Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• This character has a lot in him, first of all, yeah, he doesn't really fit the themes of the jam, however, he still brings a lot of gameplay, and does it well, all the summon shenanigans feel nice to use too Pros: Good mixup The character doesn't particularly lack anything Cons: No proration at ALL on any of the moves Block advantage just felt slapped on, like, a 7f move being +3? The combos feel a bit weak on good DI Basechar airdash is quite strong and does not fit This character wants to be a puppet character with extreme mixup, but ends up having just too many rps options and barely no projectile/puppet neutral, as they're 90% of the time just going to be another rps tool. The gameplay is good though, definitely a nice job here.
• # __Perfect__ ## Theme This is pretty much Perfect's greatest Achille's heel for this jam, and that it's that it doesn't really fit either theme? It is submitted under the theme of "Odd Obsessions," and the description describes them as "a narcissist with an obsession with his clones", but that's... just missing the point of the theme. The theme explicitly states "Serial Killers with odd weaponry," and this is just... not that, at least in not enough of an obvious way to make it read as such. This breaks my heart, because as you're about to see, I fucking adore this character. But as a judge I have to be objective. **SCORE: 0/5** ## Moves & Mechanics Perfect interacts with most of the game's core systems and mechanics beautifully. The only exception -- and quite a notable one -- is damage proration. Perfect has essentially no moves with non-zero proration (at least from what I've been able to spot), and this makes a lot of moves that probably shouldn't be good combo starters just as good as moves that should probably reward starting a combo with it. This doesn't really mean terribly much in the grand scheme of the fun factor, but this is a sticking point for balance that should be addressed once the jam is over, because its the only flaw they have in terms of the core mechanics. Perfect is a slightly stubby character, with short-range normals and only one half-decent disjoint poke in Perfect Blade. I do wish he was *slightly* less stubby, but it's not like its for no reason, because this feeds into the overall balance of the character with the existence of his clone. For free, at any point, he can throw out a short-living clone of himself, which can be commanded to do various actions, from movement to attacks. This makes Perfect a puppet character, and if you know me at all, you know that puppet characters are joint-tied for my favorite character archetype with pure-projectile zoners. And let me just say, Perfect does this **so. fucking well.** The clones last just long enough to be useful without causing an overreliance on zoning, and even a tiny jab is enough to stuff puppet zoning outright due to it chunking the puppet's duration. It is insane for long-distance oki as it is entirely unparriable to my knowledge. You can swap with it, you can move it long distances alongside you using Second Impact. You can extend its lifetime with meter or make it explode prematurely for big damage. Sure, Perfect has no projectile, but in my opinion he **honest to God does not need one, the clone is just __that__ good.** Even outside of his unique mechanic, he has so many answers for neutral and his blockstrings are downright diabolical, in part to his quite intelligent blockstun distribution and varying frame timings across his full kit. Combine all of this with a handful of cinematic moves that look amazing while not being too overbearing on the tempo of a match or replay, and this character is **exhilarating**. Bravo, Swag, you fucking COOKED. **SCORE: 4/5** ## Visuals Perfect's spritework and iconography are very solid. There's very minor problems with hitboxes stretching out the *slightest* bit further out than it looks like they should, but it by no means causes situations that feel like you hit when you shouldn't have. His visual effects are very well made, the spritework follows a pleasant vanilla-adjacent style of relying moreso on snappy keyframes which I enjoy, the aforementioned cinematic moves are scripted well, and overall the production quality just feels remarkably high. **SCORE: 4/5** ## Aesthetic Even though Perfect fumbles the Theme aspect, his Aesthetics are solid as steel. Playing Perfect makes me feel like a mischevious smug bastard, and I can find no real aspects of design that feel incomplete or shallow. In Perfect's simplicity, there is TONS of depth, and it paints a beautiful picture of the character's conceit. **SCORE: 5/5** ## Gameplay If it isn't obvious from me gassing up the everloving shit out of this character, I think I main them now. They are SO novel, I haven't really played a puppet character that plays quite like Perfect does, and I am OBSESSED with how Perfect approaches the concept. It feels incredible to play, but not overbearing to go against, as the clone doesn't have an answer to everything. They have very intelligent design that scales well alongside vanilla. You can bet your bottom dollar I will be pulling my Perfect out in pubs from time to time, given the opportunity. **SCORE: 5/5** # TOTAL SCORE: 18/25
• I have to agree with my peers here. This character doesn't much fit with the theme. Feeling like a certified workshop OC character. (Positive) :trollos: That is essentially the only problem I have with the character. between having normals that have varied function, minor variability, and versatility in general. The specials are downright inovative. Another excellent puppet character, but with an emphasis on setup. At times I have trouble wrapping my head around the mechanics. But I figured them out after like a day and a half of playing. Implement a codex plos. I love how many "trickster" moves there are. Moves that are bad on paper but in the right place in the right time against the right move, sneak in a neutral win. Clone moves like second impact having multiple different positive outcomes depending on how your clones are positioned are really really cool. I never got rebound to work in any situation it felt like it should though even with purposefully bad DI into it. I'm not sure *how* well designed the character is but they are well designed. Aesthetics are mixed. I'm hoping that the effects are colorable and stuff. This is a bit outside of the realm of vanilla. BUT, credit where credit is due, the cinimatic super isn't obnoxious. Brief but cool looking and potent feeling. The feel on this character is on average pretty good. Some animations are kinda funky. Has very standard movement. And could use a button or two. A setup super maybe? I look forward to seeing where this character goes (and I think they would benifit the most from getting time to shine in the upcoming direct) but for the purposes of this jam they do take a hit in the theming department.