GMC Jam Discussion GMC Jam 30 / XXX / Discussion

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Otyugra

Guest
[...] Prizes are an added extra for pushing yourself and the boundaries of what can be done, but they have never been the focus of the Jam (which is why they are community prizes and not monetary ones). I can sort of understand why you'd be annoyed if someone says your game is garbage without any other feedback, but on the other hand, if someone does that then it's obvious that their opinion means nothing and so can be ignored... If a comment like "Game is garbage" doesn't have any additional explanation then it's not worth even considering as valid feedback, so where's the issue? You say you "had" to give up till 5am... I'd say "no you didn't". You CHOSE to stay up that late. You didn't have to, and tbh, you shouldn't be worrying about whether someone thinks your game is incomplete or otherwise to the extent that you sound like you are suffering for it. That doesn't sound very fun at all, and is (in my opinion) not a healthy attitude.

Note I'm not looking for a fight here... I appreciate that everyone has their own motives for why and how they do things and I get what you're saying.... But as one of the GMC Jam founders, I feel that your post has missed the whole point of the Jam, which was simply to have fun, build a bit of community spirit, and try and make something "out of the box". The prizes and ranking and stuff were just like the Icing on the Cake. The original Jam idea wasn't to have any prizes other than a banner for your signature, and the ranking wasn't taken too seriously. Like I say, this is very much my opinion, and I confess to being pretty much "IDGAF" about what people think... :)
Hey, sorry if I was a little intense earlier. My last 48 hours have been rather sucky.

I sympathize with your goal to maintain that the jam is a recreational, community building, fun event. I really like the thought of that, but unfortunately, people are very competitive by nature, and making a game in a 72 competition is grueling work even if you don't stay up late like I did on the final night. People like to hone their skills during jams (push themselves), get feedback from players (which for some is rare which makes it valuable), or even use jams to self-determine if they have what it takes; in my experience, transitioning from hobby to career is terrifying and it makes you self-critical. If you think about it, these GMC jams are like microcosms of the videogame market and so if you earnestly try hard to make an entry then rank low, that can feel kinda soul-crushing. On the contrary, some of my favorite memories as a developer came from reading that my jam game touched people in a way that was refreshing, or a huge pick-me-up! Likewise, some of my favorite games of all time are GMC jam games!!

So yeah, while I think people have reasons to take the jams seriously, I agree that we should try to bond, have fun along the way, not push ourselves too hard, not let crummy feedback get to us, and dare to experiment knowing that we won't be judged if our experimenting isn't a success. I guess you're right, that wasn't a very good reason to stay up late and put final touches on my game. If I'm honest, part of why I did it is because I aspire to be as good as everyone local that I look up to (some of whom participated in this jam against me) so I wanted to put extra work into it. Like you said, I chose that, but it isn't hard to see why.
 
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Pere

Guest
Thanks a lot for the detailed review! It was very helpful! Here's some responses for some of ur comments:


-Yeah, now that you say that, I actually forgot to assign the right collision box to enemies xD. I noticed the enemies hit u from far and that's why I also made the collision of the sword so big. Now I see I should've just assigned the right collision to enemies.
-I'll make sure to change the mouse sprite next time. It's pretty easy to do and it can make a significant difference.
-I really value tight controls in a game. Before I do anything else I always make the movement as smooth and enjoyable as posible :)

-I agree, the water is too bright. I wanted to lower its saturation but I didn't have the extra 3 minutes to do it. We imported the tiles in the last hour.
-Yep, I forgot one tile haha...

-yeah I also value a lot short or non-existing tutorials; treating the player as a smart human being able to figure things out... Also when u discover something on ur own it feels much better than being told what to do.
-Yep I agree the text wasnt very visible. for some reason it just didnt come to mind to put a black rectangle. Ill remember that trick for the future.
-I wanted to do the tutorial as you said, but I just didnt have time.
-Yeah I love detail!! I do believe these little things and the so called "game juice" make a big difference, but more than a planned thing I think it's just a pure expression of love for the game <3 (but the little movement of your item when you move, that's definitely a bug lol. I think it's because the camera moves after the player has moved and after the gun rotated, so the gun always points to the position of the mouse before moving the camera)
-I saw the ship dirt thing too, just no time to fix!

-yeah Aaron is a great sound guy :) He actually made a 12 second success song for when u save the robots, but he finished it like right after the deadline so we couldn't implement it :(

-I like it when the player can imagine and discover slowly what kind of world they're in, like in Nuclear Throne for example, where it's a well-thought world but there is no text/cutscene telling u about it. But that said, I would've added more depth to it if there had been time. What i had in mind was more like the robots are like a new race in the world and some ppl like pirates dont like them/want to take advantadge of them, maybe to desmantle them and get their technology or maybe just cause they're not human. Also in a world where there are humans and robots, it's much more easy to recognise who will be on your team and who wont. if it had been just humans vs pirates, then what would make u think another captured human would want to join your crew? if its a rare "race" in danger of extinction it just makse sense ur gona stick together. at least in my head xD

Thanks again for all the feedback! :)
@Micah_DS you were right, I programmed some black rectangles in a couple minutes and it already looks much more proffesional! (also alpha starts at 0 and goes to 1 smoothly so it looks even better in action). I'll keep that in my mental gamejam toolbox
upload_2018-8-30_0-59-52.png
 

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Misty

Guest
on the other hand, if someone does that then it's obvious that their opinion means nothing and so can be ignored... If a comment like "Game is garbage" doesn't have any additional explanation then it's not worth even considering as valid feedback, so where's the issue?
I disagree. If someone plays big rigs, over the road racing, and says it is garbage, their feedback is valid.

The feedback is valid, it is just not that helpful to the creators of the game. But at least it puts the creators on the right track, knowing there is something that needs fixing.
 

NAL

ʕ ᓀ ᴥ ᓂ ʔ
GMC Elder
I disagree. If someone plays big rigs, over the road racing, and says it is garbage, their feedback is valid.

The feedback is valid, it is just not that helpful to the creators of the game. But at least it puts the creators on the right track, knowing there is something that needs fixing.
No game can please everybody at once, and I don't see the point in trying to please someone that only has that to say about your work.
 
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Misu

Guest
No game can please everybody at once, and I don't see the point in trying to please someone that only has that to say about your work.
I dont think the whole discussion here involves trying to please someone. It involves providing reasons of what made the voter react that way to better understand our flaw as a developer and take that flaw as a lesson for us as a developer.
 
I dont think the whole discussion here involves trying to please someone. It involves providing reasons of what made the voter react that way to better understand our flaw as a developer and take that flaw as a lesson for us as a developer.
But not everyone can or wants to provide that feedback. If someone says "Oh wow! That was a fun game!" that still isn't good feedback in the sense of "helping" you improve as it doesn't actually tell you anything specific. Same with any similar negative response, just that one of those makes you feel good and the other not so much. Speaking for me personally I'm quite content if people end up actually playing any of my games whether they like them or not, specific feedback is just a bonus.
 

Bingdom

Googledom
Hey everyone! Thanks to anyone who's tried out my entry so far.

I'd like some clarifications to some of the reviews.
Driving seemed a bit off
The handling was a bit weird, though.
What's wrong with handling?

(just in case you didn't know)
This is a physics based game. If you attach objects to your tank, your centre of mass changes. The push force does not take account of that (as it propels from the treads of the tank).
Hence, your direction when you accelerate would change.

Think of a billiard ball. If you hit the left side of the ball, it will push it to the right.
If you hit it in the centre of mass, it will move the direction you hit it.

It's a bad analogy, but the idea is the force is applied from different locations of the centre of mass.

If it's not about that, I'd be curious to know what you didn't like about it.

cool graphics but a bit buggy especially the ai
During my play testing, I haven't experienced any bugs with the AI. What were the problems you found?
 
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Micah_DS

Member
Oh man, been recording my first playthroughs, but half the time I've had technical issues which ruined them, so that initial play is lost. I also tend to play the games too long and video sizes are getting large, especially with my 0.7 mbps max upload rate.

I might just have to settle for uploading videos for some games and not others, but I really hate leaving people out. I do plan to have written reviews for every game, but still.

EDIT: Worded things a bit better. A bit out of it today, so words are hard.
 
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The M

Member
How about we just add a paragraph to the voting topic for the next jam where we strongly encourage giving feedback (something along the line of "while it is optional, we encourage everyone to leave some feedback when reviewing games. A few lines why you did/didn't like a particular entry can go a long way for the creator and is usually very much appreciated, plus thinking about why you felt a certain way about a game will make you a better designer as well so everybody wins. :)")?
 

Maximiliano

Member
What's wrong with handling?
I don't know exactly what it is. It's definitely not the collisions with objects. I just feel like the tank is hard to drive at times. I want it to go a certain way but my input doesn't have the result I expected. It's also very floaty, as if the tank was sliding the whole time.
 
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Misu

Guest
How about we just add a paragraph to the voting topic for the next jam where we strongly encourage giving feedback (something along the line of "while it is optional, we encourage everyone to leave some feedback when reviewing games. A few lines why you did/didn't like a particular entry can go a long way for the creator and is usually very much appreciated, plus thinking about why you felt a certain way about a game will make you a better designer as well so everybody wins. :)")?
I like your idea. Although lets just wait till the jam is over and they reopen that jam suggestion thread again so we can discuss this there once more. ;)

Oh hey. The suggestion thread has always been up. Nevermind, lets just wait till jam ends first then we can all talk about the voting fprmat again
 
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VagrantWhaleGames

Guest
For anyone curious, I posted a post-jam version of Sticky Tanks.

It includes a few bug fixes and balancing.

Thread link (Needs to be approved):
https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/sticky-tanks-post-jam.52336/

Itch.io
https://bingdom.itch.io/sticky-tanks
after playing through this again I believe the 'bugs' were caused by not playing in fullscreen. I see the warning now. While not in full screen accuracy isn't as good for me and it seems like the direction of ai is a little off, as well as my tanks top/gun spinning in circles.
 

Micah_DS

Member
You can skip mine, @Micah_DS.
I did already play it and record it, but yeah, even if I did upload the video, it probably wouldn't give you any helpful feedback, since you didn't have much time to make something and there wasn't a lot of content.
On that note, is there any way to charge the hyper drive (or whatever that actual name was), or is that part incomplete? I still like your game for what it is. One of my favorite points is the animation of the guy.

plus thinking about why you felt a certain way about a game will make you a better designer as well so everybody wins
THIS. I've had so many ideas and realizations come up from trying to give deeper feedback than I have in the past. Combining that with the feedback I've received on my own game, I'm feeling pumped for the next jam... only downside is it's 3 months away, haha, but I guess that just means I have time to practice a bit on what I've learned.

-
Got 20 more games to play through. I'm actually enjoying most of these. I've played a few of them for... way too long. ^^'
 

HayManMarc

Member
I did already play it and record it, but yeah, even if I did upload the video, it probably wouldn't give you any helpful feedback, since you didn't have much time to make something and there wasn't a lot of content.
On that note, is there any way to charge the hyper drive (or whatever that actual name was), or is that part incomplete? I still like your game for what it is. One of my favorite points is the animation of the guy.
'
Yeah, I think I don't really need any feedback from the jam version. I just had to submit it and be a part of GMC Jam XXX. I ran out of time and wasn't able to implement the "actual" hyperdrive charging -- just the animation and user inputs to make it happen. I've been working on it since --- if you'd like to see it in action, check out the WIP post for it.
 
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Misu

Guest
I just finished writing the review for the last 5 entries I played the other day.
Tomorrow I will play more entries and see if I could do 10 in a day. :)
 

Mercerenies

Member
Just finished my reviews. I was a little bit pressed for time, so there were a handful that I didn't really have time to figure out the mechanics properly. I apologize to the developers of those games. But otherwise, all my reviews and votes have been posted.
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
Just entered my reviews on the voting topic.

I noticed that the Jam Player doesn't do a good job capturing theme, concept, presentation and story ratings in its output, so I've written a quick compatible generator that includes these elements: Link

The generator comes out of the box configured for my voting post. You can change the title and rubric (section between Best Of and Full Ranking) in setup. If you want to use it for your review, go ahead, but remember to make the title your own.

Unrelated note: The Android version of Rocketeer Inc. is now available. According to my experimentation, it's much more fun with touch controls than mouse controls.
 
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Misu

Guest
What I normally do is substitute "Presentation" with two categories: Artwork, and Audio.

This time Im doing a new format (different categories) since Presentation also involves mostly on animation and gui usage. Ive decided to divide the Presentation into 4: Artwork, audio, animation, and interface.
So those have now their own individual score evaluation in my format. Also I am now noticing that evaluating lack of story is not necesary since a great game can go on without even a slight display of an event (games arcade or score objective genres). However, there must be a whole point of the game to motivate you so thats one thing that needs to be considered. Therefore the category Story in my format is now also evaluated by objectivity: Story/Plot
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
@Misu

Just to let you know that I am currently watching your Twitch review stream, and I absolutely love it for the content and narration. I also appreciate the maturity that you demonstrated earlier in the dispute regarding review procedures.

I have just updated my vote to specifically recommend you for Best Reviewer. In my opinion, there is just no other comparable candidate in terms of effort, execution and attitude.
 
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Misu

Guest
@Misu

Just to let you know that I am currently watching your Twitch review stream, and I absolutely love it for the content and narration. I also appreciate the maturity that you demonstrated earlier in the dispute regarding review procedures.

I have just updated my vote to specifically recommend you for Best Reviewer. In my opinion, there is just no other comparable candidate in terms of effort, execution and attitude.
Lol thank you very much although funny because only the host of the jam votes for whose the best reviewer. Glad to know you love it. :)
 

Gravedust

Member
Welp, since I am just not happy until a job is done(ish), I took my Jam entry and fixed the more egregious errors with it.

Therefore, Gentlebeings and Ladypersons, I am very pleased to present:


FARMSIM: JELLY EDITION
('cause Jam don't shake like that)

I think it plays a lot better for these minor tweaks, and of course getting rid of the fruit bug. :p
Here's the Cliffs' Notes:

CHANGELOG :: =======================================================
+ Decreased game sociopathy ( game will no longer show_debug_message("GIT GUD") 46,000 times on every player death. )*
+ Fruit now retains it's value (and self esteem) after being dropped.
+ Fixed being able to pick up water splashes.
+ Added a water splash sound, because CLEARLY that's what this game was missing.
+ Added improved weapon and weapon item sprites, enemy sprites and enemy weapon sprites.
+ Corrected some font issues. (Sorry, game is at 2X scale, so anything anti-aliased has no choice but to look like hot garbage)
+ Increased starting ammo for pistol.
+ Enemy Peon-class shot speed begrudgingly lowered by 20%. (IT WAS FINE YOU GUYS *SULK*)
+ Ammo pickups now replenish all ammo types.
+ Player is restored to full health every morning.
+ Jump cooldown has been reduced.
+ Enemy spawn rates adjusted.
+ Nights 4 and 5 added.
+ Night 5 boss added.
+ Game now ends after Night 5.
+ Game now has an ending (besides just dying, I guess.)
+ Fixed sum typos.

* It never actually did that.

HINTS, TIPS AND TRICKS: : =============================================

I originally intended people to figure some of these out through play, but that was 36 hours of sleep debt doing the thinking.
So I'm just gonna tell you guys:

+ Weapons will reload even if they are not equipped. So once the reload starts, you can switch to something else and it will complete in the background.

+ Dumping water on a plant will cause it to heal very quickly for as long as they stay wet. Use this to keep them alive longer at night.

+ Beagle shots go through everything. And I mean EVERYTHING.

+ Each alien killed nets you $5. So if you start a night with low funds and need heals or ammo you've still got a chance, though you have to play really clean.

+ Next to the Day counter is a clock which shows how long till the next phase. Phases start at the 9-o'clock position, which is helpfully marked with a red arrow.

+ When in doubt, PANIC JUMP.

And now I can rest easy.
 

Toque

Member
@Misu

Just to let you know that I am currently watching your Twitch review stream, and I absolutely love it for the content and narration. I also appreciate the maturity that you demonstrated earlier in the dispute regarding review procedures.

I have just updated my vote to specifically recommend you for Best Reviewer. In my opinion, there is just no other comparable candidate in terms of effort, execution and attitude.
Link to the stream? Thx
 

Maximiliano

Member
Hey @Misu I just saw your video. I didn't have that problem in any of the pcs I tried it on. It worked on both Windows 7 and 10. I really have no idea what the problem may be. Still great reviews. I had the same reaction when hearing the gun from SuperCharger for the first time.
 
@Misu Haha I just watched your video of my game, glad you enjoyed the pew sound.
Sorry I didn't indicate this in the game(even though I briefly mention it in the readme), but not only can you aim your gun up and diagonal, but you can charge the shot just like the jump.
Also, using a full charge a few times makes pretty short work of the boss. And I guess another tip for him is instead of trying just to jump over him, you can wall jump, and you can do a little air-dash with the shoot button.
Also, the boss takes more damage if you hit his head, and less damage hitting his legs.
Really wish I had more time to make all that clearer in-game, haha.
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
So, I decided to do something completely different for reviews this time.
I record gameplays, edit out the irrelevant parts and add extra remarks in the closed captions.
(additionally, the video description contains the full-fledged review)

Here is the first game so far:

More to come later...

(what do you think?)
 
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Misu

Guest
(what do you think?)
You fooled me. I was getting hype when I saw you posted this. I was hoping to hear your voice for the first time in history but unfortunately its just random music you inserted to the clip. Oh well :/
Video is nice. Good thing to ensure on passing it entirely before ending video. Thats a good thing.

Unrelated note, I wont be recording today and I dunno if I'll be recording again throughout the jam because of some major changes irl that prevents me from doing livestream; more like major interruptions in the household. If tomorrow makes it possible, I'll stream again, if not, I'll have to continue reviewing all the entries without any streaming till the end. Sorry for the unfortunate news.
 
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Misty

Guest
You fooled me. I was getting hype when I saw you posted this. I was hoping to hear your voice for the first time in history but unfortunately its just random music you inserted to the clip. Oh well :/
Video is nice. Good thing to ensure on passing it entirely before ending video. Thats a good thing.

Unrelated note, I wont be recording today and I dunno if I'll be recording again throughout the jam because of some major changes irl that prevents me from doing livestream; more like major interruptions in the household. If tomorrow makes it possible, I'll stream again, if not, I'll have to continue reviewing all the entries without any streaming till the end. Sorry for the unfortunate news.
Yes. The voice. Misty demands it.
By royal decree of Misty, we shall hereby hear the voices in videogame reviews, of Alice.
 

Micah_DS

Member
Has anyone beaten the Void God in Blade of Light and recorded the ending? I can't beat him - not even close, but I'd like to see the ending at least.
@JacobV help?
 

JacobV

Member
Has anyone beaten the Void God in Blade of Light and recorded the ending? I can't beat him - not even close, but I'd like to see the ending at least.
@JacobV help?
You're not missing much; the ending is literally just "The evil was defeated!" So I wouldn't feel too bad about it, especially considering how lackluster his fight is.
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
New reviews and gameplays are here!
(note: the numbering is a bit off, because it turned out the entry originally ranked as 32 heavily used copyrighted material; so I removed it from my ranking)

Prism Palace by @curato
Full video and review here

Crank It Up by @Mercerenies
Full video and review here

Spud Pump by dadio @GameDevDan
Full video and review here

Slime Prince by @Oyakiiv
Full video and review here

(it's going pretty slow... maybe at least I will get through half the reviews or so till Monday?)
 

Mercerenies

Member
I'm not particularly fond of the consumable power sources; it seems like for a certain price they give a boost for a while, but I can't tell how much the overall produced energy is worth. With costs increasing exponentially with each purchase, I'd assume each consumable eventually reaches the point where the cost outweighs the benefit.
Yeah, that's something I regret. Originally, I was going to have one battery be the only consumable, and then I kind of ran out of ideas. You're right; it's not a very good mechanic. I ran the numbers back when I wrote the game. Each battery can be bought profitably 7 times, the campfire is about 17, and the coal pile is around 30, before you start losing money.

Speaking of which, I still can't figure out which sundial orientation means maximum solar power (is it sun on the top? Sun on the top-left? Somewhere else?).
The sun on the very top is noon, which is when the solar panels are most effective (it's a sine function oscillating from its peak at noon to 0W at midnight). Your solar panel was effective all the time though, since you had bought a sun to sit next to it; it simply became twice as effective at high noon. There's also a hidden sundial property (not displayed on screen) that determines the wind speed, and you bought your first windmill when the wind was at its minimum, so I imagine you windmill got more effective offscreen awhile after you bought it.

Also, I'm curious. You bought an actual universe, the last item available. How long did that take in total? I did it myself, but I don't remember how long I spent, and Misu spent a decent amount of time playing it in his video and didn't get to the final item.
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
There's also a hidden sundial property (not displayed on screen) that determines the wind speed
Would it make it a weather vane/anemometer, though? *whistling*

Also, I'm curious. You bought an actual universe, the last item available. How long did that take in total? I did it myself, but I don't remember how long I spent, and Misu spent a decent amount of time playing it in his video and didn't get to the final item.
Judging by timestamps, it took me 50-ish minutes to get there. Another matter altogether is that I played other games in the meantime, as intended.
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
Judging by timestamps, it took me 50-ish minutes to get there. Another matter altogether is that I played other games in the meantime, as intended.
But did you intend for the remaining videos on your playlist to be private? I'd like to watch them.
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
But did you intend for the remaining videos on your playlist to be private? I'd like to watch them.
...oh, I thought YouTube wouldn't list private videos to other users; seems it does. Thanks for pointing it out.

Generally, it's related to my workflow; at the moment I switch between two places, one with my main PC and one with a laptop. I spend the precious time on my main PC to do video editing and exporting (something I can only do from there) and upload the videos as private. Later, I use the laptop to add descriptions and subs.
My intent was to make the videos invisible until I add the proper content, then publish them. Seems they still appear, though. ^^'

(I suppose I will add the videos to playlist only after finishing them from now on)
 
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