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After getting the books from the bookshelf they appear on the table.

I didn't expect the Santa in the end :D

The game surprised me a bit- I though it was a bit easy, but since you need to last till 7, in the end I was left with a single cookie! Turns out it wasn't too simple at all! Trying to find a good moment to have a drink required some planing, so the gameplay had more depth than I expected at first.

The graphics were simple, but I appreciate the enemy variety. The green guy, and blue ghost could behave a bit different, but still- this was cool! The sound fit the graphics with the retro vibe, and the music was christmassy enough, that I probably should have expected Santa :)

Frist of all- the animation is great. You don't see IK used in game jams that often, and here it's used to a great effect. Sound fits too- sounds are clear and intense. I liked it!

The gameplay could use some polish and variety. The game lets you aim up, but there was no reason to do it! Some zombies attacking from the roof maybe? The game could ramp up faster too- make the upgrades cheaper, but the difficulty growth faster! This would keep the player at their toes :)

I found the idea with the radio interesting- in a wave based game you rarely decide when the waves end and start. I think this idea could be developed further. What if the rewards grow as the wave lasts longer? Something to think about :)

13 waves! This game needs online leaderboard!

Other than that- the gameplay is intense. The "jumping" seems a bit off. I'm almost certain, that sometimes I landed in a bit different place than I intended- no matter!

The shooting and destroying enemies is properly juicy. The tiny pause after you defeat the enemy makes each win feel really impactful! Good job on enemy variety and different powerups!

The graphics are simple- maybe they cold bit more detailed, but you balance it out nicely with effects (animated text, the small pause, I written about). The sound was fittingly oldschool, and the music fit the action.

Over all- I enjoyed playing your game- keep up the good work!

INTENSE! I didn't manage to beat the game- but the way the difficulty ramps up was pretty good.

The oldschool style works well with bullet hell gameplay, but I think some thumping background music would enhance the experience even more.

Use of the theme was on point, although I was a bit sorry for the protagonist. Come on guy- let those linked in recruiters get you!

Ok, I liked the graphics, music, use of the theme, BUT I CAN'T SOLVE THE FOURTH RIDDLE? Is there a hint?

THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE!

I'll play your game again, after the jam- this time I'll finish it!

This game gave me mixed feelings. But let's start from the start.

The graphics and music have cohesive style, and fit each other. Zombies look cool, screen shake, when the giant comes is a nice effect. The subtle animations on the buttons are something I always forget to do, but show how polished the look and feel really is. Enemy variety is a big plus.

But the game economy is seriously off! The only thing I could ever afford was ammo, so I didn't upgrade at all. Then again I didn't need it, because not counting the one time a fast zombie caught me off guard, the basic cannon worked just fine.

My advice? Make the ammo free, and the game harder. Maybe make the cannon overheat or reload after six shots, so the player doesn't spam fire all the time.

The second thing- I don't understand why I can choose the room to be attacked. I'm always gonna pick the one where I have the cannon and ammo. And not to be nitpicky, but it makes you have two rooms in a jam where the theme was "one room" :)

Over all- a stylish game that needs rebalancing. Still- good job!

For a first time jam entry this is pretty good!

Most of the puzzles worked good, and were logical. I had trouble identifying some of the items I collected (it took me a while to identify a bucket for example), but most of them were ok.

What drags your game down is the complete lack of any sound. Check out freesound.org, for sound effects and https://mobygratis.com/ for music- both of them are free, provided you credit the authors.

I didn't finish the game. Here's where I got stuck- I have scissors, dropped coin into the machine (but it doesn't have power, and I don't have a screwdriver. I can't open the box- I try the symbols on the walls, but they don't seem to work? I tried them in different order, but I'm missing it.

Over all- this is a good start. Keep on jamming, learning, and you'll be making solid games in no time!

Simple but fun gameplay. It took me a while to figure out the "Home row", but other than that, I had fun pushing keys fast :)

 I gotta say, that the sound was used really well- the breathing really sold the increasing tension, and the music was properly spooky! The graphics was ok. I liked the slowly appearing monster.

The atmosphere worked, but some additions would improve it even more. A "horror sting" when the monster appears, maybe some screen effect (like film grain)?

One more thing- this game is HARD. Unless being jumped by the monster counts as an ending I couldn't finish it. Never made it to 3 AM!

Over all- good game, especially for one created in just four days, and in a new engine!

Thanks for a detailed comment! I always appreciate those!

I'm glad you caught the "looking at the phone" animation. This was intended exactly in that way- Dick's waiting for your reply. He's self aware enough to know, he needs a research assistant, but that doesn't make him any more patient.

There was one modification, that I dropped early on, that would make the game even more like "keep talking". Originally the game was supposed to have the right answers randomized. This would be easy to implement, but exhausting to test, so I dropped it early on. With the books I took the easy way- you never read the books, but what the protagonist tells you about them. Actual text, with pictures, and animated books would be better, but there was no way I'd make it in time :)

Of course, you mentioning "Keep talking..." makes me think, that it would be cool to make a "research/ investigation" style game, where you can print out the books, that would be available as downloadable pdf (Zachtronics games do that too!). 

If you want to read a bit more about the development process, I've just added the devlog to my jam page!

Once again, thanks for playing!

From the themes that made to the final five, two would end up as a Dick Storm game. Other two would feature pizza delivery, and one would be a visual novel with a boss fight.

Thanks for playing! I appreciate the detailed comment. There are definitely some more things I could have done, but honestly- this was a game, where I tried a lot of things for the first time, and I was afraid, I was gonna spread myself too thin. Seeing how I was adding new stuff at the point in the jam, where normally I'd be deep into the "polish-and-bugfix" phase, I think I managed ok :)

Now, I'd write a bigger reply, but instead I turned the rough notes I made during the development into a Devlog (with a bonus part about Dick's origin, inspired by your comment). Check it out, if you feel like reading fourteen pages of text (with screenshots, so actually a bit less).  

Thanks for playing! I feel like this was an ambitious game to make for a jam, and I might have spread myself too thin. I liked the result.

As for the bug- I uploaded a wrong version in the end. Obviously, will reupload a fixed one after a jam. 

This is either a commentary on working conditions in parcel centers and debt, or I'm really bad at your game :)

Could be a bit easier :)

The PSX style aesthetics were cool, and the sound fit the gameplay. I noticed you have music in credits, but I didn't hear any?

There was one thing I'd change- it would be nice if the city names were sorta related to others in the country. For example San-Antonio being in a different country than Ivanovo :) Also- because of the style of graphics I had to get really close to read the map.

As for the usage of the theme- it was a pretty good one. The game kept you in one room (and not a nice one at that), and it affected the gameplay.

Having played 20 games in this jam, I think this is the coolest use of the theme so far! Moving the walls to solve puzzles is smart and creative, and gave a couple cool scenarios. My favorite was the one where I moved the shelf with the wall, but it often ended up over the hole, so I needed to nudge it a bit, being careful not to make the room dark!

Graphics were simple, but cool. You could push the coolness factor even further, by adding some shader, to make the graphics "pop" more. Then again- the game looks good as it it :)

Sound was good, but a bit of background music would be even better (you can check out https://mobygratis.com/ to get music for your future projects).

As I said- this was the best use of the theme I've seen in this jam so far! Finding the boxes was fun and the game length was perfect for a jam game (maybe a bit longer would be cool. Like two more difficult boxes). I could see this as a "big" release with different rooms that have various rules.

Keep up the great work! 

My time was 1:50 :)

Good idea for the theme use, but I think the game itself needs a bit more work.

First of all- adding sound and some background music is a geed way to add some player feedback and atmosphere (check out freesound.org).

Secondly- the controls were a bit weird. Player stopped too suddenly. In the end I got used to it, though, so not a huge issue. The moving platform was a cool addition, but waiting for it was a bit boring.

The coolest part was the changing room! Cool use of the theme :)

The idea behind the game is cool, but it feels up too fast, and I got stuck with a room full of stuff I couldn't merge.

Other than that, the game has personality, and the robots were cool :)

That one hit me in a way I didn't expect from a game in this jam. Here! Have your stars :)

Lets start with graphics and sound. Or maybe lets start with the atmosphere, because I was going to write the graphics/sound work great to build the atmosphere. It was really something else- how the moving left and right was essentially the only mechanic, but how you made actual puzzles with it. It uses simple means, but achieving complex results.

Also... you rarely find a jam game, where in the end you wonder what did the author try to tell us.

I see that almost all the other comments use the word "unique" to describe this game... and it truly is.

330.69 seconds, 28 deaths. You made a good platformer sir. My hand hurts a bit :)

You did the difficulty curve perfectly! Thanks to adding each part gradually the player remains encouraged. I felt like "I already beat that part, so I need to go through the new stuff, and through the familiar stuff". Again- this is difficulty design that I'd appreciate in a "big" game!

Controls are vital in platformers. If for any second I'd felt that I landed in spikes because of floaty controls, and not my mistakes I wouldn't finish the game. Because I finished, you know the controls were TIGHT!

The graphics are minimalist, but in a cool way. You added some juice, by squishing the character, and I was a bit surprised when it turned out that the hitbox is squished too!

The sound was... ok? Sound effects worked ok, but the music stopped looping after a while. Not a huge problem, but something to fix.

Use of theme was on point. I loved how the obstacles "grew" filling the room.

Over all- great game. Normally I think making a difficult game for a jam is a gamble, but you pulled it off!

Yeah, that makes sense- I had 12 credits, and wanted to buy an upgrade for 12 :)

Ok- the first thing you gotta tell the players is the objective of the game! I finished all the waves, and THEN found out that I'd get more points if I had more money!

Other than that- the game was fun, especially when I started to play without powerups! The graphics were simple, but the "multiple squares" type of animation was cool!

The music was... a bit strange, but id didn't bother me. The game could use some more sounds (jump, death- standard platformer stuff).

A thing I liked the most was gameplay variety. For a seemingly simple game, you had a lot of enemy types, and gameplay mechanics. In my opinion this bumped it from "simple platformer" to "LET'S TRY TO BEAT MY SCORE"... no success here so far :)

As always- I love the inclusion of online leaderboards!

I gotta admit- the secret door glitched a bit, so I saw it :)

The idea for the game was cool, but I think a bit more things to do would help. Maybe if I had to do a couple of things before I could escape (of course, being chased by ghosts)?

I had fun! Really solid gameplay that made me consider every move. Graphics and sound are minimalist, but in a cool, retro way. I'm not 100% clear on the rules. I lost after I bought an upgrade (that I could afford).

As for the theme use. It was ok for one room, but if you submitted this game for "limited space" two months ago, it would be perfect :)

Over all- really cool puzzle game! Keep up the good work! 

Let's start with the presentation- the graphics style was cool, and it fit the style of the game! Only issue was a weird shadow behind the couch (might be a web build issue?).

The sound effects are few, but work as intended (although I wouldn't mind a sound , when someone request something!). The background music really worked! It's super catchy, and really sells the party mood.

The gameplay was fun, but some more variety would be cool. Maybe a tiny minigame, when you interact with different items?

I don't know if I found the easter egg. A guy moved to the second room, but then my parents told me we went too far... was that it?

I had some fun, and the game looks really cool. It could use a bit of polish, and variety, but over all it's a really good game! Keep it up!

This game looks great- it's minimalism done as it should be. The background music is great, the sounds also fit the gameplay nicely. 

One problem- I get killed precisely at 23 seconds. For some reason I reached 23 seconds multiple times, but never can get past it :( I guess it's been some time since my super meat boy years :)

Ok, this was seriously good! And it's starting with the title- "Gastronoir"! Sounds equally disgusting and intriguing!

Let's go through the things! The graphics were great. From the intro you know you are in for a treat. The gameplay animations were great too. If I were to nitpick, I'd say that maybe that floor could have more texture? Or the guy could have a more visible attack animation? That's nitpicking though! Because you know what's the real winner? how the game gives you feedback. After killing the first heart, and seeing the animation I instantly knew what my objective was, no text exposition needed! Also- the screen shake was a nice touch!

Lat's move on to the sound. After killing the first heart I knew what I had to do, but at that time I also knew the level was kinda large. Not a problem, though, because I was lead by the heartbeat! I loved this! Most of the jammers struggle with audio, some opting for sparse sound use and some background music (me included). Hewr, you had sound give you navigation hints! Loved it!

The gameplay? The difficulty increased at a nice pace. After I died on fourth heart, I was afraid I'd have to play all of the previous ones again, but no! Checkpoint system works great in conjunction with the difficulty, because the last heart made me die a lot :)  One problem I had was with the lack of the fullscreen option in the web build. In the heat of the battle I often moved my mouse out of play area, and that caused me to stop shooting, and that broke my flow a bit.

The usage of the theme was ok. There was something missing here. Like I didn't feel that "one room" affected the gameplay.

Over all- great gameplay, great animations, awesome sound design! Keep it up man!

Arrgghhh! I got to the third loop, but kept dying on the spikes. It would be nice if the game restarted from the room where you finished, instead of the begining.

The game looked and sounded ok. The "AH!" when you died was a bit jarring, but not overly annoying.

The controls felt good, and the only thing that annoyed me was that I needed to play the whole thing from the start every time I died.

The use of the theme was on point. This was really interesting take on "one room"- probably my favorite so far. 

Keep up the good work!

Ok, can you try one more thing- if you'd like to play it, but selecting, and reading all the books at the start?

Ok, I had fun figuring out the puzzles (although I checked the solution for the last bomb), the difficulty was just enough to make me think a bit (an maybe fail a bit too), but not hard enough to make me stuck. The "anguish" one was especially good. I think I encountered a bug in the football one. I failed, but the game moved on to the next level. Last puzzle was a nice way to end the game, even if it was a bit easy.

The graphics were cute. I liked the cop, the fixed camera angle, and the explosion! The sound could use a bit more attention. Some background music would be nice.

There is only one issue I have here. It's seven rooms, not one :) Like, I know that you are solving one room at the time, but I feel you could go with "one" in "one room" harder.

Over all- great puzzles and cool graphics! Keep it up!

Multiple endings! Nice!

Let's talk about the game! The sound was ok, but then! Did you make a custom song for the jam? That's seriously impressive! I always bump up the score for voice acting, but custom song is even better!

The graphics... I'll be honest, I don't love AI graphics, but the actual gameplay was in a good-old rpg maker style.

As for the gameplay- so far I just got Sophie, Elyse and Mai endings, and it's cool that every story has you doing different things! A bug I found is that Elyse's ending has Mai's background graphics.

As for the theme use- I think you could go harder on the theme. This story could as wall happen on the beach, or a cruise, so it doesn't really play into the "one room" aspect that much.

In the end- it seems like you enjoyed making a plot-heavy game. I enjoyed playing it! Keep up the good work!

Yup, I pulled to 500, and you can speed up to crazy speed!

I had fuuuun :D Ripping through the building and trying to connect all the rooms was fun. The car controlled well enough to be fun, but badly enough to make it a bit unpredictable- drifting through the walls (and dudes), and suddenly destroying a load bearing wall just felt NICE!

Graphics and music felt like a game from a CD-ROM called "300 best games", that you'd buy in 1996! I dig it :)  

As for the use of the theme... I didn't feel I was making a "one room". It felt more like connecting many rooms. Worse- at the start I thought I needed to destroy all the walls to make the room one, and I was surprised, when the level finished (and I got an A rank!)

Over all- really fun game, but a deeper exploration of the theme would be nice.

First of all- even if I got the reward at the end, I feel like I'd be a bad designer :) I put several of the same objects, and I blocked the door and the windows with furniture every time, but with no consequence!

I have to say- I had fun. I could see this game as a bigger release, where you would get more and more complicated orders, with more and more constricting rules (such as 'no furniture near the window', 'no more than two chairs of same type').

The graphics were readable, the interface clear and easy to use. The sound fit the game, and there's an extra point for voice acting :)

The use of theme was pretty good. I always appreciate when the gameplay is really connected to the theme, and in your case it is just that!

Over all- I expected to find something really simple, but I ended up having more fun than I expected! Keep up the good work!

Is this a test? Like are you trying to test how high can you go with game, that has beautiful graphics (the shader is just delicious!), relaxing music, day-night cycle, a minigame, that's more engaging than the actual game.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the prettiest game in the whole jam. Sounds great too!

Seriously, am I playing this wrong? Is there more to it than swimming in circle? Is there something that happens after 500 rounds? Because Im willing to place something heavy on the keyboard to find out :)

Over all... if there was a reward for MOST CONFLICTING FEELINGS you would just get it now!

First of all- graphics style war really cool. Flat shading with vibrant colors worked really nice. 

Same goes for the use of the theme. The "one room" makes sense as a setting, and it affects the gameplay in the meaningful way.  Also- the plot hit me just the right way- when you have kids, protecting them from nightmares is what you want to do!

As for the gameplay itself. What's there works fine, but I'd really like to see more. More plushies, different bad dreams, more gameplay variety over all.

You can really see the polish in the game, but a bit more variety would elevate it a lot!

Good one! Some nail-biting action to start off a jam is always nice!

I liked the presentation a lot. The screen-space effects (like the wavy heat blur) were cool, and didn't make the graphics any less readable. Almost all the hazards were well telegraphed. "Almost", because in the heat of the action I mistook burning embers for gold a couple of times :) Same goes for sound effects and music. They were properly intense and fit the action perfectly. 

As for the action- at first I thought the grid movement would be limiting, but it fit the fast paced action perfectly! Some of the hazards were a bit hard to dodge (the line of flames moving from both sides at once hit me every time), but I guess that's a skill issue.

I always love when games like this have online leaderboards, and you delivered. Only nitpick here is that it would be cool, to see my result without restarting the game.

Over all- I'll probably return to this one, just to place higher on the leaderboards (6300 points may be good for the first time, but I can do better). Great game! Keep it up :)

Let's start with the start! Very cool to include the tutorial and "text heavy warning" :) That being said- I don't think your game is too text heavy. Especially for a Rpg Maker game, people really tend to put a lot of text in those!

The main puzzle was cool. All the elements made sense together, so the game didn't feel like a '90s point and click adventure. Usage of all the items was clear too.

It would be cool if the game was a bit longer- like if you had to make a potion, that enables another piece of the puzzle, that in turn allows us to open the door.

Use of the theme was good, because it affected the plot and the gameplay. Btw- the story would fit nicely in a bigger game!

Over all- cool to see another game from you! Keep up the good work!

Yeah, the cam issue became apparent after we submitted. Most players come downstairs facing forward, so that's not a huge issue.

As for the UI, yeah I agree. I was trying something new (with the direction of the subtitles indicating who's talking, but in the end, it could use a bit more polish.

As for the similarities- after I played your game I had a similar thought. Both are walking simulator horrors, where software development is at the center of the story :)

The 3d assets weren't mine, but all the 2d stuff we make ourselves for each jam.

Thanks for playing!

I liked the game, had fun, but I'd like to see it made in a longer jam, with more levels and more difficult puzzles. With just six levels it just gives you a taste :)

The presentation was good- the characters are cute and Halloween-y, and the theme of "uninvited guest" is utilized in a great way. I think that games that use the theme best use it on every level. They affect the plot, and are a constant factor in decisions that the player makes during the gameplay. You had that! Congrats!

Adding tutorial to a game like that is a must, and your was double cool, because you incorporated the tutorial messages into the gameplay,