This was really interesting. The idea of tying things like health and ammo together is unique, and made for an interesting experience. The energy was a little over-plentiful in my opinion, but I rather it be plentiful than too scarce, so I'm fine with it. I feel like the game could use some design changes to make the game mechanics more obvious, as there were two points in the game where I felt "jumped" by enemies without any idea what I was supposed to be doing. Overall, I really liked this, its weirdness and all.
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thanks! (also, thanks for the input! <3)
yeah, a lot of stuff could be explained better. for one, reloading, for two, like… you know that one hallway that you have to run away from a bunch of the stabby guys? (that’s probably one of the “jumped” bits)
I did a very small amount of play-testing (one person), and they got stuck there for a bit (they didn’t look left). I thought that the confusion of where to do might have been remedied by adding a window showing off the hallway that you run through, but that hallway was only added in the second-to-last build and by the time anyone played it the jam was over.
well, that’s my rant about a hallway. thanks for playing! (oh also if you felt too jumped by the first guy and see this please tell me about it if it’s not too much trouble? (it’s been mentioned before in another comment but i’ve decided to become an input goblin)
Yeah, you pretty much got the two "jumped" moments: the first stabby dude that just charges at you with no warning and the hallway of terror.
I get the impression that the window at the very start of the game that lets you see all the stabby dudes was meant as an introduction to the enemy, but I didn't see it that way when first playing. I had gotten the impression they were like scientists watching over an experiment. It might help if you made it clearer that they are not friendly, such as by making them act like they're trying to stab you through the glass, it would help that set piece convey the meaning better. As for the first actual enemy, I would make sure the player has access to the weapon before they encounter the enemy. It makes it clearer to the player that what they're encountering is dangerous, as the weapon announces that there are things to attack and things that will attack you.
As for the hallway of terror, My first reaction playing was to run backwards out the way I came. I never noticed a hallway because I hadn't even made it that far into the area before I started to be chased. Fixing this problem is trickier, but cutting off the path back and making the escape hallway more obvious might help.