itch.io

Thank you for the positive vibes. I’ll keep trying then :)

It’s not easy, but it’ll be worth it

I think part of it is not meshing with teammates that’s been pretty consistent.

But it’s gonna be more difficult for people from outside to figure out how/why that happens.

prioritizing the critical content

How do you identify what’s the critical content?

Eg: in this one, I abandoned an almost-complete rhythm mechanic, that could have been the main gameplay loop… or just extra frills.

scope

I scoped it to “the menus + SOMETHING in game” .. because every time I released without having a menu, or options, or an end-game message, that’s been the comments.

After that, it was the “battle” screen. Which I completed a basic prototype.

After that, I made a basic overworld, and imported a character and tileset…

aaaand at that point, I ran out of time.

time management

think I’m still trying to figure this one out too.

I’m getting stuff done.

But haven’t been able to start quantifying “how much”.

And during the jam, it almost feels like trying to estimate how long something will take

• takes time away from actually doing stuff
• is never all that accurate

Do I just start doing that anyway, until I get better at figuring out how long things will actually take?

I guess that’s the only way. Because until I can benchmark it, I can’t see where the time is going :S

Maybe estimate, and record while in-jam, and then do review in post?

Thank you for the feedback by the way, it helps :)

Oh man, that’s wild! haha

Huge congratulations!

That is incredibly impressive

Fantasy and Romance are the colours I mixed up the first time I played!

wildly critical comment given the state of your submission

Absolutely. Mine’s a complete trash fire. But this feedback wasn’t meant to insult, or say someone’s game is better than the other. It’s from the view of a player or play tester. And it’s what might be improved - from my point of view. Which, again, is not perfect, or universal. It’s one data point. Feel free to discard it. Having said that - this is what my experience was, and what you may or may not want to take in to account if you wanted to work further on the project. Or to inform future projects.

I know mine has barely any “gameplay” I’m working on it, over time :)

Your one, the resolution didn’t work very well on smaller screen sizes (will also apply to phones). The colours weren’t that distinct - someone who’s colour blind might have more difficulty. And icons for genres were too small - you might have posters, or “labels” or floor panels or …… etc that might smooth the gameplay. Or you might not. It might work better for diehard fans to leave it like this.

Yup. Totally didn’t catch that you could “cycle” with q/e. From the initial playthrough, I think I got WASD, and interact, and that’s it. Might be helpful to dynamically pop up small letters ‘q’ ‘e’ by the sides of the character’s head - Or by the book stack - once it gets over size 2. OR not. Again, it’s your game, and your decision. It might take too much screen real estate. It might not be diagetic UI. …. etc. I’m saying what I had difficulty being communicated / intuitive. Maybe other people don’t have that issue. Maybe it’s “not worth fixing” given time constraints.

And yeah. There is no sprint. The AI moves faster than you. It seems like you’re meant to aim for “perfection” I found this incredibly frustrating from a gameplay perspective. You might think this is hilarious. That’s your prerogative. I mean, there are rage games out there - Getting Over It. This doesn’t quite have that vibe. Nor does it quite work as a power fantasy for me. Again, one data point. Game may or may not be for me. Or maybe I didn’t play the game in the right context: with other people around.

World’s your oyster man :)

Be free!

I’m still figuring out how to get a jam put together properly :p. Got someone in my timezone this time, but didn’t manage to get the other coder properly engaged with it.

I DID start with the “rhythm” mechanic which could have been a hook / minimum gameplay. But let the other person pull me off it just before finishing, cause PANIK.

Still, a learning experience :p

my favourite is “sigh.zip”

Nice mechanics, and managing to get everything strung together for an “end game” on time :)

I think this is fine as a single person entry, for the level of experience

You have a basic gameplay loop, that works :thumbsup:

I was trying to select the person first, and then the action. Didn’t realise it was reverse!

Interesting game!

I don’t think so? but maybe :S I tried several different movies on their own, and then clicking the till, and none worked. it just shook

Yeah, I actually had lag on a couple of other games which surprised them this would have been much less noticeable but I’m on like a 10yr old laptop, running linux and firefox

Yup.

This is one of the reasons I’m doing game jams. I feel like I’m not turning out enough. But there’s a lot to it

• focusing on the “wrong thing” (I did a lot of the menus, and focused on the “rhythm” mechanic, which didn’t end up doing much / being visible at all)
• team communication, and motivation (team size is 3, but realistically, I did most of it, artist helped with art, and I wasn’t able to get final teammate engaged with it. since this happens often, I’m taking it as a learning opportunity)
• focus and will (I spent some days just doing my own stuff away from jam, to relax, or do necessary housework or other things)

But yes, ultimately, you’re right I’m typically not getting the things that make a game, a game within the time limit.

what do you think I should prioritise for the next jam?

Controls feel a little clunky there was a missed opportunity to have a “hold to move”. You accidentally bump in to customers at the very end of the bar. the movement is stuttery. One on its own is fine. But together overall, it doesn’t feel good.

The theme is nice. The sound is nice. The graphics are awesome.

Nice entry :)

Impressive entry!

You nailed the theme. Controls were frustrating as all heck though.

Gave up on the spiky level.

Thank you for the game ^_^

There’s a theory there, but it was a lil too frustrating for me

Character moves too slowly for day 6. And by Day 8, I was getting shoulder barged out of the way, while the customers got upset at me. Added to by the fact you had to return books in an exact order, AND you couldn’t return them from the back of the shelf. Overall, it feels like you’re just meant to fail.

Also, awkward if not fullscreened. Some of the colours were similar, but icons too small :o

I got asked for an “action” video, but supplying one with a fist didn’t work.

The game was then stuck until the timer ran out for the day.

It would be nice to have a “skip” mechanic

Theme? Yes. Original? Absolutely. Sound was bangin

But I got bored after a couple of alignments :shrug:

Amazing for a one-person entry.

I wanna dislike this game based on how frustrating some things were. But honestly, this fits right in to the retro theme, and how those games would have played. So I can’t even be mad about it.

Yeah. Good work. Loved the sound. Tried 2 levels. Got bulshitted by the boss. Ragequit. 10/10 Retro

That part shouldn’t be an issue.

Though I am running Linux (Kubuntu) / Firefox.

More likely is that I’m on a 10+ year old Laptop.

weird, and compelling

Oh man, I was not expecting that!

Not a huge fan of horror, but LOVED the execution on this! Great twist on a classic! And amazing for a 1-person project

Had a blast playing it, thank you for making ^_^

sound was laggy for me throughout and it was kinda rng :S

but interesting! for sure

Oh man, I couldn’t play this game due to lag :o

As soon as I click “Canada”, the game starts stuttering at 1fps with sound cutting in and out

Struggled to see the whole game space without a “fullscreen” mode

Otherwise, really impressive for a one-person project :O

weird…

technically competent, but not that fun - for me at least >.<

There didn’t seem to be any counter to enemies that already reached the top. And controls were fairly unintuitive. Best I could do was hold space to spam shoot while circling

As usual, I like your games :)

Impressive how much you can achieve as a one-man-show :D

My first run, I tried to break walls with the sword… and promptly lost the use of it, so I had to run around dodging enemies attacks, with nothing in my hands

The hansel&grettel footstep breadcrumbs were interesting. But in the end not that helpful (or visible)

It would have been nice to see weapon durability. But it almost seems as if it’s random?

… I don’t know that it was fun or original (seen similar concepts). But also definitely wasn’t awful. Iunno. It’s a playable game that does a thing.

Theme very much nails “retro”. Reminds me of old NES games. I’m not a huge fan of horror vibes, but it is what it is.

Controls wise, they’re a little clunky. If you miss one, you’re there waiting for a while, which doesn’t really mesh with the premise. Mashing a button also isn’t my favourite, and combined with timing the others becomes really quite frustrating for me. Maybe I should have used two different hands for A/D and Space.

Tutorial… felt slow. Would have been nice to have a “speed up”, or skip text control

Culture wise, feels like a nice nod to QWOP :)

Overall, it’s nice and interesting :D

Wooooo I can see them now!

Thank you :DDD

Hey, really nice game :)

If I could have one thing, it would be to change stamina regen cells in the stone layer. At the moment, they’re near invisible to me. Maybe colourblind mode could do something for it?

enjoying it a lot though :)

I mean, creative way of contacting me. 10 points for effort

I’ve released a version on github releases, and uploaded to modnexus

github releases: https://github.com/Bigfootmech/Silksong_Skipintro/releases

nexusmods: https://www.nexusmods.com/hollowknightsilksong/mods/82

the zip has a readme if you already have BepInEx installed, you should be fine. If not, readme will help. Or you can look up how to install bepinex

Hey, I got this on Steam, and it was one of my favourite ‘free’ games recently :)

Do you have anywhere I can send you money for it?

Note: that I don’t like Vampire Survivours (or ‘like’ games).

So for me, it starts off on the wrong foot already.

But you can’t always help personal preference.

Attack

I hate that I have no control over the weapon.

It feels like an integral part of a game, but this thing has a mind of its own.

This goes for both timing, and direction.

Hitboxes

The hitboxes also feel wonky.

Maybe partly because of the “no control”.

But between:

• juggling the distance for the scythe to activate,
• it sweeping, and needing to be timed perfectly
• and also it not actually being able to hit because the enemy is too close;

…is just harrowing.

Movement blocked

Finally, the enemies block movement for the character player, which doesn’t feel right.

In horde games, you don’t want the player to be left stranded, or stuck.

In this one, I’ve definitely been not able to move due to enemies hemming me in.

C-C-COMBO

Between the movement block, the hitboxes, and the activation,

I feel like I’m not in control.

But also, I’ve also definitely had enemies get past my scythe, stop my movement, and then I can’t hit them or do anything.

Being bullied by pixels is super un-fun.

Quit

At this point, my will to try the game out any further is kinda not there any more.

And I can give a score to all the score-able categories.

So that’s what I do. And then move on to another game.

After I got in to the game:

It’s a really good go for a 3rd game. Tonnes of work and effort seem to have gone in to it.

Here’s some feedback

Text

There is a lot of text. I’m usually not interested in it, and an option to skip would be nice.

Failing that, Holding the tab button might have been nice, as I have RSI.

And the only way to get through the text is spam-hitting a button. Which is painful for me.

Restart

Repeats whole intro

You have to go through the whole text every time you respawn. This does several things.

• Aggrevates RSI from clicking the ‘continue button’.
• Take the player out of the action.
• Is a frustratingly long setback.

Fail to restart

Restart also stopped working properly after like 4 or 5 respawns. Kept spawning me dead/camera up high.

This can be fixed by reloading the scene, rather than trying to put everything ‘back to its place’.

It’s hit me before. And also pdil (Hunger) this jam.

Though it’s also not a huge issue, because you can just reload the page.

Walking

The ‘default’ walk is too slow to jump between platforms properly.

Which means realistically, you need to keep shift held down the entire time.

This is not fun (finger strain).

An option to toggle to “always run” and shift to slow down would be better… or just not have walk in the first place.

Keybinds

E for shoot

Feels like a forced “one hand” wild card. Even though you didn’t mention it here. But you can rebind it, so that’s nice.

I’d like ‘mouse click’, but I’ll take ‘J’.

Continue

If you bind ‘continue’ to spacebar, it no longer works. Neither does Tab. Meaning you can’t get through the intro text.

And I’ve chewed your ear off enough about it already

Ah! I never would have guessed it was ‘Tab’

Usually it’s click/space/enter/e/f/esc.

But I guess my fault for not checking the page/controls more thoroughly.

The sound is a little better this relaunch? But still buggy in the volume menu. I’ll send you a video on Discord.

Oh, and you may-or-may-not need to check your graphics are in

“Compatibility” (Godot4) or “GLES2” (Godot3) mode

You go to:

Project -> Export… -> Add (button)

Web (Godot 4.4) or HTML5 (Godot 3.6)

Then:

Export Project (button)

name it “index.html”

zip all the files produced

Upload the file to itch.io

Select it as “Play in Browser”

And click the SharedArrayBuffer support at the bottom

The camera control is really nice!

Sorry to hear you couldn’t find a programmer. Usually the discord’s #team-up channel has a tonne floating around looking for artists of various kinds

Would have been nice to see controls somewhere.

• E = interact
• A/D = move left/right, Wall grab
• Space or W = Jump -> Double jump

Finally: I managed to jump out the start level on the right! Wooooo

I didn’t get the point of the game, but it was HILARIOUS!

I loved the duck-and-cover (hold spacebar) sound and animation.

If I wanted one thing, it would have been a “run” feature, as I spent most of my time walking back and forth

Pretty cool for a first entry! Can’t wait to see what you do next

Graphics were interesting.

Music was nice.

Would have liked some sound effects to go with music, but I’ll take what I can get.

Pretty cool first entry guys! Good hustle

Ah yes. Games with drawing.

At first, I thought it was criticizing the size or shape of my richard.

Later I figured out, I needed to not incubate it for quite as long.

I don’t think I really ‘got’ it, but cool game! :thumbsup: