1000 Rules To Live by by Wooshdude
The game keeps randomly freezing and bugging out, sorry. At least I got a hotdog skin on one of my playthroughs, before entering the next level and getting a message about being unable to draw obj_player or something.
Other than that, I guess it has this "choose your own rule" thing going on, but I can hardly make an informed decision when I cannot see the rule before collecting it. >.<
The audiovisuals are pretty nice, but I'd have preferred if the pixel sizes stayed consistent, so that e.g. buttons in menu aren't more blocky than the background.
A Game for 8 Colors by DEGLIS
Phew, it was getting really catastrophic near the end, but I won!
(I didn't even realise I can win until near end of level 7, when I finally spotted that it has "out of 8" next to level number)
Either way, it was somewhat fun, if maybe too hectic near the end - at this point I couldn't really process what colours I'm making and I just tried to dump whatever in a place where blocks are somewhat scarce.
The fact that it uses RYB colours rather than RGB colour doesn't help. Several times I pushed blue into yellow intending to make a white block, only to get green instead. Or green into purple to make a while block while getting black.
Break! (don't brake) by Kalzme
I understand the appeal of wordless tutorials, but personally I feel it tried to convey too much with too few information, making me initially confused. Then again, the "Space" hint (as in, press Space to speed up) might also have something to do with it.
Other than that, it's a neat concept and also one of few games that revolve around breaking the rules rather than following them. And also, the rules don't seem completely arbitrary like some other games.
The audiovisuals are also quite good.
Cannibal Rules by ZombieLawyer
Not a great fan of this decision-making genre, especially with some random events being objectively better to get than other events. The wildly random values of gain/loss don't help.
Also, I feel like some trade-offs might have got their sign wrong, or at least had a counter-intuitive effect.
At least the game has a good ending (which you can see if you replay the game without restarting the application - the score from the previous run is still there).
Coco Bombs by Adam Games
This game seems very unfinished, with enemies sometimes having clearly placeholder frames and seemingly no losing/winning condition?
At the very least, I applaud the use of hi-res graphics, even if some of these are pretty simple. I don't mind blocky pixel-art per se, but I'm seeing so much of it, I really want some high-quality vector-likes for a change.
Coco Cards Casino by GameDevDan and NAL
Interesting concept. It relies quite a lot on card-counting, but the added mechanic of adjacent cells also means you want to aim for clusters of revealed cards, so there's at least this extra bit of strategic depth.
That said, 2 levels are quite enough for me; I'm not feeling like challenging all these AIs that have been prepared. ^^'
Collect Build Kill by Lukan
Whenever I press Space and let go of it, I end up with a message "You died". So all I can do is collect and place things, which doesn't make for a very interesting gameplay. Sorry. ^^'
Color Wars by Rui Rosario
Ah, a simple rock-paper-scissors based shooter.
I feel the visuals would be improved if the background was plain black rather than plain gray.
I liked how specific colors not only killed the enemies they are strong against, but also absorbed the bullets.
Conquer and DRILL by Cpsy1714
As a person who completed
Britskrieg, I was initially ready to complete this entry as well. However, things take a lot of time here, and the armies go from hundreds of units in Central America to millions in Austalia. This is 30k clicks for building the army alone, and you still need to manage the resources and upkeeps; if you make a misstep, you lose. >.<
(that, and while I generally appreciate voice acting, I don't really like listening to the intro somehow...)
The controls are also somewhat convoluted and clunky to use; I had to look in the Jam Games thread to find out how to use these, too.
Fire Realm by Red Phantom
Phew, I defeated the Ashen Mother or whatever it was at the end and completed the game.
I gave the game a test run before, and it's generally a major improvement compared to the early version. Health bars, shorter levels and temporary immunity are welcome additions, and fire orbs give a nice extra variety (earlier fire creatures just flied around).
I also think the backgrounds got a bit more decorated?
Anyway, it's a pretty enjoyable game now. Maybe not the best, but still fun. Well done.
Fishy Clicker by sylvain_I
I collected 317 fish. I'm glad it's not THREE MINUTE TIMER, because while it was somewhat enjoyable for a minutes, it'd get stale after three times that.
Oh wait, those are actually 6 timers. 5 for recharging fish, and 1 for game countdown.
This might explain while I don't see THREE SIMPLE RULES explained anywhere.
Grow A Plant by Poizen
Fires are casting a shadow, and water doesn't put out the fires. I think I should be concerned...
(then again, we have the sun wearing sunglasses, too)
Other than that, it was a nice little puzzle game, if maybe it has the issues with some real-world intuitions not applying (again - fire casting shadow and resistant to water). The water physics are a little tricky to predict fully, but I didn't experience the trouble with expecting one behaviour from the water physics and getting the other.
Guess Who Hostage Rescue by Mightyjor
It's definitely on an easy side, with clues allowing a basic elimination of the baddies (maybe except for the eyes, one needs to stare really hard to figure our their colour).
Then again, if the clues weren't enough to narrow down the hostage, the game would be unfair. Maybe some more indirect clues could make the game a little more challenging...?
Would be nice to have some more satisfying ending then just going to credit. I dunno, maybe some summary of how many hostages were saved? Or even better, a disco party with all the hostages present.
It's not a bad concept, but I'd have preferred if clues weren't so straightforward. Audiovisuals were fine, I guess?
HookLab by Lambda
Not quite seeing use of THREE SIMPLE RULES here, or rather, while there are some mechanics that could explained in 3 items, it can be said about lots of other games.
Usually I'm not a great fan of being very explicit about use of theme and stating it outright in the game, but THREE SIMPLE RULES is an exception here - especially when these three rules are three core game mechanics that can be anything.
Other than that, it's a really enjoyable puzzle game, and the levels use the hook mechanics quite cleverly. Well done. ^^
(also, would be nice to get some clarification whether the music was made by the team during the Jam or taken from elsewhere; I'm pretty sure that the victory melody at the very least is a paraphrasing of Final Fantasy winning tune)
Igor by Ninety
"Spikes are harmless" - my favourite rule.
A well-made puzzle platformer with good level design, gradually introducing new concepts. The presentation is also well done, and there's some basic story progression, too. Not sure whether anti-raise is a proper phrase, though.
While I appreciate the unique and fun rule-switching mechanic, I think the *three* rules aspect is underemphasised. There are three slots for rules, yes, but in many (most?) levels you'll use one or two rules at most, and only the latest levels make proper use of the three rules limit (when getting a fourth rule removes the first).
Inconvenience Store by TehPilot
COVID again... *masked deep sigh*
It's a nice concept, if somewhat hectic, what with trying to keep up with both cleanliness and stock at once (and occasional customers).
And then some super-sick client comes over and keeps spreading the disease. >.<
Either way, I managed to pass all levels. The ending was satisfying.
Lava Jamp by sk8dududu
It's way too easy to fall off the platform - them being so narrow doesn't help. Extra narrow platforms might work in precision platformers, but not so much in endless runners, especially with the reaper chasing and shooting slices at you.
Also, I recommend reading
this article) on platforming jumping - there are two useful concepts presented that can make your platformer feel so much more responsive and nowhere near as frustrating. In case of Lava Jamp you'd need to adjust the concepts here to the fact that length of holding jump key affects jump height, but I think it's perfectly doable still.
Other than that, the audiovisuals are pretty cool.
Mage's Quest by Calepiaro
First I completed the game on Easy, then I played on Normal and got 35 time overall.
It's short enough, at least., and there some variety in powers, so it's nice. Not the smoothest platformer I've played, and there needs to be a difference between background and obstacle trees (maybe make the background trees darker or even black altogether).
The theme... well, as ghandpivot would put it, "Theme is forced, 3 seemingly arbitrary things are chosen as rules". I had to specifically check the Story section to see what the rules are in the first place.
Also, please don't use mouse-controlled menu for otherwise entirely keyboard-controlled game. It means every time I want to replay, I have to move my hand from the keyboard to mouse and then back.
MEGADOME by The M
Cool general idea, but it's a little too chaotic for my taste. Especially when some opponent hits me from the back and I don't know which direction of back it is, exactly. Also, would be nice to add some visual depth by fog-like effect, so that distant asteroids don't blend with the closer ones. Having some highlight around the competing ships would be nice, too.
Would be nice to have a crosshair in front of me; it's pretty hard to tell where the exact center of screen is, which is quite a life or death matter in this game.
I appreciate that the ore goes towards you when you're close, at least (or at least, that's how it seemed to me).
Also, it's nice to get voice acting here - and having the announcements corresponding to various GMC usernames is even more impressive - though the quality of voice acting might still need some work.
Morning Commute by Yothebob
Wow, that was intense.
I appreciate the general concept, but execution could be better along all 3 rules:
1. Not getting late - it would be more logical if you had to maintain an appropriate *average* speed, rather than keeping it 40mph or higher; I imagine it could be illustrated with a bar with e.g. a car and hourglass along it - if the car is ahead of the hourglass, it means it goes ahead of time, if the hourglass is ahead - the car is getting late.
2. Not annoying the girlfriend - I feel the typing mechanic could be smoother, in particular by having Enter be both send and hide phone. If not that, at least make Space the phone showing/hiding button, since the typical messaging app has Enter as a send button (on PC rather than mobile, but still).
3. Not crashing - I just don't know why cars in front of me suddenly disappear, that's weird.
Night Of The Winning Dead by Pat Ferguson
Alright, this game gets top scores for style.
Not as good for gameplay mechanics, though - speed-up in particular has been working pretty wonky, with sped-up timer being different from regular timer, and zombies dying when falling from height that's perfectly fine in normal speed mode.
Other than that, it's a nice throwback to Lemmings (I recognised that even without the overly long marquee text telling me so). I like how typical lemming abilities had some touches to be more zombified (spew bridge, however gross, is also genius in how thematic it is). I also liked how clawing up ability could be used for stalling - in particular, I saved almost every single zombie in the level introducing the bridge, if not for the time running out because of the speed-up bug.
The rules are a little lackluster, especially since I didn't see them in a game, but only in a devlog. And not sure about having a snack along the way - there was only one level involving that. >.<
Nod Zombies by BigDallas
...so, are money cars made of literal money? This would explain while collisions with them are somewhat harmless.
Alright, this game kept me playing for at least several attempts, which is rare for me as far as score-as-high-as-you-can-without-specific-end-goal sort of games.
It's even more impressive, considering that the controls use this press-key-to-move rather than hold-key-to-move scheme, which I usually dislike.
The graphics are nothing to sign praises about, but I did like the SFX, especially the mocking laugh when the other junkie hits you.
Out of the Square by ericossiqueira and Benjamim
That was certainly quite an experience.
It took quite a while to reach the point where use of theme is introduced (via warden) and the slow movement didn't help.
At the end I got swarmed by a rain of balls and the game ended. Is that it?
PUSH by Toque
Alright, it's silly, but memetic if somewhat fun. Would have played it for more than two runs if the intro wasn't so long and unskippable.
Also, I can't quite tell how the game decides whether the block fell on main character or not, but it's counter-intuitive - both times I failed, it didn't seem like block fell on me at all.
Robber Rules! by KPJ
The title made me hope that it would involve some "honour among thieves" rules, but it's a basic three-fixed-rules instead.
I like how it has specific levels instead of being an endless runner - it allows for briefer and repeatable challenges and gives a point of completion.
(and also it means the protagonist wins - though since the protagonist is a robber, maybe I shouldn't root for him...?)
Towards the end, especially the 5th level, the game was getting quite tough. Wouldn't mind if it was slowed by 10-20% or so, giving the player more time to react and make the correct movement - please keep in mind that as a developer, you have so much more experience and knowledge about your game than the random Jam reviewers.
Also, I'd have preferred more focused controls, e.g. up arrow for shield, right arrow for punch, down arrow for kick.
Either way, I completed the entry. Ignoring later levels getting a little too tough, the game was somewhat enjoyable overall. Would have preferred a more satisfying conclusion, but at least a win screen is there.
Robo Royale by bandman28 and Josh Chen
Played it twice, won both times. Good concept, a game is a tad too easy to win, but at the very least you can finish it quickly. Theme used in standard three-fixed-gameplay-rules.
Rules of the Rhinoceros by Yal
Hnnnh... I feel like it could have been quite a good game, but it suffers from the same problems as Ghostris:
- the RNG can mess with you really bad
- some of the variations are more annoying than charmingly challenging
In particular, the game puts so much extra "oomph" that every time the rhino takes damage, they get knocked back pretty far and can't be moved for a bit.
It's a short bit, but it still breaks the game flow, turning what should have been a crazy fun ride into an unnecessary struggle. The variable speed rule messes up the gameplay flow even worse, draining away all the inherent joy of running around and shooting stuff.
As for RNG messing with the player - let's just say that out of 6 or 7 runs I played the game, I got "Collecting money hurts you" 4 times and "Ghosts haunt you" at least 3. I never got healing by money rule.
In the end, I didn't even manage to climb higher than initial 25m. The fact that the game doesn't explain how to complete a tier, exactly, doesn't help. >.<
Well, at least the game uses theme in a more creative way than "3 fixed gameplay mechanics". The audiovisuals are also pretty cool.
Rush, Kill, Repeat by filiprb
I dunno, I feel like without the head I shouldn't be able to get too far, and the game seems to agree.
The time limit is just too low, so I'd need to get really lucky with enemies coming my way until I bleed out.
The extra-darkness - while understable from the perspective of the headless - makes finding enemies even harder.
Now I'm a little disappointed no one made a game with rules being: "1. Make games. 2. Sleep. 3. Repeat."
Snakes on a Plain by Richerama
I'm disappointed. They promised something exciting, but when I finally got to the nighttime, I didn't get any raving zombies or anything. Also, the cacti still cast shadow like they were before.
Aside from that, it's quite polished and has some neat little dialogue. The fox on a desert reminds me of Little Prince. Overall, neat little game.
Spielcomm 2020 by Bart
Hey, I actually managed to complete the game, i.e. collect all 10 coins, enter the metro and then leave while it's "Taking a break". Not sure what the small reward was supposed to be, though.
The game could use some quality of life features, in particular prevent the NPCs from going near the sinks. When I washed my hands, an NPC came nearby and skyrocketed my infection rate to 100% while I couldn't move.
Also, the walls are blending with one another, since they all use the same colour and there's no fog-like effect that makes the closer objects more prominent.
I still don't know what Spielcomm is. Is it some kind of German games convent, or what?
Subside by HyprBlu
I think the game has some nice concept behind it, but I personally would prefer if there were fewer levels and/or more varied challenges; it was mostly running/jumping/grapple-hooking around the maze and shooting stuff on your way. Out of too many levels in this game, one stood out to me positively - the one with pile of plague at the bottom, two pools of acids on the side and the ceiling with spew-jellies. It actually made me combine grappling-hook holding with shooting, which I didn't realise was possible before.
Bosses are a nice addition, although I didn't like the first one much because of this plain rectangular room design, while the third one could be cheesed by standing on a sufficiently wide platforms and micro-dodging the spews (maybe it's for the better). The second boss was probably the most interesting.
Generally, a nice and well-polished platformer, if maybe it could use some more variety of challenges compared to the number of levels.
The Faults in our Code by Evanski, CloakedGames and Joseph Ellis
Why having hi-res font on super-blocky pixel-art, whyyyy? >.<
(and the menu has hi-res background, too...)
Out of fixed sets of three rules to pick, Asimov's laws are good rules.
The game has a cool concept and story to it, and some choices were pretty interesting. I wonder how to get specific endings. I only got the first and the last one.
The ritual by finh2003
It was actually somewhat fun. I did a curseless run first (i.e. no drinking potions or raising dead ever), took me two attempts. It was a little monotonous, but workable.
Then I did the cursed run, raising the dead whenever I could. Then I've grown to appreciate the curse system, since some drawbacks were more creative than plain debuffs. My favourite one is hallucination - so simple, yet so effective.
The ending looks like the human wizard cast a Polymorph spell, but failed to specify the target properly (note: this makes sense in Warcraft 2 context).
I liked some nice elements of polish that I've learnt *not* to take for granted - e.g. ability to use WSAD and arrow keys interchangeably, automatic restoration of mana after clearing the room, a minimap. Would be nice to have a speed-up option, too, for running through empty rooms after finding a far-reaching dead end.
Pretty enjoyable entry overall, though it could really use some music.
They Bleed Red Too by SoapSud39
The voice acting is actually pretty good, I appreciate that. The scenes and the general backstory were good as well.
The gameplay... not so much. The platforming was janky, and because the character didn't turn immediately while changing directions, it hindered wall clinging (because the protagonist was facing the wrong way). Also, I kept getting in the crossfires of drones patrolling the road. The gameplay in general could have definitely used some playtesting and tweaking.
Three Nights Of Knights by chris24
A decent though a little monotonous platformer, with moving around and taking down enemy knights. The foreground elements are good, the platforms and backgrounds could use something more than solid colours.
Is the number of knights at the end the same as the number of knights saved? At any rate, that ending was about as satisfying as Solitaire's. Which is actually pretty good.
Three Rules Make a Riddle by Ghandpivot
I like the general idea, and the riddles were quite interesting. I had to look up the devlog for about half of them, but eventually figured them all out (some of these rules were really vague - like those two with bleeding - or abstract - like the one with hallucinations). At the very least, the rules are not fixed arbitrarily chosen gameplay mechanics.
Presentation is clean and nice.
One thing to improve - have backspace clear the letter and go back at once, rather than first clear the letter and then on another backspace go back. At no point have I thought "oh, that's nice how the cursor still stays on that position after removing the previous letters", and many times I thought the exact opposite.
Trichotomy by FrostyCat
Compared to earlier strategic games, this game seems to rely a bit too much on randomness; especially with items with many arrows being objectively more desirable than item only a subset of these arrows.
Maybe giving both players two or three symbols in hand would add some more strategic depth to the game?
Also, the animation could be sped up. Not only that, I think it'd be far more satisfying if getting two blocks - instead of having regular poking one side and then regular poking other side animations - would smoothly transition from poking one side to then poking the other side.
Other than the animation - pretty long compared to the time it takes to make a decision - the presentation is neat and functional.
Upside Down Tower by Armored Dragon
Nice little game, wouldn't mind getting more levels using this concept of managing moves and exploiting parries. Though having a wider room for parrying would be nice, too.
The audiovisuals are pretty nice, too., though I'd have preferred if the protagonist sprite wasn't so blocky compared to the other higher resolution elements.
Vaccine Maze by Lucas Poeiras
Ah, very topical game. Though it's not quite the topic I'd want to be reminded of.
I guess the premise is fine, if maybe not too interesting in the long run. In a game like this, when enemy can be right behind the corner, it's better to keep the camera moving with the player so their field of view at least covers a reasonable area.
At any rate, well done for submitting a finished and complete game, even if you have still ways to go. ^^
Weapon Master by DreadedDruid
Using the basic weak-against-colors mechanic as three rules? This kinda sorta works, but isn't quite creative. Also, while I usually prefer when the theme isn't spelled out, THREE SIMPLE RULES is an exception, considering the variety of things people can designate as their three rules.
Other than that, the graphics are really nice, the gameplay is a little monotonous and the audio is nonexistent. Sometimes it was hard to tell where to go next, and with side and back walls having no visible "doors" (as opposed to front walls) it was hard to tell there's a passage there.
In the battle with the crystal, it would be nice to have some indication how much HP it has left (maybe by the little crystals around it breaking down?). I think the final battle could be a tad more interesting, if the crystal could occasionally summon one or two mages, too.
Generally, it's recommended that you provide the controls for your game in the game itself or - if you don't have time - in a README.txt file included with the Jam game (not "Read me", though).
Whack (only) the Mole by awlred
Pretty simple concept, took me a few plays to get used to, but in the end I got experienced enough to get a 39 score.
Would be nice to get a feedback when you are too late with your action, e.g. show a cross instead of a check mark. I appreciate how choosing *incorrect* action has a specific animations, though.
Other than that, it's a decent entry. Maybe presentation could be a tad better, but I still appreciate the variety of animations.
Wizard's Pub Crawl by Siolfor The Jackal
I won the game with 8990 score. It's just under 9000!
Thank goodness this game has an ending. The difficulty didn't seem to go up, so if it was an endless runner, I'd probably keep going for a while.
The graphics are generally fine, but I'm not sure about the blurry background in front of the sharper road/wall (I think fireballs were also somewhat blurry compared to the elves, even though they're closer). Also, the edibles/drinkables are clearly placeholder, aren't they?
Other than that, I think the general concept isn't bad - especially balancing the tox meter - but it could have been made more challenging. Maybe make the elves cast their fireballs more often, at least? As it is now, the game feels a little dull.
(also, while I appreciate Siolfor's music in general, I think maybe he could use this opportunity to try out bardcore instead of straight-up metal?)
You Only Have 3 Minutes by Evanski
Wrong theme.
YOUR RULES by Gravedust and Tomato
It's about the only game where you break rules so literally.
It was quite an interesting experience, but I only got that thanks to the prior knowledge about the special gameplay mechanic.
These floaty creatures in level 2 were quite nice. In general I liked the audiovisuals.
and 
