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Molehill's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #11 | 4.077 | 4.077 |
| Accessibility | #12 | 3.385 | 3.385 |
| Audio | #15 | 3.538 | 3.538 |
| Overall | #16 | 3.533 | 3.533 |
| Controls | #17 | 3.462 | 3.462 |
| Fun | #21 | 3.385 | 3.385 |
| Originality | #28 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Graphics | #36 | 3.385 | 3.385 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
Godot 3.4.3 Mono
Wildcards Used
N/A
Game Description
A 2D puzzle game. Help the mole find a safe path back to his burrow.
How does your game tie into the theme?
Moles live underground and create little tunnels to their burrow. You have to avoid bugs which also live underground.
Source(s)
N/A
Discord Username
Cadoink (Chris)#9597
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
4
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Comments
Mole Games Unite!!
What an adorable puzzle game! I love the style for all the critters 😊 And the tunes were very nice and peaceful, a great fit.
I'm ashamed to admit... but I could just not get past the second stage. I think I'm just too tired to parse the movements, I never was any good at these kinds of puzzles 😅
I'm so glad you liked the art and music. :) Mole games unite indeed!
Don't worry about getting stuck! It turns out level 2 was the hardest! 😅 Oops!
WOW!! that level 2 was tough! the idea is really interesting, sometimes I felt like I was calculating a chess move ("if I do this they'll do this, and then I'll do this and they'll do this"), It felt really good when I pulled it off lol. By some miracle I got level 9 on my first try, that was probably the only level I completed without deaths! The music was nice and relaxing and the digging sound effect felt oddly satisfying.
Some of the puzzles felt very rewarding when you realized what you had to do, one specifically, which looked like you were being chased by two ants, but actually relied on you stepping towards one of the ants, which would move away on the first turn, had a very clever design. Other levels felt a bit harder and more constrained in their solutions, relying more in trial and error than thinking. But overall it was really interesting and the presentation was great through and through!
Thank you so much for the kind words!! I am glad you were able to play it through to the end. I find it so interesting that so many people struggled with level 2. I thought I was tutorializing, but it was one of the most difficult puzzles!
I am so glad to hear about the ant chase puzzle. I actually created it with the intent that you had to run all the way to the right, and there is actually a way to solve it that way, when I discovered you could just go down, I considered that to be a bit of a cheeky short cut.
I think it's a really great concept for a puzzle game! But like others have commented I struggled with the trial-and-error aspect. I ended up stopping at the level with 2 spiders at the top because I just had no clue how to anticipate their position that far into the mole's motion.
If a ghost of the spiders/ants moved as you tracked your path, I think it would take a lot of the trial-and-error out of it. Then it would become about the actual puzzle of trying to get the mole in/out of sync with the obstacles. :) Just my 2c and I hope you continue to develop.
Congrats on a solid entry!
I think that was definitely the hardest, or perhaps the cruelest level. You really have to have a long path to solve it. As I've mentioned in previous comments, its difficult to gauge the difficulty of puzzles when you know all the solutions. The ghost image idea is really clever. It could work great as an optional toggle for people who are stuck. My only concern is if it would go from being too hard to being too easy.
The spiders movement is just too difficult to read, and when the puzzles get bigger it becomes too much to keep in your head. I've thought about some other things that could help, like keeping the line in between runs and having it be editable, or displaying a counter that shows how many squares you've covered as you move.
Regardless, thank you so much for playing the game and the kind words. And thank you for the excellent suggestion!
Nice puzzle! I, as usual, went through the poke method :)
Spider movement pattern is difficult to perceive imo
Thanks for trying out the game! Totally agree about the spiders. Wanted them to be more difficult than the ants, but still predictable, and I think they ended up being more difficult than I planned.
I finish the game! it was really fun! nice job!
Thank you!
very nice! good little jam game! didn't find any level particularly difficult, although there was definitely a bit of trial and error involved. well made! :)
Thank you! :)
Yay I beat all the levels!! Haha, it was pretty tricky. Loved the music! Great job overall 🤍
Thank you!! Glad you made it to the end! I'm glad you enjoyed the music too. :) It was fun learning a little bit about LMMS and trying to create a song in it.
Awesome game, the theme is easy and gameplay is simple and fun! Some path going in circle might cause little problem but didn't destroy the the game that much! Quite awesome game!
Thank you! When you say going in a circle, do you mean going over an existing path? If so, that was intention because I was wanting to try and limit the options the player had, although I would be curious to see how the puzzles play out if you had the ability to loop back over an existing path.
It is path that doesn't result in hitting enemy and reaching the goal where the player are just standing still instead of saying you are lost. It is great that there are reset button ready but it would be better if there are detection of that state as stated previously as well
Ohhh! Yes, that is an excellent point! That is something I could have easily detected and addressed. Great suggestion.
Great game! The visual style is super strong and consistent. The music fits perfectly. I really like these sort of mechanics that are reminiscent of programming. It's insanely hard, though! I made it up to level 5 - I think I probably spent the most time on level 2. If I find myself in the right mindset with some extra time, I may be back :-)
Thank you so much for the kind words! It is so difficult to gauge the difficulty of a puzzle when you already know the solution. You don't want things to be too trivially easy, or frustratingly hard.
I'm glad you enjoyed the music. It was my first time using LMMS to create a song. Was a lot of fun. :)
Cute little game, would be great on mobile.
Feedback
Thanks for playing! I do think this could work pretty well on mobile, or certainly a tablet. I totally agree about having a way to view the previous path. I think that would have helped a lot. If I had had time, I would have liked to add a way to edit or undo parts of the path rather that just having the reset button.
The spiders were suppose to be more difficult to predict, but still predictable. They ended up being more difficult than I intended. 😅
I can definitely see hte potential in this game and how fun it is. Although the palette is a bit dark, making it a bit hard to see, the sprites are so cute and it is so satisfying when they move in beat with the music. The only thing that I dont like is the fact that it's kinda hard to preemptively know where the enemy will be in the future, making it kida trial-and-error, or you jsut get a sense for it after a few levels.
Thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked the sprites. :) All the bugs should move in a predictable way, but I also found it difficult to keep track. The idea was that as you drew out your path you could count the number of segments as you go and then determine where the bugs would be, but it ends up being a lot to keep track of in your head.
Great puzzle game! i really like, in just level 2 gets more difficult and very funny, Great job!!
Thanks!
I really liked this! Watching the mole weave around through the bugs is really satisfying, and your levels are really well designed.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :) I liked watching the mole move around the bugs too!
Wasn’t expecting to be able to finish it but I got hooked and couldn’t stop :) Very nice job, and you did a great job laying out the puzzles.
The click and drag mechanic worked very smoothly. I love how the movement almost perfectly matches with the beat of the music.
Awesome game!
Thank you for giving the game a try and the kind words! I just kind of got lucky with the movement timing and the beat of the song!
I am glad the click and drag worked well and that you enjoyed the puzzles. Its really hard to know whether you've made the puzzles too easy or too hard when you know how to solve them all!
I like this! The puzzle's were fun, the spider puzzle tripped me up several times lol
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. :) The spiders were kind of difficult to figure it out. I believe the timing should be consistent, but I did want it to feel a little more nebulous than the ants.