itch.io

cool little game. it is very short, but there is still a small gameplay idea here, and i liked the concept of space whales. this kind of whale imagery in strange cosmic places is just interesting by itself, it reminded me a bit of the whale-like feeling in Death Stranding

the main thing that felt strange to me was the controls and UI states. it feels like you are in dialogue, binoculars and archive mode almost at the same time, so it takes a little moment to understand how everything works

also, switching archive tabs with the mouse felt a bit awkward, because when i move the mouse up to the tabs, the character camera also looks up. but overall, after a short time, i understood what to do, so it was not a big problem for me

nice concept and mood

really liked the atmosphere here. it reminded me a bit of Threads film and that 80s post-nuclear mood, with some Mad Max-like feeling too. i’m a big fan of this kind of setting

the voice acting is also really strong. in some ways the game feels like a small audio drama, and that works well for the mood

gameplay-wise, it is mostly pixel hunting and puzzle solving, and it was understandable enough for me. but i got stuck on the bedroom puzzle, I think it was the third one, and could not figure out the code even after reading the journals. if you can drop a small hint in the comments, I would like to finish it and see what happens next

one small thing, the story part between the first and second gameplay segments felt a bit too long for me, but overall the mood is very strong

really liked the concept, this small slice of a street and little world feels very authentic

but the strongest part for me is definitely the art. it feels very personal and full of feeling, especially the character portraits. they are really cool and cute, and the hand-drawn style gives the game a lot of charm

the title and the camera style immediately gave me Resident Evil vibes, and i think that inspiration is pretty clear here

the fixed camera system is actually interesting. making this kind of camera work well is not easy, but overall the controls felt more comfortable than i expected

i also liked the onboarding. it is simple, but it explains the core loop quite well: find an item, use it as a key, remove an obstacle, open the next path. the game teaches this pretty naturally, so the basic mechanics were easy to understand

my main issue was some level design and critical path readability. many corridors look quite similar, so it is easy to get a bit lost. it was not a huge problem for me most of the time, but there was one moment that really blocked me

in the storage area, i spent a long time walking around without understanding what to do next. later i found by accident that there is a very dark passage behind the shelves, with a small blue item needed for the ventilation. the items themselves are visible enough when you see them, but this passage felt too hidden for such an important progression route

i also think that once you unlock a door with a key item, it would feel better if the door stayed usable from both sides without forcing the player to use the same item again. for me, it would make backtracking feel smoother

the atmosphere is there, with the alarm, red lights and the feeling that something bad happened. but i wanted a bit more environmental storytelling. small details, notes, traces of people, or something in the level itself could help explain what happened and make the place feel more alive

i got stuck later at the terminal code puzzle near the hangar. the door was blocked, and i could not figure out the code or how to leave the room again. maybe i missed something, but after trying random inputs and checking the walls, i could not progress further

overall, i think the core idea is clear and the Resident Evil inspired structure works. the camera, controls and tutorial are good, but the game would benefit a lot from clearer critical path readability, smoother backtracking and more readable progression hints

i’ll be honest, i’m not really a visual novel enjoyer, so i only played the beginning, up to the part where Lily is going to the tower and talks about the diary

from the description, it looks like a pretty big and detailed story, so i think this is something you need to sit with for a longer time, especially if you are into visual novels

one thing i was a bit confused about is the jam scope. from the description, it sounds like the game was made over two months, so i’m not sure how it fits the jam rules. maybe i misunderstood something, but it felt a bit unusual for a jam entry

that said, i think the author clearly has something to say with this project. the art and music seem AI-generated, but it feels like there was selection and direction behind them, not just the first random result. here, at least for me, it feels more like a way to help express the idea, mood, feeling and emotion behind the story, so it worked okay for me

the atmosphere is pleasant, and the music worked nicely for the part i played. i think i heard mostly one track, but it helped set the mood

if i was more into horror visual novels with school, romance and mystery themes, i think i would probably spend more time with it

nice work, and good luck with the project!

yeah, exactly, i think a lot of it is a UI and UX question

my goal was to keep the game pretty minimal, without too many texts, tooltips or explanations, and make the mechanics understandable through play. from the feedback i got, i think this mostly worked, but the merge system is probably the part that needs clearer communication

the tutorial text at the top was added very late, almost as an emergency layer, so i see it more as extra support than as the ideal way to teach the game

about card merging, i tested a few different versions during development. in the final jam version it ended up more as an optional deeper layer than as the main way to play

right now it is more like a small gimmick and system exploration mechanic: if you dig into it, you can find some extra fun there through combinations and a bit of card tier progression, but the core gameplay is not fully built around merge strategy in this slice

about seeing the deck, good point. for this prototype i did not really see it as a deckbuilder, more like a fast random card flow where you get strange tools during combat and quickly decide what to do with them. but if the game moved more toward strategic planning, showing available cards would make much more sense

casting cost is also an interesting idea, but i think it would be a big design change. it could add strategy, but it could also slow down the flow and make the game feel less immediate. so i would need to look at it in a wider game context, instead of just adding it on top of the current version

thanks again, these are good thoughts

nice game! i liked the art style. it does not look super expensive or anything, but it feels clean and carefully made

my favorite part visually was probably the intro scene art. it has a nice hand-drawn atmosphere and reminded me a bit of vintage animation, maybe even some old Soviet animated films in terms of mood. also the characters in helmets look really cool

gameplay-wise, the game introduces the basic loop pretty smoothly. the mechanics are simple: hide from enemies and disable energy sources, but it works pretty well

one thing i missed a bit was clearer goal communication. as far as i noticed, the final objective is shown only once for a short time, and then it is easy to forget what exactly you are trying to do. maybe the goal could stay somewhere on screen, or be shown as a small objective list or quest text

i also wasn’t fully sure at first that disabling the big energy nodes gives you more time. you can figure it out while playing, because the loop is simple enough, but i think this could be communicated a bit more clearly

i really liked the spider movement. it feels smooth, responsive and pleasant to control. the game also ran pretty smoothly for me in general

the main thing that could use more tuning is probably enemy balance and AI. the enemies feel a bit simple and it is not too hard to run away from them, but they still caught me in some places, so it is not completely broken or anything. i think with a bit more balance work they could create better pressure and make the run more tense

overall, i had fun with it. the core loop of moving around, hiding, disabling things and escaping works nicely. i almost finished the game, but missed something like 10 seconds, so i hope there wasn’t some huge secret ending i missed haha

nice work!

hey, thank you for the detailed feedback!

glad the core idea, art direction, palette and ship graphics worked for you. i also like this direction of mixing an automatic space invaders-ish and card mechanics

about the music, i understand what you mean. for me it was mostly about supporting the mood and the strange lonely feeling i wanted the game to have. i tried to balance the melancholy of the story with the more active gameplay parts

about the narrative, i had a clear direction in mind: loneliness, distance, self decay, but i agree that the actual text side should be more focused and developed more specifically. right now it works more as an overall mood around the game

about the card gameplay, the intended idea is that threats should push you to adapt, hold cards, merge at the right time, discard bad options and plan around danger spikes. at the same time, i wanted the system to stay pretty fast and flow-based, not become an overly complex card game. so the target was low entry barrier, quick decisions, and a bit of depth through timing and card management

i think your point is useful here: if it feels like you can just take any card and drop it on the "ship", then the game should communicate its threat goals more clearly. the player needs to understand what danger is coming, why it matters, and why holding or merging a card could be better than spending everything immediately

thanks again, this is useful feedback!

wow, thank you for such a detailed comment. i’ll try to answer properly too

first, small separate thing: i really liked how you read the mid-missions texts on stream. it felt very theatrical in a good way and was honestly fun to watch

about the project itself, for me it was mostly a jam slice, tech concept and experiment. in my regular work i mostly focus on game design in a more traditional production pipeline, so here i wanted to test a different workflow too, including AI-assisted production, inside a small scope, and honestly, this is why i like jams. they are a good format for experiments, weird ideas and more personal projects. you can try things, take risks, hear what people think, understand what feels interesting, see what works and what does not, and learn from the result

about the beige palette, yeah, that was a conscious choice. i wanted to show space not only through darkness, black and deep blue, but as something more faded, dry and melancholic, like an old washed-out signal with small toxic color accents breaking through it. maybe it needs more contrast in some places, but i still like this direction

about the rhythm-shooter and direct control thing, the semi-idle feeling was partly intentional. i wanted the player to manage the card and merge layer and mission pressure more than directly aim every shot. but i agree that the threat system should push the player to adapt more, and right now it is not fully developed yet, both mechanically and balance-wise

about the merge system, totally agree, it needs better explanation. i tried to keep the UI minimal and let the player learn by doing, but the system is probably too important to stay that vague

about the game feeling hollow to you, i get what you mean. my intention with the art and music was more about mood direction than direct explanation: lonely space, distance from home, self decay, whatever, but yeah, this is a tricky line. what feels atmospheric to one player can feel hollow or detached to another, so this is useful feedback

and about pulling the camera in, yeah, fair note haha. i’ll think about it 🙂

thanks again. this is very useful feedback, and i really appreciate the time you put into it

hi, thank you for taking the time to play it on stream! your live reaction and feedback are very valuable. it helps a lot to see how the game feels during an actual playthrough, really appreciate you giving it your time and sharing your thoughts while playing. thank you!

hey, thank you for playing! glad it was fun

and yeah, happy you noticed the purple mushrooms. i wanted the game to be mostly monochrome, beige and ink-like, but with a few toxic-looking color accents for contrast

i think purple, blue and a bit of green worked pretty well for that strange space mushroom feeling

hey, thank you a lot for playing and for the kind words!

really happy you liked the gameplay loop. yeah, the incremental and roguelike-ish part was definitely one of the inspirations. i was thinking about roguelike runs, build-making games, and even some mobile-style upgrade loops a bit, but tried to put it into a small jam-sized format

about readability - totally fair. i like the art style too, but i understand that sometimes it sacrifices clarity. i wanted the gameplay to be readable mostly through play, without too many text hints / tooltips / descriptions, but that also means the visuals and UI need to communicate things very clearly

so yeah, this is definitely something i need to polish more. thanks again, really glad you see potential in it!

hey, thank you a lot for playing! really happy you got into the game and enjoyed the art, music and concept

about mission 3 — yeah, it seems to be a bit of a difficulty spike for some players. i think it asks for a pretty fast reaction and a more specific card/shield timing strategy, but does not teach that strategy clearly enough through gameplay

about stats and descriptions — yeah, fair point. i wanted to keep the interface quite minimal and not fill the game with too many hints or numbers. but this is also a harder design task: if i remove detailed descriptions, the game still needs to explain itself naturally through play

so it’s really good to hear that you still figured things out pretty quickly. thanks again, this is useful feedback!

really nice short game

it has a couple of simple but engaging mechanics, but for me the strongest part is the audiovisual experience. the art, sound and style work together really well and create this strange lovecraftian mystery feeling

the game is short, but i think that is actually a good thing here. it does not feel stretched or unfinished, it feels focused. you play through this small story, get the atmosphere, and leave with a strong impression

overall, very polished and satisfying little experience. nice work!

i remember seeing this game in one of the development screenshots, and it already caught my eye back then. i remember thinking: wow, this looks really polished and ambitious for a jam game. so it was cool to see it here and finally be able to play it

first small issue for me was the menu: for some reason the mouse didn’t work there, or at least i couldn’t use it. maybe it is intended to be keyboard or gamepad, but it was a bit unexpected at first

small thing about controls: for some reason i didn’t notice the interaction key in the game at first, and i also didn’t see it in the itch page description. not a big problem, but personally i think E or F would feel more natural for interaction than Space, because they are more common for that in games

i also really like the post-processing effect with those moving shimmering circles. it looks cool and adds a lot to the mood. one small thing: sometimes it feels like the texture is sliding over the objects because it moves relative to the camera. maybe it would feel even better if it was more locked to the world position

combat felt a bit too locked for me. attack animations block movement for quite a long time, and if i click a few times, the game seems to queue attacks, so sometimes i wanted to move away but the character kept attacking

enemy hits also stagger you, so together with the long attack locks it can feel like you lose control for too long. i understand the souls-like idea of commitment, but here it felt a bit too heavy for me. maybe shorter locks, less input queueing or a small cancel window would help

overall, the game is cool. i liked exploring this strange mysterious mansion, and the atmosphere has some nice Bloodborne-like vibes

it feels like a serious and ambitious jam project with its own little world. even without a map, the level design felt pretty intuitive most of the time, and i usually understood where i could go next from the environment

hey, thank you a lot for such a detailed comment!

yeah, i really wanted to make the static art feel more alive, so i’m glad the planet / cursor movement worked for you. small parallax-like stuff is simple, but it can add a lot of life to otherwise still images

also really happy you noticed the card handling. i wanted all card actions to stay inside one drag-n-drop language instead of turning into buttons everywhere, so it’s great to hear that it worked

about sound — thank you! i still feel like the sound design is not fully where i wanted it to be. i would like to add more ambience between missions and make UI interactions sound better, but the music was very important for me. a lot of the game started from the mood of the soundtrack, and only after that i started to understand what kind of place and story i wanted to build around it

about mission 3 / the fast ships — yeah, fair point. the idea was to create this wave-like cosmic ocean pressure, where some threats are not meant to be solved only by shooting, but also by saving shields/cards and playing them at the right moment. but i agree it can feel too sudden and unreasonable right now, so there is definitely balance work to do there

and yes, ration hint readability is a real issue too. unfortunately it seems to happen more on screens below 2K resolution, and i mostly tested the game on a high resolution screen, so some UI scaling/readability problems slipped through. that screen definitely needs another pass

if you want to try later missions or see more of the game without getting blocked by balance, you can use the debug launcher: press F10, choose mission as the target, enter the mission number you want in the mission field, select the Full Upgrade ration/modifier preset, then press Launch. it should let you start any mission with stronger upgrades

thanks again, this feedback is really useful!

hey, thank you so much for playing and for such a nice comment!

it really means a lot that you got into the game and wanted to try another full run

about getting stuck on earth defense — yeah, the current difficulty there is a bit harsher than intended. a bug slipped into the submitted build during the deadline rush: ration / upgrade modifiers were supposed to stack between missions, but right now only one active modifier is kept for one mission. so the final mission ended up much harder than planned

funny thing is, i don’t fully hate the resulting balance overall. in some places it actually made the game more tense and engaging, almost like a “bug became a feature” situation. but yeah, the final push is sadly too brutal in this version

you basically reached the last part of the game already. if you want to see the ending, i did put some extra attention into it and tried to make it feel a bit unique compared to the main gameplay

you can press F10, select target mission, choose ration preset Full Upgrade, enter 6 in the mission field and press Launch

thanks again, really glad you liked the art direction, interface and gameplay!

really great game, probably one of my favorites from what i played so far

first of all, the art direction and atmosphere are excellent. the visual style gave me some vibes of the old game The Neverhood, maybe because of the strange handmade / dreamlike feeling. the world feels weird, charming and a bit unsettling in a very good way

the gameplay is simple, clear and pretty engaging. i also really liked how the game teaches you things naturally. at first you just follow the road and understand how movement works, then you get the compass and slowly understand how the goal system works. the onboarding feels very clean and careful

i finished the game and enjoyed it a lot

my main issue was movement near the end, especially in the forest. sometimes it was a bit annoying that you need to click for every single step. i found that keyboard controls exist, but the tutorial mostly shows mouse, and even with keyboard it still feels like you need to tap a lot. personally i would like to be able to hold a direction and keep walking, at least for longer movement parts

also, i felt the decay theme mostly through the story / narrative, but not so much through the mechanics. it is still there, just maybe more as mood and story than gameplay

overall, really strong entry. beautiful atmosphere, very clean onboarding, and a simple but well-made game structure

i’ll be honest, i had a pretty hard time getting into this one

i tried to use all the abilities and fight the enemies, but i was not sure if i was doing damage correctly. for example, the ice spikes looked like an attack, but enemies didn’t seem to die from them, so i was confused about how combat actually works

after some time i understood that you can build things, and i managed to build a totem, but this part was not very clear to me at first. i think the idea of abilities turning into build/place actions needs stronger UI feedback or more direct onboarding, because at the start it felt more like i was just using spells, not placing structures

the difficulty also felt very high right away. i still didn’t fully understand the controls and systems, but enemies could kill me in just a few hits, so i couldn’t get past the first wave

one more small thing: the font/UI text was a bit hard to read in some important places

i think the game has interesting ideas, but for me it needs clearer onboarding and a softer first wave so the player has time to understand what is happening

really nice small game

it feels like there is nothing unnecessary in it, and i think that is actually its biggest strength. you understand the rules almost instantly, even without much explanation, and that is one of the most valuable things in game design

yes, it is short and very simple, but it gives joy and i wanted to finish it

for me it feels like a very clear little essence of a story: you just go up for a few minutes, and everything in the game supports that

pure simplicity, in a good way. clean game design. nice work!

oh nice, i’ll check it out! even in the cut version the sound design was already one of the strongest parts for me

at first the bird felt a bit too slow for me, but after the first upgrade it started to feel much better. so maybe the very beginning is just a little too slow, but the controls become understandable pretty fast

one small thing — the N / M buttons felt a bit strange to me, mostly because these keys are not very common for games, so it took a moment to get used to them

i really liked the soundtrack choice and the overall atmosphere. the game really gives this feeling of some distant unknown world, and it was easy to get into the mood

my main issue is that after around 10 minutes, i felt like not enough was happening. i only got two upgrades, and there was almost no pressure or big change in the gameplay. the core loop is actually nice and kind of puts you into a flow, especially with the music and atmosphere, but i think it needs more variety, faster balance progression, or some new mechanics/events to keep it interesting longer

overall, cool mood and solid base, just needs more things happening inside the loop

Really cool atmosphere. for me this game is a good example of how sound can carry the whole mood,
the composer and voice actors did a great job. from the first seconds it pulls you into this strange otherworldly place
the art is maybe not super polished everywhere, but with the sound it works really well and gives strong early Alien movie vibes,
the rules were a bit hard to understand at first, i think the game needs smoother onboarding / tutorial, but the sound and atmosphere made me want to stay in this world longer

applause for the overall sound design here!

hi, thank you! really happy you liked the lore and the ink computer thingy vibe

i actually put a lot of effort and feelings into the lore and mood, and i think i’ll polish the narrative more in the after-voting update

about the music, yeah, i made it not super intense everywhere on purpose. i wanted to show this lonely space feeling, like the protagonist is far from home and slowly decaying. but i tried to make the most tense moments hit harder, both in sound and in gameplay balance

thanks for the feedback!

hey, thank you for playing!

yeah, the onboarding is probably a bit rough, so i’m glad it became smooth after a little time. i wanted to make the gameplay feel complete and polished, but some tutorial / native hints stuff definitely needs more work

i also already played your game, will try to leave more detailed feedback before voting ends!

hey, thank you a lot for playing and for the detailed feedback!

yeah, music is a bit tricky here. i tried to balance the gameplay with the more lonely / melancholic story mood, so it is not always super intense on purpose. but i understand what you mean, maybe in some parts it feels not connected enough to what is happening on screen

and yeah, GUI / UX definitely needs more polish. hover info is a really good idea. near the end i was already fighting the deadline, so i added that always-visible tutorial/onboarding text at the top almost in panic haha

thanks again, this is really useful

A short 10–15 minute rhythm-racing tech concept set in an infernal grindhouse world.

This project was an experiment for me: I wanted to explore architecture design and control while working with coding AI agents, build a cohesive visual style out of AI art, AI video, and shaders, test procedural animation and an AI-driven animation pipeline, and see whether an AI-generated soundtrack could feel organic inside a game where rhythm and music are the core of the experience.

I also put a lot of focus into building a unified control system for different input methods, including gamepad vibration feedback. More technical details are written on the project page.

You can check it out here: https://yigressio.itch.io/infernalmerica-drag-race