A dose of horror and PS1 vibes - I can dig it. I think it took a bit long to really get into things and the limited focus makes me wonder how much I'd get in replaying it. As a statement though, this is the best narrative take I've played in the jam and the controls are solid.

A really interesting idea with a cool management mechanic. The strategy seems pretty brutal though - you're given a lot of choices but it seems only one way is optimal. Also I think it's very difficult to judge how the planes might interact with each other with such a zoomed in view. It's a really polished first pass that just needs some expansion.

I suppose this is supposed to be like a compact Risk of Rain. As a play experience it was pretty solid, with sufficient juice to make the action feel nice and progression feel solid. However, I was really confused as to what my objective was. "Survive" only gets you so far when there's so much else that you need to discover. With a more focused design and a clear goal I could see this being a real time-sucker.

An interesting structure to gameplay I think mainly let down by not understanding why I should be fighting. It wasn't like we were collecting resources to buy upgrades - all it was is trying to avoid losing health. Once I had a strategy worked out there was pretty much no challenge to it and the allure of different items was diminished by the challenge purely being in acquiring them. I think there is something to mine here on the presentation and core loop - keeping in mind that the pivot axis of the circle needs to be fixed.

Interesting absurd game where knowing what you're doing going in kinda hurts the experience. Fun to puzzle things out in a certain way, though I wish the solutions were a little bit more complex and that there was some added friction to going the easy route. The vision shines through strongly and it's got its charms.

The game feel as a whole is very solid, with some issues of clarity. Your mouse gets completely lost in the monochromatic sea, which proved to be a problem as things started to get crazy. It's not really clear when you start spawning new ghosts which makes it hard to strategize around it. And the scrolling to the edges of the screen really hides needed information - it feels like this would work better as a static screen. In terms of being a partial bullet hell that feels good to play though, you got that down pretty well.

This is straight fire through most of the experience. The only hurdle was the bit at the end where I knew what to do but I just couldn't get the combo to go off consistently, mainly due to that somewhat awkward jump. Remarkably well designed, charming, and funny. I honestly couldn't tell you how to improve this.

A very good vibe on the all-time classic - though it remained pretty static when I felt there should have been some advancement. There was also the annoying part of the mouse controls where it was very easy to exit the reading zone, even in full screen. This could absolutely be a great zen game, but even those need some more vertical progression to drive people into the flow state.

The explanation got skipped in the beginning, which I can't even tell if it was intentional. The dialogue broke as well, which definitely wasn't. As a ground concept it's pretty neat with some good interactive possibilities, just very barebones at the moment.

This one has got JUICE. Maybe a little too much - good on you for making the screen shake optional. Very solid, classic underlying gameplay. One criticism I'd have is that you don't know the extent of the map as in something like Bosconian so it can feel like the space doesn't matter much aside from the upgrades simply making you strafe a little less. The theming is also not super clear and I wish the title screen tutorial was more incorporated into the game. Being thrown into it though, it was understandable and fun.

This one feels nicer than most of the "draw the loop" games I've played from this jam. But it does run into two of the same issues that I've run across in them: The repetitive nature of it really puts a strain on you (and I'm someone who uses a mouse A LOT) and the hitboxes are just not fun. As a design, it's a good idea that can be expanded in some neat ways, just with a lot easier onramp to the concept.

Wow! This was a really unique take on the card game/board game format. It hit a really good balance of simplicity and tension while throwing in really interesting rule-bending. I really like that the singer does not exactly copy the rules of the other performers but instead gives a twist to it. The two things I would expand on: Player options to make them feel a bit more in control and the tuning of some hands (like a straight 0, 0, 0 hand should probably never appear). This is another jam idea fully worth expanding into a full game.

Alas this isn't quite tuned correctly, to the point of being unfair. Walking into a room an instantly dying is always something that puts a damper on things. There also needs to be a bit more interest in running backwards into previous rooms. It's hard to do much more than a maze in this type of jam, but the obvious nature of its deliberate confusion reminded me far too much of ancient dungeon crawling games.

These puzzles got way too complex too quickly. Maybe I was missing something, but it was not easy at all to count blocks moved when running up against a wall. Trying to platform with that? Forget about it. It's a good use of the idea with a little too much dedication expected and a very rapid crank up in difficulty. The art is really nice and the feel is solid.

A good little narrative game with a lot of little pixel hunting. I think priorities were spent in the right place, though if I hadn't played these kinds of games before I can imagine how frustrating it would be to find stuff like the teddy bear. A little more clarity and "juice" would have made this a more impactful experience - not bad at all.

This is a really proper take on the comedic, exploratory loop. I managed to get past a wall a few times thanks to the level design, though I eventually had to give up as I had no idea if I was doing things correct with the numbers. It's a fun idea done pretty well; it's always a delicate balancing act with purely environmental puzzles.

I really did not understand the point and the theming to this. The idea is really neat with customizability and a good pacing with the minigames, I just had zero clue what my actions were doing to either help or hurt me. I definitely see the potential here with great use of shaders to give visual oomph (alas no sound). More signalling.

Quite a nice idea that allows for a bit more complex management than many of the more intensive looping games I've played. The flow state was very nice and I felt the intuition of the objective was pretty straightforward. I did feel there needed to be a bit more push and pull, or at least something to let me know if I'm not reaching my maximum potential of output. I felt the pickaxe was also underdeveloped as it seemed way more worthwhile to just wait for spots to clear up - accidentally using it wasn't much fun. Very polished otherwise.

You guys seem to have a love for gardening with this too.

Super interesting idea! These sort of abstract puzzle games are difficult to get right. The concept fits well with the loop and basically accomplishes what it means to, though I do find the transitions very frustrating as they stop the flow of the experience in a way I wish I could skip. Good show.

I was instantly terrified as soon as I saw those controls lol. For this complexity I think it actually does pretty well, I mainly feel that the lack of feedback and ability to understand how well you're doing in the race is the real issue. The incentive and the path to doing better is very obscure to me even after getting a handle on the controls. This isn't bad - the way the controls work is built into the game - it's just gotta make up for it with a lot extra.

I think the digital controls hurt the game a bit - they certainly started hurting my fingers as I got into the blue levels. It's a very well-optimized precision platformer that takes a lot of advantage of its confined space. In most of these fast-reset type games, I wish there was more UI to indicate that I should restart - as funny as the decapitation animation is. I also felt like I experienced inconsistencies with spin-jumps that made me unable to finish some levels with the collectibles. Reordering some of the levels would have also eased the experience. But great vision all around.

A fun twist on Baba is You, stripping down a game to bare essentials. A good little romp with micro bursts of inspiration - though I don't fully understand the "you control nothing" level which was a huge spike in difficulty. Great puzzler to get through very quickly, concise in the best of ways.

This would have slayed in arcades back in the day.

Very simple and well-realized, using a wheel-based mechanic that doesn't make me panic. I did not understand how the speeds were determined, though it was a bit of a moot point since I had plenty of time to scrutinize my current angle. Needs more dimension to be a truly great time-waster but I had a good, compact bit of fun.

A game in which the primary motivation is to hear more ska.

Supremely polished, though that makes some things stand out, like a slight inconsistency to jump timing and the seeming dynamic difficulty which doesn't really help where it's needed. I'm sure some people have managed to master it so I'm not going to say there are any impossible scenarios, just that I felt I could have used more help before the difficulty came in on me hard.

Alternative one-liner: What if Flappy Bird had been good?

I'm not super into idle games but this is a good, kinetic slice of game incentives. I wish there was a bit more feedback to things other than numbers going up - and it took me a long time to realize the 'Go to space" button was even there.

Impressive amount of content and evolution in this one, without losing track of the focus. There was a lot of leeway to the core design - maybe a bit too much but that is better than the alternative for a jam. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the jump as it kind of became worse as the levels went on, though the animation did compensate for some of the floaty frustration.

This is one of the few lasso games that hasn't strained my wrist, one of the few multi-task games that hasn't overwhelmed me, and an expansive platformer that doesn't overstay it's welcome. You hit on a good melding of elements here.

For all the impressive visual polish, I wish some of the mechanics had been better explained through the visual representation. The transitions also took forever which really dampened the pace of the game, not enabling me to put my puzzle solving into action as fast as I can think about it. The pattern copying also broke on me a few times, forcing another restart. Some good concepts that needed more playability in mind.

The design is trying to juggle a lot and the slippery physics don't help. There is a nice experience here that's definitely fit for speedrunning types and very perseverant folks who would be willing to deal with that combat. I don't want to be too down as there is fun to be had here, it's just the constant restarting really got on my nerves - especially with the player-hostile message on the screen. This was a very good use of these sorts of assets that could be refined into something smoother to play.

I did not at all understand how the loop was supposed to work by the end. I think too many things are being juggled: Precision platforming (especially jumping over those one block from the ceiling generators), exploration, and disorientation each time you die. I think drawing attention to different aspects of the world would have improved things. It's a good feel though, didn't at all feel fundamentally frustrating to play.

The second conveyer belt sushi game I played this jam lol. It's a good idea! This one's definitely more intensive management than a leisurely Diner Dash style game. I think it should have escalated a bit more gradually. While the mechanics are simple, the juggling becomes a whole heck of a lot very quickly and the time management feels a little off. Overall though I really like the feedback loop (morbid as it may be) and think it's got a lot of potential.

Possibly a bar, a change in the color of the whole HUD, or maybe his helmet? I don't think having new animation frames for every .1 change would help and I think the character is well-animated for the style - him squishing down was quite funny.

I'm not going to say this isn't frustrating cuz it definitely is meant to sort of test the player's patience. But there is something to the interesting movement and the idea of finding out things through the loop. In contrast to some other games I've played from this jam, you don't seem to hate the player and get back into things very quickly which helps it not feel like a complete joke at our expense. Keep at it!

Signaling how the player's interactions are affecting other parts of the world is important in a game like this. I managed to solve many puzzles by accident (I think) and then I couldn't figure out which I had solved or what the right path forward was.

The achievement is very impressive, with a strong atmosphere. If you keep developing this, I think randomly clicking shouldn't allow any sort of solution - forcing you to lock into a puzzle state of mind.

A good idea that managed to not be frustrating as a precision platformer. It's a unique use of the four-way arrow setup that I think worked decently well, though I can imagine some people not being able to complete it due to the tight timing windows. The idea has some good potential; SFX and a more clear visual for the gravity were sorely needed.

This one threw you into the deep end after the first two. Definitely needed some better onboarding because I got stuck even trying to make a decision. It's a good twist on the Papers, Please formula and you all really made the larger world come to life - a narrative accomplishment few game jams make. There's just some adjustments that need to be made in both gameplay and physical design: like the pages overlapping each other and the inability to just look at one thing at a time (possibly 'bank' it too?).

It feels weird to judge these games as a rhythm musician (bassist, not drummer). Some of these patterns are a bit frustrating, I think largely because the metronome gets drowned out by the movement sounds, kind of forcing you to rely on loose timings in which you're not paying that much attention to hazards. The feel is very complex in a way most game jams do not achieve, which I think is double-edged.

Undeniably very well put together, with an awesome aesthetic and tightly integrated audio-visual elements. Tuning is all it needs more of.

Really interesting card game mechanics. I wish it was a lot more clear when I was about to discard and upgrade as well as the size of the deck, though I generally got the groove as it went on. The vibe is great even for the sparse animation - I do wish I saw the full cards. This is a concept very worth developing and is mesmerizing in its own way. Add some juice and this is very worth expanding.

A good concept which needed some more feedback, like knowing how long the laser took before it fired again. Also being able to restart on a specific guy rather than being forced to do everything from the beginning. The jump physics were also a bit wonky - sometimes fun but gave me a lot of trouble with the platforms. Decent clone-oriented take on the loop concept.

Thank you so much for this! I love getting an opportunity to watch people play. The feedback was very useful as were your very unintended puzzle solutions lol. Greatly appreciate you taking the time to playthrough it and film. You did actually reach the last level! Which tells me we made it the perfect length.

Thank you! We really wanted the new player experience to be seamless. No offense to any other project, but the first impressions are a big deal even if I stick it out, so in games I work on I always aim for good onboarding over getting the most out of a concept.