Thanks for submitting Rivet's Adventure 64! This was a wonderful entry and one of the best games we played in the entire jam.
The reason it earned second place is simple. It used the salvage theme to perfection. The theme wasn't just included, it was built right into the heart of the game, and that's exactly what we were hoping to see.
The art style was cute and fun, and you can tell a lot of work went into every part of this project. The gameplay felt smooth and interesting, and the whole experience was original. It didn't feel like a reuse of anything else in the jam. It knew exactly what it wanted to be and how it wanted to get there, and it delivered on all of it.
The reason it didn't take first place comes down to the enemies. Combat with them felt repetitive, and it was often difficult to jump over their heads because the jump height didn't feel quite high enough. The enemy concept as a whole wasn't executed as well as the rest of the game, and they ended up feeling more like a nuisance than an actual threat in the levels. If the enemies were improved, with more variety, better tuning around the jump, and a stronger role in the level design, this would easily be the best game of the jam.
We also found the audio a little annoying after a while, especially during longer play sessions. Adding a bit more variety to the effects or including volume controls would clean that right up.
Overall, this was a fantastic job, and that's why we're proud to award Rivet's Adventure 64 second place! Keep building on it and making it bigger and better, because with more time and love, this could easily become one of the best platformers we've played in a while. Congratulations, and thank you for being part of the jam!