I really loved the art and the game in general is great... it took me a while to understand the bridge mechanic, but that probably just because I´m stupid ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I had a blast with this game, I love the art style.
I won’t deny it but I wish there was some kind of tutorial or text explaining the objective, because I had no idea I had to build a bridge so I just kept feeding the penguin non stop hahaha.
Great choice of music and sound effects and amazing difficulty, I still can’t beat the third level…
Oh god! OK, I'll be extremely bias when we come to talk about your game, you know why?! because...I loved it! My guy, I had fun! but like truly fun! The fast pace made it really challenging at first, not impossible but just about hard enough (which is a positive!). The only 2 things I can point out that you could've improve with it were indicators.
To explain how the experience was, I'll say I clicked download and opened the game, I didn't read anything (which I know, sorry but it's what people do right? haha) which made me when I started the game a bit confused, I saw the planks to build the bridge as nothing more than what the batteries and potion were, things to be avoided rather than to be build with. firstly I just though "Oh okay, this is fun I just gotta survive for a long time and get a score right?" but once I lost after I while I was like "right?!" which took me to..you know..check the page to figure out what to do? ;V which yes the picture you put right bellow the main screenshot made me instantly understand how to build the bridge but once I was in the game it was quite "unclear" so maybe indicate to the player the use of the planks with an indicator of some sort?
Quick add-on just to be picky was the way the level select worked, why not just open the level when selected? I mean, I felt a bit weird when I selected the level and nothing appeared to have happened. It took me a second to figure out of course but it was certainly a confused second ;V.
Overall, there is no way I can say it was a bad game, it was fun and challenging! Nice one man! I know I seemed a bit mean, but honestly I was just trying to pick the red on the sea to figure something to help you out hehe.
That wasnt mean at all - the opposite really! Thanks for your comments they're much appreciated! It is a game I threw together rather quickly and the things you pointed out definitely could/should have been improved. Dont feel bad for pointing out things that could be improved, we're all here to get better!
The art style is great. I can tell you really like the art! The game was short and sweet, which considering you pivoted in the last 2 days was a good idea. I found that the voiceovers when picking the objects to be a great way to add audio feedback for the player. Good job!
If I were to add to this
I would add the visual feedback I mentioned down below. Hopping penguins, particle effects, animations would add to the reward the player feels for feeding the penguins. I would see if I could increase the skill curve and add a couple more levels.
I think the idea of building a bridge to allow penguins to cross is a great idea. Building the bridge provides progression and allows the player to impact the game.
One thing this game could be improved by is visual feedback for picking items, placing planks, and feeding penguins. Something like penguin reactions to being fed batteries, some particle effects on the bridge being built, or some animation on clicking the items up top would help with that.
Challenge
Challenge is one of those things that's different for every person, so it's pretty hard to get right. I think you did a good job with the starting challenge. It took me losing once or twice before I realized everything I had to do. A tutorial would help with that. Unfortunately, the skill ceiling wasn't much higher than the floor and once mastered, I didn't have an issue getting through the levels.
In terms of fairness, I think the game didn't have any sucker-punches that I wasn't expecting. That's always important that the player doesn't feel cheated.
Fantasy
I think fantasy is one of the most important aspects of a game. A great fantasy can hide a crap game, while a great game with no fantasy has a much harder time standing out.
For yours, I feel the fantasy is great! I love the idea of helping cute penguins trying to cross the water. The art style was consistent with the fantasy and the music and audio helped it come together as a light-hearted game.
I completely agree with your comment! Honestly, I just wanted to submit something with some penguins in it, so I'm satisfied with what it is, but player feedback is definitely something that should have been implemented, even when restricted to 2 days.
A camera shake here and there, the penguins actually moving across the bridges, and them reacting to the different foods more would all have been minimal work but would have made the player experience nicer.
For some reason the speeds at which items fly past (and some other variables) get changed significantly when packaging, so it was a pain trying to play with the difficulty curve (especially since I only had 3 levels).
Thanks for the detailed comment, it's much appreciated and definitely confirms my own thoughts about the project as well!
It took me a minute to figure out that you had to place the planks but excluding that... I definitely found it fun to glob fish and shrimp at a penguin family while stuff is flying around.
Comments
I really loved the art and the game in general is great... it took me a while to understand the bridge mechanic, but that probably just because I´m stupid ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I had a blast with this game, I love the art style.
I won’t deny it but I wish there was some kind of tutorial or text explaining the objective, because I had no idea I had to build a bridge so I just kept feeding the penguin non stop hahaha.
Great choice of music and sound effects and amazing difficulty, I still can’t beat the third level…
Great job and keep it up!
Oh god! OK, I'll be extremely bias when we come to talk about your game, you know why?! because...I loved it! My guy, I had fun! but like truly fun! The fast pace made it really challenging at first, not impossible but just about hard enough (which is a positive!). The only 2 things I can point out that you could've improve with it were indicators.
To explain how the experience was, I'll say I clicked download and opened the game, I didn't read anything (which I know, sorry but it's what people do right? haha) which made me when I started the game a bit confused, I saw the planks to build the bridge as nothing more than what the batteries and potion were, things to be avoided rather than to be build with. firstly I just though "Oh okay, this is fun I just gotta survive for a long time and get a score right?" but once I lost after I while I was like "right?!" which took me to..you know..check the page to figure out what to do? ;V which yes the picture you put right bellow the main screenshot made me instantly understand how to build the bridge but once I was in the game it was quite "unclear" so maybe indicate to the player the use of the planks with an indicator of some sort?
Quick add-on just to be picky was the way the level select worked, why not just open the level when selected? I mean, I felt a bit weird when I selected the level and nothing appeared to have happened. It took me a second to figure out of course but it was certainly a confused second ;V.
Overall, there is no way I can say it was a bad game, it was fun and challenging! Nice one man! I know I seemed a bit mean, but honestly I was just trying to pick the red on the sea to figure something to help you out hehe.
That wasnt mean at all - the opposite really! Thanks for your comments they're much appreciated! It is a game I threw together rather quickly and the things you pointed out definitely could/should have been improved. Dont feel bad for pointing out things that could be improved, we're all here to get better!
The art style is great. I can tell you really like the art! The game was short and sweet, which considering you pivoted in the last 2 days was a good idea. I found that the voiceovers when picking the objects to be a great way to add audio feedback for the player. Good job!
If I were to add to this
I would add the visual feedback I mentioned down below. Hopping penguins, particle effects, animations would add to the reward the player feels for feeding the penguins. I would see if I could increase the skill curve and add a couple more levels.
Game Design
I'm going to be using Jonas Tyroller's framework for fun for these reviews, so you can watch his video for more context around it.
Impact
I think the idea of building a bridge to allow penguins to cross is a great idea. Building the bridge provides progression and allows the player to impact the game.
One thing this game could be improved by is visual feedback for picking items, placing planks, and feeding penguins. Something like penguin reactions to being fed batteries, some particle effects on the bridge being built, or some animation on clicking the items up top would help with that.
Challenge
Challenge is one of those things that's different for every person, so it's pretty hard to get right. I think you did a good job with the starting challenge. It took me losing once or twice before I realized everything I had to do. A tutorial would help with that. Unfortunately, the skill ceiling wasn't much higher than the floor and once mastered, I didn't have an issue getting through the levels.
In terms of fairness, I think the game didn't have any sucker-punches that I wasn't expecting. That's always important that the player doesn't feel cheated.
Fantasy
I think fantasy is one of the most important aspects of a game. A great fantasy can hide a crap game, while a great game with no fantasy has a much harder time standing out.
For yours, I feel the fantasy is great! I love the idea of helping cute penguins trying to cross the water. The art style was consistent with the fantasy and the music and audio helped it come together as a light-hearted game.
I completely agree with your comment! Honestly, I just wanted to submit something with some penguins in it, so I'm satisfied with what it is, but player feedback is definitely something that should have been implemented, even when restricted to 2 days.
A camera shake here and there, the penguins actually moving across the bridges, and them reacting to the different foods more would all have been minimal work but would have made the player experience nicer.
For some reason the speeds at which items fly past (and some other variables) get changed significantly when packaging, so it was a pain trying to play with the difficulty curve (especially since I only had 3 levels).
Thanks for the detailed comment, it's much appreciated and definitely confirms my own thoughts about the project as well!
Artstyle was clear and nice to look at and the game ran without glitches but maybe mention to the player that you use the planks to build the bridge.
I really enjoyed this, art style is great, I like the balance between feeding and the bridge mechanic and I found out penguins don't eat batteries!
It took me a minute to figure out that you had to place the planks but excluding that... I definitely found it fun to glob fish and shrimp at a penguin family while stuff is flying around.