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Tiny Shapes's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Authenticity (use of resolution restriction) | #46 | 4.700 | 4.700 |
| Audio | #55 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Overall | #68 | 3.950 | 3.950 |
| Gameplay | #84 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Visuals | #114 | 3.700 | 3.700 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you work in a team?
It's 3 minutes until time up I don't have time for questions!
Oh, good, you can edit these later. I can breathe.
This was another solo project. Very fun project to work on. Very stress in the last few hours. Turns out there's a bug with Godot + Chrome and audio bugging out. So if you are a Chrome user, you might have some audio issues.
The download version does not have these issues, nor do other browsers as far as I'm aware.
Was the resolution a challenge?
Much challenge. I started out the jam with a vastly different game in mind than the one I ended up with. Primarily because of the resolution. I set out to make the tiniest Factorio type game, with resources and tech trees and whatnot. Ended up with shapez.io instead. Both are great games and a large inspiration for the project.
What did you learn?
So much! The scene layouts behind the scenes are laid out in a much more manageable way than the previous way my projects were organized. Plus TextureAtlas is a great tool.
I still haven't learned to test for export issues before the day of the deadline though.
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Comments
I had a fun time with this game, and I feel like it could be really great with a bit more work. First, I think mouse controls would help a lot so I can click where I want to place something. Second, I think a better tutorial is definitely needed. I am certain that the time constraints are the only reason there isn't one, so that is okay. Overall, I think this is a really cool game that has a surprising amount of depth for being a jam game, nicely done!
This is insanely well developed and polished. As others stated, the game really needed a more complete tutorial / manual. I believe it's possible that the majority of people who played Tiny Shapes decided not to rate it because they did not understand the gameplay or gave up and moved on to something else after spending time figuring things out it and just didn't bother to play enough to form an opinion. The gameplay might be intuitive for players familiar to the genre, but it was not my case. It took about 30 minutes for me to understand the basics and, even after I got the hang of it, I wasn't able to evaluate the design aspect of the game without playing a bunch more. This is a shame, because I believe Tiny Shapes is a gem and otherwise would be a strong contender to be ranked at the top. The pixel art, music, sound effects and interface are flawless, and the gameplay seemed very smooth, even though I'd like more time with the game to be sure. I hope you keep working on the game post-jam or release it more widely somehow, because only 8 ratings (at the time of this review) is not nearly close to the attention it deserves.
Wow. Thank you so much!
I think you're spot on, looking at the game's views/plays/ratings. It really goes to show how important accessibility is in game design. If it feels like a brick wall upon entry, most people will just bail. Especially in a game jam setting where it's not that uncommon for unfinished/broken games to be released.
The project might continue. I have a few things I'd like to finish for the project to feel complete. Will probably take a while to be implemented as I'm starting another project that will take up a lot of my time.
I wanted to dive deeper into this game, but I felt pretty overwhelmed. I wasn't sure where to start or what most of the buttons do. I did click on the H for help, but the explanation wasn't enough to get me started making some basic shapes.
It looks really interesting. It just kind of lost me
Sorry it's not entirely clear what some things do! I admit that the help menu wasn't fully completed. Here's a quick breakdown if you decide to give it another go.
There are three types of things you can build in the game.
1. Gatherers (Open square with big corners.) These will pull shapes that are on the ground and make copies.
2. Machines (Filled square with 4 dots.) These will take in shapes and do something to them. Cutting them in half, joining two shapes together, coloring them, etc. You start out with none unlocked and unlock one each level until all are unlocked. Each new machine in the early levels will make the requested shape either possible to make, or much easier to make. The help menu shows what each of the machines do to an input.
3. Conveyors (Look like an orange W in build menu.) These connect everything together. Gatherers to machines, machines to other machines, etc.
That was fun the low rez art style works perfect for this kind of game.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
I'm such a sucker for a good factory game 🤩
As a shapez.io fan this was right up my street...great!
Really fun game took some time to understand but when I did I got really into it. Graphics were great and the audio was perfect. My only complaint is that the controls felt a little clunky mostly when doing the conveyor belts. Maybe when placing down a belt it could guess the direction it should go? I think there's a lot of solutions there.
I agree with you there. The Better Belt Placement System had to be scrapped for time. But now that the project is published, I wonder now if something else should've been shelved instead.
Thanks for playing and your feedback!
I love this. Made it to level 8 before I had to call it quits for the night -- but I've muted the tab and will come back. (I could just download it. I'm gonna just download it.) It's so satisfying to switch out a machine or plop the last bit of conveyor down and just sit and watch your changed shape proliferate through the shape factory which, if you're anything like me, is an absolute disaster of snakes and spaghetti sprawled everywhere. Just means there's more going on to watch. The ramp up in complexity seems reasonable so far, and though I haven't yet had an opportunity to use the [!] duplicator, I can't wait for the chance.
The fact that the shapes moving is often exactly in step with the beat of the music is just... *chef's kiss*.
All in all, I'm incredibly impressed with what you've done with the limited screen space. Everything is clear, the Help menu is a huge... help... and the gameplay depth is just right. A+, well done.
I maintain that the music syncing with the shape movement is a happy coincidence.
Thanks for playing!
I quite did not get what to do until I took a look at gifs; but, then it became very satisfying!
It was fun to move stuff from one place to other by creating paths and optimizing them. Such a great design to utilize resolution restriction with, loved it! The visuals are on point and the audio is great.
Great work!
Yeah, I had a whole tutorial thing in the works that would pop up relevant info in the first few levels, but I had to scrap it due to time. The menu is there at least, but you have to seek it out. I'm glad you figured out how it worked though!