Looks like we shared some inspiration for this jam! Very interesting to see how our games have a few core concepts in common, yet ended up being very different; as such, I would be interested in seeing your thoughts on my game as well!
The gameplay loop is a bit tricky to get into, especially as it starts off relatively fast with little room for error when it comes to lives, but once you get the hang of it, it's much more doable and quite fun. The rat invasion is a fun addition to the game as well, both thematically and gameplay-wise.
Some suggestions/ideas I had while playing the game:
- The tutorial is far too wordy right now. Optimally, this would all be explained in-game; although I do understand that this probably was hard to do within the time limit.
- Apart from the rats, the gameplay stays pretty stagnant the whole way through. It would have been nice to see for instance more of a buildup in speed and/or complexity as you progress in the game.
- While I liked the rats, the features does seem pretty removed from the rest of the gameplay. It would have been nice if the two were somehow related (outside of both penalizing health if done wrong).
Hopefully this feedback is helpful is some form or another!
Viewing post in Flowing Goods [MelonJam#5 Edition] jam comments
Sorry for the late response, I wanted to make sure to test your game before answering.
Yes I am actually surprised of how similar our games are in terms of ideas! I am definitely gonna write a comment under your game as soon as possible.
Reguarding the gameplay loop, I agree it is a bit too fast at the start, in fact in the most updated build (you can find it on my account) I made it slower in the early part of the game and made it a little bit easier in the late game too, I am currently working on a build not published yet in which I am trying to release a more balanced gameplay and a playable tutorial aswell! I am glad you enjoyed the rats mechanic it actually was a last minute suggestion made by a friend that was watching me working on the game hahah.
I am thinking about adding the crates and the trucks slowly, I thought about starting the game with just 2 trucks and slowly adding up to 4 trucks in total, but I am still working on the gameplay design.
I agree that the rats mechanic is a little bit out of place in the gameplay flow, so I am trying to think about how to rework them to make them fit more.
Thank you very much I appreciate the deep analysis, have a good day <3