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Scrimshaw's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Playability | #258 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Artistic Style | #401 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Theme | #653 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Cleverness | #755 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 1 rating. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- I found the art very nice and unique. The sound effects are good. The background music fit the game really well. I liked the different tools we use for solving the puzzles. As well as how the shadow essence acts within the puzzle and causes a bit of annoyance. Awesome job on the game, and I hope to see you make something next Jam as well!
Did you include your Game Design Document as a Google Drive link?
Yes
Seriously... did you include your Game Design Document?
Yes
Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
Yes
Tell us about your game!
Scrimshaw is a puzzle game with a horror aesthetic that puts you in the role of a crazed researcher using strange alchemical practices to seek an eldritch truth.
The gameplay is based around using various tools to manipulate a grid of differently colored tiles, in order to make it match the objective's grid. It's built to give the player a lot of agency to adapt their strategy on the fly and rewards thoughtful play.
As the game goes on, you get more tools, work on increasingly strange subjects, and have to face the shadows head on.
Extra Notes
Thanks so much for hosting this game jam! It was a lot of fun and a great excuse to make something great with my friends.
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Comments
Very well polished for a game jam entry. The art and music are beautiful and atmospheric, and the gameplay is intuitive. Congrats!
Art style is well done, audio is also good, would have appreciated visual cues for which mouse button rotates which direction, I'd also probably hold off a few levels before introducing the eye, its randomness is frustrating when you're trying just trying to get a hold of the other dynamics, unless you only wanted this to appeal only to an audience that wants to play brutal puzzle games. With that said, the game my group made has some similar problems though its a deckbuilder, good effort for 2 weeks
A very complete experience.
Overall, a fully polished game in just two weeks?? Incredible.
This is a really cool game but I think I'm too dumb for it haha.
First of all the art and vibes of the game in general are off the charts good. Everything is super detailed from the tools, to the symbols to the UI there's not a fault to be found.
The audio is well done and atmospheric and leaves a really creepy vibe.
The tutorial and setting/description is awesome and easy to understand and really sets the tone of there being some weird supernatural activity going on in the basement.
Unfortunately for me the gameplay kinda had me stumped. It felt like too much was thrown at me right away and it all kinda just did the same thing but only slightly different? I realise that the goal is to match the symbols in the quickest way possible but it doesn't make sense to me why I shouldn't just use the match to change it all to what I want. Presumably because it burns more of the candle?
Like I said I think I'm just too dumb for this game, I made it a few rounds in before the candle burned out and I failed. I'm sure others who will vibe with it more will enjoy it much more than me.
It's a fantastic looking game and I'm sure with the right audience and puzzle enjoyers they will really enjoy it but it's not for me.
Wow, art style is a total vibe, the game is really hard but still fun to challenge !
I have the candle timer concept in my game too, and I think it's really well done ! GG, keep it up ! Little note : I don't know if it's me but the music and sfx are a bit popping.
Great game! It was a unique puzzle game that wasn’t just a matching game, but instead, it actually combines multiple different game mechanics and has new challenges that make things very interesting for the player.
Super cool puzzle game. Like a previous comment, it felt like solving a Rubik's cube, which is a cool take.
A nice puzzle game with an interesting and well made art to support it.
It feels like solving a Rubik cube, with extra tools to change the faces xD
Love the variety of tools to solve the puzzles, really allows for some creative thinking.
A nice game, with the alchemy part of the theme well executed into the gameplay.
Good job :D
Fresh perspective to puzzle games.
Really loved the atmosphere, music.
Seemed a bit hard to learn at first.
Thanks for creating a really enjoyable game !!!
Really nice looking and feeling game, I like puzzle games that immerse the player with story driven purpose. Weirdly I get kind of Bloodbourne setting vibes from your art and I've got a lot of time for that!
Controls feel great and function intuitively. My only feedback is that the puzzle mechanics feel a little scatter-shot and un related, it may be worth thinking about an organic method for combining each with the next.
Overall this was a really fun game and refreshing to find a puzzler in this jam, awesome work!
The game feels well-balanced, I felt compelled to optimize my moves to save as much time as possible. I enjoyed spending time thinking a few moves ahead. After getting more used to the gameplay I would have liked to know exactly how many turns I would have left, but I understand the tradeoffs that come with information overload. Another ability I would have liked would be to simply pass the turn so the creature would move on its own. I really like the complexity the creature adds to the puzzle, though I wish I had a better understanding of how it decides to turn. The 5th round of the 4th day is a cool twist, my jaw dropped when I made my first move lol. That's where I gave up though.
I found the controls hard to learn at first, and I would often rotate something the opposite way from what I intended. An undo button, a more explicit "toolbox"-style UI, or more indications in the UI might have helped with this.
I enjoyed the music. It was at once chill but also moody and dark and it complemented the cerebral gameplay. The writing was lovely and evocative.
I think I found a bug, by the way. I completed a puzzle by rotating the creature around using the alembic, but it didn't trigger the victory condition.
Great work! I'd love to see further exploration of the core gameplay!
Thanks for the thoughtful review! I find myself agreeing with a lot of your points. I'm excited to see where we can take this in the future as well!