It's like you put awesome sauce on an epic plate of bodaciousness

I wonder what popular gacha game could've possibly inspired this game heh. Jokes aside this was an excellent game! Visually and musically this is one of the best of the jam, no notes there, gameplay was quite easy with not too much choice in upgrades and abilities but that's alright for something more story driven like this. Overall a solid contender for best in the Jam!

Fun game! I’ve never played Umamusume but I figure this is pretty close lol. Might want a setting to have the camera instantly lock onto its target instead of just moving towards it because if your horse is waaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of the competition then it can take a while for the camera to catch up. Also, might be just be luck but I only ever got info on what kind of track/weather conditions the horses want once in my playthrough.

The gallery feature is a neat touch on top of an already charming game, so I’m quite glad you put that in. Would be funny if it was “DLC” you had to “pay” to get access to using the grand prize you get at the end, given our resident capitalist as the main character.

Never bet on Freak Report... That horse RUINED my life.

I really loved the concept. It combines strategy with real-time action, and that's always a very dynamic mix in my opinion.

The art is simple, cohesive, and eye-catching. It communicates the game's ideas very well through its minimalist style, which I really liked. My only minor criticism is that the race backgrounds feel a bit weaker compared to the rest of the visuals.

The music is fantastic and fits the high-speed racing atmosphere perfectly.

The story does its job well. The romantic ending feels a little rushed, but that's completely understandable for a game made within a limited amount of time.

As for the areas that could be improved, I think the balance is a bit too forgiving toward the player. Having three days to prepare, powerful abilities during the races, and very generous resources makes the experience feel quite easy. The real-time abilities are a fantastic mechanic, but because the overall gameplay is so forgiving, they end up feeling overwhelmingly powerful rather than like strategic tools.

On top of that, the three-day preparation phase lets you improve both your abilities and the race conditions in your favor, making the management aspect feel less meaningful. Since I never really struggled with money or influence, I came away feeling that the player has too many advantages.

I think reducing the number of preparation days, lowering the amount of money and influence earned, or adding stricter cooldowns and limitations to the race abilities would create a more engaging balance.

I also think adding obstacles during the races would make the abilities even more interesting. For example, you could use the shooting ability to destroy obstacles, forcing the player to decide whether to save it for the track or use it offensively against another horse with the cooldown in mind. Likewise, using the speed boost too close to an obstacle could leave the player with less time to react, creating more meaningful risk-versus-reward decisions.

Overall, I had a great time with it. It was a really enjoyable game—great job!

Fun game! It's an interesting crackship that I'd never considered but that makes sense in many ways. The visuals feel more cohesive than most mega-projects and the playtime feels about right for what it is.

I found it a bit hard to judge the concept, because the gameplay is just too easy for the game itself to serve as a proper stress-test for the game design. I'm also not sure if just making the game harder would make it better, because it'd probably just collapse the number of meaningful choices to an even smaller number of optimal choices. I suspect the reason simulator games like Princess Maker and Tokimeki Memorial usually presents the player with several goals they can aim for is that this both keeps all options useful (depending on the goal the player has), and also makes for a more interesting way to up the difficulty, where a player short on resources may be forced to choose between their different goals, which is much more granular than just straight up failing the game. This game could perhaps have had an option to spend time with Yachie, which wouldn't affect the outcome of the race, but increases Yachie's affection for a better ending. This would allow for more interesting gameplay where a player who wants a better ending cannot just go all in on rigging the races.

Still, the game is excellent in every other category and the art and writing alone makes it worth playing.