Against All Odd by Yal
Probably the most original use of OVERCOME ALL ODDS. I've found it enjoyable for a bit, though the game seems to have this wall phenomenon when difficulty at first is pretty swell, and then it suddenly ramps up so much that the player is swiftly defeated. It seems to happen a lot with zombie-themed games this Jam...
On that note, I guess the difficulty may have something to do with stacking two sources of difficulty - first, more complex words, and second, more zombies rushing in. If it was one of these at a time, the pace would change more gradually. Still, the general concept was pretty enjoyable and it played nicely for that short while of my playthrough - and at this point of reviewing I really appreciate short whiles.
The graphics are appropriate for the game, and I particularly liked the health hearts. The zombies were fine, too, though I'd have liked more variety among them. Oh well.
The audio worked well with the game, too (if maybe the soundtrack wasn't particularly memorable; guess that's what happens with these intimidating scary-sounding atmospheric tracks...).
One technicality - I would have liked to see the final score on the game over screen. I can only see the hi-score on the menu instead.
Au Début Ça Va by Team Vive Le France
This game is like the definition of overloading and I
almost love it!
First, there is the fact that there are three controlling areas to take care of - the keyboard letters, the arrows and the mouse.
Second, there are all these control alterations, with keys being swapped nilly-willy.
Third, there are all these enemies that should be taken down, and these incoming walls.
And finally, there are these super-colourful to the point of trippiness backgrounds and chaotic sounds.
I feel like the strongest point of the game is its aesthetics and happy chaos that occurs in this game.
However, I can hardly appreciate it when I have to deal with all these walls while keeping the incoming missiles at bay, not to mention these controls. I guess the switching control schemes were probably the greatest problem here. I mean, I know the theme was OVERCOME ALL ODDS, but isn't it taking it a bit far...? On second thought, maybe it was also an aspect of ADAPTATION? ^^'
(also, on closer inspection it seems that when the game tells "UP IS <DIRECTION>", it means "UP IS <DIRECTION> ARROW KEY", not "UP ARROW KEY IS <DIRECTION>"; it got me quite confused at start)
Still, the trippy visuals are awesome. Are they supposed to show what happens when someone reacts with too many chemicals? Because it kinda looks like it's the case here. Or maybe I'm giving too much credit...? ^^'
(for the record, I eventually managed to get the score of ~16k or so)
Black and ****e by Ghandpivot
I'm blaming TehPilot for all the rage games we're getting this Jam.
Also, trains.*
The theme wasn't explicitly stated, but given the general difficulty I'm going to assume it's OVERCOME ALL ODDS.
Also, I suppose the trophy at the end was the actual end of the game.
This was quite a difficult game, which I'm not in a mood for; I'm already tired of difficult games for this Jam. This one is particularly heavy on trial-and-error, too. One thing I've got to admit, though, that all the ways the player can be taken down are quite creative. Kudos for that, at least. Also, for the choice of music. The graphics don't have particularly rich colour palette, but they've worked fine for the most part.
Mechanically the game seemed mostly fine, though I felt like sometimes it was too eager to declare me dead, especially on falling platforms. I also seem to have experienced a bug (or was it a trap) where the second checkpoint appeared on a platform below instead of its proper place. Also, one thing I really didn't like was forcing me to use WSAD, where arrow keys would be perfectly applicable as well.
I played the post-Jam version, but the positive impressions from the game having more content are balanced out by the additional rage I had to go through, so I guess it wouldn't really change my ranking, anyway.
*TehPilot was the one to choose OVERCOME ALL ODDS theme this time, and the one who picked the handicap from GMC Jam 12: "Trains or locomotives must appear in the game at some time, and must affect the gameplay in some form"
Duality2 by Matharoo
You know, this game reminded me of a certain song...
Pretty fun to play for a bit, involves quite a lot GMC references. The audiovisuals are pretty good (especially the graphics; the music didn't really stand out) and there's a good variety of content and mechanics. I particularly liked that spinning attack. I just still don't know what I'm supposed to do with souls and gems...
The dialogue boxes could have been better. You can either wait for the message to appear or skip it altogether; there's no that good ol' mechanic of "press to show all, press to proceed". Also, there's this weird white thread which seems like it's supposed to be a speech buble tail pointing to the speaker, but it looks nothing like tail at all; and the dialogue box shows speaker's sprite, anyway. Finally, the height of the "scrolled" area involves fractions of the line height, which means when the text is scrolled to the bottom as the dialogue progresses, there's only a bottom part of a previous line visible, and it looks weird.
From other minor annoyances - the battle with GMWolf taking place on snow field means that Nocturne and bottles are barely visible. I dunno, maybe making the snow a little bit darker and maybe slightly more blue (so that it's more of a stylish blue than dirty gray) would have made things clearer?
The theme usage was somewhat plain, though I guess OVERCOME ALL ODDS has this tendency to result in easy usages? ^^'
Good entry overall.
Eel Lady Cat Contest by TinyGamesLab
To think that there are cats that can't afford to participate in GMC Jam...
The game is generally aesthetically pleasing; it has all the necessary audiovisuals. I would have liked more cat designs, but those that were present were quite unique (or maybe because they're so unique I would have liked to see more of them?). The gameplay is simple, but makes for quite a few interesting puzzles. I would have preferred if there were no timing elements like the laser beam - it only distracts from the main appeal of the game, which is clearly puzzles.
There were a few design decision I wasn't quite fond of. First is having R do the full game restart, with progress cleared and everything. I once got caught on that when trying to restart a failed level and then had to replay all the earlier ones (I kinda have an instinct to press R when I want to restart a level, regardless of the game). Second is the choice to have level selection mouse-controlled in otherwise fully keyboard-controlled game; from a cat-themed game I would have expected no mice around. Finally, in the first level the exit is placed right next to the cat, so when I first played it and scratched the competitor from the exit tile, I didn't even see there was some explanation on that, and on the second level I got confused when I took down all cats and I still didn't proceed.
These things were pretty minor and more of annoyances, but they're worth keeping in mind. Especially requiring different controller for menu than the main gameplay is a pet peeve of mine.
The theme uses felt pretty unoriginal; I saw no element of particularly adapting (i.e. choosing a qualitatively different strategy depending on the obstacle) and overcoming all odds was used in a pretty plain way, though I admit having the leaderboard displayed contributed well towards that.
Quite solid and enjoyable entry.
Find the Cure! by UnEarthly Ethan
(playing this as the second-last game)
Huh, it seems CHEMICAL REACTIONS was a more popular theme that I expected. Maybe it's even more used than ADAPTATION, after all...?
The gameplay is pretty basic, with mixing up the colour to make the proper mixture. It's mostly functional and pretty straightforward; it works for a simple game with 10 levels, though probably would get pretty stale after 100 (then again, lots of things become stale after 100 levels).
That said, the gameplay portion could be significantly improved.
First, the lower alpha is pretty much indistinguishable from higher brightness, unless you pay really close attention to the chemical stream poured and checking if it overlaps. I'd suggest showing both 100% alpha and semi-transparent versions instead, to have a clear reference for the main colour as well as how much it's heated up. Having some non-solid background behind the semi-transparent colour would help telling apart the brightness from the transparency as well.
Second, it would be nice if there were combined vials (yellow, cyan, magenta) for easier applying the equal amounts of colours. Though it's more of a small convenience feature than anything, really; determining the alpha is more relevant. ^^'
The thing I really appreciate is the feedback of the mixture being ready (I mean, the boiling-like animation). Using that was a good call. Other thing I appreciated was the ability to skip levels; it's invaluable in Jam games when a reviewer wants to check out the content quickly.
The audio worked fine within the game. The graphics individually wouldn't have been bad, but mixing photorealistic vials and utensils with plain background and simplistic graphics doesn't quite blend well. Probably the best looking part of the game was the ending; too bad I didn't know how to proceed from there.
Gambrawl by Siolfor the Jackal
I guess the game has no winning conditions, because I got ~50 billion money before losing.
The premise is somewhat interesting for a few first fights, but after a while it becomes very schematic. It's particularly true for zombies, which I multiple times defeated simply by standing in place and constantly attacking. Shadow clones aren't particularly difficult, either, once you get in the block-attack rhythm. Wandering spirits on the other hand are big meanies and you don't want to encounter them in larger numbers... or preferably not at all. Then again, I kept playing to confront them at least once, because somehow I kept getting the zombies/jellies/clones with not a single spirit until the 3rd die came along.
One thing I particularly enjoyed was how different enemies have different personalities which are reflected in their AIs - be it single-minded zombies, inattentive jellies, honourable shadows or treacherous spirits. Though after fighting the same enemy for several rounds that freshness wears off, sadly. Still, pretty good job with that. The animation wasn't too shabby, either - the game had generally pretty good visual quality, and audio complimented it nicely (bonus points for music being custom-made).
While the theme used here was overdone all odds, here at least the odds are taken not as generic obstacles, but actual gambling chances, making this game about 5 times or so more original than a typical Jam entry here (Reel Fruit Slots used similar take on the odds).
Pretty nice at start, wears out somewhat quickly at the later point.
I Wanna Get To School In One Piece by sp202
...
...oh.
...Oh no.
That title.
Please let it not be a rage platformer.
--- 2 minutes later ---
Thank goodness, it was not a rage platformer.
This was a pretty cool entry, and I appreciate the replay/rewind mechanic. Had I not been on a tight schedule, I'd appreciate getting even more levels of that (unlike some entries that had way too many levels). The whole narrative and the remarks on game over were pretty nice, too.
(also, hugs are meant to be warm, not cool; they aren't lame, though :<)
Sadly, this game had no audio, and the graphics in there weren't particularly great, either, though at least they were varied.
The concept was pretty great. The choice of theme was not (if it's the theme I think it is), but still, I enjoyed it.
Johnny's Escape by Bart
Is this soundtrack the remix of the
fan favourite soundtrack from Undertale?
Uh, alright, I see lots of chemicals, but I have no idea what happens there. I guess it was not implemented? Though maybe it's for the better, because all these chemicals to balance looked very hard to keep track of...
Also, there are these eyes and ears and legs and hands, but I don't see what good they'd do. There was some remark that the wings would have been useful, but neither organ expansion worked and I couldn't get past that part. Sorry.
One technical aspect that was very annoying was that setting a target point on a wall or something resulted in the character ceaselessly go around that point instead of standing in place. Maybe it's some aspect of mp_potential_step or whatnot? Either way, the gameplay felt very clunky, not only because of the movement, but also because of interactions that felt somewhat unresponsive...
Too bad, because the setup for the story seemed cool, especially with the letter at the beginning. Also, the graphics looked pretty nice, though the narrow field of vision (even with eyes maxed out) didn't really allow me to appreciate it; or have a general what happens in that spaceship for that matter. Would the organs change depending on the chemical balance, I wonder...?
Maybe better luck next time? ^^'
King Of Deals by joh
Played two games, lost one, won the other. I don't mind the general idea, but I'm not quite sure what should I go by when making decisions; I mean, all cards are concealed, and when I play my cards, it's a common sense to discard the bad cards and obtain the good ones. Well, there are also these modifier cards that change worth depending on the setup, but otherwise I don't see much to base a strategy on. Maybe if I could preview exactly one card from each bid for my offer and the other player's offer when I make the bid, the decision making would have been more compelling.
The graphics were simple, but appropriate, though some aspects could have been improved; in particular, the alignment of cards counts in the card list menu. Also, the "hover to show description" could have been executed better, e.g. by a dedicated text-box displaying "hover to show card description" when none card is hovered over, and the card description when the mouse is over that card. Sadly, there was no audio at all.
Also, I'm not sure what's the connection to either of the themes. Is it
that theme? Maybe it's the adaptation, because different cards work well with different setups (e.g. gold boost is of no use if there's no gold in the first place).
Liquid Bacon by Acr515, Ralucipe
I have a distinct feeling I've heard that music before, but I'm not sure where. Maybe it was upon the test running of Jam games before uploading the ZIP...?
Either way, I completed the game, though I kinda spoiled myself with the appropriate solution (both puzzle solution and chemical solution), because I've got other games to play.
One thing I very much appreciate is focusing on probably the most difficult theme of those available that is CHEMICAL REACTIONS. It's like a breath of fresh air after most of these OVERCOME ALL ODDS games.
This game is generally pretty well made in terms of mechanics. Having played Duality 2 (and some other Jam games before), I appreciate the classic text box with "press to show all, press to advance" mechanic. Also, the user interface as well as visible gameplay area
adapts to the display size - good job with implementing it properly, though I'd have liked for interface element sizes to scale up when the viewport becomes bigger; at first I couldn't notice the inventory area, because it was so far from the area I was focused on. I didn't notice any glaring bugs; apparently there was one related to audio, but I couldn't experience it.
In terms of overall gameplay, I generally found it enjoyable. It has the classic RPG mechanics in place, with various interactions and battles and such. One thing I'd have changed is how the necessary ingredients are collected - some of these require specifically initiating a battle that could be avoided, with a randomly encountered opponent, at that. In general, I'd keep the necessary items to basic interactions (like collecting stuff from trash cans), repeatable peaceful interactions (like with Him Who Lives Under The Bridge; you can exhaust all dialogue paths and - when you have an appropriate item - collect the needed item) and unavoidable battle (like with that burger person). Drops from random encounters - especially those that can be avoided with choosing proper dialogue - are not a good place for that, maybe unless there's some clear hint from someone that I can collect that item from that enemy. Come to think of it, I'd have liked to see less of trial-and-error, and more hints in general.
Aside from that, the adventure is proper, doesn't get diluted in too large of a scope (though I'd have preferred to have a little better mobility) and has a clear progression. Also, I liked that foreshadowing in form of that cardio meter element; seeing that gave me a general idea about what was going to happen, while not giving away the specifics.
The graphics were simple, but proper; I got some Cyanide & Happiness vibes from it, which might actually fit the overall tone. Also, there were some nice little details, like the player portrait appearing progressively beat up while taking more damage. The music and sound effects were appropriate.
Overall, probably one of the most well-made and unique (*cough* *overcomeallodds* *cough*) entries this Jam.
Lost Little Hero by GameDevDan
This game made me look up some game from many, many Jams ago. And then I found out that game from many, many Jams ago had a dadio credits cameo. Huh.
That was a fun little game, though the 18th floor was super-mean with all these bugs I couldn't read (is their gimmick "move to the random tile next"? Because it kinda seemed non-deterministic). In a puzzle game like that I'd rather have movements perfectly predictable. Also, the boss gimmick, once figured out, was pretty easy to replicate, and thus I felt anything past 5 lives was completely unnecessary; it's really more than enough to show the player figured out how to defeat the boss.
The audiovisuals were pretty neat. I liked the tracks, and the graphics worked pretty well, too.
Aside from the earlier bugs indeterminism, I don't remember many specific nitpicks. One thing I didn't like was how long the level setup and completion lasted. Usually I wouldn't mind, but after getting back to the level 15th for the Nth time I was kinda annoyed by these transitions stopping my momentum.
The theme usage seems like a plain OVERCOME ALL ODDS. Maybe there's more to it, since Dan is the one who posted that "putting theme in game title vs subtle use of theme" meme; though I suppose a good use of theme isn't subtle. It's so obvious you can see it even without it being put in the title. ^^'
Also, I watched through the entirety of the last scene. Then again, with words "there's nothing to see here, go away" it's usually pretty clear there's still something.
Lock and Key by Relic
Tried out all three levels.
The general gameplay mechanics are pretty cool, and I really like this take on CHEMICAL REACTION; it also has a hint of ADAPTATION in it, and strangely no OVERCOME ALL ODDS - it's like the optimal combination of themes!
That said, I feel the game mechanics could use some simplification. Right now, there are several factors player has to take care of.
First, the shape of the component. It's actually pretty easy to deal with since there are only two shapes, and this aspect could be more emphasized with giving three or four shapes per level instead.
Second, the orientation of the component. Having to make a precise alignment is somewhat time-consuming. Maybe it could have been dumbed down to four directions or having player rotate between 8 directions or so? The fact that components change their orientation over time doesn't help.
Third, somewhat rapidly changing temperature levels and pH levels - about half if not more of the gameplay is spent moving between regulation points and setting the right levels. I'd suggest dropping it altogether, picking only a single factor and/or have the conditions dependent on gradually changing spatial setup instead of manual regulation. Maybe have pH change depending on Y position and temperature on X position, and slowly shift the optimal point around, making the player pick the best position to take? This would also make this aspect not feel like a frustrating, unproductive chore, I think, since no time would be wasted floating between regulation points and setting the levels.
Actually, I think this gameplay idea could be reworked as such:
- increase the number of available shapes to 3 or 4
- keep the somewhat precise orientation, but...
- make the conditions position-based rather than charging-based, and make it so that the better the conditions, the higher the leeway when matching the orientation (up to 45 degrees in both directions for optimal conditions or so)
From other things, I appreciate having different levels with various gimmicks (like inhibitors) and the online hi-scores. Good calls with these. I still don't know what that green cloud was supposed to be, though.
The graphics felt a little crude, but otherwise worked fine with the game. Audio was pretty good, too.
Pretty solid entry, with a good use of themes provided.
My Gold by NazGhuL
A general suggestion: if you cannot win your game in 9 of 10 tries, then you need to nerf its difficulty. I'm not exaggerating.
Well, maybe it's not as important for short-term challenge games, but in a game extended over more a dozen of seconds or so - let alone more than a minute - it's better not to overdo the challenge. Remember that as a developer you have much more knowledge and experience with your game. After a second try I decided not to play more, as at some point the game spawns so many zombies that I can't possibly catch up with them, let alone go on a gold collecting spree. With all that, I can't hope to complete the game. It feels less about being unskilled and more about facing a metaphorical wall from some point.
The audiovisuals were adequate, though not remarkable. I didn't find a particular inconsistency between the characters and the backgrounds, at least.
I played around with various potion variations, but generally found the second one to work best; so either it's unbalanced, or the purpose of other potions isn't sufficiently shown/explained. One thing that annoyed me about mechanics was how mouse cursor was shown - it aligned itself to the actual range (minimum or maximum) of the potion throw. This actually should be a good thing, but I didn't see a physical location of a mouse, and thus got confused about how the mouse was working; I feel having an actual mouse cursor displayed aside from the target mark for the throw would make things much clearer and more readable. Also, sometimes it seemed like the fire throws didn't affect the zombie at all. I don't know why...
Good call with using CHEMICAL REACTIONS at least; I also appreciate the nod to the classic goal of alchemy.
Having played the Woodcutter and Zombie Assault, I officially hate zombies when it comes to this Jam games. I'd rather confront Manga Hitler again than try to break through these cheap overspawning fu...nmakers.
Well, I guess the undead in Lost Little Hero were predictable and easy to avoid and didn't spawn at insane rates, so I guess they're acceptable there.
Overcome by Sam Spade
I survived the music!
Though I admit, I had to refer to samspade's post in the Discussion Topic to actually have any idea what's going on, because it wasn't clear at all. The fact that the game quickly filled itself with some kind of debris (?) or fallen enemies (???) which looked like a tear in the fabric of reality into another dimension (I'm not even kidding)... well, it didn't help.
Either way, once I read detailed explanations about the mechanics used and restarted the game to clear up the screen I managed to complete the game. Probably putting all these detailed instructions either in the game itself, or in the readme file would help the reviewers, don't you think? ^^' The mechanics were unusual, and the feedback was somewhat blurry and trippy, but I could get some general idea by hearing when something like enemy attack comes along and I can retaliate, or when I was using up my stamina to the point of wavy vision.
The graphics were simple, but decorated a lot with some crazy mix of shaders; if only help/credits descriptions used some more stylish fonts. The music was good and fit well, but somehow I didn't feel sad when it finally ended. The sound worked well and provided invaluable feedback during the game.
Aside from the general lack of clarity about what happens in this game, I'd also point out the particles gathering to form descriptions in the main menu. The effect iself is pretty cool, but it lasts a tad too long. Maybe speed up the particles, or just have them gather up from a closer area, but also make them gradually go from complete transaprency to complete opaquity? I'm not sure.
Aparently the theme was ADAPTATION, because the enemies adapt to player strategies; I feel it's a tad too subtle for most people. If I were to assume, I'd sooner expect another incarnation of OVERCOME ALL ODDS; then again, you can pick any game at random and there's a good chance it'll match that theme somehow (it's way too broad indeed).
Pretty unique if maybe underexplained entry.
Overcoming All Aliens by Dengar, Micnasr
Not much here, just shooting alien spaceships or, if a ship manages to drop an alien, shooting the aliens. I didn't feel a particular difficulty progression and there seemed to be only the saucers with aliens inside; no other enemies aside from that. About 500 points into the game I just decided to collect as many aliens as I can (which was 4).
The graphics were functional, but aside from that they weren't really good. The sounds were alright, but sadly there was no background music. The theme usage... I think you can get the general idea by reading preliminary remark and other reviews (it's the last entry I write the review for, by the way).
Hopefully you will improve by the next Jam. ^^'
PHAGE by FrostyCat
This took way longer than I would've liked it to. Please, please don't underestimate raw computational powers. Even naively picking the option giving the highest score after a given turn is often something most humans - especially new to a specific kind of game - have hard time keeping up with.
I write this after being once defeated by supposedly the easiest AI in the post-Jam version and then barely winning the next round. I don't know what kind of strategy it follows, but it's clearly enough to stand on par with a human newbie. Speaking of humans, AI probably doesn't care, but I have found the phage designs to be way too similar in terms of colouration. I couldn't easily tell my units and enemy units apart; I mean, it's easy to see the difference if you have two units to compare, but it's hard to get the grasp of a very important big picture. If the cores were more saturated, the game would have been much easier to follow.
Excluding these way too similar designs, I've found the graphics to be mostly functional and the music appropriate. I would probably have liked a bit more of an eye candy in the background or something, but it's something secondary. The music was adequate as well.
I'm not even sure if it's OVERCOME ALL ODDS or maybe ADAPTATION anymore; that's probably because - let's face it - you will likely end up with an OVERCOME ALL ODDS game without even aiming for it. On second thought, I guess the fact that the boards change, along with the environment, is a strong ADAPTATION factor, so I'm actually count it as a good (if not immediately obvious) use of theme.
Going to take down a few points for not having difficulty level and round number selection, and also having a board bug causing a crash, probable enough that I've encountered it.
Reel Fruit Slots by Oyakiiv
With 4 of 4 games so far using "OVERCOME ALL ODDS" theme simply by meaning "overcome whatever difficulties dev came up with", I welcome the use of theme that at least factors the "ODDS" as literal "chances".
That said, however, I've found the gameplay to be somewhat mediocre and clunky. At first I didn't even know that it's only the explosions that deal damage. Also, I had to re-read the instructions to find out what are the payoffs, as they seemed to make no sense during the game; eventually, I've found that only cherries were guaranteed to give a payoff, while all the other fruits (and a seven) needed to come in triples. Would be really nice to get some reel-time feedback about what sort of prize is on the table. Also, maybe some kind of difficulty progression instead of slowly wearing down the health?
(also, personally I'd enjoy this game more if instead of moving left/right and jumping it involved full-fledged bullet hell with fruits making fancy patterns; but maybe it's just me)
The graphics weren't particularly great, but at least they were functional. The music was fitting, I suppose.
The idea is pretty cool, and I appreciate some effort put into the use of theme, but the execution still needs work. Keep going. ^^'
Rise by The M
"They see me crawlin', they hatin'"
For what it's worth, this game at least makes it clear that the protagonist is overcoming some severe difficulty, though I'm pretty sure the grappling hook makes the hardships easier to get through than a simple jump would. ^^'
The gameplay mechanics were somewhat original, with the use of grappling hook being particularly prominent. At the same time, I've found it to be somewhat monotonous - eventually, it boiled down to crawling segments, grappling and swinging back and forth and sometimes rising to avoid a boulder or something, with some boss battles mixed in.
The graphics were nice, especially in the later parts of the game (which coincidentally have been locked out in the original Jam entry, oh well); I particularly liked the growth-themed area. The audio was appropriate, too.
The mechanics were mostly functional, though felt kinda buggy at times. One noteworthy thing was the segment in the final area, where moving forward ended up with the main character rolling around just enough to fall of to own doom; some serious level design issue, here...
A pretty game with a nice general concept, but the execution ended up somewhat monotonous.
ROYal RUMble by Misu, Yal
Finally... after like an hour of uninterrupted playing and 337 deaths I completed this. What kind of hellspawn it was?
If you had the time to make all these levels and these extremely annoying unlimited range player-aiming turrets and that deaths counter, couldn't you have spent it on something as simple as saving system? Having an option to resume the game later would have been far more welcome to me than this quite a large, but somewhat unnecessary amount of content.
Speaking of the content - there are quite many levels, but they provide little variety of challenges (to the point where one of levels seems to have been repeated). What's worse, there are these relentless player-aiming turrets that simple won't give me a rest, even at a respawn point. Quite a shame, because from what I've noticed the game seems to have some nice level design progression in terms of decoration (going from a sea-like to cave-like and finally volcano-like location) and I would have liked some clear breather points to appreciate it more. In particular, one thing that caught my attention after n-th attempt was the background surrounding the final boss area. Pretty good job here. Nonetheless, I feel like the game could do with some levels removed (and the aiming turrets eradicated because they're mean :<) - the experience isn't varied enough, and after a while these levels become stale (a special kind of stale where you have to jump around like mad because of certain turrets). Instead of stuffing the game with generic content I'd suggest emphasizing
The music in this game was pretty fine; I found the last boss track particularly fitting. The jump sound effect was glorious. There were also other sound effects, but jump trumps them all. One thing I noticed is that the chemicals collection sound often wouldn't play upon collecting. I don't know why would that be.
One thing I really appreciate is the ability to see through wall if camera ends up behind one; even if I moved the camera to some tricky angle, I was still able to make out the situation. On the other hand, I kinda missed an ability to look high upwards - it would have been particularly useful against the last boss.
Other thing I appreciate is that the chemicals (yes, apparently the game was meant to address CHEMICAL REACTIONS, too, aside from Jammers' favourite OVERCOME ALL ODDS...) didn't respawn after death; if I had to collect them all in one go and then get back to the exit, I probably wouldn't make it through this game. >.<
(I don't know if that lack of respawning is a deliberate design choice or just overlooking a mistake, but it turned out well in the end)
For what it's worth, it's not really a bad game. It's just that it happens to be a rage game, submitted for a Jam with lots of other entries played around late night. And I'd rather not play rage games around Jams, because I tend not to give up before I complete them and I end up losing lots of time because of that.
So yeah, please keep your game content in moderate amounts, and make sure to build upon the aspects that make the game stand out instead of adding filler. ^^'
Snowball in Hell by AndrewN
So, is hell exothermic or endothermic?
That was a nice short little game. I like nice short games these days.
So, the idea of a sentient snowball being sent to hell for a crime it didn't do is lovely (well, maybe not being sent to hell, but the sentient snowball and what sort of things it can do). Now I'm torn between this and Wizzy Gizzard for the Best Story award, and that's saying something. The gameplay was alright, though I don't like the hold-to-jump design choice; I feel in this game press-to-jump gives a better control and precision to the player's actions and prevents unwanted jumps in a somewhat hectic game.
I'm not sure whether snowball getting bigger was meant to be a good thing (because if it gets too small it'll melt quicker) or a bad thing (because it becomes a bigger target). If it's the former, then I'd really suggest getting a more compelling reason to roll around in snow than the melting speed, because fireballs one-hit-kill me anyway, and getting bigger just increases chances of being hit; maybe a certain amount of snow would give enough protection to allow withstanding one more hit from the obstacles?
The graphics and music worked well for this game; the artwork was a good use of what seems to be the classic 16-colour palette, and the audio enhanced the experience as well.
I believe there's nothing more I can said about the theme that was used here.
Overall, quite a decent and fun entry, it could have been expanded upon (I mean, the very idea of sentient snowball mixed with divine judgment is endearing). Well done.
Stream of Adaptation by Smiechu
The first game (7th played so far) that seems to actually use a theme without OVERDONE ALL ODDS. Thank goodness.
The mechanics are somewhat simple, yet the game is anything but. On the one hand I need to coordinate the shapes and colours with the incoming objects, on the other hand I need to steer the player shape to actually grab or avoid these objects. And by hands I mean literal hands, because the control scheme uses both WSAD and arrow keys; not exactly a fan of this design choice, I don't like multiple directional controls in general, but maybe it's just me.
It was somewhat fun at start, but then around level 2 the game picked up so much speed that I could barely keep up, just kinda going with the flow and trying to grab various objects I wanted. At that point, the adaptation mechanic became kinda useless, because before I could change my setup properly, I was already passing through another object. So I guess that's a balance issue here; I'd rather have more emphasis on the adaptation aspect rather than the spatial alignment one.
The audiovisuals worked pretty great in this game. They aren't particularly complex, but the 3D-like tunnel with all these twists and turns, the starry background
(maybe there could have been some more particle effects, though I guess they aren't that necessary)
When I tried to leave the game with F12, it kinda broke and I had to use Ctrl + Alt + Delete to actually close it.
Pretty solid entry, overall. I appreciate that it didn't use the seemingly most overdone theme this Jam, and that it didn't drag on for too long, either...
Wizzy Gizzard: Speed Date by HayManMarc, Toque
I can always count on cultural references in HayMan's games, but this time he's outdone himself. ^^
So, I tried out the post-Jam version, but I couldn't make it all the way to the end on my two attempts (I died on week 9 on my first run >.<), and then I played the Jam version which is essentially super-easy mode, and finally made it. Having played both together, I could finally appreciate the game for what it was.
The gameplay is simple, but enjoyable and complements the story nicely. However, the obstacle collision system seems way too overeager, especially on the dog + hydrant obstacle. What's more, there seem to be no invincibility frames in place, which is pretty much why I couldn't make it to the end in the first place - I died by hitting the same obstacle twice. It's quite a severe bug, especially in a game that restarts all the way to the beginning instead of letting the player replay the level. In a story-driven game like that, with a definite ending, I strongly recommend giving an option to continue from the last level, maybe with all the score zeroed out. That way those who would want to get high score would replay the game, while those who simply want to enjoy the story (like me, especially as a reviewer) will be able to do just that.
The game is quite rich in content, filled with references when it comes to both obstacles and the dates themselves, and I love it. My favourite part was the interactible Ghost Busters signboard, kinda wish there were more fun elements like that. The dates were also pretty well made and fun (nice effect with this date close-up and that comment), and I enjoyed the ending (it's simple, but quite a few games nowadays have this tendency to end up on a bad note). All that in the sauce of stylish retro graphics (with sprite rotation, but whatever) and a fitting music.
A game well done. I'm gonna jot down a few virtual points for having no level progression system in the Jam game version, but at least it let me complete the game in the first place... ^^'
Woodcutter by darijs1
So, after a while I started wondering what soundtrack should I use in place of the missing BGM in this game. Eventually, I settled for a certain hit from the Lumberzacks.
This was hard at start, then it picked up the pace, then it eventually became impossibly hard with zombies getting nearly as fast as my diagonal speed. The midgame was the most fun part, probably because I had a reasonable chopping speed and the zombies didn't quite go from tortoises to hares yet. Even so, at that point the zombies were already something to kill with fire, with any attempt to defeat them with axe resulting in swift death. They should be seriously nerfed, and they shouldn't gain speed when the player character doesn't. >.<
Aside from these balance issues, I found the artwork working pretty well with the game, though I'd have liked some more variety. The sounds were adequate, too. One pretty cool design choice was this halo of light pointing towards the campfire during night - it was pretty nice and extremely useful touch.
On a more technical note, I greatly appreciate the fact that the game saves progress. If not for that, I'd probably quit pretty quickly.
It's a sixth game of six games I tried so far that seems to be using OVERCOME ALL ODDS theme, and it's one of the more basic ones, too. This theme is way too broad...
Zombie Assault: Against All Odds by Misty
The helicopter model is probably the most adorable thing I've seen this day.
Completed the 1 minute melee. Attempted 5 minute melee to unlock the other map, but gave up after being surrounded by all these zombies and quickly taken down. I've already had plenty of difficult games, and I've got many more to play. ^^'
Mechanically, the game is pretty functional. I also appreciate making a first-person shooter here, which is not a usual genre chosen by Jammers. The theme choice, however, was painfully usual, but I'm pretty sure anyone who's read all the previous reviews knows my stance on it already. Also, I haven't found the gameplay to be particularly varied, with apparently one kind of enemy, two kinds of weapons and a bunch of collectibles. The helicopter was a nice addition, though I'd have preferred a clearer indication about what I'm supposed to do with the helicopter. One thing I've found quite annoying is when sometimes zombies seemed to appear out of nowhere and attack me from the back or something. How am I supposed to watch out for zombies spawning behind me (if it's what happens, which it seems like)? >.<
The graphics are alright (the helicopter is a class of its own). The music works properly with the game, too.
Overall, a nice entry to play, though not particularly remarkable.
