Escape from Pajitnov

tero-pulkkinen 2023-10-02 05:12

the world is kinda empty, with tons of space. Didn't figure out how theme was implemented.

interface 2023-10-02 05:40

I updated the description. The game is a parody/critique of the currently abundant looting genre games that are essentially inventory Tetris simulators.

vary 2023-10-03 01:08

Neat idea overall. I think the last level with the time limit was the best - having that pressure on top of finding items and managing inventory would be a frantic sort of fun.

lou-bagel 2023-10-03 01:10

Hey, a couple notes or thoughts while I tried it: - Fullscreen didn't work but would have been nice with the items on the ground being small (to see and click) - Is there a reason you didn't use a click to pick-up an item? Seems more intuitive since using clicks elsewhere (menu; inventory) but not in main gameplay - I couldn't find the "extraction zone" so had to just abandon even when I did get all the items one time - Giving the player some kind of feedback (sfx; text) when inventory full and trying to pick-up an item would be helpful

interface 2023-10-03 01:55

@vary yes the intent was to have more combinations of the mission objectives (puzzling inventory with a timer, etc.). I also wanted to added some sort of enemies or other dangers to add pressure.

@lou-bagel thanks for the feedback. To your points: - Yeah the fullscreen button of itch and the fullscreen option of the unity webgl build don't work together somehow... - Yes! One was to mimic many FPS games where E or F is used. Secondly the intent was to build enemies or other sorts of dangers (for added pressure), requiring a fire mechanic of the mouse click... - Did you see the mission text (once completed) described roughly where it was? Or you didn't know where to go look based on the description? - Yes I watched a streamer play and I agree it's not clear what's happening when it's full (looks like a bug). There also seems to be some bug where it's not always able to find a spot if the item has to get rotated to fit. Overall addition of sound, as in any game, would make a big difference.

enreh 2023-10-03 02:54

It felt quite enjoyable to play, especially as someone who does love some inventory tetris. A couple things though: I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do on the second mission, so I just tried to get a 100% full inventory while staying under 15kg. Nothing happened, but it was fun to figure out. Finally, even just a few sound effects would a long way here, especially for the inventory. Good work!

phillip-scott 2023-10-03 09:54

I love the inventory tetris genre, this one fell a little short as the items were hard to find - the 8 hammers I could only find 5 and after scouring the map I just gave up.

I would like to have played more with the inventory and less looking for the little items, I liked the map and the inventory was well built. as others have said sa few simple sound effects would have helped a lot too.

Good job and well done :heart:

lou-bagel 2023-10-03 17:03

Re: @interface - Totally understandable, don't expect you to troubleshoot that during a game jam. Just saying it was kind of hard to see which item it was on the ground until you got used to them. Also, FYI - on itch, you can uncheck an item so that fullscreen icon doesn't show up - Ignore my comment then! I don't play a lot of FPS on PC, so take what I say with a grain of salt. If it is the normal controls then I'd say it is a positive! - I didn't notice the text on where it was. It was the last level, I got all the items, and did like 3 laps around the level before I gave up. I didn't see anything that looked like it was marked for an extraction point. - understandable

I hope you are enjoying the game jam! I did have one other thought/tip:

The items seem randomly strewn about. I think it would add a bit more if there was some logic to it, where a player could be like "oh, I bet this item would be near the X". The map you used looks like a fairground or something - I know you wanted to have enemies and this be a FPS - but you could have done something silly, like made the items fairground items or toys, call it escape the fairgrounds, and made the intro text "try to carry all the items your daughter wants so she doesn't throw a temper tantrum when you leave" - a silly example, I know, but just something so the player can see the Ferris wheel in the distance and be like "oh I bet this item is over there" or "oh that pond must be where I find her the pet fish she wants" - this may all seem a bit trivial, but it really helps the player make sense of what is going on, and players are trying to do this all the time, which is why they get a bit confused when things are just random - they can't use there logic to try and guess where things are and instead feel like they don't get it. In one word: intuitive. And this would have been achievable with the same mechanics you implemented, just different items in different places.

Hope I didn't step on your toes with that - was just trying to illustrate the idea. Game jams are also a great place to have silly concepts and have that kind of fun with it. Have a good one!

interface 2023-10-04 00:49

@lou-bagel totally valid. Yes it's all random. Similar to FPS loot also respawns after a while, again randomly. Yeah for the silliness I see what you're saying. The balance of spoofing on the FPS mission/extract trope and being silly needs tweaking, I would agree.