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A jam submission

The Cursed MacguffinView game page

You are NOT the Main Character
Submitted by ZXfrigginC, Don (@donaldawaugh), Chw120, lvrenno, VaJa72, WoodShed_Games (@TQoE_2021), Mike3D — 23 hours, 15 minutes before the deadline
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Play Jam Game

The Cursed Macguffin's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#1122.4122.667
Graphics#1212.5132.778
Originality#1252.6132.889
Accessibility#1351.8092.000
Overall#1491.9962.206
Fun#1491.6081.778
Controls#1501.6081.778
Theme#1531.4071.556

Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Godot Version
4.2.1

Wildcards Used
Wah Wah Waaah, Pay Attention 007, Hardcore

Game Description
Only the Main Character can acquire the Macguffin and end the story. Are you the Main Character?

How does your game tie into the theme?
Water, Oil, Smoke, and Fire are what we used as influence in our Aesthetics

Source(s)
https://github.com/sjgillGit/GWJ-68

Discord Username(s)
zeteraxismilligon, the_queef_of_england, donaldwaugh, istead, vaja72, .vivico, ubiquitous_being, siaane11, nivis_sicoper

Participation Level (GWJ Only)
A wide range of experience is present on this team.

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Comments

Submitted

I couldn't figure out what I'm supposed to do.
the camera system is broken. but there is effort put in the game it's not homogeneous.
with some tweaking here and there i might give this a try in the future to see what it's really about 
Good luck!

Submitted

Feels like this game was a bit too ambitious for the time and/or resources available. The character feels very clunky, and with no instructions on how to control them and no real guidelines as for to what to do, I'm not entirely sure I'm even engaging with the game as was intended. While I did find the Macguffin, it kind of feels like I cheated to get there by jumping across a shortcut instead of going through the intended path, but if those walls with the glowing particle effects are meant to be doors then I couldn't figure out how to open them.

All the same, game jams are for experimentation and this does feel like a game that had ideas, so better luck next time!

Developer

Part of the ambition that I have (personally) is figuring out the proper workflow in a large team. Obviously, I haven't gotten there yet, but I'm getting closer every time!

The space is entirely enclosed, there is no out-of-bounds, so don't worry, you did not cheat the board.

Some controls were added last minute to bridge the gaps in what you could do. We added that stuff to the game page, but that's no substitute for having in-game explanation of some kind.

The ideas that I really wanted also failed to make it into the game. I had hoped we'd get multiple characters in, and a persistence system where the things you do on the level are remembered by the level. Without those things, we have something basic for a game, and there are basic elements that we failed to implement properly as it is.

Submitted

It certainly needs a lot more work, but the idea's there. I was also able to clip through the edges of the hexagonal floors. Was that intentional?

Developer

We did see that, and we decided to leave the holes in the floors in this case.

Submitted

Camera and controls felt janky. I didnt get the Macguffin. I didnt know if you can open doors or somehting else than just navigate around the castle.

Developer

Oh yeah, we got secret doors. Originally, we planned on having a character with a pet mouse. The pet mouse would open the doors for you. Without the character selector though, it became pointless, so we instead put it on a key for the one character that actually made it in.

Submitted(+1)

It seems that, at least in the case of the Macguffin, I am not the main character.   I couldn't get through this in spite of my efforts.  It's not bad all around, but the controls combined with the camera made it something I couldn't commit to finishing.  Nonetheless, great job putting it together in just over a week and finishing the jam!

Developer

We had planned to get character selection in the game, which would leave their mark on the temple so that other characters would have an easier time going through. Instead, we had to cut that entirely and have just one character. This is by far the greatest tragedy we had.

Our control system is a clear pain point, something that we will want to keep in mind as we continue to jam.

Submitted(+1)

Good effort getting something out, I'm sure you put in a lot of effort and learned a lot making it, but no camera control's a deal-breaker for me

Developer(+1)

I can feel the 1-star in the control category, and I don't blame you one bit. We really struggled on the camera work.

Submitted

I'm not sure I should say, but I gave you more than 1 star for controls. Don't be discouraged - It's only a game jam! You learn and you move on. Doing a 3D game in 9 days is very ambitious, and you've clearly put a lot of effort into it and got it out. I hope you don't take the criticism personally - it's there to help you improve.

I'm no expert, but here's some advice I picked up anyway. If I were you, my takeaway would be (other than figuring out how to let the player control the 3D camera - I can't help you there) to focus on getting a character in a room and moving about first, then add the game around it. Mario 64 was just Mario moving around in a room for the first year of development (according to Yahtzee's Dev Diary series). Once you can move around to move around effectively, then start working on the levels. Although it sounds like you have a team, so maybe that changes things, but the user experience should be priority 1 in my opinion. 

Keep it up, and I'll look forward to seeing what you get up to in the future!

Developer(+1)

The team is my thesis, in fact. Ever since the disaster of #64, it has been my mission to master the workflow of a team.

The original idea was to implement a camera system similar to Crash Bandicoot's. In order to do this, I had proposed a rail-switching system be implemented. Unfortunately, what it became had simply failed to work for us. I think if it was one camera and many rails instead of many cameras, we may have been able to have a smoother camera that would allow players to properly enjoy the game.

Grieve not for me, for I have set these challenges upon myself and my team. Next jam, though, depending on their opinions, it will be a very different process we work under.

Submitted

Good little dungeon exploration. Not a fan of the camera but otherwise is fun.

Submitted

I'd really like to go further in the game but it's shaking on my side and I'm having trouble with the camera. 

the game lacks a final polish, but i can clearly see the work that's been done. btw, the music is short but fun!

Developer(+1)

We've struggled a lot with the camera on this production, I must admit. We'll want to take another look at the tool we've built for it to see if we can do better for it.

The polish on the game isn't nearly what I had hoped for, and I'm certain that comes down to the lack of agreement between the assets produced. I told the team not to worry about this from the beginning, in order to try to make things easier. We'll likely be enforcing agreements in the future, though.