Save da people!

kantieno 2018-12-05 22:02

This was an interesting entry, I think the interpretation of the theme was nice, but if you had indeed been able to implement those ideas you mentioned in your description it would have worked a lot better!

The biggest gripe is that sometimes when I go up a stair it keeps moving me upward back down the stairs on the next scene. If you were able to fix this and add some sounds it would really elevate the game, but it was a nice entry overall!

triplefox 2018-12-07 07:03

I enjoyed this game, but I think it focused too much on the element of scoring at the expense of the experience during play.

My thought process once I had played a few sessions was: Sort the people by the ones that can be transported the fastest. If I have fewer total people then my chances are better. I had one with 8 people and saved all of them, while the 27 person one was impossible. I "solved" the game, so my score was just a matter of good RNG.

In contrast this game could easily use the action presentation to support interesting trade-offs that work with the scenario: using limited resources like a fire ax or extinguisher to open paths, turning on the sprinkler system to buy time, losing paths and people as time goes on and the fire spreads. These are all things that could result in sacrifices, and they're more hands-on and make me think strategically while I'm playing, so they engage me with the theme better than trying to balance the score at the end. Scores are a relatively slow feedback mechanism, and they don't always guide players to want to do better.