Great art! It wasn't so clear to me what sharpen and train did, though I kept buying them anyway. The quotas for paying the debt got to be quite difficult for me to hit very fast. I think I tried to let the kobolds do most of the work rather than me clicking, but it was hard for them to not hit the red (I was hoping "train" would make them more accurate). Cool concept for this type of game
Your description really really helped with learning to play the game! And I really like the concept. I never managed to get the one character who starts at only blocking down to 50 :(
Of course this game would remind me of slay the spire, but I do think it is an cool choice to have any character take the action cards, and do something slightly different depending on the character, because it can lend a lot of strategy!
Cool art and music! I found the story confusing, I'm not sure if it requires more knowledge of Roman mythology to grasp (particularly I don't know who the characters besides Saturn are)
Probably the weakest part of the game in my opinion was the boss fight. The timing felt weird to dodge the attacks, but because of the checkpoint just before the boss (which I'm thankful you included) it wasn't frustrating.
Also, in terms of bugs, the music cut out at some point for me, and didn't start back up until I got to the bottom. Don't really remember how it happened but it might've been after I reached the bottom the first time and chose not to ascend, then started a new run? I'm not sure
Totally feel that, each year we've ended up with games that are either way too hard or way too easy, difficulty is a very hard thing to refine in such a short time period
I love the narrative interpretation of the theme. Very creepy house! And sad we won't find out what's behind the boarded up doors :(. To be honest, the tension was mostly lost for me by the third time I had to hide, especially because there are so many places to hide that I never felt truly in danger. Great game!
Penguin Hero will remember me. This game is quite difficult, especially because of the snake controls and the amount of bombs present. However, the mechanics are actually quite interesting. At first glance, bombs blowing up adjacent bombs is a pretty obvious feature, but it ends up being really important for properly chaining combos and creates a risk/reward factor where you want to create a big chain of bombs to attack, but need to do so without blowing yourself up in the process.
So hard haha! I managed to beat it, but it did require such quick reflexes. Love the Baba is You-esque art style. Simple and minimalist in a perfect way
This game was a nice break from a lot more frantic games. I'm not sure I've actually seen any other games where you play as the countdown itself yet. This game was so charming, and I love the message at the end, but also each scene itself conveyed its own emotion. The first wobbling grandfather clock scene actually made me slow down a lot because I didn't want it to fall down. I loved all of the variations that arise based on how fast you count down the timer (I feel like the band changing its speed depending on you is underappreciated). The art style is also beautiful, and I love the sound design. Beautiful game, one of my favorites
The concept in this game of a tower defense where towers are on timers is brilliant, and has a ton of room to be expanded upon. The art style is great and the music/sfx are wonderful (I laughed at the insane amount of reverb on the death screen). It could definitely be made more difficult, such as by making towers cost more (or enemies give less coins), or make the lily repair cost increase exponentially to some degree. Also tougher enemies. Still, I really like this one!
I like the perspective and the music. I found I didn't end up using the rewind mechanic so much, I found it a bit difficult to really utilize it. The kick was hard to figure out how it worked until I read a comment saying you need space between yourself and what you're kicking (I kept thinking I needed to be closer).
The name Jimothy is so cute haha Pretty simple game difficulty-wise, I didn't ever feel in danger of running out of trash, but I could see the concept getting more complex. Still fun!
The writing in this game is top-notch, and is an amazing use of the theme. It was hilarious (even if depressing and somewhat relatable), especially since I kept some people in there until about 8am the next day. The gameplay is also pretty unique! I'm glad there was a tutorial, but (imagining this game as a full release) it would be nice to at least start in a smaller office so that there's less going on once it starts getting going. Things felt super hectic and I had a hard time keeping track of it all, but if it built up to that a bit I think it would be a fun, controlled chaos. Great work!
I love the change in the gameplay when you start going back up! It's interesting how the concept from when you were going down gets remixed into something new, and dodging the light beams was fun
Short but fun! I think the controls were done really well, I think that's my favorite part of the game. I realize it's supposed to feel bumbling, but I was still surprised at how natural the combination of keyboard and mouse controls felt. The art is also fun, I like it. I think I would've liked more consequences for the buttons I pressed, like the windshield wipers. Otherwise it felt like, narratively, most of the buttons weren't actually doing anything.
However I didn't feel like the theme was taken advantage of too much here, the countdown did not feel like a major source of stress or changed the gameplay in any particular way
Very creative use of countdown, making the playing field smaller as it goes down! I was a bit confused originally about what was hurting me though. I also didn't really figure out the point of the timer. I think it would be good if the player accumulated thetinium faster, because I found myself dying consistently around wave 3 and not earning much to be able to get farther (it becomes quite the bullet hell!). Also like the art!
The setup is hilarious, and made better by the death effect. The visuals are nice (love the cel shading), but the terrain can be janky at times. It would be nice to have some way to help get the bus unstuck
We're definitely interested to hear about the crashes! I think we've found all the places where significant lag has happened, but I don't think we've seen the crashes you mention. If you have any thoughts of where to look, please let us know!
Yes it would definitely be interesting to look into the lag spike after the game jam! Sorry it's been causing trouble, it was surprising to see it was a problem besides the main menu screen start up, since almost everything is already loaded in behind the main menu screen.
WHAT DOES THE FISH CARD DO? I NEED TO KNOW! Also, I would love to see more of this! I played cards counting down, but I wasn't sure if there was some other method of playing different card orders or manipulating the stack.
I think what stood out for me wasn't just the creative level design or the unified art style, but the really great progression of each level, each one being progressively more difficult. This always feels difficult to do during a game jam, did you specifically test the level ordering to get the difficulty curve right?!
Pico 8! I've been wanting to make a game with this engine, and you have made a really amazing one especially within the limitations of the engine and the game jam! It's slightly tricky to tell how many you can use per level when you start off with so many actions. I love the little hat on the main character.
I liked the music! It felt exactly right for the game, and the sunlight rays were great :D Cool choice to go for a metroidvania in such a short game jam time!
Really enjoyed the game, really liked the concept. The game had a satisfying ending, it felt really rewarding to step on all the green buttons once you've finished. Was stumped a little bit on some of the levels for some time but the levels felt like a good difficulty. My main complaint is that there aren't more levels lol, which means it was a really fun game. Great job! -GV
Also great use of the theme, especially because the feathers left by the double jump are relatively collectable, and pretty good puzzle design! Glad I got to see this game.
Great use of the theme! I can't tell whether the movement controls are a good or a bad idea, but they definitely make sure you think about your move before you do them.
I love the art style! It really makes it clear what things are dangerous when they are such bright colors. It reminds me a lot of the original downwell color scheme :D
I think my favorite part of this game is that it might feel overwhelming, but when an enemy drops a bomb, suddenly the odds can get evened out so quickly!
