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Symbion's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Roguelikeness | #1 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Scope | #26 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Fun | #38 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Innovation | #40 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Overall | #50 | 3.111 | 3.111 |
| Completeness | #52 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Aesthetics | #75 | 2.667 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
You can't manually unequip from the symbion menu, only equip and drop from it, combined with symbions dying at zero life force it gave me the impression for far too long that symbions were one time use consumables. The game was much easier to beat after I starting using the hotkeys.
Quite interesting idea in this game. The ballance is a bit on easier side. There are no enemies or combination of enemies that provide real threat. Aside from default symbiot the only thing that is really required is healing symbiot. Additional damage dealing symbiot are saving a bit of time, but not strictly required for a win. Levels are relatively big so some kind of run to command could save some key tapping. On one of levels some tiles do not have any visual representation, but are blocking movement. Adding some items that work empower some symboits and weaken other could add another dimension to character development as well as some meaningful trade offs. While technically it passes as true roguelike, it is kind of borderline mark. A bit too linear and simple in term of choices.
Completeness - 2 / Aesthetics - 3 / Fun - 2.5 / Innovative - 2.5 / Scope - 3 / Roguelike - 4. Overall a really neat idea, it just needs more love (get it?). I'm *almost* able to glimpse what you were going for with this. I urge you to chip away at it. I couldn't figure out how to climb / descend stairs, and a few keys would crash the game outright. Some simple sound effects / music would help. I liked the idea of managing your symbiote like a Pokemon, and being able to activate / retire the one you want when you want.
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Comments
Completeness - 2 / Aesthetics - 3 / Fun - 2.5 / Innovative - 2.5 / Scope - 3 / Roguelike - 4. Overall a really neat idea, it just needs more love (get it?). I'm *almost* able to glimpse what you were going for with this. I urge you to chip away at it. I couldn't figure out how to climb / descend stairs, and a few keys would crash the game outright. Some simple sound effects / music would help. I liked the idea of managing your symbiote like a Pokemon, and being able to activate / retire the one you want when you want.
hey thanks for the feedback! There's a help screen available by pressing `?` that should have answered the stairs question (`>` goes down stairs and `<` goes up... if those keys didn't work then I need to fix that for sure). I'm pretty concerned that you mentioned a few keys that completely crashed the game! What keys would that be? definitely something that needs fixed ASAP.
I agree with your overall feedback though.. I wish I had been able to give a little more time to fleshing out the management and relationship between you and your symbions. One planned (but not implemented) feature would be the ability to level them up over time. Other planned features were mostly just more abilities like a blink/teleport and various other attacks.
I can't complain too much with the scores, but I'm a little frustrated that you gave the game a relatively low completeness score without being able to see anything but the first level.
Thanks for playing :D
Sorry for the long delay getting back to you. I did go back and retry your game, and you are correct about the help screen and keys. While it's "obvious", I see what happened - in some games that I've played using the same type of key layout, there's also an accomodation for using `,` and `.` -- in other words, not needing to also use the SHIFT key.
IIRC, I was trying to initially use "a" and "z" for up and down the stairs. "z" is what would crash it for me. It's fairly edge case, and most people will in fact find the help and actually follow it. :)
But nonetheless I do agree and urge you to keep working on it if you can. I think being able to level up your symbions would be a really neat idea. I don't know how far you want to get with it, but even as far as special attack / defense / talent bonuses based on your current mob and/or "environment"?
Apart from all that, a huge congratulations for even getting this as far as you did in 7 days. That shouldn't be lost, nor understated during this judging phase. (Not that it matters, but this is the 2nd year in a row where I couldn't even get a release out myself, despite how excited I get for these 7 days...)