Meltdown: The Complete Guide to Reactor Maintenance.

sotaroni 2021-10-05 19:04

Very complex game, i enjoyed the game in itself but it does feel like it could use more feedback on what your tools are doing, for example i wasn't entirely sure how to use the epoxy to prevent the meltdown, i do however love the idea behind it and the level of detail. the art direction does feel like i am in a reactor control room following procedures and i believe with a little more tutorialising and showing of how to use the tools this would be a great game for those who prefer a more grounded serious style of game

zachary-granger 2021-10-06 03:19

Very steep learning curve for a JAM game, but I loved the idea and the atmosphere. The music was really nice, and the visuals felt perfect. The shaders used for each screen looked amazing, and made it feel like I was really analyzing visual data. I didn't really understand the tools too well and brute forced my way through the solutions, but it was still a good experience that stood out from the other submissions

kapricorn-media 2021-10-06 03:22

Interesting concept. The 90s looking 3d graphics and jarring music add to the gritty chernobyl-esque atmosphere. On the other hand I felt like it was asking too much from me at the beginning, removing a bit of the fun aspect of it.

triggthediscovery 2021-10-06 03:27

@zachary-granger Upon playing more jam games, I get the impression I went a bit too far in a few places lol.

darthboseiju 2021-10-07 12:43

Okay, so the game is incredibly complex and front loads waaaaay too much information.

That said - I love the idea. The wide variety of tools are exciting, animations ae clean and the different ways of problem solving depending on the issue - great. The music is great too - it's just a litttttle too much to process all at once!

rubixnoob13 2021-10-09 00:29

The music was pretty good, and I liked the graphics. That being said, there were quite a few typos in the manual (not sure if this was intentional for the atmosphere or not), and the gameplay was pretty difficult. Even after watching the demo video, I was still pretty confused on where to place components to prevent various things from just blowing up the reactor. Still, this was a pretty fun little game to play.

bassguitarbill 2021-10-09 09:44

I don't think "some rebalencing" or modifying the in-game manual after the deadline is allowed under the rules, it's only supposed to be ports and bugfixes.

triggthediscovery 2021-10-09 10:11

@bassguitarbill The balance changes happened because of a major bug which actually broke a major mechanic (that I was unaware of until after launch). The fix made several levels impossible to complete, so I buffed the in game tools so the game could be finished.

I did make a couple additions to the manual to clarify mechanics, which I could lay out in detail, but I honestly don't see the difference between changing that and adding clarification/additions to the rules outside of the game.

I also felt the changes I made were in line with the rule about bugfixes stated in the rules "if something broke or didn’t work correctly as you were finishing up, you can fix this after the deadline". I have always included the source files from release, and in case that's insufficient I've also went back and included the release executable if you're stringent about the release experience.

bassguitarbill 2021-10-09 10:18

@triggthediscovery Okay, if the rebalancing was to fix a gamebreaking issue that's definitely in the clear. Thanks for clarifying!

bassguitarbill 2021-10-09 10:50

This game is grim as heck and I'm super glad I played it! The visuals aren't super clear, but they do look very very cool, and I'm pretty sure that's the point. Mechanically the game isn't too complicated, but having a big manual is a very cool touch. I got big Papers, Please vibes from this game. Great job!

joror 2021-10-09 11:28

Chunky systems game here! There is a lot going on within the game, and I feel the player gets thrown in the middle of it right away, with a lot of text to read upfront. Introducing the different views step-by-step might have been preferable perhaps?

I did get through a 3 reactors, but the EM warship one had me confused.

A lot of potential for an interesting 'spinning plates to keep you alive' game!

v0idpointer 2021-10-11 18:54

As some others have said "a steep learning curve". Graphics are a bit blurry, not sure if thats suppose to happen or they are blurry on my PC only. A fine resource managment game

erikkire 2021-10-11 18:54

Looks like a LD submission by Zachtronics :) Very complex for a LD-game (which is positive) However, I would like an easier first mission to flatten the learning curve.

triggthediscovery 2021-10-12 00:16

@erikkire The Zachtronics influence was definitely intentional, I'm a huge fan of their games.

gamebucha 2021-10-20 13:45

Your game is excellent, it gave me a lot of unforgettable emotions!