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CypherGrid's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Controls / UI | #7 | 4.455 | 4.455 |
| Overall Fun | #10 | 4.455 | 4.455 |
| Sound/Music | #27 | 3.727 | 3.727 |
| Art / Graphics | #38 | 3.636 | 3.636 |
Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Hi! I played this on stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1834468660?t=00h01m47s
The puzzles were fun, and I liked the last 2 where there was a time limit for one of them, and a jump mechanic for the other. They added a different pace to the puzzles that made it exciting, compared to the earlier tutorial ones where I could take my time, at a slow pace if I wanted to.
One suggestion is to split the tutorial into missions. Instead of one long tutorial teaching everything, maybe have a bunch of "easier" missions that slowly introduce the new mechanics. The story could potentially be largely the same, maybe with some small tweaks, so it doesn't feel like a long tutorial. I think the order and pace of the puzzles are good.. it's more of massaging the story so it keeps moving forward through missions, so that the player feels more accomplished rather than "finishing the tutorial" :)
I liked the little animations the characters have when they're standing, like they're breathing, blinking etc. I think the characters look nice overall, except the Ucogi's breasts seem... disproportionate.. the other woman looks more proportionate :)
Thank you so much for the stream and the detailed review! I agree with the points you made and I do think that the tutorial drags a bit as well. You just confirmed my suspicions! Your feedback will definitely improve my game!
Really nice puzzles, both the puzzle process and artstyle remind me of old flash escape room games i used to play over and over again~
The cypher puzzles themselves are fun but I'd prefer if they were more related to other puzzle solving elements like the map and clock puzzle at the beginning rather than straight cypher grids at the end. The QTE and non-standard grid at the end were nice additions though, and I did like them too, though I was a little surprised the demo ended so quickly on a comparatively "fast-paced" note.
The password feature to return to certain parts is very on brand for what the game is, but at the same time I wonder if a chapter select after completing the required section/finding the required password wouldn't be more convenient. I realised at some point I really only commit the latest password to memory, which is fine for progress but not as great if I wanted to revisit older puzzles. The same would apply for the new spicy pics.
TLDR: Other supportive puzzle elements nice, chapter select not a bad idea. Good game.
Hey! I just saw your Stream and is was a delight! You understood the game, the puzzles and the riddles perfectly! You were the fastest player to finish the game so far, and the only one to solve the Hack puzzle without losing any hearts! Most people need almost 1 hour to finish the game and it took you only 30 minutes, you are a pro! That's why you found the game to be short xD
I was trying to demonstrate different ideas and see what sticks, so I'm glad you mention the map and clock puzzles. You can use older passwords to go to earlier part of the game. All passwords work at all times. You just need to write them down, or remember them by hard. Thanks so much for playing! You and your friend were very amusing and you made me laugh a lot!
I am going through all submissions to make all developers aware of an important Google form I've made.
I'm joining the IQ folks to help organize smaller events in between the main FQ event in order to help prevent us from getting too many games in main events. Right now, I have a planned structure for these events but I would like to hear from everyone who was in this event in order to tune things better. The survey is a bit long, but it covers as much as I could think of. If you can take the time to do the survey by June 1st, I would immensely appreciate it!
You can find the form here: https://forms.gle/P9LPYwERhJtpZzteA
I completed the survey a few days ago. I hope you got it and I hope it helps! Great event, keep it up!
A nicely designed puzzle game, with an intriguing story.
Art direction: I'm not a fan of anime fanservice, but I understand the appeal for the target audience. The style is ok and overall coherent. Puzzles are easy to read. Maybe a bit of polish in the UI and QTE section could help.
Game loop: puzzle design is solid, I love the idea behind it. I enjoyed the more complex puzzles with a timer in the second part of the demo, as they require quick thinking and planning. The mix of Sudoku and Picto is clever and works really well.
Audio: the weakest part of this entry, it does its job but does not stand out.
Controls: controls are fine, but a keyboard key bind for dialogue skip and the QTE section could help immensely. The dialogue manager could be improved by not skipping the entire dialogue after clicking the arrow but rather having it finish to appear (this happens in parts of the demo, like the tutorial, as in others the text just appears immediately).
Side note, I encountered a couple of minor bugs:
a) when you are doing the first tutorial room with 4 puzzles, after failing you have to go through a dialogue. In the last sentence, even after pressing the arrow, the game does not continue. You need to go back to the menu and insert the relative password to get back.
b) the tutorial puzzles can be brute forced by closing and reopening them: the game does not keep the progress.
Other than that, I have a small suggestion: the password system is fun and a refreshing way to replay previous sessions without having a dedicated save, but it could help in being randomly generated, otherwise one could just skip everything with a guide.
Overall a really nice puzzle game with clever and refreshing rules. Good job!
Thank you for the long an honest review!
I actually worked hard to make a keyboard key bind for dialogue skip, but it ended up being complex and inconsistent, so I dropped it. The QTE section could benefit from it, as it is now. But I want to expand the game and have the QTE button appear in various parts of the screen, so even though keyboard controls seem sweet, they would conflict with future plans. This ended up being a mouse game after a lot of thinking. and inner debate.
You are right about the bug in the 1st tutorial room. I saw it just yesterday myself and it was a product of experimentation. This bug won't exist in v1.63 and above. Nice catch!
Indeed the tutorial puzzles can be brute forced. I'm not sure if I mind that, since I want the tutorials to be easy, and give the players some leniency. The same goes with the password system. If someone wants to understand or play the game, they won't cheat. If you cheat, you'll miss the tutorial (you won't learn how to play), the story and the animations. These players either find the game hard, or they don't care, so I don't mind them cheating. Also, it doesn't matter what save system I use, as all the puzzles are pretty much fixed. The solutions will always be the same. Any guide posted online is a potential cheat. And I'm fine with that. I trust that the players know how they want to experience the game.
I love that you went quite deep in your observations. Most of all, I love that an analytical mind like yours liked the puzzle mechanics!
Cypher Grid https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1822735755
Addicting AF! To be completely honest, I try to steer my content to be as family friendly as possible, so I was hesitant to try this game on stream. But it's actually not as fan servicey as I was expecting. You jumped right into the gameplay, explained the core mechanics, got down to business, and let us solve some fun puzzles. An absolute blast of an adventure! Everything came together so well and the only critique was maybe an animation on that clock. If you are reading this comment and love Sudoku or interesting puzzle games, you need to play this!
Took me a while to reply because I was working on updating my game. Thank you for your detailed feedback and awesome review here! You really helped me improve my game. In the latest version (v1.7) I have you on the end credits, with a link to your twitch channel!
Hello from tonight's stream!
I don't really have much feedback beyond just enjoying this and not having any real negative feedback (in which case I wouldn't post because I typically don't unless I feel something can be improved), but I chose to write this when I found out it was made in Flash. I'm kinda shocked. This doesn't take away from the fun of the puzzles, though. Really challenging for me.
Oh snap! Did I miss the stream? I had no clue when you started it, as there was no specific time notification on Discord.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game. I assume that the shock came because Flash is kind of dead these days? :)
Can you please post a link to your VOD here? I can't find it in your channel... your most recent video was 5 days ago. Unless I'm somehow missing something.
Sure!
I keep my VODs on YouTube. :D
I watched your VOD and you did a great job! You understood the mechanics immediately. Even when you got stuck at the items, you asked Dedu for help, without hesitation. You also solved the clock riddle in one go (a few people struggled with it) and you got that the SOS was in Morse code. I'm very pleased with how you perceived the game and your reaction to it. Thank you for streaming!
Honestly, when I asked Dedu for help it was an accident. That said, it likely helps that I've played a lot of of number puzzles like this. Picross (though some call it nonogram), sudoku (and killer sudoku which is way harder) and kakuro are among my favourite puzzle games. My experience with those games helps a lot. I also think I got lucky with the clock riddle. XD
I would like your opinion on something that haven't been addressed yet. At first glance this game looks like Picross (too many clones out there). But soon enough, players realize that it's something else.
But despite the graphics, the characters and the story, how does CypherGrid hold up, comparing to Picross? Disorienting at first, because you expected it to be something else? Harder to understand or play? Did you enjoyed it more than Picross? Do you find it to be original?
Since you have played all these other similar games, any comment regarding the puzzle mechanics would be extremely useful for me, moving forward with this formula.
You want to know what I think of the puzzle aspect of the game and if it felt like a fun number game. I'll give you a TL;DR version first and then a long version after.
TL;DR - I think CypherGrid is a fantastic number puzzle game. It's fun, original and you should keep at it.
Long version being written.
It was disorienting for maybe a moment, but I was very quick to get my head around that. As I began to understand more, I found myself more interested in the puzzles and wanting to know more rules and try harder puzzles. And this wasn't just for the fun of completing of the puzzle but to figure out what it was supposed to mean. I know the latter part is more on the story, but part of me almost feels like it should be part of the process. Like, if it existed in newspapers you get a word with so many letters you're trying to guess. To get the answer, you have to look at the picture formed by the CypherGrid, but first you gotta figure out the number puzzle first. These two separate puzzles feel like they need to go together.
I don't feel at all like it was hard to understand. If anything, I think my understanding of those games vastly sped up my understanding of this. It was actually easier to understand. With Picross, you have multiple numbers but you're trying to determine where the blocks go to fill those numbers. With CypherGrid, you're just looking for the first instance of any crossover of numbers adding to the sum. Once you hit it, the numbers are out of play. This feels so much like sudoku. So while it was Picross that taught me what filling in the boxes was to do, sudoku taught me how to figure out what boxes to fill. This is such an interesting cross those two puzzles which, I think, is why I think the word association thing should still be part of it. It does a picture, a number and a word puzzle all at once. I absolutely enjoyed it far more than Picross both just as a CypherGrid and with the word solving also part of it.
I think the number one that would be useful is that if a row or column only has one or less numbers remaining, the empty tiles should change colour to indicate they cannot be used anymore. If this sounds too much, then just a function to mark them off. To explain what I mean..
.
So in this scenario, there are no usable numbers left in the one row. When this happens, the entire row is grayed out. In a manual check off system, the user would be able to right click to put an X over the square.
Considering that there are consequences on other game levels for placing incorrectly, I think the automatic system is better. Doing this would make it so that sort of mistake can't happen. The red X would just be more for situations where the only bad to happen is you don't solve the puzzle.
Took me a while to reply because I was working on updating my game. Thank you for your detailed feedback. You really helped me improve my game. In the latest version (v1.7) I have you on the end credits, with a link to your twitch channel!
Aww, you didn't need to do that! Thank you, though! <3
Hi I'm from the Feedback Quest! I played your game and reviewed it on my Stream.
Here's the VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1820605598
Though most of the feedback is in the VOD. Here's some of the points I can make. The gameplay loop is interesting. I LOVE this old school Flash Era game and artstyle. Its so nostalgic and I enjoyed it very much as someone who played Flash Games from the olden days.
My only gripes with the game is that the image hint for the puzzle, wasn't entirely clear. I think that's the only time during the training that threw me off. The Music Note was just not that clear. Still I could attribute it to my skill issue.
On a personal note, the game was fun and interesting and I hope you enjoy the VOD.
Personal Rating: 4/5
I just saw the VOD and it was a BLAST! Your reactions made me laugh so hard, it was priceless!!! I'm super hyped right now!
Jokes aside, you helped me see what I need to change in the game. For example, regarding the dungeon items, if you hover on Dedu, he would tell you what each item is. And Rudy tells you that you can ask him, every time you pick the first item. It was right there, but I have to make things clearer.
Thank you for not quitting and for finishing the entire game! And yes I do allow you do to fanart! :P
oh yeahhh I could've asked Rudy and Dedu, good point but I think the reason I didn't was because I'm one of those ancient types of players that doesn't want hints. Still I think it would be a benefit to make it clearer to players that are less stubborn than I am XD
Still amazing work. I have nothing but high praise for what you've made.
I planned to keep my promise! Thank you again for letting me play your fun game and for being so Cultured.
Wow I got no words! I love your style! You inspired me to add something extra in the game: "pink notes" where you can view Ucogi in sexy poses. You deserve it after all you have been through! Version 1.61 would be awesome! xD
eyo~ send me those pics later XD but thanks, glad you like it. Please keep up the good work.
I finished it. I think the challenge level was fine for me, I don't understand tutorials well but I figured out things from the interface. As was said, using Space, optionally, for dialog would be good. I thought the gameplay was a tiny bit boring for me but it's clearly a good game overall, let me know if there's something specific you wanted feedback on. It made me smile to see Adobe Flash in the taskbar, I used to program some Actionscript, it's been a long time.
Yes, Flash lives on!
Despite finding the game a bit boring (not everything is for everyone, and the game is what it is) I would like feedback on the tutorial. You said you didn't understand it? If so, where did you got stuck? And at what point you started understanding the game?
I experimented with Keyboard controls but whenever I press a Key for Next Frame, if there are many "Next Frames", it just plays the entire timeline until you stop holding the Key down. So, I don't know how to do that, as much as I would love to.
Edit: I just found a way to fix this! Whoo!
I opened up the game again to look, I don't think anything was wrong with the tutorial, it's just me.
OK, I surprisingly LOVED THIS GAME! It was a lot of fun. The puzzles were a blast, and I really liked the interactive story that unfolded while solving them. Here's some of my critiques, though:
1. When selecting the two objects to determine the password... (i.e. "chair")... you should have the first tile you select glow or have a box around it. I didn't realize I clicked it and clicked it again... which caused me to fail.
2. I know mouse is used to complete puzzles, but space or enter on keyboard would be nice to get through dialogue.
3. Sometimes guessing the picture/object didn't make sense. Like... for the A. I understood Atlas but... the open book...? This might be challenging for many players.
THE GOOD:
1. Artwork is really nice.
2. Dialogue is well written and makes sense. Good grammar.
3. Puzzles are unique and challenging. I like this.
4. Music is catching and fitting for the theme of the game.
Overall great job! Hopefully this game gain more attention because I did enjoy it!
Thanks for the detailed feedback! I just fixed #1 and #3 in v1.6. I did try, but #2 might be beyond my abilities, as silly as that might sound ^^;
I'll give this a try again soon. Want to get through some more games and rate them, but glad to see you making some changes. Overall, I remember really liking this game, though! Excited to try it again
Sure, no pressure! And I just found out how to do the #2! It might take me a day or two, to implement it.