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The Underpaid Elf's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Christmas Vibe | #95 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Special Object Implementation | #97 | 2.800 | 2.800 |
| Gameplay | #105 | 2.400 | 2.400 |
| Graphics | #109 | 2.700 | 2.700 |
| Overall | #112 | 2.517 | 2.517 |
| Fun | #124 | 2.200 | 2.200 |
| Audio | #144 | 2.000 | 2.000 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you implement the Theme and Special Object?
You play as an underpaid elf creating toys for Santa. The main workstation is a magic anvil that turns toys and sweets into presents.
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Comments
really fun game and nice art I loved that you can have perks and move workbench closer so you can work fast great game
There is some video of the gameplay?
It would be good to add more to the tutorial or even just the game description. I couldn't understand how to play. Might just be me hahaha.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I acknowledge that the tutorial wasn't very helpful in learning how to play the game, and it seems many people were getting stuck. I've uploaded a new version that includes improvements to the tutorial and addresses some major bugs. I would greatly appreciate it if you could give my game another try and see if it's more comprehensive now!
I think this game has a lot of potential! I couldn't get past the tutorial though lol. I kept making trash and didn't fully understand. I also wish you could place objects on the floor so I can make space on the tables.
Thamks for your comment! Regarding placing objects on the floor, this functionality was present in the first drafts but was removed because it made the game less about space management and more of a waiting simulator. However, I acknowledge that the tutorial was not very helpful, as many people were getting stuck there. I've fixed that, along with many other bugs, so now the game functions properly. I would be very glad if you could give it another go and share your new experience! :D
Oh great! I would love to play again. I enjoyed the character and the mechanics of the player. I’ll play shortly :)
nice and really great project. One of the best in jam. I liked and enjoyed, really.
Nice game! Would make sense if there were more items to make though
Thanks! There are actually eight different gifts you can make in this game. However, due to one bug, it was impossible to get past the first doll stage. Fortunately, I fixed it, and now it works as intended! I would be very thankful if you could give it another go and share your opinion on the new system. ;D
It feels like your are a Santa assistant and have to make gifts really quickly!
Would be grateful if you also rated our game)
First of all, it's great to say that you made the game playable!
I definitely see potential here, as the graphics are quite unique and the gameplay shows promise, but the execution just isn't quite there yet. In addition to not feeling all that polished, the mailing box didn't work at all for me, making progress impossible. Additionally, the main gameplay loop feels a bit clunky, despite the game clearly being heavily reliant on this loop.
That being said, this game clearly shows ambition (I mean, it even has a tutorial section), but it does need some work as of now. I'd be curious to see where you can take this game in the future, so keep up the work!
Thank you for writing such a detailed comment; it was probably one of the most helpful ones when it came to fixing my wrongdoings! 😅
The main issue with the gameplay loop was the bug that prevented the player from progressing past the first doll stage, making it very repetitive and tedious. I had some struggles fixing it, but now I am proud to say that the game functions fully as I intended. So, I would be very glad if you could give my project another go and share your opinion! :D
Third time does indeed seem to be the charm, and everything seemed to work this time! I'd gladly help you improve your game even further, so I'll be giving some more thoughts for points of improvement below.
The game has a lot of charm, mostly helped through the hand drawn art. Even though idea of combining objects into presents isn't per se unique to this game, I'd say this game has the most unique approach to it. The little crafting minigames are a great addition, along with some other little things like upgrades between rounds, multiple types of dispensers and starred orders, which all help to make the game feel very complete.
That being said, I guess I would still consider this 'a game with a lot of potential' rather than a finished product. Some of my main thoughts were:
- The spacing between orders coming in seems a bit off. At times, the queue is so cluttered that it is literally impossible to finish every order, while there were a handful of moments where I found myself idly waiting for something to happen. The former is the largest issue for me, as it kept me from progressing past stage 2 (where the toy houses are introduced), I'm pretty sure there was just no way for me to finish all orders on time and not suffer gigantic losses.
- It took me quite some time to realize that the anvil is for wrapping instead of crafting (I guess my heuristics got the best of me). Not only did this make the game somewhat more difficult at first, it also initially kept me from completing any toy houses, as the doll would already be sealed away into a present by the time my brick was done. I guess this could be explained a bit more clearly in the tutorial section.
- Speaking of crafting: I found it a bit bothersome that the toy houses can only be crafted by adding a brick to a doll, in that specific order. If you change this order and try to add a brick to a heart (something which seems quite a logical possibility to me), it turns into trash instead.
- As with any long-running minigame, the gameplay runs at risk of becoming the stale. The lack of music doesn't really help in this regard (although I saw that you were still planning on adding that later).
- It would be nice for there to be an option to quit the crafting minigames once you've started.
That's quite the list of complaints, but don't take it as something negative! The fact that my thoughts are so specific means that I found the main game to be fun and satisfying enough to want to see it further improved :)
I hope all of this will be helpful to you!
I'm really sorry but it repulsed me almost immediately, and then the DINGGGGG noise in my ears.
couldn't play it
Hello there! Thank you for bringing this oversight to my attention. The sound was truly unbearable, and I hadn't noticed it because my volume was turned down during development. :0 Oops! Thanks to you, it is now fixed and replaced with what I hope is a far more pleasant sound. Not only that, but I also fixed quite a few other bugs, including the one where the player's progression was stuck on only making dolls throughout the entire game. Now that everything is fixed, I would be very glad if you could try playing the game again and share your experience! ☺️
Gameplay got pretty repetitive after several minutes, but I think that was the point of the game, which was to show how mundane an elf's job can get when they do the same thing over and over again. Poor elf needs a vacation after creating dolls and gift wrapping them all by themselves while being paid pennies.
Hi! Thank you for your review, unfortunately it wasn't the intent behind the game and repetitiveness was a bug in the logic of my code. But good news is that it is fixed now, as well as some other bugs and quality-of-life features. So I would be very glad if you could give this project another go and maybe share your opinion now that it's working properly! :]
Maybe it's just me, but this game doesn't seem to work? As soon as the game boots up, my mouse disappears, making it impossible to click any in-game buttons. Not a single keyboard button activated anything either.
Which is a shame, because, the thumbnail and title sound rather promising.
That's a rather interesting issue. I've compiled and uploaded a downloadable executable. Give it a try to see if the problem persists. Unfortunately, I have no clue what might be causing this problem.
Never mind, I fixed it. It turns out I accidentally assigned the program icon to the cursor field, which was causing the issue. Now it should work with no problems. Thanks for bringing it to my attention early! :)