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Puddle vs. Pollution's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Use of the Limitation | #84 | 3.533 | 3.533 |
| Overall | #105 | 3.433 | 3.433 |
| Concept | #110 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Presentation | #111 | 3.467 | 3.467 |
| Enjoyment | #154 | 3.133 | 3.133 |
Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team members
Tyrant
Software used
Unity, FL Studio, Paint.net
Use of the limitation
The player is trying to stop their pond from being polluted, but end up polluting it themselves giving them permanent downgrades.
Cookies eaten
3
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Comments
An interesting game. 8/10
Thank you for playing! Any feedback as to how to get it to a 10/10?
My rating system is based on the number of stars I gave divided by two. I gave 16 stars in my rating. (4 in each category). It would be difficult to make a 10/10 game, as it would have to perfectly satisfy all criteria.
My rating on the stars is thus:
1 star, complete failure in this particular regard. (I haven't given any 1 stars yet)
2 star, mostly failed in this department but there are some positives.
3 star, in the middle, where I have no preference one way or the other.
4 star, very satisfactory, but just missing that tiny push that would make it reach 5 stars
5 star, absolutely perfect in this area.
I do not know what would raise the score for me. you should just make what you feel (as long as it's in the guidelines) and you will eventually find a way.
Here is some criticism: The enemy health is a bit too high, most of the game is pretty good so I'm not sure what to say as there aren't any glaring issues so most of what I dislike is just my opinion (ie: using the mouse, it being a shooter, etc.)
I’ll look into making the enemies a little weaker, and maybe the big one a little slower. There is always balancing needed to be done on these kinds of games so I respect that. Thank you for elaborating.
Great job on the game! The gameplay is enjoyable, presentation is simple but effective, and you use the limitation in a creative way. I feel like there needs to be some indicator for when your health starts to get low - I found myself mainly dying because I wasn't keeping track of my health, rather than being shot by enemies or letting them reach the pool.
Nice work, especially for a one-person team!
Thank you for the feedback! Post-jam I will definitely add some sort of indicator when you're damaged, in addition to one when you're low on health since I do find that to be an annoyance as well.
I really like this interpretation of the limitation! It can be a bit hard to tell quite how far along the progress bar is, but this is otherwise super enjoyable
Thanks for the kind words! I do agree that sometimes it’s a little further than you think.
Nice concept delivered, I love how you made particle wiggle. Btw it is a bit of learning curve trying to learn the game. Great work!
Thanks for playing! Do mean to say that there is a steep learning curve? I find that to be the case with most players, but they usually end up figuring it out. Hope you managed to enjoy it!
the bar was going down while no enemies hit the water so just inevitably died
Read the "instructions" section in the game's description. It should give a more detailed explanation that the bar naturally goes down, along with performing other actions like shooting. In order to avoid dying and regain some of your stats you have to “cleanse” yourself in the centre.
so sorry about that i thought I read enough instructions im stoopit lol
No problem, just wanted to make sure you fully understood the game before playing it and rating it.
Hey, I played your game on the stream
ends too quickly)
Please give my game a try if you have some time!
Thanks for playing! I’ll give your game a try when I’ve got some time :)
I watched your stream, and I know you don't speak English so this would've been hard to figure out, but you can heal yourself at the centre of the map using the spacebar to trade for a permanent debuff. That was the entire mechanic of the game that you missed. I've updated the game's description to include more detailed instructions on how to play.
ok
thanks
You're welcome. Did you manage to figure out how to heal?
yes)
Art style and music were awesome! The look of the game was definitely very unique! I like the idea too! Very solid game!
Thanks! Since I'm not artist I tried to keep the art as simple as possible, just basic circles and squares!
The debuffs are an interesting take on an upgrade system. It fits the limitation really well too. And I liked that you rolled two choices so it feels like you have a bit more control.
I'll note though that it seems as if you can infinitely restore yourself at the pond; i.e. do you even need to kill the enemies? Though I suppose that's better than the futility of having a hard cap on how many shots you can fire.
I was a bit confused as to the goal and the different elements; I originally thought that I was protecting the pool, and that I had separate "health" in the bar, but it looks like those are the same? And why does shooting at pollution make the pollution go up? I do like the idea of pollution just continuously rising even as you do nothing; it reflects the sort of futility of the real world pollution problem as well.
(Also, a quick UX thing: I don't know if it's just me, but I kept getting caught out with the pollution going too high without me knowing -- some kind of more obvious signal when you're getting low might be helpful?)
I'll also add that I really like the soundtrack and simple graphics -- it gives an almost zen feel to an otherwise high-stakes situation. A very interesting mix.
Anyway, I liked this! Nicely done!
Thank you for the honest feedback! Some greater indicator of damage would've nice, I do agree, but I sort of ran out of time to implement that over all of the other bits of polish. Sort of regretting that now but what's done is done! I might come back and add a little bit more instruction to clarify certain bits of confusion you had once the jam is over, thank you for bringing that to my attention.
And a quick side note: you *can* just stay at the pond and heal infinitely, but you'll be too weak to kill any enemies if you do that. Remember, the game is about getting a good score, and that means using the pond as little as you can in order to keep your stats! You'll also eventually die since there will be so many enemies you won't be able to press heal quick enough.
Your design, animation and timing choices are all on point. It's pretty rare to see all these tough parts melting so perfectly together - you did exceptionally well with that. I also like the way you write your games description - wish I could write like that. All thumbs up, man!
Woah. Thank you so much for the kind words, they are greatly appreciated :)
Super clean UI, love the colour choices. Very addicting trying to see how long I can go before I have to go back and get debuffed. So interesting to have that instead of the usual upgrades you get in games like these.
Enemies exploding is incredibly satisfying too!
Thanks so much! I spent tons of time reworking to make sure everything was satisfying just in case! I might've neglected some other areas (like my health during this jam) but it all worked out in the end.
This was an interesting concept and super fun! Sounds were nice and the game really sucked me in. It is super addicting as well. I wanted to keep playing! Great submission
Thank you so much! I tried to go for a score-based game this time since I thought that would be easier. Turns out nope! Just more polishing and different systems to add which I wasn't really used to. Really happy it turned out this good.