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Preservatives's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Fun | #25 | 3.726 | 3.857 |
| Overall | #36 | 3.630 | 3.757 |
| Sounds | #42 | 3.450 | 3.571 |
| Graphics | #56 | 3.657 | 3.786 |
| End-of-life plan | #58 | 3.795 | 3.929 |
| Theme relevance | #91 | 3.519 | 3.643 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
End life plan
Preservatives has no servers, no accounts, and no DRM. It runs entirely in your browser or Download. Nothing about it can be remotely disabled or shut down - when official support ends, it keeps working exactly as it does today. It cannot be killed.
Transparency note
I don't know how to code well at all. So when I try things and new mechanics sometimes it doesn't work as intended and I ask for Claude Code to help diagnose why it doesn't work. Then sometimes it helps me fix the issue with coding problems. All art and sounds are all non AI generated.
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Comments
Retro NES feel. I liked the flashlight. The jump physics were a little hard to get used to. I wasn't sure how to protect myself. Maybe more instructions in the game description? Overall, fun game with a solid build.
I really liked the game's idea, visuals, and sound effects. The only thing I didn't understand was what I was supposed to do when everything turned red.
There is 2 doors at the end of every level to continue on and you pick your power up like hades.
I really liked the VFX, the gameplay was cool tho, good job!
The title alone deserves a prize. "Preservatives" as in preservationists and as in the stuff that keeps things from rotting. And that line at the end of the intro, "They can kill the servers. They can't kill what you keep", is the whole SKG campaign in one sentence.
Enemies with monitor heads, being the corrupted remains of deleted games, is such a clean idea. And the title screen listing every control up front (dash, reload, weapon swap, shield, remappable keys) is commercial polish on a jam build. The "corrupted left: 26" counter plus the SHUTDOWN IN 90s timer ties the score right into the fantasy.
One note: the first wave comes in fast and in packs. I went from 100 HP to 52 in seconds with three of them on me while I was still learning the controls. A bit more breathing room in the opening 15 seconds would let people get comfortable with the dash before they need it.
One of the few where theme and mechanics actually match. Really good.
Thank you so much! I will definitely create some more space in the beginning part of the run! I appreciate the kind words.
This is great. The music is awesome, I really enjoyed the gravity on the projectiles. Was very satisfying to lob shots at all my enemies. Great work!
Thank you!
oh my i really like what you did here! the game is very fun and enjoyable and i love the random upgrades we can get to choose, can be very addicting to play!
Thank you!!
ASSESSMENT FILED BY SDS SYSTEMS, SOFTWARE AUDIT DIVISION
Inspected 07/26/2026 1:13 local time. This software is rated: Excellent. Enemy composition is correctly balanced, flow is uninterrupted, audio is excellent, and the sprites are well crafted.
Findings: none actionable. This office is required to note that an inspection yielding no deficiencies is unusual and has been flagged as mildly surprising. The polish is at levels normally associated with software that had more time than a jam provides.
Overall determination: Very Well Made. A joy to play.
platformer + shooting combo feels great, graphics are top notch, keep it up!
Thank You! All custom pixel art characters!
The platformer was pretty fun! Is the level randomly generated? Sometimes I get stuck between the items.
You can shoot the objects to destroy them and yes every level is random every time you play for a slightly different experience.
I liked it! However, I do wanna say, that if the pistol is the only weapon in the game I think you should make it auto attack or allow player to click as fast as they can (maybe with penalty if you want it to be balanced).
There is 3 weapons and if you hold left click it does auto attack. Eventually you will get upgrades that make the shooting so fast you just want to hold it down. Especially with the faster reload from the shop. Thanks for playing!
For some reason I didn't realize you can hold the button, I'm sorry! That didn't affect my score, tho, no worries.
Thanks for that! This is my very first Game Jam and really the first game I've ever released so I appreciate any feedback at all! Not too concerned with score.
fun to play, with quite varied enemies
Thank you!