itch.io

It was you! :D

Thanks so much for trying out "Power Sauce" & leaving a detailed comment!

Story time

So, funny story, I was sitting in the lobby watching the tomatoes & took a screen shot (this one: https://twitter.com/RancidBacon/status/1465843029776891905) and then left the (physical) room & when I came back all the tomatoes were just gone! :D I'd missed the first person to play my game, hilarious! :)

And, then, when I was trying to take a screenshot of the empty arena cos it was such a funny sight to come back to, someone (you, again!) appeared, and I was halfway through trying to screenshot (was using a weird keyboard controller on a different machine) and also, kinda wasn't quick enough to think to start moving so you'd know I was live! :)

So, it's really great to see your comment here & know that the first player is no longer a mystery! :) Sorry I wasn't around to interact more.

Thanks again for trying the game out & the feedback, I appreciate you taking the time.

Comments

Here's some comments on the topics you raised:

> Nice looking tomatoes.

Thanks! Pretty good for two Godot mesh instances, a sphere & a cylinder, I thought. :)

> Movement is confusing, as you turn around instantly it took me a while to understand what was happening

Yeah, fair comment, I did have plans to animate the movement so it was more obvious what was happening...but it's still on the "to do" list. (At least I listed the controls this time! :) )

> I was able to go off the board

Yep, that one's a known issue, or the most boring episode of "Boundary Break" ever. :D It too is on the list but when I was attempting to prioritize things I figured (perhaps oddly) that it was probably better to focus more on getting to some "playability" first.

> Also in one play the character turned to look at the camera, so I was moving with the controls backwards.

Hmm, not sure about that one... It's possible two players were overlapping on the same tile? (Which is a thing. :D )

> I think making an online-only multiplayer game for a Jam was not the best decision

Oh, you're right, it's a *terrible* decision currently :D but... I really want to change that. :) The underlying Godot plugin that integrates with Epic Online Services for the multiplayer functionality is something I've developed & I'd really like to get it to a point where people can do Jam level multiplayer games.

But... it's not there yet. (As the string of "almost multiplayer" jam entries listed on https://rancidbacon.itch.io can attest! :) )

However "Power Sauce" is actually the first one I've managed to get to a state where someone could actually join & "play"--and you did! :D

I was so close to actually having the full cycle of at least "pick up tomato & another one appears, race everybody to get it" but I didn't quite make it cos I had to prioritize some boring "real world" stuff instead.

And while my theoretical goal for this jam was to achieve 64 people in one arena, this is the first time I've had anyone I didn't know try out one of my multiplayer Jam entries (as far as I can remember) so even having 1 more player was great! :)

(Seriously, it was a highlight of my day. :) )

So, yes, by any reasonable standard multiplayer jam games are not the best decision & I appreciate you caring enough to provide that advice as feedback. But rest assured I did start down the path to this fool's errand with my eyes open & am in fact very happy with this as an outcome. :)

> I closed and reopened the game, hoping to start a new game, but it put me in the same lobby, with no tomatoes, and even with my same score. Not sure if intended or not, but just so you know.

Thanks for describing in detail what happened, appreciate you taking the time to do so. And, yeah, that's known behaviour. It's a consequence of me "doing the simplest thing that worked" as a first step--so it always just joins the first non-full lobby & oddly enough there's not very many full ones. :)

It kept your score because even though you don't actually create an account, there is a token automatically created when you first login, so it can tell it's you again when you log back in. (What's kinda interesting is that Epic actually provides a way to let people start with an automatic account & then turn it into a full account, keeping progress, but I've not done that.)

> Congrats on daring to choose to make a multiplayer game and delivering, and I bet you learned a lot.

Thanks, I really appreciate that acknowledgement! :)

Funnily enough the biggest step forward for me with this jam has probably been that I managed to get something in 3D that actually looked okay in terms of lighting & aesthetic.

But also I got almost the required MVP functionality which has helped clarify a bit an architecture that will hopefully make next time easier & quicker--after all there's still more Jams to come this year! :D

Wrapping up with thanks

Once again, thanks so much for playing & writing such a great comment about your experience (& reading this far :) ) and your encouragement. It is very appreciated.

Hope your jam went well & you have fun playing whatever is next on your list.

(Oh, which suddenly makes me wonder, was there any reason in particular why you decided to try out "Power Sauce" when you did?)

Jam on! :)