Try the game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/pixel-piles

Making the game:

For this jam, our team couldn't dedicate the entire weekend on the jam so we decided to really limit our scope. Turns out that was the best decision we made, and we will be making our scope small for the future game jams as well. We began with pre-jam planning and came up with many potential ideas for the final round themes. There was a reeeally good idea that we could fit into multiple themes, but not for limited space. When the theme came out, we quickly scrapped that idea and came up with a new one.

What we did well:

After coordinating our schedules within our team, we filtered out ideas until they satisfied a few conditions: - fun to play - the prototype could be made and tested by Saturday Noon - can be presented in 1-2 screens, and is an endless runner. - Gameplay was what we prioritized this time, so we knew we had to test and adjust the game before the release.

Learning from past jams, I produced initial assets that were good enough for a prototype instead of trying to make it look good from the very start. This relieved me from so much stress for producing assets on the next two days and I was able to slowly polish and add things in as we go. I was able to draw two splashes which I never had time to do in the past.

What we should improve on:

As many comments have pointed out, we definitely need to adjust the difficulty curve. For next game we should assume that a new player will only try a game twice before feeling like they've mastered the mechanics and can continue to play for a long time. Also we should definitely figure out the pixel per unit thing before we add in more assets, but hey we know how to do it now :D

And we just reached 100 ratings!! I'm so proud of my team, and I think we learned a lot from this jam, the feedback we got were so constructive and valuable for our experience. But I haven't seen a lot of people show off their mystery achievement just yet (hint: it's way easier to get than clearing a line)

Other Games

Finally, here are some really cool games I got to play, these are my favourite entries so far (I will add more to this list if I find more so I can play them again and again in the future hehe):

Introvertigo

The art and music from this team will never disappoint me. This is the best use of AI I have seen so far in a text game, and the scenes are so relatable and immersive. The connection to the theme is also one of the most original.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/introvertigo

Expedition-32

I was genuinely surprised by how polished this game is, since usually the horror entries I've rated are not always successful in a jam. It has a dream core feel that makes you feel uneasy but still have lots of fun. A super cool concept executed well.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/expedition-32

Invenstory

A cute game with cute characters and lot of detail and polish. I think while the limited inventory idea is seen a lot in this jam, this entry did it the best.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/invenstory

If anyone has any recommendations or would like me to check out their game, please comment with a link and I'll try them out for sure!