Somehow the game always fills better and fuller with cooler "Look".
But that works until the point where player stucked with the point, where is not much to do actually -> because Mechanics are not implemented.
So the balance is that what makes the cool game working.
But I personally concatrate at Look at first, so I and team could be more motivated and creative by developing Mechanic later.
We have tried to achieve the balance too, but you know how it works in the Jam XD
Would be gratefull for some feeback of our game too: https://itch.io/jam/scream-jam-2021/rate/1243386
Viewing post in Game mechanics VS. Looks - What do you think?
Yea I agree with you, it really provides a game with a soul. Nonetheless there are great examples of games which's main focus is gameplay, e.g. Among Us, it's quite a game you could (at least the early version) develop in a game jam, but maybe this is just a popular exception who knows :D
But I definitely gained a lot of new experience in this jam regarding this topic! Also thanks for sharing yours! :)