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Die, Harden's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #2884 | 3.609 | 3.609 |
| Audio | #3237 | 3.043 | 3.043 |
| Enjoyment | #3844 | 3.087 | 3.087 |
| Artwork | #3953 | 3.217 | 3.217 |
| Narrative | #6040 | 2.174 | 2.174 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The timer counts down which allows you to create a path to the goal by dying and retrying
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
See description for full credits
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Comments
it took me a few tries to fully understand the gameplay but once i got it, it was heaps of fun! my only nitpick is that i wish you didn't get booted to a menu every time you set your little guy up in his freezing position, it always makes me feel like i've 'failed' the level for a split second
well done on this very creative take on the countdown theme! :)
I like the artstyle and concept! The wall jumping was a bit clunky, and I'm not sure if that was intended, but still very fun to play! Here's how many golems I had to harden for each level: 1/1/1/2/4
Clever, I really liked the concept! I found it really difficult at first and didn't realise that my last block was still in the scene when it restarted, because the music resetting made me think the scene had reloaded - but I had fun retrying once I had it figured out. It would be cool if there were some kind of penalty to using too many blocks - like you only get so many for the whole run, or something like that! Still, very cool! Great job!
I didn't think limiting the respawns like it was "ammo" was useful, as I wanted to give people the freedom to approach the level how they wanted it. That said, I think it might make for some interesting mechanic for some specific levels, so I'll see about implementing it!
Very cool mechanic and greatly polished game! Well done!
Really fun and incredible vibes with your graphics, music, and sound! I only wish I had some way to destroy myself on queue or other ways to end faster, and also that it wouldn't play the death screen and instead just keep going, although that was funny the first time when I realized I would continue. I definitely could see you iterating on this concept further to expand it if you want it - what if enemies could target you mid-air, and that could help you get shot to freeze in new, advantageous positions? etc. Nicely done overall!
I didn't think to add enemies just yet, not enough time for that during the jam. But it's a fun potential future direction! Thanks for the compliments, I'll see if I can do something with the enemies :)
This is a very inventive concept, and I really enjoyed trying to minimize the number of tries on each level! I think this game would benefit a lot from a way to skip the timer, since a lot of my time was spent just waiting for it to run out. I also think the death screen is a bit unnecessary, and could probably get converted to a pause screen instead, with the player respawning automatically. That would also make the fact that you become a platform after dying more immediately obvious when playing for the first time. I also really like the gameboy aesthetic!
I fully agree on th death screen, a common feedback I'll be sure to fix in a future version or in future games!
But the "skip the timer" does defeat the purpose of the gamejam theme of "count down". I did consider it, but decided against it. Perhaps a way to speed up the countdown could work? Idk.
Don't Microwave That (included a link below) has a speed up option that worked nicely for the submission. Additionally, once the jam is over, future iterations could go lighter on the theme. Regardless, great job!
/jam/gmtk-jam-2026/rate/4823790
The start was a bit hard to get, but as soon as you understand your bodies become platforms, it's really enjoyable to go around the level and shape your solution little by little !
Can you elaborate on what part was hard to get? I'd love to improve my game design for future games! Glad you enjoyed it after figuring out the gameplay loop :)
With pleasure :) First the levels "lock" and "unlock" icon have really similar shapes, colors and silhouettes, making it hard to understand that one is unlocked from the start (having a "play" icon instead of the "unlock" icon maybe ?)
Then, after losing the first time, having a "game over" menu is a bit confusing as dying is part of your core loop I initially thought I made a mistake and went back to the menu, then tried to reset when I died again, and then only finally tried "play again" and discovered what happened ^^ As your core loop is focused on dying and coming back, you might want to avoid showing the screen as much, and instead making the player respawn immediately without a screen stopping the game (maybe like how Super Meat Boy does for example) .
If you're worried about the players not understanding how to reset, you can create a level 2 with an intended trap that forces the player to be stuck, with a text saying that you can reset by pressing R.
And you can keep a pause menu with the Reset/Main Menu/Exit options for those needing them like that.
Of course that's just my opinion, and again, I'd like to highlight that the rest of the game was really nice and the mechanic was really well thought, this is just a hitch in a very nice project ! :)
Took me a while to get it, but once I did, I had a lot of fun. It's a very creative mechanic; good job!
Thought at first it was just gonna be each level is timed and that was how the theme was incorporated, but once I noticed each death created a platform, I was pleasantly surprised! Great use of the theme, and great game!
Thanks for the kind words!
Lovely aesthetic and fun mechanic! I also did a “dead body as a resource” mechanic in my game xD fun to see other people’s take on that. That third level’s timer was brutal, but overall fun experience, well done!
I wanted one that felt really like a rushed level, but that was surprisingly hard to make. Happy you felt the intended feelings there :)
Great concept! I only wished there was an “undo last block” button in addition to reset.
I did toy with that idea and a "insta kill yourself" button, but felt they went counter to the idea of the countdown. Did you need it a lot? I might need to rethink that when making future games.
Maybe I didn’t need it that much here. I imagine if levels would get longer and more complex, the undo would be useful. So I wouldn’t feel like I need to re-do a lot of blocks after a full reset
The mechanics are really creative and i really enjoyed it.
I loved the gameboy look and music.
I especially sought them out to complement each other, and I even made some sprites to help it! Glad you liked them
Great art and music! And the controls felt good. Overall, a good idea, but I found myself brute-forcing solutions (always thinking "Stairs" with the one mechanic).
Thanks! The stairs mechanic was really the only one implemented, as more features become too much for the time I had. Glad you enjoyed it :)