This was really great! The simple yet beautiful art, music, sound effects, and gameplay were awesome! The only critique I have is the movement was a bit confusing to me. It felt a bit numb, if that makes sense. I think if the game moved on its own it wouldn't change the feel at all. Using the scroll wheel to protect myself was certainly innovative, and I had a lot of fun playing that way. Nice game!

Really really good, so far the most impressive one. The gameplay is unique, the feeling is unique, like a action movie... But because its new, it takes some time to understand how to play properly.... I think this can be easily fixed if, maybe add a defence block in the very first encounter, so that the player only need to press E, then there's no blocks they would realise that maybe they should use mouse scrolls.(at first I had no idea that I suppose to use mouse and E in the same time! ) Or add a blocking effect to the bullet line, when it can be blocked, the light will be blocked, too. Or simply indicate that mouse is also needed.(Update: I replayed on this issue and found the not-very-visible little mouse icon...It doesn't looks like mouse....)

There's a lot to like here. The bold choice of the super wide aspect ratio worked nicely for the gameplay. The mouse wheel mechanic was unique, and it became a lot more challenging and engaging than I thought it might be.

I agree with pres2300 that auto-walking would have been better. And since there was no downside to just holding R the whole time, I would think you could also scrap that input as well, and only need to focus on the scroll wheel.

Or, for some more depth of strategy, you could limit the amount of time you can hold R, which would force you to play chicken with the timing of the enemy attack.

Great work!

Very unique and interesting game, not too exciting, and the controls were not great, but it kept me playing to the end.

The blocking mechanic is fun and the different encounters to a good job of riffing with the base concept. Enjoyed it!

This was a really beautiful game. The character's slow, methodical walk felt so serene, I wish I could have stayed there longer. Probably my favorite experience of the jam so far.

The scroll wheel movement was a bit tricky on a laptop trackpad, but that just added to the tension. If there was a gameplay thing I'd change, it would be making the target / shield intersection a bit more clear for the moving targets at the end.

pres2300 and andrekennedy above mention auto-walking, but I personally think auto-walk would have made it a worse game. I enjoyed feeling like I was the one moving with the walking stick, rather than just watching someone on screen.

What an amazing game you created there, simple, yet so fun and fascinating to play. It took me a bit to really understand the scoll mechanic but once i did it was super fun and super unique. I really loved the small bit of storytelling. Played as an old lady with a stick and walking super slow is just a really nice touch!

Really loved the graphics, sound (especially the music), and the unique controls - it was a real mood.

Aspect ratio was really cool as well.

Whole thing felt arty.. but still accessible. Felt pretty easy to pick up and play. Didn't get bored at all - liked the challenge. Died a couple of times and appreciate that I didn't have to go back to the start.

It's not on you at all, but I wish I hadn't broke my scroll wheel and fixed it with a paperclip a few weeks ago - it would have made things easier.

Kinda liked the slow movement, gave me time between fights. The unusual screen size was a lot of fun too, kinda kept things minimal but still really accessible and enjoyable. Music was a bop too.

That last fight was tricky, because I kept trying to continue to follow the moving guide up and down, even though the bullet goes straight. When I knocked that off and stopped moving I was able to win though.

Really unique! At first when I saw the small horizontal screen I was like "oh okay well that's a lazy way to make a small environment" but I think it's actually really memorable and fits well into the gameplay. The mechanic itself of blocking the bullets may not have had to do much with summoning but it was pretty good. I got as far as the moving bullet and I couldn't get past it. Great work!

really impressive game. pixel art of this level always blows my mind, and i think the mechanics are just simple enough to be easily picked up without being *easy*. interesting aspect ratio choice too! all around fun and unique little game. i do think the final encounter feels a little tiny bit more down to luck than skill, but if you get the right roll of little pixel...defense...guys, you'll make it. good game!

Amazing game! I loved the minimalistic style, hope to see a longer version of this game in the future, good job!

Absolutely nuts, great work.

I love "not here..." for how different it is. It uses the mouse wheel for a critical mechanic, it has a minimalist palette and pixel art, but a lush soundscape. You play as a presumably pretty weak and old character, but they're like "**excuse me, I will choose when I die, thank you.**" I like the first impression with the movement, and how the game scales the time it takes to get from character to character, it makes it feel gradual without actually being an eternity.

10/10 action puzzle grandma shooter: immaculate vibes, knuckle-biting geriatric combat

Really cool minimalistic pixel art, palette, sound design and gameplay, yet everything looks so polished.

It was not intuitive that I needed to use the mouse wheel at first (my bad for not reading your LD page :D ).

It was a great experience! Thanks, good job!

Super cool/interesting entry. Love the unique mechanics, only thing that wasn't super clear to me at first was that I needed to use the mouse wheel, the hint does not look like mouse wheel to me. Once I figured it out though this was a very enjoyable entry, the difficulty ramped up nicely. Had fun, great work!

Really Great stuff!
Love the super-wide aspect and the artwork is perfect,
great aesthetic choices!
Gameplay is good once you get used to how it works.

Overall, Great Work!

The game got a lot easier when I tried the fixed version and realized the mouse wheel can be used :sweat_smile:

Really unique game, and a fun mechanic, but I will say that the horizontal movement just felt really sluggish. I get that it was done to fit the lore of the character or whatever, but it felt as if it could easily have just been either a bit faster, or automatic.

Nice little game, with what I thought was pretty interesting gameplay, Good job!

Cute little game! Reminded me of the smallscreen "art games" of old. Thank you for sharing <3

This is extremly polished experience, i also love the small borderles window style, the combat mechanic is realy interesting and i also like the atmosfere of the game.

That was fun and challenging and felt quite polished. Loved the atmosphere as well - good job!

Beautiful artsy little game!

I found the scroll wheel controls a little too fickle and prone to overshooting, especially with the bandeau dress rockabilly hair enemy, but I got through it. I would have appreciated arrow keys as an accessibility option / alternate control scheme for people with touchpads or things like that. (But it's a jam game, so no worries.)

The artwork is generally fairly readable (with the aligning-the-shield part being a little weaker than the rest but still fine) and the artistic direction and resulting mood was very strong. Good work!

## THANK YOU ALL! ~💕

@pres2300 Thank you!! With the movement I was trying to convey the feeling of the protagonist's age and the effort she is going through to achieve her goal, as well as a slowdown from the violent intense action. The downside is the slow pace and reduced player control

@wo-ri-gou-le Thank you for playing, I am glad you liked it! I will take into consideration your advice!

@andrewkennedy Thank you for playing and for the feedback!! I want the player to feel like they are making an effort to stay powered up, just like the protagonist. It's slightly less practical to hold "E", but I like how it feels

@ogelgames Thank you for the feedback! I'm glad you made it to the end

@jhax Glad you like it!! Thank you for playing!

@sudocoffee Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you liked it so much! I share the same opinion about the movement!

@aracana Thank you!! Once the idea of playing as slow old lady came to mind, i had to try it out lol

@thaprofesional Thank you!! Playing with a broken scroll wheel must be really hard. I'm thankful that my game kept you playing even so 💗

@tempestcognitor Thank you!! I'm glad you liked the music. I wasn't sure if it was good. And I am glad you liked the movement, contrast is important in art; the battles would be less intense if the slow and relaxing movement wasn't there

@tykenn Glad you got to the end!! Thanks for playing!

@kalibrated Lol, I'm glad the game changed your mind! I agree, the theme wasn't very strong. She does summon magic from the dead people she finds to defend herself, but it's not that clear. The moving bullet was the last boss; I tried to make her really hard! The ending, I think, is really nice, but I'm glad you got this far! Thank you for playing!

@riley-hogan Thank you for playing and for the feedback!! I tried to make the pixel art really simple so that I had time to work on every part of the game. Compo is hard!

@bastillas Thank you!! I will consider a longer version based on my placement in the competition

@adrmille Thank youu!! ❤️

@mavvy I'm glad you loved it! I love originality too. I always try to add a lot to my games and appreciate games that have it

@maxplusplus Thank you!! It is a competitive genre of games, with many classics, but I am glad my game can still stand out 💝

@rolly Thank you for your great feedback!! I am glad you liked it!

@maggardjosh Thank you!! I'm glad you had fun!! I fixed the mouse; I hope it looks like one now lol

@ungarblapp Thank you very much!! And thank you for the follow!

@flogram That will make it easy lol. Thank you for playing!!

@sigmoiddev Thank you for playing! I think the movement is more of a matter of taste; it's not for everyone, but some people really liked it. To me, the feeling is really nice.

@twtwoface Thank you for your nice little comment! And thank you for playing!

@digitaliliad Thank you for playing and for the nice words!! I watched the stream; you got really lucky with the last fight. It is usually REALLY hard! And the graves at the end are supposed to be for the corpses she finds along her journey; that's why they have the same colors

@atan Thank you! I am glad you liked it! ❤️

@rowdy3 Thank you!! I am glad you had fun!

@monika I guess some mouse have more fickle scroll wheels, it is a great idea to add a alternative control, thanks for the advice! And thank you for playing!

**And please nobody read this!**: I need to get this off my chest, but no one should read this, please. Here we go. The white things on the walls are actually supposed to be drawings of penises... I'm glad no one noticed, and that no one will read this. My artistic integrity is preserved!! And by the way, the protagonist doesn't have an arm. It's kind of hard to notice, though, so I decided to add it here. There's also a subtext of racism in the game; no one talked about it, so I decided to mention it here

## [By the way, there is a new bug free version if anyone wants to check it out!](https://files.jam.host/uploads/$383249/not_here_BUG_FIX_Compo.zip)

You always come up with something madly inventive, love it. Banner-sized dimensions are a nice touch, though I had to remove most of the page with developer tools to prevent it from scrolling down. Tbh the experience was frustrating until I figured out what "use the mouse wheel" means, but it went smooth from there, and the ending has left me wondering for days to come.