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Ruby Red's itch.io pageJudge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Playability - I did not encounter any bugs, however since the UI is 100% of player's interaction, I recommend making the UX as smooth as possible. Currently, it's insanely tedious to open/close the textbox, inventory, crafting menu, recipe book, etc. Crafted items aren't automatically picked up, items left on the crafting bench stay there when the menu closes, I have to deliver items by opening a textbox, the give button is way too close to the item itself if I want to switch out the item, etc. Too many problems to list. Theme Implementation - An ambitious reach, but I'm willing to accept this interpretation of the theme however. Cleverness - Despite the frustration the UI/UX gives me, something about crafting to fulfill orders makes me not hate playing. Recettear and Potionomics are some of my favorite games; I think you could try leaning into the feeling of having a ton of things on your desk, kind of like Papers Please. Have the POV be in your shop and try to deal with incoming material orders, paying couriers/merchants, crafting, checking recipes, delivering, etc. - When I gave the person asking for an iron sword just a wooden sword, they actually came back and said it broke! Perhaps you covered both bases with that dialogue, but my first impression was that the game was responsive to what I was giving villagers, which is great. Artistic Style - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FCJWPYqV0TI Be sure to keep pixels approximately the same size on screen when making a pixel art game. I'm a fan! Congratulations finishing your first game, and in 2 weeks! Please take note of my UI/UX concerns if you choose to take this game further. Try playing mouse-interaction heavy games and paying close attention to how the UI/UX is handled to make the experience smoother. Also, consider what it would take to make your menus support controller. If you have no idea how, it was probably not designed well! Thank you for participating!
Link to your Game Design Doc on Google Drive.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sc4veYrAHT8nxWmLMPFaAiav58aVf4VXy4d707p-Ij0/edit?usp=sharing
Have you checked that your GDD is publicly accessible ?
Yes
Is your game set to public on itch.io so we can see it?
Yes
Summarise your game!
A game about crafting items in order to fulfill certain NPC needs. Includes crafting, item pickup, shops and more.
Please explain how your game fits the theme:
("Ruby" refers to the player)
more details can be found in the GDD.
Ruby chooses to help the village by crafting armour/weapons for the villagers instead of fighting the monsters directly herself. There are two possible interpretations of the theme in this story:
A “weapon” is a tool that can create great effects, however such effects are dependent on the wielder. Without the abilities of the wielder, a weapon is useless on its own. On the other hand, the wielder has a heavy dependence on the weapon of their choice. Without a weapon, a combatant cannot do much by themselves. Thus, a weapon and its wielder form a symbiotic relationship. This is analogous to Ruby and her village. She cannot do anything by herself as she does not want to reveal her identity, however, the village cannot do much without her help. In other words, the player (Ruby) is the weapon that the villagers yield.
Ruby quite literally crafts weapons for the villagers to wield during their fighting.
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Comments
I love the whole concept of crafting games like this, hence my comparison to Potion Craft on the game page. It feels like it has potential to go further! I did seem to get softlocked when a villager demanded a golden sword and I had no iron and no way to get any but I guess c'est la vie.