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Thank for sharing your imagery while listening. I listened to my track as I read along to your description and it was very cool to experience your point of view. Especially the bit about "quiet local shops that stand in peaceful overgrowth now, where there are only memories of past lives bustling here". 

That was definitely a concept that came up often as I was writing, the contrast between the hopeful adventure of those who left behind the great city, the slow demise of the city because it grew too big to care for its inhabitants. and, ages later, how the city became a remnant joining the cycle of birth and rebirth.  

Appreciate the kind words, thanks for listening! Love your entry as well, just gave it a rating. Will be sure to check out your other work :)

Yooo, thank you!

I think it was a free drop from Splice. They do like a drop of three premium VSTs per month or so, each one from a larger pack. So not sure if it's still free. But they have a pretty decent selection of free cello and string packs. But check out "Rust Bow" under their "Ambient Guitars" pack, also free. Has  a very cool, raw string sound!

Thank you, appreciate the kind words! Totally agree, the piece could do with more movement and development, really wish I caught the jam earlier! At the very least, the jam encouraged me to lay down this framework and I have something cool to sharpen up post-jam.

Thanks for the the listen and feedback!

Fuck yeahh, "Weaponized Adrenaline" got me really pumped. Feels like something from Hotline Miami.

Great entry, love the variety of vibes you got down while keeping the narrative personality throughout. Great work!

Yoo, loving the vibe of this! Really adds to the narrative you wrote. Got a really nice retro, city feel. Tracks have great flow and sick swells. Got some phat beats going on "Computer Lab", digging it. One of my favourite entries so far, nice work!

This was a super fun and unique entry, enjoyed it :)

The Three Stages was my favourite, loved the atmospheric eeriness. Also, sick video! Liked the intensity of Bacchus the Augur, definitely has some cool 2000s energy! I would say Forest Cantical wasn't as strong as the other pieces, but overall this was a fun entry to listen, with a very cool and unique take on the theme.

Nice work!

Beautiful and very magical! Love how it travels between fantastical and very tender melodies. A joy to listen. Reminds me a bit of Ori and the Blind Forest :)

Like the snare work on Village. Loved the Whimsy of The Forest, a little bit like Yann Tiersen. But Garden of Light was my favourite, loved the tenderness and organic keys.

Can definitely feel the narrative thread throughout the album, which was sick. One thing I'd say is that I felt if very suddenly got dark near the end, almost abruptly. And a would have been cool to have resolution after the final battle, be it hopeful or melancholic.

But all in all, this is great work!

Much appreciated, thanks for listening! And hope so too, very keen to flesh this out properly :)

Thank you, really appreciate the kind words and feedback!

100% on the motif. I really wanted to explore using motifs a bit more in this jam, as I tend to improv a lot when making music that I think comes from my background of playing in a band where we tend to improv a lot when jamming to figure out new songs. I really love it in films or games where there is a strong, recognisable motif for a character or place so wanted to dive deeper there. 

But I knew it was a bit stark and repetitive for this piece. I was still busy exploring ways of evolving it, for instance just reversing the chord note progressions, which already yielded interesting results, but time ran out.

And yes, getting in some more melodic flavour and a bit more progressions is def something I still want to explore with this piece, really enjoyed working on this.

Yeah, super bummed I caught so late. Especially since I felt so inspired by this theme! But def keen to still work on this piece post jam.

Regarding the abrupt shifts, I totally agree. That's the one thing I struggled with a bit and still wanted to remedy.

Like this first pause I felt was quite impactful (shifting from the soft lyre bit to the explosive orchestral section), but initially leaned to hard into it for the other pauses, and didn't find a satisfying crossover yet. Listened to to a lot of classical composers, like Handel and Beethoven, this week and it's amazing how masterfully their pieces flow between sections.

Yeah, I think repetition was another thing I wanted to work on. I do love the hypnotic effect of a repetitive melody, but there needs to be some evolution and melodic colouring to make it not feel stagnant, and that I think is the next thing I want to work on with this piece post jam, really figuring out that evolution. C418 is a great example of what I mean.

Thanks so much for the kind words! Appreciate the listen and the feedback :)

Thank you, appreciate the listen and feedback!

Yeah, also feel it needs something a bit more melodically. Listening to some of the other similar tracks in this jam, there some great subtle work done behind the main melodies, which I've really been enjoying. Adds so much depth. Def want to do a post-jam version and really nail down those intricacies. And a good bias to have, it's called "attention-grabbing for a reason"!

A beautifully rich and emotive piece. Getting John Williams vibes. Nice work :)

Thank you! 

Definitely wanted to add more! Caught the jam a bit late so was a little strapped for time. Currently, I'd say this is the basic structure and the idea was to take this and start adding a bit more richness and variation, find some more instruments to work in but alas time was not on mhy side. Super keen to jump into this and flesh it out properly for a post-jam version. Haven't really done a piece like this and had a blast creating it.

Thanks for the listen and feedback, appreciate it!

Great entry! Loved the production and fullness of the tracks. Feels very story rich. Thoroughly enjoyed this, my favourite entry so far, stellar work!

I think "A Whispering Past" was my favourite, magical :)

This was cool. 

"The reason this world was forgotten" and " A4rdable_Soul.TGT".  The other songs weren't as strong for me and felt a bit all over the place, but then you ended off strong (especially liked track 3).

Also the most unique entry I've listened to so far, which was a nice change of pace.

Love the look of your project page.!

Great work!

Lovely entry, and a solid amount done for such short time! Quite intricate. Enjoyed Human Nature in the context of the OST. One thing I could add is maybe some more variety in percussion, there was a specific instrument and pattern that felt quite repeated throughout. 

All in all, great work :)

Great for you first try! Got a a Fable-esque vibe so got the fantasy adventure theme down. 

I would try and explore a some other VSTs. There are some great free ones, especially strings, that would add a more authentic flare. Also, would work a bit on the flow. There were some abrupt changes and sudden stops that felt a bit uncomfortable.

Enjoyed this. Great effort and keep at it!

Simple and relaxing. Dig it!

Could actually see myself getting lost in the this if there was some sense of progression,  and some music that settles you in the experience. The art style is charming. Maybe some map and/or character changes. With some tinkering, I think this could be solid cozy game vibe.

A restart button would be sick. I feel like you enter a flowstate pretty quickly, would nice to keep the momentum going. Nice work!

This was wild! Need some god-like reflexes. Love the retro art style and damnnn satisfying hitting and chaining those boosts! Nice work!

Sick tunes! Once you get the hang of the controls, it's really fun navigating the tucking/leaning mechanic and surfing your way through the gravity wells! 

"Slow down yee muppet!"

Brilliant, and oozing with personality! Super fun and loving the voice overs.  Art, music, and everything came together in a really polished experience. Nice work!

Much appreciated!

Thank you, appreciate the play!

Thank you! Yeah, it seems the game's a bit more challenging than anticipated, lol! I think the key is to abuse the crap out of the slowmo. That being said, I barely got 2 min in my best run :)

Ah, Freeway! Damn, what a blast from the past! I'm not old either, I promise! Really appreciate the kind words and taking the time to play!

Haha, dude, I know! Should have spent some time on smoothing the movement out. The player object felt a bit unwieldly when you slowmo'd. I guess a bit of acceleration / deceleration should have worked there. Glad you dug the tunes. Only managed do to a small loop because of time, but think it came out nicely in terms of not feeling too repetitive.

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for playing!!

Indeed, I realised as I neared the deadline that the slow-down mechanic was quite a pivotal part of the gameplay. The  slowmo came in after I laid down the base collect and dodge game. Like the idea of pickups for instant refills!

The suggestion for an SFX cue when the meter is refilled again is great , seems so obvious now. Another thing I think is sorely needed is some kind of warning when the timer is nearing zero, so that player doesn't need constantly look up to check. In both cases, SFX cues would enrich the experience quite a bit.

Yeah, difficulty was another thing I struggled with. I barely got it over 2min and thought okay that might be a good jam duration. Didn't want to make it too easy so that it felt boring, and think I wanted to push people to rely a bit more on the slowmo. But I think, at the very least, a gradual build up of obstacle speed would have been a good and easy enough addition.

Will have to look into that tutorial bug, you're the first to mention in. Thanks for highlighting!

Thanks for playing and really appreciate the detailed feedback! Makes me amped to jump back into this post-jam and flesh out some of these suggestions.

Damnnn rad entry!

Super intuitive design. Felt really cool pushing and prodding the various devices to figure and what was going on, and the moment every snapped together. Beautiful. 

In general, from the narrative to the gameplay, there was just enough info to intrigue me, but ambiguous enough to leave a satisfying sense of mystery.

Love the overall atmosphere. Art and sfx all complemented each other well.  Also neat that there was an end game to reach. 

Well scoped and polished experience. Great work!

Ah, dudes, loving the vibes of this!

Have to admit, it's super challenging. I'm embarrassed to say, I couldn't make it pass level 2! I think a bit more of a gradual difficulty curve would be cool. See there were still so many level to discover.

It took a while to figure out building up momentum helps you cover a decent amount of ground. But damn, poor Count is gonna wake up wondering what the hell he went through while sleeping, lol.

Really loved the general atmosphere, the art and music all felt very appropriate. And just the general retro platformer vibe with unique mechanics felt like a satisfying experience. Liked the level design, and can imagine some really cool obstacles being incorporated into this idea.

Think this would also be pretty neat with a controller (not just because I need to spare my spacebar any additional bashing).

Great entry!

Some cooool vibes here. Dig the air traffic control sound bites  playing in the background. 

Audio was a bit glitchy, I think I've had the same issue on browser with certain sounds. But, the general retro audioscape with button sfx, the sound clips, etc. created a rad analogue atmosphere. Really dug that! The visuals complemented it well. 

RE gameplay, was a bit unsure what dictated the success percentage of a roll, so there was a bit of guessing involved. Dug the core loop, though! I found myself constantly rerolling and placing upgrades, even thought I wasn't always entirely sure how it all contributed. 

Pretty cool, dude. With some fleshing out and leaning into the retro/analogue vibes, I think there's something here.

Very cool atmosphere and interesting idea! Admittedly, felt a bit lost. I would sometimes record a loss when I'm sure I should have made a profit. The number on the clock also confused me a bit, like trying to figure out the prices between the main ones marked out made my brain melt a bit, haha.

Would also be cool to see somewhere on the UI how much the entry fee for a round is (not just the quick pop at start of round), so you can kind of keep track of what you need to cover beyond the item's profit margin.

And think it feels a bit like a guessing game / gambling game, would be nice to have some like info or something to see how the much the AI wants the given product. But did read through your Dev Log and sounded like that was the eventual idea.

I can definitely see what you were going for here, and really dig it! I think with a bit more fleshing out and seeing what other mechanics could be introduced to keep things interesting, this could end up with an addictive loop! 

I felt really cozy and ready to get settled into this bidding war, which is great start! Think I would have mainly liked a bit more strategy required :)

Sick, this was one of my favourite entries so far. Very cool narrative, definitely reminded my of Stanley Parable/Dr Langeskov-type games, both of which I love! Also, dig love the pixel art style!

Was very cool to discover that you could replay the scenarios with new endings. However, I am yet to figure out beyond the cookie jar one. It didn't seem like there was alternative things for me to do going forward? Are you supposed to end the cookie jar one is a certain by before the other unlock?

All in all, love to see all the passion that went into this one. Great job!

Damn, what a cool, unique, and fun concept! Love the energy and creative puzzles.

Think some kind of end game or score would be cool. I realised it eventually just loops the same levels, so with some progressions structure I think this can be a really awesome reflex puzzler. Nice!

And yes, the music was sick!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Ahh, super stoked you dig it! Really appreciate the kind words :)

Yeah, gradual progression was exactly one of the things I still wanted to get down, but got side tracked with balancing the frequency and strength health pickups in the last stretch. Took way longer than expected, and then my brain just couldn't handle any more lol.

Appreciate the play!

Yoo, appreciate it! Pretty stoked with the animation! Took quite a while of tinkering to get it right, so glad you liked it. And, damn, took ages to get that tutorial down.

Thanks for playing :)

Very cute and cozy vibe! Dig the narrative elements. All the writeups were really fun to read. Game has a lot of personality! Definitely it's strongest point. Also, very appropriate synth choice for a cat-themed game :)

I was a bit confused by gameplay, though. Feel like I did exactly what the instructions asked, but I was met with what sounded like failure messages after each round. But was still continued to next level regardless?

Also, not sure what the deal with the cats were, although not complaining, they are more than welcome :) They didn't seem to affect anything negatively? Not sure if there are any interactions involved with them?

And then I'd say a bit more feedback via sounds, visuals or some kind of message just to indicate that a job was completed. Felt a bit like I was hoping I was doing things right but was never too sure.

Much appreciated! Pretty chuffed with the banner myself :)

Yeah, I think average playtime is about 40 sec - 1min, so short is right on point, haha. I think I could have done a bit more balancing, or maybe a gradual increase in difficulty. So hard to tell sometimes when you design it 'cause you play it over and over and can't tell what's difficult or not anymore.

Thanks for feedback and playing!

Thank you!!

Yeah, I think maybe a bit of gradual build up in speed or just maybe a little less speed in general might have helped a bit. I also did feel like had trouble navigating the smaller, finer movements. I think my best run was just over two minutes, and I played it A LOT. So, just over 1 min is pretty decent and what I'd expect :)

Indeed, it does feel a bit discouraging when you're not sure why you lost, like you're not sure what to keep in mind for the next round.

Awesome, thanks for playing and providing feedback!

This was super sick! Really well polished, unique, and intriguing. Loved the art and music/sfx, very immersive. Vibes in general were right up my alley.

The tutorial was great and well paced! By the time I was left on my own, I felt totally clued up. Game has a very addictive and intuitive loop, was really easy to jump back in and give it another go. Loved it.

Some thoughts as they popped up:

1. The card buy screen often only offered too expensive cards, while I got only one or maybe two cards knowledge cards. So couldn't do anything there when I first entered. I think balancing so that there is always a bit more knowledge and cheaper cards available in the beginning. So you can always ease players in with a bit more satisfaction before things get harder.

2. Really appreciate the ability to cancel card! Would be cool to mention it as a hint or tutorial bit somewhere! Unless I missed it.

3. Love the trade off between a card's pros and cons, but would be cool if there were cards with just straight up positives. I caught myself thinking is the trade offs worth it or should I rather just face the luck of the draw. Admittedly this was after I summoned two massive squids that completely obliterated me. Thinking of when I played Hearthstone, or the Fallout perks - the ones with tradeoffs had pretty interesting synergy's you could exploit so that the negative impact didn't feel like too much of a punishment. Then again, maybe that harshness is just the vibe of the game.

4. The screen scaled off the borders a bit on the card-buy screen, but only slightly. 

5. Would like some SFX or visual element that alerts you when time is almost up. Got caught off guard once because I was busy strategising with cards.

6. Feedback on why I died. Not always sure if it was time or damage. 

7. Ritual seems a bit rare. Think I played four times, and three out of the four I  didn't have enough ritual to restart the clock!

All in all, amazing effort dude! For a solo game jam effort, this was damn solid! I can see this becoming something I would sink hours into!