Empty Nester

Very cute and fun game. I included it in my GM48: Collect! compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/7cH9DVFtgzM

Pretty fun! I felt all the elements (art, music and the main gameplay loop) fit very well together, making the game "feel" good overall.

My main feedback would be regarding the variety within the game. Being simple isn't necessarily a bad thing, but maybe giving the birdseed or baddies some more variety would have added to the experience.

Now I'm too young to remember arcades, but from what I've played on emulators and seen on TV I feel like you've truly captured the essence of a good arcade game, so, very good job :)

Really liked the artstyle, and the game is simple but still fun. But the grid based movement is a little weird. Like, I wish there was a small window where you could "cancel" a move. I was often going past a ladder or something like that because I released the key too late.

Neat little arcade game. Does it just go on forever (until you die), or am I missing something?

I was surprised by a few things playing this first hand. I'd already seen played on stream, so I had some sort of expectations. One was the soundtrack, super calming and not annoying at all. Another was the AI, which had been dunked on a bit, but I think they did the job. My blood pressure certainly raised when the inevitable was about to happen, making the game challenging enough for a novice. The seeds gave good variety and were good additions to the game play, I thought, but the effect seemed counter intuitive occasionally. The double speed felt too fast, while the normal speed felt too slow. The design of it all was also very nice. Maybe an extra level (sorry if I just didn't get there), would be neat, but the arcade experience was executed well.

Simultaneously a very chill and then occasionally intense game :D The first time I saw the 3rd ghost I thought, "oh **** they go fast now!". The sounds fit perfectly and falling has a nice plop with screenshake. The music was a good pick for this, really sets the atmosphere. The pixel art is great and fits together very well. I'm surprised no one has said this yet, but this game gave me definite Pac-Man vibes -- running away from ghosts that reset when you achieve your goal. I wonder if you were going for that? It was fun trying to outsmart the ghosts. This could also be called "Pac-bird and chill" :)

When I first started the game I thought as we collected things that the eggs were going to hatch one by one until our little birdy was left with an empty nest. Needs more baby birdies ;)

Good work!

PS. I thought it would be fun to upload videos for games that I'm rating in this jam. Here's the one where I play your game

I liked the art and simple gameplay. The gameplay of Empty Nester kind of reminded me of Burgertime. I think Game Over is pretty harsh for getting hit a single time though, I would have liked to have 3 lives or something like that.

Really nice looking game, the colour pallet and art itself was very clean. It's a very simple game but the way the sticks make you slower solves that to some degree as you have to try and play a bit more tactfully with the birdseed.

The sound fit the game too! You could easily expand this with a slightly larger level and some different power ups and things.

Good job!

Cool little project. Not a ton of staying power though.

Inspires deep, thought provoking questions about life. What is to die but to return to what there was before living? Should we be reincarnated, it is all the same, despite the differences in scenery. Do we collect sticks until our inevitable demise just to do it all again? It's easy to understand this nihilistic view, but there is another consideration. We work for sticks and we dodge shadowy harbingers of death, but along the way we can collect birdseed. It is in those moments of speed that we realize this life, cyclical or not, is worth living. Live not for the sticks we gather, but the seeds we enjoy.

10 in theme.

good job! :)

I like the idea and the simplicity of it - it's got a really nice chill vibe about it, especially with the use of sound and art. The only problem I would have is that it all feels rather slow. I get that's good for a nice, chill game, but I could've stood to go a bit faster, or maybe have an "slow, medium, fast" kind of option first. Either way, it's a great start and there's a lot of potential to build on to this, great job! :)

Nice simple game, very clear in what it wants to be, which is good. I like the ladder climbing animations! The music is chill and kinda eerie, a good vibe for being chased by shadow monsters.

I'd say the one problem I have is suddenness of the speeding up mechanic with coins, sometimes if a coin spawns next to you as you're approaching a ladder you'll speed up and fly off a ledge instead. Makes the game's controls a bit unpredictable.

Pretty decent entry. Concept is good, graphic style consistent, sound is decent. Reminicent of some really old school C64 games. Got a huge nostalgia flash there. I think the randomizing of the levels was good. Could use a bit more of a variety in the game loop itself though, got bored quite quick, since you just run around and collect sticks. But thats a normal game jam issue, so i dont blame you for it.

This game was simply just fun to play! I'm quite the casual when it comes to games so it was a very relaxing game session. The pixel art and sounds were done very well too.

Good job!

Cute and concise! It's quite fun to dodge the dark shadow figures, but sometimes feels a bit unfair when the fast ones spawn right next to you. I like that the game is randomized! That's a very cool feature

Not bad !, i liked how simple the graphics is, maybe adding more space in the level or more stuff to collect would be better !. Enemies AI is beautiful but a little bit simple, i liked the overall idea too !, good game bro.