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Quest For Balance (Jam Ver.)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Is the graphics 1 bit? | #137 | 4.700 | 4.700 |
| Originality | #179 | 3.450 | 3.450 |
| Art | #244 | 3.100 | 3.100 |
| Theme | #297 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Gameplay | #298 | 2.600 | 2.600 |
| Overall | #302 | 3.025 | 3.025 |
| Music | #452 | 1.300 | 1.300 |
Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
It is a interesting little fetch quest game... love the artstyle, and it would be nice to see it finished one day, with proper sound and a storyline. ^-^
Judging by my plans, the amount of gameplay isn't far off from what I intended, but the presentation (using items, sound, story) is so far off! I hope I'll be able to do it well!
Thanks for checking it out!
- Great art style with the levels
- Sound would've really added DEPTH to the game!
- For me toggle sprint worked with "Left Shift" instead of "Space" (mentioned on game page)
- I did get stuck after collecting a few things (even stairs of buildings sometimes?) so not sure whats happening.
Overall a nice concept and it does feel like the layout was too empty (missing?) sometimes. But yeah as mentioned it was an unfinished project. Good luck!
Shoot, did it say "Space" to sprint all this time?! Thanks for letting me know!
Yeah, on sound and guidance of what you're doing, I did run out of time. It is possible to "finish" the game, but in classic point and click fashion you have to intuit what madness the developer was under to use objects correctly (I'm assuming you don't mean physically stuck). The stairs specifically give you access to a cave in (what was supposed to be) the inverted world that can be accessed by the checkerboard thing.
Thanks for the feedback and for checking it out!
Yeah, it did say 'Space' so that confused me. Did have that gamer's intuition to use left shift and that did work :D
Haha, true. I wasn't physically stuck, just after a ton of random clicking as well, didn't go any further. I did collect 3 items or so.
Good luck on finishing it (if you plan to do so).
I really like your art style. The Zelda style sections are nicely laid out and it's easy to control the character.
Obviously there's a lot of work left to do and I'm sure you know it, but would be interested in seeing more if you ever plan on taking it further after the jam.
I do want to get it to my vision of my original plans, but I don't think I'll take this game much further than that. I am considering if I want to make this a short series where I can take this character on different adventures, having different casual adventures for the little goober.
Thanks for checking it out!
Incredibly charming entry, the gameplay and environnent are downright simplistic but super endearing, it really feels a lot like those early flash point and clicks.
I was a bit lost at the start and the lack of dialogue made the game hard to grasp at times, the link between an item and the spot where it needs to be placed is not always clear at the time of picking it. I kind of breezed through the game without always understanding what I was achieving.
Anyways, solid entry and a pretty original one. A refreshing change from all the platformers, nicely done.
Clarity is definitely something I'll be adding through NPC's and story. While I don't mind if the character stumbles through life blindly, I want to give the players some idea of what's going on haha.
Thanks for checking it out!
Looks like a pretty good start for an adventure game.
I could see the gameplay opening up with NPC quests & a good inventory system.
Would be nice to have some SFX & more animated sprites for environment in the future.
Now I wonder if I should make this into a series. More animated environmental sprites is a good suggestion too since there's no time limit now.
Thanks for checking it out!
A fun little adventure, and I totally get that time constraints complicated things!
Echoing some of the other comments, I would have loved some feedback about what I had, or even what exactly I used. I’m still not sure what let me use the gray octagon or pass the rock in one of the caves, but I got to the end and enjoyed exploring the screens!
Thanks for checking it out, and glad you enjoyed!
I'm thinking about adding a bag menu in the corner of the screen. I want to make it open up and show you collected items with a small blurb. I think an animation of items floating to and from it would look nice and help with clarity. As for the specific instances you mentioned: the gray octagon was supposed to display the pieces you've collected of the yin yang symbol (and can be used after picking up the first one), and the rock (spikes) in the cave get destroyed by the boulder you picked up in the mining cave!
So, I think there needs to be some dialogue and a little more info for the player, the various npcs and items and how they intersect don't really come across, at least for me, I basically ended up hovering my mouse over everything and clicking random things to advance at most points. I did eventually beat it though. (I'll admit with the log I thought it was supposed to help me cross the river)
It's got a nice feel once you're going, but really needs that little more info.
I fully agree on all your points! That stuff (more npc's, dialogue, direction) is coming in the post-jam version. I also have plans for the items to do something visually so it's a bit more clear on what you actually did with them. For the log, I'm going to make the river and waterfall downstream disappear visually since the cave entrance is supposed to be behind the waterfall. I did toy around with the log allowing you to cross the river on top of stopping its flow, so I can see the confusion!
Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for checking it out!
It was a bit hard to get started because of the lack of instructions, but I wouldn't count that against the game at all. In fact I like the lack of handholding. I enjoy backtracking which was greatly helped by the fast movement, and figuring out the correlation between checkpoints / gates and objects. A bit of polish and this can be a truly enjoyable adventure!
I'm going to have to strike a balance with the NPC dialogue so that it stays a bit cryptic, while still guiding players who want more guidance.
Thanks for checking it out and glad you enjoyed!
A nice point and click adventure, that I was able to beat without any tutorial or dialogue which I think is a huge positive to how easy the game is to pick up and play. I really wish there was a bar somewhere that told you what you've picked up, so you'd maybe have an idea of what you have, and what you give to NPCs. It's not a major thing by any means, but I think it helps communicate the game's world better to the player.
Btw I ended up beating the game, but even after beating it there was this one area with a question mark on top of it? Is this supposed to be an easter egg that I wasn't able to complete the condition for or a small bug?
Hearing that the puzzles were clear despite the missing dialogue makes me really happy!
I was debating on whether or not to add an inventory bar to the game (forcing the player to pick which item to use), but ran out of time before I had to make a decision. I'm still not sure if I want the player to have to choose an item to use it or just use any item, but I'll definitely add some way to know what you have!
No bug or Easter egg there, except for some cut content I forgot to remove haha. I ran out of time implementing things. That is supposed to, and will in the post-jam version, lead to a cave where the baby lizard is!
Thanks for checking the game out!
Didn't understand much on what to do, some dialog could be really helpfull, music and sound would add up the calm feel of the game and the sprint didn't seem to work at all, maybe it is just me too. But overall the art is really great and it feel like a cute little calm game I could play with more time
I agree with your points on the missing elements, they'll definitely be in the post-jam version!
The sprint works like a toggle. You should be able to tap it once to change your speed, then tap it again to return to being slow. If it still doesn't work then there's something I need to look into!
Thanks for checking it out!
Good and cute game! Missed some sounds and music on it, but overall you did a nice job!
Yeah I always end up leaving music and sounds until the end, which isn't always the best practice.
Thanks for checking it out! Glad you enjoyed it!
Funny ^^
Thanks for playing!
Game reminded me of old point and click flash games, it was a nice memory, so I enjoyed playing it.
I don't know if it has an ending because I was stuck not knowing where to go after interacting with the boy in the cap.
Man, I love old flash games, so hearing you say that means a lot!
There is an end state. If by "boy in the cap" you mean the guy to the left some screens of the starting area, then after bringing him something to help him mine, an entrance to a cave should open up! If you mean the guy looking thing to the right of the starting area, then bring that to the final house of the village.
I mean the boy on the left. I tried interacting with the cave with the pickaxe, it changed its sprite, but it still had "?" above, so I don't know if it was a bug, or I needed some more interaction.
Hmm, that's really weird. You should be able to just walk into the cave entrance after giving the pickaxe to him. (It should spawn to the right of where he was and the question mark should disappear)
Would you mind recording what happened if you can replicate it? If you do you can send it to me via Discord (pastruvium) or through e-mail (pastruvium@pastruvium.com)
Nice relaxing search-and discover game. I liked how clear the map layout was. Some nice relaxing music would be perfect for this game! The gameplay was a bit confusing at first, but that was also part of the charm. Really liked the art and the character design. If you ever need some music, feel free to message me! I still have a few tracks that I never used which you could use for free!
BTW, love the fact you submitted you project "50 seconds before the deadline" :D
Thanks for checking it out, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully the game will be less confusing once I actually go and finish it with NPC's and everything.
I appreciate you offering some music! I saw a video recently showing how to get into music creation, so I want to try doing that first. If it goes poorly, I might just take you up on that offer haha.
Yeah, 50 secs before the deadline. I bet you can imagine my panic waiting for Unity to finish building the game!
I love the art and the little bobbing animation of the player. Although I think the game got a bit confusing at some points due to some weeds/twigs on the ground being shaped like arrows.
Glad you liked the art, it was my first time drawing tilesets, and I'm happy with how they turned out!
That's a really good point about the grass. I think I even confused myself briefly while testing it in my mad rush the hour before it was due. I'll see if I can change it.
Fun little adventure :)
Would have liked to see some dialogue from the NPC's, but what's there is fun.
Very cute main character too.
Glad you enjoyed it despite the eerie silence!
I also really like the little dude. He was fun to draw.
nice game, though it took me a while to understand what I have to do
I wanted to add a tutorial and a story but ran out of time sadly.
Thanks for trying it out!
I think this game needed a tutorial because at first it was really confusing but the idea is great!
Yeah, I had meant to add NPC's who would explain the controls. The statue (the guy to the right of the starting area) that you have to bring to the top right house in the village was going to be the "tutorial."
Glad you enjoyed the idea despite the lack of a tutorial!
With some story and calming music, I guess this game would be very great! :3
Blame my time management skills haha.
I do want to go back and finish this later with NPC's, music, and the rest of the stuff.
Thanks for checking it out!
This is an interesting concept. I honestly can't figure out what to do, all the buildings seem to not be intractable? Great job though making a game from start to finish!
Thanks! I do wish I had more time, but maybe I'll make the "full" (at least from my game jam plans) version later.
If you find yourself lost, drag the mouse around the screen. Any interactable object, whether an item to pick up or an area to use an item, will light up with an "!" or a "?" if you can't use/pick it up yet.