Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Simple idea well executed. Visuals are basic but work really nicely, with smart use of assets and a, uh, 'distinctive' squirrel character. Ability to select hats is obviously a huge bonus, and those kinds of cosmetics could easily be a reward, both ingame and for any potential monetisation strategy. Menus work well and music isn't too annoying, different music for menus and gameplay is a nice touch. Controller support is good as well, and the controls are simple. It's hard to tell which squirrel is which - a coloured border, different coloured fur or enforcing unique hats could solve this. The controls are quite floaty and light, takes quite some time to turn the squirrel around, especially when they have gained momentum - tighter controls (quicker acceleration, deceleration and turning) would help make this feel more controlled. Giving the dash more oomph would help as well - eg VFX, audio and more reliable impact. The gameplay itself is very chaotic - it is hard to tell where the level boundary is and when the nut resets it's mostly down to luck who manages to grab it. The core idea is strong though and these could be fixed with more development time - having the nut visible in the distance, for example, before reaching the play-plane, could give players a chance to pre-emptively fight over who grabs it. Very impressive for a jam game, really well done.
• OK I admit to being a little baffled while playing - the constantly appearing and disappearing squirrels makes for quite a stop-start experience. Not super easy to see which squirrel is yours - maybe a coloured vapour trail would help? Music definitely had some notes in it, maybe some sound fx would've helped with tracking progression of the game. Great design/modelling of the squirrels in particular, and cute animations. Environment also had good models, nice use of colour. I think the gameplay needs a rethink, especially the nut-passing and bumping mechanics. Worst thing is the out-of-bounds respot. Maybe the descent should be drawn out a little bit more to last about the same length as a 'race' in a game like Mario Kart, with things rather more under control. Hitting a branch should slow you instead and ideally don't ever respot the player unless they make a huuuge mistake, just have them fall behind. Boost could be a clear 'drop' like a skydiver with no steering allowed, so you can catch up. Overall a lot of potential here, and a reasonable connection with the theme - if we could see the leap take place, that would have helped :)
• This is quite a fun idea actually. The 'race to the bottom' freefalling mechanic is something which isn't overly done in games and if you can keep working on it then there could really be something good here. That said, the UI doesn't give much away and the character's do need a little more animation before this is at the pitching stage.
• I really liked this game visually, some of the models and textures have been done well with such a small amount of time. There a few issues with textures but nothing major or anything that detracts from the game itself. I had some fun initially with the game as the boost was more of a tactical tool rather than press it whenever you wanted. It took me a few tries until I beat the AI. I think this was because I found it difficult to follow my own character at times, I still found myself losing track of where I actually was. Although you have both the number on the character and the unique hats which was a nice touch. The unique character models were fun and interesting, the use of different hats as a distinguishing feature was fun but I mainly used this more to see where I was at the end of the game. The audio was implemented well and fit with the style of game you created.
• Nice presentation throughout, cool characters and who doesn't like customisable hats! I could see this as being one of many mini games in a multiplayer party game, but the gameplay as it stands needs quite a lot of refinement. My character seems to keep popping to a different part of the screen for no apparent reasons - I presume this is a bug. The gliding controls feel a little stiff, and the dash needs to have a bit more kick to it. I found that I often mixed up which character was mine - the hats are too small to work as an identifier - really you need four different characters with distinct silhouettes.