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Square Escape's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Enjoyment | #122 | 4.099 | 4.099 |
| Overall | #629 | 3.817 | 3.817 |
| Creativity | #878 | 3.824 | 3.824 |
| Style | #1774 | 3.528 | 3.528 |
Ranked from 142 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Collect Plus and Minuses that change your shape to Escape every level
Development Time
96 hours
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Comments
Alright! I just finished it, and I have to say, I really like what you got here.
The levels get quite tricky over time, but it never feels unfair. It also really reminds me of the time when I used to play Pokemon as a kid and encountered the ice-sliding puzzles, where you needed to find the correct way.
The sounds are also really satisfying.
For a first project, as you said in your description, this is an awesome start, and I wish you nothing but luck on your future journey.
Good job, guys!
You reached the end? That would be the first time anyone got there ahahahaha congrats!
I definitely took inspiration from the Pokemon ice sliding puzzles, and *built to scale* on top of that ahahahah.
Thank you so much for the kind words!
Wait really? Probably because I am just so used to it. I developed a similar game to this about 3 months ago haha
Like all the 45 levels? that's insane, I don't even remember myself how to do level 44 lol
Wait..., okay, no. There's 45 levels?? I played like 20. I guess I missed something because I thought I was done. Oh yeah, I just saw there's different level selection screens. Sorry for the confusion
What I liked
The game mechanics are straightforward, and well communicated, the player is not left lost at what to do. Having a level selection allows for people to revisit puzzles later on and is generally a good feature to have in jams. The art clearly communicates danger, function, and boundaries. The music and sound effect give clear player feedback on actions taken. The level design is top notch.
What I didn't like
The level select is ever so slight squandered by locking away levels behind star requirements; whilst this would be good for a fullscale release, I would have liked to get a vertical slice of your game and experience any mechanics that might be locked behind said star requirements. Whilst the sound of moving clearly gives some feedback to the player, it is a bit high pitched and gave me a mild headache. The visuals are clear, but the grid is a bit too sharp and visible and textures scale a bit too repetitively.
Potential Improvements
Overall Thoughts
A very solid entry that explores the concept and theme in a robust and demonstrable way. You and your team have clearly put in a lot of work and effort into this game and should be proud of what you have accomplished. An extra pack on he back to your designer for coming up with that many levels, and also making them challenging without being too difficult.
Logos (Game Designer) here. Thank you so much for the extensive review! Both for the very kind words, and even more for the construcitve criticism!
M to toggle Music - E to toggle Effects - O to get free stars for the jam (on level selection repeatedly and changing screens to see it refresh)
But even though these feature are in, if you missed them it is still our fault for not conveing this information more clearly.
As for the grid opacity you are probably right, the art department is definitely what we are lacking the most.
Thank you again, I really don't know how to express my gratitude!
So fun! Feels like a complete game, hats off to the level design because the amount of stages is impressive. At first the stars system felt too grindy, but when this fell off it was fun to just sit back an analyse the levels before playing. Succinct and satisfying, well done folks :)
Thank you so much! To fit in so many levels I sacrificed a lot of sleep lol. Last day of the Jam I was up for 40 hours straight designing levels, I saw lines even while looking away from the monitor ahahahah
This is a really well designed game . Loved the aesthetics , the mechanics , the design , everything is really good .
Would love to see this grow into a really big puzzle game .
Best of luck :)
Thank you so much! We put a lot of effort into this, and we would love to release it in full scale (pun intended lol)
The effort went into what's really important - clever puzzles (and 45 of them, are you kidding me?!). Some of those are suuuper tricky (especially when it's obvious to avoid low hanging fruit of pluses next to starting position, since those could make it impossible to fit in some places). Really cool.
Now, for some nitpicks (because I really think that the game itself is great the way it is, those are just small things that annoyed me a little bit, also a small disclaimer - I didn't finish the game, there's just too many levels :D):
- The fact that there is a restart button, but no undo button. A lot of levels let you intentionally soft lock into a shape that will just not fit the exit, and that's cool. However, when you realise this, you have to repeat the same sequence from the very beginning and it became a bit tedious, especially at longer levels.
- I'm not a fan of locking levels behind stars like that (especially in jam game, since I just want to see later levels, if only out of curiosity :)).
- I don't see how those levels with red-spiky-things add anything. You still need mostly "perfect" runs to unlock starts and for most puzzles the optimal route is the only route anyways, so being forced to start over because of one mistake just didn't feel right (to me).
Ok, that's enough. You said in the description that this is your first game. It's a phenomenal entry to the jam and a fantastic puzzle game on it's own and you should be incredible proud of yourselves. Not all of us are talented enough to start with such a banger and I will definitely be waiting for your next one(s), cheers!
Thank you so much for the kind words and even more for the constructive criticism! It is essential to share ideas and feedback to improve.
I will try to answer your points one by one:
- I totally agree with you, it is a feature that I asked to my coding team, but really didn't have enough time. I can't really understand how managed to do all this actually ahahahah but we will definitely consider updating and rifining this, and this feature is the highest on the priority list
- I also agree with this, but I am a perfectionist myself, and I think that making things harder makes it more rewarding, you feel more the accomplishment when you finally unlock or beat a level. But since I agree with you on the Jam thing we left in one of our debugging tools: press O to get 3 stars on levels (you have to press it a lot and switch pages to see it in action
- The spikes are more of a designing tool for me, it allows me to block certain routes to avoid unintended solutions, putting no blocks there could mean that the player can pass into that cell, while putting a white or purple one means that the player can stop there potentially making other routes possible where they shouldn't, the red one is the only block that allows me to block that cell in all the directions for good. For the player its existence is actually beneficial, as it limits its options, so, less choices to make to get to the solution, also it is quite needed for the ending *wink* *wink*
Hope that I answered your concerns, and would gladly discuss this further, maybe join our Discord so that we can keep in touch?
I love the concept, the music is relaxing in the background, the game is fluid, you quickly understand what to do, good job!!
Thank you so much!!!
It’s a neat puzzle game! Great work!
Thank you so much!
very fun levels and simple smooth controls! very fun
thank you so much!
I absolutely loved this! It's often really hard to do a puzzle game within the time constraint of a jam but you did it! I love how you interpreted the theme of the jam
Thank you so much! I didn't know it was hard, but after making it now me and my sleep schedule definitely knows ahahahaahhah
Many levels, very fun, makes me use a lot of my brain power, and its 5 AM so it is a lot. I really enjoyed it, the sfx was fitting as well as the level design was insanely well done, and precisely thought out.
Thank you so much for the good words! I am really glad you enjoyed it!
This reminds me of some a flash game I used to play, but with more in-depth mechanics. Also much more responsive controls.
Thank you so much! I would love to know the name of that flash game, so that I can be hit with nostalgia, and also maybe know from where my subconscious got the ispiration!
I don’t remember the name unfortunately, and never found it when crawling through flash game archives.
Pretty good game! I would like maybe a different art style but the mechanics are well done! Good work
Thank you for the feedback! Would the artstyle shown in the devlog fit the game better?
Totally hooked, don't have the brainpower for all 45 levels at 1am lol but this is my favourite so far and I'll definitely come back someday. I reallllllly love the grid and movement vfx its unbelievably satisfying in its simplicity
Thank you so much! Being the favourite submission of someone really is a dream come true <3 Consider entering the Discord so that we can keep in touch!
Got to level 9, too late for my brain to solve any more puzzles. I really liked the level designs, they felt good to play through. It was fun to plan out your route beforehand. not sure how you got 45 levels in, that's insanity, did you guys even sleep?
A really solid game, great job!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah level 8 and 9 are the first real challenges. Btw, no, I (game designer) didn't really sleep much, in the last day I pulled an all nighter lol
I liked the puzzles of this game! Good application of the theme. 45 levels was awesome to see!
Most of them are kinda broken though especially in later stages ahahaahh
I loved how simple idea lead to that many levels. And how on earth did you manage to add that many levels?? :D
Amazing work, I was really hooked. The only thing I would have liked is to have no restriction on moves, since I am not the best at puzzles and would have wanted to take a look at later levels. I really loved just smashing buttons until I finally got to the end. But it is just me, I guess there are many puzzle players out here who love the challenge.
Thank you so much! I managed to add so many levels first because I have an amazing team which took care of most of the coding and all the other stuff, while I could focus on level design. Second because I sacrificed a lot of sleep lol, on the last day I made an all-nighter, 40 hours straight into level designing ahahahah hope it was worth it!
(btw you can press O to get 3 stars on levels, you have to press it a lot of times and switch pages to actually see it in action, it was an internal testing tool which we left in for players like you!)
Okay that is pretty cool, will definitely look at other levels!
Amazing! let me know what you think! consider joining the Discord so that we can keep in touch!
This one is one of my favorites, really clever and puts a scaling twist on a known concept that definitely improves it.
Loved the art, music and level designs, it isn't easy to build a puzzle game like that so well, especially with that many levels, really amazing
Thank you so much for all the kind words! Some of the levels are quite broken (some friends of mine are playing it and especially in later stages there are unintended solutions etc...) So definitely I will make some corrections after the Jam ends, consider joining the Discord to keep being updated!
This was mindblowingly clever & creative considering the Theme of this jam.
And the execution was flawless, felt like a complete game, and I encountered no bugs.
So overall, just perfect ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Deserves the spotlight this one.
Well done! 👍
Thank you so much! Wow, I was not prepared to receive all this much praise, I really can't express how grateful I am. Thank you again!
fun game! mechancis are great, well adapted to the theme, but i do wish the visuals were a bit more clear, as for sometimes i find it hard to see. otherwise very well scaled game! the progression is flawless.
Thanks a lot! Yeah the graphics are kinda noisy, which one in particular do you find hard to see? In the first stages we had another art style made by me, you can find it in our Devlog, and I still am not sure we did the right thing in changing it later on
Mostly the menus, pixels typically make things harder to read, ive struggled making games pixelated due to that very issue. still a great game though!
Oh I see, I was thinking about game art, never thought menus were not clear enough, but definitely a great insight! We will consider refining them, thanks a lot for the feedback
What a great first game! Very elegant puzzle designs!
Thank you! Which level did you like the most?
I think quite early on where you become 3 blocks tall vertically, then split into two - I love the way the final move makes you small enough to fit through the exit *and* also fly through the exit in one shot. Felt really smooth!
Oh yeah "Minus" the first one where you encounter the... Minus ahahahah. Yeah I thought a lot on that level, how to showcase all the good stuff there is with the minus, like having a splitted character and also that you can use it to fit inside small places, even while moving, I am glad my thought process was appreciated!