Lovely homage to some lovely old classics. Pixel art was great, atmosphere was very enjoyable, and everything worked well. I laughed out loud in delight at that first time you fall down into a new game.

Interesting idea, but a bit too drawn out for a jam format. New game each screen would work better, imho.
Got stuck on the Dark Souls stage - severl times died just one layer away from the bottom. which is authentic DS experience, but I wonder if there is anything after that.

You deserve to win for this entry. You surprised me when it was more than just the Mario reference! The audio was especially on point. Huge kudos to you!

one of my favorites I've played so far in this jam.
love the changing mechanics and all the games referenced.
I'd recommend anyone to play this one. there is really nothing to criticize here ^^

Super good. The audio and atmosphere is brutal, very well done job! This deseverse to be played, good luck with the jam :)

nice mixtape!

I enjoyed your not-mario game XD

Really amazing game. Honestly one of my favourites of the ones I've rated so far! The graphics are so cute and I absolutely loved the clever music choice of deriving from the original game's soundtrack while keeping it unique and eerie. I was blown away by how fun this was to play. :)

Such a cool bait and switch. This was a lot of fun. Your player animations are excellent and it's such a cool idea for a jam.

https://youtu.be/KNh6nqvcjxI

@polymathld @baknik @spexxilove Thanks for the kind words! I put a lot of time into making the first part of the game feel polished enough that you wouldn't suspect what came next.

@baturinsky Yeah you had gotten through most of the game at that point, there were a couple more short sections afterwards. It wasn't my intention to make any parts of the game too difficult, but as always, that can be challenging to get right without others available for playtesting.

@delunado @clare-chan1738 I really wanted to prioritize audio instead of leaving it to the last minute like I usually do. I ended up really rushing the music an hour before the Compo ended, and while it's not what I had in mind at the beginning of the jam, I'm still pleased with the overall effect it had.

@bangkerpow Thanks for uploading a video! I'm so sorry you got stuck in the ground during that screen transition. Once I realized it was in the game, submission hour was looming and fixing the logic would have been too risky for all the other screen transitions. Luckily I see you found the self-destruct button :wink: .

Super cool atmospheric game) sound design is on the top along with idea) Thank u for that diamond!)

Thanks for playing Dive into the Hive Mind!

I loved your effort here and the fact you managed to accomplish so much in 48 hours is mindblowing! Smooth gameplay, atmospheric tunes... cant fault anything at all.

Very fun idea! I love design and gameplay


After all this shit that Mario saw, he never be the same...

Very lovely game! It will be among my favourites ^_^

Very aesthetically pleasing experience! The transitions between sections felt continuous thanks to cohesive graphics and audio. The minimalism actually added quite a lot to the game, the use of high-fidelity piano instead of the chiptune sounds one would normally expect was a part of it and it was certainly a great decision!
The references are also done nicely - there isn't really anything to take or add. :>

Well done mate, I love the fact that it is using a custom game engine built upon Python and PySDL2. Keep it up!

Oh my god!! What a FANTASTIC entry! I was absolutely enamored with it from boot to finish. So many delectable details to gush over:

* the color palette is immaculate - fits each homage perfectly and was continually gorgeous throughout (not to mention the top-tier pixel art)
* so many of the best retro visual queues were carried over - from the dithered fade in to the grass particles to the lovingly bouncy jump sprites
* A dark souls entry!! I had no idea how you were going to work that into the simplified 2d style - using a ground-smash attack was a stroke of genius. Excellent work
* hearing each piano motif instantly teleported me to memories of each game - as soon as I turned to a heart, I had the widest grin knowing megalovania was coming

You even managed to show off some clever puzzle making, like the bomb shortcut - amazing work.
I could go on about how much I loved this entry forever - you should be very proud!

Fun collection of underground homages! My favorite one was the Zelda one, I liked how you had multiple ways to get through it, with the option to keep using bombs instead of the key. Final battle with the demon again was also cool, taking away the dodge roll I used to get around him in the Dark Souls section tripped me up at first, heh.
Art was super clean, gave it a stylish neon feeling while keeping the mood of the originals as well. Music was super slick as well, most noticeably in the Undertale section when the musical references were synched to the attacks, that was super good, amazingly done! Great job on all the sections, all around super well done game!

@ugly-robot It makes me so happy to hear your reaction! I was afraid the game might come off as cheap nostalgia bait to some, but all of the references I made are of games that hold a special place in my heart.

@captaindreamcast I'm glad you enjoyed the music! The idea to do an Undertale reference stuck with me early on, and that informed the decision to keep all of the musical cues consistent.

I was not expecting that!

Great job keeping the game vague and allowing the blind experience to be a surprise, that was a really nice experience!

The animations are great, and the character controls feel great too! I was sad when each game section ended, I just wanted more! I was so ready to test my hopping prowess in that Undertale section xD

I'm very impressed with what you were able to accomplish in a Compo entry, well done!

I loved how you weaved the music into all the stages -- there was always that distant, atmospheric note in the background, and you brought in melodies above it at just the right moment. The synced audio for the undertale boss was really cool. The whole thing felt like someone's haunted memories of video game's they'd played in the past, it was a great vibe!

Nice j loved it solid game and I hope you will be there in future jams because this is just wow

Very cute! All the homages were done well, and I love the subtle use of music. Managed to capture a very mysterious vibe with the ambient audio and lo-fi pixel art. Dark Souls boss fight could've been a bit faster, but that's my only real gripe. Very well made overall, nice work!

Super adorable and I'd love to see this built out into a longer game with an official release!

Love this so much, wish there was hours more!

`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFk44q7aTqE&t=10435s`

This is a really fun collection of homages, and the mysterious atmosphere it was wrapped up in was a very unique take on it. Loved the simple but moody art, and the way you incorporated the music of each game into the ambient background.

I originally expected this game, based on the atmosphere, to be more of a puzzle experience about finding secrets or shortcuts in this familiar level, but I liked the direction you took it as well. It works well as a fun yet mysterious little game, but I can also see potential for a larger adventure here as well (maybe with some exploration between these different game levels - I can imagine having to take a bomb from the Zelda room and using it in a Mario level, for example.)

Great work!

I loved it! In the darksouls section the boss fight reminded me strongly of the
Olmec boss fight from spelunky.

One bug I noticed: When I jumped into the hole after the dragon, the dragon briefly re-appeared before the transition to the next section.

@jake-g @cure Saying you'd like more is just about the biggest compliment I could get! I would love to work on a longer version of this, hopefully I can get that started next year :slight_smile:

@sam-gorman I definitely wish I had added secrets and better continuity, the game would have been way more interesting!

@henk Spelunky was in my list of level ideas during brainstorming! Olmec would have been a fun cameo. I'm actually surprised the boss wasn't _more_ buggy given how exhausted I was when I programmed him :grimacing:

That old level design brough me back big time, well done on the pixel art and overall gameplay. This was a great submission. Thanks for making games and sharing.

This is absurdly polished for a compo game. Well done! Loved the ambient soundtrack but with motifs from other games dispersed throughout e.g. Mario underground theme when moving to the next screen.

Oh, thaaaaat underground level...

A wonderful tribute to beloved games! Great entry =)

Great project, well polished. Audio is top notch. Really enjoyed the transition from the first part to the second, where you have to take that leap of faith.

Surprising when you say you ran out of time at the end screen, didn't feel like that at all. The animations are polished, the dificulty is spot on, the references are aplenty, and frankly the music is outstanding, the cues from the references that were placed there are well timed and just for me were the highlight of the whole experience. I would seriously love to see the game growing, because I would love spending more time remembering That one underground level...

amazing amount of uh surprises around every corner. Nice integration of easter eggs of games meshed together. Loved the creepy dungeons and depths. <3

Very cute! I appreciated the little musical reference cues especially. Though the single chord background music got a little monotonous in rooms that took a while. I was very charmed by the different references and impressed by the diversity of mechanics you were able to get in here! Very impressive for compo.

This is really well done! Great job, the sounds were a bit loud and I got tired of the BG music. But the rest of the game makes up for it, there's a lot of really great things in there, good work! I just love the little coins, and all the art really. The vibes of the whole game are just spot on. This is one of my favourite games this Ludum Dare!!

Even though I'm really bad at it, I would love to see more levels, maybe one day I'll have enough skill to actually beat it haha. Overall, really nice entry!