itch.io

lmaoo

ok but that just shows you focused on the right thing, getting more levels is always exciting as a dev but it's so much more exponentially important to focus on getting the experience polished and packaged in a way that'll leave a good impression even if it's shorter than they anticipated

this is absolutely amazing, the polish on those visuals is so clean, in terms of art direction this is incredibly cohesive, the story has that perfect daunting end of the world vibe, it's very pretentious but I love that about it

honestly no faults whatsoever, except the fact that you're starting to get so invested in the mechanics and the game ends leaving you wanting more, which is obviously a non issue, the puzzle design is just that good

amazing stuff, congrats :>

cool stuff! I think from a design perspective this game is really solid, I had a lot of fun with it!

I think with godot it's a good idea to avoid forcing fullscreen, and instead let the built-in itch fullscreen button do its thing, especially since I feel like it messed with the mouse mask layering to some extent (sometimes buttons were on top of other buttons and I couldn't click on them, every single run died to me not being able to press the x on one specific malware window)

but other than that, this game jam meta game idea fits really well with the theme and is very creative, well done!

this is amazing omg

there's a lot to say, I think the idea is really cool, getting to the source felt incredibly rewarding, overall this is an amazing experience for a jam game (made in 48 hours at that!)

I love the fact that you have to write down what the elder tells you in your own notes to figure out where the source can be, that little extra step makes it actually feel like you're exploring this vast wilderness

I'm not sure if it's intended but there's some kind of screen tearing when you move around, in the desert environment it looks like heat shimmer! If it wasn't intended, it looks really cool by accident lol

when it comes to the upgrades, they do feel a little expensive, especially when you're so incentivised to spend your scrap on information, and every trip basically requires you to die once, so you lose water no matter what
so yeah, I never felt like I wanted to use the forge at all, so maybe that could be an interesting design question, but regardless I had a ton of fun with the core gameplay loop! and that's the most important

And the theme having multiple layers of interpretation is the cherry on top, the story was captivating, really solid stuff all around! congrats yall this is sick

yep this is sick

the game jam strategy of turning anything and everything into a roguelike genuinely has no limits, this is awesome

a lot of the time when making a roguelike with these kinds of choice based mechanics that require the player to think about synergies and whatnot, it's easy to make a lot of stuff that sounds interesting on paper and the player ends up barely reading anything and picking the easiest thing to understand, but I think here it's done very beautifully, the random events are giving you a reason to use all the different upgrades, the UI is very readable which is unbelievably important for a balatro-like, honestly this is stellar

and on top of that it fits the theme perfectly, and the design variety is crazy, every single time I read a new item I was like oooohhh that's sick, that's well designed

just a random thought, imagine an item that allows you to write 6's and 9's without the overhang and only using 5 sticks? I'm especially used to 9's being like that in 7-segment displays so I just thought that could be cool

anyway this is a fantastic jam entry, ++

this was amazing, I'm so happy to see people doing short knowledge-based games for game jams, it's such a unique experience and I absolutely adore playing them

The process of figuring everything out is perfectly laid out in front of you, I had a great time understanding the environment step by step, this is exactly the kind of game I want to see more of

A lot of people mentioned Oneshot and that also stuck out to me immediately, if you haven't played that game you absolutely should, it's less of a time loop knowledge based game and more of a linear story but some of the puzzles really gave me the same vibe yours did

I personally think 60 seconds is perfect for this, the final cycle is pretty tight but in my opinion that's a good thing, and the dialogue and some of the puzzles freezing the timer justifies such a short loop time

and on top of it all the artstyle is super charming, again oneshot vibes all over which is a big nostalgia factor for me

I'll be keeping an eye on your results, this is my favorite entry so far

amazing idea, incredibly chaotic all the time and still very confusing in terms of the inner workings of everything but I think that works in favor of the aesthetic choices and the early internet maximalist vibe it's supposed to have

genuinely had so much fun playing this, stellar work from everyone involved

oh yeah this one's really good

with these puzzle mechanics it's easy to get swept up in the difficulty and focus on interesting puzzle design too quickly, so I appreciate that this was more of a short narrative experience with really easy puzzles, it works perfectly for a game jam like this

the voice acting was good, the music in the menu is honestly dope, just a super solid entry all around, nice work

really fun concept! The artstyle fits super well

unfortunately I couldn't finish it because every time I tried, Naomi would be stuck on the same "ask password" dialogue even when I already made her coffee, I'm not sure if I'm just missing something or not

But overall I can definitely see the effort that was put in, it's a really nice entry to the jam

gosh this ticks all the right boxes for me, perfect idea perfect execution, I think everything in this game is well thought out and the chaotic stress of having to do everything all at once is actually made fun thanks to the difficulty progression and the stylistic fluff around it (love the visual artstyle especially)

admittedly it took me a while to understand you had to click on the calendar days, and also when I clicked on the phone the first time I didn't know what it was for and I thought I had soft locked myself... oops

but apart from that it's a phenomenal entry, congrats yall! 

platformers are really hard to make feel good, I think it's not too bad, but it really took me a while to understand the hitboxes and the distance travelled relative to the button presses, my initial thought was: I wish it didn't go full speed as soon as I press a direction, and instead took a few frames to accelerate, so that you can more reliably do small taps and move by a pixel (especially in this game where so many jumps require line ups of some kind)

I think overall you do get used to it and it does get fun trying to beat the levels but as a game jam submission it is mega risky, and that's always something I like to value to compensate for the ratings

but despite my nitpicks I gotta say, it's 100% fair, it's very technical but once you get it you can speedrun through the whole game and that's a nice plus

this is cool! I really enjoyed the story and I think everything fits well together from an artistic standpoint, I really appreciate the optional nature of some of those harder timed challenges

I think top down platforming is always a bit tricky to find the right balance for when it comes to mechanics and smooth controls but this felt good, honestly a super solid entry

ok this is pretty fun! I really wish there was more to do, or at least that the difficulty would increase over time

the leaderboard is a really nice addition

this just screams like yall had fun making this and I love that about it

lots of potential here, I can see how deep these mechanics can go and congrats on making such an interesting puzzle game, I always appreciate those a lot

I think difficulty is the main thing holding it back right now, some of these mechanics could be explored in 10 individual easier levels before getting to the "interesting" levels, that sort of thing is absolutely necessary to ease players in especially if puzzle games aren't so much their thing

I think it gets harder too quickly, if you will (and for a game jam, hard levels aren't so well received in general, just something to keep in mind)

also make sure your UI scales with the window!! on high res monitors you can barely see anything

overall tho this is sick, flipping an hourglass is a goldmine for puzzle concepts I've noticed lol

ok ngl for a first game this is crazy

I love the 3D environments, like it has a really defined aesthetic and the enemy design is genuinely really cool

play into your strengths for the future you got the chops for 3D environment design

really cool game, the movement feels super smooth, definitely a speedrun heavy concept which I like a lot

escaped in 2 minutes lol no idea how you're doing it in 39 seconds but ig that just shows how much more depth there is to it

really nice work

very creative puzzle game, I think it's a great take on the theme, also hourglasses are pretty cool

could be very well expanded upon, lots of potential for design iteration

ok this is AMAZING I desperately wish I was smart enough to figure these out but the concept and take on the theme is super clever and unique

great sound work as well

ok this is really nice, gameplay loop is very polished

I guess it did take me a while to realize how far down I could actually dig, and also that the usable items weren't single-use... oops

and despite all that effort they still took my house away?? unbelievable

anyway, very solid entry, presentation is clean, the digging sound is crisp, loved it

cool stuff! definitely a fun charming concept narratively that lends well to the theme

mechanically very simple but effective I like it

siiick

this is honestly just a standout solid entry overall, fun combat, fun concept, everything is fun (reminded me of ultrakill a lot)

and the music omg the music, I could listen to that menu track forever

really cool stuff! A great showing for a potential more complete game in the future but the artwork is great, I had a lot of fun

the idea of depleting your light by shooting, and shooting being both used for enemies and lamps, is a really good design concept that can be taken to great depths if explored further

fantastic game, I adooore how the simple mechanic evolves over time with subtle variation and it's just such a perfect jam entry, a short little proof of concept that just leaves you smiling

I think as simple as it is, it deserves full marks across the board, it's so moody and beautiful, this is such a prime example of the kind of game people should make for game jams, you absolutely nailed it

planet sploded

amazing game honestly, I had a lot of fun! Boss design is hard to make feel good but this was spot on, the difficulty was perfect, everything felt fair, and I was stoked when I managed to do it, huge props this is sick

chrome, yeah it's very weird

if this doesn't win seriousness WE RIOT

seriously tho great game, out of all the chair spinning games I played, this has the most comfortable controls, I just wish we could see our guy's orientation through walls but that's a small nitpick

the humour is on point, the music with all the corporate talk vocal samples really nailed the fever dream aesthetic, genuinely everything works perfectly together here and I hope it scores well on all fronts, good stuff

this is great! love the artstyle, very nice and short, I think the difficulty is a little daunting at first but the path is always fairly straightforward, the concern is mostly a motivation thing where it's easy to feel overwhelmed when loading into the later levels, but that's a natural thing with this kind of puzzle progression, it looks very busy very fast, but once you actually go through it's really nice

Resetting the level doesn't work for some reason? All the progress bars are broken for me, I'd be curious to know if I'm the only one this happened to, and why, I can't skip the opening sequence either, it's like they're trying to fill but randomly stop up to like 30% of the way, sometimes they don't even start filling in to begin with, very strange

Nothing game breaking tho, other than that, super clean game

wow... this hits deep despite the simplicity

the pacing is perfect

wish I had more to say, but it does leave you kinda speechless, which is something to be proud of

gosh this is amazing

stellar presentation, I honestly think this is a perfect entry to the jam, the theme was incorporated in the best way, and you just can't help but smile playing as this lil guy

obviously the nostalgia factor helps but nah this is so clean 10/10

alright this is awesome so I'm gonna try to talk through everything I could think about

Conceptually I think there's crazy potential with this, I especially liked how the audio actually reflected the harmonics being tuned to the music, it's a very nice detail that I think carried my enjoyment throughout, also the adaptive music across the chapters was a really nice touch

Personally I'm a little sensitive to panned drums, I think especially for this kind of edm you want your drums to be very front and center, this kinda felt like one of those 8D rotating music videos and it felt a little gimmicky (but maybe that's just me, also maybe it's supposed to leave space for the sine waves, I can't complain if that's the case)

otherwise the music is really good

As many have pointed out the controls did feel a little confusing, but I like to think the confusion was intended for challenge, if it was a simple x-y coordinate conversion it would be way too trivial so I actually kinda like that there's weird unpredictable inertia (even if I'm guessing it wasn't intended that way)

Visual communication isn't perfect as you mentioned below and could help a lot in that regard, but I think the attempt to make a gameplay loop related to audio engineering concepts in general is so risky for a massively non-musician audience that I have to respect it - one thing that maybe could've helped is making the spinning slower? It looks very jittery even in the windows build, but I imagine the speed is related to the actual frequency sooo yea idk, something to think about

The fact that there's multiple different ways to see the frequency as you change it is also a risky move because it can clutter the screen a lot and it can be tough to quickly intuit where to go and what to do, but it makes thematic sense (it's supposed to be a really complicated control panel only Alanteria knows how to work with after all)

On my initial playthrough I only looked at the target frequency and tried to precisely match it, it took a bit of time but it was while I was still figuring everything out, and then the second time through I could speedrun the levels by looking at the circles position for big differences and the error value for small differences. Everything eventually had a purpose, which is really cool, but it did require me to play the game through twice. Maybe you could add some incentive to speedrun a couple levels, if you ever wanted to continue working on it? or some other way to incentivise looking at different parts of the screen, I think the game feels best when you try not to be precise and just do it by feeling, which I never tried to do when I finished the game the first time around (and that first time around was a tiiiny bit boring)

And story-wise I love how grand and overblown it is, but again, it's a weird balance to strike between thematic fluff and clear gameplay directives, the lore exposition between every chapter is very in your face and it's a little scary at first because it feels like you're required to read everything to play the game, when actually no not really, in my mind it could've been a dedicated side panel that you can choose to open to learn more, or something like that

Anyway, great game, could easily be expanded upon especially if you introduce other audio engineering related concepts, it's an absolute gold mine if you decide to go in that direction, but I digress

this was a very rambly comment but I really liked your game, nice work

grandma made it to heaven... such a very serious emotional journey, so serious I shed a tear... 10/10

This made my speedrunner brain very happy

I don't think I can overstate how good this feels, making a platformer is deceptively hard but this just ticks all the right boxes gameplay-wise, audio is phenomenal, it has a very distinct look and excels in visual communication

5 stars all around, super serious game

thank you for making this game

seeing a lot of activity on the discord surrounding it so I thought why not give it a try? Absolute banger, this is exactly the kind of game that deserves to win game jams, it's a huge risk because we often prioritize quick and fun gameplay loops but this kind of self contained puzzle adventure can give a greater payoff than any other game could (and it absolutely did)

The theme was super well incorporated into the design of this too, and figuring out the mechanics themselves as a gameplay concept is really hard to balance but it's done so well here, I can't stress enough how much of an incredible example you're setting

and I LOVE the pretentiousness, we need more pretentious games with crazy self-important lore building, genuinely a 10/10

interesting concept! I think for a game jam you did very well if this is your second game

auto rotation as a core concept can be super unique if done correctly, I imagine it as like a rail shooter except it loops around (how cool is that??) I think this game has a lot of design space to iterate

This is a very serious game. It was a pleasure to engage in this audiovisual experience, very excited about further growth opportunities.

this is fun! very creative theme interpretation, and huge props for making everything yourself!

I think the difficulty is perfectly balanced here which is a really hard thing to get down, especially for a game jam so yeah nice work

this is pretty cool! Definitely a concept that deserves expanding on, maybe with a slower progression that lets you start out with only 1 or 2 normal bullets and the rest is empty so the special bullets you buy are a lot more strategic and impactful

I really think you can take this far, I can see the vision, nice work

Out of all the games I played this jam this is the one I had the most fun on

The only feedback I can bring up is sometimes my quick scopes were a little too quick and registered as noscopes but whatever man it's a tiny thing, just gotta understand the timing for it

Stellar presentation, incredible concept and theme interpretation, genuinely loved every second of it

the game feel is perfect, every little particle and animation adds to the flavor of everything and it's all so cohesive, the sounds are crispy clean, 5 stars all around

this game is the very unique position of being really hard but not unfair and gives the player a very accurate idea of what the game offers despite its difficulty gating

I think bullet hell games in general have a very niche target audience and so I'm maybe not the biggest authority on critiquing one but I had fun playing a couple waves! For a first game this is super impressive, keep it up!

interesting stuff! very cool atmosphere, you nailed the classic itchio horror game vibe and there's massive potential with this concept

this is probably the most immersive game I've played so far in this jam, really well done