itch.io

yay! thank you :D

love this game! very chill, i got all the way to level 27 lol. i really enjoyed it and it has really addicting and rewarding gameplay. i didnt think i liked the art style at first but i really grew to like it! my favorite plant was the orchid because i stacked money gain %'s on it and it made me so much money lol.

my only criticisms are that maybe the rotation could've been more clear, maybe making it bigger and more prominent rather than in the bottom right. i also think that maybe the player should have more incentive to do the quests, by that i mean making them maybe level required? i don't know, i kind of skipped them admittedly because i could get more levels. i thought they were a good addition though.

overall one of the best incremental I've played in my life! this is really innovative and creative! i'd love to see more!

i really don't wanna be overly mean or critical since this is your first jam i saw, but i feel that criticism is best for anyone. especially newer developers (also hi fellow first jammer :) )

i'll start with my praise, i really do like the art style! you did amazing with your art and i think that shows well, it's probably some of the best pixel art i have seen sofar in this game jam! the music and sound effects are very nice, i really like them and i think they add to the gameplay a lot. the game mechanic of 2 buffs vs 2 debuffs was very good, i think the choice is a very good decision to put in the hands of the player and i think it's good to have a debuff in contrary to a buff to balance the player so they aren't just incredibly overpowered.  i also liked the menu because it told me exactly the controls, in the future it may be better to implement that with a tutorial but i get why you didn't. tutorials can be hard.

i think one issue i had was that a lot of the enemies just fall from the sky rather than being preloaded into the stage, it disrupted the natural flow to me. such as when one enemy just spawned at the start of the game, it threw me off as a player and made me feel i lost control. this happened a few times and i think that it felt a bit un natural. 

the background could've had a bit more to it, it being pure black kind of threw off the vibe a little. 

the game felt more like a shoot out than a 2d action platformer as the actual platforming was a bit minimal. i think this may have been a time issue with the game jam though. i had a similar issue with my game in which i had a very different concept originally but it turned out to be something else just because i couldn't find the time to learn how to code certain aspects of my vision. it's an experience that happens to many developers.

the enemies were quite hard to dodge in my opinion, the aim didn't work and that's not your fault. it could've just been a weird thing with exporting to web.  other than that though it just was quite hard to fight the enemies and dodge them. 

i could infinitely jump which was a bit of an issue as it was also meant to be a platformer. i don't know what engine you used so i can't tell you exactly how to fix that, i only know how to for godot though.

the movement was a bit slow and it wasn't clear i could sprint so it just felt slow.

overall, i don't mean to bash you. this is your first game jam and with that being said it 's quite good for it! mistakes are made so we can learn by them! i believe you have potential especially if this is your first game jam. i wish you good luck in your journey as a developer!

this is an interesting game and concept and i like it! the fact that it's like the only multiplayer game ive found sofar is a plus too! the visuals are in a unique style that i actually haven't seen yet in this game jam so compliments to that. 

i think that the game could be a bit longer for the bug collecting phase, it feels it ends a bit too short. 

a single player mode could be a good addition, its hard to play alone for this.

the core idea is nice and i like it but i think more could be added to improve the gameplay loop such as cosmetics maybe?

overall a really cute and fun idea! i thoroughly enjoyed it even if i didn't have someone to play with :D

i think this game has a lot of potential, i like tower defense so ill try to give this a fair and honest rating. i liked the somewhat simplistic but still nice looking visuals. i liked the sound effects and i think most of the towers serve a good purpose.

i will try not to be too harsh in criticism since you did make this in a rush but i will still point out some issues i found.

the bullets on the towers should try to lead on the enemy, it doesn't seem they do properly and that hurts the gameplay experience some because the towers often fail to hit the enemy.

some music would've been nice but i understand if you didn't have time.

in a game like this where enemies are coming from *all directions* the enemy should be visible to the player equally in all direction y'know what i mean? it's a bit harmful to the player if they can't see the enemy coming in time from above but they can see it coming from the side.

i liked your ideas for the towers but i think blade could've used more range.

overall a pretty solid game with some nice potential for growth! i think it's a good start that could be expanded on greatly :)

i like this game and its a very unique. i had fun using the abilities to try and hunt down the jesters!

my only real criticism is that the game world feels a bit too big making it hard to hunt for the jesters and that i couldn't use the spin attack unfortunately.

stopping here for today! y'all all have amazing games :) 

this is just a bookmark for me

ay you started learning this month too! congrats! first month learning club lol. 

this is a really solid first game! the tricks and traps were good ideas. i like the music and i like the simplistic art style, you have a lot of potential as a game dev! i'll give you the same level of criticism as i do everyone but just know that it is SO impressive to do all this with just 2 weeks of experience! (also what did you use in terms of tutorials for godot?)

onto criticism, some of this will come from the fact that this is not the typical genre i'd play so take that with a grain of salt.

the flying guy bugs a little on some areas, he glitches into the wall some. thats a minor thing though.

in my opinion a tutorial would be good for this, it's one of those games meant to be a "unfair platformer" type game. i dont think it's entirely clear to the player though initially and it may be good to do a tutorial to introduce the player to some of these unfair mechanics. 

i really liked the traps! i think that near the end of the level it's a bit bad to do traps though as a rule of thumb (i'd imagine?)

i think the red saucer things could've been spaced a little more, i didnt have issues with it but i could see some people having issues with the spacing there.

more enemies could be nice

i think defining the minimalist art style a little more could work wonders, like maybe this takes place on a ms paint canvas or maybe this takes place on notebook paper.

overall a really fun play! glad i got to finish it, it's amazing for a first game and you should keep developing!

i really like the gambling theming! you did well with making everything gambling themed, even if i feel i've seen gambling quite a bit i really think it was done well here! the story adds a lot and helps bring motive. the spin for a weapon mechanic is really interesting imo! the artstyle is amazing, i love it! progression was also nice and smooth, i didn't feel like it was going too fast at any point really.

now onto criticisms, remember some of this is subjective. 

i feel it would've been a good idea to give more incentive for the player to fight the enemies rather than to just try and fly by and dodge them. this maybe could've been done by making the enemies block the exit? 

i think that more obstacles in the level would help with my previous point and also add more fun to the game!

i think more broad character design and enemies could be good

i couldn't turn and hit enemies which was a source of frustration for me.

the menu was nice ui wise, i think the guitar(?) was a little rough on the music though. I AM NOT A MUSIC EXPERT THOUGH AND THIS IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE!!! otherwise the music was really good!

the boss wasn't extremely hard to dodge it was more hard because i kept rolling on the damage part of the spinner, it was a bit annoying to me. i can't think up a solution to this though since this is a core mechanic to the game, but i'll share that experience. 

overall i think that the combat could've been fine tuned a little more. despite that its a solid entry, i like it. the art style and music make up for the issues i have with the combat.

honestly i can't really give much criticism here, this is a really good and solid game!  i really enjoyed the mechanics, the use of the theme was super fun and the art was amazing. i'm sorry i can't think of much criticism! this game just was really good, love the spins.

good music, def some of the best 3d graphics i've seen in this jam sofar. shooting the zombies was fun and i liked defending my position and holding my ground. i can tell you put a lot of effort into the environment and world building, it shows. it's really nice and i feel like im actually fighting on a city rooftop. 

i think my only criticisms stem from the fact that it's a bit too easy to win.

also i feel like having a button to shoot would be better since it makes it feel more like the player is killing all the zombies rather than it being automatic.

progression would be a good thing to add.

the droids feel a bit too overpowered and maybe it would be good to look at reducing the cooldown for them.

i think more sound effects would be good :3

overall it's quite fun, me like.

this is an amazing game to make for just a game jam! i think if you wanted you could make this into a game on steam or something. the mechanics are interesting and make you actually think! the ui is quite good, the gears are quite fun to deal with, 

i really don't have much criticism! it's quite a clean and polished game.

the only thing i can think of is maybe putting the mechanic being introduced in each level in part of the ui, unless i didn't see it i struggled with it. 

a tutorial could also be good, but a lot of it is intuitive.  

apologies i can't think of more criticism! i normally try to be quite critical because it helps a lot, but with this i actually can't because it's too good! overall love it! i hope juniper plays it, this game deserves attention.

it's such a cute game! i love the dog and i love the use of the theme for this game. the artstyle is very cute and it fits the game super well, the music is good which is one of the most important things for this type of game. i had fun. i also wanna add that i think it's very good that you can get into a bit of a flow state in this game, i got into it on the second song and that's really good for a rhythm game!

onto criticisms, i wish there was Fullscreen. 

the songs are too short on some of these, song 2 and 3 were fire but i feel they could've been longer. 

it has quite a heavy learning curve, i feel like a tutorial that guides you through the beat, turn length and hold time system may be nice. i play rhythm games quite a bit though so i didn't struggle much with the learning curve, newer players may though.

is the best % beats? i assume so. i think that turn and hold isnt super clear and also isn't super incentivized. by that i mean i think it could be good if the % would be a combination of all 3 and there was a % for beats.

there's not really any pressure on the player to preform well, i think similar to osu maybe implementing a way for the player to die could be good. in this case it could be like a crowd maybe on the left side of the screen?

the bar on the left is also not very clear to me personally what it is, is it score? i assumed so but i just didn't feel it was clear.

overall i see potential in this game.

the art is really nice! i like the music and especially like that the boss has a different theme from the main theme, i haven't seen that frequently in this game jam so that's a nice touch. the gameplay is nice too, i had fun and played a few times. 

onto criticism, i think that there could be more to the gameworld. it's a bit bland right now and maybe some clouds and touching up could help it a lot. 

i feel like a dash cooldown was very much needed, i was able to complete the game just by spamming dash. 

the timer for rounds should be more prominently displayed to the player imo, i lost track of time a few times and clicked on an upgrade on accident.

it would be nice if upgrades were shown on a sidebar or something. at least like the total stat changes y'know? 

the theme could be a bit more present in my opinion, theres some spinning stuff but its not a core mechanic IMO. that doesn't make it bad though and it's a good game despite that. 

overall i think this is very charming and actually a bit addictive lol. 

will play now!

this is a really polished and good game! i love it! the audio is fun, killing enemies is satisfying, upgrades are satisfying, powerups are satisfying, the visuals are good, did i mention ITS SO POLISHEDDD? i enjoyed this experience thoroughly! even if i only played briefly.

i think there's not much criticism i can give, but i did pick up on a few things. most of this is just what you could update to be honest.

i think that there should be more enemy variety, don't get me wrong i only got to like 50k rpm. but i think more enemies could make it more interesting. i don't feel the difficulty scales very well when you learn the games mechanics.

more upgrades! i think adding more upgrades could be nice.

i think that if you make the spinner spin faster and with an aura it could be quite nice! it gives more visual candy to the player. 

i like the worldbuilding but it could be nice to add more obstacles and things that are a threat to the player in the world itself. this could be anything from like rolling balls to a big spinny thing!

overall i liked it, it has a theme and it runs with it very well.

will play now!

it's even better knowing you're a solo dev! sorry if i was too harsh! you did good

the game is very cute! i love the squid! the art styler is nice and i really love the world building, it looks kinda like bikini bottom from spongebob lol. it's a very polished game, there's good music and good sfx, 

note that a lot of what i say is kinda just how i personally experienced it.

i found the game fun! i had issues though with the movement, the spinning was a bit too fast for me to be able to time it properly. i think difficulty settings could be good for this! 

it's a bit hard to control sometimes when I'm dashing, i think that's intentional though. 

overall very fun and a very cute game!

rated! sorry im a bit late to saying this, i got rate limited ):

let me preface that i'm only one person and experiences may vary before i get into a full review. i really like the menu, the art on it is nice and i like the little hat! the bird is cute, the art in general is cute (love the pug so much :3). the tutorial serves its purpose quite well, giving demonstrations on every possible mechanic and source of confusion a player may have. the mechanics are fun and creative, it's enjoyable as a platformer. 

i don't have much criticism to give here, one softlock i found was getting stuck right before the gear and between the lollypop when it taught me to inflate in the tutorial because i got confused on where to go. i think this was more a me thing but it could be nice to have arrow indicators on where to go next in the tutorial. i still think the tutorial is quite helpful though and it's really good! 

when i hit the roof or when using the propeller the pug instantly falls down, this may be intended but i think it could be better if the pug maybe slowly descended. i got a bit annoyed getting stuck from hitting the ceiling and falling on the spikes, i think that also may be a personal issue though, it's just a bit tight of a squeeze.

checkpoints may be nice for each gear, of course you may need to expand the levels a little though if you did that. 

the hidden spikes in level 2 may not be visible enough, maybe an outline could be good? i died from it initially and was a bit surprised. 

more in the background could be nice if you had time.

overall this is a really solid game! i liked it and as a fan of platformers i'd actually like to see more levels from this game, good job :)

https://itch.io/jam/theveryseriousjuniperdevgamejam/rate/4706149
here's mine! it's my first game ever :)

i like the shop system, it's nice. i like the upgrades, they're quite fun and intuitive. everything i said previously remains mostly relevant, though i'll also add the gameplay is a lot more fun with the upgrades.

i'll update the dying thing and say that i think it's too hard to die. i don't personally feel any real threat from the blue guys because i can either outrun them or just tank hits from them. i think this could be solved with making them shoot stuff maybe? 

i also ran out of people to shoot, i think it would've been a good idea to make more silly guys spawn in. 

i found something new that i didn't point out yesterday but i think that the sound effects for hitting an object such as a building and hitting a silly guy should be separate maybe? on this i also think it may be good to make the bullets not load offscreen, it's less satisfying when i shoot one of them offscreen versus onscreen imo.

the progression is good, i think the piercing upgrade is a little useless but the other ones i like.  i think you should get more money from shooting the silly guys, it's kinda hard to get anything from the shop.

the ui for the shop is nice. i do think the shop cards could maybe have been made a little more papery, i dunno. that's more a personal stylistic preference. 

no problem! you did well! good luck on future projects :)

it's good to hear that y'all have done so many jams and also have struggled with over scoping. this is personally my first jam and as a solo developer i actually also struggled with overscoping a bit and having to scale down.  at first my game idea was about just a bird collecting from a spinning bird feeder but i couldn't really figure out how to make the seeds fling out from the bird feeder so i ditched that and made it "survive the seeds falling on you". i think it's natural for every developer to overscope some, especially in a game jam. game development is an art, in art you have to refine your piece a lot. there's touches you add and others you have to remove, the vision always comes together in one way or another though.

it's nice to hear the evolution of your game! a tiered approach def makes sense, especially with more people.  even if it was an ambitious goal i think that y'all did a really good job in the end with scope. 

i think if y'all did want to y'all could really make this project shine if you wanted to! maybe you could add a skill tree or something, that would be cool if you continued this project.

i will! that sounds quite fun and useful!

i believe juniper said they're going to do another one sometime, this is their first game jam ever so it's kind of uncertain when they will.

thank you for playing! thank you for the kind words i really appreciate it! good luck on your future projects too, your game was very impressive and memorable!

that's a really good idea, i wish i thought of that. a multiplier when there's close calls would be nice. i didn't initially award for moving a lot but i think with the jump modifier playing into awarding the player for moving quite a bit would be good.

20/spin sounds nice, i think i'd do that with maybe (10+5) cost added per spin. i originally was scared it would be too easy to spin but i think it would be nice if it started out with fast progression but it ramps up linearly.

thank you so much for the kind words! i really am glad that people enjoy my game :D

thank you for playing and thanks for the feedback and kind words! i have noticed that sound effects/music are a very big thing to the player experience and making it more polished, i think that's my next thing to learn!

thank you! thank you for the feedback!

yeah i agree, i think on my next project it would be good to add a progression system out of the level itself.  i don't necessarily know how to code that but i can figure it out with enough willpower i think! 

i also agree that one health was probably too little lol, i added that system solely to go with the modifier system but that's not really how game design works. my systems should work with every part of the game, i think.

thank you! i'll try it out

i forgot to say that i'm rating this now (i'm gonna say it anyways even tho i posted my review so i can keep track lol)

you should keep it as a project! i think it could be a really fun cute little game if you develop it further :D

shoot for the stars! 

sorry this review will be shorter since im tired. i like this game, its a very unique take on the gameshow idea which has been seen a lot. the dialogue works nice, i like that. the games are fun! visuals and art are nice.  all the games progress quite well.  it's generally a solid game.

i feel like this game suffers a bit from not choosing one art style, it switches at the end and it throws it off a lot. i like all the art styles presented but i think it would be good to try to stick to one a bit more.

the boss feels a bit random, i feel like a bit more build up could be good. hitbox on the boss feels a bit unforgiving at times, the boss is well designed though and progresses well.  i like the music too.

our main character seems quite blank. i feel a motive for the main character risking their life would serve the narrative well.

the turtle minigame was fun but i dont think the white bar should spawn in the first quadrant of the bar, it's annoying as a player. 

the math minigame felt very fast and rushed. admittedly i take a bit of time with doing math but it may be better to have a sort of option between either math or some sort of trivia on this one? it also would make the player happier to have a choice imo.

overall a solid game! i enjoyed it and played it all.

will play now :)

to preface horror is not my genre but like THIS IS AMAZING? like this is really amazing. the storytelling is masterful, you start out with learning the MC's motive and slowly the gameshow host asks more and more about it. there's such an eerie feeling with each spin, i was scared what he would say each time. eventually with the big reveal at the end, the reveal makes sense too and i love it. it leaves me wanting more from these characters and that's not something many writers can do y'know? there's so many little details in this game that i love, the art is so good. the art complements the vibe amazingly, it makes it feel so eerie as this guy just stares at you, almost soul less. i normally criticize for lack of audio but in this case its amazing that there's a lack of audio! it made me feel even more scared up to the reveal. beyond this, i'll talk some on what i believe could be done better.

admittedly it's very hard to find things to do better here, this game in my opinion is almost perfect. i think that a little bit more audio could do it well, potentially a jeopardy like song that plays as the wheel spins. i don't mean just the song normally, i mean try to make it as eerie as possible and make it get worse as it goes on. 

i think dialogue options when responding to the show host would add a lot more depth.

i found it a little confusing at first where to click on the screen to move forward with the dialogue, i think a button could be good for this. if not a button a textbox ui would make it a little more clear, it being minimalistic would help a lot though.

i think the game being a little longer could serve it well, i feel that the eerie feeling existing just a bit longer would make it even better. considering it's a game jam game though it's not a big issue. 

the wheel felt a little out of place? don't think it's too bad though i just feel it could fit the vibe a little more. 

overall an amazing experience. you have potential! you're an amazing dev! 

i will try my best! i'll play it now :D