GMC Jam Voting The Extremely Aestival GMC Jam #5 Voting Topic

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Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
The voting begins!

With 37 entries total, the voting will last for over 13 days until
Sunday, 10th September, 23:59 UTC

DOWNLOAD ZIP (~350MB)

The ZIP with all entries is linked here. The ZIP includes, aside from the games themselves, a Jam Player tool. It is strongly recommended to use Jam Player to play the games.

Mega: Whole ZIP

How to vote?
You must make a single post with your votes, which might include the games ranking and optional awards for best games in specific categories. When you name a ranked / awarded entry, please use both the game name and the authors, as just a title or author isn't sometimes enough to tell which entry you mean. Preferably, just use the directory name from the game ZIP, as it identifies the game correctly.

For a vote to qualify, you must rank at least top 3 entries (without ties), and they must be accompanied by at least a short comment explaining what you liked about them. Also, you cannot rank your own entry.

Aside from top 3, you can vote for:
  • Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
  • Best Concept
  • Best Presentation
  • Best Story
  • Best Devlog
You can vote for best reviewer, too, but that won't be counted.

Also, you can rank as many other entries as you like, all the way to the very last entry. In fact, the more entries you rank, the stronger support you will give to the top 3 (thanks to the voting system used). However, ties are not allowed, and entries from the first tie onwards aren't included when counting the votes.

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Code:
[center][b][size=7]My amazing reviews![/size][/b][/center]
[size=6]Top 3:[/size]

[size=5]First place[/size]
Short comment about the first place...

[size=5] Second place[/size]
Short comment about the second place...

[size=5] Third place[/size]
Short comment about the third place...

[size=6]Best ofs:[/size]

[b]Best Use of VOYAGE:[/b] ...
[b]Best Concept:[/b] ...
[b]Best Presentation:[/b] ...
[b]Best Story:[/b] ...
[b]Best Devlog:[/b] ...

[size=6]Full ranking:[/size]

[spoiler][list=1]
[*]first place...
[*]second place...
[*]etc...
[/list][/spoiler]

[size=6]Comments:[/size]

You might post your comments here, or, if you tend to write long and detailed feedback, make a document elsewhere and link to it here.
Providing feedback to each ranked entry is not mandatory, but generally people appreciate that.

How results are decided?
(the information here is not necessary for voting; it's mostly for people who want to understand how votes are calculated to produce the final results)

When it comes to the games ranking, the voting system used is 1/(rank + 1). It means for each ranking an entry appears in, it will get a score of 1/(rank + 1), and no score for other rankings.

When it comes to best-of awards, the winners must have gathered the most votes in their respective category. If multiple entries have the most votes, the Jam host may choose one or more entries among them to win the award. This is to avoid situations when e.g. 5 entries tie for 2 votes for the best devlog, and they all win; at the same time, it's still the community that decides which entries get the most votes.

The best reviewer is chosen arbitrarily by the Jam host, but the community opinion may be taken into account (just not in a "systematic" way).

Let's get voting!
 
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Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Reviews

Top 3:

Sumoball by GhandPivot
Awesome game, and could be a perfect standalone with some fixes: golden balls are WAY too valuable as-is, so if you get lucky with those your score balloons. Some more visual effects would also be nice: screenshake and chromatic abherration whenever you score a goal, get hit really heavily, and when you game over. I also think the balls are a bit too unpredictable atm, the game would feel easier to play if they either moved more slowly or were fired in bursts of 3-5 balls from the same spot rather than each being random.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
Really good presentation, and nice in-game help (though it's a bit messy and hard to read it's good for a jam game). The controls felt really unintuitive and despite clearing all the levels I couldn't figure out how they worked. For a full game release (which this concept definitely could work for) perhaps making levels based around circles (instead of a normal rectangular grid) could be better? There's definitely room to expand the concept, especially in the "both guys can enter this room, but which one SHOULD" mechanics... you could up the puzzle difficulty a ton by adding objects both reflectonauts can interact with.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline
No in-game instructions on how to play, but testing ZX gave me a starting point. Main problem is the lack of checkpoints, though, and it's very easy to get hit since your hitbox is so huge. Couldn't make it out of the first room before my patience ran out. When you make a story-based game, make it hard to fail.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
Best Concept: Sumoball by GhandPivot
Best Presentation: Reverie by GhostlyFeline
Best Story: Nightsideslide by Wraithious
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  2. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  3. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  4. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  5. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  6. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  7. Side By Side by Dalesome
  8. AfroDitus by Misty
  9. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

Comments:

AfroDitus by Misty

It's always a bad sign when a game has to POINT OUT its use of the theme, but it seems relatively advanced (I like how enemies point out stuff like BLOOD FOUND). Didn't like how they can shoot you from offscreen, and the interface mapping isn't very good either (it's easier to change gender than to reload, and scrolling to change weapons would've been good too). Very politically un-correct in every way (transgender soldiers, KKK and Donald Trump in like 5 seconds?!), but I guess it passes for humor with dem kids. Uses Kevin McLeod music without attribution.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

The concept is hilarious, but the game suffers from it not evolving at all... and you have a base 50% chance of not having to do anything at all. Having a mouse-centric game that you can click outside is kinda annoying, though, and it messed things up for me several times. Managed to cheat consistently enough to reach 100 dollars, then I borequit'd. The game could do with things like uneven surfaces, wind, and other things messing you up.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Incredibly confusing and pretty weird, with some polish I could see Vinny play this. The controls are weird (don't spread them out like that, put the menu on ESC instead) and I couldn't seem to use my equipped items. The vampires won despite me using the Garlic Necclase (sic!) and not even getting attacked once, so I have no idea what the loss condition is. I found it frustrating how items didn't appear until you talked to the right NPC, and the invisible walls that didn't seem to match up with in-game objects at all. I definitely liked how all NPCs turned creepy after a while, though (though the town itself didn't turn dark to match it) and that concept could definitely work - a gradual descent into creepiness.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Flagged as dangerous by my antivirus.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Really good presentation, and nice in-game help (though it's a bit messy and hard to read it's good for a jam game). The controls felt really unintuitive and despite clearing all the levels I couldn't figure out how they worked. For a full game release (which this concept definitely could work for) perhaps making levels based around circles (instead of a normal rectangular grid) could be better? There's definitely room to expand the concept, especially in the "both guys can enter this room, but which one SHOULD" mechanics... you could up the puzzle difficulty a ton by adding objects both reflectonauts can interact with.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

No in-game instructions on how to play, but testing ZX gave me a starting point. Main problem is the lack of checkpoints, though, and it's very easy to get hit since your hitbox is so huge. Couldn't make it out of the first room before my patience ran out. When you make a story-based game, make it hard to fail.

Side By Side by Dalesome

An interesting concept, but has some serious polish issues that makes it hard to play. For instance, whatever text appears when you game over goes away when you any-key, so if you're scrambling for your life you end up missing this. The way the game changes sides as you move towards the side also makes it hard to do anything tactical with the side-changes, so it feels fundamentally flawed. Having something else influence the layering would be better IMO, such as having it change over time and/or loop around the edges. Also the GUI is unclear and the charged-up beam keeps randomly disappearing which lead to a lot of frustrating deaths.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Awesome game, and could be a perfect standalone with some fixes: golden balls are WAY too valuable as-is, so if you get lucky with those your score balloons. Some more visual effects would also be nice: screenshake and chromatic abherration whenever you score a goal, get hit really heavily, and when you game over. I also think the balls are a bit too unpredictable atm, the game would feel easier to play if they either moved more slowly or were fired in bursts of 3-5 balls from the same spot rather than each being random.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

The concept seemed good on paper (after each turn you might suddenly play as your enemies so try to keep things even or the tables could turn on you) but I kept playing as the same side through the entire battle, which was kinda disappointing. Also there was no coin flip animation as far as I could see. Not being able to tell number of actions per turn or HP also made it hard to plan in advance, and enemies' turns being instant made it kinda hard to tell whether they attacked several times or even WHO attacked. Bullet animations would've done a lot here. Also managed to scroll the camera outside the room by mistake and then couldn't find the playable region again and had to quit. Proper credit to used resources, neat!

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

An unplayable mess. Every single step of the pre-game stuff (menus etc) uses different controls, and the game itself uses its own set of controls. Be consistent! Jumps aren't buffered, so it's VERY easy to fail the precision jumps between small platforms. And since the level loops around on itself, you fall down and have to redo the entire thing. The way momentum influences your jump height makes it really hard to judge your jump distance. And the MENU has music, but not the actual game. I ragequit before beating the first level because of how frustrating the game was.
 
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M

Misu

Guest

With the power of shoe, I call upon thee entries, face my feet of revision and clarification!

1st Place
Diverge by Bingdom, lodine, KrotoR

2nd Place
Veiled in Shadows by The M

3rd Place
Duality by Matharoo


Best of Theme
Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Best of Presentation
Diverge by Bingdom, lodine, KrotoR

Best of Concept
penitentiary by TehPilot

Best of Story
Games by Robert

Best of Devlog
The M

Best of WTF
Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Best of Laughing Shoe
Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

(Unfortunately this jam had no funny entries this time, especially since Dadio did not participated which got me depress. So I chose Alice's entry because she was the only who used a pun in the game)

FULL RANKINGS:
1. Diverge by Bingdom, lodine, KrotoR 56
2. Veiled in Shadows by The M 55
3. Duality by Matharoo 54
4. penitentiary by TehPilot 51
5. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff 48
6. Reverie by GhostlyFeline 48
7. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons 42
8. Soul Catchers by Barvix 41
9. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB 39
10 Games by Robert 38
11. Mirror Image by BionicFrog 38
12. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn 38
13. twowt by Yal 37
14. Ping by Nocturne 37
15. BattleDancer by Joh 36
16. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes 35
17. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick 35
18. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV 35
19. Side by Side by Dalesome 35
20. Sumoball by Ghandipivot 34
21. Teoti by Fel666 33
22. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr 33
23. """"4D"""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998 32
24. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake 32
25. AfroDitis by Misty 31
26. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee 31
27. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight 31
28. UpGo by Dr. Wolf 29
29. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes 28
30. Hunted by Snail Man 26
31. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey 26
32. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal 25
33. Nightsideslide by Wraithious 23
34. Endling by Oyakiiv 22
35. TwainShadow by SSJCode 15
36. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r 14
 
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D

Deleted member 467

Guest
THE REVIEWS OF BARVIX

Reviews

Top 5:

1 - Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
2 - Duality by matharoo
3 - twowt by Yal
4 - Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
5 - Side By Side by Dalesome

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: I think this one goes to twowt by Yal
Best Concept:
Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, and KrotoR
Best Presentation:
Duality by Matharoo
Best Story:
Duality by Matharoo
Best Devlog:
HAYMANMARC DEVLOGS MATTER

(Alright I think I copied everything over, might've messed up some words, left out parts I couldn't read at all)
Comments:

4D Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

Nice visuals, getting off of latters felt weird and oftentimes failed. Combat felt awkward with a tiny animation that didn't look like it went far, but collision wise it did.

AfroDitus by Misty

Decent gameplay with some humor, wish it was less political but still had a good message

BattleDancers by Joh

Interesting concept, though I never really got far in it. There's a lot of things in life I am bad it, this is one of them :(

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Interesting take on the theme, either you make decisions yourself or randomly have one picked, with each one having an outcome that affects you.

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

Ayy had fun playing this one for a while, though warp didn't seem to do anything :(

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

A nice game that I wish I had on my iPhone. Wish I had an eraser to get rid of smaller coins to make room for my bigger ones :|
I didn't get far, but I'm still going at it


Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Ayy this was one of my favorites that I played, I realize that a couple other entries did a similar thing, but I think this one did it the best.

Duality by Matharoo

Another one of my favorites (not just because I had a cool cameo) Had a nice story and a couple cool boss fights. That one with Roy was really well done imo.

Endling by Oyakiiv

An alright game, I think I saw where the theme came into play. An interesting concept.

Games by Robert

. . . The name says games, but it didn't feel like a game .-.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

Ayy this was kind of fun, until the coin hit the edge of the screen or my mouse went outside the window. Made it to $50

Hunted by Snail Man

Seems like it would be a cool game ... though I never even killed a single ship :(

Mirror Image
by BionicFrog

This is one of the games that kept missing with my head and perspective :p
I kept dying ... alot, but it was still fun

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Wasn't sure what to do here. . .

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Shooting mechanics took some getting used to as I died alot, but I figured it out more and adjusted.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

I managed to solve puzzle one, took a while to get two (not sure if I can do it again), and I didn't get past that. I'm not good at things like this :(

penitentiary by TehPilot

Another great game that also challenged my head and perspective (also died here a lot)
Nice graphics and gameplay

ping by Nocturne

this one was fun to play, a different take on Pong, but a welcome one.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

Kinda wished the enemies were a bit slower, and took a while to figure out punching actually did something, For a while seemed like it wasn't doing anything.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Really enjoyed this one, was a nice challenge

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

Took a while to get used to attacking, and in some places was pretty difficult. Had nice art, though.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

For replay purposes I would have a way to skip the title text, gameplay wise it wasn't bad.

Side By Side by Dalesome

Another one of my favorites, pretty interesting how objects one side can be passable on one side of the screen, and kill you on the other. Nice take on the theme.

Soul Catchers
by Barvix

literally trash

Sumoball by GhandPivot

This was pretty fun to play, scored a few goals before I died. I think my highest was 5 goals (to be fair I didn't make that many in during each gameplay)

Teotl by Fel666

A nice game that had an interesting way of using the theme, was definitely fun to play.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

As another reviewer said it was kind of Minecraft like, accidentally discovered combat, and destroying blocks, as well as opening chests. I think you said accidentally discovering how to do things was intentional, so that was cool.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Usage of the theme was similar to other comes such as Diverge, but that's fine. Other than walking around killing things I wasn't sure what to do. Movement was odd, expected W to move me forward in the direction I was facing, not literally up.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

A nice game with a nice use of the theme. Though when i got to this point there wasn't anything else in the other world :(


Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

Another game where I wasn't really sure what was going on

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

Some funny dialogue and physics, kept trying to stack bodies to jump high before I stupidly realized running and jumping makes me jump higher .-. I am not a smart man

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

Felt cool to level up and get that double jump, which felt more like a 4x jump O_O
Also when I changed forms I don't think I could change back . . .

twowt by Yal

One of the best games I played so far. Honestly ... wasn't looking forward to playing it because I generally don't like maze games, but this instantly became one of my favorites so far. The usage of the theme and idea is really great.

UpDownDuckAround
by TonyStr

It seems as though the only thing to do is get one of the squares to hit the top or bottom, and then get heads or tails? Not sure if that's it or I'm missing something.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

Interesting little game with some cool mechanics like typing to power the ship

Veiled in Shadows by The M

Another one of my favorites that I've played, nice gameplay and story as well as visuals.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Got an error when using the Poison witch lady's mover move
 
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matharoo

manualman
GameMaker Dev.
Some things I want to say before the reviews:
  1. This is my first time reviewing games, and so I must suck. So please take my reviews with a grain of salt.
  2. I don't think people really understood the meaning of "Two sides of the same coin". So many wrong ideas in many games. Many just took it literally and made coins. Nice effort put by people though.
  3. Why do so many people use the Arrow Keys? I can't play with them. Give me WASD.
Reviews

Top 3:

Veiled in Shadows - @The M
Amazing game, amazing gameplay, amazing story, amazing presentation! This has a lot of potential!

Coin Flipping Simulator - @Kepons
Really fun game. It was really satisfying to buy those new coins. But now my hands hurt from all that flippin'!
Wish it had a save system so I could continue later.


Soul Catchers - @Barvix
Amazing game! It was short, but fun while it lasted. Loved the Pokemon gameplay style, and also the fact that there are two different versions: two sides of the same coin! A nice way to use the theme.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: Soul Catchers by Barvix
Best Concept: twowt by Yal
Best Presentation: Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Best Story: Veiled in Shadows by The M
Best Devlog: @HayManMarc

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

Nice idea and graphics. The movement is clumsy though, and the game started lagging after a while.

AfroDitus by Misty

Nice game, I was enjoying it, until I ran out of ammo.
THERE WAS VIOLENCE ON BOTH SIDES! :p

BattleDancers by Joh

Nice game, executed well. I'm personally not a fan of these kind of games so didn't play it much. Nice work though.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Nice game, but there's not much to it.

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

Nice idea and concept, but bad execution.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

Really fun game. It was really satisfying to buy those new coins. But now my hands hurt from all that flippin'!

Wish it had a save system so I could continue later.

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Nice game! Enjoyed it. It was a bit hard though, but I think it fits.

Games by Robert

Uh... well, I guess it's not a game. Nice story though. ;)

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

Nice idea, I enjoyed it. You took the theme too literally though. :p

Hunted by Snail Man

Can't get to destroy the other ships. Also, there's so much text when the game starts. Looks good though. Nice effort.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

Nice idea, not-so-good execution.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

I did not understand what to do. Nice effort though.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Weird controls, couldn't play. Nice effort.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

A nicely done game. Really fun, though I didn't want to play after 2 levels.

penitentiary by TehPilot

Amazing game, and amazing work! Really enjoyed it, until I got an error and closed the game.
The error came up when I flipped the coin, and died. The coin object or something did not find the player object, so it gave an error.
Really nice entry though. Love it!

Ping by Nocturne

Looks really really nice, with that old TV effect. The game is just ping though, so there's nothing to say about that.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

Had fun. Weird sound effects though.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Nice concept. The controls could have been better if they were based on rotating the direction in which they're facing, rather than controlling the yellow guy.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

Looks nice, the characters are well made, though the world looks empty. But I couldn't play because the controls aren't good and the level isn't well made.

Side By Side by Dalesome

Good game. My only issue is that the reloading takes too much time.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

Amazing game! It was short, but fun while it lasted. Loved the Pokemon gameplay style, and also the fact that there are two different versions: two sides of the same coin! A nice way to use the theme.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Nice idea, fun game. The high score board feature was nice.
Things weren't really in your control though. You couldn't score a goal yourself until the balls just went into it.

Teotl by Fel666

Nice game! Man, it was short. I was enjoying it.
Also, normal mapping! <3

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

Nice game, I enjoyed it. It has its flaws though, but it was nice.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Nice game, I like it! I got stuck in the second level though. I mean, literally stuck. Probably a collision problem.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

Looks nice, nice idea, but bad execution. There's nowhere to go after that parallel universe thing, where the two friends get separated. I just fall and die. This has potential though. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong? I did play it twice.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

Nice game, I enjoyed it.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

Fun game. Movement could be better. Sounds would make it better. It was fun throwing the enemies around.

Enemies saying funny things when they die is a nice touch. Also, I put my box in a wrong place so I couldn't jump on a higher platform, but I stacked up those dead enemies and got onto it. :p

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

Looks nice. I did not get the point of the game. If it is to just fight those white things, it's not fun, because the combat is not good. Good effort nonetheless.

twowt by Yal

Nice concept, great execution! The graphics could be better though.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

Nice menu.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

Nice game, I liked the word typing gameplay. The ship is too fast, I always crashed. :p

Veiled in Shadows by The M

Amazing game, amazing gameplay, amazing story, amazing presentation! This has a lot of potential!

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Nice title screen. No instructions on the controls though? I didn't even know how to get into the game, and once I did, the controls were all messed up. Looks nice though, would've been better if there was a help section.
 
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M

Misty

Guest
Ok, reviews are done, here are my final votes.

1. Duality
2. reverie
3. updown

best use of theme: Yals maze game
best story: misu's game
best concept: reflectonauts
best presentation: verizonhorizon
best devlog: no idea, ran out of time

Overall, i was not terribly impressed by most of these games, or the review quality, except misu's reviews which were very good. I gave updown rank 3 but I would have given it to misu, except that Misu's game was too hard and confusing. I thought Updown was Ok but wasn't infatuated with it, and it was also too hard as well. I wasn't terribly fond of TehPilots submission and the monochromatic color scheme it had didn't bode well for me. I thought TehPilot had a really good submission with his hell game, but this one I wasn't terribly impressed by.

FIrstly I am not using the old system of putting a 5 star or 4 star rating, that is egoistic and I cannot simplify games to merely a number. Rather I will rate games on whether or not they held my interest and or were fun, as well as presentation. I will also provide constructive criticism. I rate each game as is, and do not compare it to mine and give my unbiased views.

The order I rank these is NOT based on quality. I simply order them based on the order they are posted in the topic. I will rank the top 3, and that's it. If I put "Liked" at the end of it it means I liked the game. If I put "Shiny" it means I was impressed by the game.
1. Coin of Janus: Not a big fan of minecraft, and this reminded me of that. Also, the game gave me "No idea what I was doing" syndrome immediately. Because of that I lost interest very fast.
2. Veil of Shadows: Game hooked me at the very beginning. But when the combat began I had "No idea what I was doing" syndrome because no button would animate the sword. I eventually figured out I just had to walk up to people to attack them, but by then it was too late. Liked.
3. Obverse: Menu was neat and clean, however the game's premise did not keen my interest.
4. SideBySide: Had very nice and vivid colors, however the gameplay didn't have enough flare to keen my interest.
5. GamesByRobert: Same as 4, also gave me "no idea what I was doing" syndrome.
6. NightSideSlide: Game gave me "No idea what I was doing" syndrome and also had shovelware syndrome. However this game's reedeming features were the teletubbie characters and interesting dialog.
7. VikingWarfare: Gameplay was pretty basic and no special effects. However the graphics were nice, but they would have looked nicer as fullscreen.
8. Duality: Probably the best game in the bunch (not counting mine.) Everything about this was nice, wasn't too long, wasn't too short, beautiful and funny atmosphere, not too easy not too hard, wonderful fitting music that reminded me of good ol' DOS days. However, the game had 2 minor flaws...For me, the graphics were too pixelly and slightly too blocky. The other flaw was, if you mess up on the crossbow scene you have to commit suicide. Other than that, Shiny.
9. Hunted: While I respect effort put into a game to make it complicated, this game would have benefited from a bit of simplicity. When I booted up the game I was bombarded with a set of tutorial screens that reminded me of long lectures at NASA. I tried to study the tutorials and so I prepared for the game, but I was rewarded with a lackluster presentation and very empty gameplay.
10. TwainShadow: Hmm, not much to it. Game wasn't finished, so I can't rate.
11. Yal's Maze Game: Nice, neat game and good use of theme. Hurt my brain after the 4th level, but Nice.
12. UpGo: Couldn't play the game, because the F3 key caused problems on my keyboard. I tried another computer, and it gave me a shader error. After it failing to run on 2 different computers, I gave up trying to play this game.
13. ForbiddenBond: I liked the setup. It was a bit basic and needed more polishing, but felt basically fun to play. Would have benefitted from a storyline. Like.
14. SoulCatchers: I always liked the Pokemon TV show but I was never a big fan of the games. This seemed like a watered down version of the games, but without the pizzazz. I quickly lost interest. Also, not sure why concept art was needed to make black and white low-res pixel art.
15. Penitinary: Flashy presentation, and interesting idea, but the puzzles felt rather 1 dimensional, and the gameplay felt sluggish. Lost interest after the 4th level.
16. ENDLING: Bad graphics, confusing prologue and using fire didn't seem to affect anything. Strong case of "no idea what I was doing" syndrome.
17. Rules quest: Okay, but the spaceship felt like it didn't have enough weight to it. Okay for what it was.
18. Diverge: Great graphics, except for a few things. The vats in relation to the ground seemed Eschered, the 3d vats appear to be placed on a 2d surface. There are further graphics problems related to this, when ghosting it seemed like I could ghost through random areas of the same surface, navigation through the level seemed random and visually unintuitive. The gameplay also seemed very hard and unintuitive. But all in all, I could tell there was quality put into this, so, Like.
19. Bit and slash: Still can't play, will review later.
20. Sumoball: Sort of neat, but a few problems. There is a physics glitch where my ball falls off the map and does not respond to controls. Second, I don't know why the balls turn red, but when they are red and enter the goal they seem to take away my combo bonus. Overall, pretty basic, but it's okay for what it is. The music made it more interesting.
21. Ping: Congratulations to Nocturne, for somehow making Pong nominally interesting. However there is one big problem - There is a glitch where the ball tunnels through the paddle!
21. Heads or Tails: Similar to the spirit of Ping, this game somehow made the ancient art of coin flipping somehow nominally interesting. However the mouse system locks the mouse to the screen and I could not play for this reason, I kept locking me out of the game window and messing with my start menu bar.
22. Reflectonauts: A solid game, I lost interest after the second level but this is a game I may come back to and pick up and play again. Like.
23. UpDownDuckAround: Before I played this, I judged that this game was going to be terrible from the screenshots. But this turned out to be actually one of the better titles of the playlist. This is a unique and original game idea, catchy like Bop it. I played it for a while. It would be better if it had actual levels or objectives, I would have played for longer. Shiny.
24. NO PAZ: The reverse of the above game. I looked at the screenshots, and I thought this game was going to be awesome, but it was actually terrible. Sorry.
25. Reverie: An excellent game with excellent graphics (and music). An excellent journey in minimalism. My only complaint is this game is too damn hard. Shiny.
26. Bit of Gold: Not my cup of tea, but I can see how there is a fun factor to this. Like.
27. Parallel Medal: An excellent piece of artwork and wonderful experience. My only 2 complaints are this, the puzzles seemed very confusing and inconsistent, and there also was a problem with the text-bubbles...sometimes the text would play but clip out of the screen so you couldn't read it. Shiny.
28. Pyramid Rush: Pretty good but a bit too hard. Nice.
29. Mirror Image: A bit simple and basic. Didn't make me feel any kind of way.
30. Teotl: Nice graphics but, didn't really hold my interest.
31. Tossup Shootout: 60 fps was nice, however this was no StarCraft. The game itself was not very good, my units seemed to have bad AI and not attack the enemies like they were supposed to. The bullets didn't have tracer effects and the gameplay seemed too basic.
32. BattleDancer: Very nice and flashy presentation, however I fell into "I don't know what I'm doing" syndrome.
33. Coin Flipping Simulator: It's about flipping coins, and I didn't know what I was doing. Graphics were good.
34. Afro Ditus: Best game in the list. Shiny.
35. Verizon Horizon: Seems pretty sweet, but it doesn't have AI so I have to wait until I am near someone to play. Pending.
 
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ghandpivot

Member

The videos are recorded and await edit/rendering. Will come up next week.


Video 1:
In order of appearance:
Team JBOMB, Snailman, Kepons, Sammi3 & JacobV, Dalesome, Turkish Coffee, TonyStr, TehPilot, Mocgames998, Wraithious, Bionicfrog, Yal, Adrien Dittrick

When I say "The screen is all black" it was so for me, but the recording software actually records the gameplay even in fullscreen. The new update on windows 10 doesn't run game maker games in fullscreen without alternative synchronisation or vsync, at least not on my system.

Video 2:

SSJCoder, Oyakiiv, GhostlyFeline, Nallebeorn, Alice & 0.bytes, Dr. Wolf, MikeeyBikeey, TheM

Video 3:

Barix, Siolfor the jackal, Misty, iMilchshake, matharoo, S1lv3r, Freedom2Fight, Fel666, Nocturne, Bingdom & Iodine & KrotoR, Joh, DocNogloff, Robert, Misu


Here are the 12 games I found to be the best, in no particular order. I've decided not to vote since I don't like the voting system that is currently in place, as voting benefits everybody but the person spending hours of their free time writing/recording reviews. You can still see what I think of all the games in my video series.

"Top 12 in no particular order"
Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Side by Side by Dalesome
UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
Penitentiary by TehPilot
TWOWT by Yal
UpGo by Dr. Wolf
Afroditus
Duality
Heads or tails
Diverge
Battle Dancers
Veiled in shadows
 
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M

Mocgames998

Guest
Mocgames998's reviews for the 5th time on the NUGMC!

Reviews

Top 3:

Duality by matharoo
While fighting the final boss the game crashed cause Avast ate it mid fight, sorry.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
AVAST VICTIM #2: FLIP COINS AND GET RICHER AND RICHER. Decent graphics, if a little simple.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
It's a roguelite thingy, where touching a coin buffs or nerfs you based on a 50/50 chance, and takes you to the next level.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Best Concept: Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
Best Presentation: Reverie by GhostlyFeline
Best Story: Reverie by GhostlyFeline
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. Duality by matharoo
  2. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  3. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  4. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  5. penitentiary by TehPilot
  6. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  7. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  8. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  9. Teotl by Fel666
  10. Side By Side by Dalesome
  11. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  12. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  13. Games by Robert
  14. Ping by Nocturne
  15. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  16. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  17. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  18. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  19. twowt by Yal
  20. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  21. Endling by Oyakiiv
  22. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  23. BattleDancers by Joh
  24. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  25. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  26. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  27. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  28. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  29. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
  30. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  31. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  32. Hunted by Snail Man

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

ERROR 1202:
REVIEW COULD NOT BE FOUND

(Sorry, it's my game)

AfroDitus by Misty

No comment.

BattleDancers by Joh

DDR meets simon says?

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Ow, my ears.
It's a game where you choose yes or no to people's questions, which has an effect on your resources. Kinda dull?

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

Run around killing stuff while trying not to die. The game crashed, though.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

AVAST VICTIM #2: FLIP COINS AND GET RICHER AND RICHER. Decent graphics, if a little simple.

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

It's a platformer/stealth game where you play as a guy who can turn into a ghost at will.

Duality by matharoo

While fighting the final boss the game crashed cause Avast ate it mid fight, sorry.

Endling by Oyakiiv

It's a tower defense game where you play as a ball of fire burning enemies while regenerating yourself to regain HP for your town.

Games by Robert

It's an interactive story of how someone learned how to use Gamemaker in the past.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

An odd pseudo betting game about flipping a coin, and having it land on the correct side. Rather predictable, unless there's a bizarre Eversion / Cookie Clicker twist?

Hunted by Snail Man

Kill every other ship around you in space. The theme is explained in an intro cutscene, but doesn't seem to show up much in gameplay.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

It's a shmup with a reversed control gimmick where you control two ships at once, but one moves mirrored horizontally to the other ship.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

I got really confused on what I was supposed to do.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Looks polished, but the controls are rather confusing at first and rather clunky.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

Simple game where you pick the type of metal that makes up parts of multiple coins. Simple, yet hard to understand at first.

penitentiary by TehPilot

Flip to the opposite sides of colored boxes in a puzzle platformer that can be rather hard to understand at first.

Ping by Nocturne

It's Pong, but you control both paddles at once and are not supposed to score, just have the ball bounce between each paddle forever. In 2 player it goes QUAD Pong, in Co-op form instead.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

More Notline Miami, now with puzzly stealth elements.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Key Press Event for Z-key Key
for object obj_guy:

Variable obj_guy.nearbox(100008, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_guy_KeyPress_90
############################################################################################


Reverie by GhostlyFeline

A platformer with philosophical questioning of killing baddies or something. Really hard though, since you die in one hit.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

Shooty Shooty Ship Shmup game where you use a mouse to play.

Side By Side by Dalesome

Survive as long as you can, however moving left and right moves you into alternate "dimensions" occupying the same space.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

HEY YOU CAN'T USE POKEMON SPRITES IN A JAM GAME RPG THINGY. At least it's an RPG, I guess?

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Stay inside the playing field while being attacked by rogue soccerballs.

Teotl by Fel666

Light corresponding lights up by rolling into them. Presentation's excellent but the game seems easy to cheese.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

It's a roguelite thingy, where touching a coin buffs or nerfs you based on a 50/50 chance, and takes you to the next level.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Top down slashing, switch between life and death dimensions like Soul Reaver, sorta.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

Great presentation, but there are some graphical glitches and the controls seem a little stiff. The game sorta softlocked.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

I'm not the biggest fan of strategy games, but it is pretty well polished, other than the point and click controls feeling a little clumsy to use.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

After a ridiculously big budget somewhat detailed title the game goes mostly silent afterwards in a collect money and hit stuff platformer.

TwainShadow by SSJCoder


___________________________________________
ERROR in
action number 1
of Create Event
for object obj_app:

Error defining an external function.

Sure, you can ignore it, but the game immediately softlocks afterward.

twowt by Yal

It's a maze game where you flip a "coin" to get to other parts of the maze. The music's driving me nuts though, and sometimes it isn't clear on where you can move and where you cannot.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

It's an endless climbing game, left side gets heads if they fail first, right side tails. Is left side tails if they win, and vice versa?

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

Get an "Asteroids" ship ready to pick up things with good old space controls.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

Notline Miami, but even harder.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Sadly it's only 2 player, kinda like a pseudo Smash with a visualizer style interface.

...And remember everyone, if you're using an Antivirus like Avast:

REMEMBER.png ...do this.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Coded Games

Member
Reviews

Top 3:

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
A very good clicker style game. I like these types of games and its actually a really good one. Along with that, it's actually a pretty complete game.

Duality by matharoo
Very good. Good graphics, pretty good gameplay and held my attention to the end.

twowt by Yal
I was pleasantly surprised at how well this concept worked and how difficult some of the levels were. This theme allowed for something as simple as a maze game to be surprisingly complex. Good job.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: twowt by Yal
Best Concept: twowt by Yal
Best Presentation: Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Best Story: Duality by matharoo
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  2. Duality by matharoo
  3. twowt by Yal
  4. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  5. Side By Side by Dalesome
  6. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  7. Ping by Nocturne
  8. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  9. AfroDitus by Misty
  10. Teotl by Fel666
  11. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  12. penitentiary by TehPilot
  13. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  14. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  15. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  16. BattleDancers by Joh
  17. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  18. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  19. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  20. TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  21. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  22. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  23. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  24. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  25. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  26. Hunted by Snail Man
  27. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  28. Endling by Oyakiiv
  29. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  30. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

Controls were a bit clucky and it was ridiculously difficult to get off of a ladder at the top. At one point it felt impossibly just to walk off of the ladder. I would try jumping and would hit the ceiling and fall all the way back down. Graphics were good though.

AfroDitus by Misty

That was an experience. Graphics weren't that great and gameplay was a little slow.

BattleDancers by Joh

A fairly interesting take on the psymon says type of game.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Didn't hold my attention very long. Graphics were fine but if the entire game is yes/no questions, it gets boring fast.

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

I don't think the game worked. It seemed like skeletons were walking through walls. The game ran at a really low fps and the spells really didn't have any animation or anthing. I couldn't tell if I was actually doing anything. The game looked good though.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

A very good clicker style game. I like these types of games and its actually a really good one. Along with that, it's actually a pretty complete game.

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Vertex shader compilation error.

Duality by matharoo

Very good. Good graphics, pretty good gameplay and held my attention to the end.

Endling by Oyakiiv

Graphics are ok. Gameplay was simply panning the screen back and forth and clicking on enemies. The game didn't seem that fun.

Games by Robert

It's my game, so it's obviously the best.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

I'm not sure what is going on. I'm not sure if there is a way to control the power of the of the push because every time I did it would just blast the coin off into the ceiling and eventually falling off the board.

Hunted by Snail Man

It's a space shoot game. I never liked the asteroids style of movement because it always seemed more difficult than it needed to be. The ability to slow down time is pretty cool.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

Overall it's a pretty disorienting shooter game. To make these types of games more fun I recommending making your bullets bigger and faster, not to make the game any easier but to make the game feel better. It's not very satisfying throwing pebbles at your enemies.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Vertex shader compilation error.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

The game started this time but only to a black screen.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

Overall I thought that the gameplay was a bit boring. Graphics looked good though.

penitentiary by TehPilot

I hit z around the time that I got into one of the end teleporters and the game crashed. Besides that the game looked pretty good and played alright.

local variable playerGhost(100002, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_objCoin_Step_0

Ping by Nocturne

Like all of Nocturnes games it looks really good and is super polished. The room transitions are amazing. Although, the game is just pong.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

The game is decent but I think making a ranged weapon instead of punching would make it a ton better.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

I don't know how the game is supposed to work. I press z and the game crashes.

Variable obj_guy.nearbox(100008, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_guy_KeyPress_90

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

The one hit deaths are super annoying especially when you have to walk a fair distance before you can get back to where you were. That aside the game was alright, it looks fairly good and controls were good.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

The game wouldn't start.

Side By Side by Dalesome

Interesting mechanic. Overall the gameplay is fairly challenging and entertaining. Graphics are good.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

A game that actually is fairly complete. With some polish and obviously more time to work on it, it actually could be a good game.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Overall an interesting concept but there really isn't enough game to play for more than a couple minutes.

Teotl by Fel666

Looks great but really sort.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

Is there any way to fight things? I got 3-4 levels in and didn't have any sort of weapon. The coin increased monster level every time and I eventually just died.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Overall the game is alright. I feel like combat could have been a bit better if you gave the axe a bit wider of a swing.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

Very interesting game. Although the position you would end up in after swapping was a bit weird at times. This made some of the puzzle feel more like guess-and-check rather than actually solving the problem.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

The game was really slow and didn't hold my attention very long. The game didn't seem to take my input all the time so I would have to click multiple times for my units to move. Also pathfinding seemed to freak out regularly.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

It's a platformer where you use bodies to get over some of the jumps. Some of the jumps seem impossible.

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do. The squares would always end up killing me. The game looked good though and the effects when you shift are pretty cool.

twowt by Yal

I was pleasantly surprised at how well this concept worked and how difficult some of the levels were. This theme allowed for something as simple as a maze game to be surprisingly complex. Good job.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

Overall a very good locking game. The main menu animations are pretty cool. Gameplay is original and fairly fun and challenging.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

Vertex shader compilation error.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

Vertex shader compilation error.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

The graphics look good but i couldn't figure out how to get into the game. I magically found that pressing Z went to a new menu. I don't know what the up down screen did. and I never figured out what to do on the character select screen because pressing z didn't do anything. That's where I got stuck.
 
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S

SSJCoder

Guest
[Note that this is a joke vote/review, and will not be taken into account in the actual ranking for the Jam]

welp, I didn't want to vote at all, but barvix hypnotized me with his gaming ..

1. Soul Catchers (Barvix)
2. Teotl - Fel666666666
3. Afro Ditus - MYSTY

What I liked about them:
1. Music
2. Art
3. Story

BEST ART
Teotl - Fel6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

BEST COINCEPT
Diverge - Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

BEAST PRESENTATION
Teotl - Fel6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

BEST STORY
Afro Ditus - MYSTY

devlog: uhh... dadio. oh wait

ps. Special thainx to Barvix for participating in the jam.
 
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T

TonyStr

Guest
Reviews

Top 3:

Sumoball
...

veiled in shadows
...

UpGo
...

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: twowt by Yal
Best Concept: Sumoball by GhandPivot
Best Presentation: Ping by Nocturne
Best Story: Veiled in Shadows by The M

Full ranking:

I'll fill in the ranks tomorrow if i have time

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

weird controls, hard to see what the game wants to be

AfroDitus by Misty

game launches in fullscreen, screen is black. could not play

BattleDancers by Joh

This was very polished. Fun to play

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

the game felt too slow, and the sounds are way too loud compared to the otherwise silent game

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

launhes in fullscreen, screen is black, could not play

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

spent way too long playing this. Very addicting

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Game was unfairly hard and lacked checkpoints. Each retry felt like a chore to get back to where you died, could not complete game.

Duality by matharoo

the character movement was slow, the attacks did not feel good.

Endling by Oyakiiv

a bit rough around the edges, and not fun to play

Games by Robert

This was very nice. Enjoyed this alot

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

Game gave a poor first impression, but it tunred out kinda fun, and made me want to keep playing

Hunted by Snail Man

game launches in fullscreen, but the screen is just black. could not play the game.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

I did not like the controlls.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

game launches into a black screen. I believe this is a problem with gamemaker, as i've seen this issue before :(. If this get's fixed I'll revisit the game

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

the exe is non-existent

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

This game was pretty fun, until the last level. I think there were too many layers of complexity, especially size is something i would have ditched.

penitentiary by TehPilot

repeatedly got an error, I had to close the game and start anew several times, and eventually lost interest. The game was very well polished, with a really neat style.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

This ones kinda hard to review. While the combat system was pretty fun, the enemies were very over powered, the game was unfairly hard, and not rewarding enough. (Fullscreen didn't work 4 me)

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

While I liked the game, I found the controlls felt very annoying

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

the game was too hard, and restarting every time you die is not fun

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

lacks polish

Side By Side by Dalesome

very cool game! It's smooth and well animated, the music gives it a nice christmas feel, and the gamemechanic is fun to play with!

Soul Catchers by Barvix

I highly dislike this genre, so my review is probably not very accurate here, but it simply did not feel good to play.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

that was amazing! complete chaos. I thought it would be terrible from the screenshots, but it was quite the opposite!

Teotl by Fel666

visually VERY interesting! the three dimensional effect was very cool, but the gameplay was somewhat lacking.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

very inconsitent. Sometimes the coin (goal of the game) would spawn right next to me, while some times it would be hidden in sahdows, making me search trough the whole level.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

did not feel finnished.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

full of graphical glitches, walking felt slow and restricted. Not enough focus on the gameplay.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

The pixelart was very good, however the AI was dumb, the controlls were unresponsive, and the game wasn't super fun to play

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

not an enjoyable game.

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

I liked this one, though i feel the attacks need waaay more visual/audio feedback

twowt by Yal

pretty fun, but very short

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

this was really good! will come back for this one. It was a bit confusing at first

Veiled in Shadows by The M

I really enjoyed this one, the gameplay was smooth and fun, the rain effect was really cool, and the game created an impactful story and atmosphere

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

hard to figure out the controlls. The gameplay was not very fun alone
 
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johnwo

Member
First of all I'd like to congratulate everyone who participated in the jam!
I know first-hand that a game-jam can be one of the most frustrating and rewarding events one can ever participate in.
I'd like to applaud the effort and work that everyone put into this jam, and say that I hope to see you all submit a game for the next jam; As it is a damn joy to play these games!

Just a few details:
I did use a trial version of MAGIX Vegas (formerly known as Sony Vegas) to edit this video, thus there is a "VEGAS" watermark present in the video. (I'm [sort of] poor [at the moment], and I don't want to pirate software).
I was genuinely drunk while recording and editing the video, so please don't take it to seriously (see disclaimer at the start).

It's just a video, created for nothing more than entertainment.
Expect a lost of foul language, a horrible accent, and an abhorrent comprehension of the english language.

***Profane language warning***


EDIT:
I just realized that @Barvix 's game isn't featured in the review! I used the GMC Jam Player but it never appeared. I reviewed the drunken and sober saves, and only the sober save had the game on the list...

In any case, I rate "Soul Catchers" 2.7 out of 5 wet carrots.



Here's my full review:
Reviews

Top 3:

penitentiary by @TehPilot


Diverge by @Bingdom, @Iodinex64, @KrotoR


UpGo by @Dr. Wolf


Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: ...
Best Concept: penitentiary by @TehPilot
Best Presentation: penitentiary by @TehPilot
Best Story: Diverge by @Bingdom, @Iodinex64, @KrotoR
Best Devlog: N/A

Full ranking:

  1. penitentiary by TehPilot
  2. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  3. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  4. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  5. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  6. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  7. BattleDancers by Joh
  8. AfroDitus by Misty
  9. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  10. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  11. Ping by Nocturne
  12. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  13. Teotl by Fel666
  14. Endling by Oyakiiv
  15. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  16. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  17. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  18. twowt by Yal
  19. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  20. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  21. Duality by matharoo
  22. Side By Side by Dalesome
  23. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  24. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  25. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  26. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  27. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  28. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  29. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
  30. Games by Robert
  31. Hunted by Snail Man
  32. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  33. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  34. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  35. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Games I didn't review because of issues (errors, softlocks, etc.):
  • Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  • TwainShadow by SSJCoder
 
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O

Oyakiiv

Guest
this time I have improved my rating method! it's still terrrible though since I'm still not 100% on rating presentation since it's pretty broad to me. and I dont rate concept, since the term implies originality to me and lets be honest most things have already been done. so instead of concept I rate gameplay...which I am also not 100% on, but it's easier for me to rate and it doesnt mash with the other categories (okay, slightly with presentation, but I try to overlook those parts that.)

anyway, games played and rated: 36/36 (100%)

Current top 5:

1. UpGo - Dr. Wolf

2. The paralel medal - Misu

3. Games - Robert

4. Penitentiary - TehPilot

5. Diverge - Bingdom, Iodine, Krotor

(I intend to do full rankings later. so points for everyone! If I manage to play them all anyway)

1. UpGo - Dr. Wolf
2. The paralel medal - Misu
3. Games - Robert
4. Penitentiary - TehPilot
5. Diverge - Bingdom, Iodine, Krotor
6. Veiled in Shadows - The M
7. Duality - Matharoo
8. NO PAZ - Freedom2Fight
9. The Forbidden Bond - iMilchshake
10. Reverie - GhostlyFeline
11. RulesQuest2 - Adrien Dittrick
12. Reflectonauts - DocNogloff
13. Mirror Image - BionicFrog
14. AfroDitus - Misty
15. Nightsideslide - Wraithious
16. The Coin of Janus - Cloaked Games, 0.bytes
17. Soul Catchers - Barvix
18. Bit of Gold - S1lv3r
19. Treasure Hunt - Siolfor the Jackal
20. TWOWT - Yal
21. """""4D"""""Viking Warfare - Mocgames998
22. Hunted - Snailman
23. Side by Side - Dalesome
24. Twain Shadow - SSJcoder
25. Updownduckaround - TonyStr
26. Coin Flipping Simulator - Kepons
27. Verizon Horizon - Team JBOMB
28. BattleDancers - Joh
29. Obverse Reverse - Alice, 0.bytes
30. Tossup Shootout - Sammi3 & JacobV
31. Teotl - Fel666
32. Sumoball - Ghandipivot
33. Pyramid Rush - MikeeyBikeey
34. Heads or Tails - Nallebeorn
35. Bit'N'Slash - Turkish Coffee
36. Ping - Nocturne

"""""4D"""""Viking Warfare - Mocgames998 = Ghosts and ladders are EVIL!!
AfroDitus - Misty = you dont really shoot where the cursor is, making it hard to aim
BattleDancers - Joh = taking simon to the next level!
Bit'N'Slash - Turkish Coffee = broke through the wall and was chased non-stop by 100 enemies at a time!
Bit of Gold - S1lv3r = reminds me of a game I've seen somewhere..
Coin Flipping Simulator - Kepons = WHY ARE CLICKER GAMES SO ADDICTING!
Diverge - Bingdom, Iodine, Krotor = hard to fit through doors, while in ghost mode. I like it, reminds me of Geist.
Duality - Matharoo = funny.
Games - Robert = nice story, inspirational.
Heads or Tails - Nallebeorn = port was too tall! couldnt use mouse to manipulate coin.
Hunted - Snailman = either too fast or too slow, jacking ships is fun though!
Mirror Image - BionicFrog = hard, but the extra lives are forgiving
Nightsideslide - Wraithious = a little buggy, but okay all round.
NO PAZ - Freedom2Fight = really liked it, no sound though.
Obverse Reverse - Alice, 0.bytes = didnt beat lvl 5, love puzzles though, so I will get it later.
Penitentiary - Teh_pilot = it crashed a few times, still pretty good.
Ping - Nocturne = I love the look, but it really feels like playing 2p by yourself...
Pyramid Rush - MikeeyBikeey = enemies so fast!
Reflectonauts - DocNogloff = hurt my brain a bit, kept hitting the wrong button
Reverie - GhostlyFeline = nice, but 1 hit kills make me sad.
RulesQuest2 - Adrien Dittrick = Red is hardcore, blue has tricky controls.
Side by Side - Dalesome = Creative
Soul Catchers - Barvix = I really wanted to catch a swim swim, but didnt know how T_T
Sumoball - Ghandipivot = fun, highscores make it competitive.
Teotl - Fel666 = plays well, a little short though
The Coin of Janus - Cloaked Games, 0.bytes = I rogue-like it. feels a bit lacking tho
The Forbidden Bond - iMilchshake = Fun, me likey!
The paralel medal - Misu = very nice presentation, I like a good story shame there is no end D=
Tossup Shootout - Sammi3 & JacobV = I only wish for more S in this TBS.
Treasure Hunt - Siolfor the Jackal = almost got stuck a couple times.
Twain Shadow - SSJcoder = plays decent, but no objective...
TWOWT - Yal = clever, but pretty easy.
Updownduckaround - TonyStr = multitasking is hard, nice presentation.
UpGo - Dr. Wolf = really good, but landings can be touchy sometimes.
Veiled in Shadows - The M = really neat!
Verizon Horizon - Team JBOMB = no fun by myself D=
 
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Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
Reviews

To be honest, I've found the quality of entries this time round lower than usually (maybe it's because so many people seemed to have so little time?). Unlike the previous Jams, I can't name any entry I'd genuinely adore (and fit the theme well at the same time). Still, there were a few noteworthy games, I suppose?

Top 3:

penitentiary by @TehPilot
I quite enjoyed the idea. I was initially confused, but eventually everything came togehter.

Duality by @matharoo
0/5, no female characters. On a more serious note, it was a pretty well made game. The theme feels kinda off, but I appreciate the effort, anyway.

Diverge by @Bingdom, @Iodinex64, @KrotoR
Oh dear, this game does a lot of things right, but also quite a few things wrong. I like the general concept and audiovisuals, they are polished rather well. However, the game falls short in terms of level design.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: Soul Catchers by @Barvix
Best Concept: penitentiary by @TehPilot
Best Presentation: Teotl by @Fel666
Best Story: The Parallel Medal by @Misu
Best Devlog: Veiled in Shadows by @The M

Full ranking:

  1. penitentiary by TehPilot
  2. Duality by matharoo
  3. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  4. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  5. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  6. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  7. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  8. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  9. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  10. Teotl by Fel666
  11. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  12. BattleDancers by Joh
  13. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  14. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  15. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
  16. twowt by Yal
  17. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  18. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  19. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  20. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  21. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  22. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  23. Hunted by Snail Man
  24. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  25. Side By Side by Dalesome
  26. Endling by Oyakiiv
  27. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  28. Games by Robert
  29. TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  30. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  31. Ping by Nocturne
  32. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  33. AfroDitus by Misty
  34. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  35. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  36. Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

Woe is me, I couldn't jump off a ladder to the nearby platform near a top of a certain segment. Thus, it was kinda impossible for me to complete the game. Too bad.
The gameplay mechanics were nothing out of ordinary (except for unfortunate jumping off ladders), the audiovisuals and music were alright, though apparently most of them come from elsewhere? Either way, not your best entry overall... u_u'

--- EDIT ---

Alright, seeing that someone else completed this entry, I decided to give it another go, and found a method to jump of the ladders (still, pretty counter-intuitive). It gets a little more fun in level 3, with these ghosts and such, but still not exceptional. The boss fight is kind of a chore, with first phase having ~25 lives and second kinda coming out of nowhere.

AfroDitus by Misty

That game sure was an experience? o_O'
The plot was kinda surreal. The gameplay didn't feel to great, especially since I didn't find the main gimmick really all that useful, and the game forces me to start over after losing. I got to 3rd level of the game proper, but didn't feel compelled to play further.

BattleDancers by Joh

Huh, this game is actually really fun, completed it whole. I liked the added twist on the traditional Simon Says formula with trying to build the dancing moves atop the sequence to remember. The graphics weren't of exceptional quality, but I still liked the variety of pictures for different special moves. There was quite a few dancers as well, though I feel having more of them would be too tiring.

...I have no idea how it related to the theme, though. I see neither literal coins nor an inner duality.

Also, there seems to be one move that I didn't unlock, despite having beaten each dancer. Weird.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Ah, a random-event choice game? Seems no matter what I do, I'm bound to lose. Played once, don't feel like playing again; especially since there seems to be no winning condition...

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

This game seems like it wanted to be a roguelike, but is a weird action game where you die pretty much instantly if you spawn in the game area, and can survive for a while if you spawn around the walls instead. Oh, and also, the movement and attacks are not grid-aligned at all.

I think one of the big problems is that the enemies spawn super-quickly all around the area; I'm going to make an educated guess and assume it's a game-breaking bug. The three special attacks seem to work well enough, but the warp ability I couldn't get to work.

Either way, I feel it's more like a super-early alpha than a complete game. Didn't really see the use of theme, either. Well, at least the soundtrack is nice...?

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

Hm, fun little idea, once player purchases an automatic poke finger, the game kinda becomes idle-based, but that's not a bad thing. I just wish there was a built-in muting mechanic. Eventually, I covered the entire area with satanic coins; these were pretty fun. ^^

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Oh dear, this game does a lot of things right, but also quite a few things wrong. I like the general concept and audiovisuals, they are polished rather well. However, the game falls short in terms of level design.

Generally, the levels had a mix of menial tasks (usually pulling unnecessary amounts of levers) and challenging tasks, with the latter generally being at later point, and in case of failure requiring the player to do the menial parts again. Thus, the levels felt kind of like a chore. Furthermore, the facility has quite a few of branches and unnecessary rooms filled with opponents, which means that if I want to make sure there's nothing useful in the room, I risk getting killed and going through the easy-but-menial parts of the level again. Also, often it was hard to tell what levers have done, because the affected components were offscreen.

Another thing I found annoying was the excessive bounciness of the ghost form. Maybe it was supposed to make the game more challenging, and in a way, it did increase a difficulty; however, it was a difficulty of annoying sort, not rewarding one.

Despite these shortcomings, the game wasn't all that bad. It's just that it could've been designed better...

Duality by matharoo

0/5, no female characters.

On a more serious note, it was a pretty well made game. One thing I'd like is the ability to manually advance dialogue, rather than only having an option to wait for it or skip it. Also, I didn't like how matharoo could slash only to the left or right, not up or down. Either way, it was pretty fun to play, and varied enough to keep me entertained for the short while I played it. The theme feels kinda off (usually I'd imagine "two sides of the same coin" refer to opposing aspects of one thing, like a trade-off of sorts, not just two entities working together), but I appreciate the effort, anyway (and Misu in this game is pretty helpful, too).

As for rick-rolling in 2017, I just got reminded of a certain post...

Endling by Oyakiiv

Hm, the game lacks a general polish all around, whether it's about visuals, mechanics or story (it's supposed to be "deity", not "diety"; the latter sounds like the goddess tries to burn some calories ohwait). Also, the theme feels a little tacked on, but I don't think it's particularly rare this Jam?

I feel the enemies could use some healthbars. Also, I would really like if the player could burn down the evil portals of evil and actually win; as it is now, the game feels like it has little purpose...

Games by Robert

Hmmm, that's an interesting experience for sure...
...but I don't see how it related to the theme now. >.<

On a side note, I disagree with the notion that the creator cannot experience surprise with their own work. The game design isn't an atomic action, but ongoing process. In the gameplay itself, there might be some unexpected behaviours that turn out to be cool, or bugs that can inspire specific features. In the game design process, own experiences or player's feedback can more or less significantly the final vision of the game. I don't know how about you, for me it's far from having the game meticulously planned and executed from the beginning to the end...

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

Interesting idea, but I see no specific goal, and the most challenging thing about the game are pretty wonky and counter-intuitive physics (especially with the coin touching the ceiling and suddenly gaining a large horizontal movement factor). >.<
Pretty fun pictures for heads and tails, though. Very... accurate.

Hunted by Snail Man

...I couldn't get a single ship killed. I start the game with two bounty hunters on my tail, try to kill them, but their lasers reload too slowly. I try to jump to the other ship, but somehow can leave area of my own ship. I feel like the controls of this game are badly chosen and overly convoluted, and that a similar idea of gameplay, but much more manageable for player, could be achieved with cutting down some complexity (e.g. maybe just make an ejection a single-button action, instead of the whole walking around the ship procedure?).

The music is fine, I guess. The graphics aren't particularly to my taste...

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

Good two-sided shooter, made additionally fun by the enemies and bullets freely going between two planes, which makes things connected and separate at the same time. For me, the difficulty is about right, it punishes players for mistakes, but despite there being two ships to control, it's not impossible to follow both at the same time. Graphics are basic, music is fine, too bad there are no sound effects.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Oh dear, it's the pseudo-3D perspective again. I try moving around, but the collision areas are kinda unreadable; some areas that seem like they should be free turn out to be solid, and some areas that look solid turn out to be passable. The game gives really poor indication of how the player should move around. Also, it seems the game structure is extremely linear, and to unlock some dialogue I need to perform specific actions first. The user interface seems quite buggy as well, as not only I had trouble with equipping items, but apparently author had too (around the time they were equipping the time manipulation device, I think).

Overall, throughout the game I've been struggling with weird perspective, arbitrary collision areas, overly linear structures and bugs. I guess there was slight improvement in terms of clarity compared to the previous game, but there's still a long way to go. And really, I feel you should completely abandon the pseudo-3D view with mixed 3D models and photography cutouts; it looks bad and hard to make intuitive collision maps for. >.<

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

I lost a few first times, because I could't quite figure out how to shoot (i.e. that I have to press Shift first, and only then shoot); I feel like while it's more realistic that way, it feels needlessly convoluted, and particularly difficult to players who have no experience with firearms whatsoever (like me). If you really wanted to include the two-stage shooting, you could have made the connection more apparent (e.g. something like "Press the Shift to release hammer, and with hammer released press Z to shoot", I dunno). Besides, there is little room to get familiar with controls, because one of goons already comes rushing at you with his sword.

That aside, the game is pretty decently made. The graphics are fine, though some look like obvious placeholders (e.g. the bullets). Too bad there's no audio. The story conveys the theme well enough, too (somehow, I initially thought the antagonist's reasons for killing were really weak, until I remembered that "to get by" is more of "to make a living" than "to pass time", silly me...).

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

Well, obviously, I can't rank my own game, can I?

Either way, I feel I and 0.Bytes did a pretty good job here. There's only one track, but with the amount of content it works well enough. On my side, I guess I could make the controls easier to get into (at least seeing someone else playing the first level)? I got some ideas for overhauling the controls, anyway.

Maybe it's a creator's bias speaking, but for the first time I feel like my Jam entry would be really successful, maybe even win the Jam, if more voters had patience and appreciation for puzzles (not saying the voters are "bad", of course. And it's not as much about the good quality of my entry, but more about the lower than usually quality of others... u_u'

penitentiary by TehPilot

I quite enjoyed the idea. I was initially confused about how arbitrary the flipping of sides seemed (sometimes I ended up upside-down, sometimes in the same orientation, but higher), until I realised it depends on whether the flipped coin touches the ceiling, or it lands on the floor instead. From that moment, everything came togehter and I completed the game after a bunch of levels.

One thing I'd change is the delay of flipping the coin; I'd rather have the coin flipped instantly, to remove somewhat needless challenge of timing the coin dropping (the game is already challenging enough as it is). Maybe the delay feels more "realistic", but it comes at the expense of fun (and the rest of the game isn't quite as realistic, anyway).

Ping by Nocturne

That's a nice game, with good graphical effects and even an option to change the colour...
But it's just a pong! >.<
(also, I'd really like an option to change controls; I'm not a fan of the current ones)

2-player mode sounds like it would be more interesting; alas, I didn't have anyone else to play with.

On a side note, two times I ended up making a ball-slide for a bunch of points, by moving paddle towards a ball; seems like it was not inteded...

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

It's somehow better than I expected. The voice acting was adorable.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

I would have liked to see more challenging levels made with this idea; as it is now, it shows some basic concept, but the method to solve the levels boils down to navigating the reflectonauts correctly, having the blue move the boxes as necessary, and having the yellow shoot the yellow blocks once the blue gets a hold of a nearby box. The gameplay as it is now is pretty schematic. Too bad, because the audiovisuals and special effects are actually pretty cool (and all made by the author).

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

Uhhhh, I really don't like when games like these don't give the player a choice to do the "right thing". Or at least an alternate thing. u_u'
That aside, the game is really pretty in terms of audiovisual (maybe barring the backgrounds), though quite basic in terms of actual gameplay.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

The way to unlock the blue mode seems needlessly convoluted.
Also, I'm not really a big fan of arcade-style games without an end, especially when I don't see any sort of hi-score tracking. Also, the story seems not to affect the events of gameplay really much. Too bad, it sounded like an interesting premise (trying to stop two worlds from merging together), but wasn't really used in the actual gameplay; it looked more like a way to include the theme somehow...

Not saying I didn't enjoy the game. I played a bit with the red mode, and got above 20 waves or so. I kinda liked the effect of player spawning, as well as the red orbs clearing any leftover enemies. Still, I feel the game is a bit of a miss...

Side By Side by Dalesome

Pretty cool idea with the side switching mechanic, though at later point there are so many elements. Also, the game seems to have no other purpose than survival for as long as possible. Either way, I kinda liked the side-by-side effect.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

Barvix: "literally trash"
Eh, still better than most entries this Jam, I'd say?

It's a Pokemon-like clone, with not particularly sophisticated battle system, but it works well enough. The player has plenty of potions at their disposal, so the game can be kinda breezed through, which could be a flaw in a full game but works well enough in a Jam game (especially the one with two variations). I kinda wish there were more differences between positive/negative sides (e.g. positive side could have some restoration ability), but it's still pretty nice, and the game does a nice job showing the importance of balance. Overall, a really good Jam entry, both in terms of the story and in terms of the gameplay.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Huh, I kinda enjoyed the innovative and frantic gameplay this game had, with balls getting bigger and bigger. I'm not 100% sure, but the reward for combo doesn't seem all that great, though, and the golden ball seems kinda broken, with how rare it appears and how large reward it gives. Also, the use of theme isn't really apparent here...

Teotl by Fel666

Alright, I played through the first level, didn't really knew what happened but cleared it. Played another, finally figured out how the game works, the idea seemed pretty nice, but it was sometimes annoying, trying to place a colour without going through the flare and swapping it back. The third level involved more of light-placing challenge. On fourth level, things finally started to get interesting, with more than one orb to control at a time. There was no fifth level, too bad...

The presentation was really great, though the rest doesn't quite catch up. While there's a coin, I don't see its sides being relevant, either...

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

This game is alright, though the mechanics aren't particularly elaborate and some decisions feel like no-brainers (i.e. discard weak weapons in favour of stronger ones), which makes gameplay dull. Also, the main feature, i.e. the coin giving good or bad effects, feels like it's a bit unfair because a player may get really hard time because of RNG. Speaking of RNG, sometimes the coin spawned right next to the player; I'd avoid that...

Also, I tried using the debug feature to see if there's an ending, but found none.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Hm, I feel the concept of switching between worlds is kinda overused, and I don't see it being used particularly cretively here, either. One thing, which I would find to be a perfect trolling, would involve slain enemy characters reappear in the other world, or at least living-world opponents reappearing in the ghost world (because they would be ghosts, kinda). Aside from that, decent entry, if not particularly engaging. ^^'

The Parallel Medal by Misu

It seems like a decent entry, though I feel it looks better on screenshots than in motion. The gameplay part is hardly remarkable, not only because of it being a platformer with a world-switching mechanic, but also because of general clunky feeling. I'm not 100% sure, but sometimes it felt like the game was taking advantage of its flawed mechanics, e.g. to make the protagonist appear at the top of the platform which would be unreachable by ordinary means (moving, jumping, and the most ordinary of all, world-switching). I would kinda like to see the game have a proper ending, too...

Well, I'm glad to see the improvement in dialogue system at least. Now it feels about right, with the common sense press-for-display/press-to-continue dialogue scheme. ^^

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

Played around for a bit, but the gameplay feels extremely clunky with its weird pathfinding and movement system (actually, movement system might be an attempt to accomodate for the elementary pathfinding). It seems like you weren't using nice and clean grid based pathfinding the GameMaker offers; I strongly suggest to try it out. I tried playing the game and fighting the opponents, but got an error with "trying to index a variable that is not an array", I kinda aborted, and didn't really feel like playing again.

Overall, the game looks/sounds better than it plays... u_u'

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

Alright, this game is quite adorable, with this slap of realization ability, the dialogues etc. (maybe there could have been more of them to keep things varied, I dunno?). The gameplay itself was alright, though the platforming was getting a bit annoying sometimes, and in the end there isn't really much in the game. Also, it seems collecting the coins doesn't really do much to affect the outcome (though maybe it's for the better, because getting hit is actually pretty brutal when it comes to the loss of money). I kinda wish the main character looked more like a pirate, too.

(or were they pirating games? o_O')

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

Played around with it for a bit, got to level 7. Was kinda disappointed there wasn't a winning condition; if player could, say, destroy all these orbs around the edge of map to stop the flow of enemy spirits and win, the game would feel much more complete, even with the little amount of content it offers. Also, I didn't see any advantages from leveling except for the double-jump and the special attack (which is, by the way, kinda underwhelming; I kinda expected it to kill mooks in one go); is there any?

That aside, the gameplay kinda works, but is a tad generic. Audiovisuals are pretty cool, especially on the dark side; in the light side, the enemies are almost invisible...

twowt by Yal

Completed the whole game, including the "Thanks for playing" level. It was short, mildly enjoyable, though that concept alone is not enough to keep the game entertaining in the long run; there would need to be some sort of variety, or some sort of twist that doesn't make the effective walkable area a union of individual sides' areas. The graphics were kinda meh (especially with the standard GM gray background), the music was nice, I suppose (especially the latter part).

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

No kidding, that's got to be the most zany coin toss I've experienced so far. Nallebeorn's Heads and Tails doesn't compare. If only this game had some sort of hi-score tracking, it would be really cool, especially with the soundtrack playing in the background.

Simple, but surprisingly fun.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

This game feels too much like a chore; I don't know if the effect is intended, but either way it's unpleasant. There is nothing particularly challenging about the propulsion text-typing, at least not until the level 2; it's just menial. Controlling the ship is more interesting, but I feel it requires too much precision for landing (especially since it's hard to tell which angle offset is acceptable for landing, and which results in the loss of the ship). Overall, the concept looks interesting, but execution is too annoying...

Maybe the game used the theme somewhere further in the story, but I couldn't bring myself to continue, sorry.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

I feel this game would have been a lot better if I could just leave the room with the sword after it speaks to me. Also, the story felt somewhat underwhelming to me; I didn't know where the sword came from or if it has any more motivation aside from generic "being evil". Also, I don't really know what to make of the ending; or rather, I struggle to form an exact mental image of how the execution has been done. Then again, it's 3 days, so I guess it's understandable.

In terms of mechanics, it is a nice stealth game and uses the darkness mechanics well, though sometimes it was hard to tell where is the dark and where the bright zone. I didn't find it to be particularly challenging, though. The audiovisuals are nice, though the music was pretty silent and I initially thought there is none. Also, the sword's font was kinda annoying to read.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Ooooh dear, a competitive multiplayer game. I'm gonna pass this one, as I don't have anyone else to try it out with. Sorry.

The graphics seem pretty nice, though the music gets repetitive really quickly. Also, you should have included the controls either in the game itself, or in a readme file. Having them in the Games Topic post is too much of a hassle... ^^'

Speaking of controls, I don't think it's a good idea to have player 1's controls (ZXCV) to have so close to controls of the player 2 (WSAD), especially if they have other controls (YUIO) to the right. It basically requires both players to cross their hands in a weird way.
 
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So, I've missed the last few jams due to RL things coming up. But I still wanted to vote anyway! As with with previous jams, I'm not really all that good at critiquing other peoples work. So I am sorry if you don't find my feedback useful =/

Top 3:
penitentiary by TehPilot
Alright, I quite liked the music and theme of this one overall fantastic. I ended up not wanting to restart over again for a 3rd time due to the error below =/

Seems to be caused when the player hits spikes as the flipped coin is coming back down to the ground.
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object objCoin:

local variable playerGhost(100002, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_objCoin_Step_0
############################################################################################


Veiled in Shadows by The M
cool concept, would have liked to have seen a check point system in place (unless I missed them).

Couple of times when there was only a few guys left and I died because I did something silly, having to go back to the start of that level when you were so close was a little bit of a pain. Overall I liked it though, loved the sword glow effect =)

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
This one was pretty fun, took me a sec to work out why I was dying randomly but that was because I was in a grate when reverting back to "human". Overall it amused me more than it probably should have with the scientists tasering the character >.>

Full ranking:

  1. penitentiary by TehPilot
  2. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  3. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  4. Side By Side by Dalesome
  5. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  6. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  7. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  8. twowt by Yal
  9. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  10. Teotl by Fel666
  11. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  12. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  13. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  14. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  15. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  16. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  17. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  18. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  19. Games by Robert
  20. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  21. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  22. Hunted by Snail Man
  23. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
  24. Duality by matharoo
  25. BattleDancers by Joh
  26. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  27. Ping by Nocturne
  28. TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  29. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  30. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  31. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  32. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  33. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  34. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  35. Endling by Oyakiiv
  36. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  37. AfroDitus by Misty

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

This one had a pixel style that I really like, so thumbs up for that.

AfroDitus by Misty

Oh dear, not really sure to say about this one >.>

Just that I think maybe, you had the wrong skin colour for trump, should have been the same as his hair imo =)

BattleDancers by Joh

The mechanics don't really appeal to me, simon says games aren't really my thing =/

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Started interestingly, but seemed to repeat events quite often.

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

You pretty much die as soon as your abilities are on cooldown, the character doesn't fit between some of the blocks so you can't try and kite enemies around very effectively.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

My poor left mouse button!

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

This one was pretty fun, took me a sec to work out why I was dying randomly but that was because I was in a grate when reverting back to "human". Overall it amused me more than it probably should have with the scientists tasering the character >.>

Duality by matharoo

Didn't get the chance to play this one very far, the oranges guys prevent use of the crossbow if they all come in close.

Endling by Oyakiiv

I couldn't work this one out at all, not sure what was supposed to be happening?

Games by Robert

I ended up playing through to the end just because of my own reasons for wanting to make games, so it was nice to see what someone elses history was. So thanks =)

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

This one was amusing, not all much to it. But it did get a laugh =)

Hunted by Snail Man

While normally I like these sort of games, the walls of text at the start put me off a little. I tried for a bit, but wasn't able to take out any of the other ships. =/

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

Split screen shooter, doesn't seem to really work in this case (to me). Having enemies attacks go through the center split and that can hit the second player just doesn't seem right to me.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

I'm not even sure what happened....

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Overall looks quite nice, was trying to figure out how to skip the cut scene after dying, but found enter just kept resetting the game... The controls felt quite awkward to me, so I didn't get very far.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

For what the game is, I don't think there is anything I can really add to it. It was explained well and was easy to work out what to do, well done =)

penitentiary by TehPilot

Alright, I quite liked the music and theme of this one overall fantastic. I ended up not wanting to restart over again for a 3rd time due to the error below =/

___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object objCoin:

local variable playerGhost(100002, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_objCoin_Step_0
############################################################################################


Ping by Nocturne

While I liked the tv effect, that was pretty much all...

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

The enemies felt a little bit too twitchy. Sometimes you would be able to hit them just around the corner and other times they hit the player.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Got the following error, seems to be trigged if you press z just after the level starts. Other than that, it seemed fine?

___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Key Press Event for Z-key Key
for object obj_guy:

Variable obj_guy.nearbox(100008, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_guy_KeyPress_90
############################################################################################


Reverie by GhostlyFeline

The hit boxes seem a little off, didn't really like the game resetting when hit by a single shot. However the main character was well done and overall looked nice =)

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

Didn't end up getting too far, I normally like these sort of games but it just felt a bit off and I didn't really want to play any further.

Side By Side by Dalesome

I like the concept and ended playing for a bit, it did suffer a little bit of just sameness after a couple of plays, but that can be spiced up =)

Soul Catchers by Barvix

Super short game, I ended up missing the first chest since you can't go back to previous areas..

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Seems fine, jut needs a little more graphic polish =)

Teotl by Fel666

Was a little bit tetchy with turning the coin, sometimes it just spun around very quickly which made it very hard to try and complete the puzzles =/

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

Seems like a good start, needs some more time spent on it. =) I found it a little hard finding the coins a couple of times, one of the levels the coin was at the top of the screen and hidden by the UI, so I had to dig a little to left before I could see it.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Seemed like an alright start. Kind of samey as quite a few games I've played before.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

The jittery camera was hurting my eyes a little, few graphic glitches here and there but overall ok.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

Overall it seemed a little meh, not bad just not something that I was really interested in.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

Ah physics slapping random people around an area, it amused me more than it should have =/

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

Seems like a good start, looks like you didn't get much of a chance to add all that much.

twowt by Yal

Interesting concept, could have done with a little more variety.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

This one had some nice effects. I found it a little hard to start with, but go the hang of it rather quickly. Well done =)

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

It was alright, not really my sort of game. I found the text a little bit too small to read.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

cool concept, would have liked to have seen a check point system in place (unless I missed them).

Couple of times when there was only a few guys left and I died because I did something silly, having to go back to the start of that level when you were so close was a little bit of a pain. Overall I liked it though, loved the sword glow effect =)

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

So to start, space bar resets the game. Took me a bit to work out how to atually get into the menu. But could actually get the game to start, sorry =/
 

The M

Member
The M's Reviews
And votes!

Top 3:

penitentiary by TehPilot
A good, clever and complete game.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
Great game that could use just a little more of everything to get even better.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
The game is really polished but the gameplay could still use some balancing.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: Ping by Nocturne
Best Concept: Teotl by Fel666
Best Presentation: Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Best Story: Duality by matharoo
Best Devlog: Hunted by Snail Man

Full ranking:

  1. penitentiary by TehPilot
  2. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  3. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  4. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  5. Teotl by Fel666
  6. Duality by matharoo
  7. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  8. Ping by Nocturne
  9. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  10. twowt by Yal
  11. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  12. BattleDancers by Joh
  13. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  14. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  15. Games by Robert
  16. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  17. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  18. Side By Side by Dalesome
  19. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  20. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  21. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  22. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  23. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  24. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  25. AfroDitus by Misty
  26. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  27. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  28. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  29. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  30. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  31. Endling by Oyakiiv
  32. TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  33. Hunted by Snail Man
  34. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  35. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  36. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

- Gameplay: 37/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 59/100

Some thoughts:
> The color scheme in the controls display makes the text painful to read. Some more contrast would help, maybe even adding an outline?
> It was cool that you had controller support but not being able to use the control stick was a little awkward so I stuck with the keyboard.
> It took me a moment to remember that you could enter doors. It could be a good idea to add a prompt (like an appearing arrow when you're next to a door) to help people realize it. It would help especially if the player doesn't look through the controls ahead of time as the doors are hard to tell apart from the background.
> The game looks nice, I liked the screen transitions. The boss arena seems a bit bland in comparison.
> Jumping was tricky to get used to, especially when climbing and jumping off ladders.
> Instead of showing a text once the boss is dead, why not add bars or a locked gate to show you can't enter? As it was I thought the boss was invincible after a dozen or so hits so I left it and tried to exit through the door which unlike all other doors didn't work. Then the boss hit me in the back.
> Why am I climbing this tower, by the way?
> The ending was very confusing and not very satisfying.

Conclusion: A bit generic but still a fully playable game. You could take the effects and polish further but what is there is a great start. Nice!

AfroDitus by Misty

- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 58/100

Some thoughts:
> The majestic music in the intro was kind of diminished when the screen was pitch black. Guess that's windows 10 for you.
> I get that the play button is supposed to be grayed out but it's probably a bit much if I can't even read what it says.
> The gender swap was interesting but didn't always work which was frustrating because it made it kind of unreliable. Sure, it makes sense that they would shoot at any intruder but what's the point of having a disguise then? It was nice when they got suspicious when they saw blood though.
> Some of the encounters let me feel really stealthy. The one-shot executions felt nice when you managed to pull them off.
> It's kind of annoying to have the camera scroll though the level. It could be used to give the player a sense of what's waiting for them but it's too slow and should be skippable in that case.
> I wasn't prepared to lose my pistol when I picked up a machine gun. When I ran out of ammo there was nothing I could do. The poor accuracy of the machine gun didn't help.
> Swapping hands was neat and a cool addition.

Conclusion: Fun but the game works against the player and restarting gets boring.

BattleDancers by Joh

- Gameplay: 41/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 64/100

Some thoughts:
> It's like Simon says but with special moves. Neat, but I wish there were more moves so that you could always have something to work towards even when the AI ruins your planned combo.
> I like the sleek menu design. It has everything you need to understand how to play and the moves list is great. I also really appreciated the in-game auto completion.
> I didn't always understand what to do. When someone failed a move the opponent got a chance to do it right or something? At first I thought it just restarted and got punished for doing the wrong move.
> The last duel went on for too long. At the end it must have taken a minute to perform each set of moves. Letting the player move faster (right when they press the button) would help somewhat. It happened that I'd press buttons that weren't registered because I was too fast.
> How come there was still a move left to learn when I'd beaten everyone?
> I kind of wish there'd been an ending after all that.

Conclusion: Kind of fun but too slow as the battles drag on.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 6/9 - Total: 57/100

Some thoughts:
> You should highlight the buttons when you mouse over them to make it more intuitive to press them. Other than that, the controls are really simple.
> I was uncertain as to what were the win or lose conditions for the game. I tried to avoid running out of supplies but it seemed like the events were just random rather than progressing towards something. In the end, it felt like defeat was inevitable because so few of the events had a positive outcome.
> So there was a set number of events? I lost while I still had resources left which was very confusing. In that case, it also felt a bit weird to have repeat events since they seemed to happen in the same order every time and could easily have been replaced with something new.
> The events themselves were interesting, varied and mostly fun. I wasn't so found of the "choose between losing this or that" events as they felt out of my hands (because no matter what I did it wouldn't help).
> The game could really use some music, also why would I have to restart the whole game just to get back to the main menu so that I could play again? Because the random (if they were) events should happen in a fix order? In that case you could just reset the seed or just not have one.
> The events with more lasting consequences (for example upgrading the defenses) were the most interesting to me because it let me feel prepared for future events in a way that just trading resources wouldn't. It'd be nice to see more of those events, though they risk being the worst ones to get repeats of. Defending against the red army felt great the first time ("I hope you have good defenses.", "Oh yes, I do.") but when they attacked again right after it not only undid the last moment of preparedness but also turned it into resignation because I knew there was nothing I could have done to stop it.

Conclusion: Some interesting decision and simplistic gameplay that is fun for a while but always seems just a little unfair.

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

- Gameplay: 27/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 1/9 - Total: 45/100

Some thoughts:
> Right from the start the game overwhelms you with insane numbers of enemies. Luckily, I could move outside the walls of the dungeon and could kite around the enemies so it wasn't that hard to survive. On the other hand, getting back in was next to impossible.
> The game looks great with nice effects and animations. Some small effects like lingering fire would make it even better.
> The instructions screen was great but some controls were missing. I could easily find that I moved with WASD but I didn't realize I could attack with the mouse button too because all other attacks were told to me.
> The flame thrower spell is pretty much the only viable one and it's super potent. Of course, it would probably be more balanced if the enemies were. Also, teleporting doesn't seem to work. I found that one out at the wrong time. :)
> There isn't a goal, is there?

Conclusion: Neat but incomplete.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

- Gameplay: 44/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 71/100

Some thoughts:
> The tutorial texts were awesome. The interface as a whole was really polished and looked great.
> It's a shame that the "goals" disappeared so soon. The game would have been much more engaging had there been something more than just unlocking coins to work towards. A meter filling up to hit different marks would have been an easy way to give the player motivation.
> At first I was a bit bummed out that there was no music. It was mitigated some when you started to have a few coins to flip but the sound effects got a little annoying after a while.
> It was cool that removing coins became a valid strategy when they were relatively useless and you'd be better off having the hands just hit the high value ones. It was a little hard to pick up the coins, especially when the hands wanted to flip them.
> I think the game scaled pretty well until you hit the 2€ coins at which point you couldn't improve much and had to wait while you built up enough cash for the big coin. > On the other hand, that coin was ridiculously overpowered. I guess it just showed that you had nothing else to spend the cash on so at that point so it didn't really matter.
> The wand was a cool power up. In my opinion you should get it earlier so you can use it a lot more.

Conclusion: The game was entertaining for a while and it felt very polished. The fun ended when the progression did so perhaps it would have been better to make the final coin cheaper and let the game end at say 1000€?

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

- Gameplay: 34/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 8/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 62/100

Some thoughts:
> The intro was a great way to start things off. The game felt lively and animated.
> For some reason I had a hard time pressing the right button and often used E to transform and space to activate stuff.
> I was impressed by the number of props there were. Some of them, like the computers, first looked like you'd be able to interact with them which turned out not to be the case. It could be something to keep in mind, though it definitely wasn't an issue.
> The lights were an issue though, especially the light around the player which made it impossible to tell if you could transform where you stood or if pressing space would instantly kill you. In a frantic scenario you need to know that immediately and I think even if the player didn't have a light the lights were too dim to be clearly noticeable.
> I was not a fan of the level design. I rage quit on the third level after dying repeatedly in what felt like unfair ways. The combination of limited ghost time, slippery ghost controls, hard to see lights and off-screen enemies just became too much. I think checkpoints would have helped somewhat but making sure you see all obstacles/enemies when you start your ghost run is still the most important thing. If you could plan your route beforehand it'd be much easier to accept defeat than if, say, you dash through a vent, past a guard and through another vent where a second guard may or may not be and there's no way of telling in advance.

Conclusion: The game impresses but the level design is infuriating.

Duality by matharoo

- Gameplay: 47/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 73/100

Some thoughts:
> For some reason it never occurred to me that I could attack as well until I found no way to get pass the tall grass or whatever that last wall was made of. It's interesting because I clearly saw that space was listed in the controls but I guess it was a combination of it doing nothing during the dialogue and Misty taking care of the first set of enemies pretty much on their own.
> It was fun to see so much variation. The crossbow gallery was a fun surprise.
> The bosses were good though the first one pretty much beat itself.
> Misu was a great and reliable sidekick. The game as a whole was just fun, if a bit slow.
> You can definitely get past those trees, you're practically standing under them!
> I'd have liked a way to speed up the dialogue.

Conclusion: Fun, simple and just long enough. A good game.

Endling by Oyakiiv

- Gameplay: 31/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 49/100

Some thoughts:
> The screen feels cluttered which makes it hard to find anything to focus on. Everything is drawn in different styles and it is hard to tell background from foreground. The intro was still nice though.
> The gameplay seemed fine with some variation.
> If there's no goal there really isn't that much of a reason to play the game, is there? You quit not because it gets hard but because it starts getting repetitive. Some kind of progression is really important.
> The game doesn't seem to end just because it says game over. You can just use the generator (even if it's gone) and continue.
> It was a neat touch to give the bats supporting strings.
>The gameplay works fine, though it's a bit barebone. Things just popping away when they are destroyed makes the game feel incomplete in another way. You could make it much more satisfying to defeat enemies with some visual flare. The sound effects are good and lessens that issue a bit.
> The music loop is really, really short!
> It would be nice with some way to tell where enemies spawn so that you go the in the right direction to take them out.

Conclusion: Without goal or variation there's no reason to play. It's a nice concept that could probably be expanded upon.

Games by Robert

- Gameplay: 41/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 63/100

Some thoughts:
> I had no idea when the game had started and just sat there waiting for something to happen.
> I think most people here can relate to your story one way or another. It was really cool to see and made me think about why I make games.
> The gameplay was pretty lackluster though, not that it was in focus.
> The whole experience was polished with good visuals, audio and a good balance between story and interaction.

Conclusion: Not much of a game but a neat story.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 7/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 63/100

Some thoughts:
> I liked the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of the game. It's calming yet upbeat.
> The ceiling felt very unpredictable, you also couldn't adjust the force you pushed the coin with so you basically had to keep flipping it until it came down correctly on its own.
> If the coin flew off the table at the start, there was little you could do about it.
> It was a good call to make the instructions so clear. It's easy to tell which side is up and which is down. You might want to "cheat" with the very first coin flip as the coin was landing correctly for me without my interaction, making me having to wait while it slowly fell as the game wanted me to flip it even if it made no sense.
> Is tails just slightly more common or is it just me? Could be chance I guess.
> Oh, you can tie too. Awesome!
> There's no goal, is there?

Conclusion: A fun distraction and for going literal with the theme it was still unique and interesting. The lack of a goal or progression keeps it from being engaging for any longer time.

Hunted by Snail Man

- Gameplay: 28/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 47/100

Some thoughts:
> The information dump in the beginning was overwhelming and I felt like I forgot the first text wall when the next appeared. When the game started, I was not prepared to face several ships coming from nowhere.
> Because you could walk outside of your ship while still inside I didn't realize that you had to go to the door before you could jump to another ship. It took several deaths before I got a hang of it.
> The game is really unfair I think because you're always pitted against several enemy ships that are at least as good as yours. As a result, you can barely dent one's shields before you have to leave your ship, making you spend almost all the time jumping between ships and never taking any of them down.
> The slow motion really helps. Without it I wouldn't last for seconds. On the other hand, it makes gameplay really slow when it's used constantly.

Conclusion: Probably too complicated and definitely too hard. While a cool concept it's just frustrating to play.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 60/100

Some thoughts:
> Wow, that's a lot of text to bombard the player with. Perhaps you could find a more interactive way of conveying all that?
> I got incredibly confused and died almost immediately when I was suddenly thrown into the game without much explanation of what was what. I tried to shoot down the big bullets, didn't realize one ship had inverted controls and died miserably. Next life went better. :)
> The limited use of special moves made me really conservative with using them. They seemed to recharge at some points or after some time though so I guess using them turned out to be okay.
> The charge time of the moves also made it really hard to anticipate when they would trigger. As a result I never used the dodge and only occasionally used the laser (mostly against the boss).
> I found shooting to be a bit tricky because of the slow fire rate and slow bullet speed. Combined with the unpredictable movements of the enemies aiming was difficult. It seemed that I learned to do slightly better after a while which was a bit surprising. I wonder how the game would have played if the bullets were faster, your fire rate higher and the enemies just had a bit more health. It would probably have been a different game then (for better or worse).
> The dual ships was a cool idea. Focusing on both at once was a challenge but the levels were just rightly balanced to keep it from being too rough.
> There was some pretty good variation to the enemies and it was easy to tell them apart.
> It was hard to tell why a level started (if you cleared the previous one or died to an unseen bullet) A progression bar of some kind would have helped and given you a sense of how close you are, increasing the tension. A short animation of some kind could also help, especially if you die (consider the game freezing, then highlighting the impacting bullet followed by your ship's exploding).
> Nice boss battle! Game felt complete.

Conclusion: The game was fairly basic and had some issues but once you got past them it was fine.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

- Gameplay: 25/61 - Graphics: 9/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 41/100

Some thoughts:
> It seems like your game had a case of "Windows 10's black full screen" where everything is black unless you change to windowed mode. It was a little hard to tell it had actually started as the menu had no music.
> On my first playthrough I couldn't get anyone to say anything to me. I didn't know if you had to press a certain untold button or if the game was just broken. It turned out only certain characters would talk to you which I later found out. I think having everyone say something would both make it easier for the player to understand what's going on and do some world building for you.
> Movement was a bit unreliable, especially when you were far away and tried to enter houses. It's also difficult to tell what is solid and what you can walk straight through.
> Because I couldn't get anyone to talk to me, I never found any items and had no idea how the whole picking up and using stuff worked. This lead me to wander around aimlessly and not understanding what to do. As a result, none of the in game text or readme actually helped me.
> Suddenly vampires took over the world? That is sad indeed. They probably transformed as I was trying to talk to them.
> Even with items, I didn't understand how to use them as nothing seemed to happen when I pressed X.

Conclusion: If played "correctly" the game worked fairly well but if you didn't do what was intended from the start, the game would appear broken and unplayable.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

- Gameplay: 42/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 0/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 60/100

Some thoughts:
> The whole combination of using several keys to shoot felt awkward at first but once I got the rhythm it was actually rather fun.
> The graphics were pretty good but why were the bullets large squares? I didn't even realize they were bullets until after a while when I'd taken some damage and noticed that I shot squares from my gun too.
> Most of the enemies are off screen when they fire at you which makes the above issue larger. When you see squares flying around without a source and disappearing after a while they could be anything. It also made the encounters less satisfying as you didn't see when you hit some of the enemies.
> I liked the story and while I always cringe a little when people quote the theme exactly I think it at least worked pretty well here.
> The game would really, really benefit from sound effects and probably some western music too.

Conclusion: A nice game that could certainly be expanded upon with a few more levels. Also audio, add some and you'll won't want to play without.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

- Gameplay: 53/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 8/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 84/100

Some thoughts:
> The puzzles were great. They got more and more complex (the last one was devious) but were always manageable through trial and error combined with logical reasoning.
> I loved how streamlined the experience felt. The interface makes sure you always know exactly how you are doing and what you are currently editing without getting in the way.
> Though the graphics were certainly good, they could feel a bit stale, especially in the menu with its gray background. I also think you could add some more effects for when you beat a level (fireworks, flowers, coin showers, what have you), because you had to work for it it should be satisfying.
> Bad puns are awesome.

Conclusion: Great game that could use just a little more of everything to get even better.

penitentiary by TehPilot

- Gameplay: 53/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 9/10 - Bonus: 7/9 - Total: 87/100

Some thoughts:
> Sweet intro, it set up the game's premise well on top of being a nice tutorial.
> The levels felt really clever and used the coin's travel time and distance in good ways. It wasn't just a tucked-on mechanic for the sake of the theme.
> It seems like you can toss an unlimited amount of coins which breaks the level if you do (the teleporter stops working).
> It also seems like I "cheated" on the last level as flipping a coin just below the arrow caused some weird repositioning of the player.
> The game feels very polished all the way to the end.

Conclusion: A good, clever and complete game.

Ping by Nocturne

- Gameplay: 42/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 7/9 - Total: 72/100

Some thoughts:
> I really like the visuals of this one. The effects look both cool and pleasing to the eye.
> This has got to be the best interpretation of the theme ever.
> The options menu was neat. I liked that you could change color of the game.
> The controls were a bit awkward, not least in 2 player mode. I was also thrown off by the fact that the paddles can move further up and down than the ball, making it bounce where it seemingly shouldn't.

Conclusion: A fun take on the theme that is certainly polished but at the day's end it just isn't that entertaining.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

- Gameplay: 53/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 7/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 79/100

Some thoughts:
> Oh dear, the music in the menu cuts through my ears and stabs my brain. Frankly it's horrible. Thankfully the in-game music is much better and even catchy (although it too suffers some from the super high pitch sounds).
> Looks like I can create coins by punching thin air. Who knew.
> I liked the gameplay. Those gray disks were on the verge of feeling unfair as you couldn't hurt them but sidestepping worked pretty well. It was nice to see the amount of variation between the floors, with new traps being introduced.
> The voice clips were really neat and the text messages / final words were a nice touch.
> I think there could have been a few more sound effects. Changing floors comes to mind as the most obvious addition. It's a good way to give the player some cred for beating a floor.
> Beating the boss and getting to the credits made me smile. It also made the game feel complete.

Conclusion: A fun little game with a good amount of diversity in its levels.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

- Gameplay: 40/61 - Graphics: 15/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 65/100

Some thoughts:
> Interesting mechanics. Though they were simple enough I still found it hard to navigate the mazes when you had to account for both characters. Having some kind of effect highlight a collision might make it a bit clearer why you suddenly couldn't move in a direction.
> For some reason I often looked at the blue character and got confused when it had inverted controls.
> The game was really short. It felt like it could use a few more levels and new mechanics to keep it interesting.
> The shoot and block mechanic worked well but I feel it wasn't used to its full potential. You rarely had to place a block once you picked it up and didn't have to consider the shots anymore other than hitting all the yellow blocks.

Conclusion: A short burst of an interesting idea executed well.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 60/100

Some thoughts:
> I liked the story. I kind of saw the end coming but it still had impact, especially killing that last enemy.
> The graphics were pretty bland but the characters and effects looked good and well animated and the overall impression was good.
> It was a nice touch to let the attack animation move the player character forward as it helped convey a sense of momentum.
> The game really needed checkpoints. Getting forced back to the start whenever you got hit just once was tedious and took from the experience.
> This was especially problematic early on when you didn't expect them coming or knew how to react.

Conclusion: Short but still rather satisfying.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

- Gameplay: 31/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 49/100

Some thoughts:
> While the text was still readable, the changing background made it a pain to read through the intro.
> The sound effects were mostly fine but the shooting sound neither fit nor were very pleasant for the ears.
> At first I thought the game was interesting with all the different kinds of ships but I soon realized how unfair some of them were. How well you performed became almost entirely dependent on how many homing ships appeared. The fast ones were especially frustrating because you couldn't shoot them down in time and with all the other ships you didn't have room to out maneuver them.
> Blue mode was an interesting surprise that but I don't understand what it has to do with anything. In fact, I don't see how the story has anything to do with the game at all.
> I wish there was a goal besides scoring high as there's nothing to engage you and keep you playing.

Conclusion: A decent game that works well but suffers from unfair encounters and lack of purpose.

Side By Side by Dalesome

- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 61/100

Some thoughts:
> The game looks great and I love the small details like stretching out the player when you move but something seems to reduce the framerate quite a lot (and I have a fairly high-end computer). Are you using a shader for the outlines? Might be that.
> It was cool that you could not only switch realm but that you could go half and half. I wish moving the world edge (or what to call it) was bound to different keys than movement as I was often forced to use neither as dodging would switch me into another obstacle.
> The circles don't have circular hitboxes. For the larger circles their hitboxes were bigger than them which resulted in unfair losses.
> At first I didn't understand the HUD and since enemies were clearly black I thought that maybe I should collect the squares and circles. After a while I realized that the big squares were some kind of power meter and that you could shoot a cool (if a bit pointless) beam.

Conclusion: It looks really cool but the mechanics work against each other.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 57/100

Some thoughts:
> I thought the plus and minus at the start of the game would be some kind of options for the screen scale, I had no idea that they would change the game.
> There isn't that much of a difference between the plus and minus sides and I can't really feel how they are opposite in anything but name.
> Combat is very basic but works fine.
> There's a good amount of enemies and they look varied and distinct. On the other hand, while enemies have different attacks there's nothing really that differentiates the attacks themselves. Some visual flare or special tactics would make them stand out more and be much more interesting.
> There isn't much of a story and what is there is mostly confusing. A more interesting approach could be to let the player choose to find and fight either god, rather than having the path predetermined from which button you pressed. Give the player some agency over their choice.

Conclusion: A nice enough game that just fails to be very interesting in its mechanics.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

- Gameplay: 45/61 - Graphics: 15/20 - Audio: 8/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 73/100

Some thoughts:
> I like the duality of the game but I don't feel like I was ever really in control. The balls were so fast and massive that at first I couldn't really aim them and later could barely push them. It became a game about staying on screen and letting the balls score themselves.
> That too quickly turned into a game of chance. I often found myself getting launched out and then barely saved by a ball from the other direction or a goal post. Sure, it felt great to barely hang on but it also felt like it could have gone either way. Perhaps making the controls slightly less slippery would help you react faster?
> I liked how the game got progressively harder and not only by increasing the size of the balls. Some more variety would have been great and it feels like you could do a lot of fun stuff there.
> The presentation as a whole was good. The graphics are fine but could probably use a little more effects or animations, especially the background. The sound effects when the balls appear is very satisfying.

Conclusion: Solid and fun but the player could use a little more agency.

Teotl by Fel666

- Gameplay: 48/61 - Graphics: 15/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 74/100

Some thoughts:
> The coins are impressive and gameplay is surprisingly smooth. The transitions between levels further added to this.
> The levels scaled nicely but given how short they were I was a little disappointed there weren't more of them. On the other hand, that might have made the mechanics a bit repetitive.
> The text wasn't that nice. While a cool effect, it would probably look just a good with a single color.
> I think the first level was an excellent tutorial that showed everything the player needed to understand.

Conclusion: Nice and polished but very short game.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

- Gameplay: 36/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 59/100

Some comments:
> It took some time to realize I could break the walls. Before that I left the dungeon off screen and established that there was no way to reach the goal.
> I loved the different flavor texts for the items. There was a good number of them too.
> The number of enemies was a bit disappointing with only three varieties as far as I could tell.
> Was the coin random or did my actions affect it somehow? I made it down nine floors before I quit and only got the bad side once.
> Ultimately, the lack of progression made me quit the game. Had you seen one floor you'd basically seen the entire game.

Conclusion: Fun game but progression needs to be more than just increased numbers.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

- Gameplay: 43/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 64/100

Some thoughts:
> There was a good amount of content and the areas were varied. It would have been nice to have some climax, like a boss in the end. I also wonder what the point of the journey was, why did I go there and fight all the goblins in the first place?
> The graphics were pretty good, mostly. While I could figure out what everything was, some things didn't fit in as they had a very different scale or style compared to the rest of the game.
> It was a bit hard to know what was solid at times. Often you could walk over things that looked like they should have been walls.
> I would also have liked some more feedback on if you could change world or not. A sound effect saying transforming was impossible would have been a good start. Even better would have been some kind of indicator showing if it was possible or not. That way it'd be easier to hide secret areas along the ghost only routes there were.
> I think the ghost realm looks great and could be expanded upon. Right now it's little more than an alternate path with a few walls changed and enemies in different locations but it's really not that different from the normal world and has the same kind of content.
> Having both a close combat and ranged attack felt great. I had a lot of agency in my moves and it was nice to push back goblins with a swing and finishing them off with a thrown knife as a combo.
> Getting unlimited gold in the end kind of makes collecting coins even more pointless, right? Even without a use collecting the coins was its own reward but it'd been nice with something to spend it on.

Conclusion: A solid game but it's a game for the sake of game, there's no real progression or point to it.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 61/100

Some thoughts:
> Yeah, the line glitch is annoying but whatever.
> Contrast was a little weird in the white world where details blended into the background at times.
> The story was interesting. I liked the duo mechanic in the beginning, it was neat.
> I had an issue where I fell out of the world just after the first medal flip and respawned in mid-air, dying repeatedly from the fall.
> There seem to be a general issue where your y-coordinate ends up strangely (often in midair) when you flip. I don't know if it was intentional but as a result I had to be careful every time I flipped so that I wouldn't fall to my doom.
> Walking up and down the geometry worked well with a slight exception of the very highly slanted walls which was a little awkward. Over all I think the curved geometry added to the experience and gave variation.

Conclusion: Nice but needs polish and a proper ending to match the great start.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

- Gameplay: 29/61 - Graphics: 11/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 50/100

Some thoughts:
> I wish I could see how far enemies could move so that I could plan accordingly. Some kind of health display would also be nice.
> The movement system was a bit hard to understand. You could move each character twice on their turn? But sometimes the enemies moved dozens of tiles.
> It also seemed a bit finnicky where your characters would end up if they attacked someone and I couldn't always move to highlighted squares even though no-one stood there.
> If the view was centered on an enemy character when they moved it would easier to know what was happening on the opponent's turn.

Finally we've got this (after an enemy shot me, possibly with the last squad member to move):
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object objEnemySquad:

trying to index variable that is not an array
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
called from - gml_Object_objEnemySquad_Step_0 (line 69)

Conclusion: A cool idea but the execution needs more polish to make it easier to understand and plan.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

- Gameplay: 40/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 59/100

Some thoughts:
> The game plays smoothly and works without issues. I found the floatiness of the character to be a bit annoying as it worked against precise platforming.
> While the game looks good it also feels very generic, both when it comes to graphics and gameplay. The dialogue from hitting enemies was a nice touch but also the only thing that stood out to me.
> I would have liked a little more range on the slap attack. Given how much you lost when you got hit it was always risky to attack enemies.
> What was the point of collecting the coins anyway? They didn't seem to do anything in the end as I'd lost most and could still buy myself an island.

Conclusion: Works well but has little new to offer.

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

- Gameplay: 27/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 48/100

Some thoughts:
> There doesn't seem to be a goal to the game. There are the strange white circles but you can't interact with them.
> The mobility you have feels good. Just jumping around is fun.
> It took me a moment to realize that the squares were enemies.
> Switching between realms was cool, I liked the lens flare when you made it into daytime.

Conclusion: Some fancy effects but nothing more at the moment.

twowt by Yal

- Gameplay: 43/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 66/100

Some thoughts:
> Clever and pretty cool use of the theme. It's simple but it still gets pretty interesting and I found it tricky to gauge where to go in some of the levels.
> I'm glad the first one was so simple because it took a moment to understand how the flipping mechanic worked.
> My favorite levels were the ones where the patterns resembled some shapes and weren't just cut off paths.
> Good length on the game. The end after the last level was a bit weird though, why not return to the main screen?

Conclusion: It's really just a maze, but it's a nice one.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

- Gameplay: 46/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 9/10 - Bonus: 7/9 - Total: 80/100

Some thoughts:
> Great presentation! The game's visuals just fit and the transitions are super sleek.
> It seems you can jump in midair if you walk off a platform. This often had me jump back onto it which was an issue.
> The game felt somewhat unfair as there just weren't enough platforms at times, forcing you to fail.
> It took a few tries to understand what to do and what everything did. Extending the tutorial to show what was dangerous and what was positive would have helped a lot. At least it was easy to understand why things had happened afterwards so you wouldn't repeat mistakes.
> I feel this game could really benefit from a highscore table, preferably online.

Conclusion: The game is really polished but the gameplay could still use some balancing.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

- Gameplay: 41/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 63/100

Some thoughts:
> That initial quote is fantastic.
> The gameplay is interesting with all of its parts. At times the word typing felt a bit tucked on and annoying but I guess it makes sense and connects to the story a bit.
> I didn't like how finnicky the landing was. It often felt like I was about right and still I exploded.
> The interface was great. It'd have been nice if walls were displayed on the radar/compass too because if you were going fast you wouldn't have time to react as it is now.
> In the end I crashed into a tree that I thought was part of the background and got a game over. I'm not replaying the entire game (I didn't even know you had a set number of lives) so I quit.
> Why use F3 as a key? It's a bit off and it's not like you'd accidentally press another button.

Conclusion: Impressive and well-made but with also unforgiving and a bit repetitive.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

Epic, awesome and simply amazing. Carry on!

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

- Gameplay: 36/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 53/100

Some thoughts:
> When the game started I tried pressing space, then used the mouse and finally hammered the keyboard randomly. All I found was that space seemed to restart the game so I figured it was a joke entry.
> The controls aren't intuitive so they really need to be explained somewhere, preferably in game. In fact they seem almost to be deliberately counter intuitive. Space restarts everything even in game and the players must have their hands on top of each other which isn't very comfortable. If one use a controller it works somewhat better.
> The music could drive you insane, it really needs to be a longer loop. I'm surprised you could stand it for so long while testing the game.
> It's cool that there are so many characters, though not all seem to work. One crashed and the other had no cooldown on its primary attack. Another issue is that there is no way to tell how long cooldown abilities have. Some kind of indicator of if the ability can be used would be of great help.

Conclusion: A neat game with poor control schemes that makes playing it a challenge.
 
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chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
Votes:

1. Reflectonauts
by DocNogloff
2. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
3. The Parallel Medal by Misu
4. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
5. penitentiary by TehPilot
6. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Here are some games I felt had interesting mechanics, visuals, or innovation -- even if some of them lacked the theme.
-- Not ranked --
Teotl by Fel666
twowt by Yal
Ping by Nocturne
Sumoball by GhandPivot

Comments:


"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
Nice platform styled game. Seemed very fast paced with good movement. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any higher than the first level. Guess my jump timing was bad. The building graphics were nicely done. Didn't see the theme here, but the game has promise.

AfroDitus by Misty
Sadly, I just got a black screen with music. EDIT: after forcing window mode I could play. Still rather confused about what to do, however. Not sure if this is intended as satire, or an actual game. Looks OK, though.

BattleDancers by Joh
Nice little memory game, with good use of theme. The sounds and graphics were pretty good. And the controls and gameplay were explained clearly. Good job overall.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
I guess this was a strategy game... not sure. I tried to make intelligent answers (as king). But after a minute or so the game ended.

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
Ugh... starts way to fast. I couldn't make any progress before getting killed. Did manage a few fireballs, but to little effect it seems. But the overall look is good here. Not really a fan of that retro style, but this looks well made. Just too hard (for me at least).

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Nice coin flipping animation. Not sure what the gameplay is about, though.

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
This is quite good. Love the sound effects and music. Not a fan of this graphics style, but it's done well here. And the storyline and gameplay fits the theme nicely.

Duality by matharoo
Pretty good overall. Not big fan of such pixelated graphics, but everything was consistent. I had good success with the crossbow, but I couldn't get rid of that damn dog who followed me around. Still, pretty good game.

Endling by Oyakiiv
I'm afraid I have no idea what's going on here.

Games by Robert
Interesting to watch... but I couldn't figure out what to do. May try again later if I have time.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
A simple game, but one that requires some skill and dexterity. The coin flipping mechanics felt good, and the controls were comfortable. Nice job overall, and great use of theme (albeit rather literal).

Hunted by Snail Man
Unfortunately, I just got a black screen with some music. So I can't comment further. EDIT: alt-shift to force windowed mode, so the game runs now. Nice job on the musical theme. And the storyline evokes the theme nicely. But I couldn't last more than a few seconds before dying. I'm afraid this is over my head. Too complex.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog
Clever idea for the theme here, although somewhat limited gameplay. Scoring felt more like random luck, although I think a better player than me could win. Seems pretty solid, overall.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious
Blank screen with no sound. EDIT: used alt-enter to forced window mode. OK... this is creepy. Nice job of the effects here. I was able to enter a house, but I couldn't get anywhere after that. Looks very interesting, however.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
Looks like a very professional puzzle game. Good intro screen graphics and music. But at this point (it's early) I'm totally baffled about how to play. I went through the menu options, so I'll need to come back to this. EDIT: round two was much better.

penitentiary by TehPilot
Very clever puzzle game. Easy to understand, hard to master, as they say. The black and white graphics are perfect for this. Good controls, good puzzle challenges, and good presentation overall.

Ping by Nocturne
Nice pong game. And the retro-style CRT effects were excellent. That said, I don't believe I scored a single point. I'm hopelessly clumsy with reflex-based games. But I was very impressed with the visual style here.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
Not a bad start. I was able to slay the enemy, but I couldn't enter the "door". Maybe I'm not playing correctly? The background music was a bit repetitive, but I liked the vocals of the player. Reminded me of a character on South Park.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
What a clever use of the theme! Well done. The gameplay was interesting, and the presentation was fine. Only played a few levels, but that's enough to see what professional game this is.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline
I like the character's graphics and animation. The controls feel pretty good, but I couldn't get past the upper box. In fact, I got trapped there and couldn't continue. I'm sure I'm missing something here...

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
Interesting space-type shooter. I loved the visuals and the sound effects. Nice job on those. I couldn't get very far, however. But I might try again. Looks like a fun game.

Side By Side by Dalesome
Wasn't really sure what the objective was here. But I enjoyed smashing into things. Good graphics and sounds. And the two views (circles and squares) were a good attempt at using the theme.

Soul Catchers by Barvix
I get the idea, but I wasn't able to figure out what to do. Got the message about the stone... then what? I could move around, but couldn't do much else.

Sumoball by GhandPivot
Fun and challenging gameplay here. I didn't see the theme connection, but I enjoyed the game. Took several tries, but I managed to score 8 points. I'll play this again. Nice game.

Teotl by Fel666
Very impressive mechanics here. This looks very professional. And the movement of the ball was realistic and smooth. Not sure what's meant by "match the patterns of gems", however. I thought I had the right colors a few times, but nothing happened. So I'll need to re-visit this. Great looking game!

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
Good use of lighting effects here. But the need for repeated key-presses to move made the game very difficult to play and reduced the enjoyment. But this has potential.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
This was a good start to a fighting game. And there was a fair amount to explore and fight. The switch to ghost world was an interesting touch. With some more work, this could show promise.

The Parallel Medal by Misu
I love the look of this. Great use of monochrome coloring. And the parallax background movements are effective. But how do I climb over that first obstacle? I read the text, but still don't get what I'm supposed to climb. I'll have to come back to this. I looks worth playing. EDIT: got the hint about the directions (my bad). Should by able to play this now. Seems very well made.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
Look fairly well made. Good music choice for the game. I thought the instructions were clear, but I couldn't figure out the gameplay. Guess I'm not really familiar with strategy games.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
I love the flipping animation when you get beat up. I tried to use it to make those jumps, but that didn't work. I figured out that the jump height is longer when you're moving, but I still couldn't make the second jump. Nice presentation though.

TwainShadow by SSJCoder
I couldn't figure out what to do here. I was able to move around and jump to different platforms, so that part worked nice. But the overall look and feel of the game was good.

twowt by Yal
The maze flipping concept is a good use of theme. And the black and white graphics are appealing. The gameplay itself wasn't overly exciting. But everything seemed well executed. Nice job overall.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf
This looks very cool. But I'm completely baffled how to play. I typed to get fuel, then TAB, then I just exploded... Clearly, I'm doing something wrong here.

Veiled in Shadows by The M
Very atmospheric with good use of lighting effects and music. The attention to detail is impressive. I didn't really understand the game's objective, but I enjoyed wandering around and exploring the world. I don't see the theme connection here, but this is a very professional presentation.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
Never figured out how the start the game... tried all the keys, clicks, etc. but couldn't get past the intro screen.
 
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0

0.Bytes

Guest
I tried to play all the games, sorry for the games that were not open or that I did not know how to play, I think everyone did a good job, although I believe that GMC 4 the overall quality of the games were better than in this one, which does not mean that this jam was bad.

Anyway we had some pretty cool games, congratuations to everybody that joined the jam =D

Reviews

Top 3:

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
By far the most polished game of this jam, the art it is insane how good it is, I cannot believe that you guys made that in 72 hours, congratulations.

The concept is really cool, and in my humble opinion you guys should work on this game after the jam.

The gameplay is very fun and the level design is good, the bad side is that I missed some sounds, besides that great job !

Veiled in Shadows by The M
What an amazing job, the game is really cool, it has a dark/sad story, and it has some pretty awesome effects, the gameplay is fun and the sounds are art are really well made. Great game !

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
This game was a good suprise, the gameplay is so intense and fast it was one of the coolest game i ve played so far in this jam, the lowrez art is pretty good, and you did an amazing job on level design. I loved this game =p

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: ...
Best Concept: ...
Best Presentation: ...
Best Story: ...
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  2. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  3. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  4. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  5. twowt by Yal
  6. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  7. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  8. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  9. Side By Side by Dalesome
  10. BattleDancers by Joh
  11. Ping by Nocturne
  12. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  13. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  14. penitentiary by TehPilot
  15. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  16. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  17. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  18. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  19. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  20. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  21. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  22. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  23. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  24. Hunted by Snail Man
  25. Games by Robert
  26. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  27. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

Good game, although for some reason the main menu looked like a DOS screen =p

The game is pretty simple but it is quite fun, the art is very well made, I liked the controls and the gameplay is good. Good work !

AfroDitus by Misty

For some reason the file was not opening here, I tried to play but I was not able to =/

BattleDancers by Joh

Very different game, and it is really cool, although it was not that much related to the theme it is very well made, and in my humble opinion every game where you can "dab" it is awesome =D Great job !

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

It is a cool use of the theme, although the gameplay is not the kind of game that I like to play, everything looked good, especially the pixel art =D

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

Good pixel art, the music is a really cool chiptune, and the gamplay is very cool, I liked this game, good job !

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

I loved the art in this game, it must be hard to make coins look good, but I loved the graphics. The gameplay I think it was kinda pointless because it was just you clicking and hoping to have luck to make money. The player did not have nothing that he could do to be better at this game.

If I missed the point on the gameplay, sorry for that.

Besides that I think the game looks really good and it seems to be very well made, if the gameplay became better you can have an awesome game on your hand =p

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

By far the most polished game of this jam, the art it is insane how good it is, I cannot believe that you guys made that in 72 hours, congratulations.

The concept is really cool, and in my humble opinion you guys should work on this game after the jam.

The gameplay is very fun and the level design is good, the bad side is that I missed some sounds, besides that great job !

Duality by matharoo

The game did not opened =(

Endling by Oyakiiv

The game is pretty simple, I thought the gameplay was a bit confusing, but the art was cute, good job !

Games by Robert

A game about games, really interesting, it looked quite well done for a jam, good job !

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

Simple, but cool concept, maybe the gameplay could be more polished, but anyway I had some fun playing, simple but really fun ! Good job !

Hunted by Snail Man

A spaceship game, simple but well made and with a good gameplay

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

Pretty good concept and use of the theme, the game is simple and it has a great gameplay and it is very fun. Great job !

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Very bizzarre graphics, but the game is intriguing, good job !

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Did not open =(

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

Another game that I helped with music, I will not rank, but anyway the game is a very cool puzzle, with cool features like the "progress" bar that shows how many requirements have you done.

It is a great game and level 5 it is very hard, whoever that beat that level is a master genius =p

penitentiary by TehPilot

The game looked pretty good, with a really good art, and a great concept, the downside was this error that I had when I played =/


___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object objCoin:

local variable playerGhost(100002, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_objCoin_Step_0
############################################################################################

Besides that was one of the game that it has more potential !


Ping by Nocturne

A classic pong game, with an amazing "old tv" effect, pretty good job, I will not rank higher because it was not that much original and was not too related with the theme, but you did an amzing job, cool gameplay and a good clean menu

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

This game was a good suprise, the gameplay is so intense and fast it was one of the coolest game i ve played so far in this jam, the lowrez art is pretty good, and you did an amazing job on level design. I loved this game =p

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Great great concept, good art, and a music that fits what the game needed, really cool game, I believe you made a cool interpretation the the theme. Great job !

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

Really cute main character, the color pallete is beatiful, pretty cool game.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

A simple spaceship game but really cool, I liked the music and some of the sfx were good, the gameplay is simple but fun, and the game has a interesting story. Good job !

Side By Side by Dalesome

Very creative and good concept, fun game, great job !

Soul Catchers by Barvix

A cool game were you play with Brock =p, it is clear that pokemon was more than just a reference, the game it is quite cool, with a good song, some of the art was really well made, I loved the retro vibe

Sumoball by GhandPivot

The game is very fun, I love soccer and the game was pretty cool, the gameplay is great, the sad thing is that i suck at it =p

Teotl by Fel666

The game did not open =/

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

It is the game I helped Cloaked Games, anyway I must say that I found the game pretty fun with a lot of cool features, if you guys give it a shot you will realize that it is a good and fun roguelike =D

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

I liked this game, is like a mix of hotline miami and harverst moon, the game is very good, with an good art and a fun gameplay, one of the more polished games, I missed a music though, great job !

The Parallel Medal by Misu

The art concept of the game is really good, one of the best of this jam, no doubts, the art is really good, and it can be even better if you add some animations like for walk and etc. The calm music sounds almost like an ambience sounds and it is really good. The gameplay is good, it definetely has the potential to be a full game in the future. Good job !


Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

It is a cool concept, with a really good lowrez art, the "big faces" that appear when it is your turn were just beautiful, the music was good, what I did not liked was that it was too slow, if the gameplay was faster and more intuitive, I have no doubts that this game would be ranked higher

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

Cool game, with some cute graphs, a good plataformer, the game is good, but I believe that the "battle" system could be a little bit more intuitive. The level design was good too !

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

My PC sucks, I guess that was the reason why I was not able to play it =/

twowt by Yal

Good game, I loved the concept and the gameplay is really cool. The level design is very well made and the levels were becoming more complex. Really cool game very well made with a good music and sfx. Good job !

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

Pretty cool game, a good concept with a nice graphics, really cool game, great job !

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

What I liked about the game was some things that made the gameplay very unique, like the "fuel system", the game pretty cool, with good graphics and sounds, overall is a good game.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

What an amazing job, the game is really cool, it has a dark/sad story, and it has some pretty awesome effects, the gameplay is fun and the sounds are art are really well made. Great game !

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

The game looked really good with a good art, and a cool music, but I did not know how to play, sorry that I could not play it properly.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Mercerenies

Member
Mercerenies Judges You

1. Obverse - Reverse - Alice, 0 bytes
2. penitentiary - TehPilot
3. Veiled in Shadows - The M

4. Coin Flipping Simulator - Kepons
5. Bit of Gold - S1lv3r
6. Reflectonauts - DocNogloff
7. twowt - Yal
8. The Coin of Janus - Cloaked Games, 0 bytes
9. Sumoball - GhandPivot
10. Teotl - Fel666

Full Rankings:
11. Side by Side - Dalesome
12. Up Down Duck Around - TonyStr
13. Ping - Nocturne
14. Diverge - Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
15. Pyramid Rush - MikeeyBikeey
16. The Parallel Medal - Misu
17. The Forbidden Bond - iMilchshake
18. Reverie - GhostlyFeline
19. Rulesquest 2 - Oxymoron - Adrien Dittrick
20. AfroDitus - Misty
21. BattleDancers - Joh
22. Treasure Hunt - Siolfor the Jackal
23. UpGo - Dr. Wolf
24. Soul Catchers - Barvix
25. Heads or Tails - Nallebeorn
26. Hunted - Snail Man
27. 4D Viking Warfare - Mocgames998
28. Tossup Shootout - Sammi3, JacobV
29. Mirror Image - Bionic Frog
30. Nightsideslide - Wraithious
31. Ending - Oyakiiv
32. Games - Robert
33. Bit n Slash - Turkish Coffee

Best Use of Theme - Coin Flipping Simulator (Kepons)
Best Concept - Bit of Gold (S1lv3r)
Best Presentation - Diverge (Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR)
Best Story - Veiled in Shadows (The M)
Best Devlog - TBA

Random Note: I really couldn't decide between the top two entries. TehPilot and Alice both had really solid games that I loved to death. So I decided it would be thematically appropriate to flip a coin, and Alice won the coin toss.

Reviews

Reviews for every game that I was able to play are listed below, in alphabetical order. Note that the total score for your game is not a conclusive indicator of my votes. I place my votes for the Jam winner holistically, not based entirely on the numerical score.

4D Viking Warfare - Mocgames998 (17/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (2/5)
Opinion (5/10)

A simple platformer with basic combat mechanics. The graphics on this game were marvelous. However, the gameplay was fairly mundane and the controls were somewhat confusing (using a different key to jump and to climb ladders was disorienting).

AfroDitus - Misty (22/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (3/5)
Opinion (7/10)

A pretty solid top-down shooter with nice graphics. I was sad I didn't get the machine gun from the tutorial on the first stage. It does, however, take a considerable amount of suspension of disbelief to buy into Trump ever ordering the death of a white supremacist.

BattleDancers - Joh (18/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (7/10)

This game is basically Simon Says in dance form. I liked the concept and the execution. My only real complaint is that it was never really clear what happens if the enemy messes up. It always seemed to mark whatever I did as wrong after that.

Bit n Slash - Turkish Coffee (10/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (1/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

This game commits what I consider to be one of the mortal sins of Jam games. Every Jam, I have to remind one or two developers that I am a standard human being with two hands. There is no comfortable way for me to keep my fingers on WASD and the number row on my keyboard at the same time, rendering me unable to comfortably play this game.

Bit of Gold - S1lv3r (20/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (10/10)

This was a very creative concept. It felt like a destructured kingdom building simulator, and it was an excellent start. There's a lot of room for expansion here (making consequences for some actions more pronounced, for instance), but I had an excellent time playing this one. I would, however, like to exercise my kingly authority and sentence that guy made of fire to a painful death; he visited my kingdom several times and lit people on fire, even when I satisfied his demands.

Coin Flipping Simulator - Kepons (29/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (10/10)

Sometimes the silly entries are the most charming, and I think this is one of those times. An incredibly simple game based on Cookie Clicker, but it had its fun aspects. In related news, please send help.

Diverge - Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR (23/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (6/10)

A fairly basic implementation of the theme: platformer involving switching between two forms. It was entertaining nonetheless. I do wish the instructions were included in the game and not a separate readme, but that I imagine was simply due to the time constraints.

Ending - Oyakiiv (7/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (1/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (3/10)

This entry didn't have a lot to it. The background was very busy, which made it hard to focus, and the music was somewhat obnoxious. The gameplay itself didn't really impress, either, sadly; it felt pretty mundane once you'd played it for a bit.

Games - Robert (5/30)
Gameplay (0/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (1/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (1/10)

I'm not sure what was supposed to happen here, exactly. It got to a "I guess I should probably start off a game, about my games ..." text field, and then nothing ever happened.

Heads or Tails - Nallebeorn (24/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (3/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

A refreshingly creative entry that is certainly fun to play for a few minutes. The music goes along perfectly with the gameplay style, and even if the controls were a bit hard to master, it was still an enjoyable game.

Hunted - Snail Man (17/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (5/10)

This was way too complicated. If you want to have this many controls and mechanics, you'd do best to introduce them gradually, rather than in a wall of text at the beginning. I managed to figure out controlling the ship and shooting (the slow-mo thing was pretty cool), but I never managed to down another ship; I always ran out of thrust and then it was all over from there.

Mirror Image - Bionic Frog (24/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (8/10)

This was a really neat concept. Unfortunately, I found that managing the two ships in my head was fairly disorienting and didn't end up getting very far. I also never figured out the "dash" feature, as pressing down made my ship glow but not do much else.

Nightsideslide - Wraithious (6/30)
Gameplay (1/5)
Graphics (1/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (2/10)

There's a lot going on here, according to the readme. But when I actually play the game none of the buttons do much (I can get a menu to open, but Z and X don't do anything that I can see). I went into a few houses but then gave up when nothing happened at all.

Obverse - Reverse - Alice, 0 bytes (30/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (10/10)

Okay, yes, a perfect score. I don't usually spend literal hours on Jam games, but I did on Weather Whereabouts. After the second hour was over, I decided I should probably finish playing the other games. I currently have a file over a kilobyte in length of notes and have still not solved the final puzzle. I yield to your puzzle skills for now.

penitentiary - TehPilot (30/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (10/10)

A brilliant entry, reminiscient of a certain game from the Facade-themed Jam so long ago. This game keeps the idea fresh, however, with the introduction of the coin toss, which opens up tons of new avenues for unique, timing-based puzzles.

Ping - Nocturne (27/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (9/10)

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to play the multiplayer version with. The single-player mode plays out like a pretty conventional game of Pong, albeit with more polish than we usually see in Jam entries.

Pyramid Rush - MikeeyBikeey (14/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (2/5)
Audio (2/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (6/10)

A fairly solid entry that felt pretty stable (stability is hard to achieve in a time-constrained contest such as this). I wish there was a story, or at least an introduction, to go with all this fighting.

Reflectonauts - DocNogloff (29/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (10/10)

A very creative puzzle game. I thoroughly enjoyed the asymmetry in the reflectonauts' powers: one can shoot lasers and the other can pick up blocks. Having them be distinct instead of identical made for some interesting levels.

Reverie - GhostlyFeline (20/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (7/10)

A very beautiful game; I loved the aesthetic and the music. Unfortunately, the game was fairly unforgiving: between the slippery movement and the one-hit kills, I couldn't get past the first two goons who tried to shoot me.

Rulesquest 2 - Oxymoron - Adrien Dittrick (17/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (6/10)

I liked both games individually: a space shooter and a platformer. But having two separate games inside one menu doesn't constitute "two sides of the same coin", I'm afraid.

Side by Side - Dalesome (25/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

An interesting concept with a well-polished execution. I like the idea that moving side-to-side is what switches which side of the mirror you're on, whereas most other entries had a separate button for that. It adds a new layer to the challenge.

Soul Catchers - Barvix (18/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (6/10)

I loved the 8-bit Pokemon aesthetic. Ultimately, though, I don't see the correlation with the theme. Having two separate, mostly unrelated games doesn't really resonate as "two sides of the same coin" to me.

Sumoball - GhandPivot (22/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (9/10)

That high score table scares me. I see people with over 900 points, and I struggle to even stay on the board and get to 20. Anyway, this was a really fun game, and the music fit in really well with the urgency of the gameplay.

Teotl - Fel666 (23/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (1/5)
Opinion (8/10)

This was a really interesting concept, combining two genres. It had a balancing-type game like the old wooden puzzles combined with a color-matching game since the colors of the lights had to be unique at all times. Really neat idea.

The Coin of Janus - Cloaked Games, 0 bytes (27/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (8/10)

I haven't seen too many procedurally generated games this time around, so this was refreshing. I liked the variety in the weapons. It's a simple concept but it's done very well.

The Forbidden Bond - iMilchshake (24/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (7/10)

An interesting game idea, and I really liked how smooth the combat felt. Unfortunately, I wasn't enamoured of the puzzle mechanics, as there was no pattern to where boxes and walls were in the spirit world, so getting through walls was really a guess-and-check pattern of wandering to random places and switching worlds.

Tossup Shootout - Sammi3, JacobV (19/30)
Gameplay (3/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (3/5)
Opinion (6/10)

I liked the procedural generation, and I'm always a fan of Fire Emblem -style games getting some respect. However, it was never clear how much HP enemies had, so it made it difficult to strategize.

Treasure Hunt - Siolfor the Jackal (11/30)
Gameplay (2/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (1/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (4/10)

A fairly basic platformer. There was no music on the first stage, and the music on the later stages was a bit distracting. The graphics, however, were smooth and fit nicely with the game's mood. There was no sign of the theme, though.

twowt - Yal (28/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (9/10)

A solid entry all around, utilizing coin flips as a way to produce interesting puzzles. I think this game could've done with a "sprint" button, as waiting on the character to walk around sometimes slowed the pace of the game down quite a bit.

Up Down Duck Around - TonyStr (27/30)
Gameplay (4/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (5/5)
Theme (5/5)
Opinion (8/10)

A really interesting game. It adds a really new layer to the challenge in that both characters have to jump at the same time but lateral movement is still considered separately. And I really like the sound effects, especially when you lose and the fractured sound plays.

UpGo - Dr. Wolf (19/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (4/5)
Audio (3/5)
Theme (1/5)
Opinion (6/10)

An interesting concept. Unfortunately, the typing part just felt like bloat to me, as the flying part was much more exciting, and having to type "work" over and over again every time I died really slowed the pace of the game down.

Veiled in Shadows - The M (23/30)
Gameplay (5/5)
Graphics (5/5)
Audio (4/5)
Theme (0/5)
Opinion (9/10)

This is the first game this Jam that I've really been considerably engaged in the story of. I really like the darkness that the protagonist falls into at the beginning, followed by being given power. I. AM. KIRA.

Games I couldn't play
TwainShadow (SSJCoder) - Got "Error defining an external function" at startup. Upon ignoring that error, the help screen won't go away, not matter what I press or do. Thus, I could not play this entry.

Duality (matharoo) - Avast didn't like your game for some reason. I'm sure it was fine, but no matter which settings I disabled or which whitelist I added it to, it still seemed to be intercepting me. Which is rather unfortunate, because it seemed like a cool entry based on your description.

NO PAZ (Freedom2Fight) - "Windows could not access the device; you may not have permission" or something like that.

Verizon Horizon (Team JBOMB) - Couldn't get past the menu. I select the blue character with arrow keys and Z. I can move the red character cursor with WASD, but how do I select? Spacebar just goes back to the first menu.
 
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Micah_DS

Member
~ K-Bit's Unexpected Video Reviews ~
"Unexpected", because I've been away from the GMC for 3 months or so and didn't think I would come back, but here I am... " I MADE THIS FOR -YOUU-!! "

Top 3:
Duality by @matharoo
Reverie by @GhostlyFeline
AfroDitus by @Misty

Best ofs:
Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: AfroDitus by @Misty
Best Concept: Endling by @Oyakiiv
Best Presentation: Reverie by @GhostlyFeline
Best Story: The Parallel Medal by @Misu
Best Devlog: Veiled in Shadows by @The M

Full ranking:
  1. Duality by matharoo
  2. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  3. AfroDitus by Misty
  4. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  5. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  6. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  7. penitentiary by TehPilot
  8. Teotl by Fel666
  9. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  10. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  11. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  12. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  13. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  14. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  15. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  16. Ping by Nocturne
  17. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  18. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  19. Side By Side by Dalesome
  20. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  21. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  22. Endling by Oyakiiv
  23. twowt by Yal
  24. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  25. Games by Robert
  26. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  27. BattleDancers by Joh
  28. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  29. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  30. Hunted by Snail Man
  31. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  32. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  33. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  34. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  35. TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  36. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
Unranked:
  • NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
    (i.e. my anti-virus deleted your game - see my video review part 1 for details... sorry)

Video Reviews:
I have difficulty with reviews for a number of reasons, but I still wanted to do this, in hope of giving valuable feedback to you all, regardless of my shortcomings, so I've done my best.

I understand I mispronounced some names and game titles, I slurred some words, I mumbled at times, had broken sentences, etc. etc. But I literally did as good as I could, so please don't rake me over the coals for my failures (so basically, PLZ don't blast me @Misu XD). Finally, I apologize if any of my words are too harsh for some or if I offend you. Please just know I tried to say things to help. I understand that I may or may not have succeeded in doing so.

Congrats to all and a job well done. I hope you all grew as game developers and that you all achieved your personal goals!

Note: You'll see I've listed the time stamps for each part below, but I've also placed those time stamps in the YT video descriptions as well. I did this in case some of you would find it nicer to use those to jump around in a video.
  • 00:00-00:34 - Introduction
  • 00:34-03:04 - Side By Side by Dalesome
  • 03:04-06:23 - Hunted by Snail Man
  • 06:23-09:57 - Soul Catchers by Barvix
  • 09:57-10:11 - APOLOGY FOR SUCKING AT REVIEWING
  • 10:11-15:53 - Veiled in Shadows - by The M
  • 15:53-17:02 - NO PAZ…. NO PASS? ( Kaspersky Anti-virus didn't like your game Freedom2Fight D: )
  • 17:02-19:43 - Teotl by Fel666
  • 19:43-21:45 - Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  • 21:45-25:04 - """"4D"""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  • 25:08-29:16 - Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  • 00:00-00:07 - Introduction
  • 00:08-03:08 - BattleDancers by Joh
  • 03:08-03:16 - REMINDING YOU I KNOW I SUCK AT REVIEWING + SORRY, I LITERALLY DID MY BEST (which is sad, huh?)
  • 03:16-08:43 - Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  • 08:43-14:32 - Duality by matharoo (IT'S A PARTY!! WHOOOOOOO!!!)
  • 14:32-17:01 - twowt by Yal
  • 17:01-20:11 - Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  • 20:11-22:35 - Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  • 22:35-24:44 - UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  • 24:44-28:01 - Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  • 28:01-32:01 - Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  • 32:01-32:18 - ANOTHER QUICK APOLOGY
  • 32:18-35:33 - Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  • 35:33-38:17 - Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  • 38:17-41:12 - UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  • 41:12-44:20 - Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  • 00:00-00:19 - Introduction
  • 00:19-06:35 - penitentiary by TehPilot
  • 06:35-08:38 - Ping by Nocturne
  • 08:38-12:38 - Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  • 12:38-14:38 - Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  • 14:38-19:19 - The Parallel Medal by Misu
  • 19:19-22:18 - Games by Robert
  • 22:18-26:04 - Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  • 26:04-29:47 - Endling by Oyakiiv
  • 29:47-33:12 - Sumoball by GhandPivot
  • 33:12-35:48 - TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  • 35:48-38:26 - The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  • 38:26-42:16 - AfroDitus by Misty
  • 42:16-45:18 - The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  • 45:18-49:49 - Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  • 49:49-53:32 - Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  • 53:32-54:00 - CLOSING WORDS TO ALL JAMMERS
 
Voting post

Surprised by a few of the entries this time, but overall not the best jam :(
I tried to play all the way to the end for most games, but usually quit if the game was broken, buggy, or I felt like I'd played enough and saw all it had to offer. I didn't really take the theme into consideration when playing and voting this time because no use of the theme really stood out that much, a lot of similar ideas but thankfully not similar enough that we had duplicates.

Top 3:

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
Menu was very stylish and the music was great.
This was really cool, I loved it, it looked great and was fun/stressful. Great idea, the challenge of multitasking with the two sides was very enjoyable.

AfroDitus by Misty
I was quite surprised by this, it was really well done. The art and animations were good, I loved the presentation, the menu and the level intro where the camera slides down, very nice. The music was well chosen too.
Not completely sure what the point of being a girl was, I mean, guys didn't always shoot me so that was nice, but I don't think I could do anything else?
Oh yeah, right click to switch your gun hand? A very nice touch.
No credits so I assume you made everything?

Reverie by GhostlyFeline
Gorgeous.
One hit restart was a bit brutal.
Ending was nice, but I'm not sure if they game closed itself or crashed...

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: penitentiary by TehPilot
Best Concept: Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
Best Presentation: AfroDitus by Misty
Best Story: Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  2. AfroDitus by Misty
  3. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  4. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  5. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  6. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  7. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  8. penitentiary by TehPilot
  9. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  10. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  11. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  12. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  13. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
  14. Teotl by Fel666
  15. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  16. BattleDancers by Joh
  17. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  18. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  19. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  20. Endling by Oyakiiv
  21. Duality by matharoo
  22. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  23. Hunted by Snail Man
  24. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  25. Side By Side by Dalesome
  26. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  27. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  28. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  29. Ping by Nocturne
  30. twowt by Yal
  31. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  32. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  33. TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  34. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  35. Games by Robert
  36. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

At first I was impressed, but I realised afterwards that it seemed like most of the game was either with premade assets or code from another game so I'm not sure what to judge.
The platforming itself was not good, too much weight and at least one section the camera was a bit violent in it's movement. Ladders were buggy too, got stuck on the top of one for a good minute until I managed to eventually jump off. Combat was basic but ok, but the boss fight was very boring. The music was awesome.

AfroDitus by Misty

I was quite surprised by this, it was really well done. The art and animations were good, I loved the presentation, the menu and the level intro where the camera slides down, very nice. The music was well chosen too.
Not completely sure what the point of being a girl was, I mean, guys didn't always shoot me so that was nice, but I don't think I could do anything else?
Oh yeah, right click to switch your gun hand? A very nice touch.
No credits so I assume you made everything?

BattleDancers by Joh

I liked what I think you were trying to do, but it just felt off to me.
Maybe I wanted it to be more rhythm based instead of memorising a pattern.
I think for what you were going for, it was well made.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Cute entry. Red army attacked me twice in a row though, so that seems a bit unfair :p
I think you need to balance the volumes of your sound effects, and adding some music wouldn't hurt. Apart from that I thought it was a fun little entry.
Oh yeah, why would a zombie want to eat my gold or my food, but not my people..?

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

Controls were unclear, terrible collision issues with the walls(I assume, sometimes I was stuck on nothing...), on my second go I broke out of the play area and on my third I spawned outside.
Sprites and music were nice, as was the menu.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

I played with this for longer than I care to admit. Adorable little addictive clicker game.

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Looked and played great, but was a bit difficult at first. If I had the time I would have kept playing.
I thought the title screen intro into the game was cool, and the rest of the art and sounds were great too.

Duality by matharoo

The effects and the presentation were really nice.
The gameplay was a bit dull, and the dialogue made me want to quit almost instantly :p
First boss killed itself, I did nothing, and I let the cat do most of the killing for the last boss.

Endling by Oyakiiv

A bit rough but I thought it was a good idea, the bat was very amusing. I'd consider looking into particle effects and try browsing Google Fonts for something other than the default font. Also, cheers for adding a skip button at the start, you don't know how often I wish there was a skip button in jam games... Good job, man.

Games by Robert

Cool story, I guess.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

Very literal theme usage.
I didn't really like it, the coin would often fly off towards the edge and there was nothing to be done after that.

Hunted by Snail Man

I lost count of how many attempts I made but I didn't even destroy one ship. I read the instructions page several times but I guess I just didn't understand it at all.
I wasn't able to leave my ship either, the instructions implied I could fly off into space and board other ships but I couldn't figure it out.
I really liked the music and the background effects.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

Idea was cool.
The shooting was very unsatisfying, the delay between shots and the speed of the projectiles made it a little frustrating.
I didn't understand the charge or dash at first, but they felt a bit annoying to use.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

I appreciate what you're trying to do here, I dig the depth effect you seem fond of, but I think you need much more practice and refinement.
There were several issues with scale and depth, but I'm not sure if it's your code of the sprites, as sometimes the characters would deform slightly as they got larger/smaller.
Seem to be able to walk through everything inside the houses and the depth seemed wrong sometimes.
The collisions were not good either, I didn't realise I could even walk up to the houses at first because you blocked off all but a small specific path to each house, you need better defined walls/collisions.
I played through 3 times and was only able to find an item once.
Oh yeah, I know mouse controls for the menus is probably easier, but it's a pain to be playing with both hands on my keyboard then have to remove one just to navigate some menus. Just something else to consider.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Started off looking really good with that intro, but the gameplay itself was a bit stiff. The sprites were really nice, the main player one reminded me of a game from last jam that I really enjoyed, maybe it was yours :p
I think I would have made the hammer button hold instead of toggle, but that's probably just me, and it was a little annoying that I had to press up or down *after* pressing shift even if I was already pressing or holding.
I think with some control refinement and some sound this could have been really good.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

If I run out of time to play the rest of the entries, this entry is probably why.
Very simple premise, I really enjoyed solving the puzzles and felt very satisfied at the end.
I always like your puzzles, this sorta reminds me of a flower one you did in an earlier jam that I also enjoyed.

penitentiary by TehPilot

Crashed on me three times, finally figured out how to get past that spiky stage(stage three?) and it crashed again...
As always your presentation was fantastic, but I was too impatient to sit and go through that first stage again for the fifth time.

Ping by Nocturne

Pong but I have to play with myself...
It looked great, menu and shader were awesome.
I think the controls were odd, felt weird to position my hands so close like that.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

Oof, that music was grating.
Not bad but the collisions with the enemies seemed off at times, you can punch them through walls as well.
I don't know if the circle was debug or not but I liked having it there.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Fun little game, it was a bit awkward to control at first but I got the hang of it by the end.
I could see this being easier with an analogue stick perhaps.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

Gorgeous.
One hit restart was a bit brutal.
Ending was nice, but I'm not sure if they game closed itself or crashed...

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

Not sure why there was two modes, the didn't seem related at all.
Kind of fun, I just held down the shoot button and that was that. Probably worth giving the player a reason to let go of shoot sometimes.

Side By Side by Dalesome

Not really sure what was happening but it looked nice.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

The black and white palette just made this feel more dull. The battle system was alright, but the battles themselves were a bit boring. The music was great.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Really cool, much better for me with the gamepad. Very energetic and hard to put down.
Scoreboard adds that extra bit of replayability too.

Teotl by Fel666

Kind of relaxing, I enjoyed it. Wish it were a bit longer though.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

Hate this style of controls(tap tap tap tap tap) but I won't hold it against you.
Seems pretty well made for what it is, I do enjoy finding treasure chests and busting down walls. Sprites weren't great and I would have liked to see some animation but it still looked nice.
Coin flip is an interesting idea but I don't think it's enjoyable to end every level like that.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Great game, the combat worked well and the world switching thing was neat, I liked the little delay.
Sounds were a bit annoying and some music would have been nice.
Overall it was an enjoyable experience and I feel it was very well made too, nice work.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

Art style was nice, and the dialogue boxes looked great.
Lots of broken lines in the background and terrain.
The walking was a bit slow for me and the world shifting seemed like guesswork/trial and error, which became a bit tiresome very quickly.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

Looked great.
Gameplay was so slow and a little boring.
Clicking and movement seemed buggy too.

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

Shame it's unfinished, looked like it could have been good. Not really sure what to say, there's not much here to talk about since it appears so unfinished.
Maybe it was just me but the player sprite looked backwards.

twowt by Yal

I liked what you were trying to do, but it got old quickly.
The black and white presentation with the circle was nice at first but ultimately a bit dull. The player sprite left a lot to be desired as well.
The music was very annoying, I ended up muting it while I played through.
The menu looked nice, and the flipping animation was great.
Oh, and twowt... an unfortunate name choice... sounds like an English insult.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

Menu was very stylish and the music was great.
This was really cool, I loved it, it looked great and was fun/stressful. Great idea, the challenge of multitasking with the two sides was very enjoyable.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

Spaceship controlled very well, I liked it a lot. I crashed a lot but it was very satisfying. Typing words to fill your energy was interesting but after a couple of times it became very annoying and boring. I'm not sure if it was the system itself or the repeated word/phrase. Maybe shuffling it a bit would help. Also, I had no idea why I was typing words to fill the energy... Not really seeing much in the way of the theme here but this was a really solid game.
Oh yeah, F3 to continue makes no sense since it's only ever used for advancing the text... Spacebar or Enter or any key would have probably been more appropriate. And mouse controls for the menu but nowhere else is probably something you should think about more. That said, it was a very nice menu and I liked that you had keymapping available.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

Interesting take on the light/dark mechanic.
Presentation was nice, everything looked great.
Gameplay was simple but still really enjoyable, but I gave up after like the third stage. Seemed like some of the guards would snap 180 degrees and kill me some times but not others.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

No controls, so I blindly stumbled around the menu until I accidentally started the game. Looked like it was two player but I still couldn't figure out the controls. Then one of the characters started spewing arrows or something and wouldn't stop. Music was annoying as well. Too bad because it looked nice.
 

JacobV

Member
Like many others, I felt the average quality of games this jam was somewhat lacking. I'm not sure if it was due to the theme or something else, but almost none of the games really clicked with me. That made this list pretty difficult to order.

Reviews

Top 3:

Veiled in Shadows by The M
A pretty fun stealth action game. Great presentation here. Really wish the player could aim with the mouse, though; it would've made the gameplay far more satisfying.

penitentiary by TehPilot
An impressively polished game for the time you had. Effects and visuals are very nice; music I especially like, it has a Portal feel to it. However, I didn't really get into the gameplay; the length of the coin toss slows down the gameplay a ton and makes it a bit less fun to play. I made it to Level 3 before ultimately losing interest.

Sumoball by GhandPivot
Fun game! I feel it would be a bit more enjoyable with a controller, but it was still decently fun. The use of the theme is a bit sparse, but then again I had no real idea how you'd make the theme into a game, so I don't hold that against it.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: ... penitentiary by TehPilot
Best Concept: ... Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
Best Presentation: ... Ping by Nocturne
Best Story: ... Veiled in Shadows by The M

Full ranking:

  1. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  2. penitentiary by TehPilot
  3. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  4. Duality by matharoo
  5. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  6. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  7. TwainShadow by SSJCoder
  8. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  9. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  10. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  11. twowt by Yal
  12. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  13. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  14. Side By Side by Dalesome
  15. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  16. Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
  17. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  18. AfroDitus by Misty
  19. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  20. Teotl by Fel666
  21. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  22. Hunted by Snail Man
  23. Ping by Nocturne
  24. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  25. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  26. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  27. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  28. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  29. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  30. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  31. BattleDancers by Joh
  32. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
  33. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  34. Endling by Oyakiiv
  35. Nightsideslide by Wraithious

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

An ok 2D action game. Didn't have much to set it apart, and the 4D aspect didn't really add much.

AfroDitus by Misty

This was an...odd entry. It seems to be trying to be one of those edgy, uncomfortable, trigger-warning sort of games, but instead it just came off as weird and somewhat annoying. There wasn't any much new in terms of Donald Trump / KKK humor. Gameplay wise, things were a bit slow; I wish there had been some kind of sprint or roll ability to spice things up a bit. Furthermore, the entire premise of the game was entirely gone by the 3rd level; I flat-out couldn't change anymore. Also wasn't a huge fan of the lack of checkpoints.

BattleDancers by Joh

I really, really don't like rhythm/dancing games, so this really, really wasn't for me.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

An entertaining little ruling sim. I would've liked to see some more depth with the encounters, I got a lot of repeats, but I understand this is a jam and there wasn't a ton of time to make it.

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

This game has great presentation, but not great design. You essentially just try to survive an endless horde of skeletons and...that's it. It really doesn't have much else to offer. Which is too bad, because it could be really fun.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

A pretty standard but well-presented clicker game. There wasn't much to set it apart from most games of its genre, but for a jammed game it's perfectly fine.

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

First off, great pixelart. There's a lot of assets here for a 3-day jam. I really like this game's premise, and the gameplay has a lot of potential. A solid entry!

Duality by matharoo

A very fun little adventure game that would've massively improved with a few checkpoints. Misu got stuck fighting at the start of the game and was gone for the entire adventure, which was a bit annoying because I had to listen to whooshing sound effects for the entire game.

Endling by Oyakiiv

I didn't have a lot of fun with this game; I think a lot of that has to do with the lack of visual polish. Even for a jam game, it's pretty visually lacking. The 3-second music loop is extremely droning as well, and I lost patience very quickly.

Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn

This game had a pretty interesting concept, cheating at a coin toss. However, it was overall pretty uninteresting. The coin just seemed to fly in a random direction no matter where I pushed it from, so it was just as luck-based as a normal coin toss; which kinda goes against the original idea.

Hunted by Snail Man

A very surprisingly complex game...perhaps, too complex. There were a lot of controls and mechanics to get the hang of. Kudos for including the controls ingame, though.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

A pretty standard shootemup. Presentation wasn't very good and it was hard to focus on both sides at once.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

I can't really add much to this game's criticism that hasn't already been said. The perspective is baffling, I had no clue where to go, and the art style is just confusing. I really recommend you either really take the criticism of others into consideration, or try a different style and perspective for your game.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Ah, Freedom2Fight. Every jam, your games tend to baffle me. I'm not sure if you get too ambitious and can't finish, or what; but this game was extremely confusing. Upon starting, I'm treated to a cutscene with no menu or intro; and then a flashback occurs, where I am thrown into a combat situation out of nowhere. A man with a knife runs up; instinctively, I duck, and he proceeds to stand there viciously stabbing where I was. After realizing I apparently can't fire my gun, I decide to just run for it. I run through the level without killing anyone and get another cutscene. Time for a boss!...or for the game to abruptly end and close itself. Huh. The art is at least good in some spots, and it did provide a pretty entertaining experience.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

I'm not the biggest fan of games where I have to sit there and think without any real gameplay, so this game really wasn't for me. I suppose it works well and doesn't have any bugs, which does somewhat set it apart from many of the other jam games.

penitentiary by TehPilot

An impressively polished game for the time you had. Effects and visuals are very nice; music I especially like, it has a Portal feel to it. However, I didn't really get into the gameplay; the length of the coin toss slows down the gameplay a ton and makes it a bit less fun to play. I made it to Level 3 before ultimately losing interest.

Ping by Nocturne

Couldn't play since I don't have any friends. Extremely great presentation, but extremely generic gameplay.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

For an action-adventure game made in 2 days, this was alright. Controls were a bit floaty and there's not much player feedback, but it was ok.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

A pretty nice puzzle game. Controls took a bit of getting used to, but presentation was good and the puzzles had lots of variety.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

Once again, a game utterly crushed by a lack of checkpoints. The character design and story is pretty interesting, but having to go through the same areas over and over again gets old fast.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

Much like Mirror Image, this game had an intro that got me hyped up for a cool adventure game; and then proceeded to disappoint me by being another generic shootemup. Gameplay is kinda eh, there's not enough room to see the enemies coming and the game feels like it's just throwing everything and the kitchen sink at you without any coherency. Too bad.

Side By Side by Dalesome

A decently fun bullethell sort of game. I liked the switching sides mechanic, but I felt a few more obstacles could've improved the experience a lot.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

I've never played the original Pokemon, but as far as I can tell this is emulating that. I never really got the hang of it; I never "captured a soul" or anything, but oh well. This game could've really benefited from some more polish; something telling the player what their moves do, some attack animations, etc. Overall, it's okay.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Fun game! I feel it would be a bit more enjoyable with a controller, but it was still decently fun. The use of the theme is a bit sparse, but then again I had no real idea how you'd make the theme into a game, so I don't hold that against it.

Teotl by Fel666

This game was alright. The initial impressiveness of the 3D visuals was cool, but wore off quickly afterwards. Gameplay is alright for a puzzler, but pretty slow.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

Don't have much to say on this one. Grid-based games have never been something I've enjoyed much, since they don't often allow for interesting combat; and this wasn't really an exception.

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

This game could've had a really great score, but was held back by one devastating fact; there are no checkpoints. If you die, you have to restart the entire thing. And even though I was getting into it, that was enough to make me lose interest.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

This game has an interesting premise and very nice music. I just wish the art and gameplay had matched up to build the atmosphere. The entire screen was covered in tears and gaps, which made immersion next to impossible. Also, after entering the parallel world, I ended up in a falling-to-death loop, at which point my journey ceased.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

This is another one of those really odd games. Upon starting the game, you are greeted to an upbeat, jazzy tune; however, once the 1st level begins, you are greeted by a dead, total silence. The gameplay is pretty eh, I've never liked platformers where you have to run to jump higher. The ending is pretty abrupt as well. The slap mechanic was somewhat charming, though, which earns the game a few points.

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

I am so sad this game isn't finished, because so far this has the best gameplay out of all the Jam games. I enjoy games where the player has a ton of movement control, and the player here perfectly nails that. I just wish there was more here.

twowt by Yal

This game was (as I keep saying) pretty ok. Graphically it's not super impressive, and most of the puzzles boil down to "stand here and flip, stand here and flip, etc." I liked that the ending screen was actually a level, but it was very dissapointing when there was nothing beyond it.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

Couldn't really get the full experience, since I didn't have any friends to play with. Nice presentation.

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

When part of your game is typing "WORK" over and over again, you should really take a step back and reevaluate your gameplay. Because this whole thing really does feel like work. The ship is next to impossible to control properly, everything is extremely slow, and the theme is nonexistent.

Veiled in Shadows by The M

A pretty fun stealth action game. Great presentation here. Really wish the player could aim with the mouse, though; it would've made the gameplay far more satisfying.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Couldn't actually figure out how to start the game. Nice menu screen, at least?
 

Nallebeorn

Member
Nallebeorn's Reviews:

Top 3:

UpGo by Dr. Wolf
Great game! Really enjoyed playing this, I love the combination of the classic lunar lander-style gameplay and speed-typing. Having to type mid-flight to refill energy makes for some very intense few second, even if it doesn't happen often. Not sure what I think of the limited lives, though. I was fine replaying the previous levels once (first time I got a game over was on levle 2), but not more than that. Maybe you should've just restarted only the current level instead of the entire game.

I like the aesthetics of it too. The parallell star fields look great, and while it's simple it has a very clean and consistent art (and SFX) style.

Theme usage isn't that good, though. And F3 is a weird choice for continue

But yeah... Really liked this one, I'll probably keep it and play it some more later. You should put this on itch.io or something! :) (if you haven't already)

twowt by Yal
I liked this game, very cool concept! But I kind of feel that the level design encouraged trial-and-error more than anything.... I don't know, it never felt like I really had to conciously *think* of the solution to the puzzles; even when I got stuck I just sort of stumbled about until I beat the level. Puzzle games are hard to do right, I guess (I'm terrible at it, personally).

The simple art works really well for a game like this, though the player character could need some improvements. And the ending, where you just get taken to an empty level after the "Thanks for playing!" final stage was a bit... ugly. It felt very rushed, which I presume it also was. I also think the player moved just a little too slow, though that mostly bothered me in the earliest levels.

Teotl by Fel666
I spent A LOT of time on the second level, trying to figure out how the game worked. I figured out pretty quickly (though not immediately) that the flare and the ball would swap colours with each other when in contact, but I believe the main thing that confused me, was that I somehow didn't realize you could enter a flare with the ball, and then go back in the direction it came from. I don't know why that realization took me so long, but it did. Once I understood that, the puzzles became rather easy.

Cool 2.5D graphics.

Best ofs:

Best use of TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: twowt by Yal
Best Concept: BattleDancers by Joh
Best Presentation: Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
Best Story: Games by Robert
Best Devlog: ...

Full ranking:

  1. UpGo by Dr. Wolf
  2. twowt by Yal
  3. Teotl by Fel666
  4. Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
  5. Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
  6. Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
  7. Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
  8. Ping by Nocturne
  9. UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
  10. BattleDancers by Joh
  11. Veiled in Shadows by The M
  12. Sumoball by GhandPivot
  13. Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
  14. The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
  15. Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
  16. Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
  17. Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
  18. Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
  19. Side By Side by Dalesome
  20. Duality by matharoo
  21. Reverie by GhostlyFeline
  22. The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
  23. AfroDitus by Misty
  24. Games by Robert
  25. Hunted by Snail Man
  26. penitentiary by TehPilot
  27. NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
  28. The Parallel Medal by Misu
  29. """""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
  30. Mirror Image by BionicFrog
  31. Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
  32. Nightsideslide by Wraithious
  33. Endling by Oyakiiv
  34. Soul Catchers by Barvix
  35. Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
  36. TwainShadow by SSJCoder

Comments:

"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998

Okay game. I got stuck on a ladder (picture: https://imgur.com/fxJzzNR) that I couldn't get off. Which is weird, since none of the previous ladders had been problematic.
I like the art for the tiles and the player, but the enemies don't look as nice. Horizontal jump length feels to short (compared to how high you can jump) to me.

AfroDitus by Misty

Okay game. Didn't play through it all because of some frustrating things, most importantly having to restart from the very beginning after dying. The game wasn't so good I want to play through parts of it several times. (I got to the room after the room where you get the machinegun before quitting). Another thing is that you can run out of ammo, and then have no melee weapon or anything to defend yourself.

I didn't realize at first that the gender-swap ability was time limited. I suppose the bar went down over time, but I didn't notice that. That gimmick was kind of neat, however. It just took a while until I understood what the whole deal was, it wasn't obvious that being a woman prevents both the player and the enemies from attacking, so I was left confounded as to the point of the special ability until I figured it out.

Graphics are servicable. Didn't really find the dialogue very funny, above the inherent fun of mucking Mr. Trump.

BattleDancers by Joh

Really cool concept. Kind of like a two player Simon-like thing, but with an extra puzzle/strategy element since you have to think of both performing and blocking special moves. However... It took *way* too long before I figured out how to play the game. I started by reading the How to Play. Didn't get it. Tried playing. Spent several minutes failing without having any idea of what was going on. Then I read the instructions again, and felt like I had *kind of* figured it out. And then after playing for a while, it finally clicked.

Bit of Gold by S1lv3r

Neat little game, with cute art. Enough variation in the questions asked for a short game.
Some criticism:
* No music
* The SFX sounds really terrible
* There was a zombie that wanted to eat either food or gold (IIRC), but it wasn't specified how those choices mapped to Yes/No
* Not obvious why the game over happenned when it did. I had expected the game to continue indefinitely until I ran out of some resource, with "days survived" as a highscore. That doesn't seem to have been the case?

Had a good time playing it anyway :)

Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee

Now, I don't claim to be an expert game designer or anything, but I would suggest not spawning the player surrounded by a few dozens enemies immediately when the game start ;). I had no chance of surviving more than a few seconds! The only time I didn't die almost immediately was when some bug made me spawn outside the map and I could run away from the skeleton horde easily.
I'm sure this could've been a fun game if I wasn't pretty much guaranteed to die within 5 seconds. The art is nice and cute.

Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons

Ah, the irresistible appeal of numbers go up.

This is a good clicker game! Had me hooked for a long time (in fact, it's running in the background right now, with the board full of 99 euro coins...). Sure, it's simple (even compared to popular clicker games), but... Pretty addictive.
I like how you have to put the coins on the board, and try to make as many as possible fit while also optimizing the path for the auto-clickers. Adds a bit (a small bit, but still) of strategy to the game.

Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR

Cool game! I really like the ghost mechanic. The art is pretty nice, except for the jumping animation which probably contributes to making the jump feel very floaty.
Once you know how everything works, the level design is enjoyable, but the game does a very bad job of teaching concepts to the player. Especially how light kills you when in ghost form, that had me confused and frustrated for quite some time, until I read the ReadMe file more thoroughly – I only took a quick glance on it to learn the controls at first. But hey, at least you did explain it all in the ReadMe. I was also a bit lost at the beginning of the game, it didn't make sense to me that I couldn't go through the door too as a ghost (probably partially the fault of the art, as it kind of looks like a background tile, not to mention that I had no idea it was a door at the time).

Some checkpoints in the longer levels would have been nice. I'd probably have finished the game then.

Duality by matharoo

Plz, if you're gonna make me replay all the way from the beginning after I die, at least let me skip the dialog, 'kay? It was entertaining the first time, but not the second time, and the third I didn't even bother.
I didn't realize I could attack enemies myself. I thought Misu was supposed to do all the hard work. This meant it wasn't in any way obvious to me that I was supposed to fire the crossbow with spacebar. I figured it out reasonably quickly, but it took long enough to give the enemies a significant advantage. Problem is, once they've started to get close enough to attack, it becomes much, much harder to fight them off.
I actually didn't realize I could attack without the crossbow until I spammed space, accidentally pressed it after getting knocked away from the weapong and saw the attack animation play.

I guess GMC references are always nice, tho.

Endling by Oyakiiv

Okay game. Bit confusing, there's not that much feedback for what you do (for e.g. damaging enemies). I also didn't understand what exactly had happened when I got the game over.

Games by Robert

This... wasn't at all as boring as one could expect. I rather enjoyed reading your thoughts. Searching the whole map for the next orb with no indication of the direction to go in is more annoying than anything else, though, It seems like you tried making the orbs spit out some squares occasionally to give a clue to their locations? But that didn't work very well.

All the squares in the background are moving in the same direction. This messes with the sense of movement and direction, and it looks like you're going faster when travelling leftwards than when going to the right.

I like how the auto-typing pauses for a moment on periods and commas. That was a really neat little detail that made the text more interesting to read..

Some background music could've been nice. Also, it wasn't obvious that the game had started and I was supposed to move. Didn't take me long before I tried pressing the arrow keys to see what would happened., but... still.

Hunted by Snail Man

This seemed promosing, but it was just way too confusing and overwhelming. For starters, there are *two* screens with plenty of text to read before I could start the game (though at least it was in-game and accompanied with pictures, instead of just in a readme.txt). Then I get no chance to familiarize myself with the controls before two enemies are thrown at me. That's... Just not any fun.
Additionally, I could never figure out where the door to my spaceship was, or how to jump into space.
Idea is great, but the execution is not – especially not from a tutorial/teaching perspective.

Mirror Image by BionicFrog

Cool idea for a gameplay mechanic. The game would need more work to be really fun, though. Some more different enemy types and more interesting attack patterns. And some sound and visual effects.

Nightsideslide by Wraithious

This game feels like it's trying to tell a story, and build a mystery. But it it doesn't really succeed with that. You don't get any kind of context for why you've got to find all those objects on the checklist. It's obviously because vampires, but still. It's more about picking up some random stuff and hope you get an explanation about what they're all good for. As a player, I need to see the goal and whateve is stopping me from reaching it, *before* I get the solution (pick up vampire fighting stuff) shoved in my face. This is all understandable given the jam's time limit, but that doesn't change the fact that the game suffers from it.

Not fond of the music. I wouldn't really like it in any context, but I also think it eally doesn't feel like it fits the game. Especially not the first part of the game where you're just walking around and eveything is peaceful.

Limiting menu control to mouse only is a little awkward when the rest of the game is keyboard-only. Minor thing, but still.

It's very hard to tell where you can and cannot walk.

NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight

Very confusing game. The shooting controls are pretty complex, and I don't get enough time to familiarize myself with them before I'm thrown into a dangerous gun-fight with a several enemies. I think it could have been fun, if the learning curve wasn't so steep.
And some music and sfx for feedback would also have been nice.

Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes

Pretty interesting puzzle game. I did all levels except the last one, but I might come back to that one later.
I never figured out what "There is a round mirror" meant, even though I managed to solve that puzzles by more or less randomly changing properties until it went green.
Platinum and silver are a little too similar, even with the blue tint to platinum. I mean, there *are* metals with other colours than silver-ish white....

penitentiary by TehPilot

I liked this game, but it kept crashing with this error message:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object objCoin:

local variable playerGhost(100002, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_objCoin_Step_0
############################################################################################

I could reproduce the error by tossing lots of coins and moving, but it doesnät *only* occur wheh tossing several coins. It happened a lot on level 4 for me.

Loved the press left or right to pace impatiently. That was brilliant. I also like the art style, and the game concept... But that crash pretty much ruins the game :(


Ping by Nocturne

The 1-player mode is prettty much just playing Pong with yourself, not much fun. 2-player mode is a neat twist, though.
I like the aesthetic. Very well-executed.

Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey

Arrgh, my ears! That title music is...... not pleasant. Sound effects are cute, though.

It's a fun game! Maybe a little too difficult for a jam game that I won't spend much time on. But fun.

Art could be better. Would've been nice if the punch animation actually matched the very big hitcircle. I mean, it's pretty common in animation to enlarge stuff like hands for a few frames for impact, so that should certainly be doable. It's not obvious what the spikes(?) are, or that they are dangerous.

Reflectonauts by DocNogloff

Cool concept. I feel this game would've benefitted a lot from an in-game tutorial. It's kind of hard to understand the ReadMe's instructions until you've had a chance to play around in the game, which means I had to reread it a few timesa as new elements were introduced to the game. Really, just putting relevant fragments from the instructions in the levels where a new mechanic is first introduced would've been much better.
Blue guy's blocking doesn't seem to work all the time. My impression is that it fails when the block he's holding is inside a wall.
Art is pretty good.

Reverie by GhostlyFeline

Well that's.... dark.
Not a bad game. It's simple, but I enjoyed it. The art is good, even though some more tiles and a more interesting background would've been nice. Was a bit annoyed at the lack of checkpoints.... But on the other hand, without them the game would probably have been a little *too* short.

Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick

The colour changing intro is really annoying. Not to mention I really couldn't care less about reading scrolling backstory before playing a jam game.

The red and blue mode seem to be almost completely separate games. There's some (very) vague story explanation that links it to the theme but.... Nah, can't say your theme use is much good.

I like the music, and the red mode spawn effect is cool.

There's a good variation on the enemy types. I think you should've introduced them one by one instead, though. It's easy to get kind of overwhelmed, and the moment you encounter a new type of enemy would be much more powerful if I didn't see five different ones all at once withing 30 seconds. Overall, I think the difficulty curve is a bit on the steep side, especially in red mode.

Side By Side by Dalesome

Cool game concept, and really pretty art. Gets repetitive quickly, however.

Soul Catchers by Barvix

I'm not a fan of JRPGs generally. Especially not without a good story and prettty graphics.
I was very confused first. I finally managed to pick up that stone thingy, but honestly I don't even know what I did to succeed with that. I think I pressed Z or X close to it, but I'm not sure. The art doesn't make it entirely clear what is a wall and what is something you can walk over.
I didn't play far at all. The second random encounter enemy I ran into killed me. Didn't feel much like retrying.

Sumoball by GhandPivot

Wow, I'm terrible at this game. But I still rather like it. It's simple, but good.
I don't quite like how the (keyboard) controls feel. It's kind of too.... floaty. I imagine the game works better with an analog stick than with keyboard though.
(I'd also have preferred arrow keys over WASD).
Online highscores is a neat touch.

Teotl by Fel666

I spent A LOT of time on the second level, trying to figure out how the game worked. I figured out pretty quickly (though not immediately) that the flare and the ball would swap colours with each other when in contact, but I believe the main thing that confused me, was that I somehow didn't realize you could enter a flare with the ball, and then go back in the direction it came from. I don't know why that realization took me so long, but it did. Once I understood that, the puzzles became rather easy.

Cool 2.5D graphics.

The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes

Pretty decent little roguelike for a game jam. The randomized perks / punishments are a neat touch. It seems like positive effects are much more common that bad? That's probably good, but it took a long time until I got my first "bad coin" (I think it was before level 7, where I also died). I think it would've good if I received a bad effect a little earlier in the game – I almost got the impression that there were *only* good effects in the game.

I find the lack of diagonal movement, as well as a wait/pass action a little annoying. Amongst other things, it makes it very hard to get the first hit against enemies. Most of the time, I have to just walk into the tile adjacent to the enemy, and thus expose myself to an attack without getting to attack myself... I'm used to being able to manipulate roguelike enemies to make it the other way around :p

The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake

Decent game. The world-switching mechanic is pretty neat, and mostly well-executed. Would be good with some feedback when trying to switch world inside a wall, though.
The game really shouldn't restart from the very beginning after I die, I don't feel like playing through it all again.
The art is servicable but rather dull. I do like the contrast between the worlds, that's well made.
The sound effects are honestly just bad. The coin-collect sound doesn't sound more melancholic than happy for instance. There's also no music or other ambient audio.

The Parallel Medal by Misu

Feel down the abyss to the right, just at the beginning of the parallel realm. That somehow caused an inifnite loop of death, where I would respawn far up in the air (right over the shrine), fall down, and die. And then repeat. Didn't retry the game after that.

Climbing that tree was very frustrating. Took me a long time to get to the top of it – it's impossible to see where you can stand and how you're supposed to jump up to the top.

I like the art. It's very simple, and has a kind of unfinished feel to it (makes sense, it was all made in a short time), but I still like the style.

Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV

Rather fun for a short while, but it becomes very repetitive soon. I only played 4 levels, that was enough. The AI is very dumb, and the game isn't much of a challenge at all.
Another criticism is that there's no way to see the turn order of your units (and since they're all identical, it's hard to remember it, too). If the game was harder, that might have been a little frustrating.

Still, I had a good time for a few minutes. Okay game.

Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal

You get two instances of the music playing at once after exiting the options menu. And then no music in the first level? But the level after that has music? What....

Anyway.

Okay, but pretty generic, platformer. I find it a little weird how you jump much higher just by moving a few pixels horizontally at the same time. I missed pushing down the box in level 2, and got stuck here:
. There was no restart button, nor any way to kill myself, so I had to restart the game and replay up to that portion. Ugh.

There's no coin counter. Makes collecting coins, as well as taking damage, feel more meaningless than it should.

I like the physics when slapping enemies. Make the slapping feel very satisfying (although, it would've been even better with some sound effect!)

TwainShadow by SSJCoder

Wow, a pre-studio game.

Getting a error on launch, though: "Error defining an external function." If I ignore it, I get stuck on the help screen, and can't do anything (can't even close the game except through task manager)

I'm not the only one this happened to, but it also doesn't seem like it happens to everyone.

---

I redownloaded the game from your games topic post, and then it worked. Odd. Well, well....

Doesn't seem like I can do much in the game, beside running around and attacking the air with my sword. And "transform" into some sort of dark, parellel dimension, but the purpose of that is.... unclear.
Jump height feels almost ridiculously high. Especially the double jump.

twowt by Yal

I liked this game, very cool concept! But I kind of feel that the level design encouraged trial-and-error more than anything.... I don't know, it never felt like I really had to conciously *think* of the solution to the puzzles; even when I got stuck I just sort of stumbled about until I beat the level. Puzzle games are hard to do right, I guess (I'm terrible at it, personally).

The simple art works really well for a game like this, though the player character could need some improvements. And the ending, where you just get taken to an empty level after the "Thanks for playing!" final stage was a bit... ugly. It felt very rushed, which I presume it also was. I also think the player moved just a little too slow, though that mostly bothered me in the earliest levels.

UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr

Very cool (and pretty hard) game! I like that there are multiple music tracks, that's a neat touch. The art is simple, but it's as good as it needs to be, really.
I imagine this game might become rather boring and repetitive after a while, when you get the hang of it. Unless there is much more content that I never saw. But either way, I never got that far :p

UpGo by Dr. Wolf

Great game! Really enjoyed playing this, I love the combination of the classic lunar lander-style gameplay and speed-typing. Having to type mid-flight to refill energy makes for some very intense few second, even if it doesn't happen often. Not sure what I think of the limited lives, though. I was fine replaying the previous levels once (first time I got a game over was on levle 2), but not more than that. Maybe you should've just restarted only the current level instead of the entire game.

I like the aesthetics of it too. The parallell star fields look great, and while it's simple it has a very clean and consistent art (and SFX) style.

Theme usage isn't that good, though. And F3 is a weird choice for continue

But yeah... Really liked this one, I'll probably keep it and play it some more later. You should put this on itch.io or something! :) (if you haven't already)

Veiled in Shadows by The M

Pretty cool game. I like how simplistic the controls are, it works really well.
The base art is more mediocre than good, but the vfx (like the effect when attacking, and the shadow-bar-thing, and whatever happens when you pick up the sword) look great. Audio is well-made, too.

Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB

Couldn't figure out how to play. I can press Z to get to the main menu, then Z again to start. Then I can choose between Up and Down, and select a character with the arrow keys and Z. But then what? Nothing happens after that, and nothing I press appears to have any effect.

Eventually I realized that the second player can use WASD to select a character... At which point I started to methodically go through every key on the keyboard until I found out that Y was used select.
PLEASE, at least include some super-basic controls in a ReadMe, 'kay?

It's a decent fighter, though (assuming there are two players, of course)
 
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