SheepTree

Damn it, Don't Die! by RafaelSPBarbosa 2017-04-25T12:40:56Z

I really like the style, setup, and concept! Right now (for me) the game is a little confusing. (I don't want to sound snooty, so forgive me if any of this comes off like that, ha ha.) It might make sense to start the player with one hamster and one thing to stop them from, so the player gets an idea of what to do before throwing three hamsters at them. It's the concept talked about in Chapter V of this little book: https://secrettunneltimes.com/2017/04/17/how-to-make-games/ Right now it throws you in and some hamster dies super quick and you can't even see where one of them runs off to and it's a little frustrating.

I managed to get one of the hamsters interested in food from the fridge (had to read that in the description rather than discover it via gameplay) but the other two run to the stereo and floor lamp. I can manage to stop the floor lamp one by clicking the lamp madly (I think?) but the stereo one always always dies no matter what I do. Also I can't really see what happens to that hamster because the wall blocks the view after he dies. I wasn't sure if there was a way to rotate the camera. (Maybe the walls could be shorter or partially see-through in places?)

[Continued in next comment, ran out of room!]

Damn it, Don't Die! by RafaelSPBarbosa 2017-04-25T12:41:10Z

EDIT: Okay, I tried a few more times and figured it out, ha ha. I'm leaving the above just as feedback though, because it was an insight into one player's experience. Now that I get you have to click quickly to reduce the meter before they die I can get a few of them to live a little longer. I think what was happening to confuse me is if you just push S to follow them downward, the stereo hamster doesn't show his meter in the frame of the screen. So you can click the stereo like mad but you don't SEE that you're doing anything unless you move over with A.

One thing that I think might be very useful is if there was a small, telling Sound Cue when you reduce the meter. So if you click the lamp right now, for example, the only thing that tells you you're doing anything is the meter goes down slightly, and if you don't notice that because you're distracted by the 10 other things going on, you don't know you're potentially winning. :)

I hope that helps with some feedback! It's a really great start and a fun, frantic time overall. With a little tweaking (and more gentle learning/teaching curve) I think this could be a terrific standalone game. You could even have multiple levels with different areas if you wanted to take it further than just the 3 Day Jam. :D

Damn it, Don't Die! by RafaelSPBarbosa 2017-04-27T14:01:16Z

@RafaelSPBarbosa Ha ha, I totally understand! Those blasted time constraints mess everything up. :) I didn't think about the reproduction thing, good call. I guess that's something that would have been obvious to me if I had playtested it along the way like you did. Probably for the best, then! Hopefully if you decide to take it further now that the jam is done you can add in that tutorial level.

For Eternity by holgk 2017-05-05T18:46:12Z

I didn't actually know what I was doing, and I played the Web version which broke a little ways in, but it all seems very well done for three days of production! Congrats! As someone said above, a tutorial at first would be great. I just built things but didn't know what anything did or what would increase my money or anything.

Slice of Life by tweedle 2017-04-25T14:41:11Z

Definitely made me want some pizza! I wondered if there was a way to regain power/life, though. Didn't seem like it, so I died every time, lol.

Star-Crossed by TitoMakaniJr 2017-05-03T15:38:02Z

This was a fun game, though I definitely agree with the folks above that the difficulty curve is HUGE. I would love to play a version that ramps up in difficulty. Right now it's too painful to stick with, ha ha. The second planet should be reachable with easy so you feel accomplished, then get tougher and tougher the more you play. Anyway, good job overall regardless, and a very solid LD game! :)

Frag Saga by guoboism 2017-04-25T14:19:48Z

Fantastic! My favorite of the Jam that I've tried out so far. Great job, I hope you continue it and maybe add controller support. :D

Pollux by fatPenguin 2017-04-25T18:32:22Z

Cool concept! I like it a lot, and it made me want to keep trying to unlock other stuff. Only thing I'd say is the controls feel a bit off, but I'm sure with some tweaking that might be fixed. Anyways, good work! Congrats on completing it, too. :)

Mr. Fishy's Small World by SheepTree 2017-04-25T19:03:34Z

I know, right? That is the worst. Sometimes in testing the game I was sorry I put that in there, ha ha. Of all the deaths, that one really hits home. (I'm interested in analyzing why that is! Maybe because it's so sudden and feels like "I didn't do anything! Why is this happening?!")

Mr. Fishy's Small World by SheepTree 2017-04-27T13:55:01Z

Thank you for your thoughts everyone! Sorry for the delayed response, trying to recover from the craziness of the weekend, ha ha.

@jk5000 - Glad you enjoyed it! :D

@RafaelSPBarbosa - Great points, totally agree! Originally the button was part of the main screen (it was the fish food icon that is on the Title Screen) but because of time constraints it didn't make the final cut. Darn time constraints! Next LD we will plan a little better, this was our first one. :) I love the idea about the curtain moving. In the original plan the fish blew little bubbles now and then, so that would add to the alive feeling as well, I think. Stuff to consider for some future version!

@Richard-Michael-Smith - I didn't think about the small kid aspect, good call! Maybe we need a disclaimer on the title screen or something. :)

@avavt - Yep, spot on advice. The feed button was planned to be inside the main screen but a frantic rush to the deadline didn't allow us to move it there. For a future version we'll definitely do that and make it clearer!

Mr. Fishy's Small World by SheepTree 2017-05-01T19:53:57Z

Thanks for the comments all! Great feedback to implement into a future version. It's appreciated! :D

Mr. Fishy's Small World by SheepTree 2017-05-03T15:42:16Z

@tweedle - Maybe we should include an option that allows for space travel?! I hadn't thought of that, but it could be a fun alternate ending! @halfskye - That's the plan. This game jam was a jumping off point for the two of us and we're now excited to keep going with more game creation. :) @fatpenguin - Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, it does get a little repetitive. Our hope is in a future version there will be more to see and do so you don't come across the same 10 things over and over, lol. Onward!

Thanks for playing everyone, we appreciate all the comments and feedback. Going to keep at it and try to make the game better, more in depth, and less buggy.

AETHER CRYSTAL by fanna 2017-04-25T00:00:01Z

I get a 404 error when I click the Site link.

AETHER CRYSTAL by fanna 2017-04-25T18:39:38Z

Tried again! Worked that time. It's nice, good job. I don't know if there's a goal or if you can do anything but look at all the different objects and such, but it was cool to stumble onto the letter than said to press K to change the world. :) Eventually I got stuck in ice somehow by switching worlds in the wrong place and my little character vanished, and I never figured out what the squares on the bottom are, but in the screen shots it looks like you can get items or something!

Tiny Planet, Big Universe by Daveybb 2017-05-03T15:32:00Z

Nice job. Obviously it could use more depth, but for a Jam game it's solid and not buggy, which is a huge plus. If you took it further, it would be nice if the planet/ship you control had a little more life to it. The asteroids rotate and feel more alive than your actual character! :) Good luck with future jams, nice work.

Murder Mitosis by _for_science 2017-04-25T14:49:42Z

It says don't forget to eat, but I have no idea HOW to eat or WHAT to eat. Heck, I didn't know how to even move around until I started mashing keys on the keyboard, lol. Maybe I'm slow...? Anyway, it was super fun other than the fact that I lost every time because I starved to death! Nicely crafted. :)

Murder Mitosis by _for_science 2017-04-27T14:03:01Z

Ah! It makes sense now. I thought the dots were just part of the style of the game, lol. Oops. That's probably on me more than a design issue, ha ha.

Conquery - Conquer The World! by Tanay 2017-05-03T15:45:43Z

I really had fun playing this. Obviously it would be great to have more depth but hey, this is a LD 3-day attempt! For that it's a great start. If you were to keep going it would be great to have a countdown for how many planets were left to capture, and also a way to fight back against the enemies (or at least avoid the fire, there isn't much room for evasive maneuvers, ha ha). Anyway, great job overall!

Set Sails by Erik Brunnstrom 2017-05-05T18:57:26Z

I don't think I knew what I was doing, ha ha. I kept placing things but wasn't sure if it was working or not. Eventually I didn't have enough gold to pay rent. A tutorial of some kind would be nice to have, but overall you did a fantastic job. Well done!

Slightly Angry Max by Takusan 2017-04-25T19:10:50Z

Nice job overall! I think the opening crawl could move a little faster if you're working on an updated version for future. Just the end bit, specifically. The rest flowed nicely. Anyways, game was a lot of fun and could really be polished up into something amazing! Hope you end up keeping at it and taking it to that next step. :)