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A Town Divided's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #361 | 4.063 | 4.063 |
| Overall | #539 | 3.771 | 3.771 |
| Adherence to the Theme | #684 | 3.938 | 3.938 |
| Design | #778 | 3.313 | 3.313 |
Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Love this game, it's like Baba is You but with mathematics instead of programming. And just like with Baba is You, I got stuck fairly early on. Will definitely come back to try to finish the game - I am always happy for another clever puzzler! The way you interpreted the theme was very original and inventive.
Fantastic implementation of a great concept. This is actually quite rare for me, but I have no complaints, and I can't believe I'm saying that about what could technically be called an edutainment game.
Here you've created a set of mechanics which have interesting consequences, and then you've designed a set of puzzles to explore those mechanics. The puzzles slowly introduce you to new concepts that might not be obvious (like the concept of pulling), and then once you learn it, you can now apply it to harder puzzles. I was going to complain, "Why can't I multiply -5x2" for example, until I realized that one mechanic is that there can only be two characters in a box, and -10 has three, so the game stays logically consistent.
It's just good ol' Jon Blow school of puzzle design. He'd probably like this game too, since he does like Sokoban puzzlers with interesting mechanics.
Edit: Actually, one thing I don't understand: On the Conyon, you have at one point 8/(3/3), which collapses into 8/1, but 8/1 doesn't collapse into 8. You're free to push 1 afterward and you need to do so to solve the puzzle. I'm kind of wondering if that results from a bug in the engine or if that's an intentionally programmed inconsistency, or if I'm just misunderstanding the mechanics.
Thank you so much for your praise! I'm very glad you liked it.
Indeed, I was using the 'forward design' strategy most famously used by jblow. I'm blown away (hah) by how quickly this strategy leads to decent puzzles.
I can actually explain what's going on in Canyon: [8/] [3] [/3] takes two turns to collapse to [8], similarly how [+] [+] [2] takes two turns to collapse to [2]. It seems division is left-associative i.e. "8/3/3" is interpreted as (8/3)/3.
But the fact that you didn't understand is totally my fault. As with the -10 thing, there are some concepts I should have introduced earlier in the game via simpler levels.
Very Unique take on the theme. Liked it!
Interesting twist on sokoban :-)
Sometimes it's not clear how the numbers are going to interact, but with some playtesting you can refine it and make it very fun.
Interesting game but the levels are very frustrating. Should add more feedback.
But I really enjoyed playing! :3
Sorry to hear that! Which level did you get stuck on?