Thanks for the game! I liked the story and the clue combining, but I got stuck partway through and wasn't sure how to fill in any parts on the character tab, so I wasn't able to finish. Was I supposed to be able to drag clues there or was something supposed to fill in if I found the right clues?
There were also a bunch of clues and I wish it cleaned up the clues that weren't needed (like the tutorial clues), and it was hard to find clues that I remembered from before if I wanted to combine them.
Thank you so much for playing the game! And I appreciate your feedback so, so much too!
Totally hear you, I am in the middle of cleaning up UI so it is easier to deal with the clues! The idea is to combine clues together until you uncover the Motive, Ability, and Excuse the perpetrator had when committed their crime
The clue-combining mechanic is a great idea and I felt very clever when I worked something out. I agree that the vast number of clues made this unwieldy, though, and I too only got one motive figured out before I had to stop playing. (My suggestion: Remove clues, or mark them inactive, when they've been successfully combined and there's nothing more to do with them.) But I did appreciate that there are too many clues to just brute force them--you do genuinely have to use reasoning instead of just guessing!
The amount of dialogue felt way excessive to me, especially the opening. I spent a lot of time waiting to click the continue button. I also wasn't going for the art--in particular, the character portraits, which didn't seem to match the character descriptions or how they appeared on the map.
Still though, great core mechanic. I'd just like to see the game trimmed and focused so we can really sink our teeth into that clue-matching.
Very interesting method of deduction and I like the premise of needing all 3 of possibly multiple people until you can figure out who it really was, although the list of clues very quickly became overwhelming and it could probably use a way of tidying or sorting. Perhaps having folders or a permanent board you can move stuff around and leave them where you decided, might help.
I had an idea of what I wanted to say but nothing put together worked and then I quickly forgot what I already tried. The center board would quickly get messy and I'd end up closing to re-open. It might make things easier, but maybe greying out combinations that have been tried once you put 1 option in the deduction box, could help desperate players. And that could even be a difficulty setting if you think it's making the game too easy.
In about 1h I found one motive and unfortunately had to stop playing & couldn't save but I guess it's one of the downsides of gamejams as I'm sure you were unable to fit in a save system in such a short time.
All in all, however I definitely think you should continue working on this as it's promising. :D
Feedback for the dialogue/UI :
Maybe a different font or different colour for internal thoughts might help differenciate what is spoken outwardly or not. In Phoenix Wright, slightly greyed out text represent inner thoughts
As we know we're Ashley Rose, I'm not sure I'd use a dual portrait menu if we're always on the left. Maybe just have dialogue on one side vs another side would be enough to understand when it's you VS the other person, or maybe you can mix colours or fonts.
I like being able to skip through text appearing because I'm a fast reader and sometimes had to wait to be able to reply with "..." :D
I think it's frustrating to repeat dialogue with someone once all topics are exhausted. I'd just disable the interaction button until new topics came up.
Comments
Thanks for the game! I liked the story and the clue combining, but I got stuck partway through and wasn't sure how to fill in any parts on the character tab, so I wasn't able to finish. Was I supposed to be able to drag clues there or was something supposed to fill in if I found the right clues?
There were also a bunch of clues and I wish it cleaned up the clues that weren't needed (like the tutorial clues), and it was hard to find clues that I remembered from before if I wanted to combine them.
Thank you so much for playing the game! And I appreciate your feedback so, so much too!
Totally hear you, I am in the middle of cleaning up UI so it is easier to deal with the clues! The idea is to combine clues together until you uncover the Motive, Ability, and Excuse the perpetrator had when committed their crime
The clue-combining mechanic is a great idea and I felt very clever when I worked something out. I agree that the vast number of clues made this unwieldy, though, and I too only got one motive figured out before I had to stop playing. (My suggestion: Remove clues, or mark them inactive, when they've been successfully combined and there's nothing more to do with them.) But I did appreciate that there are too many clues to just brute force them--you do genuinely have to use reasoning instead of just guessing!
The amount of dialogue felt way excessive to me, especially the opening. I spent a lot of time waiting to click the continue button. I also wasn't going for the art--in particular, the character portraits, which didn't seem to match the character descriptions or how they appeared on the map.
Still though, great core mechanic. I'd just like to see the game trimmed and focused so we can really sink our teeth into that clue-matching.
This is super helpful! Thank you so much! 🙏
Very interesting method of deduction and I like the premise of needing all 3 of possibly multiple people until you can figure out who it really was, although the list of clues very quickly became overwhelming and it could probably use a way of tidying or sorting.
Perhaps having folders or a permanent board you can move stuff around and leave them where you decided, might help.
I had an idea of what I wanted to say but nothing put together worked and then I quickly forgot what I already tried. The center board would quickly get messy and I'd end up closing to re-open. It might make things easier, but maybe greying out combinations that have been tried once you put 1 option in the deduction box, could help desperate players. And that could even be a difficulty setting if you think it's making the game too easy.
In about 1h I found one motive and unfortunately had to stop playing & couldn't save but I guess it's one of the downsides of gamejams as I'm sure you were unable to fit in a save system in such a short time.
All in all, however I definitely think you should continue working on this as it's promising. :D
Feedback for the dialogue/UI :
Thank you so much for playing and thoughtful feedback! 🙏