Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• To be honest, I don't feel well reviewing this game. I just didn't got into Starcharted Islands enough to talk about game mechanics, scope, etc. Still, decided to didn't skip this review from my batch, because I'm the living example that accessibility actually matters. So, figuring out how to play this game took me quite a long time. Probably I would just skip that game if I wouldn't know and like other Jan's games. Cost of being truly innovative (without a proper tutorial and only short instructions). And when I finally figured out how to play it, the game crashed (with code -27). The next playthroughs went better. Starcharted, for me, feels totally about being alone, lonely and (almost) lost on the vast ocean. And this feeling continues, even when player will figure out that the game actually gives a large room for errors.
• The colorful changing ASCII representation is very beautiful. I was immersed in the romantic atmosphere of sailing the silent sea with the constellations as my guide. The originality and roguelike feel of the game are combined at a high level. It's a shame that there are a few bugs, but it's a great game!
• I have never seen something quite like this in a game, and that is very impressive. I've seen plenty of unusual and experimental games but I've never navigated open waters according to the stars. It took a bit for me to understand the premise, but once I did I was really into it. The day cycles, weather, clouds, birds, etc really add to the experience. Making something this immersive in ascii is impressive. If you always had perfect information and could move in any direction at any time the game would become trivial, but the addition of winds and a heading for your boat, along with the stars being obscured sometimes is what makes the game interesting-- you have to build the constellations in your head and move them around to discover your path. I found managing my maps to be a little cumbersome but not a dealbreaker. I died a number of times while trying to get ashore, which was annoying but I did end up appreciating that you have to slow down and carefully run your boat to ground. I never got all of the treasures due to occasional crashes. However, the time I spent in this game was the most memorable of the 7DRL games I've played so far.