A Noble's Quest by Endercurse, ImTheBanana, OpperTobba
Loved the aesthetic of this, and the concept, but not a fan of the execution.
I understand the idea here, but there was too little information given in-game, and too much reliance on randomness I feel.
You're told your soldiers have a salary that needs paying daily, but then you never define what constitutes a day and how much that salary is. Seems after a bit of play you eventually realise they are paid after every encounter, so I guess that means you get an encounter a day. But then I still have little idea what their salary is.
Then the upgrades. At first I couldn't tell what they were since the shop doesn't give any hints. Suddenly there are things for sale I don't recognise. Would have been helpful to let the user know what they were potentially upgrading(And on top of that, what benefits the upgrade bestows).
The combat was a little too simplistic, talking was just used for initiating bribes, and being a money management game, where resources are tight as it is, it was rarely(practically never) cost-effective to bribe anyone, so it seemed like a bit of a waste. And then having to tip soldiers for doing their jobs... they are already getting paid a salary
Would have been much better to have enemies drop *some* cash or rations or something, and the rewards you did get seemed to be calculated in a way that rewards you for having more money. I think I get what you were trying to do there, but it's not very much fun.
Now the art on the other hand, was great. I loved the colour palette and interface, reminded me of old text adventures which was great.
Good variety in enemy images(even if some were shared among enemies) and they looked great. Something about that title screen screamed "early 90s" at me. I loved it.
Music was fitting, but no credits or mention anywhere of who made it...
Banana quest by 2Dspessman
You sly dog. You got me with that ending.
I've never been a fan of any game that uses the mouse for player movement. This was even more annoying that usually in that regard. At first I thought the moving slowly to avoid the wavy movement was possibly unintended gameplay, but later levels seemed like they absolutely required it. I can't tell if you used precise hitboxes or not because my experience was inconsistent. Some things I thought I missed I actually hit, and vice versa.
Generally, the art was a bit uhhh... well it was there(Some messed up looking bananas, bro. Haha). Walls and level background could have used something...
I tried a second playthrough the *proper* way, but I gave up when it got to the last two levels. I'm just assuming you had a different ending!
To be honest, I may have ranked this way lower but the ending got me good, I enjoyed that part alone.
Baserisk by TheMiningBoyAlpha
I like that you have an aesthetic you stick to with your jam games. Not really my thing but I still think it's neat.
Gameplay was super basic. Not much to say about it. And the theme inclusion seems more tacked on than anything.
Very simple enemies since they just run at you(Makes sense given it's zombies I suppose).
Could have used some more knockback or a bit more of an invulnerability phase to stop enemies just locking you in place and hurting you.
I feel like this didn't really need mouse controls given how horizontal this game was. There was only one section where enemies were elevated enough to justify needing to aim up a bit.
Beat the boss and then I ran off screen to oblivion...
Sprites were ok(Good rotation on the arms when aiming), but the backgrounds and tiles need better contrast. Often had a little difficulty knowing what was ground and what was background.
Some of the music was good, but the sounds were taken from Minecraft. I don't think you're supposed to use assets you can't get permission to use... Regardless, you didn't even attempt to credit anything anywhere.
Breach by Lolslayer
Seemed to be some video errors. Just weird colours spazzing out mostly.
Ssame deal with the lightweight version
Coin Drop by Toque
Very simple but well executed.
Good decision making any key drop coins.
Good use of the physics system, I appreciated the variety in level design. Wasn't expecting the variation which was nice.
Could have used a handful more levels, and the bonus level felt a bit weak.
The flying piggy bank was cute, simple animation is better than nothing. The background was a bit dull.
***See note near top of post***
Cost Puzzle by Bart
Very short and very simple.
It's a shame your other concepts didn't pan out, they sounded much more interesting.
The gameplay here was really uninspired and boring to be honest. But considering how last minute it was and how you made it so quickly, that itself a wee bit impressive.
The text was hard to read. White text on a light background is not ideal. A dark outline would have helped, or maybe even just black text instead.
Danmakuconomy by Bearman_18
An interesting but expected use of theme.
The economy stuff was an interesting addition, but I kinda hate numbers so this was a struggle to enjoy for me ^^' So I didn't really mess with the buy/sell part of the game. But I also wasn't able to progress far enough to really make use of it(Not that good at bullet hells).
The main sections were pretty standard bullet hell minus upgrades. I think it would have been neat to let you switch ships as you play, maybe for a small cost, but it just kinda sucked starting a level and having the absolute wrong ship for the situation.
I got up to a boss that just had waaaaaay too much health. I didn't even get a 3rd of it down...
Art was ok but inconsistent, big mismatch between the sprites and the backgrounds. But at the very least you can easily see what is happening most of the time so no big deal.
Wasn't really a fan of the main music(But I appreciated that it was made for the jam, so really well done, man), but there was one track during a boss fight that sounded pretty sick.
Kind of groaned after the tutorial when it mentioned using the mouse. At least it was only for that section, which makes sense(Still would have preferred keyboard controls or shortcuts for the management sections, but understandable during a jam).
Oh also, not a fan of the borderless window. There was no good way to quit the game. Especially when you bankrupt and the game just... hangs... continues on without letting you do anything.
Debtman by Käsityökerho
Surprisingly enjoyable.
Standard twin stick shooter, with a little bullet hell thrown in. It controlled really well(and thank you for the gamepad support, especially for this type of game!).
I enjoyed the way you integrated the theme a bit into the gameplay to a ridiculous level(moving adds to your debt? Heh). At first I was playing very sparingly, only shooting when I'm sure, but eventually that is not really an option, but let's be honest, it's way more fun to just let loose.
I enjoyed the difficulty progression being tied to your debt, and the bosses are regular debt intervals. Speaking of, the bosses themselves weren't overly complicated, but it worked well.
Super simple art style, did it's job, but could have been better. Enemy variation was good visually.
Very nice presentation, the text sections were nice and the HUD was nice and simple. Only issue was there was an overlap with the health and debt bar when the debt was high.
Delivery Man by Xer0botXer0
A wee bit too broken to play.
Not sure I fully understood the idea, and I wasn't able to complete it due to each attempt getting stuck in the elevator.
Maybe that Luigi was supposed to be a placeholder, but you really shouldn't use stuff you don't own.
Dino Arena by RefresherTowel
Great first impression, but the game itself was a bit of a letdown. Really needed some sound too.
Theme usage was a bit uninspired.
Combat could have used a bit more work, your hitbox seems to last much longer than it should and have longer reach than I expected. There was no real impact felt with hits.
Jumping could use some tweaking, I feel like the gravity felt inconsistent. You rise so fast and fall ok from a jump, but then walking off a platform felt way too floaty.
Enemy AI was basic but mostly worked. A bit wonky(Some of them attempted to walk where I was looking instead of towards me?). The enemies mostly seemed to only vary visually, didn't really offer much challenge.
BUGS. There's a big bug that seems to shoot you through the floor and out of the level after killing enemies towards the side of the arena. I had to restart like, 7 times. Then on my 3 consecutive win, it got me again.
The art was gorgeous, very lovely sprites, well animated(I loved the eye popping out on the dinosaurs, reminded me of EVO on SNES). And the backgrounds/level art were just as nice.
Everybody Wants Your Pineapple by ceaselessly
Cool idea(Difficult to play with a trackpad, but I didn't let that affect my decisions here).
Another pretty standard shooter, but adding the pineapple as something to protect was a nice interesting twist.
Seems the theme is used a bit in the powerups, which is kinda neat. Though I kept forgetting what the powerups did, I think the sprites for them weren't clear enough for me. Also, I accidentally grabbed two in a row, one drained my ammo, the other drained my stamina... Left me in quite the pickle...
Music was ok, cool that you made it.
Borderless window was a weird choice.
I feel like with this sort of clickyshooty mouse type game, you should always ENABLE FULLSCREEN! Nothing more annoying that accidentally clicking out and the window loses focus...
GMCity by Lukan
Had to search the forums to see if there was a point I was missing, sadly just unfinished.
I suck at city builders but I like them, kind of relaxing planning out a city.
The view size was a bit small, considering how big the drop menu is, and that it easily appears off-screen. So that was a little annoying.
Population didn't increase, and money didn't matter haha. I had negative monies in the end.
H.E.X.A.G.O.N. by Mercerenies
That last level was intimidating! But I got through it!
You never disappoint when it comes to fun little puzzle games. Very enjoyable.
Theme usage seemed a bit of a stretch at first, but the way it played into the mechanics later made it very fitting and interesting.
A good length and good balance of difficulty. The main mechanics were interesting by themselves. My only gripe there was I wasn't a fan of the controls being all mouse. I didn't enjoy looking at the player character, then over at the controls, click, then checking back with the player. Optional keyboard controls would have been a nice extra(a nitpick really).
I like the design of the ground tiles, nice and clean. The player sprite was cute but should have been a colour that contrasts better with the stage tiles. Grey on grey is a no-no.
Music was well chosen, fit with the mood of the game. The sound effects were basic but did their job.
You had a nice menu and screen space was used well in game, good design. Though the font seemed to have display issues, such as letters looking like parts are cut off.
***See note near top of post***
Humpty by sp202, Solistix
Sorry, there's not a lot here to talk about. Very strange choice of models. Gameplay idea was super basic.
Super unfinished too, you can still move after you die(But I got a chuckle out of the cheater message).
Inkletint Island by TEAM FLOB
Very cute.
The main gimmick was sort of neat, but got old quick. I was a bit disappointed when I got killed by an offscreen trap in one section. It just peeked up through the bottom of the screen and kill me. But apart from that, the hazards seemed pretty fair and balanced. I wasn't personally a fan of having to respawn so many times, but at least the spawn point was centrally located.
The sprites were mostly pretty cute. I'm not sure but is there a word for that style of redrawing the same sprite slightly different for that jittery effect? I've seen it a bunch and never wondered that before.
Music fit the island theme pretty nicely.
Mansion Mayhem by Team 70s
This was really enjoyable. I didn't really expect a turn-based RPG here, but it worked out well.
Combat was very simple, and there was less emphasis on strategy as there was on making sure you upgrade stuff. That said, later in the game, you have to start being a bit more careful so it balances out which is great.
A good level of challenge throughout. The waves ended as a sort of hint to stop grinding and go fight the boss was a nice touch too. Speaking of bosses, they offered just the right balance of challenge too, I feel like each fight was a fight I barely won each time, and that's always the best in my opinion.
My only complaint(a nitpick at best) is that I would have preferred some simple keyboard controls instead of using the mouse.
Great sprites and overall art, love that 70s aesthetic too. Just a shame there wasn't a wee bit more animation, that would have really made this shine.
Oh and the enemy and boss design! Perfect.
Then there's the soundtrack. My glob, Micah, that was so sick. You really nailed that 70s style.
Really well made and presented.
May 31 by The M
Even with the severe lack of extra units, this was still fun. I think I'd really enjoy a fully featured version with all the units and some better balance.
At first it seemed like your standard tower defence game. But the multiple fronts was an interesting touch. Well, it was until I just retreated to the chokepoint below and held the enemy there until they gave up.
Unit placement in the planning stage was a bit annoying because the unit's sprites were twice as big which looked so messy.
At a certain point it becomes easy to cheese it, so I had little trouble reaching the end of the game.
McMurdo by SheepDragon Studios
Looks like a lot of work went into this, but it's let down by a few smaller issues.
Dig the game genre, but something about the movement felt off. Can't quite place what though.
Interacting with the shower prompts some message about not being tired... do you sleep in the shower?
I liked how the wind direction affected your movement, but I feel like you could have lessened the effect a little.
I had a few attempts but 2 ended with random crashes are the rest all crashed when the monster got me, so I was unable to get far.
So, about the text boxes... firstly, text was too slow and with no way to speed it up or just skip the typewriter effect. That would have been managable if not for the awful grating sound that accompanies the text. Salt in the wound.
Just a shame I wasn't able to get far because there looks like there's something neat under all those little issues.
Oh, and unless there is something later on I missed, it doesn't appear to follow the theme in any real way which is also a shame.
My Eyes by Deadly Serious Media
Looked very promising and a decent use of theme.
Interesting mechanic, albeit very very simple. Once you got past the novelty, there really isn't much to it.
It controlled well enough, and had a good amount of weight to it.
Level design started off ok but then just seemed random and rushed. Then there didn't seem to be any end goal either.
The player sprite(including the body) looked really great, would have loved to have seen more art like that in the game instead of the empty flat colours in the rest of the game.
The voice acting was a neat touch, and the screaming amusing(a little grating after a while but that's unavoidable).
***See note near top of post***
Otherside by Gizmo199
I wasn't feeling the theme usage at first, but the boss battle kinda works it in!
Gameplay was very sparse, but still a good fit for this kind of game in a jam. The soccer was a wee bit difficult, even with full stamina.
The boss fight was really clever, the variation was unexpected and fun. It really could have shone with a couple of extra quests to fuel it.
All the little effects were really nice too.
Great gamepad support too!
Pay the Price by KPJ
Concept was super basic, and not overly challenging. I think you needed some better balancing after level one since I just jump around and shot like a maniac and still had plenty of cash leftover. Though, to be fair, I would have had less fun if I had to play more carefully(Buuuuut then what would be the point of the main mechanic?).
So yeah, theme felt a bit tacked on, but the platforming and shooting was done well. Except, the invisibilty seemed pointless?
***See note near top of post***
Phase Shifter by Curato, JacktheBlindRabbit
Incredibly short entry that somehow feels like it belongs in a previous jam.
That said, the idea is interesting enough. I tried shifting whilst running but that often got me killed, so it seemed the best option was to always be in the air before shifting.
Budgeting your light and dark meters didn't seem to matter all that much, the levels seemed varied enough that you were often constantly shifting anyway.
It was neat that your levels had alternate paths, expanding on that could have been even better.
Art was ok, and the shifting looked good.
Music was neat(Did you guys make it?), but it was a shame it restarts whenever the level restarts.
Not sure if this helps, but I often check if a song is playing before stopping and playing a song, so that even when the level ends, the music continues on. Handy when your levels can be so short.
Plungy Mart Panic! by AnotherHero
Simple but a bit buggy, but nothing broken.
Nice simple controls, so there was no real learning curve. Very easy to get stuck in your cart by jumping on it, but it didn't break anything so that's a win haha.
I wasn't sure what was happening with the moving items at first. At first I stressed about finding the right things, but later I just grabbed whatever and headed to the checkout which seemed to work fine.
Too many stalls overlapped and the seeming randomness of the placements just seemed a bit annoying.
I loved the menu and general presentation, but it was jarring to go from super smooth menu and fonts to super blocky art in the main game.
Summer King by cat, var, let
Chill puzzle game, albeit a bit confusing in parts, and ridiculously short. I feel like these puzzle games thrive with more content.
Got to say, I really struggled with level 3. And to be honest, I still don't understand how I won...
Art and music were cute, added to that relaxing atmosphere.
The People Pleaser by Rui Rosário
Concept was solid but the execution was lacking.
First playthrough I went in blind(since there was no readme or any in-game info on how the game works), so it ended up being a very confusing session. Once I hunted down your game post, I had a better understanding at least.
Not much to say about any gameplay, since there really wasn't any. The supposed personality types aren't really indicated in any meaningful way so it just becomes half a guessing game which isn't much fun.
Then there are like, a handful of samey situations, of which the two responses often don't make it clear what you mean.
Complete lack of art was a bummer too, even just a simple background or two could have really spiced this up a little.
And no sound whatsoever. A generic tone for the text typewriter effect would have been neat, and some chill background music at the very least. Shame.
Worth of a Soul by Shadow_Lancer, Cowsox
Loved the presentation and art, but didn't really dig the experience.
Had a few playthroughs to be sure, but I didn't notice any real differences with different choices. The concept is maybe just too over my head.
The art is gorgeous, loving that background. The overall presentation was really nice too.
No sound despite the credits mentioning music? That was a bummer.
***See note near top of post***