I'm not a developer, but just because I've given almost no feedback - a agree with almost all harsh stuff written here. But to me those would be the issues in a full blown game, in a jam game its just overblown execution. Like I said the game feels very complex, there are too many weapons, stuff, going on for no real purpose. I think game would be enough with just 3 powers switching on character hit, and this weapon bar, with power ups like recharging this bar. This way You could focus on making better level design for it.
Viewing post in Scrap Boy - GMTK Jam Version jam comments
@Brandon JS Lea and @hatmajster
I agree with a most of the feedback given. It's just a matter of running out of time to keep polishing things. So I'll not adress each bit of criticism. I assume that most of the minor things you mentioned are more like things you think we should improve post-jam, and not things that should have been done during jam, because polishing things to that level is virtually impossible in 48h.
About the core mechanic: most of the concerns branch out from the game being too short. If the player had more time to get used to things, like having 1 new power per level, spread in 5 of 6 levels, it would be a lot easier to get comfortable with each power-up. Again, we just ran out of time for that.
The reason we added the switching mechanic is because it's the theme of the jam. In most (if not all) of the games I played in the jam, the "out of control" aspect of the game made it harder, because once you don't have control over something you can only interact with it indirectly. It's contradictory to the medium itself (video games), since what diferentiates it from say, movies, is the fact you control things on screen. Our approach to the theme then, was to remove control over something (switching powers) and give something in return (powerful abilities with no cost).
Being able to choose the power isn't necessarily better though. Most card games use randomness to put the player in unexpected situations, so you can't have the same strategy every time. In a game like Megaman, once you figure out the best strategy, you are very likely to keep using it every time. While in a game like Kirby, you will sometimes lose your power when you don't expect it and you have to change your strategy on the fly. That's what we're going for here. Now, if Kirby had 6 completely different power-ups (with changes to both movement and attack) in the first level, and not much space to get used to them, you'd run into the same problems we did.
With all that said, switching power when getting hit was something I added close to the deadline to make the switch happen more frequently since the game was fairly short at that point, and the switching mechanic would trigger far too little over the course of the level otherwise. It was supposed to only drain the bar with time and when shooting, until the bar is depleted, and then it switches. We will find a way to make the mechanic more interesting, fair and rewarding.
"So perhaps if this were more of a run n gun like contra where the pressure's always on and the change was more clearly broadcast then it might work better, since in both the focus is on adaptability." Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Not as straightforward as Contra though, but not as complex as it ended up being.