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Review Summary

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[ + + + + - ]  ::  ENJOYMENT

[ + + + + - ]  ::  CREATIVITY

[ + + + + - ]  ::  PRESENTATION

Really solid game! Could have benefited from more narrative/lore elements. Amazing level design. I got stuck at level 11. Great polish to the physics. Nice animations and sound cues. Would have liked to have theme music.

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Rubric / How I Measure The Score

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[ + - - - - ]      1 - Missing

[ + + - - - ]     2 - Somewhat Present

[ + + + - - ]    3 - Present

[ + + + + - ]   4 - Well Done

[ + + + + + ]  5 - Outstanding

That was really good! I enjoyed my time with that a whole lot. I got to the end too, and felt it had about the right number of levels, and they were about the right difficulty. Even the onboarding puzzles were well paced - very hard to do in a games jam setting where you don't get to see much feedback from playtests etc.

Before it introduced the B key to return to the bot, I struggled to move the box in level 2. I was starting to think it would continue to be a frustrating experience, but on the very next level it showed me that was a deliberate trap, and how to solve it. I'm guessing if I went back to that level B would have still worked, and made it a whole lot less trouble. That was a wonderful lesson!

I think I solved a lot of them in unintended ways, but I liked having the freedom to solve things the way that worked in my head. Stacks of buttons holding each other down were a particular favourite technique for me. Sometimes there were boxes that I never touched at the end of levels, but that's a joy in a world where most puzzle designers would block off unintended solutions.

I thought the music was OK, but a little bit short to loop continuously like it does. Not a lot of variation too, so it kinda grates a little bit. I'd have appreciated an option to turn it off, but I totally understand games jams force you to prioritise things that really matter, and appreciate just how many other features were competing for your limited resources.

The controls weren't exactly to my taste. I found it hard using A/D to move, but not W to jump. Then there's E to swap (that's fine) and B to return? That's a bit of a stretch, and occasionally I found myself automatically pressing R and resetting the level, when I meant to press E or Space or B. I wonder if keeping to one button to swap souls would have helped - you could maybe hold it for a half second or so to return to the robot.

Anyway, great concept, great fit to the theme (I was genuinely surprised when I discovered I could move buttons and lifters), great presentation. Great!

Had a ton of fun playing your game! Sometimes I felt like I solved the puzzles in ways that the level wasn't designed for, and that's pretty cool. Also has a very nice aesthetic!

Nice little game!

I really like the idea of this, it feels very unique compared to many of the other games in this jam, which to me is a important thing.

I think there is a lot of room here for more object types and abilities they can give you while controlling them, like lighter objects also being pushed by fans or being able to move in different ways (only horizontally / vertically) due to the objects limits and structure. 

Although, as I've found myself within games like this, designing puzzles can often be very difficult when you give the player a lot of freedom with the mechanics. Since the player can move basically every single element of the puzzle, it can allow for easy puzzle breaks and thus hard to make a puzzle that can only be solved in a certain way. While puzzle break aren't bad, and can often feel more rewarding, designed solutions are also crucial for getting players to get a "aha" moment.

I didn't realize at first that everything that I controlled had the same movement as the player, so I was trying to figure out how the get the box on top of the button, before I realized I could just jump on top of it. Some indication for this would be nice. I did like the use of having the controls directly in the level itself, but I think they could be more visually contrasting so they don't blend in too well.

The art itself is very clean, but I think it is a bit clashing it its themes. Things like the pipes and arrows don't fit as well with everything else. But it is super close to all being connecting and clean.

The movement is also a bit floaty, which doesn't seem like the type of movement you would have for a game like this. I think there could be some more improvements on that, making it a bit more snappy.

Overall nice game! Well done.

Very polished game. Finding out I was able to switch to the button was an awesome moment. Solid puzzle design. Great work!

Wow, the polish in this one is so good! And the art is on point!

The art and music are just perfect and the grade of polish you achieved is just extraordinary. Great level design and pacing, the only thing that bothered me was how floaty the jump was, but this was definitely my favourite submission so far!

Really nice game. Super polished! Loved the mechanics and the gameplay feel. Good job!

Really polished game! I love the art direction, the tutorials are well integrated in the decor, and the difficulty curve is clearly on point. And as a graphic designer, I can't help but love your title screen, this font is perfect <3

art style is so on point

I like all the polish. The idea is really cool too. 

One thing I kept accidentally doing was hitting the 'R' key and restarting. Maybe some popup saying "are you sure" or changing the 'E' key to something else further away.

This game is really good. I love that I can move even the buttons