GMC Jam Voting GMC Jam 37 - Voting Topic [Game ZIP here!]

Status
Not open for further replies.

GameDevDan

Former Jam Host
Moderator
GMC Elder


Get the Games:

Download all 50 games (700MB)
this zip folder contains a handy jam game player made by @Alice to help you play & rank the games!

Additional Entry
This entry was completed on time but submitted in the wrong place and missed the deadline for creation
of the jam zip.


Voting Deadline
June 16th, 12:00 UTC


  • As soon as the Jam ends on June 1st at 12:00 UTC, a zip folder of the games will be created and posted in the voting topic so that players can download all the entries at once if they wish.​
  • Voters will then have around 2 weeks to play and rank the games and voting will close on June 16th at 12:00 UTC.​
  • Any member of the GMC can vote, even if they didn't enter the jam. You cannot vote for your own entry.​
  • Votes shall be posted in a single post in the voting topic. You may create a post and continue to edit it as you review more games, do not create more than one post for your votes.​
  • Voters are encouraged to rank as many games as possible, and their final votes must include at least their top 3 games.​
  • The top 3 votes must also be accompanied by a short review of why you liked the game and voted for it (any beyond the top 3 do not need a review, but it is nice to have).​
  • Voters can also vote for the best game in each of the following (optional) categories: Best use of theme, best concept, best presentation (gfx/sound) and best devlog (as written in the games topic).​
Voting Template
(optional but helpful)

XYZ'S REVIEWS AND VOTES

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

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

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

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

Full Ranking
1. game name by author name
2. game name by author name
3. game name by author name
4. game name by author name
5. game name by author name
6.... etc.
That's all you need to know!
Get playing and voting and enjoy those jam games :)

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

ghandpivot

Member

Batch 1:
Team Flob, Lumenflower, The M, Pikachurian, OrangeCrowStudio

Batch 2:
Nejc Podlipnik, Siolfor the Jackal, Mercerenies, The friendly potato, Woodsmoke, Gizmo199, Jacob V & Lipton & GreenWyvern, Micah_DS, Cat, Iamatoast, PancakesYum, Nut4985 (unplayable), Shadow_Lancer & Cowsox

Batch 3:
FrostyCat, Pat Ferguson, KooKooKachoo, Kyon, VinylFly, MikeTheScrivener, Lalileloluly, Poizen, Terminator_Pony, Klys, Yal

Batch 4:
ZendSeeker & JeanBombeur & Salut_cest_valoche, iChunkiMunki, Feathers Dreams, deepfry3, Kasityokerho, Bart, HayManMarc, Grizzlius Maximus, Team Zoom, AJTheApple, Sirham, Braydee Johnson, KPJ, Team Kaboom, IRON Games, Sheep Wink, Relic & Zacharyandrews, Kantros, Cloaked Games & Joseph Elllis & FAZIL, Pinkuchu

My votes:
1. They know how to love by Lumenflower
2. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
3. Who killed mr tibbles by Team Flob

The rest:
4. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, GreenWyvern
5. Crash FM by kyon
6. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
7. Killer Shark 77 by YAL
8. Homebound by TheM
9. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
10.. Arbitrary by Feather Dreams
11. Escape from Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
12. Balls to the wall by Gizmo199
13. Growing up by Mercerenies
14. FAZIL by Cloaked games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
15. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
16. Murder at Lansbury by KPJ
17. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
18. The shade by OrangeCrowStudio
19. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
20. You will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
21. Drug dealer simulator by Kantros
22. Elementary by Sirham
23. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur, Salut_Cest_valoche
24. Restory by IRON Games
25. Master Key by Poizen
26. What's doggo got by Kookookachoo
27. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
28. The fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
29. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
30. A Night Flight by VinylFly
31. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
32. Overdue by Relic and Zacharyandrews
33. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
34. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
35. Doggys Garden by klys
36. Decisions by Piunkuchu
37. You are my ability by Sheep Wink
38. Temple of Truth by Bart
39. Dr Swiss by HayManMarc
40. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
41. Shadow Hall by the friendly potato
42. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
43. Where by deepfry3
44. It knows by Woodsmoke
45. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
46. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
47. Jam 37 by Cat
48. RPG L.evel Editor by PancakesYum
 
Last edited:

Mercerenies

Member
Mercerenies' Generously Salted and Marketably Restorative Reviews

1. Crash FM - kyon
2. Shibboleth - FrostyCat
3. A Night Flight - VinylFly

Full rankings:
1. Crash FM - kyon
2. Shibboleth - FrostyCat
3. A Night Flight - VinylFly
4. arbitrary - Feather Dreams
5. System Purge - Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
6. You Will Talk - Siolfor the Jackal
7. Homebound - The M
8. Master Key - Poizen
9. Scraps - TerminatorPony
10. Killer Shark 77 - Yal
11. Who Killed Mr. Tibbles - Team Flob
12. Dr. Swiss 4 - HayManMarc
13. Murder at Lansbury - KPJ
14. TsundereSim - Grizzlius Maximus
15. FAZIL - Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis, and FAZIL
16. Escape from Trivium - Nejc Podlipnik
17. The box of Schrodinger - ghandpivot
18. Know Dungeon - Micah_DS
19. The Cat in the Room - Kasityokerho
20. Decisions - Pinkuchu
21. Balls to the Wall - gizmo199
22. The Fate of the Earth - Team Kaboom
23. Mr Zoomie's Escape - Team Zoom
24. Gravity Chicken - Iamatoast
25. ReStory - IRON Games
26. shadow hall - the friendly potato
27. Drug Dealer Simulator - Kantros
28. Overdue - Relic and zacharyandrews
29. Tony Knows - MiketheScrivener
30. Elementary - Sirham
31. They Know How To Love - Lumenflower
32. Listen to Me - AJTheApple
33. Jam 37 - Cat
34. RPG Level Editor - PancakesYum
35. It Hungers - Pat Ferguson
36. you are my ability - Sheep Wink
37. The Shade - OrangeCrowStudio
38. What's Doggo Got - KooKooKachoo
39. Shadow Realm - Braydee Johnson
40. Intruder Alert - Pikachurian
41. Slime Time - Shadowlancer and Cow Sox
42. The world knows something baby don't - lalileloluly
43. Temple of Truth - Bart
44. It Knows - woodsmoke
45. Squinty and Pasty - Zendseeker, JeanBombeur, and Salut_Cest_Valoche
46. Doggy's Garden - klys
47. Where - deepfry3
48. Fog of War Beta - iChunkiMunki

Best Use of Theme - Killer Shark 77 (Yal)
Best Concept - Shibboleth (FrostyCat)
Best Presentation - Who Killed Mr. Tibbles (Team Flob)

Reviews

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

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

A Night Flight - VinylFly (30 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (10 / 10)


You know what, I really enjoyed that. The graphics really sold the gameplay, quite a unique approach to the pseudo-3D style, and I really like how it looked. The collision masks were pretty forgiving, which is nice in a game like this. And the cute story fit well with the mood of the game. A very solid entry. Also, this isn't relevant to the review, but it seems somebody left a lot of debug output on; I was running this from the console and stdout got spammed with "up", "left", and "right" the whole time.

arbitrary - Feather Dreams (27 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (8 / 10)


I can respect a simple entry that does one thing really well. This is a short, but very well-put-together game, and I enjoyed playing through it. Based on the name of the game, I'm assuming it's arbitrary whether or not he accepts your answers. On my second playthrough, I tried to get "antagonism" responses wherever I could. I called my dad "go away" and the elephant "your mom". He was happy to accept both answers.

Balls to the Wall - gizmo199 (17 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


I want to like this entry, so badly. It has a lot going for it. Really solid graphics; excellent, welcoming audio; and a Smash-Bros-style gameplay. But it's just inconsistent, unfortunately. According to the readme, I've got two attacks and a dash maneuver. The dash worked most of the time, generally only in the air and only once per jump. The other two attacks were wholesomely inconsistent. Sometimes they did something, sometimes they didn't. It seemed to be slightly better when I was right next to the enemy, but even then it didn't work half the time. There's probably some mechanic that I'm missing here, but that's all the readme gave me, and it's all I could figure out. Also, how do I eat the pizza? Sometimes the dash button worked to eat the pizza, but not always. And generally while I was figuring it out, the other guy would come over, knock me into next week, and steal my pizza.

Crash FM - kyon (30 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (10 / 10)


That's an interesting style of gameplay. I don't see a lot of games centered around the mechanic of adjusting the radio. It's really well done. The game itself is short but sweet, and pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I like the creative radio stations (Did I use them all? Or were there some extras? I don't remember.), and the "crash" one in particular is quite an earworm. And the voice acting, overall, was just spot on.

Decisions - Pinkuchu (12 / 30)
Gameplay (4 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (6 / 10)


This looks unfinished, as I got to the bullying scenario, clicked a spirit, and then got stuck in the room. Still, I like the idea. Amusingly, this is actually the original idea for my entry, Growing Up (namely, revisiting crucial points in your life and then being judged at the end for your reaction to them). I ended up dropping it in favor of leaving the elevator scene ambiguous and letting the conclusion be open-ended, but it's still interesting that, from a story perspective, it seems you and I had literally the same idea at first.

Doggy's Garden - klys (9 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (1 / 5)
Audio (3 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


There's not really much here. It's a very basic 3D platformer that doesn't even seem to have a discernible goal. I can't collect all of the red coins because some are stuck in walls, and there's no clear place I'm trying to reach. The jumping and collision masks for the platforming parts were fairly wonky, and the 3D graphics themselves (the walls and blocks) were pretty basic.

Dr. Swiss 4 - HayManMarc (25 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (7 / 10)


A well-executed entry, and I liked the way you closed it off at the end and "explained" the lack of additional levels. I'm always up for a good, classic evil supervillain (I made a similar supervillain-blunder game several years back; the genre is always one that's appealed to me). The gameplay is a fairly basic but well-executed platformer. The enemies, again, are pretty simple but well done, and it all comes together into a nice, polished finished product.

Drug Dealer Simulator - Kantros (18 / 30)
Gameplay (3 / 5)
Graphics (3 / 5)
Audio (1 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (6 / 10)


Neat idea. Pretty simple, but neat. I got it wrong a lot. Generally false positives, i.e. shooting people in the head when they were really just good clients asking for some drugs (come on, who texts their drug dealer with XOXO and isn't either an undercover cop or an insane person?). Also, could've done without the music. Definitely not my style of music and I ended up muting it.

Elementary - Sirham (22 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (6 / 10)


A cool idea, but I think I always missed the important clues. I clicked on everything I could and still didn't feel any closer to solving the thing. If there were clues, they were very subtle.

Escape from Trivium - Nejc Podlipnik (27 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (8 / 10)


A very solid entry. Simple but well-executed. I definitely enjoy a good trivia game, even if I wasn't very good at it. The questions were quite broad in their topics, which was nice, and they all seemed to be good general trivia that wasn't too specific to one area of knowledge. I'm curious: did you write them yourself or did they come from some free online resource?

FAZIL - Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis, and FAZIL (27 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (8 / 10)


Definitely a well-executed puzzle game. It's a standard circuit-connection game, but well done, and with some interesting branching mechanics in the story. Unfortunately, I got softlocked in the room where he talks about the "trick" in the safeguard. There's no button to leave the room, and the puzzle looks unsolvable. Unfortunately, the dialogue boxes wanted to remain on screen and often obscured the puzzle itself.

Fog of War Beta - iChunkiMunki (7 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (1 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (3 / 10)


Okay, I know you mean well, but there's one of these every Jam. It's an overly complicated game that looks like a lot went into it, like I can tell you thought it out well and there's some depth. But there's no readme, there's no in-game tutorial ("train 3 soldiers" at the bottom of the screen doesn't count), and there's no explanation of any kind, really. If you're going to skimp on the tutorial, your game had better be incredibly self-explanatory, and this one is not. For that reason, I got nowhere. I trained one soldier, then ran out of money I think (it just wouldn't let me get another) and had no way to get more money. So.... yeah, made no progress.

Gravity Chicken - Iamatoast (13 / 30)
Gameplay (3 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (2 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (6 / 10)


It's a cool idea. There are just a few things that don't really work in the execution. The death cutscene and especially the end-of-level spinning animation are incredibly slow. Also, I got to Level 4, lost all my lives, and then the game reset. If you want people to keep playing, resetting the game every three lives is not a good motivator.

Homebound - The M (28 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (8 / 10)


A very well-polished game. The controls and shooting mechanics felt good to play with, and they felt very smooth, which is hard to do. I enjoyed this one a lot, and it was very forgiving when I lost, which was nice and motivated me to keep playing.

Intruder Alert - Pikachurian (11 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (3 / 5)
Audio (3 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


Seems to be an unfinished entry. There are a couple of people to talk to. They all like saying "BLANK" (or perhaps they're swearing at me and the game is censoring them). And there's not much to do after that. Seemed like you had an interesting idea going. Sad to see it wasn't able to be finished.

It Hungers - Pat Ferguson (19 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (3 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


I like what you're going for here: a Slenderman-esque hunted game with an element of stealth. But I wasn't totally sold on the execution. The inconsistent controls made it difficult to approach the right locker (she acted like she was walking on ice half the time), and if the monster came out of the nearest exit to me, there wasn't even enough time for the locker animation to play before the monster got me. And if it was halfway into the animation and I died, the game just kind of spazzed and there were two of the girl, one being killed and one in a loop exiting the locker.

It knows - woodsmoke (8 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (1 / 5)
Audio (2 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


So is this just random? Like, the flag is in a different place every time. So it really just came down to whether or not I could run around the playing field like a maniac and get lucky before the slime monster did. Which, admittedly, eventually did happen, but I didn't feel as though there was any skill involved. The controls were too loose and ice-physics-y for me to strategically tail the monster or anything, so random walks seemed to be the only viable strategy.

Jam 37 - Cat (6 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (1 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


So... Pong, basically. Given that the puck kept the same 45 degree angle from horizontal the whole time (rather than changing angles based on how it hits the paddle) and didn't seem to speed up by all that much, I'd say it's trivial to write a perfect AI for this version of Pong, so I'm assuming the "Impossible" in the title is meant literally.

Killer Shark 77 - Yal (30 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (10 / 10)


What can even be said. It's such a stupid, hilarious premise that's executed so well. Excellent difficulty progression, and the game basically lets you keep playing as long as you want if you're willing to keep running away from the angry men in boats every once in awhile. The Russian accent on the dialogue was absolutely hilarious and a nice touch.

Know Dungeon - Micah_DS (26 / 30)
Gameplay (4 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (7 / 10)


So... exactly how drunk were you when it came time to write that ending? Just wondering. Also, obligatory "inception is not recursion and the movie is called that because they're incepting an idea so it would be knowcursion not knowception" rant... Anyway, short entry, but a pretty good engine, and the voices (erm, grunts) were quite well done.

Listen to Me - AJTheApple (16 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


It seems there's a fundamental disconnect here. You're using a very loose platformer engine that involves rapid movement and quick jumps, but your level design seems to indicate you want slow, careful movement and precise jumps. The engine and the levels are at odds, and it makes the platforming quite frustrating. The graphics, audio, and story seem well-polished, however.

Master Key - Poizen (23 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (10 / 10)


A very solid platformer. Short but sweet, and very fun to play. Being able to destroy most of the playing field at the end was a nice touch, although on my second playthrough I did get a physics engine error from sheer destruction.
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Other Event: Room Start
for object obj_coll_polygon:
ERROR: The polygon shape for fixture 2484 is concave or ordered anti-clockwise
at gml_Object_obj_coll_polygon_Other_4
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_coll_polygon_Other_4 (line -1)
called from - gml_Object_obj_beam_Other_10 (line -1) - <unknown source line>
called from - gml_Object_obj_beam_Mouse_53 (line -1) - <unknown source line>

Mr Zoomie's Escape - Team Zoom (15 / 30)
Gameplay (3 / 5)
Graphics (3 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


So how many drugs were you on when you decided the game would be about a cat in a suit throwing yarn and the first enemy you encounter would be a giant vacuum? Still, interesting idea, and I like that actual cat noises were used in the making of the game. My main complaint with this game is the nonintuitive control scheme. Space to jump and up arrow to sprint? Every time I had to make a move, I had to think about which keys I wanted to hit and in which order. It's not that they were hard to hit, per se, just that they didn't do the things I'd intuitively think of, and that threw me off.

Murder at Lansbury - KPJ (22 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (8 / 10)


There were lots of detective games this time around (for obvious reasons, given the theme), but this one seems to be particularly well-executed, with well-designed clues actually leading to a conclusion. It was nice having all of the suspects in one place, as it saved me from the tedious work in many detective games of wandering from place to place hunting for people to interrogate. I was thinking "Ashley" from the first set of clues, and everything after that just continued to convince me of that, so I'd say it was pretty well-designed.

Overdue - Relic and zacharyandrews (18 / 30)
Gameplay (3 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


A fairly simple platformer. The graphics and polish were pretty solid, but the slow movement speed and limited crosshair range made it difficult to aim properly. It would've been nice if the crosshair had free movement over the screen so I could just click on enemies to shoot them.

ReStory - IRON Games (14 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (2 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (6 / 10)


A pretty basic platformer with gravity switch semantics and eventually time stopping shenanigans. Unfortunately, the time stopping thing seemed to be quite glitchy. I fell off the stage while time was stopped and got softlocked offscreen. Speaking of, there were a lot of blind jumps, just diving into pits and hoping it worked out, and some of them were required while others were death. The time freeze sound effect sounded like I was feeding a cow into a woodchipper. I ended up muting the game because of that.

RPG Level Editor - PancakesYum (6 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (1 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


Interesting idea, submitting a level editor for a game. But the editor itself needed some work. For one thing, the help text literally tells me ten different keybindings to press for different things, and there's no way I'm going to be remembering all of those without some excellent visual indicators in-game, which were not provided. And some of them were super weird: "Press N then press ALT for an NPC"? I'm an Emacs user, and that seems excessively complicated to me. And when you're making a level editor, you want to make it as easy and intuitive as possible. Placing intangible trees and then having to follow up by placing solid object placeholders isn't intuitive; that's an implementation detail that should've been hidden from me, the player.

Scraps - TerminatorPony (25 / 30)
Gameplay (3 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (7 / 10)


Well, the game definitely knew something I didn't. That was pretty ambiguous, but I liked the general tone and feeling of the game, and the graphics were absolutely spectacular.

shadow hall - the friendly potato (10 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (3 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


A pretty basic platformer, and not bad for a first time. The background visuals were a bit grating, as the scenery was too similar to the platforms in texture, so it made it hard (and uncomfortable) to discern the two. Also, friction was waaaaaaaay too low. I slid around the whole playing field like it was made of ice.

Shadow Realm - Braydee Johnson (7 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


I put the sticks in the altars and then sludge monsters appeared. I kept poking them but nothing happened. What was I supposed to do after that? On my second playthrough, I got this error.
ERROR!!! :: ############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event2
for object objCharacter:
Push :: Execution Error - Variable Index [-4] out of range [3] - -1.lifeforces(100514,-4)
at gml_Object_objCharacter_Step_2
############################################################################################
gml_Object_objCharacter_Step_2 (line -1)

Shibboleth - FrostyCat (29 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (9 / 10)


I always appreciate a good puzzle game. This one was well-designed and well-polished, and the mechanics were interesting. I don't think I ever got anywhere near the star times though, so evidently, I never picked up on any shortcuts that probably exist to simplify the puzzles. I assume the puzzles are randomly generated each time, because it did give me one that had two solutions. Not sure if your game would've taken either answer, but still very cool that you managed to generate these puzzles.

Slime Time - Shadowlancer and Cow Sox (10 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (3 / 5)
Audio (2 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


So... I didn't figure out how to play this one. I run around eating the things, I get that. And one of them is my target, and I only want to eat it. I thought at first the orange particles told me where to go, but they're everywhere. Then I thought it was a "spot-the-differences" puzzle, but all of the boxes in the second level look literally the same. So I don't know how I was supposed to figure out which one was right.

Squinty and Pasty - Zendseeker, JeanBombeur, and Salut_Cest_Valoche (9 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (3 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (3 / 10)


There's always one. When you design a game, please test your control scheme. Make sure it makes sense and is viable. In the first three minutes of gameplay, I was told to keep my fingers on the arrow keys, spacebar, E, B, R, S, D, and SHIFT. On a standard US keyboard, that's
Maybe this game is more comfortable with a gamepad. I don't have one with me to test it myself. But there is no way a human with two hands and a total of ten fingers can use that control layout comfortably on a keyboard. So yeah, this game was basically unplayable for me.

System Purge - Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern (30 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (10 / 10)


A very solid platformer, well polished, looks great, and has interesting parkour segments. You can't ask for much more. The jumps were never unfair, and death was always forgiving, which made this a pleasure to play. I don't exactly know what the ending meant; I'll have to think about it some more.

Temple of Truth - Bart (10 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (1 / 5)
Audio (2 / 5)
Theme (2 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


I couldn't figure out the first puzzle. It's a big pit that I can't directly jump over. The clue is "invisible break in the fabric" or something like that. I interpret that to mean invisible platform somewhere over the pit, but I found no such thing by spamming jump at every position. So....... yeah. The platform engine itself was fairly rudimentary. Jumping felt off, like I jumped way too high and then turned around and started falling really slowly. And it's interesting that I can walk on the spiked enemies, as I figured the reason they had spikes in the first place was to kill me.

The box of Schrodinger - ghandpivot (22 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (6 / 10)


Short and simple but well-executed. It's literally just a dice roll followed by a question of how much risk I want to take on. But this goes to show that even the simplest, most rudimentary concepts can be kinda fun when done well and accompanied with an online scoreboard. Well done.

The Cat in the Room - Kasityokerho (21 / 30)
Gameplay (3 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (3 / 5)
Theme (4 / 5)
Opinion (6 / 10)


Seems like a cool entry. The stealth segments are really well done (and that's coming from a guy who doesn't like stealth games all that much). The heartbeat at the top as a healthbar was a really nice touch. I couldn't figure out what to do on Day 2 though. I found a fairly isolated guy in the lower right corner and tried to mug him but I just kept dying.

The Fate of the Earth - Team Kaboom (14 / 30)
Gameplay (3 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


A pretty basic dialogue-based game that later decided it wanted to be a maze-crawler. Still, it was a nice touch having the collision mask for the player rotate. And I liked the letters-in-the-sky puzzle.

The Shade - OrangeCrowStudio (15 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (3 / 5)
Theme (3 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


I don't know what I'm supposed to do. It said to look for the hidden word on the piano. It seemed to be spelling "born", but when I typed that word, it just reset the game. So.... I made no progress. Ignoring the piano and going right led to nothing, and going left from the start did nothing. Don't know what I was supposed to do here.

The world knows something baby don't - lalileloluly (7 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


An interesting idea, but there seemed to be nothing to it. A few options killed me, but the rest just changed numbers that seemed to do nothing. Also, after 41 months, I feel like I should've developed some sense of language by that point.

They Know How to Love - Lumenflower (14 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (3 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


Shaders started going on the fritz, and then I died. Not sure exactly what that meant. I wandered around and poked a few computers with a metaphorical stick, but that was all. So I don't know what I was supposed to be doing. I like the idea of having a limited rope behind you; it felt a bit like GameDevDan's ink blot game from last time (I'm too lazy to go look up the name) in terms of the restricted movement range.

Tony Knows - MiketheScrivener (9 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (2 / 5)
Audio (2 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


A skateboarding game. I know nothing about skateboarding, so to me it just felt like jumping in the air and spamming IOU. Then sometimes I would die upon hitting the ground. I couldn't figure out when or why. Also, I liked the music at first, but it was waaaaay too much to be playing the whole time. Maybe for a boss fight or something intense, but as background music that was too much.

TsundereSim - Grizzlius Maximus (21 / 30)
Gameplay (4 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (7 / 10)


I knew what I was getting myself into. A short interactive-fiction dating sim. Still, it was fun for a bit, albeit short. The graphics were very nice, and the dialogue fit the game's spirit well.

What's Doggo Got - KooKooKachoo (13 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (3 / 5)
Audio (5 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


What was I supposed to be doing? Z called the dog sometimes but not others. X did nothing. And there wasn't anyone to talk to or anything to interact with really. I don't understand.

Where - deepfry3 (14 / 30)
Gameplay (1 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (0 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (4 / 10)


What was I meant to do? I tried shooting the monster thingy and I still died a bunch of times. I like the aesthetic a lot, but evidently I missed something obvious in terms of mechanics.

Who Killed Mr. Tibbles - Team Flob (28 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (9 / 10)


Well done as always from an all-star team. A well-polished entry, with a fun Clue-like premise encircled by a neat aesthetic. It seemed like the murder weapon was the hardest part. The clues for the killer are pretty straightforward, and the room isn't too bad to figure out, but there's a lot more wiggle room in the weapon clues. I like that you can just tap into an infinite supply of clues, though, it makes the game relaxing and fun.

you are my ability - Sheep Wink (14 / 30)
Gameplay (2 / 5)
Graphics (4 / 5)
Audio (3 / 5)
Theme (0 / 5)
Opinion (5 / 10)


I like that you're going for a Kirby-esque copy ability game. But the combination of difficult-to-maneuver controls, unclear icons of what the copy abilities actually do, and confusing main screen full of text walls made this a difficult entry to play. I killed a few baddies and, based on the icons at the bottom of the screen, I copied them. But I have no idea how to tap into their powers. Clicking doesn't do anything different than it did before, and SPACEBAR never seemed to do anything.

You Will Talk - Siolfor the Jackal (28 / 30)
Gameplay (5 / 5)
Graphics (5 / 5)
Audio (4 / 5)
Theme (5 / 5)
Opinion (9 / 10)


A very solid entry. I like the premise, and the mood and graphics of the game sell it well. There weren't a lot of minigames, but the ones that did exist were well designed, and the difficulty progression felt very natural. I also liked how there was a story that made you want to hear more about these characters; it wasn't just a filler plot, it felt like effort had gone into the worldbuilding. I will admit I had to skip one minigame near the end to see the conclusion, so I'm glad you put that cheat in there.

Unplayable Games :(

Agent37 - Nut4985 (Installer)
 
Last edited:

HayManMarc

Member
WELCOME
to the

Critically Insufficient, Unprofessional, and Arbitrarily Subjective
HayMan Votes and Reviews

Voting and Review Info
I'm rating these games using my spreadsheet method. Points per category is 0 - 4. These 9 categories are: Theme, Completeness, Gameplay, Intuitiveness and Instructions, Graphics, Sound FX, Music, Presentation and Interface, Personal Bias and Likability. Then tally up total points and give it a star rating up to 4 stars.

After all the reviews are done, I'll order them into a voting list. The votes will mostly adhere to the final tallies, but ties are decided by Theme, Gameplay, and Personal Bias/Likability.

--------------------

Here is some information for your feelings:
  • I try to give honest feedback. If it seems too critical, I'm sorry for the unintended hurtz to your feelings.​
  • My time is limited by full-time work, family, and life outside of the GMC. If I forgot to mention a particular feature in your game, or you think my review is too short and shallow, I'm sorry for the unintended hurtz to your feelings.​
  • Sometimes I make a little joke in my comments. I usually follow it up with a wink ;) or a tongue :p. If these jokes get misunderstood or perceived as foolish or "not serious enough", I'm sorry for the unintended hurtz to your feelings.​
  • I'm not an expert video game design and mechanics analyst. I can only offer opinions about what I like or dislike. If my personal opinions and lack of industry technical knowledge isn't good enough, I'm sorry for the unintended hurtz to your feelings.​
I can't remember games from one to the next, so I have to give points per category for the games, then tally up the points. I think this is about as objective as I can be. Sometimes, the games I like the most or have the most fun with don't score as high as other games I didn't care as much about. The reason for this is usually because the higher scoring game was more complete, well-rounded, or just simply hit all the marks for what I think makes for a successful game.

All in all, I have an unconditional respect for anyone brave enough and determined enough to enter and submit an entry for any short time-framed game jams such as the GMC Jam. I wish you the best of luck with your game making endeavors, whether your aspirations are professional, or you're just having fun with a hobby (like I do).

My advice (take it or leave it): Enjoy it. Have fun.

1.
System Purge by @JacobV, @Liptonpee, @GreenWyvern


Got really hard, but we made it thru. My daughter and I took turns as we made our way thru the levels. All elements of the game were great. Pretty much nailed it, this time.

2.
Crash FM by @Kyon


Good job at making me laugh at such tragedy! Very funny stuff. Took a bit to understand the game play, but after listening to the dial a bit and the first word popped up, I got it. Nice work with the cutscenes, voice acting, and drawings. They weren't high quality, but the humor injected into it all makes it all work well. Very enjoyable.

3.
Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob @GameDevDan @NAL


Nice Clue-like game (I think, I've never played Clue). Played twice thru. First time, I was able to solve the crime, but not the second time. Art, sounds, and music were great. It took me a couple minutes to figure out I had to click on Mr. Potato to get clues, at first. Clues would repeat after a while. All in all, it was silly and I liked it for what it was.


Votes
  1. System Purge by @JacobV, @Liptonpee, @GreenWyvern
  2. Crash FM by @Kyon
  3. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob @GameDevDan @NAL
  4. Shibboleth by @FrostyCat
  5. Know Dungeon by @Micah_DS
  6. Overdue by @Relic, @zacharyandrews
  7. FAZIL by @Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis, FAZIL
  8. You Will Talk by @Siolfor the Jackal
  9. Listen To Me by @AJTheApple
  10. Slime Time by @Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  11. Homebound by @The M
  12. Elementary by @Sirham
  13. The Cat In The Room by @Reaktori
  14. Growing Up by @Mercerenies
  15. They Know How To Love by @Lumenflower
  16. A Night Flight by @VinylFly
  17. Escape From Trivium by @Nejc Podlipnik
  18. Squinty and Pasty by @ZendSeeker, @JeanBombeur, @salut_cest_valoche
  19. You Are My Ability by @Sheep Wink
  20. Balls To The Wall by @Gizmo199
  21. Arbitrary by @Feather Dreams
  22. What's Doggo Got? by @KooKooKachoo
  23. Killer Shark 77 by @Yal
  24. Master Key by @Poizen
  25. Scraps by @Terminator_Pony
  26. Re: Story by IRON Games @Neo_Kesha, @tengg Da, and Dark$amurai
  27. The Box Of Schrodinger by @ghandpivot
  28. Tony Knows by @MiketheScrivener and @Toque
  29. Shadow Hall by @the friendly potato
  30. The Fate Of The Earth by Team Kaboom (@Josh Chen, @bandman28)
  31. The Shade by @OrangeCrowStudio
  32. Murder At Lansbury by @KPJ
  33. Gravity Chicken by @lamatoast
  34. Temple of Truth by @Bart
  35. Fog Of War by @iChunkiMunki
  36. It Knows by @woodsmoke
  37. Where? by @deepfry3
  38. It Hungers by @Pat Ferguson
  39. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom @pudgyalpaca
  40. TsundereSim by @GrizzliusMaximus
  41. Unlawful Blobs by @Bansai
  42. Impossible Ping by @Cat
  43. Drug Dealer Simulator by @Kantros
  44. Shadow Realm by @BraydeeJohnson
  45. Decisions by @Pinkuchu
  46. The World Knows Something Baby Don't by @lalileloluly
  47. Intruder Alert by @pikachurian
  48. Doggy's Garden by @klys
  49. RPG Level Editor by @PancakesYum
  50. Detective Ghost by @d4 Studios
  51. Agent37 by @nut4985

Reviews
Agent37 by @nut4985
0 stars
Sorry, I will not INSTALL jam games.

Arbitrary by @Feather Dreams
3 stars
I was able to answer the questions and get to the end, but I'm left confused as to the meaning of the game. I assume there's some metaphor or something, but I'm sorry to say it was lost on me. I deduced that making generalized answers were the key to answering correctly, but still unsure if this was the case. Graphics were incredibly simple, but worked well enough. Music was fitting, for the most part. (One song sounded more like a detective noir film than what should be here, imo.) Bravo for letting the player advance the messages and not having them advance on their own.

Balls To The Wall by @Gizmo199
3 stars
Simple, but clean and effective graphics. Nice effects. Pretty polished, overall. Gameplay seemed a bit hectic and button mashing. I wasn't very good at it. Didn't really understand the percentages. Also didn't understand the powerups. Presentation was awesome.

The Box Of Schrodinger by @ghandpivot
3 stars
Uhmm, okay. Only the cat knows if it's dead or alive. Not sure where the game is here, especially since there's no replay option. I read the Afterword, and did give it a little bit of thought, but was looking for some feedback from the game, since this is a game jam and these are supposed to be games. At any rate, it ended with an 81% chance the cat was dead, so the cat is likely dead. Lol

The Cat In The Room by @Reaktori
3 stars
I made it to “the dark corner” but it got too difficult for me. I'm not even sure I fully understand the game or know all the controls. But the graphics are awesome and the mysterious story is compelling. Some music would have been nice. Sounds were good. Pretty cool game, all in all.

Crash FM by @Kyon
4 stars
Good job at making me laugh at such tragedy! Very funny stuff. Took a bit to understand the game play, but after listening to the dial a bit and the first word popped up, I got it. Nice work with the cutscenes, voice acting, and drawings. They weren't high quality, but the humor injected into it all makes it all work well. Very enjoyable.

Decisions by @Pinkuchu
1.5 stars
I made it to an encounter with some bullies, but I could choose each response, not just one. Afterward, the screen stayed empty and black, except for the characters. Game seems sorely unfinished. Had some collision troubles when sliding next to the edge of the path. Graphics were fine. Probably didn't need such a large camera area. No sounds. Seems like idea scope got the best of you.

Detective Ghost by @d4 Studios
0 stars
Sorry, not playing this. I don't want a bunch of junk files on my computer that I have to hunt down and delete later. Thank you for the warning at the menu screen.

Doggy's Garden by @klys
1 star
It's 3D. You can move around the map. That's about it. No information provided for me, the player, of instructions, story, or objectives. No game here that I can tell, but the movement seemed well made.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
3 stars
Perhaps there was a game in mind here, but it was lost in translation somewhere. Better luck next time.

Drug Dealer Simulator by @Kantros
1.5 stars
Drug Dealer Simulator? Really?? Bottom-of-the-barrel idea, if you ask me. Well, I tried the game anyway, but it didn't work out well. I had to look at other people's reviews to figure out this game. The music seemed to fit the game, but struck me offensive. The level layout seemed a bit restrictive, forcing the player to backtrack too much to get to another area. Graphics seem like free assets (which is ok), but didn't seem to fit the game idea. Also, they seemed inconsistent and wonky once you see the pistol. All in all, I just couldn't get into trying to play a druggie criminal.

Elementary by @Sirham
3 stars
Great music choice. Played it with my daughter. We got through all the mysteries, but we couldn't understand why Llama's was the guilty guy for that mystery. It was fun playing thru all the scenarios. I liked the simple graphics. After a while, we got to know the house layout pretty well. No sound fx, but I guess they weren't needed. Menu and generic message boxes were subpar, but didn't hinder the gameplay. We kept switching to fullscreen, but the game would switch back to windowed after each restart, which was kind of annoying. But still, we really liked the game.

Escape From Trivium by @Nejc Podlipnik
3 stars
Seems fine, but I'm really not a fan of trivia games. Graphics seemed above average, nice music and sounds. All in all, not bad for the kind of game it is, however I didn't get very far in the game. Ultimately, too difficult for me to continue playing to the end.

The Fate Of The Earth by Team Kaboom (@Josh Chen, @bandman28)
2.5 stars
Made it thru all the screens, talked to the snake, saw the letters hidden on each screen, unscrambled them to make a 5 letter word. But I didn't know how to tell the guard the code. So was unable to continue. Nice graphics and music. Not many sounds.

FAZIL by @Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis, FAZIL
3.5 stars
Solid puzzler. Loved the voice acting, shines of genuine talent. Nice story, plus bonus other modes to play. Minimal graphics, sounds, and music, but it works well for the game. My only complaint is that I suck at these games, so my daughter played through the levels for me. Great game. Polish this up with some juice and you could sell it.

Fog Of War by @iChunkiMunki
2 stars
Looks like a lot went into this, but I can't play it because I don't know what I'm doing. There are no instructions. Sorry. The graphics look okay. Sounds and music seem fine.

Gravity Chicken by @lamatoast
2 stars
I couldn't get past level 2. Neat game. I liked the simple graphics, and the dying animation was funny. Would have played more if it wasn't so difficult. Bummer there was no music and only a couple of sounds. So quiet. Not seeing any theme here.

Growing Up by @Mercerenies
3 stars
Not bad. Some of the background colors didn't contrast well against the player, but that's minor graphical issues. Graphics were fine, for the most part. The game was a bit long-winded, but kept me engaged to the end. Music selection was great. Some subtle sound FX would have been nice. We played a few times. Trial and error taught us what answers do. The typing game was a bit too hard and caused us to lose. Sometimes I'd miss making a choice because I didn't realize it was there quick enough. So I made the first choice while trying to advance the narration. Maybe needed a different input for choice versus message advance. Pretty good game, tho.

Homebound by @The M
3.5 stars
We made it to the end! It took two of us, but we made it to the end. My daughter controlled the keyboard and I controlled the mouse. It was too hard to do both on my own. When we got to the last room, we switched and was finally able to beat it. Neat game, but my only beef with it is my inability to see where I'm going while simultaneously keeping aim with my mouse. Pretty much impossible for me, which makes this a two-person game, in my book. Oh, and some of the messages whizzed by too fast before I could read them. Could have used a few more sounds, but sounds and music were good. (health-up sound, and such). Graphics were nice.

Impossible Ping by @Cat
1.5 stars
Pong. Can't win. The end. (After seeing Toque's review, I agree at the clever use of theme.)

Intruder Alert by @pikachurian
1 star
I'm sorry, but I have no clue what's going on with this game. There's no set up. You're just dropped into the game with no information whatsoever. I moved around and found two characters to interact with, but I was still left confused and uncertain about how to play or what I was even supposed to be doing. The graphics weren't horrible, I'd say average. However the port size was really small on my monitor and I couldn't switch to fullscreen. Music seemed fitting, but sounds overall are lacking. Looks like a fair amount of work went into this and it's just not complete.

It Hungers by @Pat Ferguson
2 stars
This might be a neat game, but I can't play it. Before I'm able to do anything, the monster gets me. There seems to be no warning that it's coming. I died 5 times already, and I still don't have much of a clue as to what I'm supposed to do, let alone get used to using the controls. The learning curve is way too steep, imo. Graphics were pretty neat, until I see her walking vertically, then the walk animation looks pretty derpy. No offense, but it was kind of amusing. I would play it further if the game helped the player learn the game better. Couldn't go fullscreen which was a bummer.

It Knows by @woodsmoke
2 stars
Yee-haw! I won me some flag! Funny win music. Game was pretty minimal.

Killer Shark 77 by @Yal
3 stars
Such Carnage! Shark seems indestructible. Becomes a button mashing fest. Then gets extremely laggy with too much happening onscreen at once. Very humorous game in a very morbid way.

Know Dungeon by @Micah_DS
4 stars
Oh, brother! Lol! Game mechanics were done well. Cool use of different resolution sizes. Seems like lots of work making two sprites for everything, but it probably wasn't that many. Humor was off and on, but I enjoyed it. Love me some quirky, nerd humor! Lol! (Bonus points for using Wilhelm.)

Listen To Me by @AJTheApple
3.5 stars
Way too frustrating for me, so you're lucky my daughter was here to play it. She persevered through a million deaths and finally (FINALLY) made it to the end. I must say, after all that, there wasn't much payoff at the end. Graphics were simple and cute, with nice animation effects. It felt like the movement was punishingly sloppy compared to the precision needed to complete jumps. Sounds were good and music seemed quite fitting. Good work overall, but extremely hard. (But I'm no gamer. Others might find it easy, probably.)

Master Key by @Poizen
3 stars
Neat shooting effect to destroy blocks. Platform mechanics seem too slow and floaty. Graphics were simple, but slightly above average. I didn't care for the back-and-forth questing with the needlessly cumbersome level design. Perhaps if movement was faster it wouldn't feel like such a slog to have to keep going thru. I didn't know until just now that the fish carcass was the key for the green door. I thought I picked something up on accident or something. Perhaps adding a description of the fish bones as “small and pointy” would help the player realize. This was as far as I made it. Couldn't find $20 for the cat. Ultimately, too difficult for me to continue playing to the end.

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom @pudgyalpaca
2 stars
Kinda cute, but the controls were a bit convoluted for my tastes. When things got hectic, jumps everywhere and vacuums coming at you, it was easy to mix up the controls. Platformer mechanics were a bit floaty. Level design seemed a bit haphazard, making moving around the level needlessly difficult. Graphics were okay, but needed some movement animation. Music was cute, but jarring when trying to read and learn the game. All in all, not horrible for a jam game, but pretty rough around the edges. Ultimately, too difficult for me to continue playing to the end.

Murder At Lansbury by @KPJ
2.5 stars
Cute game. It was kinda easy to guess who it was. Pretty straight forward progression. Art was okay, Could have used some sounds and music. Still, kind of a fun experience.

A Night Flight by @VinylFly
3 stars
Cute and sweet story. Graphics were a bit hard to see sometimes. Messages continued on their own before I could finish reading them. Some messages appear during gameplay and you can't look away from the action to read it or die trying. The jump didn't seem prominent enough. Still, it was a touching little story when you come to the end.

Overdue by @Relic, @zacharyandrews
3.5 stars
This was pretty cool, but hard to control. My daughter helped me out and controlled the mouse while I did keyboard. I hated the auto-advancing text messages. I couldn't read fast enough to appreciate the story. Graphics, sounds, and music were awesome. Got the the end which said “Now you know...”, but I don't know what it is that I should now know.

Re: Story by IRON Games @Neo_Kesha, @tengg Da, and Dark$amurai
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.

RPG Level Editor by @PancakesYum
0.5 stars
Huuuuuuge wall of text trying to give instructions. By the time I got to the last page of instructions, I couldn't remember the first page at all. So many convoluted controls for doing stuff. This may have been better as tooltips, perhaps? I suppose this 'game' idea is fine, but much too large a scope for a 4 day game jam, imo. Most people, like me, will not put in the effort to memorize the abundance of controls for a 'game' (which is actually a level editor for a non-existent game) that is not really a game at all. Graphics were ok. No sounds or music.

Scraps by @Terminator_Pony
2.5 stars
Took a while to figure out to open the book while outside the house. I figured out the fridge puzzle before getting to that page in the book. Music was fine at first, being mysterious, but probably should have changed in the end to compliment the reveal. Not a bad game, but I felt a little just plopped into the game without any setup as to what was going on. Some kind of pre-story would have helped. Nice, but very plain 3d graphics. The torn up puzzle was nice. The whole game leaves you with a question – why was it torn up?

The Shade by @OrangeCrowStudio
2.5 stars
I made it through to the end. This was a very dreary experience. Graphics were minimal, but okay. No sounds except key notes, which was okay. Music was fine, but was dreadful. The game leaves you full of dread and dispair. Not sure if this is intended or not. Not my cup of tea.

Shadow Hall by @the friendly potato
2.5 stars
This game was too hard for me, so I had my daughter play it. She was able to get to the end. You say you're not an artist, but the pixel graphics looked pretty good to me, even tho I had no idea what the things were. The movement was very slippery, but that was probably intentional, I assume. Auto-jump when holding down the jump button messed me up sometimes. Text boxes that continue without user input sometimes get missed or not fully read. I guess the little helper guy was the thing that knew what I didn't. Pretty decent entry for your first jam game.

Shadow Realm by @BraydeeJohnson
1.5 stars
Couldn't play the game. Tried to click on the “talk” on that floating icon, but it wouldn't register or do anything. Graphics look great. No sounds. Nice interface, but no other presentation. Looked like it might be interesting, but couldn't progress any further.

Shibboleth by @FrostyCat
4 stars
Made it to level 6 then got stumped. Game seems to work as intended. Premade assets used accordingly.

Slime Time by @Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
3.5 stars
Ha! Two fast levels and done. Nice, clean graphics. Sounds and music were fine. Nice little helper showing the correct choice when you're wrong. Probably too short overall, but meh – it's a game jam. Good work.

Squinty and Pasty by @ZendSeeker, @JeanBombeur, @salut_cest_valoche
3 stars
Quite quirky and trippy. Ultimately, the game was way too hard to play. The instruction dump at the beginning was a bit much, but it did go over the controls. Seems like too many controls to remember for a jam game, especially all at once. Graphics were weird, but good. Sounds were good. Music was great.

System Purge by @JacobV, @Liptonpee, @GreenWyvern
4 stars
Got really hard, but we made it thru. My daughter and I took turns as we made our way thru the levels. All elements of the game were great. Pretty much nailed it, this time.

Temple of Truth by @Bart
2 stars
Couldn't get past the second screen. Graphics and sounds were okay, music was nice. Platformer mechanics seems too slow and floaty. The purple little helper thing was cute.

They Know How To Love by @Lumenflower
3 stars
First thing – please don't auto-advance text. The HELP was helpful, but I can't read and file away the information as fast as the text blocks advance on their own. User input to advance is the best, imo. The game has a cool idea behind it, but I wasn't able to get very far, probably because I didn't have a clear goal, and it didn't take long for the monster to show up and get me. Graphics were nice for being mouse-drawn art. I thought things were a bit too dark sometimes. Sounds and music were good.

Tony Knows by @MiketheScrivener and @Toque
2.5 stars
Crazy, wild music. This turned into a button masher where I just hoped for the best. Biggest score was around 575. The idea is pretty cool, art was good, sounds were okay. Not bad, but maybe a bit too fast-paced with no time to learn or build any skill. You had to learn by trial and error which made it less enjoyable to me, but I still liked it.

TsundereSim by @GrizzliusMaximus
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.

What's Doggo Got? by @KooKooKachoo
3 stars
Cute game, but I was having a really hard time picking stuff up. Probably just me and my stupid inability to play games. The graphics were pretty great, the dog really felt like an excitable mutt. Music seemed to fit, and enough sounds to make it feel okay. I didn't discover the theme, but I didn't really get how to play the game. Sorry.

Where? by @deepfry3
2 stars
I liked the graphics. No sounds at all is kind of a bummer. Gameplay I couldn't figure out. I moved around, but kept dying by mysterious reasons to me. I couldn't understand it. Also, the “play again' message should have been activated by a different key, because I kept inadvertently hitting it while still trying to shoot. I didn't even know it was there until about 5 or 6 resets when it barely appeared on the screen. Then, I had to intentionally die to see what it was, so I wouldn't hit the shoot button by accident when it appeared. Ultimately, too difficult for me to continue playing to the end.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob @GameDevDan @NAL
4 stars
Nice Clue-like game (I think, I've never played Clue). Played twice thru. First time, I was able to solve the crime, but not the second time. Art, sounds, and music were great. It took me a couple minutes to figure out I had to click on Mr. Potato to get clues, at first. Clues would repeat after a while. All in all, it was silly and I liked it for what it was.

The World Knows Something Baby Don't by @lalileloluly
1 star
Some sort of baby simulator thing. Not sure. I guess try to see how long you can survive as a baby by making decisions, even though babies don't make measured decisions. One time, I made it 51 months by ignoring everything.

Unlawful Blobs by @Bansai
1.5 stars
No instructions, so I was lost. I figured out some controls, but who knows if I figured them all out? Controls seemed weird – unintuitive. Died pretty quickly every time, still not knowing what it was I was supposed to be doing. Graphics were fine, sound was okay, music was nice.

You Are My Ability by @Sheep Wink
3 stars
Game was okay, but I never advanced past the first level. I'm guessing there is no more levels. Seems to be no way to die, either. So, unfinished game, but what's there is pretty neat. Weird to control movement with the mouse, but it worked. Graphics were pretty cool. Sounds were good. Music was fine, but got repetitive quickly.

You Will Talk by @Siolfor the Jackal
3.5 stars
Nothing too fancy here game-wise, but it was pretty well made nonetheless. I couldn't play with the keyboard because the button indicators wouldn't remain showing for keyboard, but only when a button was pushed. Luckily, I had a controller to use which made things easier. Music was mysterious and spy-like and fit the scene very well, however, the menu was too quiet for my liking. Graphics were minimal, but showed off that Siolfor the Jackal style. After playing a couple rounds, it was pretty easy to figure out what to do. Difficulty ramped up fine, as I missed a few times later in the game, but I was still able to finish it. Perhaps it was too easy, but I like easy. Story line seems to have taken a bit of thought to put together. All in all, solid game. (Also, IMO, the "violence" in this game is ultra-tame compared to any spy, action, or horror movie.)


Done.
 
Last edited:
F

Feather Dreams

Guest
Reviews

Top 3:

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern


The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho


Crash FM by kyon



Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
Best Concept: Crash FM by kyon
Best Presentation: Crash FM by kyon
Best Story: The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Comments:
I love the variety here, and how people took the prompt in a few directions. Some thoughts on the top 3:
  • System Purge: I'd be impressed even if this wasn't a jam game. That's a lot of gameplay for 96 hours, accounting for how much polish clearly went into this.
  • The Cat in the Room: My favorite story here, very evocative and leaves just enough to the imagination to make the player wonder.
  • Crash FM: You score big points for making something I'd never in a million years have imagined. Short and sweet, a very clever piece.
I don't think I can go about and do the full top list, but a few that really stuck out to me, in various ways, and in no particular order:
  • Killer Shark 37: WILD presentation. I dig the boldness. A very, very, VERY close fourth.
  • Who Killed Mr. Tibbles: Got the biggest chuckles out of me. Adorable game.
  • Night Flight: Very cute, I loved it.
  • Master Key: I'm impressed with the beams 'cutting through' blocks, nice mechanic there.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
N

Neo_Kesha

Guest
I tried hard to order as many games as i could. Here goes the list!

Best use of theme: Listen to me
Best concept: Crash FM
Best presentation: System Purge
Best devlog: TBD

1) System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Amazing graphics, gameplay and design. Game feels really polished! Every action has it's own weight, controls are responsive, animations are smooth. I can't believe this was done at such short period of time.​
2) A Night Flight by VinylFly
Simple game, yet, i was touched by it. It's simple, naive but complete game with charming story and interesting gameplay and style​
3) Listen to Me by AJTheApple
Game is funny, has nice graphics and solid gameplay. I liked it difficulty.​

4) Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
I love main character designs and gameplay design.​
5) Master Key by Poizen
Beam thing is amazing​
6) Homebound by The M
Very solid and polished game with nice graphics​
7) They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
It has interesting concept, also liked tube physics​
8) Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
Funny little game, just what Jam games are.​
9) Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
Game is neat, simple and fun. Finished, no useless complications.​
10) TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
The game has some really neat artwork​
11) Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
12) Crash FM by kyon
13) FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
14) The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
15) Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
16) Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
17) you are my ability by Sheep Wink
18) The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
19) Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
20) Where by deepfry3
21) Killer Shark 77 by Yal
22) Elementary by Sirham
23) Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
24) Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
25) arbitrary by Feather Dreams
26) Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
 

deepfry3

Member
deepfry3's reviews

I've never participated in a game jam before, and neither has @Pinkuchu, who I played and ranked all games together with (she's written her own post, though). It was really fun getting to play all of these, even the ones that I didn't like, just because they're all distinctly different and unique!
This also made it really hard to vote, because a group of ten games may be all rather similar in quality, but they're just... different. I could spend an eternity second-guessing myself over the exact ranking, but instead I've just ranked all of them somewhat accurately and included a review with feedback for each and every game.

Note:
- There's a few times where I mention I wanted more. I'm aware of the time constraint everyone had (my game is also lacking), but the feedback is what I'd love to see if there was more time!
- Trying to rank and review as many games as possible meant there was quite a few that we didn't completely finish. Sorry about that!


Best use of theme - The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
Best concept - Crash FM by kyon
Best presentation - Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
Best devlog - FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

This is a really strong and engaging platformer with tight controls, fantastic art, sound design and ambiance.
It's not immediately apparent how the theme relates to the gameplay, but it's definitely there in the (relatively light but also very open to interpretation) story.

I love the jump animation, but it can look a little goofy - it makes me think of a Pogo stick particularly with the smaller jumps - and the sound doesn't help.
But overall, it's a really solid game with a nice professional sheen. Not the most unique, but easily the best and most 'complete' game in this jam, and deserving of the number one spot I think.

It's quite saddening to see no devlog, as I would have loved to have read more about all aspects of this project's development.
Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

Unfortunately I'm not good enough at difficult platformers to have gotten very far in this at all, but the look and feel with the art, sound and controls all felt very nicely polished.
Even with the small amount I played, the theme was nicely integrated into the gameplay, which I love and is great to see.

Perhaps this is more of a problem for me personally, but I felt there was too steep of a learning curve - right in the opening, there's far too many controls to remember for example. Would have been better to simplify the control scheme, and/or slowly introduce the controls.

Really struggled to put this at the number two spot given how little of it I played, but I loved what I saw, especially the legs, and think it deserves a very high ranking.

The devlog was quite good, showing the progression of the game through the 96 hours, but some more detail would have been intriguing to see.
Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

This game sticks to implementing the theme with the gameplay quite nicely, and has a slightly humorous way of making it non-violent, which was clearly the goal.

I think whilst it's okay, the concept is relatively bland in that it's just basic process of elimination (saying "it's not this" over and over until you get it right). Perhaps if more time had been put into making cleverer riddles it could be okay, but it also would have helped the gameplay to have something else the player is doing moment-to-moment than just clicking the peanut.

Wasn't super confident of putting this in the number three spot as there were definitely better uses of the theme, more unique ideas, etc. But the music, sound, UI, animation and general polish makes me think it deserves it.

It's acknowledged in the post, but there isn't really much of a devlog.
The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Everything here feels highly polished, from the sound to the art, to the gameplay, etc. The story is well told and up to interpretation I guess, although I was kind of expecting something more revelatory at the end.

Whilst the sound design is very good, I do think that hearing a combination of heart beating and electric zappy noises does get old fast, but that could probably only be solved by just... having a more varied game.
On that note though, I definitely would indeed be really interested to see this developed into a fully-fledged game with more variety in the gameplay, more to the story, etc. As it stands, much as the atmosphere and vibe is very good, the gameplay is quite plain.

It's unfortunate to see no devlog, as I would have loved to read about how the story was developed, the theme the devs were going for and why, even down to smaller details such as how the scattered sight line was achieved and such.
Killer Shark 77 by Yal

There's clearly been a lot of effort put into this - great, fitting music; nice psychedelic art, etc. Drifting around, swimming underwater, jumping all feels very good (I love how such a simple jump animation is so effective).

Not that the story really went anywhere, but for what was present it was funny and ridiculous, though I got the point very quickly and started just ignoring the dialogue in the shop, and on the left of the GUI while you're playing.
As is the case with most bullet hell-type games, this is just all the bullets all the time, but that means I got bored pretty quickly, as it just continues and continues... I never felt a challenge as the shark just feels indestructible.

It definitely feels like a stretch to say that the theme is incorporated into this game, but overall it's quite good and was definitely a contender for best presentation for me.

Devlog is great, gives a good sense of what was being worked on and when, and is a good balance of general and technical info. Though, I would have liked to have seen a bit more about struggles/learnings.
What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

Pretty small game, but very solid, and I love how the theme was utilized and particularly that it was incorporated into the gameplay. But, I would have preferred the game actually amount to something, as it seems to me it's currently just an endless loop.
At the moment, it's not something I'd actually go out of my way to play, as there's not really any incentive other than see how many coins you can get until you get bored.

I don't like the information dump at the start, especially if you press H, and the second time I played the dog kinda just ran up and down not doing anything and never found any coins...

But with all that said, the art is really polished, music is fitting (love the little bark noises in the soundtrack), movement feels good, AI for the dog feels appropriately wacky (when it works), and I think the game achieved what it set out to do very well.

Devlog is okay - I liked the in progress screenshots and that it showed what was focused on early on and such. I just wish it was longer and more in-depth.
They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

Whilst it looks MS Paint-y, the art is still pretty cool, and I love the UI for the rope as well as the rope's physics.
I got too frustrated to finish unfortunately, as the monster just kept coming for me over and over, and as far as I can tell there's no way to escape once it's onto you.

I didn't really get the usage of the theme, but it's possible that could have come up later.
Overall, pretty solid, would love to see it further polished and developed.

Devlog is really good, but it could have used a little more technical detail as well as timestamps to get a feeling as to how much time had passed between each update. I also wish the links were embedded.
you are my ability by Sheep Wink

Definitely really polished, nice movement, nice art, animation, sound, etc.

Not at all feeling the theme here, and it feels like the gameplay is better suited to a story or progression-based game rather than more arcade-style, as I ended up getting bored.
Also - the first time I played I never got any abilities... second time I launched it worked perfectly, so not sure what happened there.

Overall, pretty cool game. If there was a more polished tutorial, goals to work towards and such, I think I'd enjoy playing this quite a bit.

Devlog is quite basic - I didn't get very much from it personally.
Crash FM by kyon

I really love the presentation here, although it does feel a bit weird getting conflicting art styles between the opening and the actual gameplay. And that opening is... a little strange for me.

It doesn't feel as satisfying as I'd hoped successfully piecing together the words because by the time you've spent a full minute 'selecting' them all, it does not sound like a sentence strung together.

But still, as far as gameplay mechanics go, this is really unique and I think it's a great, well-presented idea that I'd love to see pushed further.
Overall, uses the theme in a way that very well informs gameplay and story. Best concept in this jam I think, just want to see it evolved further now!

Disappointing to see no devlog.
TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

I did not end up finishing this one, but I got the point. Presentation is really good - love the sprites (both for dialogue and movement), but unfortunately no sound.
The parody genre of visual novels that I think this falls into is becoming less and less niche, so the game doesn't come across as being as unique as perhaps hoped.

Nevertheless, despite what felt like a 'meh' usage of the theme, the game achieves what it set out to do just fine.

Devlog is okay, but it does just sort of stop, so I would have liked to have seen it expanded by quite a bit.
A Night Flight by VinylFly

A really short game with basic 'collect coins' gameplay premise. Story is quite bare-bones, and the usage of the theme is... okay in terms of the story, but I do wish it and the story (which I also which was longer) were better integrated with the gameplay.
I really love the art for this one - it's cute, polished and nostalgic in a way I think was very much intended. Controls feel pretty good, audio is fitting I suppose.

Despite the fact that the perspective in the gameplay could get very nauseating after a long time, I do want to see more - more cutscenes, more gameplay, more variety, more story.

No devlog, which is quite unfortunate as I would have really enjoyed reading it for this game.
Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Really polished in its art, gameplay, menu, sound effects, camera, music, AI, etc. Outside of just looking good there's some nice details like the plane flying that just adds character and charm.

The AI stood out to me as the best in this jam, as it's quite fluid and difficult to pin-point exactly how it's working outside of just 'pathfinding'. Though, it did get stuck a few times, and would be even further improved if:
a) it didn't always pick the most efficient path to get to me (sometimes hang back, sometimes go the longer way around)
b) it was able to do other moves like the mid-air dash the player can do.

Unfortunately I'm struggling to see any use of the theme, or any unique take on the genre to go above what other games offer. But definitely takes the cake on presentation.

Devlog is quite barebones; I can see what was added and when, but there's no details about the struggles or successes, no technical details, or learnings, etc.
Listen to Me by AJTheApple

Outside of no introduction to the controls, the game's biggest strength is its polish, with its music, art, animations and gameplay. It perfectly executes exactly what it wants, and does so with a quite high level of quality. The difficulty feels quite well balanced as well.

However, I personally didn't like the way the theme was incorporated - the thing that the robot knows that you don't is... not to proceed because it itself is going to try to kill you? And fail?
The only impact it has on gameplay is that whilst trying to play the robot won't shut up. I mightn't mind this if:
a) he said anything other than "don't proceed"
b) not proceeding actually did anything

If the story was fleshed out more, not as irritating as I found it, and if the gameplay had more to it than basic platforming, I think it could be really great.

No devlog.
FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

A pretty simple game with a puzzle mechanic that's been used quite a bit in games before, used here to tell the main story.

I didn't really feel the theme was reflected very much in the gameplay nor what I played of the story, and I felt the dialogue spent too long basically just saying it doesn't like humans.
I think the game works best as an endless puzzle stream rather than story-based, so I was happy that was included, as the main reason to play then becomes trying to get the best score. Menu and GUI graphics are cute, but I wish the gameplay and font fit the DOS-ish theme a bit better.

Devlog is great and gives a really good sense of the successes, challenges, as well as some technical detail. Some others came very close to being the best devlog, but this one nailed it in my opinion.
Shibboleth by FrostyCat

This game could probably work as a mobile game quite well (no negative connotations intended), and the design of the UI on the left almost makes it look like that was intended.

Other than being inspired by Minesweeper, I'm not sure whether this puzzle mechanic is a clone of anything, but if not praise has to be given for coming up with a puzzle mechanic good enough to drive the entire game.
This genre isn't really me, so I didn't play a lot, but it certainly seemed like it had potential to become a very satisfying and challenging entry into the puzzle game field.

Unfortunate to see no tutorial and no devlog. I see there's a readme, but I haven't read a readme in years, and would much rather see learning the game be part of the game. If not, there could at least be a help button in the game pointing to the readme file.
Homebound by The M

This isn't a very original concept, but it works just fine and there are aspects I find pleasing.

The 'going to sleep' and control dynamically changing is cool, but the downside is if you die regularly it can be hard to remember in combat which one you currently are. I love the camera snapping between the rooms, and some of the neat little animations - presentation is quite good.

Lost interest before completing though, so if the theme came out any further at the end I didn't get to see it. The game seems probably beatable by just holding left-click and hovering over enemies, even if there are upgrades to help and make it more strategic.

Devlog is good, but there's no sense of how long things took without timestamps, and I would have enjoyed further technical details about how certain aspects were accomplished.
arbitrary by Feather Dreams

I wanted to like this quite a bit more than I did. The music sets a great atmosphere (initially at least, then it becomes something else...), and whilst it's quite basic, it feels polished. The subtle animation of the guard, the pacing of the text, the font, graphics, sound the text makes (including when the player types) are all noticed.

Unfortunately I'm not clear on what the game is supposed to be - I thought I understood, but I kept getting unlawful answers, even when answering yes or no to a yes/no question.
A tutorial on what I'm supposed to be doing might have helped, or hints somehow, but maybe the idea is that the acceptable answers are totally 'arbitrary' and only the developer knows... if that is it, that's not particularly interesting to me.
There's also no way to bring up any sort of GUI - perhaps that's just the vibe, but I prefer a way to quit the game than Alt+F4, for instance.

The theme use is okay I suppose, but the game certainly could have been better if it was further expanded in its scope and explained better.
The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

This game is not even remotely entertaining to play, but what it is is a short and funny meme.

I didn't find the art to be the most impressive nor polished, but this is a very funny if silly usage of the theme, and my favourite part was definitely 'dontyoudaredeleteme'.
Not really a lot more to say about the game, but deserving of best use of theme given how unique and well-played the idea was.

The devlog reveals details into how the animation was put together, as well as learnings whilst working on the game such as the online scoreboard and keyboard input - enjoyed reading it.
Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

I do enjoy some meta humor, and while I got a laugh from this game, it very much felt like the dev either gave up or ran out of time after executing the original concept. Took around a minute or two to escape.

The concept of the orb leading you in the dark was actually quite cool! But the only usage for it in what was made for the game was seeing where walls are... which... is the exact same thing as just having the lights on except it's in a small circle. I was excited to see how it developed to make better use of the idea, but then it didn't.

Good presentation, looks nice, good use of sound effects, fantastic music, and overall a silly little thing that wasn't particularly interesting for what it ended up being.

No devlog.
Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

This game is incredibly simplistic and not particularly polished - even just from the beginning, I despise the logo and the way the controls are written very poorly (at least for someone with no concept of what the game will be). During gameplay, it takes too long to get going again when you die.
It was mentioned that the theme would be revealed at the end but I didn't get that far, and in any case would have liked it to be integrated into the gameplay.

As a gameplay mechanic, it's been done before for sure, but I did love how (whether intentional or not) the focus seemed to be more on using rotation to navigate the world, rather than solving a puzzle through rotation. Rotating whilst in the air felt really cool the first few times - as though I was pulling off some Elasto Mania stunts. If the whole game was built around that, and more polished, it could be really good.

No devlog.
Growing up by Mercerenies

I want to like this more... It feels like effort has been put into the game, the devlog, the dialogue, building a robust scalable system for dialogue, etc.

But, I just didn't like the art at all and the face and how it's on everyone is honestly almost nightmare fuel. The story does follow the theme, but nothing compelled me about it at all, and I just wanted it to be over.

The only aspects I enjoyed really were those that set it apart from generic visual novel territory - the gauge for being nice to people, trying to navigate around situations to reach a certain ending. In that sense, it's similar to @Pinkuchu's idea, just more thorough and... actually complete.

Devlog is quite comprehensive, and I enjoyed reading it.
ReStory by IRON Games

Gameplay-wise, this is a rather straightforward platformer, with a few extra things seen before such as gravity reverse and freeze time.
Art is reasonably good, particularly the cutscenes, and it successfully conveys the eerie gothic vibe. I love the spray bottle.

Unfortunately nothing enthused me about the gameplay enough for me to complete the story, so I didn't get much a sense of how the theme was utilized. I encountered a few bugs such as:
) pausing the game and un-pausing causing the player to lock movement until you jump
) pausing time and then falling to your death doesn't cause you to die
) there's a specific platform somewhere that I just go straight through and can't land on

Devlog is okay - could have been expanded quite a bit.
Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

This game feels quite good to play in terms of the AI and the UI working successfully as intended. I'm not personally big on RTS games, but the fact that it felt like an RTS game is definitely a compliment.
Unique setting of bugs and plants - would be cool to see developed further and with more story.

I really don't see the usage of the theme at all, and there's no easing into the game with a tutorial - the tutorial is just 'do this and this and this'. I also got thrown straight back to the main menu after failing the first actual level.

The devlog is okay, but would have loved to hear more about issues, learnings, and particular hurdles, etc. It's largely 'did x today'.
Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

Interesting take on general knowledge trivia - I think it could be more interesting to see it developed further, as it's very basic here (lose hearts if incorrect, gain points and remove enemy hp if correct).
Seeing better integration with the gameplay and better usage of the video game medium could make for an interesting game, but general knowledge as a topic doesn't fit the theme of the game to me, both in terms of the presentation and the game jam theme.

Presentation isn't bad though, there's some alright art and I like the option of both KB or mouse.

No devlog.
Master Key by Poizen

It feels very satisfying the first time using the laser beam and seeing it erase parts of the world and having collisions with the player still work correctly, etc. But, that mechanic doesn't seem to be used much in any way other than to remove an entire wall - I would have preferred it be better used as a puzzle mechanic.

Movement feels quite sluggish and clunky, the theme feels quite lazily inserted, and whilst the laser beams look nice, the art is quite simple and dull. Encountered an error several times relating to obj_coll_polygon.

Devlog goes into some good detail, but I would have liked more about plans for what's next, learnings, and potentially more technical detail.
Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

Relatively generic platformer, which I didn't complete - just got up to finding CRT and the next level looked like more of 'find 5 of x then get to end'. I struggle to see how it relates to the theme from what I played.

The gameplay doesn't feel very polished, and everything feels just slightly off - the way the character moves, the way the mouse movement is clamped to the radius, the way the jetpack fuel goes down too quickly, the bullets don't go quite far enough, the jump is slightly too high, etc.
The art is kinda cool, particularly the tree dinosaur things, but then other aspects such as the HUD are quite bland.

No devlog.
Scraps by Terminator_Pony

This has a really unique artstyle, and whilst it seems the original intention was to render 3D in Game Maker, I think using screenshots like this works better to invoke the nostalgic feel of older point-and-click puzzle titles from the 90s.

With that said, there's not much puzzle here - everything in the house can be reached from just a few clicks and it's quick to get bearings in the house. What you're solving exactly isn't clear, and I didn't get a strong sense of the theme.
I'd be interested to see this gelled with a more thorough story as I did like some other aspects such as dragging broken paper and fridge magnets around, but currently the game is quite unsubstational.

Devlog includes some nice tidbits into how development went, but I would have liked more technical detail susch as how things were rendered, how the fridge magnets were added, the story, etc.
The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

Short little game telling a quite predictable message. The art style fits the story very well, but it's not particularly visually appealing nor polished. Gameplay isn't very compelling, and the use of the theme is apparent but didn't inform the gameplay at all.

Okay for what it is.

No devlog.
You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

Interesting idea for a game, but definitely grew old fast. Being involved in torture isn't particularly appealing, and there was no gameplay mechanic or story to keep me amused (other than the Nickelback thing the first few times).
Minigames were basic, and the person never resists either, it's just torture, answer, torture, answer, over and over.

I suppose the theme is there, and the game looked and sounded okay, but I wouldn't play it again unless there was much more compelling gameplay or story.

No devlog.
shadow hall by the friendly potato

The theme is certainly there with this game, but it doesn't inform the gameplay, and the game isn't much polished.
The pixel art is quite nice looking, but there's no sound and the text boxes feel quite out of place and overlapping (particularly the three right at the start). Story is unfinished.

Not much more than a generic platformer currently.

No devlog.
Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

This game is okay, in that the art is alright and the gameplay is... fine. Nothing particularly made me want to do one move or one jump over another. I very quickly figured out that if you hold the opposite direction whilst in the air you'll instantly go that way after landing - as a result I mostly just went over the same jump left and right doing the same move to rack up points.

There's no points for doing flips (up/down arrows), I found the music to be very obnoxious, and the use of the theme is barely there to me - I think it's supposed to be 'only Tony knows how good you are', but I can see my score...

It's a cool little experimental thing, but there's nothing particularly compelling at this stage.

No devlog.
Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

I didn't get to finish this one, as I wasn't invested enough to keep trying and listening to the same dialogue over and over. I found that I kept landing on vacuums that I couldn't see as it was outside of the camera's view when I jumped.

The theme is used, but it doesn't seem to have informed gameplay very much. The message the villain gives seems to be based on the furthest point the player has reached, rather than what actually happened. For example, get a fair way through the level and die and it'll say "ah, that was a vacuum". Then immediately die at the first gap, and he'll just say it was a vacuum again.

If this is a first, second or even third attempt at making a game, it's a really good effort, and same for the pixel art, but at the moment as a game there's nothing to make me think much beyond "it's fine I guess".

Devlog is quite good, but some more detail and technical info would've been nice - I got a good idea of how the dev was feeling and what they were working on at what time.
The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

I wish I could like this more, but I didn't find it very enjoyable as is, and didn't end up finishing - I had a more enjoyable experience reading the devlog personally.

For the gameplay, there's some weird things like being put in random spots or going opposite directions when changing rooms, having 'z' in the top left rather than floating over characters, etc. I saw the 'hidden' letters very quickly and figured out the word well before even getting the banana thing, but then there was no feedback or indication that I'd guessed correctly when I typed it at the rocket.
The thing I liked most was the space puzzles seem to be designed around the player rotating - you have to wait to go through at the right angle or you won't fit, which felt satisfying to pull off.

Other than that, I found the gameplay and story quite boring and unpolished. I have a feeling the theme may have come out at the end, but it was a bit too much of a chore to get there for me. If the dev is not very experienced then it's really not bad effort at all, but it's not a great game.

Devlog is quite good - would have liked to see timestamps, but there was a good amount of technical info, as well as learnings and feelings about the project.
It knows by woodsmoke

Simple little game that works but doesn't feel very polished... If it was indeed only completed in 4 hours, I can understand that.

It seems there's music for when you win, but then it just keeps going on the next round, so maybe it's actually gameplay music that only starts after your first round. Couldn't comprehend how the AI was working - I understand why it shouldn't go straight for the flag but it seemed to just pick a random direction for a bit and then eventually go straight for it (that's not what I'd do if I knew where the flag was from the start).

The game accomplishes what it wanted to just fine, but it didn't set out to do very much. Art, gameplay, even devlog are all just quite basic.
Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

This game is just fine for what it is, but neither the gameplay, plot, nor statement on smart speakers were very compelling or deep for me.

I found the art, dialogue and clues quite bland as well. My experience was mostly like a visual novel - sat through the dialogue until it ended. Wasn't much more to it. No sound present, and the theme is there but a very 'easy' usage of it I suppose.

No devlog.
Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

Not a particularly great idea for a game. I liked the slime animation, and the presentation was okay, but the gameplay is so unsubstantial and short - find the thing with particles then find the thing that shakes; that's it.

Finished in a minute or so, not a lot to it.

Devlog is there but it's not much.
It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

This game felt like a chore unfortunately.

Right off the bat, the controls feel more complicated than they should - without any context I have three separate buttons related to opening/closing/entering/exiting/searching lockers. Movement is far too slippery in gameplay, and I keep getting stuck on walls.
I can't see any indication as to when to hide from the monster, so it's mostly guesswork I suppose. There's nothing in most of the lockers so I couldn't be bothered finding which specific one presumably had the key with how hard the movement and opening lockers is.

I do like the sounds and animation when you die, but the gameplay is quite poor and the usage of theme isn't really there as I don't think the monster knows where you are or where the key is or anything.

No devlog.
Temple of Truth by Bart

This game feels quite unpolished to me - not much to the artwork, 8-bit sound effects clash with the background music and art style, movement isn't very polished, spiky enemies don't see to do anything if you land on them, dialogue frequently goes off screen, and Onio doesn't seem to follow me very well.

Controls aren't made clear within the game (eg double-tap to dash). I liked stacking the spikes, but other than that there was nothing interesting to the gameplay for me. Usage of theme felt cheesy.

Devlog is quite comprehensive.
Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

I can't rank this very highly given it's clearly in-progress, the presentation isn't much, use of the theme is very unoriginal, etc.

However, I do think that if done well, this could be a unique take on the genre, as the happiness system (whilst currently very shallow) stood out to me as having potential. I love that what you ask and in what order affects how they treat you, rather than just having answers tied to questions.

No devlog.
Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

Really didn't get this game for a while - it's not clear what you're to do or whether there's a trick to it. Playing it a second time, I see what it's supposed to be, but having a game based around guessing and insta-losing if you're wrong is very boring to me.

Could be interesting to develop further if there was more actual gameplay-based ways of figuring out who's who, having to escape, evade, wait, etc. Pixel art is great, and the music is fitting but annoying, but other aspects of presentation are poor, for example:
) the gun just kinda sits there and rotates
) the menu looks very generic
) the font in the game doesn't fit the rest of the art at all

No devlog.
Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

Wayyy too much text at the start to bother reading - if I had, I would have spent more time reading than playing (if I didn't spend such a long time figuring out how to get up from the bottom, that is).
Not sure if having to jump whilst in the belt was intentional (not what I took 'jump-thru' to mean on instructions), or whether the height of the boxes just isn't tall enough, but that took a long time to figure out. After that, just jump up a few levels and done.

I love how much character there is in such a small character sprite, and the little walking sound effect. Running and jumping does feel polished I suppose, but that's about all I can say that's positive.

Nothing in the gameplay about the theme, and nothing to make it stand out really.

Devlog exists, but only two short posts.
Elementary by Sirham

The concept fits the theme, but isn't unique or interesting at all. Not clear what you're to do other than click on absolutely everything, and when that's done, it's not obvious as to what is helping you solve the crime... most textboxes are just 'this is a draw' or 'it's a water cooler'.

Perhaps I just didn't understand, but I found this quite poor, although one small thing I love is how the pipe comes out if you stand still.

Great to see a devlog, but it's not very focused on the game or why certain ideas were picked, what's coming along well, what isn't, etc.
Doggys Garden by klys

This just feels like an experiment making 3D in Game Maker, rather than a game. I applaud the effort, but the game isn't fun, engaging or related to the theme in anyway.

Coins clip through walls, you can't look down far enough to be able to aim at platforms, controls are imprecise...

Devlog isn't what I'd call a devlog.
RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

This feels like an experiment making a level editor in Game Maker, rather than a game. I commend that if it's a first effort, but it certainly isn't very good at all.

Outside of the giant wall of text at the start in the help section, art isn't very good or polished, the walking animation can stop with legs open, the cursor doesn't seem aligned to the GUI properly, the control scheme is too much... Just all seems quite pointless to me, and there's no gameplay here. Don't see how the theme relates at all.

No devlog.
Jam 37 by Cat

This just feels like an experiment cloning Pong. Okay if it's indeed made in a few hours, and great job if this is a first game.

Currently, there's no relationship to the theme that I can tell, no sound, no art really, no devlog...
The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

I do not understand this game at all. You click things that you can only see if you hover over them, which appears to affect the stats in some arbitrary way, and... that's it?

I don't see the relationship to the theme other than the title, and there doesn't seem to be a goal - it just kept going for me. Art isn't very good, no sound.

No devlog.

Where? by deepfry3

This is my own game, so I cannot rank it, but having played it again post-jam, I think it fares okay in terms of art, polish, and the fact that the gameplay mechanic is based on the theme.
But, I do regret a few things such as:
) AI is borked and unfinished, so the player can mostly just go down to the bottom right and kill the monster straight away
) It's still relatively easy to see where you are by firing
) Both Enter and Space are the 'action' key, used not only for shooting but for selecting menu options.
Decisions by Pinkuchu

This is @Pinkuchu's game, so I'd feel biased to rank it. But having played it again post-jam, I think it was an okay concept, and some of the art turned out pretty good. Unfortunately it's not finished and most dialogue paths just go to black, and there's some other issues like collisions on the walls.
Detective Ghost by d4 Studios

Late entry, so unfair to rank this one, but I still found it not very good...
I keep getting stuck on the walls, the key at the start couldn't keep up with my cursor, I got stuck at the 'enter code' section, because I found the scroll which I presume contains the code but then nothing happened...

I didn't really see the usage of the theme unless the 'ghost' was supposed to be it, but nothing ever eventuated with it from what I was able to play.

Wanted to see the ending, but couldn't unfortunately.
Unlawful Blobs by Bansai

Late entry, and an installer.
Agent37 by Nut4985

Installer.
Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

I struggled to decide if it was fair to rank this one - it's clear effort was put in, with the logo at the start, the art in the game, the movement, the UI... But the game just crashes with an error as soon as you give the stick to the thing at the bottom.
With this, I'd be forced to rank it the lowest, but with how everything looks prior to that, I really don't feel like I've seen enough of the game to be able to judge it fairly. Sorry!
 
Last edited:
alright, here are my top 10/reviews of each game. just as a foreword, some of my comments might be mean. I've tried to be as honest as possible and know that i mean no ill will toward you as a creator. I greatly enjoyed playing all of these games and it was a blast to share them with my friends as we went through everyone's. Also i hate reading in games. As a personal gripe there's a million ways to get information across without paragraphs of text. if you included a lengthy bit of dialogue/embellishment in your game chances are i didn't read it. I'm not sorry.



Reviews

Top 3:

Doggys Garden by klys
wow! one of the best one's here! loved the ps1 nostalgia combined with some great music, a very relaxing time! alot of the games in this jam try really hard and fall really short. Doggy's garden is effortless and a joy to play.

A Night Flight by VinylFly
Reminds me of 3-d world runner. fantastic! Absolutely the best game of the lot. wasnt overly wordy or up it's own ass it was just a fantastic little story with great art, fantastic music and a touching ending.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
Great concept. little annoying. cool though.

Best ofs:

Best use of : ...
Best Concept: Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
Best Presentation: A Night Flight by VinylFly
Best Story: A Night Flight by VinylFly
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. Doggys Garden by klys
  2. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  3. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  4. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  5. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  6. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  7. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  8. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  9. Homebound by The M
  10. ReStory by IRON Games
  11. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  12. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  13. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  14. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  15. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  16. Master Key by Poizen
  17. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  18. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  19. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  20. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  21. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  22. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  23. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  24. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  25. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  26. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  27. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  28. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  29. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  30. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  31. It knows by woodsmoke
  32. Where by deepfry3
  33. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  34. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  35. Temple of Truth by Bart
  36. Crash FM by kyon
  37. Growing up by Mercerenies
  38. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  39. Elementary by Sirham
  40. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  41. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  42. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  43. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  44. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  45. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  46. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  47. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  48. Jam 37 by Cat


this was my top 11, everything else i left a comment but cant possibly rank them all. maybe at some point.
EDIT - i did it


Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

Reminds me of 3-d world runner. fantastic! Absolutely the best game of the lot. wasnt overly wordy or up it's own ass it was just a fantastic little story with great art, fantastic music and a touching ending.

Agent37 by Nut4985

dont want to install anything.

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

Great concept, really liked the begining! then the music changed to soemthing not fitting and it became annoying so i quit. not really sure if the game was supposed to punish for the right answer or what?

Crash FM by kyon

This game was annoying and it hurts my eyes and ears.

Decisions by Pinkuchu

I think the game broke for me when i told off my mom. also weird decsions with the maze sections, not sure they were needed.

Doggys Garden by klys

wow! one of the best one's here! loved the ps1 nostalgia combined with some great music, a very relaxing time! alot of the games in this jam try really hard and fall really short. Doggy's garden is effortless and a joy to play.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

ALOT of text in the begining that im not going to read. neat little game though!

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

Very jarring quality between different graphics. also very confusing.

Elementary by Sirham

Another long winded mystery game. it's mechanics are pretty standard for something like this. i am expected to read too much.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

Great concept! fun game especially to play with friends. would love to see this expanded a bit more. also my one suggestion would be to add more gamer trivia, play to your audience!

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

Didnt really enjoy the humor, dont really like hacking mini games.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

Don't really like these kinds of games, find them very boring. Eh. it's fine i guess.

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

it was fine. nice compact levels made for a digestible experience. great chicken.

Homebound by The M

This game had a lot of potential but fell kind of short for me. it didnt have a lot of energy to keep things going. I think some sharper sound effects, faster paced music and quicker movement could have brought this up alot more.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

Confusing controls, placeholder text? not really sure what to think couldnt really play it.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

A horror game! love horor! alright a few pointers - dont make the monster faster than the character. or if you do give the character some type of bursted sprint. getting away in the game is near impossible. whats going on with the movement? it feels like im a forklift driving on ice. need something a little tighter than that. Also need some feedback, visual or audio for searching an empty locker. not sure if it was actually working or not.

It knows by woodsmoke

Not really sure how you're supposed to "win" this one. not a whole lot here either.

Jam 37 by Cat

its pong.

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

sounds great, looks good. solid gameplay, could be expanded into something more.

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

looked good, sounded great. wasnt really a game? didnt really read any of it. really wordy.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple

Great presentation and energy. too frustrating though.

Master Key by Poizen

Frustratingly slow. kind of boring but a neat idea with the laser.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

too wordy. like a nice point and click though.

ReStory by IRON Games

this game was alright, very standard platformer. weird camera, unsatifying jump. really great illustrations though! that was the highlight.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

great concept, i think it could use a lot of work. It's called "RPG" editor but theres no rpg elements.

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

confusing to start but i actually really liked it in the end. i didnt realize you could leave the table. big fan of myst.

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

The game crashed and gave me a run time error when i gave a stick to the spirit.

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

some type of instructions would have been nice. looked nice though.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

i liked the slime. good concept too. short and sweet and not too heavy on words.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

got stuck on the tutorial, couldnt firgure out how to drop the item.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

a clear winner if there ever was one. very suprised this was all done over the weekend. a little too long.

Temple of Truth by Bart

a platformer with a lot of front loaded reading. movement didnt feel very good and the rest of the game suffered becuase of it.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Great concept. little annoying. cool though.

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

A very confusing game. but i like it's heart.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

this was an attempt at art. it was alright. easy in the begining and way hard at the end. fair shot.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

???????????

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

Neat concept. lot of reading with auto scrolling text boxes for some reason. no checkpoints is frustrating.

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

I think i was playing someone's fetish? not really sure what was going on there. it was alright though. very long winded.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

this was a fine game, looks good, sounds good, alright concept. little confusing over exactly what the "game" is but i can respect it.

Where by deepfry3

no sound wasnt great, also very easy? just scroll down and shoot. neat style though.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

don't know how to play clue, dont really feel like figuring it out. Don't really like the humor either. like the bort though.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

This one had some neat graphics and an interesting concept but needed a bit more meat to make a meal.


Hello again! I'm back with more comments for the games that would'nt run through the runner. This should be everything now, if i didnt get your game or leave a comment please pm me or tag me in the other thread and i'll give a small bit of feedback! hope atleast some of this is useful to you!

the box of schrodinger:

not really sure what the "game" was here... read some text and clicked a button four times before the game just sort of stopped. Not sure how i would expand on this considering im a little unsure of how the premise can be turned into a game other than opening the box and finding out if you hit the cat


Growing up:

playing this game was like having a fever dream that wouldnt stop. As i mentioned above I don't like overbearing text in games - so a visual novel is generally not in my wheel house. even the more "game-y" bits involved reading and typing. I didnt get to the end, im sorry but i just couldnt do it.


Mr. Zoomies escape:

a pretty basic platformer with mandatory reading everytime you die. i couldnt think of a worse punishment. More seriosuly though, the humor was alright, please make text skippable, and iron out those collisions. trying to traverse stairs was like trying to climb up hot tar.


Overdue:

Hey this game was pretty fun! like the energy, looks good, sounds good, decent gameplay. at some point i figured out the enemies just pretty much werent a threat to you if you kept moving, then i got a fatal run time error so i stopped. neat though


You Will Talk:

A series of dexterity mini games. it's alright. premise of torturing someone is a little tone deaf with everything going on in the world.


Shadow Hall:

a very frustrating platformer. good concept, neat graphics, some sound would have really elevated this entry for me. doesnt take many risks but It wasnt so bad! probably one of the better entries here


Balls to the Wall:

Definitely one of the best looking and sounding games here. it has a coherent style that isnt annoying or grating so kudos for that. good vision. unfortunately i hate smash bros. and there isnt a lot here to make it all that fun. I understand this is a jam game and none of the games have a lot of meat - but smash bros wouldnt be very fun if there was only one character - it's that variation that makes the otherwise basic system so fun.
 
Last edited:
P

Pinkuchu

Guest
Here are my votes - I didn't get to comment on everyone's, I'm sorry.

Disclaimer: Deepfry3 and I worked together on our votes so they may be similar.

I did not review the below:
Agent37 by Nut4985 - the game was an installer which was against the rules
Shadow Realm - the game crashes as soon as you click to hand over the stick. I will say that the art is very nice and I would have liked to play the game.

Reviews

Top 3:

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
A great complete platformer game with nice sound and art. Didn't get a heavy sense of how it related to the theme, but the story hinted to it.
Thought there were a couple of things that could be improved upon - the jump animation for example. It looked a little like a pogo stick - which was funny whether intentional or not. Overall, nice and polished and really liked the pixel art. No devlog, which is disappointing.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
Did not get through the whole game - I'm not very good at platformers and this was a little difficult for me to play. Art was really good and unique and gameplay felt polished. Liked how the theme was integrated into the gameplay - its good to see people putting in effort to think outside the box.
Did find it difficult to keep up with the huge amount of information at the start of the game - too many controls to remember right of the bat. Would be nice to ease the player into the controls if possible.

Devlog was good to see, would have liked some more detail.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
This game rated high for me due mostly to the presentation (art, sound and animations). I found the art really cute and nice to see high resolution instead of pixel art like most games.
Really liked the personality of the peanut/potato? It gives the game an enjoyable feel.
The gameplay for me, though cute and humorous, was a little bland and not really an original idea. Would have liked the theme used in a more clever way.
Not much of a devlog to assess.

Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
Best Concept: Crash FM by kyon
Best Presentation: Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
Best Devlog: FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

Full ranking:

  1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  2. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  3. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  4. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  5. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  6. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  7. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  8. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  9. Crash FM by kyon
  10. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  11. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  12. Homebound by The M
  13. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  14. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  15. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  16. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  17. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  18. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  19. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  20. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  21. ReStory by IRON Games
  22. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  23. Master Key by Poizen
  24. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  25. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  26. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  27. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  28. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  29. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  30. Where by deepfry3
  31. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  32. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  33. Growing up by Mercerenies
  34. It knows by woodsmoke
  35. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  36. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  37. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  38. Temple of Truth by Bart
  39. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  40. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  41. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  42. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  43. Elementary by Sirham
  44. Doggys Garden by klys
  45. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  46. Jam 37 by Cat
  47. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

Comments:

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Though this game does not have the theme integrated into it's gameplay, I found this to be the best "finished" game with a full set of options and levels etc. The gameplay was really polished and clean, the sounds was really good and the art was charming. I was impressed with the AI and the fact that there were difficulties programmed in.
The concept wasn't very unique - though I don't think it was trying to be.
Nice to see a devlog, but would have preferred more technical details on how things were achieved / what didn't work etc.
Really nicely rounded end product.


Crash FM by kyon

The concept of this game is really cool and unique. I could see it developing futher into similar puzzles.
Not huge on the art - though I understand that art isn't everyone's forte.
I didn't really like the story - and I personally found the voice-over to be a little distracting.
Great use of the theme.
Sad to see no devlog.

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

Off the bat, this game feels like it has had a LOT of effort put into it - mostly in ways of the sound design, UI/HUD and mechanics/movement. It was a satisying game to play/watch.
I don't really see the theme - it felt a bit lazy in that respect. There were things that weren't perfect, there didn't feel like there was much prgression in the game - it didn't get much harder and therefore there wasn't much of a payoff to keep playing.
Liked to see the devlog - though would have been nice to see some detail about the technical struggles as well as the struggle to fit the theme.


Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

Did not get through the whole game - I'm not very good at platformers and this was a little difficult for me to play. Art was really good and unique and gameplay felt polished. Liked how the theme was integrated into the gameplay - its good to see people putting in effort to think outside the box.
Did find it difficult to keep up with the huge amount of information at the start of the game - too many controls to remember right of the bat. Would be nice to ease the player into the controls if possible.

Devlog was good to see, would have liked some more detail.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

A great complete platformer game with nice sound and art. Didn't get a heavy sense of how it related to the theme, but the story hinted to it.
Thought there were a couple of things that could be improved upon - the jump animation for example. It looked a little like a pogo stick - which was funny whether intentional or not. Overall, nice and polished and really liked the pixel art. No devlog, which is disappointing.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Love the cat eyes at the start. This game felt like there was a lot of effort put into the gameplay - I liked the idea of the eye revealing hidden enemies etc. The art felt nice and simple, but cute.
There wasn't much in the way of sound design, but appreciated the heartbeat getting faster as you got closer to being discovered.
Good story idea, though I felt a little let down by the end - wanted a little more out of it.
Sad that there was no devlog.


They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

I'll be honest and say I didn't get through much. Did not understand how to escape the monster... maybe I'm just dumb.
Art is simple but I guess fits the style the dev is going for. The rope in the UI is really cool how it animates.
Not really sure how the theme is used - but I guess I didn't get very far to see.
Good devlog. Would love to see this game developed further as the vibe and concept was cool.


What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

Really nice looking and sounding game. particularly the song was cool, with little 'yip yips' in the music. Thought the art and animation was cute and clean. Cool AI for the dog.
The game isn't much of a game though, other than an endless loop of following the dog and picking up poop and coins etc. Would be nice to have challenges etc.
Would be nice to slowly introduce the controls through gameplay instead of a dump of information at the start.
Devlog is a little bare - would be nice to see some more progression.


Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

This game rated high for me due mostly to the presentation (art, sound and animations). I found the art really cute and nice to see high resolution instead of pixel art like most games.
Really liked the personality of the peanut/potato? It gives the game an enjoyable feel.
The gameplay for me, though cute and humorous, was a little bland and not really an original idea. Would have liked the theme used in a more clever way.
Not much of a devlog to assess.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

Liked the unique art and concept. It felt well polished for a "stripped down" version of a game made in a couple days.
The use of theme was alright - I'm amusing the whole "the enemies have an ability and you don't" idea. Didn't feel anything compelling me to keep playing though.
Would love to see a more developed version of this game.
Basic devlog, would have liked to see more.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow, that was something.
Reviews

Top 3:

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Wow. Ok, best game by far for now.
Felt a lot like Katana Zero with the screen and complex.

Agent37 by Nut4985
Wow, Really like this two phases game. Very original. Not good looking, but I would play a polished version of this game.
Story wise / mechanics tutorial was missing. But otherwise great.
I did 4/5 levels and really enjoyed it.

Oh, it was a file to install. I didn't like this.


A Night Flight by VinylFly
Wow, short, nice and cool. I am quite curious how you code something like this.
I love the effect of the infinite world going forward.

Best ofs:

Best use of : System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Best Concept: Agent37 by Nut4985
Best Presentation: A Night Flight by VinylFly
Best Story: Crash FM by kyon
Best Devlog: Killer Shark 77 by Yal

Full ranking:

  1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  2. Agent37 by Nut4985
  3. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  4. Crash FM by kyon
  5. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  6. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  7. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  8. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  9. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  10. Master Key by Poizen
  11. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  12. Homebound by The M
  13. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  14. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  15. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  16. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  17. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  18. It knows by woodsmoke
  19. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  20. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  21. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  22. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  23. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  24. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  25. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  26. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  27. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  28. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  29. Growing up by Mercerenies
  30. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  31. ReStory by IRON Games
  32. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  33. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  34. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  35. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  36. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  37. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  38. Where by deepfry3
  39. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  40. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  41. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  42. Elementary by Sirham
  43. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  44. Temple of Truth by Bart
  45. Doggys Garden by klys
  46. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  47. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  48. Jam 37 by Cat
  49. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

Wow, short, nice and cool.
I love the effect of the infinite world going forward.

Agent37 by Nut4985

Wow, Really like this two phases game.
Story-wise / mechanics tutorial was missing. But otherwise great.
I did 4/5 levels and really enjoyed it.

Oh, it was a file to install. I didn't like this.


Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Nice game. Fun to kick out some green ball.
Not sure what is the link with the theme.

Crash FM by kyon

Solid. A full game. The only one I will show to my gf.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

You Are Rich !!!
Very funny and good game. Nice music on the back. The bullet looks a bit weird, because of asset being different with other part of the game.

I get cop to appear on me once, as I was shooting a fake client. So get trouble.
Otherwise, very cool game. I like the idea. thanks.

Elementary by Sirham

Not very clear how to play. I am not sure what I try to resolve. Didn't succeed to feel concern.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

Final score: 8950 !!!
I don't like Trivium but this one was nice.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

Haha, only rts here. Very well done and polished. I am quite impressed by the shadow of the "defence tower".
The mechanics are well polished, so it gives a good feel.
After the tutorial, it feels like many waves until you die.

Wishlist for this game: A fullscreen mode, so I can see more. And then either using WASD to move around on the map either the detection of the mouse against the side to be broader, so we can easily look around.

Growing up by Mercerenies

Not sure what is the link with the theme. It seems a complete game with a lot of content.
Didn't like the typing part with mini-game of word going down, felt like work plus it was slow. Not interested at all to do this, so stop to play in the second one.

Homebound by The M

Very nice graphics and game. I get block when it was possible to visit level 2 and 3. Didn't find where to go.
The beginning without the laser felt harder than when we get the laser later with the upgrade. So, maybe there is a need for balancing.

Nice to have different kind and size of the enemy. the heart on the ground doesn't feel like the game, a medikit would be better and maybe felt nicer for the look.
Thanks for making this game.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

A bit lost. Looks like complex with nice graphic but I didn't get much of it.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

Good respect. I don't like stealth and horror game. So, not really excited by this game.
I did three runs and stop. Don't like being killed like this...
Would be great to see dead body permanent between two runs.


It knows by woodsmoke

Interesting concept. Too bad we have the same speed as the 'monster'. a 2d race with only the enemy that knows where is the flag.


Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

haha, cute characters and nice storytelling. It's short but the graphism is cool. I like how we switch from the small bubble view to the one with the torch.


Listen to Me by AJTheApple

too hard... I didn't pass the second level with more than 20 trial. Maybe missing something. Seems promising.


Master Key by Poizen

Nice gameplay with the red and blue laser. Gives an interesting situation.
I guess the laser could make a very nice puzzle or complex situation. A cool mechanics for sure.


Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

Interesting game - first I review.
Too bad when moving down in the first level, it's impossible to come back on higher platform.


Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

Interesting game. The clue summary was kind of too easy.
When picking who did the murder, I was not sure who was who. It would have been great to have the name of each on top of them.
Also, some sounds would have been great. Maybe my favourite detective game.


Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

Nice music.
Regarding level design, it's not very clear what platform we can or cannot access and often it's done at very little difference with the use of power. It's quite frustrating. Mechanics is well done but not so fun to play in term of 'energy management.


ReStory by IRON Games

Nice beginning. Very hard to play and to manage all enemies.


RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

Didn't run. There is a link to GMC. Didn't succeed to play anything.


Scraps by Terminator_Pony

blocked on the first book page. Not clear what to do. I did click everywhere with left click and not much happen. Also tried holding / pressing but not much happen.


shadow hall by the friendly potato

NICE sprite and atmosphere.


Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

The letter that disappears as we use them is great.
The character didn't move out of the map when going up and altar didn't activate. I am not sure what i missed.
The graphics are nice.


Shibboleth by FrostyCat

Nice sprite, art game.
Am not sure why the rules are in the readme. Very well polished and put together. I liked it.


Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

Seems nice but I never succeed to pass the first level. A lot too hard to play for me.
There are also too many keys to remember at the beginning. Maybe you can remind them when taking an object or saving checkpoint.



System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

Wow. Ok, best game by far for now.
Felt like katana zero with the screen and complex.


Temple of Truth by Bart

didn't succeed to do much, not sure why.


The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

Nice, I cannot restart the game and everybody sees that everybody put 4 knives! That's an interesting experiment.


The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Wow, very nice game and concept.
The art is very well polished.


The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

Ok, there 5 letters hidden. Maybe more - AKQUC ?
How do we know if we are typing or interacting. Hard to say.


The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

Very well made. Usually not a fan of letter game but it does the job. The atmosphere is great.


They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

Wow nice environment story. Much more pixelated than some other game.
Also, quite hard. did about 10 runs but discover about 3 computers underwater.


Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

Haha, quite fun. Too bad doing a frontflip or backflip doesn't do any point as it's the most fun.


TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

Very funny joke on the fourth wall and with what is around the player. Very different from the bear civilization!


What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

Very nice play and feel. Not sure what to do with the poo. A lot of it never really reached the dustbin when throwing it.


Where by deepfry3

Simple game. Do the work. It's a bit weird not to know where you are.


Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

Very well done game. Nice to play and replay.
Less fan of the atmosphere compared to the top 5 game.


you are my ability by Sheep Wink

Nice ability & mechanics works. Enjoy it.
There is a bug when moving too much to the right, where you get block on the screen.


You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

Wow, a torture game. The guy seems nice and we are playing the bad guy?
Some of the game was way harder than over. I never succeed to push many time the x or z button and the electrical shock. No, i didn't want to make them.
The "how to play" could be skipped after a certain point (or by pressing a key).
 
Last edited:
Okay, phew! That was a lot. Here we go! I've played all of your games! I managed to finish all of them except for the following:
Shadow Realm @BraydeeJohnson (I'm not sure if there is more content, I managed to get all three weapons and now monsters keep spawning)
Detective Ghost @d4 Studios (after grabbing the keys, I can't seem to leave the police station. Are you writing stuff to my computer? my folders are a mess!)

Just so you guys know, I rank your games based on gameplay, immersion, and innovation. If your game lacks story but has a lot good gameplay elements, I won't penalize your game. Not all games needs story. In terms of theme, It's not enough to simply have it in your game. I want to see how well you have incorporated it in the game and how fun the theme played along. Despite that, I will still pick a game with better gameplay but hardly any theme than a game with a theme but worse gameplay.

Also, my laptop is an old 768x1366 resolution with intel pentium ad intel hd graphics only. Some of your games do barely fit my screen. Also, some of your games lag quite a lot and I'm positive there is a way to further optimize. I understand that this is just a game jam so I won't be too critical about it.

My Top 3:

1. They Know How to Love by Lumenflower
This game super immersive (no pun intended)! I'm confused why this is the title of the game (did I miss something?) I don't think I was able to read all the logs. I managed to get to the bottom without having to explore the entire underwater facility. In the beginning, I was just chilling, grabbing all the tubes, and then that mysterious monster came from nowhere. That monster gives me the chills! I absolutely love the tube mechanics. Never did I see anything like it! I like how you have to go to different parts of the underwater facility to get more tubes, how it is not much of a straight path and how it is required to enter different parts of the facility to reach certain areas. The art style was simple yet effective.

2.FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
Despite getting lost in one of the puzzles, I absolutely love it! The voice over element was very effective and it kept me curious what would happen in the end. The puzzles weren't too difficult, though there was that problem with that level where I got stuck in. Thankfully, all it took was to learn a secret mechanic. The subtitles are a bit off and they obscure the directional buttons. I would also suggest making new buttons have a different color to distinguish it from the old and also keep the buttons when the player is solving. Also the previous voice still plays even when you go to the next level. Other than that, I really love all the elements that make up the game!

3.Shibboleth by FrostyCat
Now I think this game isn't for everybody but it certainly is for me! My first impression of this game was it was a turn-based rpg or something. The lack of instructions in-game made me think so. I am aware that you have uploaded a detailed instructions to your game. I was able to figure it out without having to look it up though. The reason why this game did so well for me was the innovation placed into this. This is my favorite puzzle game among all the games here! I see the potential in this game! With a good tutorial, some addicting rewarding system, and a couple of other tweaks to the game, this could be a very nice mobile game! The puzzles really kept me thinking but it didn't spell out impossible. This game is more innovative than minesweeper!

Best of:

Best use of theme: Shibboleth by FrostyCat
They know who the bandits are but you don't! Theme is as clear as day and is embedded right at the heart of the gameplay.

Best Concept: Crash FM by kyon
This game! Wow, best idea of all! super unique and entertaining!

Best Presentation: System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Hands down the most complete looking game. The sprites, partices, lighting, bg, sounds, everything! Amazing work!

Best Story: Crash FM by kyon
I really didn't want to have an entry winning two categories but this game deserves it fair and square. None of the other games was able to make me laugh so hard!

Top 4-10:
4. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
Not knowing that shift was to drop items almost made this game unplayable. Thankfully, I learned. This is the best implemented platformer in this game jam. Love the puzzle mechanics and the map was well implemented! Lumenflower's game did better for me because it was more immersive and more innovative. I'm not saying this game doesn't have innovation, in fact it has a lot! The game is a bit laggy in my computer.

5. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Another great Platformer! Based on the other reviews, your game will most likely win! If you are wondering why I didn't rank this 1st is because I felt like the game was not as innovative as the others. It was also pretty linnear and I had a bit of a hard time playing due to the lag (dumb laptop of mine). I also wasn't very much of a fan with the lights areas. I don't really like being left in the dark. However, the other areas was spot on! Love the lasers, snipe shots, etc. The effects of this game is absolutely stunning and the controls are amazing! I'm pretty sure you added some cayote jump or I'm just dreaming.

6. Crash FM by kyon
The most unique game of all! Very immersive. Loved the start, mid, and ending. Crash the Party song still stuck in my head XD. What the top 5 games did better than this game was gameplay. I still loved every moment of it!

7. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
My only complaint about this game is the lives. For a game jam, or for any game for that matter, you want the player to finish the game. Give them a challenge of course but these challenges is to keep them hooked. The lives mechanism did the opposite. Just remove that and the game is golden! The shift in gravity and the level design is amazing! Despite me dying several times and restarting, I still managed to push through to the last level.

8.Homebound by The M
Had fun from start to finish. Had a lot of fun time shooting. I wish there was a crosshair for instead of a mouse but it didn't really matter too much. The pacing in the game is well implemented.

9. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
Very well implemented classic platformer! Controls are great! Love the boss round but I would suggest showing the red button a bit later for the missiles. I'm usually not ready for the next phase after the missiles. Other than that, this game is really well made!

10.Killer Shark 77 by Yal
The effects were amazing! Slight lag issues with my laptop but nothing too serious. Gameplay was spot on! Going frenzy was so addicting!
Full Rankings (WITH those unplayable):
  1. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  2. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  3. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  4. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  5. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  6. Crash FM by kyon
  7. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoas
  8. Homebound by The M
  9. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  10. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  11. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  12. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  13. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  14. Agent37 by Nut4985
  15. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  16. Master Key by Poizen
  17. ReStory by IRON Games
  18. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  19. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  20. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  21. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  22. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  23. It knows by woodsmoke
  24. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  25. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  26. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  27. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  28. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  29. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  30. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  31. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  32. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  33. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  34. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  35. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  36. Shadow Realm by BraydeeJohnson
  37. Temple of Truth by Bart
  38. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  39. Growing up by Mercerenies
  40. Elementary by Sirham
  41. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  42. Detective Ghost by d4 Studios
  43. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  44. Doggys Garden by klys
  45. Unlawful Blobs by Bansai
  46. Where by deepfry3
  47. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  48. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  49. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  50. Jam 37 by Cat
  51. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
Comments:
A Night Flight by VinylFly

He's real I tell you. Nice story. Simple game. wish it had more elements. Wish it had more santa.

Agent37 by Nut4985

I had quite a lot of fun playing this game. It was a little fustrating but not too much for me to rage quit. got the rocket looking thing. The platformer is really well implemented. Controls are pretty solid. I'm not much of a fan of the detection stuff and I had a harder time making the tools help me than me just guessing where the stuff are. overall a very fun game.

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

interesting concept. I do not really understand what is lawful and unlawful though. I thought what I said was okay but it was told it was unlawful. Then I typed something dumb and it became lawful. The ending was good.

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

A very solid game! I had some fun smashing my opponents. Would be cool if there were more opponents to fight with. The A.I. is pretty good for a game jam game. I think the lives go a bit too far. I dont think it should reach 200% and it definitely shouldn't reach 300%. An average death rate at 120% would be better. I was able to beat hard mode.

Decisions by Pinkuchu

The view was off. I'm not sure if I broke the game or what. I probably didn't play your game completely but I don't think this laptop can. Try to make sure next time that the game winodw is at max 720p.

Detective Ghost by d4 Studios

I got stuck and I'm getting a bit conscious how you were able to put something on my desktop. I'm sure theres more to do but I honestly dont know where to go or where the next file is.

Doggys Garden by klys

I enjoyed doing some parkour in the end. I don't really understand what was going on. I like the music. Sounds like Zora's domain.... oh wait.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

It was a very simply game. I Had fun throughout the whole game but I wish there was more to do though. The ending was funny and also relatable.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

I had some great fun playing this game. The mechanics are simple yet fun. Would be nice if there were more elements like buying the drugs or driving a car but I guess I'm asking too much for a game jam. Love the song! Not the kind of music I listen to but man, I dig it! Also love the sprites!

Elementary by Sirham

I was able to get all correct in the first try. I chose the person that is being described the most but I have no idea how it is related to the case.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

Simple but elegant game. Just want to point out the most dense country question had cities, not countries labelled, except Monaco so the answer is still correct.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

I've played starcraft so I understand how to play these types of games really well. I'm surprised you picked this genre. RTS is one of the hardest to implement. I could say for a game jam, its pretty solid. above my expectations. of course, if you were to compare it to the likes of starcraft, there is a lot to work on. overall good game!

Growing up by Mercerenies

Neat game. Now I know how bad I type XD. The game is interesting but I wasn't really into the story.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

interesting concept. sadly it is not finished but good job managing to release it at this state.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

The horror was done well. I did get a bit scared going around the hall ways. My biggest issue, which I'm sure you are aware of, is the controls. I would prefer sticky controls over smooth although the best would be to balance both, more on the sticky side. The controls really ruin the game. If it were fixed and more elements are added, I think this game would be nice!

It knows by woodsmoke

The more I played the game, the better it got. It's the same game but there's some magic in it. I found the country music akward but i have a feeling that's where the magic came from. This game nailed the theme that's for sure.

Jam 37 by Cat

Would be nice if the A.I. made more "dumb" moves just to seem more real but still manages to hit the ball. also it would be nice if the ball went faster every hit.

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

The game has a lot of potential. The ending was funny but I really wished there was more elements. I guess you didn't have much time to implement it. Good job for still making a game

Master Key by Poizen

Love the hyper beam. I razed the whole entire level >:) I wished there was more to do but love the mechanic! I'm intruiged how you programmed such.

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

The game was pretty dumb but it made me happy :) loved the ending. Kinda loved the bgm. midway it got a bit annoying but after a while, I got addicted!

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

It was engaging but a bit too straight forward. The dialogues are interesting.

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

Nice game! The mechanic is nice and I enjoyed shooting, flying and dodging! I think the controls still need a bit of work. I think it would be nice if you can go faster. I would also like jump to be like a jetpack (slow start then it speed up). Overall I had a fun time playing the game!

ReStory by IRON Games

Nicely made! I wish the ending had complete images. The jumping was a little off but i really like the mechanics of the game!

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

very unique idea but I'm not sure what to think of it. The UI isn't well implemented. I highly suggest in the next game jam, make an actual game. even a simple game will be nice.

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

good story though I kinda felt like the atmosphere wasnt really fitting the story. I like the roaming the house part but I can't help compare it to those "find a way out" kind of game which usually has a lot of interactions. Having said that, I wished the game had more interactions.

shadow hall by the friendly potato

It a neat looking game. The controls are not really the best, not much a fan of the jump but not too annoying. The shadow blocked the wisp friend's conversation. Would be nice if there were more levels. The levels you made were pretty well made.

Shadow Realm by BraydeeJohnson

I think this game was just unfinished but I might be wrong. I couldn't go forward after getting all the three powers. The art is amazing and the game had a solid look to it but it ended short. I wish you can continue working on this game

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

Nicely implemented. Wished there was more to play with.

Temple of Truth by Bart

I partially blame my computer lagging for not being able to dash properly but I was able to figure it out! The rest of the levels were easy to understand. I think in the next game jam, don't try putting a perfect jump on the first level or never put any at all. I had my own fair share of putting something at the start of the game and people just couldn't play the game anymore. Anyways. I'm glad I was able to finish the game.

love the animation. Not sure what just happened. Did I kill the cat?

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

love the animation. Not sure what just happened. Did I kill the cat?

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

The mysterious story was captivating. I'm a bit confused what just happened, why my cat turned big and why did I become a cat? Is there some kind of meaning behind all this that I just couldn't comprehend? The graphics were nice! The gameplay was okay but not really a fan of it.

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

The initial puzzle wasn't too hard but confusing since there wasn't any feedback telling me if I input the right password. The spaceship part was pretty challenging. It got a bit annoying after a while but I managed to reach the end.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

Good story. Good use of the theme. I think it would be nice if the keyboard minigame ends the moment you get the correct pattern instead of pressing e again. I wasn't much of a fan of the piano minigame but it was implemented well.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

Humorous. This is quite a different game. It was interesting to know what are the objects that you play around with but I felt the game was too easy. I tried killing myself in the end.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

I enjoyed playing this game. Simple yet fun. Would be cool if there were curved ramps, rails and all those cool stuff but its a game jam and I'm sure these things are hard to implement.

Unlawful Blobs by Bansai

The graphics are good looking but the camera movement was a bit off (can only move one diagonal). I sometimes get stuck when Im moving. I wish there was a way to shoot projectiles.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

This game is very calm and relaxing. I had a great time simply throwing the stick. The dog feels very much like a dog. Really wish I could do more dog stuff.

Where by deepfry3

It's sad that you go invisible. I like looking at the doodle sprite.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

Very well implemented. I played 6 times. The theme is very evident here.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

Love the graphics of this game. The controls are different from what I'm used to but its not bad. the game has a lot of potential but seems to lack a goal but that is understandable of a Game jam. The game still has a lot of elements. I think this game is bigger than it is now and had a lot of potential!

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

Interesting concept! The interrogation minigame was well implemented. I had a bit of a hard time understanding the full story as it was "out of this world". I think if there was more back story explanations with pictures and stuff plus more minigames, it would make the game a lot better. For a game jam, it is a good entry.
 
Last edited:

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
reserved spots for votes once I get out of the crunch-induced burnout and can look at a computer screen again without my eyes bleeding
 

Pixel-Team

Master of Pixel-Fu
TOP 3

First Place: System Purge by Jacob V. Lipton and GreenWyvern
Second Place: They Know How To Love (aka Trench) by Lumenflower
Third Place: The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
4. You Will Talk
5. Overdue
6. Gravity Chicken
7. Killer Shark
8. TsunderSim
9. Balls To The Wall
10. Who Killed Mr. Tibbles

  1. System Purge – An exceptional effort for a Game Jam. This is a very polished, well animated, and well executed platformer. Controls and hazards are introduced gradually, to teach the player how to play. Well done.
  2. They Know How To Love – A charming, pixelly hand drawn underwater physics game where you’re an underwater explorer tethered to a hose. You search for more hose to go deeper and deeper. Frustrating to play, but demands that you find out what lurks below!! Loved it!!
  3. The Cat In The Room – Definitely one of the most original concepts for a game. You have to carry your cat through town without looking at people.
  4. You Will Talk – This is a game where you punch the prisoner and electrocute him during an interrogation. A good use of minigames to shape the conversation. I like the idea a lot, and I would have made more mini games, but still a worthy effort for a game jam.
  5. Overdue – A simple concept, and simple mechanics, but perfect game for a game jam. Features decent graphics, a good music track, dialog and quest items that give your robot better abilities.
  6. Gravity Chicken – A puzzle platformer where you rotate the level to make the chicken fall to avoid traps and escape. Primitive looking, but a solid effort.
  7. Killer Shark – This game feels like a casual game, and simply gets harder the longer you play it. I like the blood and violence.
  8. TsunderSim – A romance game where you choose how the story plays out. I liked the graphics, and the dialog was well written.
  9. Balls To The Wall – A versus brawler. I’m not a fan of these types of games, but the menu was cleverly designed, and it was a quality game.
  10. Who Killed Mr. Tibbles – A cute murder mystery game where you consider clues to eliminate suspects. I enjoyed this one.

Best Ofs
Best Use of Theme: Who Killed Mr. Tibbles. A game that truly knows something you don't
Best Concept: They Know How To Love – A Physics tether game where you go deeper into the depths of the ocean the more hose you find. I enjoyed the heck out of this one. (Could not get the music version to work with music though)
Best Presentation: System Purge – This looks like it could easily be a 10 dollar game on Steam with just a bit more content.
Best Devlog: Lumenflower – I respect the effort here, and it was interesting to read about his process, and how his wife helped out with the levels. This is a developer after my own heart. Perhaps he and I can collaborate in the future.
 
Last edited:

Toque

Member
(fixed the ratings after consulting with Toque ~ Alice)

Scratched on the forum wall

Here I sit broken hearted
Tried to vote
But only f.....


...............................................

1) Killer Shark Funnest
2) Balls to the walls Funner
3) Who Killed Mr. Tibbles Fun

Best Theme: Arbitrary

Best Concept: Crash FM

Presentation: TsunderSim

Best Story: A Night Flight VinylFly


1. Killer Shark
2. Balls to the walls
3. Who killed Mr. Tibbles
4. The cat in the room
5. A night flight
6. system purge
7. crash fm
8. Squinty and Pasty
9. They know how to love
10. Homebound
11.TsunderSim
12.Over Due
13.Fazil
14.Gravity Chicken
15.You are my ability
16.The box of Schrodinger
17.Shibboleth
18.Where
19.Listen to me
20.It knows
21.Escape from Trivium
22.The world knows something you dont
23.Growing up
24.Shadow Hall
25.Scraps
26.Dr.Swiss
27.Restory
28.Fog of war
29.The Shade
30.You will talk
31.Intruder Altert
32.Slime Time
33.arbitrary
34 .Drug Dealer sim
35 .Temple of truth
36.Whats Doggo Got
37.Elemantary
38.Mr.Zoomies Escape
39.Murder of Lansbury



I hope I can finish the rest of the rankings today. Spent too much time playing the games this time.....
This is a work in progress. I will change them as I replay some. I will rank all the games eventually.

  • Game 37




Homebound the M

Interesting perspecctive artistically speaking. Shooter on a space ship. Cool different enemies. I like the friend shooting too. Great levels and transitions. Boss level. Good hints. Really nice game. Different weapons. Depth.





Intruder Alert Pikachurian

A bit confusing. Should guide us through the question process. If it standard questions then maybe a list. If we have to write our own questions there should be clear way hints to do this……… just not sure about it.





The Shade OrangeCrowStudio

The piano code would be easier if it went by alphabet order. But ok. If you played a note when you hit the key that would be nice. Docked you for that. Im playing the piano but no sounds…..
Art is ok.
So I can see the theme if you believe in a all knowing being. Or I guess only our destiny knows our future.
Deeper meaning game. Different. Liked the art. Its edgy. Different is good.





Escape from Trivium Nejc Podlipnik


Trivia battling game. Follows the theme. Sprites are ok. Relies a bit on American knowledge. Trivia isn’t my favourite but its well done. Could use more questions. Fits the theme. Nice.






TsundereSim Grizzlius

A bit of a social adventure in a school. I did get a fatal error obj_setup but I did get to play for a bit. Nice sprites. Its a big project for a jam but I didnt mind it. Wish I could of played more to see where the story was going. I guess I see the theme when you describe how love works sometimes. So a solid entry. The art was great. Walking animation had a different look.





Who Killed Mr. Tibbles GameDevDan.

Who done it. A bit like CLUE. Really well done. Music and polish.
Enjoyed it. One of my favourites.








They Know How. Lumenflower


Cartoon style graphics. I like that. Really neat scuba diving game. I like the idea. I wish I could feel a little more advancment accomplishment. Great idea. A game I would like to see more work on and play it. It was fun. Good game.





Crash FM Kyon

The art is a bit all over the place. But kudos for trying some new stuff. Very original and interesting. The game play is kind of a puzzle. But like the concept. I give bonus for taking a chance on it. Kind of haunting. The noise is a bit distracting but kind of realistic. Great idea. Its sort of the opposite of the theme. I know something they dont.





You Will Talk Siolfor the Jackal

A bit Jarring. Polished. It does follow the theme. Its a bit of a moral pickle. There is lots of violence in video games. Im not sure why torture seems questoinable in some way?? But its solid on the theme.
Its well made. Maybe more mini game of torure? Saying that just seems wrong hahahaha. Its art so thats fine.





Growing up Mercerenies


Kind of life simulator. Typing mini game was ok. A bit hard after awhile. Thats ok. The symbolism of the elevator. Its well done. Kind of interesting.
Would be interesting to hear some thoughts from Mercerenies about it.
Its ok. I liked it.





ShadowHall the friendly potato


A platformer. At least tried a bit different feel and level design. Good for you. The text boxes are more distracting and hard to read in game play. Sounds would of helped. The background should of been faded or a little more subtle, the platforms dont stick out as much I would like. It wasn’t bad. The light area was a bit small for my taste. Not bad.





It knows woodsmoke

Race to the flag type of game. Very random. I had a hard time getting a strategy. Not sure about how the extra opponents effected the game.
As a jam game I kind of liked the craziness of it. It was fun so cant complain about it.





Balls to the Walls. Gizmo199


Kind of like Crash Brothers. Its a game to master. Something you need some time to figure out the movements and strategy of how to win. Polished and well done as expected from your games. Need more time with it but its in my top ten at the moment.





System Purge Jacob V, Lipton, GreenWyvern


Platformer. Pretty polished. Art is great. Effects are great. tons of levels. No glitches or sticks in platforms. Boggles my mind how this game could be made in a weekend? I guess if you have the right team of top notch it can be done. I an see how the green light knows where to take you. I Can see how that is it knows something you dont. So I can see how they apapted a platfomer to the theme. Nit pick. I can’t really see the character fit the gameplay. But maybe I dont fully understand the story well enough. Obviously a pretty cool game.





Know Dungeon Micah_DS


So the crystal vball knows. Kind of cool how you move and it has a certain look. But when you get in the lit areas it changes. cool. I like how you made fun of yourself. Its a bit of joke game obviously. Credit for trying something fun. The mini map to regular view is the stand out feature. The joke was funny.





Jam 37 Cat


Ok its pong. Im sure it will be bashed. But its actually kind of cool how you stripped the theme down to the bones. The computer knows where the ball will be always. I think its clever. And great in its simplicity. It probably wont get a ton of votes but I see what you are trying to do and will throw a bone.





Gravity Chicken Lamatoast


Room switching. Get the key kind of puzzle. Its a fun kind of game. I liked it. Art was simple but good. A few different obstacles. Im trying to think if the theme is here? Not sure. Be nice to save if they die. Its not bad. Nice jam game.





RPG Level Editor Pancakes Yum


Interesting concept. can’t see the theme. It needs a bit more work. Instructions are difficult to follow... A pop up with instructions would be helpful. It does work as advertised.




Slime Time Shadow_lancer Cowsox

Confusing. how do I know what has a foul odour?? Memory game? Puzzling……. Looks interesting though. Nice movement. Menu was thrown in there. Might have potential. Will probably chat with the dev and see what’s up. I want to like this game. Just have to figure it out. So the deal is one of the packages looks slightly different. It must be subtle because I didnt catch it. Nice slime animation. Art is actually pretty solid. I would make the difference quite noticable in the first level and then slowly make it harder and harder to find……… Played again. Still pretty subtle but at least now its a game…… I kind of like it. The art pretty much sold me on it.





Killer Shark Yal


Shark eating people game. Pretty well done. Text was hard to read. It was fun chewing on people. Had a thrust speed. Wish I could destroy the boats. Waiting for Jaws music or references. “We are going to need a bigger boat”. The store was pretty cool. Maybe less swimmers so you have to hunt a little.
Nice art and Mechanics. Very solid entry and it was fun. Very cool and fun.






Dr.Swiss HeyManMark


Rosco the computer has taken over. Dr. Swiss must destroy. Platformer style game. Responsive. Decent art and mechanics. I like what was there was done well. The forklift was great.
It was fun. Needs a bit more work.





A Night Flight VinylFly


Very cute Santa story. Well made and animations were spot on. There was a little bit of a game in there. It was different. Fits the theme very well. I really liked it. High marks.





Arbitrary Feather Dreams


Fellow in jail being asked questions. It was a bit difficult getting the right answers to some of them. I could not finish it the first time but I will go back and play this one more time. It was very intriguing and different. Good for you for taking a chance. Extra marks for that.......... okay more time with this one. Its driving me crazy. Toque can do it. I made more progress. But just short of the goal line. Just a couple that are making me bang my head. Even with the excellent technical support from the dev. Im stuck. I will give a break and take one more stab at it. If I can't. I will beg for the answers. If everyone else finishes this one and I don't Im having a post mid life crisis.





Decisions Pinkuchu


Souls in the afterlife. You are searching around a maze. I made some progress. The instructions are a bit vauge. I will play some more to see what I missed. I am intrigued and it looks interesting. Could use a bit more to it. Could use some polish. It was neat cruising around and exploring.





Doggy Garden Klys


3D maze doom style game. More instructions would of been good. It defiantly looked interesting and the game functions to move about. It was okay to play for awhile. Never made a 3d game so it was cool to play something different. Not bad. Collecting red balls. Interesting adventure. Felt like Roblox.
Needs some refinement and level work for sure.







Drug Dealer sim


Fits the theme really well. Nice music and art was pretty darn good. I was trying to figure out the strategy. I liked the map effect where it does lead you to a person. The concept was cool. I need to play this one again as well. Pretty good. Art sold me on it.





Elementary Sirham

A who done it. Simple sprites but done well enough. Defiantly fits the theme. I had fun playing with it. Lots of work went into it. A bit confused how to progress.



Shibboleth FrostyCat

Pretty polished. Good tutorial. Kind of a mine sweeper style of game. I actually made it to level 4. I thought I knew what I was doing but obviously got kafuffled on 4. Admitting defeat I gave up on it.
Im not big puzzle guy but I respect it. It was fun to play around with it. I wanted to defeat it and brag to everyone how smart I am. But alas Toque is not. Well done.




Hungry Pat Ferguson

Its a different movement. Kind of floaty. The monster comes fast and hard to defend. I like the monster sprite. I wish I would have more time to look around and figure it out. Has potential. I just cant get any where with it. Art was good.




What's Doggo Got KoooKooKachoo

Cute RPG style game. Cute art. Throwing mechanic is odd. I think its bouncing hard and makes it look odd. Dog simulator. I didnt mind it. Needs a bit more work to kind of guide you through it.
I can kind of see the theme. The dog knows something I dont. Solid entry.



The world knows something baby you dont lalileloluly

Baby simulator. Interesting. A little different. Kind of funny. Pretty simple. Got a laugh out of it. You had a different idea and went for it. I like that.







Master Key


Floaty jumpy platformer. Physics?? Just different feel not bad. Interesting art. Blocks work ok. I like the laser. Kind of made things interesting. Not sure about the theme. Played worse platformers. Not bad. Needs a bit more depth. Feeling of progression. Good effort.



scraps Terminator Pony

Neat visually. Kind of 3D feel. A bit confusing of trying to figure out the pages. The magnet letters was cool. Torn articles was good. I liked the concept. Good theme. Nice idea.


Where?

I really like paper style games. The player disappearing is interesting but takes away from the game in my opinion. I like how the eye follows you.
Simple mechanic. I didnt mind it. It was fun for a few minutes. I think it has potential. I do like the art. Its a ok jam game.




The Cat in the Room Kasityokerho

Great cat eyes. Heart beat is a little annoying. Great city art. Love it. Really unexpected for a game called "cat in the room". You do little missions in with bizarre mysterious enemies. There is lots to like here. Yes its a bit incomplete and needs a bit more. But for a strange game jam game it hits the mark.





You are my ability. Sheep wink

You have to like a good solid colour palette. Art is the strength here. Characters are great. Music is great. Interesting platform controls on a mouse. I like them. The white outlines fits really well. Most people would of just used black. Sure the game needs more missions and story. But if you didi the art and game yourself in a jam. Im impressed. Top ten game for me.



Overdue Relic zacharyandrews


The music was a little much. Not bad but it didnt seem to fit the pace or something. Visually its pretty cool. Okay. I cant get past the fourth ledge on the first level........... Okay replaying with the easy Jam setting. Okay a few minutes. What am I missing? Holding space bar gets you higher but you run out of energy. No double jump. Cool mouse laser. If only I can figure out how to jump higher. Okay. Jump off the third ledge and hold space bar. Okay cleared the fourth wall....... Are these the controls? have to move mouse and then back to keyboard to jump? I cant shoot and move without switching. I dont think my low senile intelligence gave this game justice. It defeated me with an honest effort. I liked the art.........





Detective Ghost @D4studios

Cool art. Hey you made it...... Fun to play around for a bit. I could do a few things. Seems unfinished. I have a laptop that I only use for jams so the writing of files doesn't bother me but I understand that other people won't touch it. The jam thing is a learning process. I hope you do another jam.




Squinty and Pasty

I wanted to love this game. Its has a ton of potential. Very cool jumping visual and mechanic. But controls get in the way. Its a bit too difficult for me. Needs more polish and better level design. But hey its great with all its warts. Good try. Could of been top three in my books.



Fog of war iShunkiMunki


Really nice start of a game. Instructions would of helped things along quite a bit. I payed with it. Sent workers out. Kind of reminds of the ant game (gimzos??) A few jams ago. I did send out workers. And attacked another enemy with some warriors. Couldn't figure out how to move the screen.
Not sure how I will rank it. But I respect what you have done so far.




Temple of truth Bart

Controls are a bit rough. I had a hard time progressing after the second room. Just couldn't figure it out.
Good try.




Mr Zoomies Escape By Team zoom

Love the bone background. Cool cat. I like you had instructions. Platformer with a vacuum cleaner enemy. Cat has a tie. You classed it up a little. Weird shooting mechanic. Bullets could be faster. Kind of a boss fight....... Needs some polish.


Listen to me. AjTheApple

Tough platformer. Cool mechanic. Feels nice. Too hard for me to get too far. Maybe two or three hits. A nice kick back effect on your hits. Impossible to read text and focus on playing the game. Nice game. Good job.



Shadow Realm Braydee Johnson

Nice art. It crashed on me. Couldn't really get much out of it. But looks pretty cool.




Murder at Lansbury KPJ

Who done it. Police intergation. It seems more of a story and interactive game. It works. Could of been more clues. It works.



The fate of the earth

I like the second half better. Kind of neat floating around the maze. I didnt quite get what the first part was all about. Had to get the clue. Easy enough but a bit unclear how to progress. But like I said the second half was fun floating around. A better flow through the first bit would of helped.




Re story Iron Games

Platformer. Big jumper. Screen moves a bit too much. I kind of like how you jump of the roof. Interesting weapons / enemy. Cool cut scene. I like how you can stop things but the visual and sound effect is annoying. The camera follow needs some polish. Not bad game.



Fanzil

Puzzle style game. A lot of stuff on the front end kind of kills the momentum. Puzzle games are not my thing. I did struggle with it for awhile. I think puzzlers will really like it. Not bad just not my taste.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Cameron

Member
1st Place - System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Overall: Great
Concept: Great
Presentation: Great
Story: Great
The clear winner in my book.
-Production level presentation with great visual, sound effects and ambient background audio.
-The game play was perfect for a jam game, easy to pick up, simple controls that didn't leave me smashes random keys to figure out what to do.
-Great game play difficulty with a few frustrating areas but nothing a little perseverance couldn't overcome
-A good amount of platforming puzzles were added and the game didn't feel too short for a jam game.

2nd Place - Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
Overall: Great
Concept: Good
Presentation: Great
Story: Good
A great jam entry, would have been my winner if it wasn't for System Purge. I thought it was a well executed and polished entry with a lot of charm. The game play was simple and easy to pick up, a quirky version of Clue.

3rd Place - The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
Overall: Good
Concept: Good
Presentation: Great
Story: Good
One of a handful of entries I played through to completion. There wasn't much in game play but that's not a must have for a jam game. What was there kept me playing and I thought it was well executed enough to keep me from getting frustrated and keep me interested. I also liked the overall presentation as well with the piano notes blending in with the key of the pleasant background music.

Notable runners up for 3rd place were Crash FM by kyon and You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal. For me 1st and 2nd were clear cut while 3rd was a much closer race between these three entries.

Best Ofs
Best use of theme: Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
Best concept: Crash by Kyon
Best presentation: System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Best devlog: I will come back to this, haven't viewed the devlogs yet.

Full Ranking
1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
2. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
3. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

4. Crash FM by kyon
5. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
6. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
7. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
8. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
9. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
10. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
11. Homebound by The M

These entries were my favorites, I played all the games but all other entries will remain unranked as they weren't good enough to make the cut for one or more reasons.
 
P

pudgyalpaca

Guest
Reviews

Top 3:

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Amazing art, amazing music, amazing level design, amazing story! Wow! Took me a good 30 minutes to get through and the increasing difficulty was fantastic. I love how the ending opens up the game to a sequel (or continuation) . This fit the theme perfectly. Nothing but praise for this game. I can't believe it was done in only 4 days!!!

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
Puzzle games are my favorite and this definitely hit the spot. Voice acting was spot on and the puzzles were great and challenging. I got some serious GLaDOS vibes. The only thing is that longer paragraphs of text would stay on the screen and blocks the puzzles.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
This was so cute. I love puzzle/riddle games. Controls weres super clear! It's like a shorter game of Clue!

Best ofs:

Best use of : System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Best Concept: Master Key by Poizen
Best Presentation: Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
Best Story: The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
Best Devlog: They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

Full ranking:

  1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  2. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  3. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  4. Master Key by Poizen
  5. Crash FM by kyon
  6. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  7. Growing up by Mercerenies
  8. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  9. Elementary by Sirham
  10. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  11. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  12. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  13. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  14. Where by deepfry3
  15. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  16. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  17. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  18. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  19. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  20. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  21. ReStory by IRON Games
  22. Homebound by The M
  23. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  24. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  25. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  26. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  27. It knows by woodsmoke
  28. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  29. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  30. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  31. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  32. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  33. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  34. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  35. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  36. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  37. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  38. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  39. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  40. Temple of Truth by Bart
  41. Jam 37 by Cat
  42. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  43. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  44. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  45. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  46. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  47. Doggys Garden by klys
  48. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  49. Agent37 by Nut4985

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

Cute concept. Wish it was 10 flight coins instead of 20 as I kept dying. Music was great.

Agent37 by Nut4985

Not a standalone installer. I don't want to install a random game on my computer, sorry!

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

How was I supposed to know I needed to type?? Would've been great to have some sort of indicator or instruction.... in game or in the read me. Eventually figured out I shouldn't say the right answer but I don't know which wrong answer is right... Been playing for 10 minutes or so and I'm not going anywhere... Could've been a cool concept. "Do you look forwarding to getting out of prison?" Yes, no, maybe, none are the "right" answer???

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Controls are spread out in a way that's not comfortable with my hands. Difficult to play because of this. Game does not fit the theme at all.

Crash FM by kyon

I love the concept, music, art, story, everything. But I cannot stand the talking, it was the same volume as the radio so it was hard to play.

Decisions by Pinkuchu

What's the point of having a choice when you can choose all of them? The story left a lot to be desired. Controls were also clunky. Didn't see the theme.

Doggys Garden by klys

Less of a game and more of a proof of concept.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

This was a very cute game, love the art. Wish it was longer and the story was presented visually instead of a wall of text.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

Interesting choice of music and concept... Not really a fan of what you were going for, especially in the current climate.

Elementary by Sirham

Not much of a story but a great puzzle! I love the simplicity of the art.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

It was weird how the enemies just popped up though, I didn't see it at all and suddenly the trivia came up. Questions are very repetitive. Also, a little bit of HP is always left when the enemy dies. I wish there was a story rather just an endless game of repeating questions. Overall, I love the concept and art.

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

Puzzle games are my favorite and this definitely hit the spot. Voice acting was spot on and the puzzles were great and challenging. I got some serious GLaDOS vibes. The only thing is that longer paragraphs of text would stay on the screen and blocks the puzzles.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

Would've loved instructions in the beginning of the game. Didn't even notice there was an "enemy" to the left. Cool concept, similar to Civ, but there's not really a story? I don't see the theme either. Would love a small explanation when I hover over options.

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

It's a shame that it has no music. Level 4 was impossible to beat. Not sure how it fits the theme.

Growing up by Mercerenies

I got a rank C, I couldn't keep up during the typing mini games! I loved the concept and mechanics. Would have loved to see what you could do with more time!

Homebound by The M

Cool concept, but I think the damage the machines do to the MCs is just too much, especially with how "slippery" the movements are.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

So I have to use wsad to move but then it goes into typing and using your mouse instead? Doesn't make sense if it's not explained. Ended up typing gibberish. Instruction says "type the number or word" but there's no number visible. Ask suspects gives me nothing but generic answers. The laptop is not helpful. I'm not sure what to do. Not playable.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

WHAT ARE THESE CONTROLS. It's so hard to outrun the monster and move around. Unplayable for me. I like the design of the monster tho.

It knows by woodsmoke

Not much to it. I like the audio!

Jam 37 by Cat

Not sure if there's more to the game than the pong aspect, as I keep dying pretty easily. It's cool that the game knows where the pong is going to hit it back but I don't see how the game fits the theme. Also very short, what makes this pong game impossible?

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

I love the trippy effects and the art. The game got really slow after a while, though.

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

This was pretty funny but really short. Really cool mechanic though, wish it was an actual game! Loved the art style.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple

Too many spikes , not enough space on the platforms, and I'm horrible at jumping. I love the art, music, and concept. I wish I could've have gotten farther without dying every 5 seconds.

Master Key by Poizen

Love the music. The game mechanic was fantastic. Took me 10-15 mins to complete. I love destroying everything with the hyper beam at the end. The all knowing cat was a great addition.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

No music, which is a bummer :( I really like the simplicity of the pixel art. It's such a simple and short game that I didn't really use the clue folder feature.

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

I couldn't aim at enemies to shoot, became frustrating. I wasn't a fan of the jumping mechanic. Good art.

ReStory by IRON Games

My eyes seriously hurt after playing this. The background and the MC were moving differently. I also, how was I supposed to know that you had to press e to flip? Not an obvious mechanic, at all. Only when I was going to exit the game, I saw that the controls were listed there instead. I wish the spray bottle had a longer range and that enemy had to get closer to hurt you. I thought the upside down mechanic was interesting though.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

That was a game.

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

Great concept and went with the theme. Loved the puzzles!

shadow hall by the friendly potato

The sliding and involuntary double jumping makes it hard to progress through the game. I tried for about 10 minutes to progress but it became frustrating. I couldn't complete the game.

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

Would've been great to know I also had to use my mouse. Couldn't pick up sticks. The top door going to the abyss. Couldn't talk to the ghost. Controls are not working as they should. Not playable. Got error ___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event2
for object objCharacter:

Push :: Execution Error - Variable Index [-4] out of range [3] - -1.lifeforces(100514,-4)
at gml_Object_objCharacter_Step_2
############################################################################################
gml_Object_objCharacter_Step_2 (line -1)

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

Cool concept but it took me a while to understand the rules... the example problem made no sense to me. "Begin by considering the top-left unit. He claims to see 1 rogue." but the top-left unit isn't considering anyone. Wish I could understand the rules better, it seems like it could have been a fun give if this was a visual tutorial. Maybe I'm not smart enough for this kind of logic puzzle. Great art and music!

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

Great concept but really short and I don't see the theme in this. Love the art and music.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

Way too many controls to learn in the beginning, I had to write them down. They're all over the keyboard. Also, the up arrow shown was actually meant to be shift? I would have never gotten that if my partner hadn't told me. Squinty got stuck on a ledge and glitched, I couldn't move. Wall jumping is insanely hard and there's too many spikes. Not a fun game. Art was cool, though.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

Amazing art, amazing music, amazing level design, amazing story! Wow! Took me a good 30 minutes to get through and the increasing difficulty was fantastic. I love how the ending opens up the game to a sequel (or continuation) . This fit the theme perfectly. Nothing but praise for this game. I can't believe it was done in only 4 days!!!

Temple of Truth by Bart

I have no idea what the invisible glitch in the fabric is... So I could not get past that part.

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

You're right, it was anti-climatic.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Didn't realize I had to use my mouse as well til I switch to another window and went back to the game. I don't fully understand what the orange hand does vs the orange eye. I love the art style and the story. Mechanics were a little iffy for me, though.

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

What is the dialogue in this game lol Walking was very slow. Dialogue shouldn't be the same conversation over and over again. There was no indication I needed to type the code. I couldn't get through the mini game, too hard. Art was cool and it seemed to have a lot of potential!

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

Oh my goddddd walking was so SLOW. The music was also super unsettling, made it hard to concentrate. Otherwise, I love this concept and story a lot, even if it's a little creepy.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. What's the goal???? I can see that my choices have an effect on the different things on the right but there's no direction.

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

I don't appreciate starting up the game, clicking "Help" only to have the game say "ok my dude let's go over this one more time" and then give me convoluted instructions on how to play the game, which text automatically going to the next set, if i missed something... i have to start from the beginning again. Boo. I couldn't explore more since the squid kept killing me. I think this really could've been a great game but it needed some finessing.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

A simple version of the actual Tony hawk games, nice. Liked the art and music!

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

I really loved the added mirror effect. Small but effective. Overall, cute game! I don't really see the theme in the game, though.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

Cute concept and love the art. But not much to do.

Where by deepfry3

Very nerve wracking! I love the art style/concept, fit the theme perfectly. Just wish it was a bit longer!

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

This was so cute. I love puzzle/riddle games. Controls were super clear! It's like a shorter game of Clue!

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

Text in the beginning is hard to read. Cool mechanics and art.

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

The Nickelback mini game made me literally laugh out loud and was the hardest of the three for me. I had to keep restarting the game because of it. Wouldn't been cool to go back to your last point. The background music gives me some Zombies by The Cranberries vibes. Wish that the info on read me file was in the game as instructions before each mini game. Overall, great game!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
N

Nejc Podlipnik

Guest
Best ofs
Best use of theme: Crash FM by Mark, Matteo and Kyon
Best concept: Crash FM by Mark, Matteo and Kyon
Best presentation: System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

Top 3
1st Place - Crash FM by Mark, Matteo and Kyon
I loved the graphics, I think it was pretty unique. Gameplay and atmosphere were chill but story was interesting enough and in my opinion fitted the theme perfectly. Radio stations were funny and voice acting was amazing.

2nd Place - System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
It was a fun platformer with smooth movement, nice looking pixel art and great sound effects. Overall game design was really well put together.

3rd Place - Who killed Mr. Tibbles by Team Flob
Fun and cute take on murder mistery. Characters and items were visualy well represented and distingushable from one another.

4. You will talk by Siolfor the Jackal
5. The cat in the room by Reaktori, Riuku and dosto
6. FAZIL by Joseph and FAZIL
7 Box of Shrodinger by ghandpivot
8. Balls to the wall by Gizmo199
9. Homebound by The M
10. Whats doggo got by KooKooKachoo
11. Killer shark 77 by Yal
12. They know how to love by Lumenflower
13. A Night Flight by VinylFly
14. You are my ability by Sheep Wink
15. Growing up by Mercerenies
16. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
17. The shade by Derek Golliher
18. Shibboleth by Dickson Law
19. It hungers by Pat ferguson
20. Listen to me by AJTheApple
21. Arbitrary by Feather Dreams
22. Murder at Landsbury by KPJ

I would like to congratulate to everyone participating, you made some truly interesting games with a lot of potential. Since this was my first jam I only now realized that it's not easy at all and I completely dodged the devlog part (which I regret now when I'm seeing some high quality entries), if I'd be doing that no way I would've finished on time. Also thank you for your feedback on my personal entry, it helps a lot.
Next time I will definitely try to better manage my time and use a different approach to community based tasks (devlog, full reviews) :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Kyon

Member
Reviews

Top 3:

Escape From Trivium
The art style is something we immediately loved.
We played this game on the couch and the trivia parts were super fun for us.

A Night Flight
So cute and creative. Loved the art. Gameplay in the middle could be better.

Killer Shark 77
Have to admit when we first started we were a bit like "oh god another game like this". But then it turned out we played this game the longest because idk, just felt so fun and silly. Very nicely done!
Also btw, the music. The music was seriously fun, we were really into that soundtrack.

Best ofs:

Best use of : Killer Shark 77 by Yal
Best Concept: FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
Best Presentation: Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
Best Story: A Night Flight by VinylFly
Best Devlog: ...

Comments:

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

love it

Jam 37 by Cat

it's pong
 
Last edited:

Bart

WiseBart
Bart's Reviews

Top 3:

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Wow!

This game is perfect in all possible areas
Smooth platforming, great music and sound effects
The atmosphere is just perfect

There seem to be many references to great games in this game (I think of Metroid, Portal for some reason)

Killer Shark 77 by Yal
I was surprised to see this run so smoothly on my computer with all the graphics on the screen but eventually it started lagging when there was too much going on on screen
Too bad, I didn't have all upgrades yet and really wanted to continue playing :)
Great game, fun to play, nice upgrades
Quite a unique setting, too

Homebound by The M
Seems like I got stuck after the purple boss
Something doesn't seem to trigger there

I like the idea
A companion that joins you, switching the playable character
Very good background music and sound effects
The graphics are pretty simple but they're consistent
Plays very smoothly

Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
Best Concept: Crash FM by kyon
Best Presentation: System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Best Story: A Night Flight by VinylFly
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  2. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  3. Homebound by The M
  4. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  5. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  6. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  7. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  8. Crash FM by kyon
  9. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  10. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  11. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  12. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  13. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  14. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  15. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  16. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  17. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  18. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  19. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  20. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  21. Elementary by Sirham
  22. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  23. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  24. Master Key by Poizen
  25. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  26. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  27. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  28. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  29. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  30. Where by deepfry3
  31. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  32. Growing up by Mercerenies
  33. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  34. Detective Ghost by d4 Studios
  35. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  36. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  37. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  38. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  39. ReStory by IRON Games
  40. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  41. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  42. Unlawful Blobs by Bansai Studios
  43. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  44. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  45. Doggys Garden by klys
  46. It knows by woodsmoke
  47. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  48. Agent37 by Nut4985
  49. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  50. Jam 37 by Cat

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

Lovely little game
Nice guitar play. On the second play I noticed a bit of noise in the background
Good story

Great seamless transition to flying

A candidate for best story

Agent37 by Nut4985

I actually installed the game before discovering there's a zip version
Better not use installers, definitely not for short jam games. They're not a great experience

I am not at all sure what I'm supposed to do in this game.
Clicking the various buttons seems to add objects to the world.
Some of them seem to do anything, others not sure.
Seems like I can press the "Sand"/"Send" (?) button at any time to play a platformer level

It seems like you got quite a bit done but it feels like it doesn't really come together

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

I get a formal ban for asking for water as a drink. Hmm :D
Had to laugh several times because my answers weren't accepted
The answers were in fact a bit arbitrary, a bit too much maybe, not sure...

Very nice atmosphere. Graphics are very basic but I don't think there needs to be more to it.
Everything feels consistent

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Superb presentation!
I don't see a relation to the theme, though I may be wrong?
It felt a bit hard to play with a computer keyboard

Crash FM by kyon

Interesting entry!
Highly polished
It took a couple of minutes before I knew what to do

Best concept

Decisions by Pinkuchu

I get the impression that there's a good idea behind this game

Unfortunately there's no sound
Collisions are a bit buggy, the main character gets stuck in walls here and there

Detective Ghost by d4 Studios

I was surprised to find out that this game creates a readme file when it's already running.
A creative idea to put files on someone's computer but I'm not sure how it contributes to the experience.
I got out of the cell by dragging the key in and got to the big police guy. Got stuck there. Not sure if there's more.

The graphics are very basic, background music is okay

Doggys Garden by klys

An attempt at a 3D jam game, that's always nice to see

Nice soothing background music

I liked running around in the world for a couple of minutes but didn't know how to advance
Can I open something by collecting enough coins? Does the dog do something?
Is there a passage to another place that I missed?

Technically, quite a few things are off, though
The skysphere texture isn't seamless, texture uvs are wrong on quite a few faces and collisions seem to be quite a bit off at times
The sky seems to move in discrete steps instead of fluently

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

A very short but entertaining game
Great ending, nice humor

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

Somehow it feels like the graphical style doesn't fit the subject you chose
I wasn't sure about the background music at the start but you mentioned that you have the rights in the game's post

The basic idea is good but it could use some polishing
It seems like I get arrested even when no cops are nearby

Collisions are very smooth
There are quite a few graphical glitches, like the main character being drawn on top of other characters, etc.
The gun looks odd just floating around above the player

Overall the game felt a bit too incoherent

Elementary by Sirham

This is a nice entry

I really like how this game creates the illusion of being in a large house with all the doors and passages from one room to another

The idle animation of the detective smoking a pipe is nice
Good background music

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

Sudan has the most pyramids!? :p

Very pretty game, good music
Great idea to combine a quiz with battling enemies

Not sure why the player has hearts and the enemy has a healthbar, though

Candidate for best concept

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

Nice voice acting
A solid entry
It couldn't keep my interest for too long, unfortunately

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

A fully working RTS game. Very nice!
Looks like it has more than one level
The sound effect of a resource being delivered to the Command Bud felt very satisfying for some reason
Also has background music

If there's one thing I'd change it'd be the margin for the cursor
At the start it wasn't clear at all to me that I could scroll the view by moving the cursor near the window border

Very solid entry altogether

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

I like that sudden change of perspective in the first level
At first it looks like you're simply walking right into the exit

Graphics are a bit basic yet consistent
The chicken's animations are nice
Sound effects are there

Growing up by Mercerenies

Played this game for a moment
It couldn't keep my interest for very long.
It felt like I was just continuously going through dialogue.

A typing minigame from time to time. These are quite fun to play but get pretty hard at one point.

Nice animations on the meters and the watch

Homebound by The M

Seems like I got stuck after the purple boss
Something doesn't seem to trigger there

I like the idea
A companion that joins you, switching the playable character
Very good background music and sound effects
The graphics are pretty simple but they're consistent
Plays very smoothly

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

I like the idea behind this game
Seems like you're a detective that has to solve something

Graphics are okay
Doesn't seem like there is any logic behind asking the questions

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

Nice idea
The collisions seem to be a bit off
Graphics are okay, good sound effects
It follows me between rooms. That's a great way to add tension!

It knows by woodsmoke

A pretty okay entry considering you just put a couple of hours of work in it
It couldn't keep me entertained for too long, though
I do think this can be a good starting point for an interesting game

Jam 37 by Cat

A pong game

I like that you can invert the colors
The speed increases a bit too slowly

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

I was surprised to see this run so smoothly on my computer with all the graphics on the screen but eventually it started lagging when there was too much going on on screen
Too bad, I didn't have all upgrades yet and really wanted to continue playing :)
Great game, fun to play, nice upgrades
Quite a unique setting, too

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

Hilarious!
Great idea to have two characters "not knowing" something
Very short game, though

The music is really well done. It nicely guides you through the story

A candidate for best story

Listen to Me by AJTheApple

A very polished platform game
Very hard but rewarding in the end



Could've used an option to use ZSQD instead of WSAD for those (admittedly few) people like me with an AZERTY keyboard layout :)
(the same goes for most other jam games but it was very apparent in this entry because of the difficulty)

Master Key by Poizen

This was pretty entertaining for a moment
Impressive that you coded those collisions yourself
Good background music although I believe I already heard it in a previous jam game

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

An okay entry

The music became repetitive pretty quickly
It's good that the controls are explained in-game but I'm not sure if it's a good thing that you need to die a couple of times

A couple of issues with the platforming here and there. I got stuck a couple of times.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

A very nice game
I really enjoyed this one!

It could really use some sound or music in the background to help set the tone.
Another thing that I think could improve the game is give the player more control over the selection of suspects and clues.
Right now most of the thinking is done for you right until the end of the game.

A candidate for best story

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

Superb presentation!

The gameplay feels a bit slow, though

I don't like how this game locks the cursor

Another candidate for best presentation

ReStory by IRON Games

This game has quite a few nice things in it when it comes to the gameplay
Jumping feels a bit off
But the graphics feel quite inconsistent
The character portraits are really nice

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

It seems like this works but the controls are just too unintuitive
No link with the theme, obviously

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

Ooh, a point and click game!

Nice looking game
It creates a good atmosphere

Not sure if it would've had the same atmosphere if you'd done it in full 3D as you describe in the game's post

In the end I got stuck. I think I visited all the rooms and interacted with everything but didn't find any new pages to complete the book

shadow hall by the friendly potato

Nice platforming, the floor does feel a bit slippery
Too bad there's no audio

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

This game looks very nice
But I can't figure out how to get out of the first room
I guess I'm missing something since you mention the game is totally done
Will try again later
Tried playing a second time, unfortunately I still can't figure out what to do in the first room

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

I started by going through the readme of this game to get a basic idea of the logic behind the puzzles
The idea behind this game makes it a good use of the theme, although it's not really "it" that knows

At first I didn't really grasp the logic and, because of that, I didn't intend to play this game for very long
But I've played it quite a few times now
I like how this game has a couple of basic logical rules that, when combined, give a lot of depth to the gameplay
It gives the games a high replay value

The holy light makes finding the rogues quite a bit easier, even a bit too easy, I think
I used it quite a couple of times in the later campaign levels, maybe there should be some limit on it, either on the number of uses or some maximum time limit

A very polished entry

A couple of minor things that I noticed:
There's one character animation where the sprite seems to be clipped at the top
When releasing the right mouse button outside of the board the field of sight stays highlighted

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

Oh ,very short game apparently
I like it, though
I love the atmosphere in the supermarket and that person saying something
Nicely presented, the slime looks convincing
Neat intro animation

In the first level it's very hard to see the bag with the bad vegetables
Maybe that's intentional?

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

Definitely one of the more unique entries in this jam!

Nicely presented

I eventually got a bit stuck on remembering all the buttons, though

Was the team name Ubihard inspired by the name Ubisoft?

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

Wow!

This game is perfect in all possible areas
Smooth platforming, great music and sound effects
The atmosphere is just perfect

There seem to be many references to great games in this game (I think of Metroid and Portal for some reason)

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

Brilliant use of the theme
Candidate for best use of theme
I put in all 4 knives. If I'm not mistaken, Schrödingers cat experiment says that the result is only known when the box is opened.
Looking forward to seeing the highscores :D

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

A very unique graphical style, I really like it!

A candidate for best presentation

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

That forest music sounds very familiar :p

It wasn't very clear at the start how to tell the word to the guard
I figured it out by just typing in the word which appeared to work

Played a couple of levels in the spaceship but I quit after I played a few
Not sure how many were still going to come

Decided not to rank this entry since I did a music track for it

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

A game that left an impression

A very nice idea to play notes on a piano
The melodies seemed to be perfectly in tune with the background music

Candidate for best concept

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

Ah yes, I guess you're supposed to pick the right option with each thing you encounter
Basic, but it works
A good idea

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

The atmosphere of this game feels just right.
The graphics are basic but they work well.

Very nice mechanic with the rope. I've been wondering how you do that

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

Like the idea of a 2D skateboarding game
It plays pretty well and has a couple of nice trick animations

Backflips and frontflips of their own don't seem to result in points
That seems a bit bizarre

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

Beautiful graphics

The idea is nice
I like how I'm being drawn into the game by one of the characters

Too bad this entry doesn't have any background music to help set the atmosphere

The game did get a bit repetitive because all of the dialogue, though

Unlawful Blobs by Bansai

Something is off with the mouse, or maybe that's intentional.
It looks like horizontal movement of the cursor leads to a diagonal movement of the view.
But it made the game very hard to play for me and the playthrough didn't last very long

Other than that, pretty nice graphics and a fitting background music.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

A nice looking game
The dog has nice animations
Nice that you can throw a stick around
Good background music

Not sure what I'm supposed to do

I don't see a link with the theme

Where by deepfry3

A very nice use of the theme!
Nicely presented
Too bad there's no audio

Candidate for best use of theme

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

A very polished entry
colourful graphics and nice music

In the end I got one crime solved.
I could figure out the culprit quite easily but the location and the weapon were much harder to get right

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

Lovely graphics!

It took a moment to get used to the mouse controls

Is there more to this game than just killing enemies the entire time?
I may have missed that.

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
The minigames were fun to play
Graphics are nice
Nice humor, the singing voice is hilarious
 
Last edited:
G

GreenWyvern

Guest
I've done it. I've played and commented on all 50 games (minus System Purge, since I was part of that!). Phew, that took some hours!

Reviews

Top 3:

Crash FM by kyon
This was a wonderful short game that hits so many aesthetics I love. I liked how to main menu lead to the plot, and how semi-serious but absurd it was presented, especially with that voice acting. The whole solution of using the radio to communicate the message was really clever, but the execution... well...

After beating the game the first time, I restarted just to listen to the entire conversation, uninterrupted. I then proceeded to listen to every single radio station from beginning to end. I love how in every single long string of audio, it feels like a bunch of dudes simply hanging out together and having fun! Did any of ya post a soundtrack somewhere? I wouldn't mind going through something like frequency 86 again (and being able to hear some of the words that were talked over by the car conversation. The carversation.)

The rainy car ride and the ambience backing the casual conversation in the background, the mood of the game hits something very deep while still maintaining a silly exterior. I don't know how else to put it.

[The humming at the beginning is also the "CRASH THE PARTY" song. Nice.]

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
What started as something I thought was simply an anxiety simulator turned much, much darker. The art is super great, the story as uncomfortable as the character feels, and the not-looking-at-people mechanic was really neat! Superb job!

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
I am a terrible person.

(Spoilers ahead)
I stopped, and thought long and hard... *how about I put in no knives?*. I looked at the high score board, thinking of the possibilities. I could be ONE of the few who went all out and came out without a scratch! Doing the math, there was about an ~80% probability the cat would live! I thought, and thought, and then let my actions take over, throwing all four daggers in at once. Alright, how did I...

That's when it slowly dawned on me. It's not about the cat living or dying. It's about seeing who are the people that will go all the way, putting this cat in the highest amount of danger possible for nothing but recognition.
Damn.

Full ranking:

  1. Crash FM by kyon
  2. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  3. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  4. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  5. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  6. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  7. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  8. Homebound by The M
  9. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  10. Master Key by Poizen
  11. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  12. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  13. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  14. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  15. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  16. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  17. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  18. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  19. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  20. ReStory by IRON Games
  21. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  22. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  23. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  24. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  25. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  26. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  27. Growing up by Mercerenies
  28. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  29. Elementary by Sirham
  30. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  31. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  32. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  33. Temple of Truth by Bart
  34. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  35. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  36. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  37. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  38. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  39. It knows by woodsmoke
  40. Where by deepfry3
  41. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  42. Doggys Garden by klys
  43. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  44. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  45. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  46. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  47. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  48. Jam 37 by Cat
  49. Agent37 by Nut4985

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

I TOLD THEM HE WAS REAL, BUT THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME, WHY DIDN'T THEY BELIEVE ME?

A cute short and sweet coin-collecting runner game!

Agent37 by Nut4985

I'm sorry, but I didn't end up playing this one for a simple reason: I did not feel comfortable running a game that demands admin privileges. This game could be the best of the bunch for all I know, but I don't feel safe running it.

HOWEVER, I am ranking it, so it still gets points. I believe that there is probably no ill intent here, and it feels bad that this little issue could cause it to unfairly fall down. Again, I'm sorry!

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

I thing the concept and execution are pretty cool, but there was a vast amount of interpretation problems that made it really difficult to get through, like not accepting "grey" instead of "gray", or the fact that answers like "elephant", "table" and even saying "left" when it comes to your dominant hand, are all unlawful. Even answering "yes" to a lot of questions where it feels like it should be the correct way to proceed are thrown aside.

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Great presentation! Very smooth and clean UI, and a nice variety of levels and skins! It's a bit hard to figure out what I'm doing, however. I understand there's an option to attack, but it's really unclear how I'm supposed to use it effectively. Nonetheless, pretty good!

Crash FM by kyon

This was a wonderful short game that hits so many aesthetics I love. I liked how to main menu lead to the plot, and how semi-serious but absurd it was presented, especially with that voice acting. The whole solution of using the radio to communicate the message was really clever, but the execution... well...

After beating the game the first time, I restarted just to listen to the entire conversation, uninterrupted. I then proceeded to listen to every single radio station from beginning to end. I love how in every single long string of audio, it feels like a bunch of dudes simply hanging out together and having fun! Did any of ya post a soundtrack somewhere? I wouldn't mind going through something like frequency 86 again (and being able to hear some of the words that were talked over by the car conversation. The carversation.)

The rainy car ride and the ambience backing the casual conversation in the background, the mood of the game hits something very deep while still maintaining a silly exterior. I don't know how else to put it.

[The humming at the beginning is also the "CRASH THE PARTY" song. Nice.]

Decisions by Pinkuchu

It was going alright, but I ended up running into a blank room several times. Not sure what's up with that. Though I'm a bit lost, the different responces were kinda' neat!

Doggys Garden by klys

A simple 3D platformer! I have been travelling through these portals for 500 years. You never age in Doggys Garden. LET ME OUT. LET ME OOOOUT.


Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

Crate-jumping action! Took me a bit to figure out I could jump while overlapping the girder, but after that, it was steady sailing! Could use a few more levels and obstacles, but yeah, good job!

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

That was a fun little social deduction game! I actually managed to win my first time around, and had to retry just to see if you *could* lose, ha!

... I'm not sure if I should be proud of being good at this specific occupation.

Elementary by Sirham

A neat collection of puzzles! I mustn't be related to Sherlock at all, because I did fairly poorly with my guesses.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

I do like me a good trivia game, and the aesthetics of this one were kinda' neat. Some of the questions were insanely specific, which made it hard to get through the game without repeatedly dying and learning the entire questions bank. Nice game!

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

A great batch of puzzles, and a functional endless mode to boot! I enjoyed my time with this one a lot! My only complaint is that, while the whole "secret" move was a neat plot twist, I ended up going the "bad" route first... and couldn't find a way to backtrack to the other room! I had to delete my profile and replay the first bit again. Nonetheless, great game!

Update: Seems like you're aware of everything I mentioned by this point!

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

Man, this is a solid working RTS game! Everything works like it should, and for something made only in a few days, this has some potential to be expanded! The music did start playing twice when I beat the first level, though, oops!

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

Those are some smooth gravity mechanics! The game plays fairly well, and that dead animation is great. A big downside, though, is that the lives mechanic feels really, really harsh. Only three lives, one-hit death, and you go back to the very beginning? Owch!

Growing up by Mercerenies

Dad Rick Rolled me.

F-

I did make Harry Beary the happiest bear they could be, though!

Homebound by The M

A fantastic little twin stick shooter! Controls nice, balanced well (I like how the other crew member takes over when the first one goes down), the upgrades are all nice and feel equally useful, and it has some nice effects like blacking out the rooms around you during combat!

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

The talking mechanic could be interesting, but I found it really hard to figure out what to do. I tried asking everything in the help menu, tried typing in other questions, tried walking around the room to find other things to interact with, but I'm at a complete loss.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

That's a pretty gruesome fate, oof! Good job on the feeling of panic from being stalked! The game is fairly hard to control, though, it feels like I just can't quite control the character, and it's way too hard to move in the direction I want to sometimes.

It knows by woodsmoke

This was a good quick guesstimation game. I found it actually became easier with more opponents, because their initial movements would tend to average out to the correct direction!

Jam 37 by Cat

It's sure impossible, alright! Very, very impossible. Mission successful?

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

Absolute visual chaos. After a while, I completely lost sight of the shop, no longer able to find it under the ocean of blood, lights, and giant psychedelic numbers which eventually lost all meaning as my combo reached x1000 and beyond. I have become nothing but pure chaos and destruction, losing sight of the shark I once was.

The absolute feeling of insanity and the cool facts on the left made this quite a wild ride!

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

THE MAGICAL MANA ORB HAS BEEN MET WITH A GREAT UNJUSTICE IN THIS HELLWORLD CALLED "KNOW DUNGEON"!

The absolutely heart-wrenching, soul-crushing, feet-stomping ending aside, that was pretty great. I really, really liked how the art transitioned between being under the torches, and having things more abstractly revealed by the orb. That, and the art itself was pretty smooooth.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple

I was told "I'm going to need you to stay right there", and so I did.

It's been 2000 years.

A clean, fun game, but I feel like that "horrible thing at the end" could have a bit less HP!

Master Key by Poizen

I love the effect of blasting away the walls! It feels so CLEAN!

Unfortunately, the game feels a bit inconsequential, because there's never any reason *not* to blast away every wall possible, which just makes me feel like it'd be simpler to make them disappear. I feel like this could be fixed by putting in checkpoints and making puzzles where you can accidentally shoot out too much! If you get stuck, just restart at the checkpoint, and bam: all the walls are back! Either way, good game!

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

I have a terrible history with the word "zoomies", but I shall look past that terrible past to give this game a fair shot!

That was a nice silly little experience! Who is this person that wishes to bring harm upon Mr. Zoomies? What did they do? What did *Mr. Zoomies* do? How can he afford so much yarn? So many questions, yet so little time...

When it comes to criticism, the vacuums coming from above were a bit hard to see coming! I'd try to jump up on a platform, and then accidentally be checked by a giant vacuum I couldn't see coming.

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!

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

The hover and laser energy management was alright, but after getting 10-ish minutes in, I died... and stayed dead! No keystroke would restart the game, so that didn't end well.

ReStory by IRON Games

The time stop mechanic was implemented well, and I liked the introduction of the book enemy! Freaky boss, too. When it comes to criticisms, it was a bit hard to play because the camera lagged behind every jump. It didn't necessarily make it harder, but it started to hurt my head after a while!

Good game.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

I was looking forward to seeing how this one turned out, but on top of the controls being really finicky and hard to remember, there was something that made it practically unplayable for me: the grid was misaligned! Every time that I moved my mouse beyond the center of the square, towards the bottom right, it would try to target a different square entirely! Made it hard to use, unfortunately.

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

That's some ominous music for what seems to be a heartwarming moment! Honestly though, I'm just super impressed that the game recognized I got the page back together like that, nice.

shadow hall by the friendly potato

It was incredibly slippery and there were a few blind jumps that made it frustrating here and there, but over all a good simple platformer!

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

I've murdered a dew dozen monsters, then decided to try and die, and ended up crashing the game when I ran out of energy for all my weapons. Well.

The combat was alright, though I'd be careful about the textboxes! It was hard to talk and pick things up, because it would constantly try to show me items or "YOU" instead!

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

I always like me a new puzzle game! The rules were a bit difficult to get a hold of, even after reading the README, but I think I got the hang of it after a bit.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

An alright little deduction game, though just a bit too short! The game does involve slime that eats a lot, which is relatable.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

It had some pretty nice puzzles, and the item rotation mechanic was kinda' interesting, but the precise platforming combined with the speed and control of the character made it difficult to progress in the game. Aside from the controls, this game has a lot of good ideas going for it. The eye and mouth duo (Squinty and Pasty, I presume?) duo were funky aesthetically!

Just a note: please don't restart the music with every death in the future! In hard platforming games like this, it can become really distracting hearing the same first notes of a song again and again!

Temple of Truth by Bart

Zesty marmalade, hooray! Each room having a unique trick was neat, though I don't quite understand the "glitch in fabric" one; I just managed to dash over the pit. The boss was kinda' interesting, but it took a looot of waiting, and the spikes nearly blocked the exit! Nonetheless, good job!

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

I am a terrible person.

(Spoilers ahead)

I stopped, and thought long and hard... *how about I put in no knives?*. I looked at the high score board, thinking of the possibilities. I could be ONE of the few who went all out and came out without a scratch! Doing the math, there was about an ~80% probability the cat would live! I thought, and thought, and then let my actions take over, throwing all four daggers in at once. Alright, how did I...

That's when it slowly dawned on me. It's not about the cat living or dying. It's about seeing who are the people that will go all the way, putting this cat in the highest amount of danger possible for nothing but recognition.

Damn.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

What started as something I thought was simply an anxiety simulator turned much, much darker. The art is super great, the story as uncomfortable as the character feels, and the not-looking-at-people mechanic was really neat! Superb job!

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

I got to talk to a snake, A+

Plays like Kuru Kuru Kururin in space, when you get to that point! A biit tight in places, but otherwise pretty fine! The biggest concern I have is the difficulty of using the code... I had no idea what I was doing at all until I read your forum post explaining I was supposed to simply type it next to the guard. Even after doing that, I assumed I couldn't pass by him, until I ended up doing so by accident!

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

A very grey piece, though I'm still pondering what about. Took me until the very end to understand how to do the piano pieces properly.

That, and when I first started playing, I walked for a few minutes left before having to walk the same amount of time back. Whoops.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

I'm unsure of what the end goal was, but I got to "YOU WIN", so there you have it! Experimental.

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

This deep sea diving game mixed with an eldritch horror lurking deep in the depths is great! I love the mechanics of having to manage your oxygen cord, mixed in with running away from the mysterious monster. Exploration feels nice and rewarding, and the atmosphere is super nice.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

High Score: 1315

Pretty rad! Gets a bit tedious when you get a rhythm going, but was a nice short little score attack!

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

Well done, Jose Franciso Perez, Jose Franciso Perez and Jose Franciso Perez!

Not well done, Jeff.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

"You gotta bin those poops" - Tell that to my neighborhood!

A happy little dog park simulator! The little details like the paw prints were cute, and the interactions with the dog felt nice and varied! I kept mistaking what the bins looked like, and ended up throwing the poop across the map and having to restart, though. Oops. At the end, I managed to tire the dog out and go home, hooray!

Where by deepfry3

Cool concept, if a bit easy! I kept spamming shots and ended up skipping my results by accident each time, whoops!

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

Clean and cutesy, just like all detective stories about murder should be!... wait, that sounds weird. Really weird. Works well, sounds well, looks well!

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

The concept is cool, but I gotta say, the part that stands out most to me is how it controls! I like the feeling of being able to control your speed with the mouse, it made me feel fast but in control. Secondly, the graphics are pretty nice and smooth! The biggest downside is there isn't much to do aside from test out the main mechanic, and it felt like I stopped being able to actually upgrade at arbitrary times. Other than that, nice job!

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

An interrogation simulator, huh? Thematically fitting concept, but I can't help but feel bad for doing so much punching!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Micah_DS

Member
☚ Micah's Votes & Feedback ☛

Top 3:
System Purge by @JacobV, @Liptonpee, @GreenWyvern
I absolutely loved this game. I only have a few criticisms, so I'll get those out of the way first:
• There is one room that's just a tad bit too difficult. It's maybe a little more than halfway through the game I think. In it, there are two smashers smashing downward beside each other, and to the right of them there are a bunch of lasers in the distance and there is very little to hide behind as they relentlessly fire at you. That said, I did play it through a second time and figured out how to get the lasers to all sync their firing timing, and that made it much easier, but it still felt like it was a bit of an unfair situation to put the player in.
• The game appears to have no quit button. At the end, I had the black screen and the only way to exit was to alt-tab out. Even for a jam, a proper means to exit a game is a basic thing, and it's super fast to implement. I have no idea why it was overlooked here?
• Exceptionally minor detail, but in some bigger rooms where they scroll horizontally, some of the graphics in the floor don't scroll along properly with the rest of the flooring, so they jitter as you move. I expect it's just a sub-pixel rounding issue that can be resolved by using floor or ceil on the positioning when drawing those elements. Not a big deal, just something I noticed.
• The game is just a tad too long for me, though I'm being picky here. It honestly wasn't bad.
• Lastly, very much down to personal taste here, but I'm not a fan of gore, so I wasn't a fan of the ending blood stuff.

Okay, so those things aside, all I have left is praise:
WOW, the presentation is fantastic. The graphics are so freakin good. The level design and progression is also quite good. The game feels fantastic when moving and jumping around. The dust trails are delicious (never thought I'd say "dust" and "delicious" in the same sentence..). The audio is great as well, fitting in and adding to the atmosphere, just as it should. The theme use is solid. You guys really nailed it. When I first ran the game, my jaw quite literally dropped and my eyebrows raised, and I soon found myself smiling at how wonderful the game was.
Homebound by @The M
Whoa, this is dope! It feels smooooooooth. Question: HOW IS THE GIRL SO GOOD AT FIRING EXACTLY WHEN I DO, and EVERY TIME??? What an amazing woman! She clearly knows something I don't. ;)

Here are my thoughts:
• I love how it's complete with heart and weapon upgrades (5 of each, I think?). Some hidden away. It feels rewarding to find those hidden ones. It honestly activated some of the childhood wonder and nostalgia within me, something that doesn't happen nearly as much as I'd like these days. So, thank you.
• It really needed a crosshair for the mouse. The white mouse against a mostly white interior made for a slightly bad time in aiming.
• The stairs actually confused me at first. I went through them without even realizing they were stairs. I only realized once I began backtracking to look for secrets after getting the ion gun.
• The explosion SFX were a bit harsh, which wasn't bad, except when a bunch of them played all at once due to destroying lots of things at once. It's generally a good idea to prevent sounds from stacking so much. The quickest solution is to simply stop any already playing explosion sounds before playing another one. I don't expect many people think about this though, especially when jamming.
• I kept getting game over and I don't know how to get a good ending. I searched the entire area. I know the whole point is that the ship AI is actually good, I guess? But the ending makes it seem like there's a way to win, since it starts you over right before the boss fight.
• The game length felt just about perfect to me, and it progressed well with bosses and items spaced nicely. Very nice work.
• The bosses were pretty well balanced for a good challenge.

Overall, a very fun jam game!
Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob (@GameDevDan, @NAL)
I really enjoyed this one. Great presentation, good hints to make for a proper enough mystery, a bit of replayability, and a clear use of the theme.

Best ofs:
Best use of Theme : Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob (@GameDevDan, @NAL)
Best Concept : They Know How To Love by @Lumenflower
Best Presentation : System Purge by @JacobV, @Liptonpee, @GreenWyvern
Best Story : TsundereSim by @GrizzliusMaximus
Best Devlog : Growing up by @Mercerenies

Full ranking:
  1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  2. Homebound by The M
  3. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  4. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  5. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  6. Master Key by Poizen
  7. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  8. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  9. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  10. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  11. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  12. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  13. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  14. Growing up by Mercerenies
  15. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  16. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  17. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  18. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  19. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  20. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  21. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  22. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  23. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  24. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  25. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  26. Crash FM by kyon
  27. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  28. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  29. Elementary by Sirham
  30. Where by deepfry3
  31. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  32. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  33. ReStory by IRON Games
  34. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  35. Temple of Truth by Bart
  36. Agent37 by Nut4985
  37. It knows by woodsmoke
  38. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  39. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  40. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  41. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  42. Detective Ghost by d4 Studios
  43. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  44. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  45. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  46. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  47. Unlawful Blobs by Bansai
  48. Jam 37 by Cat
The following games were left unranked (for reasons, see the feedback section):​
  • Doggys Garden by klys
  • Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  • RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

Feedback:
A Night Flight by VinylFly
Unexpected Christmas theme. I'm not quite sure what the "IT" is in the theme use of "it knows something you don't", but it could be either that Santa is real, and/or that collecting 20 flight coins allows you to fly. So maybe the game's reality is the "it".

The gameplay isn't boring, but it's not all that fun either. I do really like how uniquely magical it feels, though. I love fantasy themes and imagination, so that alone bumped up my ranking a lot. Overall, not half bad.

Agent37 by Nut4985
I did not play jam version, since it was an installer. Instead I downloaded the post-jam version.

The concept is more frustrating than it is fun, but I think it's mostly because I didn't understand what to do on the screen before you play a level. It seems to reveal the dangers in the level you're about to play. It was definitely a very good try on the theme, but it just didn't end up playing all that well, but, again, perhaps it was because I didn't know what I was doing.

arbitrary by Feather Dreams
Interesting, but frustrating more than anything. If there is a way to win, and if there are any visual or word cues, they are not made clear enough. The only thing we agreed on or was understood was that I was right-handed.

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
I couldn't see how the theme was being used here. My character seemed to be able to do anything the enemy could. But it was fun and felt quite polished.

Crash FM by kyon
Funny with a somewhat predictable (but still good) twist ending. Back in the day, I did this thing with the radio sometimes with my brothers, trying to switch between radio stations mid-sentence to make it say something funny. I never thought about making it a mechanic in a game. Nice.

Decisions by Pinkuchu
I can't say I see a strong use of the theme here. You'd do well to learn how to avoid 'sticky' walls where your character stops and sticks on them when moving diagonally against them. It also feels pretty unpolished, though I do like the scenes and the different results of your choices. The general concept is interesting.

Detective Ghost by d4 Studios
I don't really like the idea of files being written to my computer when I don't know where they are. It would've been okay if the game had a "delete all created files" button. It appears the files stay behind, since that's what the desktop one did, so that's really the issue I have. I mean, I guess I'm about due for going through my files and cleaning and organizing them anyway though..

Not much to say about the game, but I loved the fat cop. I'm pretty sure it's incomplete? I couldn't really find anything to interact with after leaving the jail cell.

Doggys Garden by klys
Zelda music is used. I absolutely love Zelda music, but please do not use copyrighted music when you have no rights to do so. I'm leaving this unranked because of this.

Aside from that, I was confused about what to do. I figured out how to walk with WASD and that some swirling gates could transition you to other places, but I saw no point to collecting the red coins, nor did there seem any goal to reach.
It was also a bit hard on the eyes, due to various factors. Sometimes, passing too closely by walls or having the red coins right in my face gave a very uncomfortable feeling. It's an issue similar to motion sickness, maybe, though quite different at the same time. Also, the platforming doesn't feel very good and the moving platforms don't move you along with them. It all felt incredibly unpolished and incomplete.

I think you would've been better off going 2D. 3D can be tricky.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
AH! The air duct knew something I didn't know! LOL
I knew I'd love the humor! The story was an enjoyable read and the game played pretty well too.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
Uh, the rap song is dope, but the lyrics are expletive and it violates community guidelines, so I'm leaving the game unranked. Sorry. I didn't really find the gameplay very fun anyway, so it wouldn't have been ranked very high.

Elementary by Sirham
Maybe I missed something, but solving the mysteries doesn't seem to be so much about gathering clues to solve them as it is seeing the pattern. Once I realized, I solved them all without even doing anything. The controls don't seem all that intuitive, with pressing ESC to solve and R to restart. It felt a bit cumbersome and odd. Still, it's a fairly interesting game anyway.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
Having to die multiple times to see and memorize mostly useless facts just to win a game isn't really enjoyable to me, though I did enjoy the graphics and overall presentation.

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
Unfortunately, I've discovered I don't enjoy tile-connecting puzzles. I got through the tutorial, then quit. It does seem like a solid game though. I wish I could say I was feelin it.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
The SFX for gathering resources needed to be way more on the pleasing side, with less aggressive high frequencies and quieter. Anyway, a pretty impressive game, but I'm not sure how the theme is being used here, if at all, and the actual level (after the tutorial) appears to have no end and no enemy base to attack. Still, very nice presentation and impressive (to me) on the technical side for a game jam timeframe.

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
The lives system ruined this one, sadly.

On my first playthrough, I got to level 4 and ran out of lives. On my second play, I made it to level 6 before running out of lives. At that point, I just didn't want to deal with playing the levels I had already beaten, yet again. Dying restarts a level, and that makes enough challenge by itself. Adding a lives system on top of that makes no sense.
Another thing is that level 4 was much harder than level 5, so the difficulty curve could've used some more work as well.

Aside from those things, I really liked it, though I'm not sure what the theme usage is, but I'm guessing it has something to do with it (whatever it is) knowing which came first, the chicken or the egg. Lastly, I like how the graphics are clean and cute. If you scrapped the lives system, I'd play this again.

Growing up by Mercerenies
HAH! I typed in the bit.ly link on the dad's shirt. After all these years, it's still good!
The typing games are too fast. The first one was perfect, but after that, they were fast as lightning, and my hands aren't fast as lightning. Maybe it's because I never got used to my low profile keyboard though... ehh, never getting another low profile keyboard again.
Anyway, since you said you'd like to know our ending ranks, I got a D.
I felt so-so about the game. In the end, you never know what it knows, but I guess that's the point. Even after beating the game, it knows something you don't. Can't say it's all that satisfactory, but it does make sense. Overall, not bad, it just didn't really grab my attention that much.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
Appears to be very incomplete. Also, why require typing out questions? It makes more sense to just have something like buttons with each action instead. It'd play better that way.
I do like the aspect of managing people's emotions. For a mystery game, that seems to be a great mechanic. (I don't really play many mystery games, so I don't know if this is common or not, tbh)

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
Horror and gore are not my cup of tea. I still managed to beat it. The movement is very wonky, btw. That definitely needs a total makeover. I can't really say much more, as horror isn't a genre I play.

It knows by woodsmoke
A surprisingly simple yet effective use of the theme. If only it wasn't endless (no goal - no real reason to play) and lacking in further gameplay elements to spice it up. As it stands, it's a little too empty and it gets stale pretty fast. I do like the detail of the slimes leaving trails behind, giving you more info on where they're headed. Nice touch there.

Jam 37 by Cat
"Impossible ping". Ah, the reason why I get kicked from online games.. No? Oh.

Clearly a joke game. An alright use of the theme. Sure, it knows exactly where the ball will be and before the player does, but the player can also know very quickly, since the ball is so predictable. It would've been better if the ball trajectory changed based on where it bounced from the paddle, and/or if the ball speed increased slowly over time. Still, it's a joke in the end, and it was amusing enough.

Killer Shark 77 by Yal
Seems like a really well done game, but I can't stand to play something so disgustingly gory, so I only played for a couple minutes. Excessive gore and killing people is just too dark for me. I guess you're free to do excessive gore in your jam game, but you do run a risk of exclusion when you incorporate such mature themes.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple
Ranking lower than you might expect because it was too hard for a jam (imo) with no options to skip if someone cannot pass part of the game.

After much non-enjoyable struggling, death after death, I got to the final boss, but he required far too many hits to beat. I was getting too stressed out, so I had to quit. Sorry. That said, the game feels nice and has good polish, and the dialogue is entertaining. And it could've been worse. You kept each section almost short enough, so it wasn't too terrible when the player missed a step.

Master Key by Poizen
OOPS!
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Other Event: Room Start
for object obj_coll_polygon:

ERROR: The polygon shape for fixture 2028 is concave or ordered anti-clockwise
at gml_Object_obj_coll_polygon_Other_4
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_coll_polygon_Other_4 (line -1)
called from - gml_Object_obj_beam_Other_10 (line -1) - <unknown source line>
called from - gml_Object_obj_beam_Mouse_53 (line -1) - <unknown source line>

I lost progress and had to try again, but thankfully I completed it without issue on the second try.
I wish the game had variable jump height, to allow more control. I also didn't like how hitting the edge of a ledge while ascending would ruin my upward momentum and often cause me to fall and had to try again. Overall though, the physics were good. Shooting beams through things was satisfying. The theme use was good enough, being the cat ("it") knew how to unlock the door, but you didn't. Overall presentation was good. Nice work.

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
Lacking polish, but very, very cute. That's an interesting way to use the theme. Incorporating it into the tutorial in that way was actually pretty clever.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
Small detail, but it'd be nice to have the red progression arrow for dialogue highlight when the mouse is over it. It just gives the player visual feedback that their mouse is indeed over it and it's interactable. I had no issue, but it's just one of those feedback details that can only improve a game/program.

I wonder if anyone else clicked on the dead guy to see if he'd talk... am I the only weird one looking for weird and unnecessary Easter eggs? :p
Anyway, fun little game. A simple click sound would've gone a long way to improving it.

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
The game is far too long for what it is, and getting the 'crown' part by flying over the huge gap would've been fine, but the randomly spawning flying enemies often got in the way and that was super frustrating because I had no control over when and where they would spawn. If it were at least half as long, and with smaller and less tedious levels, it would've been far more enjoyable. The movements felt good though, I liked the humor, and the art is fantastic.

ReStory by IRON Games
Too hard, I quit before beating it. I got a time-stopping ability and quit shortly after that.
The levels feel haphazardly put together, with no real direction, just randomly placing as many enemies as possible.
The art is quite nice though, and the game is pretty imaginative.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
This is a bit out of place for the purpose of the jam, since the game jam is about trying to make a more-or-less finished game that incorporates the jam theme, and this isn't really a game, nor does it incorporate the theme, so I won't be ranking this one, but I will give feedback.

It's quite rough around the edges, hard to remember all the controls, and it's also very buggy, but it's a start, and I love the creativity.
I had trouble getting it to select the tiles I wanted. And the tile selection seems to be able to get offset.
Keep working at it, and I wish you the best with this RPG level editor! :)

Scraps by Terminator_Pony
The book knows something you don't. I like it. It was interesting unfolding the story.

shadow hall by the friendly potato
The first thing I noticed was how the text went behind the black ring overlay. Since it cut off text, it would've been much better if the textbox was placed over the blackness. I had to run the game a second time to catch all the text.

The physics are actually quite interesting. The bouncing off walls and sliding style of platforming could either prove to be a very fun challenge or a frustrating nightmare. If handled correctly and taken further, it could've been a really great platformer, imo.

I like how the main character fire blob thing is animated, too. Very nice job for your first jam game. It's far better than my first jam game. ;)

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
For the floating skull thing, when mousing over it to see the message, it would've been better to alter its drawn position and not the actual position. That way, when you're in position to get the message, it won't go off and on based on his floating position. As it is now, it can be a slightly frustrating hassle to read.

Anyway, so the skull can see enemies, but you can't. That's a fair use of the theme, but there doesn't appear to be any goal to the game. It seems incomplete. It sure looks good though. Love the graphics! And I really like how you handled showing the player the movement controls, fading them out as you press them, ensuring the player actually sees them, not totally eliminating them from a single press, which can lead to a player easily missing what was shown. Very smart!

Shibboleth by FrostyCat
I wish the credits could be progressed through at my own pace and/or additionally placed in the readme.
(this is apparently an echo of my feedback from jam 35):
Back then, I was wrong to label it as neutral, since it's clearly a con to me, as it bothers me enough to bring it up yet again. :p You probably don't care though, so I should just lay it to rest.

Since the assets are all pre-made, it's all about the concept and mechanics:
I think you struck a great balance between simplicity and complexity. I didn't have to read much to understand the game, yet it offered enough complexity to require thinking things through. Admittedly, I didn't have time to play through many levels, but I think I got a good enough taste to understand what the game offered. The use of the theme is apparent as well. A pretty solid game, as usual.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
I don't feel like the theme use worked out so well, and I can't say it was all that fun to play, but I do really like the art, presentation, and the audio.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
An otherwise awesome game that suffers from overcomplicated controls and overly fast movement.
Remember, a single input can be multi-use. You can make a button pick up and drop an item as well.
I'm afraid I didn't get very far, due to the fast movement and need for precision. It was too frustrating for me. I'm sad, because it looks like a lot of effort went into this game and I think it deserves to be played, but I just couldn't manage it. Sorry.

Temple of Truth by Bart
On the start screen, the control info was a bit small. In the second room, it took me forever to realize I should dash, and I think that's on me though, oops.
Not being able to die was actually nice in this case. If getting hit by a falling spike killed me, that boss would've been terrible.
Isn't it possible to get cut off from exiting the boss stage, depending on where those spikes land? I almost had it happen.
Sometimes it didn't jump when I pressed the button shortly after landing, or perhaps - due to your physics - you needed to add a jump buffer, and I was actually pressing jump a frame or two before landing. In any case, it didn't jump when it seemed like it should, so that is a problem to be aware of. But it's just a jam game, and it's not punishing when you fall, so I guess it's not a big deal in this case.
I was sad I couldn't drink the zesty juice and get some funny all-knowing ending.

Overall a cute little game. Some of the all-seeing comments are quite entertaining. Love that.

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
My thought was, "The cat will probably see it coming and dodge", so I proceeded to jam all the knives in.
I honestly can't say I enjoyed it much, but I applaud you for trying something a bit different.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
Not a fan that you can't quit whenever you want (I know you can alt-tab out), and there was a graphical oversight with the door drawing over top of the player character, but aside from that, it's really great. I love cyberpunk atmosphere a lot, and the art is awesome. The story and gameplay are engaging. I do wish there was an option to not commit all the terrible acts and best 'IT', but oh well. I probably didn't follow the story to the depths intended, since I'm not sure why I turn into a cat in the end, but the general idea seems that one bad action leads to worse ones, and IT GROWS. I guess 'IT' - being the growing cat - knows this fact while the player does not? As I said, I'm probably missing some things, sorry.

In any case, it was interesting, visually pleasing, and moody. Very nice. You got me my cyberpunk fix this jam, and I am grateful for that.

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
Hmm, I assumed the code would be "QUACK", since those were the letters hidden around the game, but no dice. I can't say I really enjoyed walking slowly to people and talking to them, and that being all there is to the gameplay. I did like the overall graphics though. Quite colorful and pleasant.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
Way too long, tries to be deep, but just ends up giving depressing vibes, dragging things out, and not really saying anything profound. I'm sorry. I think I've just seen too many games similar to this at this point, and I've had my fill. Playing a piano to spell out words was interesting though.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
I won and continued to reach 60 months, then quit. I must admit though, it wasn't very fun to me. It definitely could've used some juice, like some movement effects or audio, but it was still mildly entertaining, and the use of theme is pretty good.

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
I don't know if it's intended, but the creature can often make it impossible to escape and it seems very random as to when it can appear. It was so unfair that I quit - I could not beat this game. Too bad, because it was really great in all other aspects. I didn't really see the theme usage that strongly, but maybe it's because I wasn't able to get very far. :/ All that said, I think it's a very cool concept, diving and managing your air line, discovering the depths of an underwater facility, etc.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
WOW, the music is like warfare on the ears. It's cool, but it's loud and bright enough that it's even fatiguing at low levels.
Aside from that, the game was pretty fun. The art is great and gameplay felt good. I'm unsure if it's possible to get a better outcome in the end. My character was always beat up.

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
EXACTLY what I hoped it'd be when I saw the title. I am cultured in anime to a positively filthy extent, so I loved this. Great humor, not a half bad story, and nice art.

When the man said, "My name's Jeff", I felt that.

Unlawful Blobs by Bansai
Unfortunately, it felt like I was fighting the controls and it was very hard. I did find the toonish graphics charming though.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
I wasn't sure exactly what the goal was, and there wasn't much of an indicator about when poop would cause a game over, so it ultimately wasn't a fair mechanic. I had just picked a piece of poop up and was on my way to the bin, and it had only been mere seconds, yet I still got a game over from it.
Since I didn't have a goal to work toward or any means to win, I didn't find it that enjoyable, but I did really love the graphics and overall bright, playful, and laid-back atmosphere.

Where by deepfry3
An interesting idea, but has a few issues:
• When I first won, I activated the "play again" option before even getting to read the message and menu that popped up, since firing is done with space and there was no visual or audio cue to tell me I defeated the monster, and I didn't realize I could hold space for continuous fire, so I kept pressing space repeatedly to fire. One solution to this would be to disregard input for a few seconds after the menu pops up.
• You can easily beat the enemy by standing in place, far away, shooting until it's dead.

Despite the issues, the paper drawing is a very cool aesthetic, and the theme use in the concept was pretty good.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink
I absolutely love the color choices and art style. It's a very solid take on the jam theme, though - since it's unfinished - it didn't really go far enough to reach the full potential. As it stands, there isn't much point to the game. But that's just how it goes with jamming sometimes. You did awesome.

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
I hate to say it, but this is one of my least favorite jam games from you. That said, my expectation bar is set pretty high for you because of your past work, so it's not such a bad thing, really. It's still a very solid game with a good use of the theme, and it has your usual art style and rock music, which I like. In the end, it's a very decent game, and quite polished feeling.
 
Last edited:
V

VinylFly

Guest
My Top Three Games!

I've played the entirety of the GMC Jam 37 games and enjoyed them all. Here are my top 3 games.

1st Place - Killer Shark 77 by Yal
The year is 1977, and Comrade Goldfish—proud of its Republic of the Sea and its efficiency with arms smuggling—hatches a plan to rid the 'filthy capitalist humans' for 'engorging the sea with useless human appendages'. And if you guessed the answer to this problem was a gun-touting, blood thirsty shark, you would be correct!

Killer Shark 77 is one of those rare games that as soon as the action begins, you almost immediately understand the goal and how to achieve it. This immediate accessibility is crucial to the success of an arcade experience, and this one nails it.

As we begin our spiral into violence, we find ourselves in the water among all sorts of lowly chum. From the swimmer to the balloon-tethered sightseers to the attack boats, there is plenty of flesh to start gnawing into. The shark swims automatically, while using the ARROW keys to change your direction. It is as simple as finding a hapless swimmer and moving towards it, at which point your shark will automatically grab and kill it, unleashing a satisfying CHOMP sound, and leaving behind a fantastic drift of blood in its wake. It cannot be emphasized enough how satisfying it is to do this one simple task. And that is just for starters.

Beyond the initial controls, you are also able to dive and jump, as well as initiate a dash attack. You can combine the dash attack with a jump and soar across the water in spectacular fashion. After using your base kit to gulp down some people and collect 'blood' (the games currency) you can stop off at the arms dealer and load up on all sorts of firepower. From mini-guns to mines, to enhancements like a spread shot and increased fire-rate, all your hard work pays off in a big way. The thrill of adding these projectile weapons to your already beefy shark is pretty thrilling to behold.

The entire presentation is extremely polished with its trippy visuals and effects, with bizarre character portraits that really compliment the insanity of it all. The shop keeper's flesh/mechanical body with a computer screen head is both terrifying and hilarious.

A great game overall and my top game of this GMC Jam. So get out there, comrade, your republic needs you! CHOMP!

2nd Place - Crash FM by kyron
After hitting yourself in the face with a hot pan full of foodstuffs, you find yourself in the hospital, bandaged and unable to speak. This is a problem because while you were out cold, you catch a glimpse of the future where your friends appear to crash in a car accident. How can you warn them of their fate when you cannot even move your lips?!

Luckily for your friends (or so it seems), you come up with an idea to manipulate the group's radio with the intention of getting their attention. And this is where we begin to attempt to alter the future.

By fiddling with the dial, our task is to find a station that begins with a specific word—and by finding all the correct frequencies in a row—attempt to spell out the phrase, 'We are going to crash, pull over.”

This game is very unique in its ideas and succeeds in its execution. Between the wonderful original artwork and the full voice work, everything combines into a hilarious experience. And the first scene alone, of the character hitting himself with scolding food is enough to satisfy. In the end however, my play through ended in the crash anyway. Oh well, it was worth the effort!

This was an easy choice for me in terms of my top 3. The theme is accounted for tremendously well, and all the original art, voice work and mechanics all combine into such a unique experience. Awesome.

3rd Place - The Temple of Truth by Bart
In The Temple of Truth, you take on the roll of Jack, an adventurer sent on a mission to recover a mysterious fountain that grants clairvoyance to any who drink its 'zesty marmalade juice'. You are warned not to drink any however, as the contents need to be further analyzed. Luckily for us, we also get a little companion named Onio, a wild creature who HAS tasted the drink, enabling it to assist us on our journey. Unfortunately, it only speaks in riddles, so you will have to pay close attention to truly understand what the little guy is trying to communicate.

The Temple of Truth is a side-scrolling platformer that is quite ambitious and sort of feels like an origin story of a well-versed explorer finding his side-kick in the form of Onio. And the two could continue onward on other exciting and deadly expeditions . Maybe 'Jack and Onio: The Temple of Truth', and then, 'Jack and Onio: The Journey into Time', and other such episodic type serials. But I digress.

While the platforming is quite simple, you need to be at the top of your game to land some pretty hairy jumps and overcome challenges in the form of spiky enemies and invisible platforms that only your companion can sense. So listen carefully to Onio; that clever little bugger. And everything culminates with a massive boss battle at the end.

Speaking of the boss, I found the battle really fun and challenging. I wont ruin it here, but by using the visual clues provided, it becomes clear what needs to happen to defeat the menacing creature, and it leaves you feeling like you earned your win.

The game is complete, with an ending and story, but part of the fun is finding optional secrets along the way. I found a hidden room that was placed perfectly, out of the way, but the level design invites such exploration, so it feels organic. In this particular room, I was able to lift off the ground, jet-pack style, and find myself hanging out in front of a castle high in the sky. It is these little moments that are very inspiring and obviously come from a joyful and inspired place within the developer. A game made by someone who loves games and understands the potential that this magical medium can offer.

This particular game left an impression on me, and I cannot help but place it in my top 3 list of games for this particular Jam. Great game, really enjoyed!

Other Reviews

My other reviews so far, in alphabetical order. (I will try and number them at some point)

Agent37 by Nut4985
Agent37 tasks the player to first engage in intelligence gathering by placing satellites, radars and other identifiers around a grid-like computer interface to identify dangerous traps and pitfalls, and then to test the accuracy of your reconnaissance by completing small platforming sections.

While it was somewhat confusing at first, a little trial and error by messing around with the interface quickly reveals the high-concept ideas at work here. And once you realize exactly what the stakes are and what your goal is, the game reveals itself to be something quite special. The potential here is abundant, and I would love to see what could be achieved with more development time. A nice little surprise of a game.

Arbitrary by Feather Dreams
While Arbitrary's visual design and gameplay execution are quite simple, it is also very effective.

We find ourselves newly incarcerated for an unknown reason, however we do know the convict initially pleads his innocence, which falls on deaf ears during the text crawl introduction. Once the game begins proper, we get a nice visual of the jail cell, and it really sets the tone for this poor incarcerated fellow. It gives you an impression of the bleak and lonely nature of the situation, and it is here we begin our spiral into madness as we're tasked with the impossible: dealing with the whims of our only 'friend' and arbiter, the Guard.

The Guard will reveal himself once a day to ask you questions about yourself and other things, such as if you can identify images of an elephant or a table. This is where Arbitrary shines as a concept. Sometimes my answers were objectively correct—such as calling a table a 'table'--and would be greeted with what amounts to as 'no, that is not correct, you are unlawful.' Other times I would answer the Guard's question correctly, and he would agree with me. Obviously, the question is, 'does it even matter what I say? Is this entire ordeal truly all arbitrary? Is there any method to this madness?'

What makes the interactions with the Guard rather interesting is that he is quite friendly and you are rewarded with positive reinforcement. It is like the system is rooting for you even if it is rigged. And another nice touch is that if you just spam the same letter or not answer at all, you will get feedback on your non-compliance. Very cool.

Eventually I was able to convince the Guard of my compliance and let go. After re-playing the game again, I'm not convinced one way or the other if everything was arbitrary, or if there was something consistent in the craziness. Either way, the game was satisfying and interesting. Well done.

Balls to the Wall by Gizmo199
With fantastic presentation and a plethora of options, this smooth, polished and fun fighter is extremely impressive.

After choosing one of three stages—and tweaking the options to your preference—you begin a one on one battle to the death. While inspired by the likes of Super Smash Bros., the gameplay itself feels quite different because of how you need to attack with your tiny floating sword, which is most effective while you are in motion. Careful timing and quick reflexes are required to efficiently defeat your foe, and it can take a little time to get used to properly attacking.

The stages are colorful and populated by simple but effective visual elements. To add a little flavor to the mix, there are little interactive background elements like tumbleweeds. All said, this game is quite fun and extremely polished. After some practice, you'll feel right at home knocking heads with your opponent and winning the day.

Decisions by Pinkuchu
In Decisions, you guide your ghost into the afterlife by revisiting impactful moments of your life and choosing to react in 1 of 3 ways: With compassion, fear, or anger. While the game is unfinished (and what game jam game isn't to some degree), this is a good starting point for something really interesting.

After guiding your ghost around a grassy maze, you find yourself faced with a tough situation; a bunch of bullies targeting another boy. After watching some dialog between the punk kids and their victim, you are then left to click on one your three multi-colored mini-ghost buddies to decide which emotion you want to respond with. Each emotion offers its own set of dialog outcomes, and you could imagine how everything would come together at the end, seeing how your choices affect the overall narrative. Unfortunately, we don't get to see the culmination of our choices, but hopefully the developer will continue to work on the promising concept and deliver something extraordinary. But a great start!

Detective Ghost by D4Studios
After a getting drunk and passing out on the floor of a superior, a detective finds himself locked up until further notice. Once the game begins, the detective implores you (an unseen ghost) to grab a key and lend him your help.

The environments are nice and clear, and the sprites are fun and playful (I'm looking at you locked up dog, locked up goose, and crumb-crunchin' officer).

What is really interesting is the concept behind how you are supposed to solve puzzles. The READ ME text tells you that files will be written to your actual computer, and that they will contain hints for solving puzzles and where the files will be written to. What a crazy, cool idea!

Unfortunately. I was unable to trigger the next event that would write the next READ ME. I searched everywhere quite thoroughly, but I failed to find the the next clue. There seemed to be some action under a door leading to the outside; some sort of fire or sparks. But in the end, I just could not find the next trigger. The first READ ME says interacting with 'scroll in game' would activate a new file, but to no avail. I did find what I thought were scrolls, and after trying to click them, I searched my computer for new .txt files. Again, no go.

Even if I hit a roadblock in my own playthrough, I admired the ambition of the project and it clearly has legs if it gets worked on post-jam. I for one hope it does!

Doggy's Garden by klys
I've always admired games created using Game Maker's 3D functionality, as there are so many hurtles when attempting such an undertaking. From collisions to movement and beyond, it is a daunting endeavor to say the least. So it is so nice to see a game in the GMC Jam like Doggy's Garden.

Unlike a lot of first-person games, Doggy's Garden takes a different approach, where you are not fighting in intense gun battles and testing your twitch prowess, but calmly strolling around in a calming grassy environment surrounded by stone walls. At first I was not sure if I was a human or a dog, but after returning to the game and finding another dog around the same size as me, I decided that, 'yes', I too am a little doggy, and this is my garden too.

While wandering around in the maze, you will find plentiful red frisbees to collect, which almost makes me wonder if this is actually a doggy heaven! With really pleasant music and a bright, rotating blue sky, I found it quite relaxing walking around and uncovering the secrets to be found.

I was not entirely sure what the prerequisites were for such things like going through portals or opening gates, but eventually I was able to make progress and find new areas containing some fun light platforming sections reminiscent of the classic Jumping Flash series.

As I mentioned earlier, Doggy's Garden is a very calm and meditative journey, and that is why I recommend giving your inner doggy a voice and go collect some frisbees with this fun game. A very nice experience.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
In Drug Dealer Simulator, you take on the roll of the titular dealer of drugs, having to wander the well-realized streets of the neighborhood to handout the goodies. Just watch out, some of your 'clients' are undercover police, so you will need to keep your wits about you.

Whenever there is a potential customer, you will get a message from them asking for one thing or another, and by pressing TAB, you can get an idea as to where they are located. Based on their message, you need to decide if they can be trusted or if they are in fact trying to bait you.

There are uniformed officers that wander the streets as well, so you will need to be careful with how you go about your business. Luckily for us, we are also packing a handgun that we can pull at a moments notice to deal with the situation. Just be careful, you will get sacked if you are not extremely careful.

This was a pretty fun experience, and everything feels really smooth and polished. The sprites and environments are a notable achievement, and the AI is good enough that you always feel on edge. I had a hard time telling real customers from the undercover ones, but that was part of the excitement.

Another nice touch is that it seems to be randomized in terms of which customers end up contacting you, so it keeps the game feeling fresh and tense, making replays a must. Really liked the game.

Congrats to all the developers for some truly amazing games.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Roldy

Member
1st place: Homebound
By The M​
It's a game, both fun and playable. Polished and realized with good use of theme.​

2nd place: System Purge
By Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern​
It's a game, both fun and playable. Polished with good use of theme.​
3rd place: Gravity Chicken
By lamatoast​
Simple concept realized into a fun and playable game.​
Best of Theme: The Cat in the Room
Creepy, wierd, they know something you don't​
Best Presentation: Homebound

Best Concept: What's Doggo Got

Cute game. I would love a full featured polished game with same concept. Just playing with the dog.​
Top 11`ish:
  1. Homebound
  2. System Purge
  3. Gravity Chicken
  4. The Cat in the Room
  5. What's Doggo Got
  6. Listen To Me
  7. Fog of War Beta
  8. They Know How to Love
  9. Killer Shark 77
  10. Shibboleth
  11. The World knows something baby don't
 
Last edited:

Petrik33

Member
Ok, My Votes:
1. System Purge. There is no need to explain this choice I think, but still I would like to say one thing: The End Was Crazy COOL!
2. Arbitrary. Yeah it was hard in the beginning to understand gameplay, but this game really caught me in the end, also the music was nice and the visuals. I was a big pleasure to start understanding this game!
3. I guess I haven't played too much games from the list, so this is why: Fazil. Yeah, very tricky puzzles with clear visuals and simple gameplay. Liked the style.
4. Killer Shark 77. For jokes about Communism of course.
5. A Night Flight
6. Shibboleth
7. Crash FM
8.Homeland
9. Escape from trivia
10. Elementary
11. Drug Dealer Simulator
12. Gravity Chicken

I am very sorry to all whos games I havent tried, I am almost sure there were many hidden gems I haven't explored, so I wish good luck in future to all the participants of the JAM, YOU are very talented people, nice job!

Best ofs:
Theme Fitting: Crash FM)
Best DEVLOG: The Box OF Shredinger❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
 
I really liked a majority of the games, so this was hard for me. After playing all the games, I realized that the Jam Player wasn't going to cut it... so I made my own app for ranking and went through each game again.

Scoring was based on:
- Theme
- Art Cohesiveness (how well all the graphics and sound mesh together)
- Personal Enjoyment
- And scored on 6 possible flaws (such as CTD/bugs, accessability, etc). The WORST 4 scores in this category are kept. Harsh.

So, while I put some games lower than I would have liked to: not everyone can be at the top, and I appreciate the work everyone put into their entries.

Best Use of Theme: The Box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
Best Concept: Crash FM by kyon
Best Presentation: System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
2. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
3. They Know How to Love by Lumenflower
4. The Box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
5. Arbitrary by Feather Dreams
6. Master Key by Poizen
7. Homebound by The M
8. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
9. Where by deepfry3
10. Elementary by Sirham
11. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
12. Murder at Lansbury by KPJ
13. It Knows by woodsmoke
14. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
15. Fog of War by iChunkiMunki
16. Growing Up by Mercerenies
17. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
18. Killer Shark by Yal
19. You are my Ability by Sheep Wink
20. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
21. ReStory by IRON Games
22. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
23. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
24. Crash FM by kyon
25. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
26. Agent 37 by Nut4985
27. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
28. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
29. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
30. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
31. Decisions by Pinkuchu
32. Temple of Truth by Bart
33. World Knows Something Baby Dont by lalileloluly
34. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
35. A Night Flight by VinylFly
36. Escape from Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
37. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
38. shadow hall by the friendly potato
39. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
40. FAZIL by Cloaked Games
41. Tony Knows by MikeTheScrivener
42. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
43. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
44. Mr. Zoomie's Escape by Team Zoom
45. Balls to the Wall by gizmo199
46. Drug Dealer Sim by Kantros
47. Doggys Garden by klys
48. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
49. Jam 37 by Cat
A Night Flight by VinylFly: Art is great. Obstacles are forgiving, but coins can be hard to line up.

Agent 37 by Nut4985: Not much guidance on how to play, but has potential. Used installer.

Arbitrary by Feather Dreams: Nothing seems valid. Until near-everything does. I like it. Pre-post edit: I hadn't seen your post yet when I finished the game. I started repeating some of the words that the guard used and it worked, but the full explanation is really cool.

Balls to the Wall by gizmo199: Great Asthetic and AI. Felt lacking in theme and general gameplay.

Crash FM by kyon: Opening felt drawn out. That's about all I can complain about. Really fun, but not much replayability.

Decisions by Pinkuchu: Maze movement could get a little sticky along the walls at times.

Doggys Garden by klys: A bit nauseating. Couldn't figure out how to get to the platforms.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc: The flying enemy didn't seem to do anything. Cute soundFX.

Drug Dealer Sim by Kantros: Camera pan is too fast. Music is a bit vulgar and art lacks consistency.

Elementary by Sirham: Very Enjoyable. Tried a few of the different mysteries, and while there were differences, it felt very samey due to the same environment.

Escape from Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik: I'm not great at trivia so it wasn't very forgiving.

FAZIL by Cloaked Games: A bit difficult, but refreshing for its genre.

Fog of War by iChunkiMunki: Quite enjoyable overall. The out of bounds sound effect is a bit annoying, and scrolling could either benefit from keyboard controls or slightly smaller UI.

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast: Would be fun to be able to keep rotating by holding the button. Controls felt floaty and unforgiving.

Growing Up by Mercerenies: +1 for Dad's shirt. I got the F rank. Oops. Really enjoyed playing this.

Homebound by The M: Enjoyable. Everything meshes well. Progressing was slightly confusing at times.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian: With so few questions, I don't see the purpose in typing them out vs. having buttons. Couldn't figure out how to progress after asking the first couple people.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson: I couldn't beat it, but my wife did. Controls were floaty and the monster sometimes appeared immediately with no escape. That said it's terrifying and has potential. Sound is great.

It Knows by woodsmoke: The way it doesn't beeline to the goal is really cool.

Jam 37 by Cat: Something as simple as a few soundFX would really help this game out.

Killer Shark by Yal: Looks great, perhaps a tad busy for my tastes. Wanted to enjoy it more, but the controls felt a bit frustrating.

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS: Cool exploration. Dialogue was entertaining but really heavy.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple: Floaty controls + 1 hit death isn't a good combination. Looks really cool though so I wish I could've gotten farther.

Master Key by Poizen: Really enjoyable mechanics. Didn't run into any glitches/getting stuck, so great work!

Mr. Zoomie's Escape by Team Zoom: That was a vacuum. That was a vacuum. Falls in pit. That was a vacuum. Very frustrating seeing the same unskippable cutscene after each death. Otherwise liked the tutorial concept - reminded me of Spider-Man 2 for GameCube.

Murder at Lansbury by KPJ: Office-er? Enjoyable and the story made sense.

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews: Had a crash at the end of the first level, but wasn't able to reproduce. The shared energy source is a neat concept, but didn't feel like there was enough energy.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum: Controls felt awkward and confusing. Wasn't really sure what to do.

ReStory by IRON Games: Towards the presumed end checkpoints felt few and far between. Cool variety in enemies.

shadow hall by the friendly potato: Super bouncy/slidey on the controls. Little hard to see, so it'd be nice if the taunting fellow's messages were in the dark section of the screen and not blocking more of the screen.

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson: Pretty fun, even with the error right away. I tried the patch as well, but it didn't change my ranking.

Shibboleth by FrostyCat: Feels like a complete game, top to bottom. Slight learning curve, but nothing a tuned tutorial can't fix.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox: Neat concept. I could see it adapted into a really good early learning game.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche: Keyboard controls are a bit spread out and hard to remember. Shift vs Up was also confusing. Movement felt fast and I had a hard time with the platforming. Cool concept, wish I could have played more.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern: Very clean controls, very clean visuals. The variety in traps was refreshing - the room scan was my favorite one. Everything felt thought out and nothing was unbeatable or rage inducing. Very enjoyable to play.

Temple of Truth by Bart: It was hard to notice when dashing, so I got stuck in the first section for quite a while... and then after I beat the boss, a spike was blocking the exit.

The Box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot: Great concept. Hard to rank. It takes the theme and gets right to the point. It's more mind-play than game-play, and I really like that.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho: Very impressive visuals with matching audio. A bit too difficult for my case, which was unfortunate since I wanted to see more!

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom: Made it through a few of the floating, spinning levels, but that's where I ultimately got stuck.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio: I really like how the puzzle is presented. The code chart is a little busy though, and didn't realize until now that each letter is already in line with its key. Perhaps dropping the Capital letter (in the chart) and extending the key up would make it easier to view?

They Know How to Love by Lumenflower: Really enjoyable. Wasn't sure why I died at times or how to avoid it, but the visuals and gameplay mechanics are great.

Tony Knows by MikeTheScrivener: Hard to see when the ground is coming up, which makes tricks hard to pull off.

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus: Looks great. I got in a dialogue loop in the first scene though, and after encountering a crash later on it turned into a spacebar simulator.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo: I really like this one. Relaxing and optional tasks - except cleaning up after Doggo.

Where by deepfry3: Really like the art style, and how the character interacts with the page. Having limited ammo would make this game stand out, because as-is you can just keep firing the weapon to see where you are.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob: Game looks great, but after following all the clues I was stuck. No combination of the remaining items were right.

The World Knows Something Baby Dont by lalileloluly: I just like tasting the electric outlet.

You are my Ability by Sheep Wink: Really cool idea, but not much to do in its current state.

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal: I'm not a huge fan of this style of minigame, but it was pretty good. A little more variety might have helped, or slightly condensing the story.
 

Chaser

Member
Greetings fellow game Makers! My first time rating the GMC game jam games and it was a pleasure playing each and everyone of them. You guys are a very talented bunch!. Just to let you know my ratings are based on my experiences with your games and are only my opinion so you can take them with a pinch of salt, and hopefully use this as constructive feed back. :)........so without further a do:

Mr Tibbles.png
They know how to love.png
System Purge.png
Cat in the Room.png

I couldn't add anymore attachments and i don't want to flood the forum with my 'rating cards' so my full rankings are are listed below. If you want to see yours then ask and will post it or PM it you prefer. :)

Rank #1: System Purge
Rank #2: Who Killed Mr Tibbles
Rank #3: You Will Talk
Rank #4: Crash FM
Rank #5: What Doggo Got?
Rank #6: They Know How to Love
Rank #7: Night Flight
Rank #8: Homebound
Rank #9: Cat in the Room
Rank #10: listen to Me

Rank #11: Ball to the Wall
Rank #12: FAZIL
Rank #13: Know Dungeon
Rank #14: Killer Shark 77
Rank #15: ReStory
Rank #16: Box of Schrodinger
Rank #17: Arbitrary
Rank #18: Fog of War
Rank #19: Shibboleth
Rank #20 It Hungers

Rank #21: The Shade
Rank #22: Drug Dealer Sim
Rank #23: Scraps
Rank #24: Squinty & Pasty
Rank #25: You are my Ability
Rank #26: Escape from Trivium
Rank #27: Baby Knows What the World don't
Rank #28: Tony Knows
Rank #29: Growing Up
Rank #30: Temple of Truth

Rank #31: Mr Zoomie
Rank #32: Slime Time
Rank #33: Tsunderesim
Rank #34: Elementary
Rank #35: Intruder Alert
Rank #36: It Knows
Rank #37: Murder at Lansbury
Rank #38: Gravity Chicken
Rank #39: Master Key
Rank #40: Dr Swiss

Rank #41: Agent 37
Rank #42: Relic Hunter
Rank #43: Fate of the Earth
Rank #44: Shadow Hall
Rank #45: Shadow Realm
Rank #46: Detective Ghost
Rank #47: Where
Rank #48: Decisions
Rank #49: Doggy's Garden
Rank #50: RPG Editor

Rank #51: Impossible Ping

I think that is all of them.

Well done everyone! :)
 

Attachments

Last edited:
D

dosto

Guest
Congratulations to all participants! Nice entries, keep it going.

Best Use of Theme: You are my ability
Best Concept: Crash FM
Best Presentation: System Purge
Best Story: Crash FM

1. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton and GreenWyvern
2. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
3. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
4. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
5. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

6. Crash FM by Mark Lohmann, Matteo Karkazis & Kyon Edelenbosch
7. Homebound by The M
8. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
9. Who Killed Mr. Tibbles? by Team Flob
10. The Box of Schrödinger by ghandpivot
- It felt like opening scene to afterlife
 

Poizen

Member
Reviews

I played all of the 51 games and I believe I gave them all a good amount of time (unless the game was really short). I used the Jam player and just wrote down some first impressions and thoughts. I tried not to be too nitpicky.

Top 3:

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
I was a little confused by the concept after I had finished stabbing the box. Then I learned you could only play the game once. One of those philosophical games, eh. It's not about luck, it's about risk-taking. (And then there's a secret extra variable, which I can only assume is how long you hesitated. Or maybe which knives you chose.)

Well it did make me think, so kudos.

But I don't see my name on the highscore list so I don't get what the logic is there, or if it's a bug, or if my score was "adjusted".

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
You really had me there. Great writing and humor, kudos.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire where death is on the line. You don't see a lot of trivia games. It's refreshing. And most of the questions were fun and just tricky enough.

Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
Best Concept: They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
Best Presentation: System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Best Story: ReStory by IRON Games

Full ranking:

  1. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  2. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  3. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  4. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  5. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  6. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  7. Agent37 by Nut4985
  8. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  9. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  10. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  11. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  12. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  13. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  14. ReStory by IRON Games
  15. Homebound by The M
  16. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  17. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  18. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  19. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  20. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  21. Elementary by Sirham
  22. Crash FM by kyon
  23. Temple of Truth by Bart
  24. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  25. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  26. Growing up by Mercerenies
  27. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  28. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  29. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  30. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  31. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  32. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  33. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  34. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  35. Where by deepfry3
  36. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  37. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  38. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  39. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  40. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  41. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  42. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  43. Unlawful Blobs by Bansai
  44. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  45. It knows by woodsmoke
  46. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  47. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  48. Doggys Garden by klys
  49. Detective Ghost by d4 Studios
  50. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  51. Jam 37 by Cat

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

Cute game. Loved the atmosphere.

Agent37 by Nut4985

What a cryptic game initially. Took me a good while to figure out what's going on. But it's not a bad thing. The concept is pretty cool.

The platforming sections are pretty standard platforming stuff (though done well), but the reconnaissance you have to do beforehand really adds to it.

The game is very generous with how much equipment you can use, but I definitely don't mind.



arbitrary by Feather Dreams

Well I was left with a sense of dread and mystery. Yeah that was an interesting game and art piece. A small rollercoaster. At one point it was calling my inputs unlawful much to my confusion (I mean, is that not an elephant?). I wasn't sure if the game was buggy or if it was gaslighting me.

Edit: Ok, I saw the "unknown law" in the discussion topic. Huh. So the game just baits you into breaking the law. Unfortunately I didn't pick up on that.

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Cool menu! The whole thing looks very polished.

Difficult to get hang of the controls. (I'd just like to jump by pressing up on the gamepad.) And I'm not very good at fighting games anyway.

Crash FM by kyon

Lol, what a morbid, wacky premise.

Surprisingly short. I was expecting another level but then it ended.

It sounds like y'all had fun making the game and doing the voices.

Decisions by Pinkuchu

I was confused for a good while because it's not explained anywhere that you have to stand on the white rectangle when you make a choice or otherwise nothing happens.

The concept of colorful personified emotion ghosts seems interesting. Not a lot to the game otherwise though. The mazes are not exciting at all. There are only three scenarios. And it doesn't seem like your choice does anything, with the exception of the last one. (I guess time ran out and the original vision wasn't done justice?)

Detective Ghost by d4 Studios

The game doesn't seem overly complicated but I don't see a way to progress in the crime scene. There are only closets and a door you can't interact with.

Doggys Garden by klys

It sucks that the player doesn't move with the moving platform. Almost ragequit there after having fallen down five times.

I guess it just keeps looping between the two levels. I don't know if you're supposed to collect all the red coins but there are sooo many of them that it's not fun and I didn't bother continuing after I had collected a couple of hundred (it looks like they reset too). And the shadow puppy is there only for theme, right? It knows secret lore or something.

At least there's chill Zelda music. Could use sound effects too.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

That backstory was a doozy. Also I love a good "woops I ran out of time" screen.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

Obviously part of the game is that you aren't necessarily 100% sure about a person. Or at least I messed up many times. And got shot a few times. But it gets a little tedious when you have to start over. Well I eventually got it. My drug dealer training is now complete.

I assume the graphics are from a third party graphics pack? They're just so detailed.

Elementary by Sirham

The music is very repetitive. I actually had to turn it off.

I think the logic connecting the person to the crime is a little questionable in the first two cases so it took me a sec to get on board. The stabbing case I could not figure it out at all. But other than that it was a fun little game.

It's cool how it's the same house but subtle things are different between the cases.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire where death is on the line. You don't see a lot of trivia games. It's refreshing. And most of the questions were fun and just tricky enough.

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

What a comprehensive tutorial. Nice. I like the voiceover.

Some of the puzzles were puzzling but the tried-and-true method of mindlessly moving the blocks around often gets the job done. But I couldn't figure out the secret to the penultimate puzzle on my own. I had to get a hint from GrizzliusMaximus' review. Then I replayed the game and noticed you can take another route in the beginning and that's where the game gives you a hint... so I don't know if it's just an oversight that the player can lock themselves out of getting that hint.

Yeah this game gave my noggin a workout.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

It's kinda easy to not pay attention and have all your workers die and when you have no resources it's game over. I guess that's RTS life for ya.

I like the graphics and sounds.

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

My first thought is that it would be more intuitive if the rotation controls were the other way around, but maybe that's just a nitpick. It just took some effort to try to keep them straight in my head.

I gotta say the game could do without the limited lives. It's pretty punishing when you're seven levels in and have to redo everything. I mean it's a puzzle game with some trial and error (you can't see the whole room so you make some leaps of faith).

But I do dig a puzzle game that looks like a DOS game. Couldn't quite get to the end to figure out the secret, but the journey alone fits the theme I think.

Growing up by Mercerenies

I was expecting some horror element what with the unsettling music and demonic teddy bear. But in the end I guess it was just a life simulator with odd mystery elements sprinkled in.

Peculiar that the minigame affected the date so much. I'm not sure if I was supposed to fail the entire time and the game just made it seem like there was a choice. (Like it was just a visual novel following a script.)

I'm trying to think how much it actually fits the theme though. The elevator (some kind of symbolism for fate? or life or the universe?) knows... something.

Homebound by The M

Quite the expansive map with diverse enemies. Fun weapons (I love a good laser beam). The game felt suspenseful and challenging without being frustrating. Except for the last(?) boss which is pretty tough. I'm having a hard time figuring out how you can dodge the ram attack (seems like you just have to pray to RNGesus). I beat it once. It was game over and it restarted. I beat it a second time after dozens of attempts. Game over again. I can't tell if the game is just messing with me.

So the AI has gone rogue. And how it fits the theme is that the AI has a new secret objective. And that is only revealed in the last piece of dialogue before the game ends. I'm trying to piece together the story after playing, and I'm wondering if I missed anything in the midst of all the action or if it was deliberately left a bit vague - which is fine.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

I like the detective's sprite.

A cool idea. Would be neat to see the system working in a complete game.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

Holy crap, that's a gruesome death scene!

The movement is kinda weird and it's hard initially to get the hang of the controls and I wonder if it's part of the design that the character is disorientated or something.

It's easy to get suddenly killed, and another time you might find the key in the first locker. Pretty random in that sense. But I did enjoy this small horror movie. Also, I don't know if the bat is supposed to be useless but it would fit the theme of the game.

It knows by woodsmoke

I like how straightforward the first screen is. :D The blob knows where the flag is, that's it.

It plays through a whole song when you beat a level. Some last minute sound design? :D

I'm confused what the AI is doing. Sometimes the blobs zip around randomly and sometimes one of them immediately beelines towards the flag? Just a dice roll if any specific blob knows the right direction?

Jam 37 by Cat

It's a Pong. And unwinnable by design.

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

Psychedelic and unsettling intro screen. The game kinda gives me a Hotline Miami vibe or something. The effects look and sound very satisfying. The problem is that my computer absolutely could not handle the mayhem that ensued and the lag became crazy. It was probably running at 4 FPS. I soon had 10 million money and it took me forever to find the shop. It would have been fun to see how long I could last but the game was literally unplayable from the lag at the end. I wanted to just wait in place until I'm dead, but it's actually hard to die (which in itself is fun and accessible). I had to start a new game to see what the death screen looks like, haha

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

You really had me there. Great writing and humor, kudos.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple

A lot of precise unforgiving jumps. The guy is so slidy! Thank lord the whole boss fight doesn't restart when you die.

An AI keeps chatting me up, then it becomes a gigantic boss, then I escape the facility. Is this a Portal reference?

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

I wish it didn't display the unskippable instructions every time you die. (Also a weird thing, it always shows the vacuum dialogue even if I fall into a pit.)

The ending made me laugh though.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

So I knew who the killer was (the clues all but outright state it), but I forgot which sprite belonged to whom. I wish the suspects had name tags.

A fun little mystery game. Maybe a bit too easy. I was expecting to have to pay more attention to details, but the deductions were pretty much automated.

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

The mechanics are a bit trippy at first. The game hijacks the cursor which makes it difficult to aim while moving, and both shooting and levitating use the same energy which is annoying at times (especially when it replenishes so slowly). But I dunno, maybe I'm just used to different kinds of controls in games.

This game def requires some patience.

There's an unfortunate bug where you die but the level doesn't restart and you have to quit the game. And another unfortunate design flaw in the dark level that if you missed an artifact before the hat, you're stuck. Really unfortunate.

I like the graphics.

ReStory by IRON Games

"Toki yo tomare!" I love that time stop effect.

Working the controls feels a little tricky. In the boss fight I'm just mashing Q and F.

I liked the story. And the enemies were pretty unique.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

The help text is a bit rambly lol. There are a lot of buttons and you have to memorize them all. Honestly that's a lot to ask. Yeah makes this kinda hard to use.

Tough to review because it's not really a game. Would've been cool if there was a demo level included.

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

Took me a minute and some help to realize that you can only turn the page in a specific room, and that the picture on the current page is a hint.

At first I thought the game was a little obtuse but after the last page I wanted more pages. It was so short.

shadow hall by the friendly potato

That is one slippery blob of butter. Combined with some unforgiving jumps. Well, in the end it wasn't impossibly challenging.

Pretty damn short but a nice start for a platforming game.

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

I assume there's no win condition here.

The game is super unfinished but there's a neat idea there.

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

Took me a while to get the hang of the rules, especially when the readme says "The correct solution: Bottom-left unit is the rogue, all others are civilians." when the bottom-right one is the rogue.

It's quite unlike Minesweeper in that you basically have to solve the whole board at once because there's the added complexity of rogues. Got too hard for me on level 5.

This is a small thing and I have no proof but I swear it didn't register the correct solution at one point. Got me stuck for a good while.

I appreciate the mute button for the music.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

Oh what an absurd game. And it's over after two very short and easy rooms. I thought it was going to be more elaborate when it even had gamepad support.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

So many different buttons. You guys got a bit ambitious with the mechanics. (Many times I just mashed all the buttons until the right thing happened.)

A difficult game. I felt like the platforming was finicky (I think Squinty accelerates too fast), I was constantly messing up jumps. I got mad at times. But I persevered and beat it (deaths: 177, time: 00:28:40). I have to say it's kinda pedantic of the game to require that the puzzle is not only complete but also rotated the right way. :p

It was a unique game. I like the style, the graphics, the soundscape. Very polished.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

Oh dang, this looks good! Cool art and effects.

It was a neat short story. Though I feel like I missed what the ending was about. Someone was teleported and then... they came back?

Temple of Truth by Bart

Neat. There were some clever gameplay elements. The purple vegetable's hints seemed kinda useless though.

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

I was a little confused by the concept after I had finished stabbing the box. Then I learned you could only play the game once. One of those philosophical games, eh. It's not about luck, it's about risk-taking. (And then there's a secret extra variable, which I can only assume is how long you hesitated. Or maybe which knives you chose.)

Well it did make me think, so kudos.

But I don't see my name on the highscore list so I don't get what the logic is there, or if it's a bug, or if my score was "adjusted".

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Social anxiety: the game. Also could be an episode of Dexter.

The progression of the story kept me interested throughout.

Those detailed assault animations were cool. Really accentuates the pivotal scenes.

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

Cool colors.

This is one of those games where I had to scour the discussion topic for help, because I could not figure out how you input the code. (Turns out it doesn't tell you when it's correct.)

Oof, these physics mazes are so unforgiving. I'd say I liked the adventure game part way more.

I wish I could've read the dialogue with Dr. Kaboom but there's some weird text blocking part of it.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

I had to use an online anagram solver for one of the 6-letter words lol. I was thinking the puzzles could definitely use more hints, like relevant imagery. I didn't notice at all that it shows the letters you get right until I had spent several minutes in the last puzzle. Gah!

The game revolves around the piano so it would have been cool if each correct word was also a meaningful tune. Though I understand it would have been more difficult to make it work. A shame.

This is another game in the jam that tells the story of a person's life. And the way I understand it relates to the theme is that some higher power knows your fate or purpose. It's kinda vague IMO.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

What a game. I feel like I'm going through some kinda psychological test.

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

Very creative concept, I like it. I love the atmosphere. And I'm unironically a fan of the "ms paint doodle" art style (like An Untitled Story) especially when coupled with solid gameplay.

The monster is terrifying so you did a good job with that. And it is near-inescapable death which adds to the feeling of dread, but it also makes the game very difficult and many times you're just backed into a corner and die. I love the exploration but it's kinda frustrating having to start from the beginning constantly.

The probes didn't seem very useful. I don't think I encountered any drops where it would have been necessary to measure the depth (but then I couldn't beat the game). Also I have no idea what the barrels do.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

Nice skateboarding engine. It's fun to play around for a while. Leaves me wanting more content though.

I appreciate a good hustle but the relevance of the theme is kinda shaky.

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

It's like one of my japanese animes. It was a cute slice-of-life story.

Could've used some incidental sound effects and music.

Unlawful Blobs by Bansai

Took some time to get the hang of what's going. Ah, so the blob moves towards the cursor. Ah, you can't move after you kill a red blob.

I tried many times but I couldn't clear the first wave. The difficulty curve might be a teeny bit steep.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

The song is cute.

It looks like there isn't much of a goal. Collect coins if you can find them and the game ends after some time.

Where by deepfry3

Love the doodle aesthetic. And the game plays smooth. But I was disappointed that it's very easy to win and impossible to lose.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

It's like Clue junior. I would say this is a good kids game but some of the hints are kinda confusing, like "hang on I'm gonna miss my favorite tv show" referring to the bathroom.

Very nice implementation of the theme.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

You know, it is kinda fun to play around and try different abilities. Though it's frustrating that it's so easy to lose your cool combination just by using it (I would hope that part is changed if development continues).

Neat sprites and colors.

It wasn't really apparent to me how the theme was applied, and it's kind of a loose fit ("it has an ability you don't")

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

The minigames were alright even if they weren't that original. The story kept me interested.
 
Go go voting post time

Top 3:

Homebound by The M
Whoa, this was really cool.
I groaned a little internally at first because I really wasn't in the mood for a mouse based shooter(Since I don't have a mouse), but this was so cool that I loved it despite my handicap.
Firstly, the way you used the AI companion was very cool. Not only are they a second guy for support, but they also work as a kind of extra life during combat encounters. I don't think people realise how clever this idea is haha. It's so simple.
The enemy variety was good, and the boss fights were cool and varied, I could never rely on just one ability or strategy.
The overall progression and difficulty was handled really well, and I never felt the game was unfair, especially because of checkpoints.
My only suggestion with the combat would be to decrease the bullet damage, but increase the fire rate and speed. It's always more fun to shoot more, and faster in these games.
The level progression was great too, with a hint of metroidvania exploration, which I would have liked to see more of(Perhaps breakable walls you can blast open with the beam upgrade).
You also were able to capture the sense of claustrophobia you may experience in a spaceship during the combat encounters and I thought that was really cool too.
The sprites were ok(I liked the little details like the gun orientation when aiming), and the background art was nice too, all really clean and consistent which is great.
The way you hid rooms out of view was really well done, as were the general camera effects. The way you handled stairs was most impressive, it just worked so well with the view occlusion. I'd love to see how you did that!
That said, it wasn't immediately clear to me that that was a stairwell. Could have used some sort of transitionary tile there, to give the illusion of stairs or something.
The twist in the story was well handled as well, I never saw it coming. Nice work. But upon ending and showing the title screen thing, it just respawned me back before the ending part again... so I wasn't quite sure if I had truly reached the end but I saw nothing else to do.

Shibboleth by FrostyCat
Interesting puzzle game, and well made. Great play on the theme.
I wasn't keen on it at first, because it seemed too difficult. But once I started to fully understand how it works, I really started to dig it.
I actually found the earlier stages more difficult than the last few, I guess this was partly due to learning better as I go, and the bigger maps give you more to work with in figuring it out.
Great presentation, I really liked your menu and credits screen, very slick.
I don't really have any criticisms or complaints, you made a clever and fun puzzle game.
I guess if I had to nitpick, it could have used a more interesting background, and personally I'm not a fan of the style of those sprites you used.

Crash FM by kyon
You really have a distinct visual style.
I feel like this was one of the cooler uses of the theme, and a cool idea regardless.
It was fun listening to a bit of each of the radio channels before realising what the puzzle was.
Weird character designs but I love it. Great art and presentation. Those in-between paper drawings in the intro were so good.
All the audio was great, a lot of voice acting and music. I will have to revisit this one just to hear what else is going on in the game.

The last thing I want to say is judging by the radio audio, and the end credits song, it sounds like you and your mates had a really good time making this which just make me like this so much more.

Best ofs:

Best use of : Crash FM by kyon
Best Concept: They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
Best Presentation: Crash FM by kyon
Best Story: Homebound by The M
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. Homebound by The M
  2. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  3. Crash FM by kyon
  4. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  5. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  6. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  7. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  8. Master Key by Poizen
  9. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  10. Growing up by Mercerenies
  11. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  12. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  13. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  14. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  15. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  16. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  17. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  18. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  19. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  20. Temple of Truth by Bart
  21. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  22. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  23. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  24. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  25. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  26. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  27. Elementary by Sirham
  28. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  29. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  30. Where by deepfry3
  31. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  32. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  33. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  34. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  35. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  36. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  37. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  38. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  39. ReStory by IRON Games
  40. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  41. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  42. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  43. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  44. It knows by woodsmoke
  45. Jam 37 by Cat
  46. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  47. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  48. Doggys Garden by klys

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

Short and sweet. Cute story-focused take on the theme.
I dug the Uke soundtrack(Was that you playing? Very cool).
The story was silly but fun, (The video at the end made me smile).
Gameplay was pretty simple and lacked any challenge though, but it was made pretty well, that 3D effect worked well.
The jumping could have been smoother, and the coin collision was maybe too forgiving(I collected quite a few that I feel like I wasn't close enough to).
Overall presentation was great too, seems like you had a solid idea of what you wanted to make, Kudos.

Agent37 by Nut4985

Installer.

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

Strange entry, and I'm not sure I understood it in the end.
I was confused by the acceptable answers, and what the point of some of them were.
In that sense it follows the theme to the letter, since it clearly knows something I don't.
I didn't overly enjoy the entry due to the frustration at not being able to discern what is or isn't lawful, if there were some clues, they were too subtle(At least for me).
That said, it was made and presented very well. I especially dug the way the jailor would appear to fade in and out from the shadows to ask you questions.
The ranking here is solely on the presentation and results of my own comedic genius I didn't expect shown below XD

Arbitrary 04-Jun-20 7_55_48 PM.png

Arbitrary 04-Jun-20 8_06_55 PM.png

Arbitrary 04-Jun-20 8_13_30 PM.png

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

I wanted to like this because it looked so clean and complete, and the obvious Smash Bros. influence(of which I'm a big fan), but I just couldn't get the hang of the gameplay.
I didn't understand how the attack worked, and the enemy seemed able to spam attack me, sometimes into a corner. Even jumping out just had them instantly follow me up and destroy me. The grab seemed to do nothing, though I think I accidentally connected once.
The art style was really slick, the rolling ball effect of the faces was quite cool.
I really dug the menu and pause screen. Extra gamepad controls are always a plus too.

Crash FM by kyon

You really have a distinct visual style.
I feel like this was one of the cooler uses of the theme, and a cool idea regardless.
It was fun listening to a bit of each of the radio channels before realising what the puzzle was.
Weird character designs but I love it. Great art and presentation. Those in-between paper drawings in the intro were so good.
All the audio was great, a lot of voice acting and music. I will have to revisit this one just to hear what else is going on in the game.

The last thing I want to say is judging by the radio audio, and the end credits song, it sounds like you and your mates had a really good time making this which just make me like this so much more.

Decisions by Pinkuchu

Looks very unfinished. The gameplay consists of a buggy maze and ends on an empty room.
The dialogue box seemed broken, positioned incorrectly, with part of it off-screen.
The maze was just one path to an exit, and the collisions were not very good. I'm assuming you have a box around all four sprites, which included a lot of empty space, making you get caught on corners and walls despite not actually being anywhere near them. Either use a sprite mask, a single sprite as the player with smaller collisions(such as the bigger ghost) where you draw the other ghosts without them having collisions, or you use precise collisions maybe.
After exiting the maze, you get another broken dialogue box and when that conversation is over, you're left in a big empty room with nothing to do.

Doggys Garden by klys

I apologise in advance because I don't really have anything positive to say about this entry.

Firstly, that's Zora's Domain theme music. So since you ripped off that, I can only assume the other song is similarly ripped off from something else, which makes me question if any of the assets in your game were stolen from other games.
This looks like you took an intro 3D tutorial and slapped some random assets on to it. The dog had no textures, and the red coin things were just as featureless.
All you could do was move around and collect things. The moving platforms required you to move with them which makes no sense.
The giant portal didn't seem to want to work most of the time.
There was no discernable goal or objective, so I just wandered aimlessly until I collected everything I could.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

Wonderfully silly story as per usual. It's great to see Dr. Swiss yet again.
Still dig that colourful background you used in the intro. The howto screen was very nice.
Controls had good weight to them, and I loved that sound effect when running, too funny.
My first real concern was the jumping to the next platform was weird, the first part of the level, the boxes weren't high enough to jump through all the way, but if you mash jump whilst you are near the beam, you'll sometimes double jump. It doesn't feel like it was intended to play that way, but there was no other option to ascend certain parts otherwise!
It's disappointing that there wasn't any more stages to play, that first was was so simple but had potential for something fun. I did like how I could use the forklift enemy as a platform as it zoomed past, future stages could have used that in creative ways I bet.
The music was neat too. Despite you running out of time, the ending you made up still gave me a chuckle.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

Did you make all the art? The sprites were very well animated, and the backgrounds were good. The gun looked out of place though.
I see you apparently have rights to use the background music, not really a fan of the chosen song, but I guess it sort of fits the game.
The concept was interesting, but I feel like I mostly relied on a bit of luck to guess which ones were the cops or not. Some were more obvious, but it seemed a bit arbitrary at times.
That said I still think you do a good job, especially with the camera.
The cops chase you if your gun out, so that was a cool little mechanic to add putting your gun away.
Also, the gun just hovers and it looks so weird, but I get it, I've done it before in a jam too.
The bullets were very slow, bullets are fast, dude! It would look and feel cooler if the bullets were faster.
The textbox at the top confused me at first and I tried to close it, but it still looked good. Not a criticism, but if you planned on continuing to work on this or making something similar, it would be pretty cool to have a phone displayed on screen showing these text messages. Which would make sense in this context. Just an idea.

Elementary by Sirham

Neat concept, surprisingly there were only a handful of these kinds of games but I expected a few more.
I was a bit disappointed that the different scenarios used the same building and people.
I think it would have been nice to be informed *why* we were right. I wasn't able to accurately solve it, just guessed the first one because I didn't like the dude and it was right.
Art was neat and consistent. Some sound and music would have been nice.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

Beat it with a score of 412150!
That was on my second attempt though, my first attempt ended quickly when I got hit with sports and geography questions right off the bat.
I had another play or two after just to see what other questions were in there. I noticed a lot of the same questions so I'm guessing you didn't have all that many. Which is fair enough for a jam game!
A trivia game is an odd choice but fits the theme well(Good job finding a way to include it in the gameplay). Not sure I've seen a trivia adventure game haha, you could be on to something.
Great presentation, not much in the way of animation(swords swinging themselves haha).
Art was ok, consistent. I would have used a parallax effect for the background though.
Needs credits for the music though.

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

Interesting twist on two classic puzzle games. Works surprisingly well.
The voice over work was fun, and though I'm not a fan of the style of art, it works well in this game.
I got stumped pretty quickly on one level, but eventually found a secret and accidentally beat that level. No idea why that worked. I continued on and then I finished level 7(maybe 8?) with many more moves than it said I should use. Regardless it started a new voice over with what felt like a victory. All I could do was go back to that same level. I eventually beat it with the right amount of moves and expected to unlock the remaining levels, but it just replayed the same voice lines and said I had completed 8/12 levels. I don't know if I'm missing something or if there is a bug!

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

Another unexpected entry. An RTS? OK.
Seem to control well enough, had your standard RTS controls and stuff.
You didn't enable fullscreen, so I wasn't able to scroll down on maps(Due to the game window being larger than my display), making my play time a bit short.
The art was really nice and clean, with good animations. I thought the effect of shrinking the resources as they deplete was quite clever.
Music was neat too.

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

Got to level 7.
Art and gameplay were simple. I don't see any link to the theme either.
For what it was it controlled well, so no issues there.
Great decision to add alternate controls, but you choice was a bit odd. I can't for the life of me understand why you would put the rotate controls on left and right click when the alternate is Z and X. I don't have a mouse so that wasn't really an option for me, and I prefer to use WASD which doesn't play well with Z and X unfortunately.
One issue I had with the gameplay was that arrows still kill you when they are not moving... that makes no sense, and sucks in a game where you have limited retries.

Growing up by Mercerenies

My final rank? Squiggly line! Yes!
I had a second playthrough but accidentally quit before getting my ranking there. I don't imagine it was much better than squiggly line.
I found the concept to be pretty interesting, and it was well made.
The art is a bit on the rough side, but there's actually quite a bit of it as well. Some of it like the clock looked quite nice.
The dialogue system worked quite well, and it was neat to see the happiness meter changing. But in my eyes, the answers for most of it were pretty obvious.
Unfortunately, what let me down here were my typing skills. I can't type fast under pressure, so I never succeeded the typing mini-game. It got so much more difficult so quickly too. I'm not sure the mini-game itself was all that fitting, and it's not that interesting on it's own.
Overall I thought it was a neat experience, I'm still a little curious about the ending and the elevator, etc.

Homebound by The M

Whoa, this was really cool.
I groaned a little internally at first because I really wasn't in the mood for a mouse based shooter(Since I don't have a mouse), but this was so cool that I loved it despite my handicap.
Firstly, the way you used the AI companion was very cool. Not only are they a second guy for support, but they also work as a kind of extra life during combat encounters. I don't think people realise how clever this idea is haha. It's so simple.
The enemy variety was good, and the boss fights were cool and varied, I could never rely on just one ability or strategy.
The overall progression and difficulty was handled really well, and I never felt the game was unfair, especially because of checkpoints.
My only suggestion with the combat would be to decrease the bullet damage, but increase the fire rate and speed. It's always more fun to shoot more, and faster in these games.
The level progression was great too, with a hint of metroidvania exploration, which I would have liked to see more of(Perhaps breakable walls you can blast open with the beam upgrade).
You also were able to capture the sense of claustrophobia you may experience in a spaceship during the combat encounters and I thought that was really cool too.
The sprites were ok(I liked the little details like the gun orientation when aiming), and the background art was nice too, all really clean and consistent which is great.
The way you hid rooms out of view was really well done, as were the general camera effects. The way you handled stairs was most impressive, it just worked so well with the view occlusion. I'd love to see how you did that!
That said, it wasn't immediately clear to me that that was a stairwell. Could have used some sort of transitionary tile there, to give the illusion of stairs or something.
The twist in the story was well handled as well, I never saw it coming. Nice work. But upon ending and showing the title screen thing, it just respawned me back before the ending part again... so I wasn't quite sure if I had truly reached the end but I saw nothing else to do.

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

Oh I see that this is unfinished, shame.
With that in mind, there isn't much to discuss here unfortunately.
The Menu screen art was a bit rough, but the rest was ok. Good simple animated player is nice.
I can't say much about the gameplay since it was so unfinished. The little disposition face was cute.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

Not sure where the theme was unless it knows where the key is? Because I bloody didn't.
The art was alright, the way the monster hobbled in it's walk animation was hilarious though.
The movement controls were not good, dude. You seem to have it set to only let you change direction if you let go of a direction first which is awkward and not responsive. I'll be moving down and want to head left, but I have to let go of all movement keys first or it will keep heading down.
Sometimes the lockers seemed to be a bit pedantic about where you had to stand to open them, but apart from that, they worked pretty well.
It wasn't clear though that you had to HOLD control to search lockers, so my first few attempts were opening a locker, pressing control, assuming I found nothing and moving on.
The monster I feel was really unfair. Most of the time you get no warning or no good way to be ready for it to hide, so it relies a lot on just being lucky which isn't fun. Several attempts I found I just walk down into that first corridor and seconds later it just walks in and sees me instantly. I did notice in later attempts that you can hear the doors open and close as it moves through them, but without directional audio, it doesn't help you all that much. And that obviously doesn't help at all in the hallways where there is no door to open to transition into the next area. Some light footsteps or some faint monster noises or some clue would vastly improve this I think.
The sounds used were great quality, very fitting. The menu font was fitting too, but due to the size and dark colour, it was almost a little diffficult to read.

It knows by woodsmoke

Neat idea, but needs some work.
The player movement was a bit odd. Felt like I was controlling a hovercraft or something as opposed to a person.
The enemy movement was... odd, but it kind of worked for the game mode except when one enemy would just beeline straight for the flag.
What I would have maybe done was have some randomised AI types, where one enemy will move towards the goal, but the others will try and lead you the wrong way. To me that would have been more interesting than the random flinging about they do.
Also, you seemed to have taken some random country song(Which I'm assuming you don't have rights to use) and used it as the victory music, which continues on into the next level and then randomly stops.

Jam 37 by Cat

I would have made it each time the ball hits a paddle, you would hear me say "PONGGGGGG!"

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

Didn't this game just come out? :p

Well that certainly was... something. Not really feeling the theme here, though.
Controlled well enough and was fun for a minute or so. Became a laggy unplayable mess pretty quick though! Shark is OP, even before upgrades, but that makes sense, it's a 💩💩💩💩ing shark.
All the effects were a bit overdone. It was too much, I like my chromatic abberation in small doses if at all.

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

YOU BASTARD YOU GOT ME!

Cute music, then Wilhelm scream. Perfect haha.
Hearing those sweet Micah_DS tunes straight off the bat. Nice. Always one of the things I look forward to most in these jams.
Your dialogue sound effects were hilarious, that should have tipped me off.
It's funny, when I read the name I thought "Know Dungeon... heh, more like, No Dungeon" then shrugged that off when it started.
For a joke game, you put a lot of polish on it! Which was quite nice, haha. I can't stay mad at you for it.
The ending was funny, and got me to swear out loud at my laptop. So, good job.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple

Cute platformer.
The art was very simple with no real animations or anything, but the little details with sprite bouncing were nice, and the changing expressions of the flying computer screen guy(Especially how he smiles when you die in the boss fight). The slow scrolling background made it more interesting than a static one.
Some good overall presentation with a nice clean menu too.
The music was a bit random and not all the nice to listen to, got repetitive quickly.
The platforming was done well, there was good weight to the character.
Spikes shouldn't kill you by touching the non-pointy part... That makes no sense. Caught me a few times and it just didn't feel all that fair. Perhaps you could have come up with a hazard that made more sense to kill you from all angles(or even drawn the spikes slightly pointing outwards as well to indicate there is no safe place to touch them).
The boss fight was well made, a good variety of attacks to avoid, but it had too much health! It became a bit tedious towards the end. I really dug the beam pillar attack, but I feel like they blended into the background too much. Overall your game could have used more visual contrast, but this was the part that would have benefitted most from it I believe.
Not quite clear on what the ending meant, and the ties to the theme seemed a bit loose but still worked!

Master Key by Poizen

For future reference, you can make a readme.txt file and the jam player will link to it, putting your controls and stuff in there is a good idea.
That said I didn't have a hard time figuring them out, I thought it was neat I could move around on the title screen.
The platforming was a bit buggy, you lose jump height if you jump near walls, which makes some of the jumping sections a little frustrating.
It was also very slow, felt almost laggy.
The beams were satisfying to shoot, and the main mechanic of blasting holes in the geometry was quite fun. Especially with the hyper beam.
Art could have used a little more work. Some texture to the geometry and more detail on the player, which was still nicely animated.

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

Ok, that menu music is terrible in a fantastic way. Very funny. The boss music was good!
Platformer about a cat in people clothes fighting vacuums and shooting yarn balls was not something I was expecting from the theme.
The platforming was ok, the jumping could use a little tweaking, mostly in regards to collisions since you seem to slow you fall when next to blocks, and, sometimes you get stuck in the ground briefly or can't jump if you're right up against a wall or block.
The controls are a bit too spread out for my liking. Arrows, Spacebar, and F seem like an odd choice to me, but at least the gameplay was simple enough that it didn't become an issue. (I did however have a problem with sprint jumping since key ghosting prevents me from holding Left, Up, and Space at the same time, but that's not on you).
I thought it was amusing that the shadowy figure would only tell me stuff as I failed, but I didn't need to see that more than once, and it was a bit bugged since I could fall down a hole and be told all over again about the vacuums. An option to speed up the text or skip would have been ideal here.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

Good idea for the theme, and seems made pretty well. Is the name a reference to Angela Lansbury? Haha.
I had Ashley pegged as the murderer from the start haha. I feel like the ending would have been better if you let me choose the wrong person and have a separate ending for that too.
Lack of fullscreen was a pain since the bottom of the screen was cut so I almost missed the magnifying glass icon.
The art was consistent but there seemed to be some pixel distortion which was not great.

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

Great art and presentation, with reasonably solid platforming.
All the sprites looked great, minimal animation but it still looked great. Smart choice to have a hovering robot protagonist haha.
The backgrounds were quite nice too, but I feel like it was a missed opporunity to use some cool parallax effects! You already had some neat camera zoom for the foreground. Just could have added that extra bit of flavour is all.
The descent speed on the jump/fall felt way too slow, but I guess if you consider the robot is hovering a bit, it kind of makes sense. Just didn't feel good to play.
The upwards hover from holding jump was sooooo slow too. I get it was by design but it was just so frustratingly slow. Again, didn't feel good to play.
Shooting and aiming worked well(I had trouble being on a laptop with no mouse, but nothing I couldn't handle).
The enemy variation was nice and progressive. Shooty vine guys were easy to avoid or deal with, and the trees more so. Though the floaty bomb guys were quite annoying! But I liked them(Maybe just spawned a little less frequently?). In the end the difficulty curve was good there.
The biggest complaints I have:
-When I died, I was just broken on the ground. I could still shoot but the bar wouldn't refill. As far as I could tell, there was no way to exit this state without closing the game... A level restart would have been good. So I just restarted on easy mode and ran through it again(begrudgingly).
-The ending part, after jumping down the hole I got stuck and there was nothing I could do to progress or anything. So I just had to close the game. And I'm not willing to slog through all that again just to see what happens haha.
For such a lengthy jam game, it's probably worth making sure your lose conditions are solid.

ReStory by IRON Games

I appreciate the effort with the storyboards, but I feel like that time should have been spent on refining the platforming, or balancing the game better.
The jumping was very awkward, I'm not sure how to explain it, it seemed to stop all horizontal movement for a second or something which was quite jarring.
It would have been beneficial to explain the controls anywhere else but just the pause menu. I didn't pause until I went to quit the first time, so I went through most of my playthrough by guessing the controls. Like when you are told you can now stop time, my thoughts were "Cool... how though?" since it's not mentioned there.
The enemies were annoying more than challenging. The ghosts just follow you endlessly with unlimited range?
The sound effect for the time stop was way loud too, and it should check to make sure it isn't already playing when activated again.
Some of the background tiles looked like platforms which caught me off-guard as I tried to jump on them.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

Cool I guess, but I was looking for games to play, not to make XD
Also I don't have a middle click, so whatever that did, was unusable for me.

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

Got stuck, I thought rearranging the letters on the fridge would do something but I guess not? I obviously missed something, despite multiple attempts.
Neat idea to use a 3D model for your source backgrounds, works well here. Would have been really neat with some textures.
The music was very atmospheric(No credits though, did you make it?).
In the end it was a cool idea that I liked despite not being able to progress.

shadow hall by the friendly potato

Simple platformer, perhaps a bit too slidey, and the camera lagged behind a wee bit.
There wasn't too much to it, just a couple of platforming sections and one or two enemies who were easy to avoid.
Apart from the excess sliding, the platforming seemed pretty solid. Jumping felt good.
Not sure what the player was supposed to be but the art good. Simple pixel sprites.

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

Couldn't talk to the thing on the altar, so I restarted the game. Third attempt I got it to talk, but I couldn't pick up sticks. Fourth attempt I managed to pick one up but giving it to the altar thing crashed the game.

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

Interesting puzzle game, and well made. Great play on the theme.
I wasn't keen on it at first, because it seemed too difficult. But once I started to fully understand how it works, I really started to dig it.
I actually found the earlier stages more difficult than the last few, I guess this was partly due to learning better as I go, and the bigger maps give you more to work with in figuring it out.
Great presentation, I really liked your menu and credits screen, very slick.
I don't really have any criticisms or complaints, you made a clever and fun puzzle game.
I guess if I had to nitpick, it could have used a more interesting background, and personally I'm not a fan of the style of those sprites you used.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

Kind of neat but waaaaay too short.
Gamepad support was pretty neat, so thanks for that.
Slime guy looked cool, and the background assets looked nice and clean too.
The weird vocal background noise was so weird haha but I liked it.
I had an issue with the first level, I literally couldn't see the particles on the bad food, my screen contrast and brightness are pretty high and that made them invisible until I tilted my screen a bunch. Got to be careful with that.
But yeah, way too short. The two levels were well designed, at the very least.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

I couldn't beat this, just FYI.
Trying to get over the awkward jump mechanics was a task in and of itself. The leg thing looked cool, but it was just annoying to navigate these precise platforming sections with it. Some of the wall jumping sections were down right frustrating because of it(And why does that one passage below the puzzle door thing kill me when I touch the wall blocks? I didn't see any spikes or water or anything there...)
I got two puzzle pieces before calling it quits. I try so hard to beat every jam game, but I'm not a masochist.
The art style was cute and unique, and the character sprites were very odd. Not sure how I feel about licking buttons to solve puzzles haha.
The rotation mechanic was neat, and I would have gladly played more of that with less of the annoying platforming.
The music was alright too, nice work.
Also, extra credit for including gamepad controls, although, both the gamepad and keyboard controls could have used a little more thought put into them. From what I saw of the keyboard controls, there were a lot of keys and they were spread out in a way that may be uncomfortable, and it seemed odd to me that one mechanic required both of the gamepad triggers.
One suggestion is that you don't always need a button for every action, some can serve a dual purpose, such as picking up and dropping an item? Having a button with the sole purpose of dropping an item seems wasteful.
Oh and one last thing, it's not recommended to start a game in fullscreen. At least for jam games. Some people maybe have screen issues or want it windowed for various other reasons. Which is why you should start windowed and allow switching with Alt-Enter.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

Solid platforming and traps, fancy juicy effects. But that's about it.
I didn't much understand the story(More so the ending). And I blinked at the very end so I missed whatever flashed briefly on the screen.
The dark sections with the lights lighting up the way were my least favourite part. The execution was solid, but it's not fun to platform in the dark.
Oh, and the game ends on a black screen... No way to exit. Escape did nothing, and I couldn't exit fullscreen, so I had to alt-f4...

Temple of Truth by Bart

Not bad but could use a lot of work.
The platforming doesn't feel good, mostly the speed of the jump and fall. You go up so fast and then fall so much slower, the hangtime felt jarring.
The art was a bit of a mess, but ok enough for a jam, though, the lighter rooms made it difficult to see the player sprite. Could use more contrast there.
The boss looked neat, but didn't really do anything. The stalactites didn't actually do anything to me so no big deal. I saw the "Delete delete delete" hint, but didn't try it in the boss room, it did nothing in the previous room so I just sorta forgot about it. I did however let the stalactites build me a platform to hit the five buttons or whatever. Was this intended? I don't see another option for reaching those, but this method seems a wee bit tedious...
I did like the little helper dude giving me hints, that was quite neat.

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

Had to read your afterword to understand what the point was. Given the name I already sort of suspected it'd be something like this, but I never really felt compelled to hesitate because I don't much like cats. *click click click click*
High scores seems a wee bit pointless, but maybe that will change with whatever the mystery variable you mentioned is.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

This one was very confusing to play for me. At first it was simple. Avoid people. I'm a pro at that.
But then I had to do *something*, but I wasn't really told what. I saw the icon change to a hand a few times but I have no idea what it meant and clicking never seemed to do anything there.
I past the second level without really know how. I respawned and was getting zapped and then it said I did it.
Then I got stuck on the third day because I still wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. It took me a while to find the guy I was supposed to interact with.
I feel like there was a lot that wasn't communicated effectively here.

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

I thought I was going to just get an adventure type game, but that was just the intro. The code clue was hidden well enough for me to just noticed right before I needed it.
Some good humour, clean and consistent art.
The spaceship part was very fun, controlled really well, and the spinning added that extra bit of challenge and skill. Incorporating a boss fight into that was very clever too. It was an interesting boss fight.
I did however miss out on all the boss dialogue because it was bugged with some text stuck over it.
What would have made the boss fight shine would have been some effects. Like, having the enemy flash when hit, or the rock making an impact sound, or some particle effects.
Great music too by the way.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

The piano mechanic was interesting, but it's not enough to build a whole game around.
I'm not really a fan of these types of games personally, with a lot to say but not much to do.
The art was way too sparse, the sprites looked like placeholders, but they were animated so that's a plus.
Music was well-made, and fit the mood.
I spent majority of the time dicking around on the piano for fun though.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

Seems like a bit of an unfinished mess unfortunately.
The UI was a mess, not sure why the unselected options are invisible.
Some of the sprites were ok at least.
The gameplay didn't make all that much sense to me. Why did crying at my mother increase my happiness and brain? What the hell was Feet? I made it to somewhere past 70+ months. Game looked endless though.
Also. Tits.

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

An interesting idea.
I found the main mechanic with the tube length and finding extensions pretty neat. The eldritch horror though just made the experience frustrating for me though. I often wouldn't be warned of it's presence until it was on-screen, and the fact that it moves through walls with ease made it impossible to outmanoeuvre in a lot of situations.
I managed to find the macguffin but the monster was right above me when I was trying to leave so no hope making it back! Oh well.
The art-style was cute which doesn't quite fit with the ominous tone of the game and the atmospheric background sounds/music. The noise that accompanies the monster was really cool.

WHY would you have a menu that requires a mouse when the game itself doesn't?!
Also, no fullscreen option. Bah.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

Totally wasn't expecting a skater.
Very funny all over, I couldn't help but choose Toque as my skater each run.
Not a dig, but I found the controls confusing. I couldn't reconcile Up and Down with rotate, after pressing Space to jump, whilst also holding forward to go, and pressing the various trick buttons. Personally, I wouldn't have had you stop moving when letting go of left or right. Hold a direction to build up some speed, then let got and keep on rolling. Press again to gain more speed as you slowly slow down, or hold the opposite direction to brake and change direction.
I did notice the trick score was a bit sensitive, my kickflip would be worth the same sometimes regardless of if I were flipping or not. Seems like it only registered the combo when you start the flip trick at certain angles, which is awkward if intended.
The music(No credit for it so I'm assuming you guys didn't make it?) was aggressive! On one had I really dug it, but on the other, it was so abrasive. Needed some good contrast in there because it's so full on!
The art was good, that opening mural was great. Decent sprites and simple animations, but the ground and ramp tiles were offputting(Mostly the inside of the ramps). Good background with some nice parallax scrolling though.
I had a couple of runs, managed to max out my high scores at just over 1000. Wasn't able to impress Tony!

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

I am so not the target market for this.
Great art, and nice presentation. But it was more or less a short visual novel that ends abruptly.
I did enjoy the joke about the sfx and music in the credits.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

Game ended saying I collected 0 coins? I collected 4 though...
The sprites and animations were cute, great cohesive presentation. Good tiles and catchy music too.
What are we feeding this little guy? He is a little poop machine.
I found a few coins but I'm not sure what their purpose was beyond just having them. I did enjoy playing fetch with the dog, so I spent most of the time doing that instead of searching for coins.

Where by deepfry3

I really dig the paper drawn style here. The stick figure guy and moving down line by line was neat and felt good, worked well with the concept, making it a bit of a visual anchor to help manage your position.
I killed the monster a few times and it looks like it just restarted the level, that and the monster didn't seem all the interested in getting me or doing anything to avoid my attacks.
I feel like maybe this was just a wee bit unfinished, but it shows some great potential, and I would like to see the fully realised version if you choose to finish working on it.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

This is more or less the kind of game I was expecting to play this jam, not a bunch of platformers and pet games!
Art and sound were cute, good use of screen space with the UI too.
At first I didn't realise I could click on the potato dude to get clues. Some of the clues were maybe too specific, but overall there was a good mix of vague evidence.
That said, some of the clues I feel like needed more clarification, like one about expensive wooden furniture or something. I questioned whether that included the room with the bookshelves and table or just the den? Or something about a weapon not being long, I don't consider hammers to be long, but it's size compared to other items made me question if it should be included.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

Love the colours, sprites and backgrounds were oddly appealing.
The gameplay sounded interesting but was let down by the controls. I feel like this would have been vastly improved with keyboard controls. Firstly, it doesn't play well on a trackpad(I can't press left and right buttons together), and as far as I could tell, no abilities required the precision of a mouse for aiming or anything, so it makes little sense to put the controls solely on the mouse. Anyway, mini controls rant over. Sorry!
The game was a tad confusing, perhaps overwhelming, the icons didn't seem to accurately portray what abilities were, I was never sure what was happening, even when I took a minute to stop and look around.
 
Last edited:

The M

Member
Reviews

Top 3:

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Shibboleth by FrostyCat


Best ofs:

Best use of : The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
Best Concept: Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
Best Presentation: System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
Best Story: TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  2. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  3. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  4. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  5. Crash FM by kyon
  6. Master Key by Poizen
  7. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  8. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  9. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  10. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  11. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  12. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  13. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  14. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  15. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  16. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  17. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  18. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  19. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  20. Growing up by Mercerenies
  21. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  22. ReStory by IRON Games
  23. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  24. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  25. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  26. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  27. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  28. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  29. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  30. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  31. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  32. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  33. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  34. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener
  35. Temple of Truth by Bart
  36. Detective Ghost by D4 Studios
  37. Elementary by Sirham
  38. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  39. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  40. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  41. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  42. It knows by woodsmoke
  43. Where by deepfry3
  44. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  45. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  46. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  47. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum
  48. Doggys Garden by klys
  49. Jam 37 by Cat

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

It's short and sweet and feels good to play. The graphics are perfectly coherent and it looks great.
Running was cool but a little annoying. Having a small hitbox works great to help you avoid trees and lakes, but when you just barely miss a coin that you feel you should have gotten. I also saw a few obstacles overlap with each other. It looked a bit weird to see trees hovering over the water pits.
I expected the flying section to be the next level so I was a bit surprised that it ended so quickly.

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

The atmosphere of this game is great, and the way the guard fades into and out of view is a very powerful effect.
I enjoyed seeing the different questions and how the comments of the guard varied and tried to be independent of your actual answers. It was cool to see him start using my name after a while.
I couldn't figure out what the game wanted me to say or why it refused seemingly perfect answers. It got to the point where I just typed stuff out of desperation and when it finally accepted "chair" as an answer (because "It's a table.", "A table." and "I don't know!" all failed), I kept answering with "chair" for the rest of the game. That meant the final description lost its impact as it described me sipping chair and calling chair over the phone. I think if I hadn't been able to use spaces, and thus had to answer with single words, it would have been much better than silently disapproving of everything with a space in it.

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Holy smokes, that is one sleek main menu. The presentation of this game is awesome, both in terms of graphical style and audio design. The balls feel really dynamic as they move and swing their weapons around.
I had trouble with the controls as it didn't feel like the buttons did anything, so I switched to a controller and it worked better (though I'd prefer if you didn't move the mouse cursor with it in the menu but rather moved between the buttons).
My biggest issue with the game is how random attacks feel. There were a lot of instances where both the AI and I sprang at each other and it would completely crush me, despite us both doing the same attacks. I think part of the issue is that the attacks don't convey enough information about how they work, so it's hard to tell if you're playing correctly. For example: do I spam attacks, do I try to attack just before I reach the enemy, or do I try to time a swing in advance? It'd also be great to have some kind of finisher move (read: smash attack) to knock out your opponent. Since the game looks like a Smash derivative, I assumed the goal was to knock the opponent off the arena, rather than (what seemed to be) hitting them at ~300% for an instant KO.

Crash FM by kyon

I did not know what to expect after that intro, but it was great!
At first I wasn't sure how easy it was going to be to remember where to find all the songs to get them in the right order. Thankfully, the game is fairly generous and would let you search a bit before forcing you to do over. I think the difficulty level was just right.
The audio and visuals both impressed. I didn't look too much at the car and, given the challenge, I'd try to filter out all other sounds but it made the ambience great. I liked how much you seemed to enjoy yourselves.

Decisions by Pinkuchu

I like the premise. I have no idea what the maze was about but the decision making was fun.
Movement is a bit tricky and you seem to get stuck a lot if you move too close to the top of the path. Perhaps because of uneven/animated hitboxes?
I think the dialogue was good but I couldn't progress after the first decision. Either I chose wrong, missed something or that was just all there was. It was interesting to see what the other choices did.

Detective Ghost by D4 Studios
When I played through the game I didn't feel like I needed a readme since the controls and goal were both explained in game. When I got to the code Iock I had found the scroll but didn't know what it did so I was stuck. I tried entering a code, "1234", just to see what happened and the moment I pressed '1' I won the game. It left me very confused. It was first afterwards that I saw the file still on the desktop and read through it. It was certainly an interesting mechanic to have you search through your computer for hidden clue files, and I did find the real code, though it made me slightly uneasy to have the game change stuff on the computer.
The movement system works okay but could use a little more polish. I think making the player character's mask a bit smaller, especially vertically would make it easier to navigate the rooms. I'd also like to see the camera center more on the player so that you can see what's ahead of you better.
I love all the strange and funny characters in the police station. You must have had a lot of fun adding those.

Doggys Garden by klys

As far as 3D jam games go, this one controls fairly well. There's some neat touches like the rotating skybox and moving platforms.
I was very confused about where I was supposed to be going and what to do. The swirling panels on the walls seemed to be portals that took me to other locations so at first I thought I was supposed to find and beat all levels, but then I found a portal that didn't work, which brought me to a halt.
Collecting the red coins increased a tally but I don't know if there was any other purpose for doing so. Since some coins were stuck inside walls and couldn't be collected, I figured they weren't that important.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

That's a long and complex intro story, but at least it made me chuckle.
The mechanics worked well. Being able to stand on the moving truck felt good.
Time loops are tricky. The nefarious computer probably knew about it and used the lowered security as a bait!


Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

It's not a game I had expected, but it works well with the theme. It was fun trying to gauge who was a real client and who was undercover but it wasn't always easy and the penalty for guessing wrong was high.
It was a good thing you could focus the camera on where you were supposed to go. I think an alternative would be to have an arrow pointing towards the client, if you want something a little more discrete to guide you while you walk.
I was surprised when the cops started attacking me when I had my gun out. It makes sense, but I hadn't considered it.

Elementary by Sirham

It was fun trying to solve the cases but you didn't get much information to go on, so while I could understand what had been used for the murder, I had a harder time connecting that to a person.
That all scenarios took place in the same house was a little disappointing. I'd have liked to see some scenarios that were a little more complex than finding a key to the shed.
I love how you start smoking a pipe if you idle around for too long.

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

I thought I did really well the first time through as I nailed every question and built up a massive combo. Then I lost it all very quickly against just two or three enemies. It's satisfying to get the questions right but it feels very punishing to have to restart when you lose. Maybe regaining a life after defeating an enemy could help get you through the game to the end.
There were a lot of different questions in all kinds of themes. I'm surprised you were able to come up with so many of them (unless, of course, you cheated and picked them from some other game). They were good questions but I found out I knew a lot more about computers than sports.
I like the setting and the atmosphere of the game. While the animations and delays start to drag on after a few playthroughs, they added a lot of charm.

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

The puzzles were neat and having a par number of moves made it easier to estimate how complex the puzzles would be.
The dialogue is a bit annoying because it covers large portions of the screen, often including the arrows to move and sometimes even hiding parts of the puzzles. The dialogue itself is great though, and I really enjoyed the story.
I also got stuck on the unsolvable puzzle. It's too bad since you otherwise can move between solved puzzles. Restarting and taking the other path didn't help as I couldn't solve that one either. As a side point, being able to skip dialogue would be nice.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

It looks really cool and there's a lot of functionality here that's impressive, not least of all the UI which works surprisingly well, though I suspect it's missing a few features given the empty spaces.
The tutorial mission was a good way to get to know the game but I was confused when I got into what I though was the real thing. I set up some defense and created an army, but then there was no enemy base. It just seemed to be an endless survival map where you'd eventually run out of resources, which was disappointing. It also meant the Fog of War title didn't really apply.
Though I was disappointed there wasn't more to the game, what was there was very polished. Seeing the workers move back and forth with resources was very satisfying.


Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

It's an interesting idea and though I had some trouble getting used to the controls (and how changing gravity affected you), it felt pretty good to beat the levels.
I don't see the point in forcing the player to restart the whole game if they die too many times. The game is hard, especially when you haven't played the levels before, so it feels very punishing. There's just no way I'll try again after dying one time too many on level 9.
The aestetics seems a bit random with the brick wall squares, but the game looks nice. It has some neat effects like the cage over a vat of boiling oil and the explosion of clubs when you die, all of which making it feel more complete.

Growing up by Mercerenies

I enjoyed going through the stories and trying to do as well as I could in each one. I feel like the ending, while better than a "to be continued", was a bit of a letdown and lacked the twist/climax/payoff I expected there to be.
I had no problems on the first typing game but I didn't do well on the second one and the third one went terribly. When the credits popped up I was typing furiously before realizing it wasn't a challenge this time (good thing too, becuase the capital G totally threw me off).
The watch was a cool touch and, coupled with the music, added a sense of urgency and uncertainty to the story. I found it mostly confusing though. I got ranked D, though I blame my slow typing. :)

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

The game has atmosphere and the premise is very interesting.
The interface for talking to characters is a little weird. Unless the idea was to expand the vocabulary beyond the four words in the manual, I'd rather just have buttons for the actions instead. Now you have to use three different control schemes to navigate the game: buttons for movement and interaction, mouse for navigating the interrogation screen and then typing on the keyboard for asking questions.
I get the feeling that this game is very incomplete. Both the computer and the overlord has the same answers and them being at BLANK isn't very helpful. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to progress, though I can make them mad at me.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

The game was seriously disturbing, especially if the monster caught you, which it did when I played. It did a lot. It made walking through the corridors very unsettling.
I had issues with the controls. When moving, you'd sometimes get stuck walking in the same direction with little to no ability to turn, let alone stop. Combined with a monster that could appear at any time it made it all the more frustrating and exasperating.
I also think the game is too unfair. The monster is too quick to catch you and gives you no warning when it comes. This means it's very hard to move through the entire building while looking for the key, without getting caught and having to start over.

It knows by woodsmoke

It's a simple concept but it works well for what it is. I was confused in the beginning as the thing dashed off in random directions. Soon I had no idea where either it or the flag was and just moved in some direction. Fortunately, I found the flag and from there on, I kept winning and winning.
Ironically, I thing the game gets easier the more enemies there are because it gets easier to triangulate the flag's location. When three enemies go off in random directions and two others move in the same direction, you can be pretty sure that's where you should go.
I enjoyed it for a while, but it would need some kind of twist to remain interesting after a few races.

Jam 37 by Cat

It fits the theme perfectly. Seeing the AI move the bat into position immediately was taunting me to try to do the same. It'd be neat if it didn't flicker up and down so much.
It's neat that you can invert the color scheme.
It's not all that fun though. Maybe it'd be a little more interesting if the ball's speed increased for each hit, I reckon the AI should still be guaranteed to win but there'd be a challenge.

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

There's some killer presentation. The chromatic aberration hurts my eyes a little but otherwise, the game looks phenomenal. I don't really like how all the UI elements clash and scream for attention, but I understand it's part of the game's style and it nails that.
It took me some time to understand how the game played but eventually I felt like I had decent control over things. I still don't really know how the health and damage system worked because there were literally hundreds, if not thousands of bullets on screen so I figure I should have died a long time ago.
The upgrades were neat and adding new weapons that all fire at once made me feel a lot more powerful. I'd have liked the upgrades to be a little more spread out because I basically bought them in bulk whenever I'd saved up for a while and that made for a very jagged power curve. Eventually I was decked out with all upgrades at level 10, at which point there were so many enemies and bullets on screen the game basically froze (it ran at sub 1 fps) and I had to shut it off. My computer isn't top of the line but it's no slouch either, so the game might need a little optimization, or a cap on how much stuff can exist at once. :)

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

Wow, that was great! I loved the dialogue and voice clips which were used to great effect. The game's charming and the main character is indeed adorable.
The dungeon was a bit disappointing, to be honest. I was expecting the mechanic to be used more. It was interesting to see the different perspectives for when you were near torches or in darkness.
Well, I guess it did fit the theme really well in the end.

Listen to Me by AJTheApple

I really love how smooth and clean this game both looks and feels. The animations are great and lift up already good graphics and moving around feels natural and nice.
Computer guy wasn't wrong about the rooms being scary: they had some truly terrifying spike placement. I'm not new to difficult platformers but this one went all out right from the start with cruel jumps and slippery movement. Thankfully the levels were short enough that losing wasn't that frustrating. It also helped that the death animation was great.
It feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to only have the computer guy whine constantly. I had no reason to listen to it or care about it and then I beat it up and seemingly forgot about it. I like the twist of the computer guy being the bad guy, but I'd have liked a reason for it.

Master Key by Poizen

At first I thought the game seemed like a decent enough platformer but getting the arm cannon and being able to blast holes through the walls significantly raised my opinion: I had not expected that. My mind was blown again when I found the hyper beam. I'd expected it to maybe be able to cut through the darker blocks but nope: it cut through everything else. It was awesome.
Unfortunately, this came at a serious performance cost and it felt like the game couldn't keep a stable frame rate but was visibly lagging. My computer isn't brand new, but it's still pretty powerful, so I'd imagine this would be a serious issue for some. On a side note, that might be relevant, one of the graphical things that impressed me was the outlines on the walls. It's a small detail but it looks great.
While the mechanics were really solid, I found the floaty movement to be a little awkward, especially when you had to jump up to really tall platforms. On the other hand, I was very impressed by how well you handled slopes and how you'd slip down steep slopes but could climb flatter ones.


Got an error when I tried to clear out some walls. I was cutting out a really small piece of red wall at the rightmost part of the map:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Other Event: Room Start
for object obj_coll_polygon:

ERROR: The polygon shape for fixture 1833 is concave or ordered anti-clockwise
at gml_Object_obj_coll_polygon_Other_4
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_obj_coll_polygon_Other_4 (line -1)
called from - gml_Object_obj_beam_Other_10 (line -1) - <unknown source line>
called from - gml_Object_obj_beam_Mouse_53 (line -1) - <unknown source line>

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

This game uses the theme to great effect. It was fun getting tricked and after a while I started looking for new keys or moves to use but it seems you had to unlock them one by one. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but at least there was the wall jump you could do which I discovered by accident and that felt great.
It'd be nice if you could skip dialogue you've already seen. I accidentally died and had to go through all the vacuum dialogue several times.
I love how that bill-like mask made perfect sense in the end. The exit wasn't to the left at all but I did find the secret loot stash.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

I liked that there were a few layers to the story and it wasn't necessarily obvious who the murder was. The way you got to interrogate the suspect was neat, though I had some trouble telling if I was supposed to click on the arrow to advance the dialogue or if that would end the scene. Thankfully you had a warning that prevented me from missing all the statements.
The clues were much better at explaining the murder than I'd thought. Sure, I suspected her from how shady she acted, but I was nowhere close to catching all the contradictions.
The red herring with the wife was interesting. Was she just nervous or was there something else going on that was just unrelated to the murder?

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

The game had an interesting mechanic where the energy bar was shared between all your actions. It made the game more tactical than your average platformer, but was also a bit of an annoyance as you had to constantly wait for it to recharge, especially early on where it would drain super quickly. I think separating the energy for shooting and jumping, and making the latter recharge instantly when landing, would make the game much more enjoyable to play.
The music wasn't bad, but it got too repetitive and overbearing after listening for a few levels. I think it could use some softer, less intense, parts to not fatigue the player.
In the end, I died while searching for the third artifact and wasn't allowed to try again, which was a bummer. I liked how the game kept introducing new kinds of enemies and the graphical style was great and felt very alien.

ReStory by IRON Games

I love the graphics of this game. The story panels are awesome and the character looks great. I'm less happy about the castle/dungeon tiles, which feels like a step down in quality compared to the rest. They're not bad, but they don't fit the style of the rest of the game.
I think the game plays well and there's a lot of different elements. The jump mechanic (how all horizontal movement stops when you jump) is kind of weird and threw me of a few times, especially in combination with slowdown and a low ceiling.
The boss was super annoying because I had no idea what to do to beat it. Thanks to the plentiful pickups I could survive for a while but it wasn't enough to find a way to damage it. I tried interacting with it, I tried picking up its bullets during time freeze and I tried to make it shoot itself, but nothing worked. Only after I gave up and pressed escape to quit did I get to read the help panel which said you could spray enemies to hurt them. That would have made the game a lot easier, had I known it before.

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

It's a cool little tool with some neat features and UI elements.
I feel like it could be slightly more intuitive to use it. There was no way I could keep everything in the help instructions in mind at once so some things I had to improvise and rediscover on my own.
It's nice to be able to switch to/from the editor easily. I didn't find a way to scroll the screen so I felt limited in what I could do, but creating a coastline with a lone tree on a cape feels good.

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

The 3D environments were cool and worked well to navigate. Most puzzles were straightforward, but the torn page impressed me from a technical standpoint and was made more interesting by having the pieces flipable.
The music and monochrome aesthetics makes the game unsettling and slightly tense to play, for better or worse.
In the end, it was a short but complete, and wholesome, experience.

shadow hall by the friendly potato

I liked the setting of the run-down dungeon and the main characters were amiable. The text boxes were a little hard to read in the darkness but otherwise the game looked great.
The game had a few sections that didn't seem fair. Doing precision jumping with very limited view of where you can land isn't great and since the camera had a hard time keeping up with fast movement, it made some sections with enemies a bit hit or miss as you run from them and hope you don't hit a wall.
The ending was a bit anticlimactic. If, instead of ending with "Nope, there was no exit" you had the spirit thingy say something along the line of "There, I can see the exit up ahead", followed by a fade to white or the characters moving off screen, it'd make it much more satisfying without a lot of extra work.

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

The game looks very interesting with the floating skull and the altars, as well as the HUD in the bottom left corner which I can only guess what it's for. The game looks great.
The floating skull was a bit hard to click on and since you need to be fairly close to stuff to interact with them, it's easy to accidentally highlight yourself. On the other hand, I love that there's a comment about the player too.
Sadly, the game crashes when trying to give a stick to the skull and I found no other way to progress.

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

I played this game a lot. It was fun to figure out how to clear each grid and the presentation is great. While the music and visuals were quite calming, knowing I'm on the clock and had a time to beat still made the game stressful and I'm not sure I enjoyed that as much as I would have done if I could take my time and think it through.
At first I thought the par times were ridiculous, but then the game clicked at round seven, when I started to realize the rules. Specifically, it hit me that if one person says another person is innocent and that other person says there's at least one rogue and includes the first person among its targets, then the second person is not a rogue. Knowing this, it was much easier to start narrowing down the grid and from there on I easily hit each star time.
If there's one thing that really bothered me it was that it isn't enough to click on the person's square to mark it: you have click on the person. There were a few instances where I thought the game was buggy because it didn't register my clicks. It also happened (though rarely) that I accidentally held the button for too long and used a light. It might be better to have a separate button/key for that.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

The game is fairly straightforward but I enjoyed trying to figure out which item to consume.
I like how smooth the game plays, and the neat animations and UI/camera action. It makes the game feel very polished and was not what I had expected after seeing the menu.
The game looks great, with lots of varied graphics and particle and lighting effects. Though it was disappointing that it was over so quickly, I can see why there were only two missions given the complexity of the scenes.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

I really dig the atmosphere of the game. It's a bit creepy but also slightly wholesome.
The control scheme features way too many buttons to be easily memorable, even though there is a pretty good tutorial which tries to make it easier. It took me a minute to even figure out how to reach all the keys before I realized I basically have to have one hand on WASD and one on the arrow keys. After that it worked okay, if a bit awkwardly.
The platforming is really challenging. The slippery controls and tight jumps means half of my death probably came from lack of control and sliding off platforms rather than failing the jumps (the other half were totally my fault though). On the other hand, the wall jump felt really good, especially when you could use it to clear a set of spikes along the same wall by positioning yourself correctly underneath them.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

The first impression given by this game screams polish to an absurd level. For being a jam game, this amount of high-quality sprites, animations and audio is crazy. It doesn't hurt that the gameplay feels really smooth too. The only thing I noted as lacking was the sound of the opening doors, which didn't have the heavy weight I'd expect, and that's me looking for things to critique.
The game feels massive. Each obstacle is used and mixed in multiple ways to add a lot of content. It did feel a bit drawn out towards the end as it was mostly the same traps over and over again, but there was enough variation to keep it interesting.
I was not prepared for that ending and I'm not sure I understood it either. It's a lot more macabre than I'd expected, even given the tone of the game. After the credits the screen remained black and there was nothing I could do and no way to exit. Was I just supposed to kill the game window?

Temple of Truth by Bart

I like the idea of a companion giving hints. While the hints and puzzles weren't bad, I feel there's still more untapped potential to use it in new and creative ways. Most of the time I figured out what it meant after I'd found the thing it referenced and not the other way around.
I couldn't get past the first room. I found the invisible platform but did not know you could dash so I had no way to reach it and there were no other platforms anywhere (I checked ^^). Luckily I could figure it out once I'd read how you were supposed to do.
The boss was cool but it wasn't immediately obvious what to do against it. I deactivated one of the orbs by accident and didn't realize I'd done that but thought it was timed. I was also incredibly scared of getting killed by a spike as last time that happened I'd been sent back to the beginning, which is pretty harsh. I eventually beat it though.

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

The presentation is sublime, I love the lively animation on the performer's clothing.
I realized that there'd be no way for me to get a high score without going all in with the knives. However, I kind of didn't want to take that gamble and stuck with just one knife. I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to know whether the cat survived or not, and by not stabbing all places I feel like I missed out on some neat animations.
I think it's an excellent take on the theme, especially if that last variable turns out to be if the cat survived. It'd be a cool reveal.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

What a way to interpret the theme. I never expected something like it. It's brilliant, in a really dark way.
It took a few attempts to understand the mechanics and I was very confused at the start. I tried to take the back street behind the large building but that didn't work. When killing the guy, I didn't walk far enough into the corner for the icon to change so I just stood there as the pulse built up. Then I'd accidentally move enough for the icon to change. This felt very realistic and was a great touch but it meant instantly losing if someone saw me on the way back which was frustrating. Once I realized my mistake it got a lot easier, though perhaps not as satisfyingly tense.
I loved the atmosphere of the shadow characters constantly watching you and the stress when you got eye contact with them. I think a bit more audio would improve the atmosphere even further. If not music, then perhaps some mild ambience noise in the background to help sell the environment?

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

This was an interesting game. It didn't seem to know if it wanted to be a silly, funny adventure game or a hardcore precision maze game and the transition was abrupt, though it worked.
The constant spinning was interesting as it made it possible to time your movement to get through narrow gaps easier. I did fairly well to not get hit but the final maze was a little too much. In my opinion you could have cut it as it made the section drag on a little too long.
I think the story was neat and I loved the reunion at the end. It made me a little disappointed to have to fight after that but it was an interesting battle so I'm not too upset.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

Games like these always makes me pause a moment. You manage to create a moment of reflection, which is beautiful.
I love the haunting ambience. Playing the piano also feels very nice and made for a good puzzle. I'd have liked if there was more of a melody to the notes played, but I guess that's difficult given that the player takes their own time to find each key to press.
I was surprised how some words took a little time to figure out while others I understood immediately upon seeing the letters involved.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

I like the concept of not knowing what something does until you try. Of course, not being a baby, I still have some expectations as to whether tasting an electrical outlet is a good idea or not.
The first time I played I didn't know what to do, because the only visible option was to ignore the item presented. I thought clicking on the picture meant taking the item and clicking ignore would ignore it but the results didn't add up. I did fairly well before losing and it was only on the second run I found out that there were more alternatives hidden.
It would also really help if there were numbers indicating the change in stats after you've made a decision. Right now you have to memorize the current state before picking an alternative and seeing what changed, and I feel that's an unnecessary step. The theme is to learn from your actions after all.

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

The premise was great and I love the how the tube wraps around stuff, forcing you to be tactical about how you moved around.
The game is smooth and exploring the various structures was exciting with all their details.
I really disliked the eldritch monster. It killed me several times before I finally gave up and each time it felt like there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't escape it due to how limited my movement options were and I couldn't hide from it because it would chase me wherever. It felt unnecessary and ruined the fun of exploring the depth.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener

I liked how much air you could get on the ramps. It would have been cool if you could fly even higher if you jumped just before cresting the top of the ramp.
It was difficult to do complex tricks when you couldn't see the ground. I could be conservative to make sure I didn't crash in case there'd be a hill but that would mean I'd fall and do nothing if there was a big drop instead of scoring points.
I finally hit 1k points by doing upside-down flips. It felt pretty good but was a little repetitive since I didn't have any reason to mix it up.

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

The game oozes with cute charm and funny scenes. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get any say in most dialogues (really, none after helping Desmond up from the ground) but that's fine because it was still fun to see where the story went from there.
The dialogue is great! I had to play through it a second time, just to see all the options. I thoroughly enjoyed throwing a dozen paper balls at poor Desmond. The graphics were really good in general and I liked the many details, like the mirror in the bathroom, carrying a food tray for a scene and the many small changes in the portraits of the characters as they spoke.
I love the sarcastic audio post in the credits. Well done.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

This was cute and wholesome. I enjoyed seeing the dog dart around the screen and doing all kinds of stuff. It made the game feel very dynamic and interactive. The graphics and music are both also great and lifts the lighthearted experience.
I had a little problem with the controls as I accidentally fed the dog all the biscuits at the start of the game, then it started pooping like it had diarrhea, faster than I could deal with it and then it ran off and ignored me.
I found one coin, though it took a couple of attempts to actually make it appear. The result screen showed zero coins though, so that's probably a bug.

Where by deepfry3

It's an interesting idea to have you not know your location but the enemy does. Unfortunately it doesn't really work when you both have the camera following you and are able to shoot, both of which reveals your location pretty well.
I think as an alternative, seeing the entire map and trying to reach a location before revealing where you are could be interesting. You'd then only have the eye to gauge your location.
The aesthetics are great and I love the jump between lines, at least for the time while you could actually see the animations.

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that and played through it several times. The dialogue was funny and the potato was both sad and adorable.
While I thought most clues were good, some were harder to parse. I also found it a bit annoying to be scored on how few clues I had to use and then get clues for parts I'd already figured out.
The cast of characters were great and I loved how many different kind of clues there were. The game fit the theme perfectly.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

I love the graphics of this game, they're really good and create a nice atmosphere.
The theft mechanic was interesting and I could see it being cool in a more realized game. Right now it felt mostly confusing as abilities shifted around very quickly and I hadn't understood that you could only have four skills at once (and movement and attacking skills both counted towards that cap). I think for it to be interesting, each skill have to be a little more substantial and lasting or the game will be very chaotic.
Flying felt amazing. I really loved how you could leap up and zoom across the screen. It felt like a good power-up to get in a metroidvanea or something.

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

It's a cool setting and it works really well with the theme. I didn't realize, at first, that I was the bad guy, so I was a little confused when I lost the first minigame and lost some health, but didn't talk. After completing the next one I realized how it actually was.
While the minigames are fairly straightforward, I didn't immediately know what to do and had to go back and actually read through the rest of the manual. I think if instead of a timer there was a button prompt to start, then it would have been a lot easier to learn from the game: the in-game prompts are great after all, you just need a moment to find and parse them. As a bonus, this would also let you go direct to the game and not have to wait for the timer once you knew what game it was.
I found the entire experience to be entertaining, though it felt wrong to be beating up the kid. I got a lot of punching games...
 
Last edited:

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
Alice's Squished Reviews

Sorry, this time my reviews were really rushed, in part due to me having other commitments after the Jam, in part because there are so many entries and pretty long to complete, too. That's also why - while some comments are pretty long (those are the games I played earlier) - others are really brief. I just hope I didn't come across as too harsh somewhere.

Top 3:

Homebound by The M
Very enjoyable, polished and - quite importantly - complete.

arbitrary by Feather Dreams
It seems like this game doesn't make sense, except it makes sense that it doesn't make sense.

Crash FM by kyon
Really cool presentation and lots of custom audio too. Also, I totally dig the mechanic of stringing words together from radio lyrics.

Best ofs:

Best use of Theme: Shibboleth by FrostyCat
Best Concept: They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
Best Presentation: Crash FM by kyon
Best Story: arbitrary by Feather Dreams

Full ranking:

  1. Homebound by The M
  2. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  3. Crash FM by kyon
  4. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
  5. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  6. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  7. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  8. The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho
  9. Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob
  10. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  11. The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom
  12. Master Key by Poizen
  13. The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot
  14. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  15. Murder At Lansbury by KPJ
  16. ReStory by IRON Games
  17. TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus
  18. They Know How To Love by Lumenflower
  19. Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews
  20. Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche
  21. What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo
  22. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  23. Scraps by Terminator_Pony
  24. Listen to Me by AJTheApple
  25. Growing up by Mercerenies
  26. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  27. Temple of Truth by Bart
  28. Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom
  29. Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik
  30. It knows by woodsmoke
  31. Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox
  32. The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly
  33. Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki
  34. Decisions by Pinkuchu
  35. Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc
  36. you are my ability by Sheep Wink
  37. Elementary by Sirham
  38. Where by deepfry3
  39. Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener, Toque
  40. shadow hall by the friendly potato
  41. It Hungers by Pat Ferguson
  42. Intruder Alert by Pikachurian
  43. Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros
  44. Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast
  45. Balls To The Wall by gizmo199
  46. Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson
  47. Jam 37 by Cat
  48. RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

Comments:

A Night Flight by VinylFly

Okay, this is so cute, I like it.
The gameplay is pretty simplistic. I like the approach to obstacles - instead of breaking the flow to restart the game you lose some (all?) of flight coins progress.

The story was also pretty adorable, though now I wonder why the big bro showed only the part of the video. Didn't he know about the Santa in the full footage, or did he intend to hide this fact...? *conspiracy theory intensifies*
That said, it wasn't exactly clear to me what happened in the initial scene, and I had to rewatch it to understand what was the original video like.

Not sure what was the intended execution of the theme, but there clearly is introduction-to-new-knowledge aspect here. And after the game, now *I* know something *they* don't! Ha, take that!

The audiovisuals are pretty good and fit the general atmosphere; the cutscenes are particularly remarkable.

Overall, a short and sweet entry with a cute story. Maaaybe a little bit out of season. ;)

Agent37 by Nut4985

Sorry, not ranking a game with installer.

arbitrary by Feather Dreams

It seems like this game doesn't make sense, except it makes sense that it doesn't make sense.
Or rather, there's no common sense in Gensokyo wherever the Convict leaves.

The game does a great job painting this absurd dystopia where various deeds or words are arbitrarily considered forbidden, which chip away at people's individuality and possibly sense of reality, too. It's established in the beginning, where Convict believes they did nothing wrong (not knowing these arbitrary laws) and solidified in the end, where giving specific answers molded Convict into a model citizen, yet with something amiss. What's particularly curious to me is what effects would calling an elephant "an animal" and calling a table "wood" on Convict's perception of reality - I feel like it would result in not knowing what the table is for or what sets elephants apart from other animals?
There was lots of guessworking, but at least the game gave a clear sense of progression, with the pool of questions gradually descreasing and clearly indicating the halfway point, as well as the last question. Thankfully, the game didn't punish the player with a loss of progress - this would be simply frustrating in a game like this. I must admit, though, the drink, elephant and table questions were particularly tricky.

Theme is used creatively and to great effect, with player being clueless about all these arbitrary laws.

The audiovisuals are simple but work well togethe, even though most of them weren't done by the author. At least there are some credits, finally.

Overall, a well-written interactive story, if perhaps requiring a little too much guesswork for many people?
(note: I later found out from the author's post the key was the letter E; still, it made for some nice summary in the end)

Balls To The Wall by gizmo199

Generally well made and well-presented. Maybe shield button should be more in the actions area (attack/dash) rather than movement area (left/right/jump).
Ranking it low because it doesn't follow the theme.

Crash FM by kyon

Really cool presentation and lots of custom audio too. Fun - in this dark humour kind of fun, but despite (or perhaps because of) this still pretty fun. Especially with this ending song, with all too meaningful lyrics (I didn't listen too closely, but I caught things like "you only live once and today's gonna show"). Also, I totally dig the mechanic of stringing words together from radio lyrics.

Decisions by Pinkuchu

I'm not exactly fond of the maze sections - they just drag out the game more than necessary.
When during the mom choice I picked anything other than hate, then the next part led to blank black screen. Thankfully, hating the mother led to redemption (even if I don't exactly approve of resolving things this way).
Sometimes it was unclear which emotion led to which decision. In particular I didn't expect Fear to make the protagonist ask abuse prevention services for help, though I admit that was very reasonable thing to do.

I don't see much of theme execution here. I mean, the higher powers know which choices woudl be right and wrong, but this interpretation doesn't feel as impactful to this story.

The graphics were alright, though the memories sections were awfully blank aside from the dialogue boxes. There was no audio whatsoever, but then at least I don't need to question whether the music is yours or whether it comes from uncredited sources (unlike certain other games...).

Overall, a simple interactive story game, though it could use more polish here and there.

Doggys Garden by klys

Dog knows what's going on in this game, I certainly don't. Going by devlog it's the inteded use of theme...?
Uses copyrighted music, so won't rank.

Dr Swiss 4 by HayManMarc

Oh no! The Air Duct of Unfinished Jam Games Vortex!
I know this one. <- for once, didn't publish her entry before ZIP was compiled

The intro is pretty long for how short the entry is; oh well. The game itself was mostly functional, but short. One annoying thing was jumping onto platforms above when Dr Swiss couldn't reach the top with a single jump, so I had to do some button-mashing mid-platform double-jump instead. Also, I don't know if there's much point to pressing space twice to open the airduct and then enter the airduct?

The theme... I suppose it was there by the supercomputer knowing more than Dr Swiss? Apparently, HayManMarc wasn't very inspired by the theme and it shows. ^^'

The audiovisuals are decent and generally fitting. If someone was picky, they could maybe complain about the hi-res menu background constrasting with pixelart, but meh.

Overall, a decent setup for a platformer but clearly and explicitly unfinished.

Drug Dealer Simulator by Kantros

The gameplay is a little on trial-and-error side, though I've been mostly successful at telling the clients and police apart. With limited number of dialogue lines it isn't too hard to memorize them, either.
The walking between clients can sometimes take a while, depending on the spawning spot. The Tab-view could maybe jump to client about twice as slow, so that player can get a better idea about the direction. Or, I dunno, just show the client direction permanently whenever they are offscreen.
The gameplay and controls could have been simplified. E.g. when you are near a supposed client, you get one button to sell the drugs and another to shoot them down, and when you press the latter you need to make sure the policeman isn't nearby.

Guessworking-from-hints use of theme. It sorta works I guess (the theme is pretty tough in general)?

The sprites and backgrounds are nice, but inconsistent with the textboxes and text (and gun). Also, the game-winning could have been prettier - gotta make the whole endeavor rewarding.
No credits for music. :<

Overall, a decent entry, but could use some tweaking in gameplay and more consistent graphics.

Elementary by Sirham

Sorry, I tried exploring a bit and even found the shed key (or was it shack?). But there were just so many rooms, and I really didn't feel like exploring them all - the scope was just too overwhelming for the little time I got. If you make a similar game in the future, I'd suggest making the exploration focused to fewer areas. Quicker navigating between rooms also helps.
I noticed that there are multiple possible cases to solve, but they end up in the same layout. I don't even know if cases are randomised somehow, and you just pick what's the kind of case that you want to solve...?

Escape From Trivium by Nejc Podlipnik

The score is reported incorrectly - it tells me I got e.g. 1600 extra score for combo, while I actually got 800 instead.
The resolving of the answers took a little long, making the battles more drawn out than necessary.
Other than that, an alright trivia game.

FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL

The voice acting is neat addition, though I feel like AI is too much sarcastic. I mean, it's referenced in that emergency log elsewhere, but still, some of that dialogue felt too forced. Also, the intro is unskippable, which is pretty bad when you want to replay and see if a certain puzzle isn't solvable after all.
The level with diamond in the bottom-left cell and circle in the bottom-right cell seems to be broken? I didn't find any way to progress with my knowledge of mechanics so far, and I couldn't find any additional mechanics, either. So being stuck for several minutes on this level left me pretty annoyed, especially since there seems to be some story that I couldn't progress to; there wasn't any way to leave the level, either, despite the map-like layout of the game.
The puzzle mechanics are alright and might be pretty enjoyable with more advanced puzzles, though personally I'd prefer tile-swapping rather than tile-sliding mechanics. Granted, it's a completely different kind of puzzle then, but at least I don't spend so much time trying to slide some piece correctly into its place.

Fog of War Beta by iChunkiMunki

Pretty ambitious to make a real strategy game for a Jam. Maybe a little too ambitious this time...

The first level did a good job introducing the basic concepts of how to expand own colony, build units etc. I have some experience with RTS games, so maybe some conventions - such as right-click to act - are more familiar to me than an average Jam reviewer. One thing that took me a while to understand was how to move the view around - and even once I found out, it was still so clunky, with only mouse-on-the-border option being available and without a minimap to show where are you in relation to level boundaries.
I got utterly defeated in level 2. The enemy units kept coming - seemingly from nowhere, as I moved my view as far as possible and they still came from beyond the boundary. I don't know if the view boundary was dependent on expanding this "Fog of War" thing, and whether Fog of War was a thing at all (I mean, I could see enemy units pretty well); it wasn't very well explained, at least.

I don't really see much of use of theme. I mean there are enemies that maybe are internally supposed to know more about the game state than me, but I just didn't feel like they know something I don't (maybe except how to spawn offscreen).

The visuals are sorta alright? I felt like SFX were somewhat loud compared to the music, and this grating continuous buzzing noise when I tried to place a new building annoyed me to no end (especially the first time, when I didn't know what caused it). Also, after reaching another level the music started overlapping.
I don't see any credits ingame. Was everything done by you?

Overall, while I appreciate doing a genre underrepresented in Jams, I feel like execution could use much more polish.

Gravity Chicken by Iamatoast

Got to 5th level on my second attempt or so. Read in the game topic that there's use of theme in the ending, so I tried a little more and reached 8th level; couldn't get past it.
Thus, for me it's like the game doesn't use the theme in the first place, sorry. I've already got way too little time to complete all these entries, not with these many levels and so few lives.
Please next time take into account that your game will be one of dozens of games, played and reviewed in a quick succession. So if you want to properly showcase the use of theme and the general game content, toning down the difficulty (e.g. by replacing lives system with basic restart) and/or adding a way to skip it (e.g. a special key or combination of keys mentioned in afterword) is a way to go.

Ranking it higher than Balls To The Wall, because while I couldn't see the use of theme I believe there was still a good-faith attempt at it.

Growing up by Mercerenies

I typed the link already expecting what I'd see there. Glad to know my rickroll senses aren't yet dulled. Too bad it wasn't worn by Uncle Ricky, because it totally suits him.
Aside from that, it's a nice story; the choices are somewhat predictable, but even so it's cool. I'd be even motivated to explore the options and go for an AA ending, if not for these minigames with way too fast text. I feel the game would've worked better if it stuck with the visual novel format throughout.
There's definitely some room for practice when it comes to graphics. Well, I suppose if you keep trying, you'll gradually get better at it (speaking from personal experience). One piece of advice - maybe make the smiles more subtle? ^^'
(oh, also, when it comes to drawing anything more complex than basic geometry, references are very helpful; it's generally good to get a good grasp of basic realistic drawing before going for a more deformed style)
That said, I still need practice with realistic-ish drawing myself and there are still new things I find out.

Homebound by The M

Very enjoyable, polished and - quite importantly - complete. Also, the antagonist AI for once has the well-understood good interest of humans in mind, and in the good ending it's actually working out well for everyone (maybe except for all these security units).

Intruder Alert by Pikachurian

NPC: "What is up?"
Me: "A direction facing towards the sky." (not really, because it didn't fit in the textbox)

There is some barebones gameplay, but it doesn't seem to lead anywhere - I only found two characters, and neither gave some useful clues.
It would be nice if game mentioned right away that you use WASD for moving; I'd recommend allowing arrows aside from that, as they are independent from keyboard layout. At least it does show E as an interaction button.

The dialogue mode was pretty annoying, since it used free text rather than multiple choices, and there were specific base commands given; also, it required mouse to switch between tabs. Don't know if there are other working keywords than the base four. Personally I'd have preferred if it was instead based on limited set of choices, possibly growing as the main character gathers new evidence. Kind of like in e.g. Phoenix Wright games, where aside from basic questioning you could ask someone about evidence or character.

Investigation-like use of theme. Not exactly original, but works.

The audiovisuals are alright. Since there are no credits to indicate otherwise, I assume they were all made for the Jam? The graphics are somewhat simplistic, but I really dig main character's outfit.

Overall, I understand there is some premise, but it seems like the game is unfinished and there's no way to progress.

It Hungers by Pat Ferguson

Sorry, didn't play this one much. It was late in the night when my tolerance for heavy bloody horrors is pretty low. >.<
The graphics are alright, though the walking animation looks more like a frenzied tap dance than walking (this very specific kind of frenzied tap dance). It's probably because of the knees facing outwards when walking? Also, the movement felt very floaty and awkward, and it doesn't really help in a game where you need to avoid this demon.
I played far enough to see what the demon looks like, to make sure I got all the Pokemonsreferences from GreenWyvern's picture right.

It knows by woodsmoke

Pretty simple concept, and doesn't provide much replayability (more levels just add more blobs), but I still enjoyed it. Pretty adequate use of theme, too.
There's not much to graphics, but I like the flag spinning; reminded me of "You Spin Me Round". The music - when it plays - is pretty cool, too. There's something inherently joyful when you grab the flag, it starts spinning and the music starts playing, too.

Jam 37 by Cat

Impossible Ping is a concept about as fascinating as Impossible Tic-Tac-Toe...

Killer Shark 77 by Yal

The killer shark killed my CPU/GPU! :<
The premise is sorta fun, though the shark is pretty OP and there's hardly any challenge involved; you start very high at the power curve and then it increases even more. It might be somewhat balanced by all that dakka, but dakka in turn slows the game down.
The graphics are generally good, until you reach the point when there's all that stuff going on and you barely see anything. It's somewhat impressive in a way, but also leads to lack of clarity and - again - performance issues.
Audio is a little too trippy for my taste, though I listened to it around 3 AM and I'm not really in a mood for this kind of music then.

Know Dungeon by Micah_DS

It might be a joke game, but it's a high-effort joke game and somewhat funny, too. The twists and turns of this know dungeon are quite mind-boggling, too.


Listen to Me by AJTheApple

"You do not understand the terrors that lie beyond this point. I have seen them with my own two eyes."
*proceeds to display no eyes at all*
(another matter altogether is that eyes shown by the display are about as effective as eyes painted on one's face; it's cameras that count)

Compared to System Purge, it has much duller stage gameplay - basically the only obstacles are spikes, and there are lots of them. It's just way too much difficulty (especially with slightly slippery movement) with way too little variety.
Also compared to System Purge, it has better boss battle (if you completed System Purge, you should know why). There has been some decent variety to attacks to keep thing interesting. But then there was this homing missiles attack which just had way too many missiles and also was immediately followed by the next attack, rather than waiting for player to attack the computer (or maybe it's just that it takes so long to shake off the last missile that the grace period ends before I can make the attack). This attack should be nerfed - with boss picking its attacks randomly, having one attack significantly more difficult than the others makes the fight more luck-based.
One thing you should really take into account - when developing your Jam game, you will spend hours on playtesting it, getting familiar with its movement etc. The players won't have that luxury, so the game ends up much more difficult to them.

The graphics were simple, but had all this little extra juice with animations and stuff. I just wish the main character didn't have this missing bottom outline when on ground - it's somewhat jarring when they stand on the edge of platform and there's a part of their outline missing. The audiovisuals are alright, though after spending way too much time on needlessly difficult levels the music started getting on my nerves.

Having been promised all these horrors, and dissatisfied with this dull grassland scenery at the end, I decided to make an eversion version of the ending.

Overall, somewhat nicely presented platformer, but with way too little variety for its difficulty.

Master Key by Poizen

The area erasing gimmick was fun, though it led to crashes sometimes. Might have been even more fun as a part of puzzle platformer with restartable levels - making the player erase their platforms carefully - rather than a metroidvania where no matter how much player erases they cannot (and indeed shouldn't) be softlocked.
I would think that a fish bone should be perfectly usable to open the main door as well. It's a skeleton key, after all. Which in fact is a type of a master key.

Mr Zoomies Escape by Team Zoom

I replayed the game to see if I could leave the house by moving left. Sadly, it didn't work at all.
That aside, it's somewhat crude but still mildly enjoyable and not overly long/difficult platformer. The dialogue and the use of theme in general were somewhat fun, though I wish the dialogue wouldn't repeat after I fell down or got attacked by a vacuum cleaner.

Murder At Lansbury by KPJ

A nice murder mystery game. For once, the butler was the victim - I briefly considered the possibility of suicide there, because it's always the butler who did it.
The case wasn't too hard, especially with significant testimonies marked with the magnifying glass; their descriptions made the case even easier. Still, that was pretty enjoyable, and a breath of fresh air after some difficult entries I had to go through.

Overdue by Relic and zacharyandrews

I generally enjoyed the gameplay and mechanics, if maybe they tend to leave player waiting quite a lot for the power to recharge.
The game it way too prone to softlocks. I did 3 significant-length runs, and even completed the 3rd level on my last one, but then I got stuck in the last level-scene because I didn't collect the Veil of Elegance along the way.
The story was being setup as if the robot was just getting the alien to clean up stuff after the ancients, and I'm somewhat disappointed that wasn't how the plot played out. We have way too few stories where the AI gets the player to clean up the garbage and that garbage isn't humans or something like that.
The soundtrack also reminded me of "You Spin Me Round" (just listen to the latter-half section).

ReStory by IRON Games

There was some variety of mechanics, but they are sneakily hidden in some ingame menu that I accidentally opened; these things should be explained as soon as a certain ability is available. Also, I didn't like the trial-and-error aspect to this game, especially with the first level where it's two items in the same place. Other levels at least had this layout that somewhat suggested that one item is more special to obtain that the other, or at least that's how I understood it intuitively.
The painings - paintings, I mean paintings - reminded me of Ib somehow (possibly because Ib was art-themed); that was a good memory. Was someone on your team inspired by Ib, I wonder?
Also, while I appreciate the beginning and midgame artwork, I really wish some of that would go for the ending - I didn't explore all these possibilities and played this Mastermind-like game to get some plain text, especially when the beginning promises more. Make your endings rewarding, people!

RPG Level Editor by PancakesYum

I appreciate the attempt and participation spirit, but there's no much gameplay nor use of theme. Sorry. ^^'

Scraps by Terminator_Pony

I feel like there's some interesting story behind it, but there are not enough scraps to make it out.
Is the protagonist the son? The photo from the second double-page and the mirror would imply so, I guess? But then, the note at the end ("Mom, now it's your turn to remember") makes me wonder whether the protagonist-son left it for mother, or is protagonist actually the mother (probably the former)? On that note, why protagonist is at the family home? Why they don't remember anything. Why would mom not remember? Why would the protagonist-son know that mom doesn't remember?
It's like there's one last scrap missing here.

The gameplay was pretty confusing at first - I wandered aimlessly around the locations, trying to proceed; it took me a while to understand that I need to compare the contents of the book with the environment, and I actually managed to complete the fridge segment before finding out how to proceed from the first page.
Nice placement detection, by the way. The one that recognizes the text on the fridge and the placement of pages.

The audiovisuals are mostly consistent and fitting, though maybe the music could tone down its dark mystery mood in favour of solemn nostalgia? Also, while I could understood the colourful letters among monochrome backgrounds as a stylistic choice, these MSPaint-like pictures and scribbles took away from the mood a bit.

Overall, somewhat intriguing entry, but has not enough scraps to satisfactorily put the story together.

shadow hall by the friendly potato

Basic platforming (a little slidey, though).
Basic use of theme with exposition pixie.
Basic graphics.
No audio. :<
Basic "sorry I'm out of time" ending. I appreciate this ending is there, though - some games would have me run around in circles uncertain whether I found all the content or not.

Shadow Realm by Braydee Johnson

I tried to give a stick to the skull person, but it crashed the game. I couldn't find any other items I could pick up and give.

Shibboleth by FrostyCat

I really like the concept of this game - it's one of these few entries that uses theme in a unique and still entertaining way.
I like the idea of this type of puzzle; would be even better with handcrafted levels each having a unique solution and a human-understandable deduction path (in fact, I mentioned this game to a puzzle community I'm part of, hope you don't mind).
15 levels are a bit much - especially for a game with randomly generated levels - but I still made it through despite being tired after all the previous games (it was the last entry on my list), so it generally works in the game's favour.
If graphics assets have been custom-made, it'd probably take the top spot. I'm going to take the few ranks for using premade graphics; at least the art is coherent and well-chosen.

Slime Time by Shadow_Lancer and Cowsox

Nice idea and neat graphics, though pretty short. Mind, I don't dislike short games - especially with having so many pretty long ones - but I'd like to see this idea explored a little more.

Squinty and Pasty by ZendSeeker, JeanBombeur and Salut_Cest_Valoche

There are way too many controls. Also, in the tutorial you used an up arrow to represent a shift key, which is easily mistaken to mean an up arrow key (I spent a good while in tutorial trying to drop the item using Up). I'd generally suggest using as few keys as necessary - and if you need an extra key to introduce a certain mechanic (in particular rotating the item), make sure the value added is worth the extra cognitive cost.
Despite that, I managed to complete the game. It was pretty annoying that the game requires a key to have a specific angle without really showing what's the expected angle of the key. All that platforming was too fast; I did manage to gradually learn it as I played, but it still took some considerable time that I didn't have much of. I would have much preferred if the game toned down its platforming challenges in favour of something more puzzle-like, and perhaps using abilities of both Squinty and Pasty in more varied situations.
I somewhat appreciate the character of Pasty, with their somewhat philosophical and melancholic outlook. Having some banter (you could even say flavour text) when R is pressed outside of the button is a neat addition.

System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern

In terms of gameplay, the game has been executed very well. It has gradually introduced obstacles and good difficulty progression (though some stages were harder than the others). There was also enough variety to keep things interesting.
I'm mostly dissatisfied with the ending cut short. Apparently there was meant to be boss battle with an incarnation of the computer (?). What we get is only a brief look at the new form of the computer and then credits. No dialogue explaining anything, just this.
If I had to cut the game short because of time constraints, I'd just add some dialogue at the end along the lines of "Mwhahaha. Now I got a human form and it's all thank to you."; "Oh, good for you. Can we get out now?"; "Yeah, I guess." Oh, and also: "We should get you some clothes, or you'll freeze out there."

While the theme doesn't lend itself to gameplay-based interpretation, this game does a pretty good job, with the computer assisting the player character through their journey and explaining the backstory along the way.

The audiovisuals were fitting, though I wasn't a big fan of the soundtrack. It's not that it's bad - it just made the game feel even heavier, which particularly got to me during my second playthrough when I tried to reach the ending again in an attempt to comprehend it, and it was past midnight to me.

Overall, a really well-made and well-designed entry. Ranking it lower because of the ending cut short.

Temple of Truth by Bart

I though there would be an alternative ending when I interact with the fountain instead of the bottle, but apparently there is none. :<
Aside from that, an okay-ish platformer, I guess?

The box of Schrodinger by ghandpivot

Music by someone other than Waterflame in ghandpivot's game? Heresy!
Very experimental game. A little too experimental, perhaps, in terms of a basic fun factor. Its concept and use of theme are very strong, though.

The Cat in the Room by Kasityokerho

Oh dear, that was dark. Seems like a depiction of paranoia and/or social anxiety taken to the extreme? Definitely an impactful entry.

The Fate of the Earth by Team Kaboom

It was somewhat entertaining, but after it turned out there's yet another 5th lasers level I got a little annoyed.
As I noticed, the weapons in the final battle had the same colours as the beards of their users. Coincidence? I think yes!

The gameplay was a little clunky at times, mostly due to unfortunate game design decisions. One of these was using different keyboard keys for various actions, when only one keyboard key is needed at once, anyway (why keep adding Z/T/R when you can just keep everything to Z, or Spacebar, or other single key). Another was typing in the keywords - the game didn't indicate that they are being typed and what word I'm typing. This made encounter with the rocket guard and then selfdestructing way more troubling than it should be.

Graphics were alright. Audio was nice and the space music made going through the laser levels a little less tiresome.

The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio

Story-based, good atmosphere, I had to use a screenshot and an anagram search to get that last word.

The world knows something baby dont by lalileloluly

I have no idea why interactions teddybear reduced child's brain-o-meter? Was it a mistake? Was it a message that teddy bears corrupt children's minds?
Graphics are very MSPaint-like, though they sort of work. No audio, sadly.
Overall, pretty simple but nice entry. The theme is undermined by the fact the game is played by an adult player who knows what the baby shouldn't.

They Know How To Love by Lumenflower

Nope, didn't complete it. The difficulty here is too broken, with the monster constantly appearing out of nowhere and me having no way to predict where it'll appear next, and within some mazes - no way to avoid it.
Too bad, because it has some really good mechanics, I particularly liked the idea of the limited length cord and how it rolled around obstacles. The story seemed somewhat interesting too, though I've already got my quota of "powered by/feeding on humans" concept for this Jam (let's face it - as horrifying as it is in real life, it's not all that original in stories also blame JacobV et al).
If there was some long recovery time rechargable device that can chase off the monster for a short time, I could at least have a chance at running away from these mazes. As it is now, I can't get over the difficulty in this one of 50 jam entries (some of which were pretty lengthy, too). Or maybe just drop the monster in the first portion of the game, and then make it appear from the bottom once you collect the macguffin in a final battle of sorts.
The graphics were alright. The ambient noise was pretty haunting, so after a while of playing I just toned the game down and played another soundtrack over it. Would have been so much better if this ambient noise changed depending on the proximity of the monster - this would also allow the player to get the good idea whether they're somewhat safe or should go back up.

Tony knows by MikeTheScrivener, Toque

"Remember, landing on anything but your feet [...] will knock you down."
What about landing on a skateboard? :<

I dunno about that gameplay, it promised all these sweet airtimes and sick combos, but I didn't find any gain from chaining things together or rotating mid-air and such. The game didn't give me any feedback about ongoing combos, either. Also, the controls felt pretty unintuitive, especially the rotation - I kept trying to use left/right to rotate in mid-air, and using up to accelerate. Who knows, maybe having the one-directional movement with up/down for acceleration/deceleration and left/right for midair rotation would work better? I still don't know what does space do, exactly, either.

The use of theme seems rather symbolic, though I kinda felt like only Tony knows what's going on in this combos system. I wish I would know...

The graphics are generally cool, though backgrounds are kinda boring; having more variety there could make the game feel a little more interesting. Also, I didn't know I didn't need to see a pixel-art of almost naked Toque. Now I know I didn't need to see that. The music is kinda cool, though I don't see it being credited anywhere (you two together were credited for code and art, but I didn't see anything for music). Is it yours or was it taken from elsewhere?

Overall, I like the premise of skateboard tricks but without proper feedback about combos it doesn't feel as challenging or entertaining.

TsundereSim by Grizzlius Maximus

I had to replay the game, because I didn't see what exactly happened at my first take.
I couldn't quite get who was being tsundere here. Also, the boy using some kind of emotional/homework blackmail doesn't sit well with me. I dunno, I feel like this story could have been written better...?
Pretty neat graphics, and I definitely approve of the variety of facial expressions.

What's Doggo Got by KooKooKachoo

Pretty cute. I like this lesson in responsibility after dog's poop.
Don't like how I must first interact click Z to find coin and then click X to pick it up; the interaction should be enough.
Good execution of theme through the gameplay (cooperation with the NPC) and an original idea overall.
Audiovisuals are fine and fitting well.

Where by deepfry3

I was confused at first, because I tried to shoot with the mouse instead of Space.
Once I re-read the instructions, I won in 20 seconds. The game is a tad too simple, I'm afraid (at least it didn't take much time; and I've spent more than enough time on other games already).

Who Killed Mr Tibbles by Team Flob

The gameplay was clearly explained and had some challenge and variety to id. However, the clues were sometimes hard to use properly. For example, how should I tell whether a furniture counts as wooden or not? Or what counts as rubbish or not for "there was no rubbish on the floor" clue?

Investigation-like use of theme. Not exactly original, but works.

Cute graphics and audio, as expected from Team Flob.

Overall, a nice entry, though I wish the clues were sometimes clearer about what they eliminate and what they don't.

you are my ability by Sheep Wink

At first I couldn't steal any ability at all; only after some kills I started getting one after another.
Also, the game doesn't seem to end even if I try to get myself killed by standing idly and waiting for arrows to come my way.
The abilities themselves feel pretty impressive, but because they're stolen automatically on each kill (and there are lots of kills) there's no tactical depth to the gameplay.
Graphics are pretty good. Audio is adequate.

You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal

Yet another entry in the Randall Stone continuity.

"The difficulty was hard to balance"
I agree, the balance minigame was the hardest near the endgame.
The button masher was pretty straightforward, though during my first time playing it the button to mash changed twice for some reason. Other times the mashed button was consistent.
The swing game was pretty ok, I guess?

Interrogation-like use of theme. Not exactly original, but works.

The game had good presentation, with both custom graphics and soundtrack. It's always nice to see some hi-res graphics for a change.

Overall, a pretty fun entry and continuing the story from other Jam games. Now I wonder what's next...
 
(counting that vote in ~ Alice)

Unfortunately, I misread the timezone for when voting closed and I saw that the thread was locked. I wanted to share my top ten so at least those devs saw.

Admittedly, for my first game jam, I got overwhelmed by how to rank and critique everything so rather than try to nitpick, I ranked the top ten games that stood out the most to me.

Ultimately though, every single game was impressive in one way or another to me. Whether it was story, artistic direction, or technical prowess, it was amazing to think all these were created over a few days!

My goal is to write up more in depth comments later but between work and personal circumstances, I haven't been able to.

Great job, everyone!

Reviews

Best Of:

Best use of Theme : arbitrary by Feather Dreams
Best Concept: Killer Shark 77 by Yal
Best Presentation: A Night Flight by VinylFly
Best Story: A Night Flight by VinylFly

Top 10

  1. arbitrary by Feather Dreams
  2. System Purge by Jacob V, Lipton, and GreenWyvern
  3. A Night Flight by VinylFly
  4. Killer Shark 77 by Yal
  5. You Will Talk by Siolfor the Jackal
  6. Know Dungeon by Micah_DS
  7. FAZIL by Cloaked Games, Joseph Ellis and FAZIL
  8. Master Key by Poizen
  9. The Shade by OrangeCrowStudio
  10. Shibboleth by FrostyCat
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top