Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Great premise of a game with a visible path to being accessible, loved the art style, the simplicity of the controls , The music was a bit too repetitive for my liking but as a game in progress, this is a great start
• I love this game so much! It's such a cute concept! My only feedback would be on stuff that I don't think you could have this early anyway, such as the possibility of a mini map for those with memory issues. But having instructions/prompts on screen and control/button remapping is amazing.
• 1. Accessibility: 1.1 Start of the game: Good contrast between the text and the background on the pop-up information that comes up when starting the game. Sadly, there is no possibility to mute the audio at this stage, and the music is quite loud, so I would like a mute button. Easy to understand text with good font and size. Wish there was a way to access setting in the start menu, the reason for this is that some disabled games will need to access the setting before starting a game to change things like button prompts. This could also help when it comes to the loud music. 1.2 Settings: Glad to see there is an easy to use and understandable settings menu. Impressive to see that the button remapping worked, and that it also changes the prompts in the game, well done. Really good idea to be able to zoom in and out of the game, as this can help with overcoming some visual barriers. Wish that the quit button would take me back to the start screen. 1.3 In game: The beaver is moved by using the WASD keys, which feels quite intuitive to do. I was impressed to see that you could also use the mouse clicker to move, sort of like a point and click adventure. Reason for this to give extra points, is that some disabled gamers have limited possibilities to use a wide range of keys when gaming. In other words, games that keep their controller simple, and only a few buttons, will be accessible for a whole range of disabled gamers with motor barrier. This can also be to great use for people with cognitive barriers, as there isn’t a need to memories complicated button setups that often change. It would also be nice to have a possibility to interact with objects by using only the mouse buttons, as this would make the game even more accessible. Quite impressed with button prompts that tells me what to push when close to an object I can interact with, this is a big win for cognitive accessibility. Good contrast in the game, the beaver is easy to see against the background. The game recognizes my PS5 controller, and I can make the beaver walk around and zoom in/out. But sadly not everything works with a controller, as I cannot use the action buttons. I wish that the style of light text with a dark boarder or background would continue in to the game, as the white text can be a bit hard to read. I wish the game had a toggle for buttons that needs to be hold. It can be a bit taxing on your arms to hold in the buttons for as long as it takes to get the logs. This barrier can be helped by adding a toggle option in the settings. 2. Theme: I see the theme of new starts as a single beaver parent. I also love that the leaf’s on the trees are fall colours, it gives the feeling of seasons and change. 3. Innovation/Creativity: As this is a game is a playtesting it is a bit hard to see all the innovations here, but I like the use of beaver. 4. Gameplay: This is a cute and charming start of a solid game. Really cute animations, impressive physics of the logs, and wonderful music. I love how the music rolls over to different tracks, but stay in the same style, keeping up with the vibe of the game. 5. Conclusion: All in all, the dev hit the target of the goals they set for themselves with this jam. The button remapping and sound levels work well, though I wish we could access them from the start screen. This game is intuitive for gamers, and relay on few buttons which is a big plus. I do not know if the mouse control was made on purpose, but I do hope this is an accessibility option the dev will try in the future. For what I wish to see more of is the continuing of using borders and background behind all text on the screen and the possibility to toggle hold on and off. Well done on adding so many features this early in your game. Keep up with the good work!
• It's not often you see a sweet life of a beaver simulator, and I look forward to seeing where this goes. The current intended accessibility is implemented reasonably well. Unfortunately the menu is quite laggy right now, which meant it was difficult to change keys and know if it had actually worked.