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The game art is nicely done, and the secondary theme interpretation also stands out uniquely among a sea of entries that seem focused on the "obvious" subjects of pirates and treasure and gold and the like. However, the gameplay loop itself is not well explained, rather basic in nature, and even then is brought down by bugs/programming oversights.

I hope you are not discouraged from future projects. There's obvious positives to take away here that you can build off of, but the next project (or update to this one?) can get off on the right foot with a solid functioning gameplay loop, even if it has to start with stick-figure people for graphics at first.

Solid experience with a lot of soul. I do question making the dirt and "air" the same color, as well as the death by old age mechanic, but also in general I had fun mining, which is important for this game to get right.

There's a strong graphical effort, and it's cool that in your first jam you produced something complete and saw it out to the end. I had a hard time being drawn in by the game's overall storyline, though.  It is nonfiction, but it can still benefit from framing with conflict and a goal, or some greater motivation --- i.e. why should the player be so vested in the evolution of gold over the entirety of the universe's timeline?

I think the strongest point here is actually the game's overall ambition. This is not just a simple visual novel, but there's some cutscenes in there too to induce immersion. I hope you are inspired to make more games in the future.

Wait, you got a 14 rarium clear? That's nuts! (EDIT: Just saw the cheese clear on the Driveby level, good job finding that!)

This is essentially an immaculate effort, with multiple aspects/gameplay features that are novel and ingenious not just when viewed in the context of the jam but when viewed in the context of the RPG genre as a whole!  Derived from a unique and fascinating premise, there has been great care taken to build an immersive world, story, and core gameplay loop that each in their own way are executed in extremely satisfying ways. 

Cliff makes for a great protagonist and Elle's design is one-of-a-kind. The story takes place in the future and yet perfectly encapsulates wild west vibes at the same time. The toxicity mechanic in combat compels unique decision-making that isn't seen in other RPGs. The soundtrack is also superb. And there's a save feature to boot!

There are some bugs (Frost relic does not work) and some concerns (the game's battles tend to be difficult while also requiring some open exploration of ambiguous areas, which is slightly frustrating), but these are nitpicks that are easy to look past; holistically this entry stands tall as being top notch!

I'm a bit puzzled at the decision of core gameplay loop here. I think there's top notch graphics and character design, but the nonograms feel like they just "exist" as well. Still, I like the characters and world building and hope to see the characters' stories told in more detail. Consider looking at the Zero Escape series if you need some basis of inspiration for future development.

There's a neat gameplay loop here that naturally induces player engagement which means at its core, the game is compelling and interesting in nature. There's a number of implementation decisions that detract from gameplay feel, however. Particularly, the game is balanced around the player already knowing/being capable of obtaining large amounts of gold from the start while also making travelling horizontally through the mines ( perhaps a sufficient condition for fast mining) unusually awkward. The game's large portraits could be eschewed in favor of smaller ones or better auditory cues for improved "feel" -- in some cases, it is difficult to tell why I'm taking damage and when I'm on invincibility frames. I'm also not particularly fond of moles being able to potentially keep their share for themselves (in view of the comment on game balance made earlier).

Still, the derivation of a novel gameplay loop that induces long playtimes is a great strength this entry boasts that is (with high probability) rare to see from other entries in this jam. Any post-jam work (if you wanted to undertake it) only really needs to focus on refining/tightening the existing gameplay experience.

I’ll look to attempt to recreate the bug and apply a fix in the post-jam update. If you wish to play through a second time, it may help to know that level is known to be solvable even if you start with 0 rarium.

It's hard for us to guard against easy solutions, so we tried to make it so those solutions were "expensive" to go after, preventing you from getting a high score (or in rare cases, forcing you to backtrack). We'll look to write additional puzzles in a post-jam update.

I love the ambition of trying to tell stores in a gameboy-style game even given just 10 days to develop! Jorji in particular stands out as a well-written character. The gameplay loop/overall feel is somewhat simple, but is easily forgiven as a consequence of the high level of immersion afforded by the storytelling.

The game is built on a fascinating interpretation of the theme which leads to a fun core gameplay mechanic. I personally would not have enforced a move limit but don't think this seriously detracts from the experience. The concept can benefit from more levels and better care taken with the music, but levels available to play do a great job of forcing the player to think about their actions ahead of time.

The experience is admittedly coarse around the edges --- aiming eggs is finicky --- but it's built on a solid concept that maintains its high level of quirkiness when translated into game form, and an inspired interpretation of the jam's secondary theme.

The game doesn't try to do anything too crazy, but it executes its core concepts which a high level of polish that is difficult to not appreciate.

Very graphically rich experience, with a solid soundtrack to boot and compelling lore. Simply exploring the city and its outskirts alone is an immersive experience. However, the gameplay itself is rather half-baked and doesn't do much to complement the story. Future development could explore further the aspect of recruiting your own skeleton army to deliver a unique experience, which I would argue is the brighest spot in the game from a gameplay standpoint.

The game at its core is novel in nature, essentially subverting the SHMUP genre by asking you steer a boat with boatlike controls and fire at enemies with just a simple cannon. The pacing is a bit slow, but the core game ends up being surprisingly fun, because the game is balanced around this initial awkwardness; there's real genuine satisfaction when you learn the finesse of steering the boat and start downing enemies. The parallax(?) scrolling also helps to "sell" the immersion of sailing the sea.

The concept is novel in nature

The presentation is somewhat crude, but the gameplay is solidly implemented, and the controls are fairly intuitive. Ultimately, it's fun to play.

It's interesting, but the controls are rather counter-intuitive.

There's charm in the minigames and some neat ideas put forth but also a serious shortcoming in polish. While the most important part of game making is definitely the game, there is an art in QA'ing the game to ensure that it functions properly. I hope in future projects you can work out those polishing skills to deliver a complete package.

This was awesome! Extremely clever game with well thought-out level design and a good amount of polish to go with it. Definitely one of my favorites to come from this jam.

Probably one of the cooler concepts to grace this jam, though the final project is notably rough around the edges. The presentation is rather basic and gameplay decomposes relatively quickly into violently flipping the paddles in the hopes one of those small baseballs doesn't slip through. There's good potential in the concept alone, however, so take this away as a positive from this game.

It's a neat concept, but the project is underscoped in nature.

There's some apparent coarseness here in the presentation, but shooting tomatoes proves to be really fun! Very satisfying gameplay.

This is a neat idea with humorous but captivating presentation.  The gameplay is somewhat simplistic but the controls are tight and responsive, and the game overall is packaged in a nice and neat manner. Nice one!

I suspect the game could benefit from level 5 being pushed to much later as this is a consistent "strangle point" for new players. Some players don't struggle, and this difference of experiences is probably because while the level can be solved in few moves, taking the strategy of immediately solving the bottom half of the puzzle and then trying to solve the other counter-intuitively puts the player *further* away from the intended solution for reasons that could be difficult to grasp at the early stage. My fault for not putting the level that looks like a smiley face before it lol.

The level of immersion here is incredible. You built a whole world and made it *thrive*, which I seriously appreciate. 

Wow! This was amazing to play through!

Credit should be given to the large amount of content and designed assets this game features. This is the most technically impressive game I've played from this jam. The world environment is bit empty, but beating up the bad guys is fun.

The overall package is solid, though I wish there was some verticality added in the mix. The main character's jump proves to not be useful in practice and enemies can entrap you from both sides relatively easily on flat ground. Good visuals and music.

I like the overall idea, but the game seems coarse for an execution of a tried-and-true concept.  In particular, hitbox detection is dodgy and waves can be reliably defeated by waiting out the clock. On the bright side, the visuals are solid and the music is pleasant to listen to.

Very innovative concept with solid gameplay! 

Neat puzzle game with simple presentation.

Although simple, this is easily one of the most well-executed games I've played in this jam. Beautiful graphics, beautiful gameplay, and really good balance too!

This was a neat game! The gameplay feels somewhat "slow", but there's a solid premise + controls and the game does a great job of explaining itself. Most importantly, it's fun.