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Thank you! We agree that the fishing minigame did not get as much love as it could have, but we really wanted to focus on making the shop part really fun and interesting. So yeah, the fishing part is definitely an easy part for improvements!

Thank you for your very kind post! We're happy you had fun playing our game!

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

All that is already on the to-do list! Thanks for your feedback still, it really helps us.

The main reason for all these issues is very simple: Time (as usual). We literally submitted the game 5 seconds before the countdown ended. I don't think my heartrate was this high in a long time. We obviously regret not finishing earlier, but it wasn't really possible for us, considering the other work we still had over the weekend and start of the week.

But: We made a game! And that's what really counts for us. We're really proud of the game, and we really like the concept, even if the implementaion isn't flawless.

We know! And we feel the same. That's why if that's your only "complaint", if you want you can check out this updated version, where the minigame is a lot simpler: https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024
Thank you for playing!

Thank you! We had a lot of fun making it as well. Finishing the game was a big topic for us, seeing how we submitted the game with literally 5 seconds left on the clock, but hey, we made it!

I do like the idea, the game has endless possibilities of what it could become because you have left such a wide range of possible features and puzzles open. As a concept, it gets the spirit of the game across and what it may be able to become, even with the occasional "jankyness". 

That was very cute, the illustration works very well at setting the tone for the game. Thanks for the controls cheatsheet on every minigame screen. You just really quickly get what the objective of the game is, with not much explanation because everything fits and works well together.

This game actually made me jump a few times, the world just feels devoid of life and really directly confronts you with the horror aspect. The simplicity of this type of horror really fits well with a short game, as it is direct and effective. I liked it!

This feels very authentic, I imagine being able to fold multiple times would be cool as some kind of origami simulator you could tinker around with.

Very pretty game, and I like the idea of having multiple types of attacks. I have never really seen a climbing mechanic like the needle jump, and I like that you can't just skip every platform with it as sometimes you are forced to engage with other mechanics like the healing of cuts. Really makes you engage with the abilities you are provided with.

Thank you! Thanks to the crazy-8 ideation method, we had over 20 ideas to pick from, and we were really split on which to use. In the end we chose that one, because there was a game loop with two very distict activities, which sounded fun.

Did you try out the updated version? It's much more enjoyable because it's a lot less hard to stay in business! https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024
In any case, glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for all your words! I can only repeat myself from all the other comments: My teammate says "thanks", he did all the art, and we know about the difficulty of the fishing minigame, it's being our downfall so far. We've linked a patched version below the game, maybe you've seen it? It makes the fishing a lot simpler, maybe you want to give it a try! It really makes the game a lot more fun, since you don't have to lose on round one every time: https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024

Anyways, thanks a lot for playing!

Thank you! You wouldn't believe it, but you're the first person to actually give us feedback about the second iteration of the minigame, it is way more useful and great to hear then you'd think <3

Something else you wouldn't believe (or actually, maybe you would, considering this is a game jam and procrastination hits hard), we were literally working on making at least the game loop functional in the last 30 minutes of the jam and pressed upload five seconds before the deadline ended ;-)

So we are definitely happy we got a functioning game out on the other end, that is fun to play and at least the economy part fairy balanced, without ever play testing the full game. We've definitely learned a couple of things in this one once more. 

Again, thanks so much for playing! We're happy you had fun with it.

If that's the only thing that bothered you, feel free to check out the improved minigame in this patched version: https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024

We adjusted timings, speeds and hitboxes to make it more enjoyable. Thanks for playing!

Your the first to actually give feedback on the improved minigame, thank you very much for that! I also feel like it's a lot more enjoyable with these changes. Glad you had fun!

An endless-runner, obviously addicting. Dashing though those feels really satisfying. You getting bigger and bigger was a fun interpretation of the theme, but since the enemies also scaled up, it didn't really feel this impactful. When a new "screen" appeared, it was kinda hard for me to find new shapes to dash through, that was always exiting!

Feel free to share your fav armor pieces you constructed in the comments as well!

Overscoping - couldn't happen to us. Wait. Oh, oops, it did... I guess that happens to everyone, you think "how hard could it be?" or "that seems doable!", and faster than you can notice time passing, the deadline is already there! But I think that's just part of the experience. We're not here to present perfect pieces of art or game engineering, we're here to learn and to have fun with each other! And me and my teammate already had lots of fun, so that's a win in my book!

Oh no, a factory game, my one weakness! I definitely played your game for way too lon. It's really fun. The limited amount of space makes the leves extra challenging, especially once you start optimizing your machines.

Ah okay, I didn't realize that then! For me, it didn't seem like it, but that might just be me being unobservant, or something else. No matter the interactivity, I really liked the game!

I would say, the concept is there, but the execution seems a little lacking? I really liked that pixelated effect, and the idea of having a tower that rises and rises higher and higher. But the gameplay overall wasn't that interesting, basically collecting stuff and returning it - which is a shame, because the areas the items come form are all unique and really creative. It seems like a solid start to build a game ontop, with added mechanics and more ideas!

I love how absolutetly random this game is, so many effects happening on screen, all at once ;-)
All the different weapons also really spiced up the gameplay once in a while.

Minor nitpick: That huge wall of text at the start is almost not readable because of the font, but I got the gist of what it wanted to tell me.

Thank you! Characters and art were all my teammate, so he definitely says "thanks!".
We realized that the fishing minigame is way too hard way past the deadline. We created a patch for that, but can't change the online game any more (obviously). If you want to try it still, here's it! https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024

My teammate says "thank you!", he did all the art, and I have to agree, it looks so nice.

That is a pretty smart game. I loved the trajectory visualizations, and the delivering fruits is a really fun idea. It's pretty hard though, I feel like I had to practice a lot more!

Yes! That was our favourite part too, and for that reason, in the patched version (https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024), there is a keyboard cheatcode "giveall" that gives you 7 of each scale when you enter it, essentially allowing you to make any armor your want. That version also makes the fishing more enjoyable!

(that guy with the round face, I don't know how my teammate came up with him though, but he's a pretty fun character though)

Thank you! As I reply to all of you kind people, you are absolutely right about the fishing. I'll skip all the explanation and give you a direct link to a fixed version of the minigame, in case you would want to try again! https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024

Yep, that fishing minigame is definetly the downfall of an otherwise pretty cool game (what I feel like). We've patched the minigame to be easier and less janky in the meantime, but we are not allowed to list it as an official link (according to the rules), which is kinda sad, since we only tweaked a few numbers, but that made such a big difference. If you want, you can always try it though! https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024

I agree with the others, scaling up the astroids just as they hit the drills to earn extra $$$ makes a surprising amount of fun. The mechanics from the later levels were also quite fun, also with the different drill arrangements, you had to think differently there.

The animations were really great! But I felt like the character was a bit too floaty, and having to press "e" before being able to toggle the color made it a little more annoying than it had to be. Switching whenever using the scroll wheel would have been nice!

I have to say, there are not many mechanics, but those that are there are very well executed and it feels nice and fun to play!

Holey, this is a 5/5 on all scales for me. I really enjoyed the puzzles, they really made me think about what to do, and collecting the extra collectables was always really fun, never annoying or frustrating. You've made something really special here, I loved it!

The climbing mechanics are definetly janky, but I feel like it's part of the charm.

Oh wow, that was really cute. I love how the kid just telepathically lifts all objects up and takes them to construct it's castle. I just took almost every item and placed it in there!

I find it really creative how the rules and puzzles are direct translations of what limits and obstacles a real kid doing this would face (feeding the cat to get a chocolate, not being allowed to take the parent's blanket, having to stay in a bound, etc.).

I have to say, this was quite satisfying to play! Some of the puzzles really made me think about the order in which to place the dots, or how to even start filling the area. I could see this expanded to more mechanics and puzzles easily!

Yes! Especially later on, when you have a wide variety of scales to pick from, you can make some really pretty ones.
For that reason, in the patched version, there is a keyboard cheatcode "giveall" that gives you 7 of each scale when you enter it, essentially allowing you to make any armor your want. If you really want, you can give it a try! https://yanwittmann.de/game/GMTK2024/gmtk2024

We're really happy though that you enjoyed it! We definitely had a lot of fun making it.

I definitely loved the animations of the player and the cards. I would have like to have at least some of the scaled stats remain after the rounds end, it felt like I could not "scale" quick enough around turn 5-6 when I played it to keep up with the enemies I was faced with. Also, the cards seemed to be mostly empty, maybe you could have had the stats as the actual card contents if you didn't have any images or other info in the center? It felt weirdly blank. But I still really liked this game! It's interesting and I played it multiple times.

I understand the idea, but it's being held back by the bugs in the game. The enemies being forced to stay on screen causes them to get stuck in walls, you can essentially climb up walls by clipping into them, etc. I feel like with better enemy AI, snappier gameplay and better maps, this could be a really great game!

I feel like the ball did not move where I put my cursor? It seemed to drift downwards more than upwards, I had to almost go 45° above where I wanted it to go.

But that doesn't matter, the gameplay was pretty fun! I could see this idea be expanded upon further!