itch.io

The box-in-a-box concept of game progression with the player becoming ever smaller to explore further room is great. Pixel art, both 2D and 3D is blended with the minimalistic achromatic 3D environment in a tasteful way, with minimal conceptual problems (i.a. inconsistency in the use of black - both to indicate interactables required to progress and newly-created platforms). The artwork is great to look at, although I do not feel that panties were a necessary addition to the player sprite.

However, any failures in the game's main mechanic, 3D platforming, are more punishing than they should, in my opinion, because of the character slow movement speed. If you fall, it is a long way to the point where you have been. It also discourages exploration when in minimised state - it takes too long to e.g. circumnavigate a bed for it to feel worthwhile.

The change in the detail level/depth when entering a new room is noticeable, but not too jarring.

I have managed to get the 'stop dillydallying' message, which was a nice touch.

All in all, nice looking game with a good concept, although I did not feel engaged with its main mechanic, being more frustrated than content with. At the same time I do have a skill issue when it comes to platforming.

Bugs

Some flickering issues connected and camera out of bounds problems.

Additionally, I have managed to enter the Large Door Basement (name mine). To reproduce:

1. Get to the first portal room (the one with the goal box inside a drawer)
2. Stand before the portal
3. Manoeuvre the camera to get the "Press E" prompt and click "E"
4. The drawer will close. Now you have entered "Drawer Hell" (name mine). Your movement options become limited, with you being stuck inside the drawer. At last, with some more opening and closing of the drawer, only strafing left or right remained. Keep opening and closing the drawer, as well as wiggling about.
5. You should start sinking. After some more sinking, you'll finish the bug reproduction and fall here:

The box-in-a-box concept of game progression with the player becoming ever smaller to explore further room is great. Pixel art, both 2D and 3D is blended with the minimalistic achromatic 3D environment in a tasteful way, with minimal conceptual problems (i.a. inconsistency in the use of black - both to indicate interactables required to progress and newly-created platforms). The artwork is great to look at, although I do not feel that panties were a necessary addition to the player sprite.

However, any failures in the game's main mechanic, 3D platforming, are more punishing than they should, in my opinion, because of the character slow movement speed. If you fall, it is a long way to the point where you have been. It also discourages exploration when in minimised state - it takes too long to e.g. circumnavigate a bed for it to feel worthwhile.

The change in the detail level/depth when entering a new room is noticeable, but not too jarring.

I have managed to get the 'stop dillydallying' message, which was a nice touch.

All in all, nice looking game with a good concept, although I did not feel engaged with its main mechanic, being more frustrated than content with. At the same time I do have a skill issue when it comes to platforming.

Bugs

Some flickering issues connected and camera out of bounds problems.

Additionally, I have managed to enter the Large Door Basement (name mine). To reproduce:

1. Get to the first portal room (the one with the goal box inside a drawer)
2. Stand before the portal
3. Manoeuvre the camera to get the "Press E" prompt and click "E"
4. The drawer will close. Now you have entered "Drawer Hell" (name mine). Your movement options become limited, with you being stuck inside the drawer. At last, with some more opening and closing of the drawer, only strafing left or right remained. Keep opening and closing the drawer, as well as wiggling about.
5. You should start sinking. After some more sinking, you'll finish the bug reproduction and fall here:

The box-in-a-box concept of game progression with the player becoming ever smaller to explore further room is great. Pixel art, both 2D and 3D is blended with the minimalistic achromatic 3D environment in a tasteful way, with minimal conceptual problems (i.a. inconsistency in the use of black - both to indicate interactables required to progress and newly-created platforms). The artwork is great to look at, although I do not feel that panties were a necessary addition to the player sprite.

However, any failures in the game's main mechanic, 3D platforming, are more punishing than they should, in my opinion, because of the character slow movement speed. If you fall, it is a long way to the point where you have been. It also discourages exploration when in minimised state - it takes too long to e.g. circumnavigate a bed for it to feel worthwhile.

The change in the detail level/depth when entering a new room is noticeable, but not too jarring.

I have managed to get the 'stop dillydallying' message, which was a nice touch.

All in all, nice looking game with a good concept, although I did not feel engaged with its main mechanic, being more frustrated than content with. At the same time I do have a skill issue when it comes to platforming.

Bugs

Some flickering issues connected and camera out of bounds problems.

Additionally, I have managed to enter the Large Door Basement (name mine). To reproduce:

1. Get to the first portal room (the one with the goal box inside a drawer)
2. Stand before the portal
3. Manoeuvre the camera to get the "Press E" prompt and click "E"
4. The drawer will close. Now you have entered "Drawer Hell" (name mine). Your movement options become limited, with you being stuck inside the drawer. At last, with some more opening and closing of the drawer, only strafing left or right remained. Keep opening and closing the drawer, as well as wiggling about.
5. You should start sinking. After some more sinking, you'll finish the bug reproduction and fall here:

Very good Jam entry with a strong, clear and consistent art direction. Everything inside the game fits its visual theme, from the colours, to character design, shadows, movement patterns, fonts, etc. Definitely a rarer thing with the shorter Game Jams.

Music is on point, matches the feel of the game and its gameplay, as well as synchronises with the opening cutscene, which is a nice touch. Sound design is apt, used when appropriate and with a nice classic-like alert stinger.

Programmers did their job well because they are invisible in the final product. Such is their life, being directly noticed by the end user only when something breaks. The whole game runs smooth, without any noticeable problems.

The main weakness is the shortness of the game. Most of its mechanics are only explored on the surface level, with one or two examples of their use. If you do not make it your goal, you'll only make a guard slip and fall once, you'll bait a dog once, you'll use your box-invisibility a few times or even none at all. It is expected of a Game Jam game, but leaves wanting more.

Teaching the player mechanics is mostly done non-directly. While there are two tutorial screens at the start, they mostly give you the controls. You'll need to learn how to flip signs to progress and then you are on your own. You'll figure out how the velvet rope and stanchions work probably by walking under them, you'll get that dogs react to some actions by flipping the second sign and seeing the nearest dog move, etc.

The functional level design raises some question marks, but mostly because it is the only level and thus invites higher scrutiny. It's perfectly serviceable.

All in all, seems like one of the best entries in this Jam.

Bugs

Colouring-in the suspicion meter breaks (breaches its question/exclamation mark containment) when the X-Ray machine is in its background.

The guard sprite has a few pixels floating above his cap.

Nitpicks

When the game ends, I am forever stuck on the ending credits, without any option to restart or exit. Of course, alt-tabbing and closing the window works, but an addition of an 'EXIT' button would be nice.

The shadow on the pavement in the opening scene should be moving together with the rest of the background, methinks.

Baggage on the conveyor belt should probably be displayed under the player character (so we are 'walking over them').

Conveyor belts do not move the character automatically :(

From the perspective of a game in a vacuum, this one is pretty clunky and bare-bones. However, in context of being made entirely in-Python with PyGame as its only framework, it is a good creation.

The home-grown inverse kinematics are well made, although are brought down by the fact that the part that catches the player is the last ball joint before the grabber's 'fingers' rather than fingers themselves. It is understandable, as making the fingers interact with the player would increase complexity quite a bit. A static U-shaped arm end might've been a better choice. The grass added when using the jetpack character is nice, but it seems to bug out the arm somewhat (Teleporting, grabbing grass when grabbing the player, but that might be a nice feature).

As a player, I am not sure what each player character does before I buy them. It might be intentional, but a mention in the description would be nice if there was a time crunch problem.

There is a lack in diverse levels. The player character slides during the game, which makes precise jumping nigh-impossible (jump button holding seems to be the intended use, especially with the platform-touch-teleportation)

All in all, for a pure PyGame Game Jam entry, it is a very nice creation. If you are not connected to pure Python/PyGame as your game engine, check out some other options; maybe they will make you able to do even more in even less time.

Competently made game with a strong focus on its main mechanic. Restriction on colour selection together with changing starting colour keeps different levels distinct and allows for learning the colour mechanics one-by-one.

Non-pixelated GUI font clashes a bit with the rest of the game's look. Pixel art is fully usable, although could use some more practice. Box folds are the most apparent example. However,I love the colourful guidebook in the bottom right.

While having access to the full guidebook from the start is informative, it can easily overload a new player. Restricting the information to colours available in the current level might be preferable.

Music loop is very short, although it didn't really get repetitive quickly for me. Good choice for the Jam.

Appendix - bugs

You are able to block the Garbage Shapes with the yet-to-be-dropped shape. You are able to bounce the garbage Shapes outside the box and, if you balance them on the edge, they will persist, like a fancy spectator to your gameplay. If you throw them out of the box, you'll lose a life.

The Yellow Shape information is inconsistent with the gameplay. Yellow Shapes turn Garbage Shapes into Yellow Shapes. I was not able to get the second sentence of the guidebook to play out.

Very cohesive experience that can be easily expanded upon with new conditions. Great idea and execution on all fronts.

Practically only nitpick for me would be that rewinding can take a lot of time if you let the knight run for too long, a skip-rewind shortcut would be nice.

Very cohesive experience that can be easily expanded upon with new conditions. Great idea and execution on all fronts.

Practically only nitpick for me would be that rewinding can take a lot of time if you let the knight run for too long, a skip-rewind shortcut would be nice.

Short, but well made. The tone sticks with the player, in a big parts thanks to the music and enemy design (both sound and visual).

The mechanics are explained well on the game page, pity there isn't a How To Play inside the game.

Funnily enough, because of this I have tried to finish the game almost pacifist-style, without ever attacking, because I didn't know I could attack (or heal myself, for that matter). I've managed to almost get to the last room that way.

Good attempt for two hours. Pixel art was easily readable at a glance and the concept was good.

Sadly, there wasn't enough responsiveness in the game (no enemy damage markings, no information that you've been hit by the enemies except for the HP, mismatch between glass smashing sound and potion actually smashing, etc.) for me to kill even one enemy, despite the upgrade system.

I wish you all good luck next time.

I liked the simple graphics and the light metal/chiptune soundtrack.
At first, when I started getting bigger, I thought that maybe you can win by causing an infarction as an embolus, but I've reached over 500 points and stopped growing. Adding an end state, either by speeding up the attacking white blood cells, causing the player to eventually lose, or a winning state, could be a good idea.

For a 4-hour project, it's very cohesive aesthetically and with a clear concept. Pity you didn't have more time in the jam timeslot.

The game comes together very well, combining into a whole, very enjoyable, experience. Art design, animations and art itself is very good and, most importantly, consistent throughout. Music matches the gameplay well and sfx pops (in a good way). Main mechanic of using the spells is satisfying and different spells are unique enough not to be interchangeable.

My main criticism would be a lack of different enemies, some of which would necessitate player's movement in other way than just moving away from the melee knights. Connection with the theme of poison was also tenuous (through the spell #3).

I liked the design of the main character and the mushrooms sprouting after hugging.
The roots not having collision seemed not intentional, as well as turning seemed not to correlate with the camera movement.

A straightforward and enjoyable game, well done on making it in Scratch.

Some options for expanding on this would be matching the incoming sodas to some music or making it a bit randomise or speeding up with each fill.

Well-made rage game.
The double jump was non-standard (most of my experiences zero out vertical velocity before applying the jump), so it took me a while to learn properly, but it was fun.
The tutorial prompts disappeared a bit too quickly for me. Additionally, I don't think there is a way to gracefully exit the game after starting it, but before winning.

As a jam game, great job and execution. Great limitation and theme use, great visuals and nice writing (I cannot guarantee it, but from the style i gather that you've played a bit more than a bit of ren'py VNs : ) )

Personally, I think the main game loop could've been improved if you had added a negative conditions for contracts or something similar - it's a bit off-putting that a child that wants to make his sister's face swell happily accepts a Painful Spontaneuous Combustion Mind Control Swelling Potion, after all. It would also discourage players from doing grab-bag kitchen-sink potions in order to get to know the ingredients before using them for contracts.

Knowing VNs, it's also a good main base for a more story-rich experience. In short - good job!

At first I thought that the dimesion-shifting would be similar to Fez's camera rotation, but I have quickly caught up on the fact that the mechanic is different. However, even thought I have tried multiple times, I could not truly understand it. I know that my position matters when dimension-shifting and that all four buttons seem to do the same thing, so I'm stuck.

The minimalistic design was nice and the game very responsive.

Interestingly, I have managed to trap myself, where the respawn mechanic (very good one, I must say), kept spawning me at an edge of a block, which caused me to fall indefinitely, bypassing the bottom killbox.

Very apt artstyle and nice music, as well as sound effects (frenzy bubbling is very engaging). I like the fact that frenzy is also a defensive state, because the mice can impact non-thrown potions.

PS: I've got 205 in my best try : )

Very cute artstyle, especially the Witch herself.
The main theme has a good loop, I didn't get annoyed or bored despite its length, which is a great feat. I liked all of the other sounds used too.
Lack of a win condition is understandable, but leaves wanting for more.

I really liked the different styles of writing and fonts for each of the superheroes. Snek girl is my favourite, although she seems to breed trouble : (

As a sidenote - sometimes there seems to be an invisible application, I've got it at least two times, with a different effect.

Very competently made, anything lacking polish is so minor, it cannot dent the enjoyment the game gives. Good scope selection for the jam, good job.

EDIT: Was the player being faster when moving diagonally intended?

Hello, and, first of all, thank you for your comment.
Sadly, the separate ingredient sprites were cut as the deadline drew near. Along with a newer bucket sprite : )

Hello, and, first of all, thank you for your comment.
When you say that there was no 'red' in the options, was there no 'yellow' or 'magenta' ingredient? The colour mixing works under CMYK (subtractive) colour model, not RGB (additive).

Hello, and, first of all, thank you for your comment.
Assuming that you're asking about the camera, I was inspired by old dungeon crawlers, or, in other words, 'Ultimalikes'. If you'd like some pointers, there is currently a Dungeon Crawler Game Jam on itch, although I'm not taking part right now. Probably the most recent popular rendition of the genre would be the Legend of Grimrock series, which I have enjoyed greatly.

Hello and, first of all, thank you for your comment.
What you are describing sounds like a bug and I'm sorry for that. Blue, sweet and floral brew should be accepted for #2, no matter the order. Only thing that comes to mind is that maybe the brew lacked a poison?