Currently the embedded version isn't working, so I'll debug that as soon as possible. In the meantime I have included the Love2d file to be run with Love2d... I'll get some executable built out soon.

itch io link isn't working as well ...

Had to download Love2d, but still worth it! Fun and frantic with nice graphics. The symbols felt a bit random as there often didn't exist more than maybe one match. Might have been intended as well. Solid fun entry either way :D

Cool theme!

Thanks @mdotedot! Itch.io link should be working now (hadn't published it haha)

Cool thanks cobrajs. Now I was able to play it .. was terrible busy matching them at the end .. ha ha .. those naughty matchy sticks ..

I love the graphics and the sound effects. However, I can't figure out the controls to play the game. I can't tell if the matches were walk around randomly or due to my mouse clicks, perhaps some feedback on input will fix this.

Love the metaphor here! Trying to figure out the symbols is strangely addictive. It was kind of a reward to see them blow up. The way they move around is really interesting too, could watch that for a while on its own.

@papaya I think I needed a better indicator of the selected match... right now you click one and it highlights a reddish color, then the next one you click is the one that it gets paired with. They definitely just walk around randomly, or they go to chat with other matches (a bit too frequently I think, but I didn't have enough to fully balance things!)

@foolmoron I originally intended to make the symbols less abstract, but who knows, maybe matches are really into basic geometric shapes! Thanks for the feedback!

Just uploaded a new version: there was a bug where the game would crash if you won, and another bug where two matches with the same likes would be considered a less than perfect pair

I can play the game and it is one of the most polished entries! Really ingenuous pun!

Game is hard to cathup but i like it using theme like that! And i enjoed it! Great game!

Nice game. I love the simplistic graphics and the clear description of the games main goal. The sounds supports the mood pretty nicely. The UI is simple and self explainatory. Well done.

When it comes to gameplay I don't get why their interests change seemingly whenever they talk to one another. The symbols often change right before (or after) pairing them up. Did it missed something or got something wrong?

Wonderful game! It's fun and challengling at the time because their relationship happens so quickly!

@lustdante Thanks! I was giggling to myself the whole time I was developing it hahaha

@gagapete I probably should have noted that in the description that when they are chatting they only chat about one topic. I think a cool change would be that they talk about something they have in common and it shows a small heart, or if they have nothing in common then they chat about random topics and have no heart. Originally I was going to make it so you only had the time when they first arrive to see interests, and then you could get a glimpse when they chatted with each other, but that would make it much harder! I'm going to continue working on this because I like the possibilities haha

@sayurinyooko Thanks for the feedback!!

Really cute game. It's so chaotic and fast paced though. I think the difficulty curve could be slowed way down and it would be more approachable and fun.

Short & sweet game! I thought the visuals were great. All the small little animations added a lot of personality to the matches, and I think the simple & clean approach really helps not overwhelm since the gameplay of trying to frantically match all the symbols in a short amount of time can easily feel overwhelming if there's too much going on. I immediately knew what I had to do based on the way the first stage was visually laid out.

I really like coordination games like this and had fun trying to match as many matches as I could each round. It did take me awhile to understand why there was only one symbol being shown while the matches were talking vs hover - in my frantic gameplay state I thought their interests were changing based on the matches they were talking to, but I eventually got it!

Also loved the play on the pun of matches as it's one I haven't seen before in a "romance" game and really clever (especially since the gameplay is also match based!) I definitely chuckled when I read the part about the matches lighting up from "friction in the relationship"!

It's certainly an interesting game, it ramps up a bit too fast in difficulty, I like the sound and animations. Though my brain just couldn't process all the symbols in time, somehow, I managed to beat the game though.

@ben-parisi Oh most definitely... I'm going to slow down the difficulty curve by a lot in post-LD development. I have a lot of ideas for how to make the curve more gradual and a bit less chaotic haha. Thanks for the feedback!

@evedoll Love the feedback! I was milking cos() and sin() for all they were worth for those animations :grin: The graphics are pretty much (except for the intro and game over/win text) all just Love2d primitives... it started as just stand-in graphics, but I ended up really liking how it looked like that! Thanks!

@digitaldude555 Yeah, I had it add way too many extra things for each 10 seconds. You can definitely win pretty easily by just making random pairs juuust before the 10 seconds is up, since then you get a heart for the pairing before they burn up haha

That game was intense faaaaast.
Absolute chaos haha.
But isn't that how life be sometimes?

My room for growth comment would probably be slowing things down a bit in the difficulty arc. Having so many matches up AND hiding their combos was a bit much for my smol, smooth brain.

It was fun though. Chaotic. I liked it. Thank you.

Fun idea! Too short in my opinion, once it starts getting frantic, the "You Win!" screen appears almost immediately. I wouldn't have minded a few more levels of clicking.

Regarding the clicking, this is maybe my main complaint about this game: the hit boxes of the matches are somewhat hard to hit, because they're so narrow. This makes it feel less like a frantic matching game and more like an FPS training tool.

Overall a solid entry.

It's so addictive once you figure it out, well done!

@otterfaelure Haha exactly! Yup, one thing I'm planning on for post-LD is to make the changes much more gradual, and possibly actually explaining what is happening in game! Thanks for the feedback!

@indigo It's pretty much exactly fifty seconds! Definitely going to slow it down a bit post-LD. I didn't really get around to implementing hitboxes, it's just finding the nearest match in a 50 pixel radius. Which kinda sorta works... I'm planning on actual collision detection so that clicking the matches will be easier, and they'll avoid each other a bit so they won't clump up quite as much. Thanks for your feedback!!

@spyranteros Glad you've figured it out... I didn't have enough time to playtest and figure out a good strategy haha! Thanks for the feedback!

i like how the game looks. it's very fast paced and i'd like it to be a little more beginner friendly :D

@nickpick Thanks for the feedback! That's at the top of my list for continued development :grin:

Adorable game! Would be nice if the game was a little bit slower; it's very easy to get overwhelmed as the game progresses. Otherwise, I really loved it. Matches getting actual matches is very clever and funny! And it was fun to even just watch matches checking stuff out on their own.
Anyway, this game also reminded me why I am glad to be out of dating scene. Seeing those poor matches burning out hit home. :)

@dzejpi Thanks!! I'm thinking about making like a passive mode, where you can only see the matches' interests when they discuss them with other matches, and then it'll have like little hearts or something when the pairing is really good haha. Agreed on the dating scene part too... this idea as born out of another idea I had where it gets harder and harder to find a good pairing because the dating pool gets bigger with each round: might be a perfect match, but they are on opposite sides of the dating pool and never bump into each other haha (also glad to be out of that scene!)

pretty cool, maybe a step by step tutorial would have been helpful, nevertheless the game was fun (especially when equations got involved)

I won somehow, but I'm not sure how; near the end, it was chaotic and I wasn't making any matches, but it still popped up "You Win!"

Hah, very original and nice idea. It gets very chaotic really fast)) Like the graphics and audio style - fits the game feel.

this game is very funny, absolut carnage happens pretty fast ahah

@la-bread Haha, no equations, it's just that an equal sign is an easy symbol to draw! Thanks for the feedback!

@agentparsec Yeeeeah, it's not balanced very well (basically you only lose half a heart if you make no matches in a round, or half a heart for each match that is burnt or on fire, but for every match that still has a heart by the end of the round you gain a heart). So like if you make matches just before the 10 seconds are up, you can gain hearts without having to worry about losing hearts from the pair burning up! Thanks for the feedback!

@corporation I was hoping the audio would all work together because I did it all on the same synthesizer haha! Thanks for the feedback!

@enderswype Ooh it was gonna be worse (and still might be post-LD)... the matches that are on fire were supposed to set other matches on fire when they bump into them! Sadly I ran out of time to implement collision detection (and along with it making it so that matches would have some basic avoidance so it would be easier to see them all). Thanks for the feedback!

This is a fun concept. I really liked how the matches would chat each other up and say one of their interests. However, the chatting made it so you couldn't see their full interest set and the game quickly gets too busy to play meaningfully. I also enjoyed that you could extend pairs if all the matches had the same interests.

I couldn't tell for sure because of the chaos after the first couple rounds, but it seems like anything other than a perfect match burns out pretty quickly. It might have been interesting to have the rate that the heart drains is based on how many discordant interests they had instead of just a static rate.

Overall, it was a fun game that just needs a bit more balancing. Well done.

What a hectic entry! I really liked the concept but the later levels things got crazy :sweat_smile: Was fun to play, keep on making games!

@bentglasstube I can't decide whether that's a bug yet, like not being able to see the full interest set when they are chatting. I'm tempted to make a mode where like you can't see the full interest set, but only observe the chatting and see if you can make good pairs just based on what they are chatting about (obviously without the timers or general chaos haha). The pair rating formula wasn't exactly finished, but it should have been 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% based on how the formula rated the pairing. I think it needs a much more gentle slope because I do agree that they burn out pretty quick unless it's a 100% match (which is currently only possible when they have single interests that are matching). Thanks for the feedback!!

@frozenfire92 Thanks for the feedback and encouragement!! :smile:

> which is currently only possible when they have single interests that are matching

This explains a lot of the struggle I had with the game :D

This is hilariously cute, I really love it. Definitely one of my favourite games this jam :) It's super cute when new matches show up, when they burn out and when they do anything in general at all xD It's quite difficult to match them up in such little time and it turned to chaos so fast. The sounds work well, and overall it's really well done!

@sarah Love the feedback!! Thanks! :smile: