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Tobius

Feedback comments for LD57

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		Tobius's comment
Apr 8 03:33:39		Scares on Schedule	♥ 2	This was a great entry! Well done! For me, the strongest part of this game was the visual consistency and quality. Everything felt cohesive and was done well, there were animations, and opacity usage, effects, etc. Really great job on the attention to detail for each of the visual elements. One improvement I would make to this game would be to start the minigames off easier. One less tone for the music, one less candle for the candles, etc. Give the player some confidence that they are "doing things right" and let them see their success early. I personally thought I was playing the game wrong or didn't understand something when I played, but I was just bad at the minigames, haha! One nitpick was the top area scrolled. Is there a reason you didn't want to show the whole hallway? Even if the people were smaller, you could keep the icons the same size and I think it would be easier to understand that people are still there once they are off the starting screen.
Apr 8 03:38:01	4m 22s	Wishing Well	♥ 1	Good entry! One part of this game I really enjoyed was the sound effects and the coin bouncing effects. They added charm, polish, and challenge to the game all at once. One thing I think would improve this entry is more challenge, or a way to fail. It looks like you maybe intended to include that with the bats, but in retrospect I would suggest shortening the level and use that time to instead add a health bar that is damaged by the bats, or a "stun" mechanic if you run into an enemy. That will engage players more by giving them something to have to work around, and learn how to overcome.
Apr 10 16:49:48	61h 11m	House Rules	♥ 2	I like the design of the card game, I thought it was fun and like I had some options for how I’d like to try to win. One thing I think would improve the game is more clarity on the card interactions and discarding. It took me a couple attempts before I understood what it was trying to tell me.
Apr 10 16:53:46	3m 58s	Dwarvenshaft	♥ 1	The art and sound were well done and made me feel like I was running a colony of dwarves, especially once you got a few dwarves going. I like that there was some variety in the dwarf sprites too. The AI for pathing and digging seemed to work well too, which was impressive. One change that I think would improve the game is a way to locate your dwarves, as they would spread out and become difficult to find on occasion.
Apr 10 16:59:06	5m 20s	DeepFrame 9	♥ 1	Well done entry, the gameplay was simple and clean, and the effects and music really made it a great experience. One thing I think would improve it is a more consistent application of the charge mechanic. (Or maybe a better explanation). It seemed as though the charged “attack” only exploded sometimes and I was having trouble trying to figure out when the explosion would trigger.
Apr 10 17:08:36	9m 30s	Flatline	♥ 2	Good entry. The visual style with animations, lighting and particles was well done. The design of the puzzles was good as well. One thing that would improve the game would be making the earlier levels easier, to introduce the player to the mechanics. The timing windows for when you need to change directions are really tight which made me feel like I didn’t understand the game or how to play. Even the first levels I failed many times because I couldn’t make those turns precisely enough. Additionally, I would’ve liked a more distinct noise for each type of interaction the light had. That would add another level of polish to the game without being too difficult to implement.
Apr 10 17:11:31	2m 55s	Sub-Silence	♥ 2	The UI graphics were well done, and I liked the visual indicators for the torpedos. One thing that would improve the game for me is a better indication when a torpedo hit an enemy. Unless I was just missing the entire time I played, I didn’t feel like there was a clear indication of a hit. Despite the torpedo going directly through the enemy blips. Since destroying enemies is a key part of the game, I would suggest focusing on that feedback mechanism more.
Apr 10 17:27:37	16m 06s	Mirror City	♥ 1	Really great entry! Loved the concept and the gameplay was very intuitive (though challenging). A really clever take on a puzzle game. One thing that would improve the game for me, is more visual distinction between the buildings. While I liked their design, I think the game would be a lot more visually appealing with different colored building.
Apr 10 17:45:58	18m 21s	ONLY GO DOWN	♥ 2	Excellent entry, I loved the animations and the vibe. The way the music got more tracks as you got further down was a really nice touch as well. Overall great sounds. The candles marking where you died is a great touch. Nitpick: I sometimes got stuck in a “loop” where the character would bounce exactly back to where I started. I could break out eventually but it happened quite a bit. One thing that would improve this game for me, is a slightly bigger field of view. This game already requires pretty quick and precise timing, and the field of view size doubles down on that. I was able to beat it in 8 tries, but man did I feel claustrophobic! Haha. One thing you could add if you keep working on this game is more things to run into with different effects. Maybe there is sticky goo that you have to tap rapidly to break out of for example.
Apr 10 17:59:49	13m 51s	Bagatelle	♥ 1	Excellent entry! Really well done level design, it introduces the player to the mechanics cleanly, helping build their confidence to understand the puzzles and how to beat them. Sound effects, visual effects, and the overall art were well done. Nitpick: when choosing a new direction the character with wig out quite a bit, haha. One improvement I would make is a slightly better introduction to the “hidden” or “spawning” elements. I really was confused by them at first but once I understood that elements could appear I was on the lookout for them. Other than that, I would’ve liked the levels to be designed to encourage more bouncing! The bouncing is fun, and seeing the character bounce around is really entertaining so I would encourage you to build more opportunities for that into the levels. Edit: A link back to your LD page is missing on itch! You should add that as I found this game browsing through itch, and I had to lookup your user to leave feedback!
Apr 10 18:22:16	22m 27s	Lotus Well	♥ 1	Great entry! The art was well done from characters, to backgrounds to icons. The puzzle mechanics were also unique and interesting. The running animation at the beginning looked great! One thing I would suggest to improve this entry, is more focus on designing cleaner early puzzles to help the player learn the mechanics easier. Make fewer levels overall and improve the quality of each level instead. I found it a little tedious to solve the puzzles, as once I figured out what had to do, it was a lot of clicks to accomplish it. Additionally, I would’ve liked some small audio feedback for each tile interaction. The paper plane was very cute though! Do more of that!
Apr 10 18:29:16	7m 00s	Click the Rock	♥ 0	Nice job implementing high scores! One thing to make this entry stronger would be some way to click the rock better. Maybe sometimes there is a crack on the edge of the rock you can click to break it faster, or something similar. Adding opportunities for the player to adapt or adjust to the game increases engagement.
Apr 10 18:37:33	8m 17s	The Hole	♥ 1	Good entry! I liked the coin collecting and payment aspect of the game, that’s a neat idea to change up a typical golf game. One thing I would’ve liked to see in this entry is a better indicator for the shot. I couldn’t really get a sense for how the ball was going to move, which made the game slightly random but still fun.
Apr 11 00:32:55	5h 55m	The Depths of Madness	♥ 1	Good entry! I really love the graphics, and animations. Very well done. One thing that would improve this submission is more ambient audio and audio effects. Even a simple pass of music or sound effects would really elevate this game.
Apr 11 01:06:40	33m 45s	LootBot Dungeon	♥ 1	I really like the idea of the game, the programming made sense, and I thought the lootbots looked good. One improvement would be adding an objective or collectible close to the entrance, so the player can get a sense of success early to encourage them to keep playing. Additionally, adding a simple music track or sound effect for the lootbots moving would elevate the game a lot!
Apr 11 01:24:30	17m 50s	i have no clothes and i must clean	♥ 3	Excellent entry. The humor of writing was very well done. I really enjoyed the frantic pace that the button pressing got to toward the end, it was a good ramp-up. I also really enjoyed that all of the "meters" in the game were reflective of the true fiction of the game and not just numbers. Well done! One suggestion to improve this game would be to add some animations to the various obstacles, or alternatively add some alternate color schemes or sprites so it didn't look so "samey" as you progress. If you don't want to spend a lot of time doing more art, using a color palette shader can give you a quick and easy way to create multiple colored versions of your assets for a little variety.
Apr 11 01:50:40	26m 10s	Granny's Gotcha	♥ 1	Fantastic entry. The art is some of the best I've seen in LD, well done. The bit you chose for the writing is excellent, and it made me laugh every level. I appreciate how you slowly introduce the player to the puzzle of the game, the progression of levels was really well done. Each getting slightly more complex and building up different tools to solve the puzzles. The arm sprite was also just goofy. One improvement would be to add some small animations. I think those would make the game "pop" even more, and might be a worthwhile trade-off to adding some of the later levels (though I don't know how long it took you to create each level). Really well done though!
Apr 11 02:06:49	16m 09s	Depths of Strength	♥ 1	The idea of building up different types of muscle on each arm is really clever. I also liked the sort of "rock paper scissors" of fighting once you had multiple types of damage available. One idea to improve this game would be to either condense the training part to allow the players to choose all 7 days worth of exercises or to add more choice / variation between the training days. Having to go back and forth between the bed and the workout equipment (while fictionally makes sense) isn't super fun. The choice of which workout to do is fun, so give me more time picking which works out to do! Alternatively, if you want to teach the player that rest is important for strength training, maybe adding 2 legs to the game, and having a chance to damage an overworked muscle could be interesting as well.
Apr 11 02:13:49	7m 00s	Aerofish Project	♥ 1	The environmental assets and buildings look great together, and the RTS style building / base defense worked well if not a little easy. One way to elevate this game would be to add a simple background music track, and simple sound effects for the units. I see that you opted out of audio, but even if you don't create the audio yourself, having audio is a great way to add some polish to it!
Apr 11 02:25:06	11m 17s	Turtles All The Way Down	♥ 1	Well done making a rage inducing platformer! It was in fact, rage inducing! The title music will haunt me as I play the rest of the games in the jam, haha. The controls were the biggest unique factor to the game, and while they appeared to behave normally, the quirk of them being relative to the position of your character really through me off until I adapted. One way to improve this game would be to add a simple "swimming" animation to the turtle. Even separating the flippers from the shell, and adding a simple up/down animation would go a long way to making the game feel more polished.
Apr 11 02:50:39	25m 33s	Steve the Smith	♥ 1	I really liked the game loop: go into the mine, try and find ore efficiently to mine, send ore back, leave mine, smelt, sell, repeat! One improvement I think would make this game better is a little more "chance". Even something simple like each time you mine an ore, you have a chance to NOT use a charge of your pickaxe, or when you mine an ore there is a chance it doesn't disappear would allow for more exciting moments while playing, right away! Adding in something like the two suggestions is great too because its not super time consuming to program either, perfect for a game jam!
Apr 11 03:10:58	20m 19s	Crystal Collector	♥ 4	Good entry, I like the game loop of collecting gems and using them to get more gems, while also avoiding foes. I also like that putting in more gems could get you different enemies out. The music and visuals were great and fit the underwater submarine atmosphere very well, nicely done! One change I think would be good for the game, is using the mouse to control the direction the projectiles are shot instead of the keyboard. I found it really difficult to move and shoot (which if that's the goal please ignore this feedback) which didn't feel satisfying to play. If you want to keep the difficulty of moving and shooting, I would suggest splitting up the movement and shooting keys. e.g. WSAD would control movement, and IKJL would fire projectiles. You could then use SHIFT or something to swap between shooting gems and harpoons. I think this would eliminate the frustration I felt trying to control the shooting while still keeping it somewhat challenging to control. Nitpick: Your diagonal movement doesn't appear to be normalized so it goes faster than left/right/up/down.
Apr 18 00:55:18	165h 44m	Lily Adventuresses! Episode 3: The Explorer Sisters and the Deepest Depths [Pr.]	♥ 1	Good entry! I liked the quirky character writing, and the premise of the story. One thing that would've improved my experience would be getting a random item from defeating enemies. While looting chests is always fun, being able to get a random item from defeating an enemy adds a little more variety to the results of the battle. You never know what you're going to get!
Apr 18 01:06:55	11m 37s	The Cleaner of the depth	♥ 3	I loved the art and animations in this game, expertly done! The whole aesthetic of the game is very heavy and well put together. I felt like I was watching a little animated short from Pixar or something. One thing that I think would improve the game is some art or animation differences for the rotten teeth to reinforce the sound cue. I found it difficult to distinguish the sounds all the time but I love the idea of having to figure out which teeth to clean and which to avoid.
Apr 20 01:12:59	48h 06m	Focus Hunt	♥ 0	Cool game! I really like the art style; it reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle. I also like your use of depth as the main mechanic for "hiding" stuff, very on theme. One thing that would improve this game for me is some way of showing which items you've already found in the scene. I liked the tracker at the top, but within the scene itself it would've been nice to have the item either removed, outlined, or otherwise colored differently. Another idea that would "punch up" this submission but is a probably more work is making the scene animated. Adding small animations to the scene would really add another level of intrigue to the game, and further distinguish this from a typical "eye-spy" type game.
Apr 20 01:59:05	46m 06s	Going Down Protocol	♥ 4	Excellent entry! Really well-done atmosphere, I loved the implied story as well, very cleverly done. The music and sounds were awesome as well, great voice-work! One thing that would improve this entry would be some sort of built in hint-system. Maybe some way to interact with the intercom or an internal dialog you could optionally progress to get hints would basically "finish" this game in my mind. Great entry.
Apr 22 00:07:49	46h 08m	Swim	♥ 1	Good entry! I really liked the combination of platforming and swimming, that was clever! While the animations did have issues sometimes, I thought overall they looked good when they were working! I think that zooming the camera out slightly, or adding more "leading" elements to help guide the player through the level would improve the gameplay a bit, as it is now it feels a little claustrophobic and hard to see where you are going. Additionally, even if you opt-out of sound as a rating category, I would highly suggest using some free sound effects and music in the game. They add SO MUCH to the experience, that I always recommend including them even if you don't have time to make them yourself. (Just make sure you still opt-out of the sound category in that case!)
Apr 22 00:29:47	21m 58s	a shrimply irresistible story	♥ 1	Great game! The art is fantastic, I loved the animations you did with the fill, it really made the scenes feel alive. The text scroll was very cute as well, I enjoyed the few text effects I saw as well (like the Ha Ha Ha). The "minigames" you had were also pretty fun, I would've liked to see those in all the story paths. One thing that I think could improve this game is adding diegetic sound effects and music. When the story told me there were different sounds I would've loved to hear them and think it would elevate the experience a lot. Very solid entry though, great work!
Apr 24 03:04:59	50h 35m	Cat in the dark	♥ 2	Good entry! I really liked the multiple different mechanics you were able to include in the game: jumping, rope climbing, glow sticks, latern, etc. I can see a future for this game were you make some interesting puzzles using those mechanics you have today. One improvement I would suggest for the game is adding a little more guidance in the level design to help guide the player towards the end. Small glowing lights, or specific images can key the player in on where they need to go, or where they are trying to get.