GMC Jam Discussion The Zesty GMC Jam 37 Discussion Topic

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ghandpivot

Member
New video up and being processed for FrostyCat, Pat Ferguson, KooKooKachoo, Kyon, VinylFly, MikeTheScrivener, Lalileloluly, Poizen, Terminator_Pony, Klys and Yal.
Looking back at @FrostyCat 's game I think I could do a lot better now after processing the logic of the game a bit. I had a hard time getting into it while focusing on commentary at the same time.
 
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New video up and being processed for FrostyCat, Pat Ferguson, KooKooKachoo, Kyon, VinylFly, MikeTheScrivener, Lalileloluly, Poizen, Terminator_Pony, Klys and Yal.
Looking back at @FrostyCat 's game I think I could do a lot better now after processing the logic of the game a bit. I had a hard time getting into it while focusing on commentary at the same time.
Appreciate the review! Had a chuckle when you asked if show/hide TAB was necessary. It wasn't. The controls popup was a last minute addition and I wasn't sure if I wanted it cluttering the screen. Similarly ENTER for fullscreen was a poor choice, as many instinctively use Alt+Enter, resulting in Windows and GMS fighting each other.

The torn page puzzle was almost much worse. Originally you had to assemble it on sideA (a full flip from what you had), but thankfully my wife did it the same way you did.

In regards to story, the surface story isn't very deep or memorable... but there is something deeper going on with each page and puzzle. For example, the character doesn't just have convenient amnesia. The torn page isn't randomly torn. That said, I don't expect anyone to sit and reflect on the story of a jam game. 😂
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
Looking back at @FrostyCat 's game I think I could do a lot better now after processing the logic of the game a bit. I had a hard time getting into it while focusing on commentary at the same time.
Thank you for your detailed video playthrough and review of my entry. I appreciate how you voiced out your thought process and also commented on what the entry has done well or not done well.

One great observation you made in the video was that not being penalized for an incorrect answer was a positive point in the game. Initially I did plan on a solution lock-in system where you have to lock in the answer before time runs out, and points would be taken off for mis-marking civilians and the game ends if you let a rogue through. That was eventually left out of the game due to development time and balance concerns, but you raised another good reason to keep that left out. In the remastered version I'm planning to do this weekend, I will keep it the way it is, but add some sort of visual indication for when the player's markings are contradictory. I will also keep your point in mind for future puzzle-genre projects I develop, and try not to think first about getting the player killed or adding extra tactical choices to a player just starting out.

As for the Level 5 problem you were stuck on in the video (around 14:53), the contradiction comes from the bottom-right unit at (3, 4). It reported 0 and was marked as a civilian, but there were 3 marked rogues in its range of sight. The actual solution is (1, 2), (3, 1), (3, 4) (yes, that bottom-right unit is in fact a liar).

Got around to updating/commenting on the zipped games not runnable through the jam program. If i didnt get yours or feedback is still missing pm me or tag me in a post or something and ill get to it
You said you wished there were instructions coming with my entry, but it is there in the README.html. Was the Jam Player able to open it on your system? Or did you mean that you found it too verbose, and would like to have the instructions built into the game instead?

Thanks to you as well, for the speedy review.
 
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Neo_Kesha

Guest
3 stars
I had a hard time with the controls. I'm not a fan of space to jump. It throws me off all the time. Having no way to defeat the enemies was too harsh for me. Platformer mechanics seemed slightly off to me, but not horrible. A lot of story in the beginning, seemed a lot of work went into it. But probably should have put that time into some in-game guidance, as I was often clueless about what was happening. I picked something up, but didn't know what it was. Graphics were above average, okay sounds, and decent music. Ultimately, too difficult for me to continue playing to the end.
Hey @HayManMarc ! Thank you for your review! Yeah, we had a lot of problems with job planning, that resulted into me working as artist for baackgrounds, traps and entities like portals and projectiles, e.g. everything that looks like [not good thing that censored here!], while tengg was busy with cutscenes. Hopefully next time we will evaluate priorities better! That also led to bad tutorial, which is only placed in Esc menu. I mean, you can kill enemies by spraying holy water on F after you pick up sprayer at the beginning of first level DUH DiD yOu NoT rEaD mAnUaL?! XD Sorry for such bad tutorial system, basically we just ran out of time.
Thank you!
 

ghandpivot

Member
As for the Level 5 problem you were stuck on in the video (around 14:53), the contradiction comes from the bottom-right unit at (3, 4). It reported 0 and was marked as a civilian, but there were 3 marked rogues in its range of sight. The actual solution is (1, 2), (3, 1), (3, 4) (yes, that bottom-right unit is in fact a liar).
Wow, I totally missed that their icons meant all the way across the map and not just adjacent tiles. That changes things a lot. In the back of my head I know that I've been told so, it just didn't come to mind throughout my run. Maybe color code the arrows a bit to make that stand out more.
It's a great puzzler, I doubt it hasn't been done before but if it hasn't then you've found something very interesting!
For the final version, do not punish people for testing selections randomly, that's only a viable strategy in early levels anyhow. And do not give input on contradicting selections immediately but rather only once they've "finished" their solution.
 
2 stars
I made it to the cafeteria and the game errored after I got a meal of Ramen. Seemed like an Interactive Fiction game. Not my favorite genre, so strike one. It's anime style – not my favorite art style so strike two. The error happened and stopped the game. Sorry, but at this point I was done. My biases aside, and besides the error, everything seemed to work ok and was relatively easy to figure out. Didn't care much for the idle animation, but I see what you were trying for. All in all, not horrible, just not my cup of tea.
Lol. Thanks for your very long review! I appreciate the time you placed into writing this. When I made the game, I knew it wouldn't be everybody's cup of tea. This is the first time I incorporated anime style art into the game and also my first time making a visual novel. I usually make typical top-down or platform games like most indie devs do. If ever I join the next GMC, I'll most likely go back to my usual style (I make bear games 🧸)
 
Oh ya, I noticed some people who play my game get crashes. Sorry, I didn't have time to debug those. These bugs are pretty avoidable though and are hard to recreate. I was told it crashes when trying to go to the boys bathroom (why would you? you're a girl) but I can't seem to recreate it. Another one is rapidly hitting the space button but hopefully nobody does that.

Also, just want to inform all that I have completed playing all of your games. I managed to play all game from start to finish! (Except for three games made by @d4 Studios @Bart and @BraydeeJohnson . I would love to finish your games as well :) but I got stuck) I hope none of you guys get offended by my comments.

Congrats to all for making a game!
 

Gizmo199

Member
@GrizzliusMaximus and @GreenWyvern thanks for the review!! The 300% thing is a great point! Will definitely minimize that if I spruce it up to release as a little game. Also absolutely need to make it more intuitive / add in a "controls" button on the menu with maybe a little tutorial for the first time you play a match. Thanks for the input y'all!
 

KPJ

Member
@MiketheScrivener @GrizzliusMaximus @GreenWyvern Thanks for the reviews!

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

A simple detective game! Clean presentation and to the point, nice job. The only shaky bits were the clues for pointing out the murderer: I was right for selecting them, but seemingly for the wrong reasons. Is cutting veggies and stabbing people really that conclusive? Ah well, I'm thinking too deeply into it!
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, the clue you mentioned, as well as a few others, were some of the more "suspicious" clues I added that could be easily explained, but still were questionable. That's why I decided to add the BIG clue at the end to seal the deal, so that the entire mystery wasn't based entirely on speculation!
 
You said you wished there were instructions coming with my entry, but it is there in the README.html. Was the Jam Player able to open it on your system? Or did you mean that you found it too verbose, and would like to have the instructions built into the game instead?
so i found the README after i clicked through the game for a bit. And to be honest it's very very dense. I know you said you ran out of time a bit but just a tutorial "level" or puzzle in the campaign would have gone a really long way. just maybe a step - by step process to solve one of the more easier puzzles that i can click through one text box at a time, it would have been a lot more digestible.
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
I have not yet idea what sort of games you are referring to (I have yet to get started with playing the Jam games), but now I really want to find out. This is so incredibly cool and the credit to the Jam.
 

Micah_DS

Member
Wow, for once I've completed my voting without being super close to the deadline! (Now if I can only manage that when submitting my jam games :p):

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@GreenWyvern I greatly appreciate your jam gang art, both the thought and the quality. And my character is placed next to the character from my favorite game (System Purge), so I like it even more. :D
 

The M

Member
@Micah_DS Thanks for the kind words! You had a lot of valid points which I kind of knew about but didn't want to think of 😅 (the stairs being confusing and not having a crosshair). Funny thing about stacking sound effects is that there is a limit on sounds, just not explosions. I limited how much enemy attack sounds could stack to prevent them from being too loud (especially when some enemies can fire large waves of bullets), but I never expected there to be so many explosions going off at once that I'd need a similar check there. Then again, the sound design was rushed.
 
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Feather Dreams

Guest
That was a fun and a nice learning experience! I'd like to pick fellow entrants brain for some insights or advice on how ARBITRARY could have communicated better with the player.

A lot of people got frustrated that the game was not accepting answers that they felt were right, but consistently the answers mentioned were very intentionally not the correct ones.

The thing the player didn't know was:
In hindsight, I think I was a little too afraid of giving the answer away, and should have been a bit more generous with hints.

I am digging that art, GreenWyvern.
 

Toque

Member
What does "Best presentation" mean to you? Is it all visual? The prettiest game? How does a game present itself?
 
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Feather Dreams

Guest
For me, 'best presentation' is a game that set itself apart, with sound or graphics.

  • I'm likely to give a good score in that category if the game has a consistent art style and is generally pleasant to look at and listen to.
  • I'm likely to give a great score in that category if the game has a visual identity that lets it stand out from the competition, if it tries something different, and doubly so if it nails it.
  • I'm likely to give the game top marks in that category if the art and sound for the game make me go "You made that in the span of a jam?"
 

The M

Member
@The M Not the best solution but you can use:
GML:
window_set_cursor(cr_cross);
for a simple crosshair. One line code :)
That's actually a nice solution. While I'd probably just draw something normally, I like that the built-in crosshair inverts on the black background so it's still visible.
 

Toque

Member
For me, 'best presentation' is a game that set itself apart, with sound or graphics.

  • I'm likely to give a good score in that category if the game has a consistent art style and is generally pleasant to look at and listen to.
  • I'm likely to give a great score in that category if the game has a visual identity that lets it stand out from the competition, if it tries something different, and doubly so if it nails it.
  • I'm likely to give the game top marks in that category if the art and sound for the game make me go "You made that in the span of a jam?"

So kind of the same as food. How the food is presented. Best artistic style....... That was kind of my thinking.......
I would pose a few more questions but I will wait after the voting is over. During the battle is not the proper time.
 
What does "Best presentation" mean to you? Is it all visual? The prettiest game? How does a game present itself?
I have a slight bias on detailed visuals since I know how much time and effort are placed into it. Games that don't look very professional would most likely not win the best presentation award for me. I am not saying that unprofessional "game jam" art is bad, many of the games here with simple art were able to present itself well and it fit well with the game. But if there is another game that looks professional and has visuals that fit well with the game, I'll most likely choose that over the game with simple visuals.

In short, my best presentation is based solely on visuals (and sfx). In my overall, I took into consideration on the "feels" of the game but this scope is broader than just graphics and sfx as it also takes into account the story and concept behind the game. Since story and concept are their own category, I tried to make sure the categories don't have intersecting criteria.
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
Alright, after some technical shenanigans with moving/reposting suggestions I made a thread for Jam Player overhaul:

If you want to contribute to Jam Player or post some feature requests, do it there.
 

Mercerenies

Member
My first 16 reviews are up, in the voting topic. I'll be doing these over multiple days, given that we have more than the usual number of entries, so more will be coming tomorrow. My main takeaway right now is: Did everyone do their own voice acting this? You guys are making me sad I didn't do all the voices for my entry :p

EDIT: Oh, and I should note. I'm going through the Jam ZIP. When I'm done, I'll skim through this topic and see if there's any late entries I missed. But if your game isn't in the ZIP or if you have a post-jam version you'd rather I play, feel free to DM me to make sure I see it.
 
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Gizmo199

Member
@Mercerenies thanks for the review! Yeah I spent to much time on polish. I got to that point where I had played it so much that I knew how to play it well but forgot to put myself in the shoes of someone that is playing it for the first time. Also (after looking at the readme) I put "secondary attack" but I ended up changing it in the game to 'grab' which literally only grabs food. Haha. My bad. The controls are kind of a mess and need some serious attention. Basically the goal is to swing your 'sword' using the attack button (j key / a button) into the other enemy. The dash will only 'refill' once you have landed on the ground. It was my first time ever attempting a game in that style/genre and I missed the mark big. Haha. That's what jams are for I guess! Haha. My bread and butter is puzzle / rpg type games so it was a challenge and I have learned a ton from the feedback I have received! Thank you again for taking the time to review it! :)
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
Alright, about System Purge by @JacobV et al, quite spoilery...
Anyone has any idea what the ending is supposed to mean? That blue woman at the end came out of nowhere and there was no explanation what was her role, except she's probably the copy of the same person who was in the teleporter room? Seriously, though, this is so perplexing I don't even know if the ending was supposed to be good or bad.

My headcanon at the moment is that there was a boss battle to be included at the end, but the developers ran out of time. It feels like the most human comprehensible explanation of what happened there.
 

Toque

Member
That was a fun and a nice learning experience! I'd like to pick fellow entrants brain for some insights or advice on how ARBITRARY could have communicated better with the player.

A lot of people got frustrated that the game was not accepting answers that they felt were right, but consistently the answers mentioned were very intentionally not the correct ones.

The thing the player didn't know was:
In hindsight, I think I was a little too afraid of giving the answer away, and should have been a bit more generous with hints.

I am digging that art, GreenWyvern.
yeah I would like the answers at some point. It seems madness to just walk away from the game without finishing it.
 
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GreenWyvern

Guest
she's probably the copy of the same person who was in the teleporter room?
The machine didn't have all that organic flesh stored up for nothing!

My headcanon at the moment is that there was a boss battle to be included at the end, but the developers ran out of time.
From the OST:
1591758378615.png
 
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GreenWyvern

Guest
It seems madness to just walk away from the game without finishing it.
Real-life gets in the way sometimes, unfortunately. Walk away, though? The game was posted a few minutes late, it was a close call!

I'm dumb and thought you were replying to someone else 2regmftqgst4wtrht4whterhte4h
 
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Toque

Member
Real-life gets in the way sometimes, unfortunately. Walk away, though? The game was posted a few minutes late, it was a close call!
Sorry miss understanding.
I spent some time playing and trying to answer the questions. This is about me not being able to finish the game because I’m not very smart.

this is about me walking away without being able to finish it. My madness.

Make sense?

I was hoping someone could pm the answers so I can finish it......

hope that makes sense.
 

Bart

WiseBart
My votes and comments are done and can be found in the voting post. I'm pretty sure that I played all the games :D
If you have comments or suggestions on your entry or anywhere else do feel free to let me know!
It wasn't an obvious thing this time to play that many entries, let alone "rank" them in a somewhat meaningful way.

Overall I did find it very entertaining to play all these games.
Many games with a high standard among them and a lot of variation and creativity.
 
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The M

Member
Cheers! Too bad you got stuck, you'd made it through most of the game. Ghandpivot's video review is a great walkthrough if you're interested. My guess is that you got stumped when the doors didn't open. You can force one open by hitting the circular thingy with the ion grenades.

My original plan for that boss was to have it collapse and block the exit with its corpse, forcing you to take another path back and making you go through another sector. That got cut because of time constraints.
 
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GreenWyvern

Guest
Sorry miss understanding.
Oh no no no, I was the one misunderstanding! I accidentally thought you were replying to Alice about a completely different game...

WHOOPS

Please ignore my message.
 
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