odd1in 2017-08-01 13:58
The readme.txt file really helped. The only thing I would change is to add an interactive tutorial.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD39 → Mr E McPower
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 397 | 3.40 | 22 | |
| Fun | 503 | 3.00 | 22 | |
| Innovation | 99 | 3.73 | 21 | |
| Theme | 282 | 3.70 | 22 | |
| Graphics | 411 | 3.55 | 22 | |
| Mood | 351 | 3.35 | 22 |
The readme.txt file really helped. The only thing I would change is to add an interactive tutorial.
Makes so much fun. Good Job :)
@odd1in Thanks for the feedback! An interactive tutorial was something I wanted to add but ran out of time! If i continue the game it will definitely be something I add!
@phoenixofforce Thanks for the feedback! :D glad you enjoyed it!
it's really fun but it's also **really** slow. But i got the hamster :D
Made it through!!!! Really great game! Or should I say skinner box? Could not stop was really fun to do! 5 stars! You only get a point of fun because it was really hard to learn at the beginning. I just died ten time because I did not get the knobs. :D :D
Oh this was one tough game! And the music makes you even more excited. Hard to learn first as well, it took me some tries to get a grip of it. Well done.
This was difficult! But it was really fun and interesting. The readme was helpful, but as @odd1in said, an interactive tutorial would be pretty cool. But given the time constraints it's normal to not have one, maybe later you can make one ;) The music does pump you up! Nice visuals too. Good job!
It took me some time what regulating means. Idea is cool but the implemented mechanincs are seperate. I thought producing energy would give me money. In a linear sense. This also took some time to figure out. Solid idea and games not being clear is a common theme over here. I liked the graphics btw B)
Graphics and UI were really good. But this type of gameplay really needs a good in game tutorial.
@jannes-nagel @sgt3v @saramartins @clutterarranger @piotrek) Thank you all for reviewing the game I really appreciate the feedback!!! as for in game tutorial I completely agree but due to time constraints I wasn't able to put it in hence the long readme file. I have continues working and started on an in game tutorial to help introduce the mechanics of the game!
Hi. Nice game. It took me some time to figure what I have to do. Graphics are awesome! I stumbled upon something. I don't know if it is a bug but I will put an image here. As other people said: an interactive tutorial would be nice. Good job!
BugMaybe.png
I think the core concept of managing a power grid and your fundamental design are pretty solid. But as I'm writing this with a cramped up and sore right arm, I feel like I need to complain about your UI design.
The major issue I had is with the spinners. They're unintuitive to use, but more importantly just uncomfortable. Any knob design I've seen in software (DAWs, etc) used a system where dragging upwards would rotate clockwise and down rotates counterclockwise. Took me a while to get used to this game's system. And if you do want to have the user actively spin the knobs, for the love of god don't force them to do half a dozen rotations every few seconds. Keep it to minor adjustments within one rotation of the knob. Minor things the mouse is designed for, not spastic movements that will kill a user's arms.
You have a lot of empty space in your main UI, and a lot of important information is hidden in submenus that require an extra click. There's no reason you couldn't display the power produced, power demanded, and current cash amount in the main screen.
The music fits the theme, but I did have to turn it off after a while because it stopped every few seconds. In any game, if your music draws too much attention to itself it's going to get grating. Pauses like this one pull me out of the game every few seconds and get really irritating after a time.
Some notes on bugs. It's LD so they're not unexpected but might as well let you know. If you hold your mouse on the knobs, they go towards the negative. This adds to their unintuitive nature (took me many games to figure them out!) and makes moving them towards the positive or making fine adjustments more difficult because if I stop moving my mouse they start dropping.
After the game ended, and I reached the congratulations screen, my power, money, and score all continued ticking up for a couple minutes, presumably until the hamster cells ran out. Would have been nice if you either sped up the simulation (Time.timescale in unity, I believe?) or just summed up how much power was left in my cells and added that to the totals.
The bug @indiealchemist described happened to me too, but that's not a huge issue.
Also a bit frustrated I dropped to 99.8% uptime because of the unlabeled power button >_>
To be clear: I'm complaining a lot because I think the core design and mechanics of this game are really cool, the graphics are solid and this has the potential to be a really cool game of balancing with an idle clicker element to it. The UI design just killed my enjoyment of the title, and that's always disappointing.
It's interesting, but it's really hard to figure out what going on. The stats are a pain to find and nothing's labeled, so it's difficult to figure out what to do with them.
Man, I would have loved to moan about the GUI design but @amras0000 got there first. Oh well!
I'll complain about something else, which is the instructions here on the page and in the program. They both say *You'll receive a bonus for keeping the regulators in check* and sure you do receive a bonus, but in actuality spinning the wheels is super critical for keeping the danger level low! This should be the first thing you tell me, not the last!
I figured it out after three quick disasters. Then I got to work proper and that is what it feels like. There are no interesting decision to be made, just spinning wheels and buying better equipment once you have enough money. The progression might have bugged out too as there were only a few houses and 35 demand on Tuesday? The progression is very slow, if that is not a bug.
In the end I had enough money for a hamster generator already on Wednesday morning, but soon afterwards I accidentally right clicked it and lost due to the danger level getting out of hand. What a nice ending to the 20 minute slog.
You already have a list of potential additions so I need not bother coming up with any more. Just make sure you add in meaningful choices (decisions) for the player to make. Simply managing power levels is a job, not challenging and by extension not fun.
@amras0000 @huvaakoodia Thanks for the feedback I really appreciate it :D. I understand the game can be quite frustrating including the UI. Most of the points you both bring up I had planned to fix on day 3 but I had to attend a family event I wasn't aware of when I started so I ran out of time so no they arnet bugs .. just annoying features :( I am working on an improved version with not so annoying UI design and game mechanics which ill probably put on Itch.io in the next month or two. I'm glad you were both able to enjoy parts of the game though!