Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• I enjoy the level design here, I think the puzzles are relatively fun, some thinking outside of the box when it comes to rolling through vents, etc, and spitting at stuff could be fun. However, the aestetics here are not great. I understand that there's an absurdism angle here that makes it funny for a few seconds, but the design choices made for shock-value reduce that clarity of the game - it doesn't help, it distracts - which is a cardinal sin in game design and UX in general. The grotesque head-situation isn't helped by the highly odd "backstory" on the presentation page. What kids get haircuts in school? When a player asks "What is happening and why should I care", there's something that's gone wrong in the design. The second I got into the "red" room, the music drastically changed and I started to take damage, a new concept that didn't exist in the levels before. A player must be able to understand the basic concepts that exist in the game design from very early on. "Do I see a health bar?" If yes, then I probably have a concept of "Health". If I don't see a health bar, AND if I can fall out of ceiling vents, literally faceplanting on the floor, without taking damage, then I probably can't take damage. In this game, the assumptions I made in the early levels disappeared once I got into the red room. A game needs to be consistent in what ways the player can be punished by the environment, and I think that was lacking here. I like that you experiment and I like that you try different angles, but there's no consistency here, and it becomes problematic. I'm putting 1 for Storytelling, because the story isn't told at all. Art Direction gets a 2, because even if it isn't great, it is at least mostly consistent The controls were tricky (jumping up on the stack of stools in the first room was hard at first) but they are at least consistent, which means that I could learn and improve to finally make it out of the room
• I had no idea what to do in this game, so proceeded to do it.
• Interesting game about post haircut slaphobia. I enjoy the surreal art style, I just wish the game was a bit more forgiving. Right now it demands a bit too much from me in terms of skills. Fun game tho!
• Really interesting idea here. I can see this viral on steam / twitch. It's oozing a bit of goat simulator. I would like to see it even more quirky and trippy and maybe some weird physic mechanic on the head that will emphasize this weird wtf feeling. If this gets polished and maybe something to present the story better it really got potential. Good job!
• What a wonderfully weird game. The gameplay is simple but well executed and complimented by a similarly simple but well executed art style.
• Very interesting concept, and weird too - but that's okay! The game play is quite frustrating - it took me a while to understand what I'm supposed to do, and then when I tried to do it, it became more and more frustrating to play (and less fun).
• This game slapped! I loved the tutorial stuff being plastered exactly everywhere, yet it was perfectly designed as it wasn't in fact obtrusive at all. The "story"/setting was hilarious, the art direction great and for some reason I even liked the stealth section even though I usually don't like stuff like that. Great job! Awesome art during the credits, too!
• For all its physics sandbox zanyness, there is a thematic consistency to the Slappening that shines and really helps give it an identity.