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A jam submission

The PerishableView game page

Turn-based strategy driven by narrative.
Submitted by DylanDavis (@dylancaledavis), Thuleanx (@neuthalz) — 14 minutes, 42 seconds before the deadline
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The Perishable's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Most Compelling Narrative#24.0825.000
Most Compelling Character#23.6744.500
Most Innovative Narrative#32.4493.000
Best Use of Ludic Elements (Game Mechanics) To Deliver Story#33.2664.000
Best Use of the (optional) Theme#33.2664.000

Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

You have a pretty dark setting, which is very well done into the game. The graphics are "simple" but they fit the game just right. Even the soundtrack is perfect with the game. However, I think your gameplay sticks more than your story. I'm not a tactical games player, but I was so focused on trying to make the best moves that the story was passing me by a bit. Maybe if in some moves, or when grabbing the pieces, the characters would stop and talk, instead of just having the text on the right, it would make the story stick out more.
The characters abilites are interesting, even though I did not get to use all of them, but they work well together.
I think you have a good foundation for something bigger.
As I said before, if you can make the story have more focus, then in my opinion you can create a good narrative game :)

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the feedback. I agree with a lot of the points you made here. We also thought of having the characters having their own dialogue but didn't have enough time to implement it in. I'm glad you see potential in the concept at least. 

Submitted(+1)

Ooh-hoo-hoo, now that is what I like to call interesting! The idea of a narrative driven eldritch horror turn based tactics game like this with randomized elements is fantastic. Those passages display some truly out there horror that's described well enough to make it unsettling while also being so strange that just imagining it is hard. I like that. 

While I like what the game is going for, I think its gameplay could be refined further. I didn't always feel like I was under as much pressure or danger as the writing implied, and death can actually be avoided entirely with relative ease if you don't get impatient or reckless; admittedly, being patient and careful can actually be difficult at times when you wanna see more of what the game's generated, so that's also a factor. 

I think it could benefit from making the meteor chunks you collect a bigger part of the experience, both reinforcing their significance as a narrative object and making you want to hop on those reserves more eagerly. Maybe use them as resources for abilities like the hammer fella's space switching or the healing ability. As it stands, you can use those special abilities pretty freely without much consequence. 

This has so much potential and room to grow. I really like what's on the table here.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for the feedback Toaster. The gameplay's still in its infancy (the idea of collecting meteorites was thought of like 3 days before the Jam ends). Suffice to say we were still figuring out the direction we want to take the game. I really appreciate the ideas you put here tho. A lot of them we've thought of but at least now we can gauge which ones are more important.

Submitted

You're welcome! I'm glad that the ideas are appreciated. 

Submitted(+1)

Man, what a vibe! Yet another game dripping with atmosphere. I loved co-ordinating the different characters, and I loved the prose - there were some incredibly bizarre passages in there. 

I did feel a slight disconnect between the prose and the narrative communicated through the gameplay, and I would often forget to read the passages to the right because I was so immersed in the tactical side of things. Maybe that issue could be avoided if it alternated between prose and gameplay instead?

Developer(+1)

Great feedback! Right now I'm thinking if we more clearly distinguish some things, like where the player is on the map, what biome they are in, etc. We could help resolve some of the problems. Also, I'm thinking a "confirm" button for text might help people read it. Because even when I played, I kept finding myself just moving through the game and forgetting to glance over at the text box.