itch.io

Thank you, Alex!

The music was done by Lars. All credit goes to him.

You are the first one to notice that the questionmark re-triggers the symbol. I had to include it to make the game more user friendly. In fact - after watching Grace struggle during the live stream, I designed it to be even more friendly :D Now it shows the current need while the cheat sheet image is open. I leave it up to the player if/how much they use this, let them have some control over the difficulty.

I wish you a bright day.

Wow, this is a very immersive Laika related game! Thank you.

I appreciate that you put the effort to include dog vision (gray scale). That you included a model of the R7 rocket. And that you included the real video of Laika at the end. 

One minor issue  - in order to get into the capsule I had to jump and click LMB in the air. Otherwise the interaction is not available. This may be game breaking for some players.

It was nice that there was a section at the end when she is in outer space. Maybe it would be even more interesting/evocative if the view went to 3rd person and focused on the dog's face. But that would require some animation which was probably too much for the jam period.

Good luck!

The game is very well designed. Good job!

I like the cinematic menu background, the menu UI being a newspaper.

It is nice that each interactive object has a label. However the procedure itself is not clear.

The clouds look really weird but I guess it's difficult in 3 dimentions.

Managed to find the barometer on the table next to the book where observations are logged. 

But some other things seem to not function - the oxygen cylinders are only two. But when the second one got emptied the notification informed me to open the next one?! Is there a way to refill the cylinders?

It's nice that you added dates and facts, the original recording of the countdown and put effort into making the models according to the actual objects.

The music track reminds me a lot of the movie Interstellar. Was it inspired by it?

I didn't think there is any difference to using WASD to move the lander so I didn't. And it still landed. That was an opportunity to add more interaction but it was not used.

Great work! Now is the time to think about the actual gameplay.

Cool game, thank you. 

I like that you included historical facts in the introduction. 

Noticed that I could perform the activities (=> accomplish the task and not waste time) even though there is an active alert about the breadcrumbs. Not sure if that is intentional or the implementation is missing. But it did make the game a little easier.

Unfortunately in some playthroughs no matter how much I vacuumed, the alert didn't go away. And I could not see any remaining breadcrumbs. Maybe the crumbs can be highlighted somehow to make it easier?

Good luck!

Hey, Arkasur. That's a weird bug I haven't seen before. You can reload the page and select level 2 to go directly to that part.

Awesome! Thank you for this game! You did great work - the visual and auditory feedback, the pacing is spot on!  

You included history. The dialog lines were really goofy and the voice delivery was superb.

The only thing I can think of gameplay-wise to improve it would be to make a custom cursor that is larger than the standard.

Also - it would be nice to include something at the midpoint when he reached outer space. A relief from the tension and a nice payoff. That would enrich the experience. 

Very good all around! Good luck! 

Awesome game - thank you for making it! 

It's really nice to see a rhythm game. I am not great with timing but I think the controls are a bit too much on the strictness side. You can add some allowance (+/- 200 miliseconds for example) before and after the ideal time.

Also it seems that the second level is somewhat worse calibrated than the first?... Not sure..

Probably you didn't have time to implement more feedback - visual, auditory. But for a rhythm game with precise timing this is vital - it makes or breaks the experience. 

I liked how at the beginning of level 2 there is a circular pattern which counts down in clockwise direction. That is manageable. But when there are arrows all over the screen it becomes way too hard to keep track of everything.

You definitely put a lot of effort for this and it would be great to see how you polish it after the jam. Good luck! Keep it going!

Congratulations on doing all the art yourself! The style is very consistent.

It seems to me the combination of the fast pace and the levels repeating without end (no end screen with a score) wastes the opportunity to learn something about the space race itself.

It is fun the first minutes. After that the single button control interface transforms from the biggest strength to the biggest weakness: lack of player agency. It's just a series of quick time events.

Thank you for the game. Good luck!

I thought some more about this and if I were in your place I would prioritise making an advisor (or two - one for each side). This would take care of two things at once: make the project feel more like a game rather than a web application AND make the game easier to learn.

You're welcome! And good luck - it is a challenging genre and it has lots of potential.

Awesome! Good luck with the next project.

Very interesting take on the theme!

It is ambitious that you decided to recreate all layers of the organisation. However if you do that then is this game about the space research? Or about finance? Or about astro/cosmonauts? If a player wants to focus on one of them they may find it too shallow/unsatisfying.

It depends how authentic you want your product to be. If you go too far on the simulation side then is it a game?

Besides - were the two unions (USSR and USA) comparable and/or equivalent? For example - the USSR space program was underfunded (which ultimately led to its failure). Moreover there was horrible bureaucracy because even with official budget approval the money still didn't get transferred. Korolev had to push all the time for this. While these finances are important for the history, it is difficult to put it inside a product other than as a friction which causes frustration OR not represent it authentically which is incoherent with the rest of the product.

The more systems and layers of interactions between them there are the more steep the learning curve. This simulation seems complex and instead of one wall of tutorial text it would be better to create a smaller linear tutorial which explains the core mechanics in their simplest version.

In addition to a simpler linear tutorial developers of strategy games often include advisors. This is really a diagetic way for the developers to assist the player while they learn and prevent some mistakes which have game breaking consequences later when the cost for the player to start over outweighs the desire to play.

Nice card game, thank you!

I like the sketching art style. The sound effects are immersive. It's nice that you added the toogle for CRT - the effect can be annoying after a while.

It would be better to have a reminder that examining (right click) a card facing up from the discovery pool can be put back down with right click. To avoid wasting action points.

I think the turn countdown is broken? It was turn 0 a few times. It's a minor issue.

There is a feeling of a competition but it's a bit weird that each side can play both types of cards. Maybe there can be some advantages for using your own faction's cards and penalties when using the rival faction cards? This would make it more difficult to balance.

Good luck!

Hey, thank you for playing! 

Yes, skeletons - that is the relation to the strangeness theme! Korolev lost most of his teeth then and I thought - maybe he was thinking he was going to die (thousands of people did die there)... How can such a pessimistic outlook be represented? Maybe visually by presenting all the miners as dead men walking, just a matter of time, just another brick in the wall (or foundation for the road as it were in Kalyma).

Noted about the audio.

If you reached the skeletons then you must have reached the second level which has the core loop of the game. Because the transition is automatic in a few moments. This is also on the Itch page walkthrough section. Did you reach it? 

The art is consistent throughout - great work! 

The sound, especially the last song is pleasant and uplifting. 

However the end image is the same regardless of whether the training was a success or failure. Different feedback would be better as it would deliver a better payoff (sense of accomplishment).

About the exercices - starting at 0 is a bit misleading as I think the animation plays but the logic of the game does not count it as being active? So this creates some confusion. Maybe it's better to start at 1.

I didn't understand what the incremented numbers for stress spikes are for... At one point I just clicked as much as I can - reached 50+ but it didn't result immediately in max stress. After this experiment I only used +1 and that seemed to be sufficient. It seemed to me that the spike levels are kind of irrelevant.

It would be nice to include some time progression for each individual exercise. It was not clear how long it would take and I was thinking that maybe I needed to click something else. That maybe I missed something...

It seems there is a bug where checking the report increases her stress as well as use up the time slots for doing the exercices. So it's possible to end the game by repeatedly clicking on the report - it's kind of weird.

By the way - when they were preparing the stray dogs I think the main goal was to examine the effects of outer space travel on the physiology (astrobiology). The goal wasn't so much to beat the USA as the doctor states.

By the way - if "XAXAXA" was used instead of "HAHAHA" because in Cyrillic X===H then nice detail there!

Thank you for this game! A unique entry to the jam. Good luck!

Many cool ideas in this game - great work!

The idea to make the race between the players is fantastic - an interesting twist on the theme!

It is nice that you give real measurements of distances, speed, etc.

Unfortunately after collecting the rocks, I could neither get the lander to attach nor make it land back (it went below the ground). So I could not reach the end.

Here are comments while I was playing:

The first level was difficult to read which means that the only way to play it was through trial and error. I'm OK with that. Just noting that some players may find it frustrating. 

It would be nice to have a short tutorial, introduction that the tool triggers the construction but clicking twice stops it + all the parts need to be produced. 

After "constructing" the parts at the time of assembling the rocket, maybe it would be more intuitive for the ordering to be from left to right? At least for the western audiences.

It's immersive that you included the engine fuelling because it is something which people don't see/think about. The UI would be more clear if when filling it up the button became inactive and the bar stayed green.

If you want to make it even more historically accurate you can use a recording of the actual countdown: 

Why is the landing module below the exhaust??? It should be inside the third stage! Everything else is well made so this inaccuracy sticks like a sore thumb.

Firing the left / right thrusters of the landing module did not seem to work initially. After a restart of the level it worked.

Tank you for making this game! 

By the way I noticed that you used a C# framework. If you are interested in making a bigger game about space you might find the BRUTAL framework useful. It was open sourced just last week :D Includes web builds.

https://ahwoo.com/brutal

The games "Kitten Space Agency" and "Icarus" have been made with this engine. "Rimworld" was ported to it. 

I played through the tutorial and completed it. For the final part it is enough to do basic actions to increase the mood and then you can do advanced actions to increase the relationship depth. You can see what the depth is from the green bar above the NPC character.  It is similar to a health bar but instead of decreasing it you act to increase it. ;) 

After you click OK there is a bug which causes an endless loop. Just reload the page and you will be able to start the game.

Hey, Jonathan. I'm sorry to hear you got stuck. 

The white question mark next to the action selection menu opens the cheat sheet. And it will also trigger a symbol to be displayed in case you missed it.

The lines at the top are the queue - the blue line is the protagonist and the red line is the NPC. They loop back from the start each turn.

There are different people and their goals are different: some artists want to make a game where every single asset is their creation. Some technical guys want to make a sophisticated simulation. And there are many other!

"something that is supposed to" <== I don't agree with the assumption that a jam' scope needs to be tiny. Especially in this day and age of AI copycats it is not sustainable for you to do one gimmick games as those are the easiest to copy. Maybe some people want to make a meaningful game that would have a lasting impact and not just be 5 minutes of throwaway fun.

In general it is not helpful to tell someone to make a change which means basically redoing the thing they made into something very different. It is more helpful to understand what the person is trying to do and contribute to their trajectory.

Disclaimer: I worked with Lars who made the progression tree. But for a different game.

Can you imagine that the accounts estona815 and overman623 are fake? Maybe they were created by one person using AI who just submitted to see the results without bothering to engage with the people?

Hey! Just checking up - it's very strange, this is the first jam I've participated in where the follow up is absent...

Oh, it's awesome to hear that you plan to expand it to machine learning. However keep in mind that you're using JavaScript which was not designed with those features in mind. Still, it is possible to pull it off - you can make it run on multiple CPU threads via web workers. And just recently I found out about that cutting edge feature on the Itch game page "SharedArrayBuffer" <== this enables the threads to share memory and this drastically improves the performance. 

With cloud computing you're learning distributed computation which could be useful. But for that you would actually need to either host your own server(s) and make the Itch game a client which connects to them or make the game some sort of multiplayer where the computing is offloaded to different players.

"hesitant to add too much direct control" <== you seem to deeply appreciate those potatoes :D. That's fine but remember that video games are about agency. One way to strike the balance is to maybe give direct control over one tater at a time. For example - the founding tater.  This makes a lot of sense especially considering that the first tater would be critical to the player's learning/tutorial.  Then when that tater dies you would chose one of the children, etc. Sort of like the game Krusader Kings 2. And actually as the settlement gets larger the player would not be able to manage all taters anyways and would be more relaxed about just watching what happens.

Yes, what you described about the tutorial sounds perfect!

Right, "withdraw influence" makes sense.

Yes, it's always necessary to make the simulation more transparent and easier to trace.

About the ages - those are the extrinsic motivation that guide the player. You may spark the player's curiosity but at the end of the day that is internal motivation whether they want to watch the taters and keep track of their evolution.

Your project has potential. Keep working on it. Good luck!

How is the game related to the theme "Phronesis"?

While researching I found out that phronesis has become popular with corporate management - specifically how the proclaimed values (top down culture) are at the risk of being hollow messages when they are not implemented in practice. This problematic situation illustrates the origin of phronesis: Aristotle's teacher - Plato, was very focused on ideals (=== values) which Aristotle countereted by claiming that they are hardly relevant to the messy world humans inhabit.

And I remembered about the history of the monopolistic petroleum company Shell-BP in Nigeria as a very specific example of the mismatch between values-operations.

The title of the game is inspired by a real company in Nigeria "Phronesis Oil and Gas".

The game features some difficult moral questions and I'm trying to present those as more than a binary choice between "good" and "evil" because that is not engaging for a 3rd party (the player). For example - there is a strategic decision in the game when the protagonist must pick a side. And the protagonist has bad feelings towards both sides. So the player needs to emotionally regulate the character. This is a mechanical way of how phronesis is implemented in the game.

I left playing this submission last because just looking at the length of the Itch page it was clear a lot of thought went into it and a lot of iterations. So I knew I had to dedicate more time. I'm especially interested because a next step I'm planning for my custom engine is economic simulation.

I like the idea of an indirect strategy but you have to be careful with what Sid Meier (Civilization) described as the situation where the computer is having all the fun. It's difficult to balance it just right so that it is engaging enough.

The initial tutorial screens get automatically skipped after ~2 seconds - it would be more convenient if the tutorial moves forward upon user interaction.

I would imagine growing attached to the founding tater but it seems the connection needs more work. The usual way is to make the character mechanically useful. But because of the design choice of indirect interaction that does not seem to be available. The other possible avenue for creating the attachment may be to see how the tater reacts to things - maybe discoveries etc. It is probably worth centering the camera on the founding tater to make sure the player does not miss important events.

When the first tater had a spud it was uneventful - I think some notification window which appears and grabs the attention would be better. Maybe as the amount of taters grows such notifications would not appear.

Even though my knowledge of English is very good (not native) I had to look up what a "thicket" is. And I'm still not sure how the potatoes find it or even how it looks like - is it the dark green cells?

I don't think there is a cancel button - the first garden I accidentally nudged the taters to build many lumbers and they did them.

I guess there is an economy but I'm not sure how deep the simulation is - which would make it more predictable. Is there supply and demand? How are bids resolved?

I'm not sure how much of your ideas are implemented in the current version of the game - from my experience and reading the JavaScript code I could figure out that Age 2 is the final evolution for now. I reached it after a few days. The potatoes did not find a stone querry so it seems right now it's not required.

Zombacons are interesting. Right now they feel disconnected - if you could contextualise them it would be better.

Thank you and good luck!

Hmm, I see the connection with the jam - Aristotle and the polis. But what about the theme itself - phronesis?

Maybe a small introduction would be more accessible rather than a list of instructions (the Help window which pops up at the beginning). You can start outside of the siege with just one building plus workers and one tile to expand to - that would make it much more clear to the player.

I didn't see any explanation about the buildings themselves. I may have just missed it...

How are workers recruited?

I like how you added a list of all the software libraries which you used. I have to do that too one day :D Did you base it on package.json?

You have successfully managed to contextualise the interpretation of abstract mechanics into relatable experiences (such as being hasty).

One suggestion - you can set the minimum height for the buttons so that they are all the same size. If that is a design goal.

I see that you make a lot of tightly scoped games - I guess you are experimenting. I'm curious - do you have a plan for a larger game that would bring some of these lessons in one project?

Ah, classic situation to torture people with ethical deliberation: whose life is worth more - an old person or a pregnant woman? I think these are interesting exercises but they are flawed because how a person deliberates in a safe (maybe even cosy) setting is very different from how the deliberation works when the person is in a life threatening situation, exhausted, deprived, etc. That is not a criticism about the game - just sharing my beliefs.

I almost accidentally was going to neglect the rationer to starvation - maybe that character should be part of the roster (the central menu with the portraits)? The first member maybe? 

Then I intentionally deprived the rationer to see what would happen. Initially I thought s/he is the protagonist but when I saw the failed ending I realised that the protagonist is the captain!! Well, interesting. I have a few thoughts about that - first, why is the captain then not part of the rationing? Why would the people not be able to divide the rations by themselves if the rationer dies? Because then it would not be one person making the decisions? I think from the point of view of one of the characters it would be interesting. Maybe as an alternative mode of the game? 

It's an interesting design decision that everyone starts with 100% hydration and 36 rations of water whereas it's 50% satiation and 22 rations of food. I think 36 rations of water for 11-12 people in 7 days  water would not be any problem - people can survive long without it. Much longer than without food. The logic may not be that realistic but it works fine for the game. Just a comment.

It's nice that you added a "How to play" button/menu while in the game. It's also nice that you added buttons to give a portion to everyone. Those make the game more accessible.

The messages about how the person behaves may be irrelevant - some days I did not give any food/water to anyone but the messages were saying that someone stole from someone who had more, or the doctor gave what they had voluntarily. None of them had anything - it is worth considering that option. Such reactivity of course would require more precise logic to implement which is a cost to consider.

Finlly, some minor UI notes - it would be more clear if the introductory text had some background. Right now it is a bit difficult to read. 

Interesting game, thank you. Good luck!

That's the plan!

File uploads are locked at the end of the period right? It's not possible to cheat anyways.

Hey, I publish games when they are (more or less) ready. Right now the page is empty. 

Is it allright to publish at the end of the submission period?

Achievement unlocked! :D

That's an amazing start. I wish you luck with your next projects!

Right, so it would be like two worlds - platformer in the book and top down outside. Sounds good.

Yes, the old couple meeting again would definitely fit the celebration part of the theme and bring the story to a satisfying closure.

Good luck with this project!

Wow, congratulations! Is this really your first game?!? (at least for this Itch account)

The sounds and visuals work together to create a very specific athmosphere. Thank you for making this!

Thank you to everyone who rated the game high on the creativity criteria! It means a lot to me and it encourages me to continue working on the custom engine.

I've uploaded a new version of the game which contains many accessibility additions: https://beseda.itch.io/last-mine/devlog/1675766/1-post-jam-update

Stay tuned for the next game which is planned for release by the end of the month: Phronesis Petroleum.

I wish you a bright day!

Thank you for the intriguing world building! The animations and visual effects really contribute to the immersion. 

It seems the game has potential but it very much depends on how you develop the gameplay further - is it going to be a grid based top down game and the platforming remains a mini game? Or is it just the introductory cutscene in a top down style and the rest of the game is a side scroller? 

Maybe you will find my take on the tactical genre interesting.

Good luck!

The Itch page is beautifully made, well done! 

It's nice that the levels automatically change whenever the character dies and the player restarts. Keeps the game interesting.

I started with the ranged character. Either I wasn't playing "correctly" or it is very underpowered - I could not clear the 2nd wave. When I switched to the melee character I was able to clear 9 waves easily. I guess some balancing is necessary.

Does the game wait for all enemies of a wave to be "cleared" before spawning new ones? I guess it is based on time and if the enemies are not cleared they just become too many to defeat. Maybe it would be good to have a hybrid logic that at an interval checks how many enemies are alive currently and based on that spawns new ones.

You can check out my submission to explore a unique take on the tactical genre. After the file upload is unlocked is the best time to try it. ;)

Good luck!

Thank you for playing! 

The resolution does not adapt because for some reason the map(s) gets cut when when the resolution changes. My apologies for the inconvenience.

Great! Showing which islands want the resource is a nice touch!

Hmm, I assume you're proud of using AI. If you did not disclose it at the end of the message it would not have crossed my mind. Kind of have mixed feelings about this. It's praiseworthy that you are transparent but on the other hand - do you need to use it for everything? Who are you at the end of the day? Because of the proliferation of AI, people start noticing and appreciating little mistakes that show them there is a human on the other side. This is my personal opinion.

Interesting concept but unfortunately I wasn't able to experience it as designed.

I was evading the falling sweets and getting the hirosontally moving cakes. I noticed that the cakes give health when health < 3 but confusingly they also took it away when health === 3. 

I hit a bug where when I am right next to the edge of the screen and there is a cake which comes the game loops and sends infinite cakes. Which allowed me to confirm the observation above.

The game only triggered the rainbow eggs mini game. 

I will wait for your update after the jam to play the whole game.

Good luck!

I saw your profile and it is apparent that you have perfected the action type of game - very polished submission. Thank you.

The game is very accessible - animated guides, detailed descriptions of icons. Very nicely done! I admit I have much to do in that regard with my games, already implemented a tutorial just waiting for the file upload to be unlocked.

One serious issue I had was that the trigger was delayed - tried with the mouse and with the spacebar but it's the same lag. It made the game a lot harder. Even though the delay itself was more or less consistent so I could somewhat adjust. Still, considering that this is the core loop it's disappointing. Maybe it's just me: running on Chrome.

A couple of minor notes:

The offers by the king/queen are easy to miss. They could be made into a separate window/prompt maybe?

It is very useful that you added a comparison when chosing to replace a guest. However when I left the mouse on the button to select the guest to be replaced a tooltip pops up and clutters the UI.

Good luck!