the style.

CONS
-Really could have used some spooky music to sell it more and create more of an atmosphere
-The movement and jumping could have used more work, the jumping was especially weird(I believe the ascent was too fast and descent too slow, with no hang time).
-Whilst I loved the crawl mechanic, I feel it was underutilised. It was only used where a light switch was which was a shame(Feel free to correct me if there is a later part where it gets used more and more independantly).
-Switching between characters was nice, but there were a couple of sections where they were too far out of sight yet I needed to switch the lights off and there just happened to be a monster right where they dropped down to, and then I had no time to recover.
-No checkpoints... I got a bit tired of playing the first sections I had passed several times over and over.

Switch Glitch by Silas The Dev

Nice menu, but despite your advice in the forums, I cannot open any levels :(

TIMER by orSQUADstra

I didn't get far in this but it looked good. I couldn't shoto because I don't have a mouse and my trackpad doesn't let me use left click and right click simultaneously.

PROS
-Art and animations were really great.
-Loved the menu and title image.
-General presentation is excellent, loved the effects.

CONS
-The controls were a little spaced out for my liking. Shift, Control, and Space feel a bit awkward to use all together.

TOGGLD by Lazertrax

Very cool idea, I could play for hours if not for a couple of issues.

PROS
-Very cool interpretation of the theme.
-Nice polish on menus and in-game display.
-Good effects and sounds.
-Great way to teach/learn binary!

CONS
-I feel like this would work much better with keyboard controls instead of mouse.
-Seemed to be some Draw GUI issues.

Tricky Farming! by Paul, Sergio

Cool concept, deceptively fun and addictive.

PROS
-Like I said, concept was cool. Nice and simple, which makes it easy to get the hang of quickly.
-Music was nice(but it did get repetitive after a while).
-Art is ok, the little effects for the wind and fire were well done.

CONS
-Too short, haha.
-First screen was confusing(after initial message), I wasn't sure if it was a level, a tutorial, or some sort of attract mode.
-Though most of the concepts were communicated effectively, I still didn't fully understand it. Rain was obvious at least, putting out fires but also flooding, but Sunlight was less clear, I did notice crops only caught fire during the day but I didn't see any negative effects at night, so a few times I just left it as night and still won.
-Not enough variety in challenge.
 
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