Wall of text incoming. TLDR: great use of theme, unique among the jam, has potential - but the design needed some real decision making to make it live up to its potential.
- Use of Theme - 5
- The game is based around recovery of a rustbelt town. 5/5 matches theme in unique way.
- Creativity - 5
- Very creative use of theme in this jam. Nothing else like it in the jam.
- Very creative use of theme in this jam. Nothing else like it in the jam.
- Gameplay - 3
- Minor Feedback:
- I agree with ShadowGrif "I wish that when you clicked an hashtag it would highlight all the buildings as it would make missions easier". Otherwise, finding the appropriate mission property can be a tad tedious.
- There was a bug as missions didn't seem to trigger (e.g. build 3 office buildings).
- Major Feedback:
- Don't get me wrong, I can see the effort you put in and and SIM games have enormous potential, but as a lover of SIM games there is a single core problem in this game that stops me rating it above a 3. This is not meant to sound harsh - I loved the idea and I love SIM games so I just have more thoughts on the gameplay than I might have on other games in the Jam.
- There is no central conflict, tension, or dynamism in this game that forces decision making or player reactions. Let me explain:
- You have unlimited time once you have positive cash flow (which is almost immediately)
- There are no ways to lose progress or have negative consequences (e.g. conflicts, disasters, unhappy citizens, low resources, traffic jams, power/water)
- Therefore, there there are no "tough" choices. You can always end turn to bring in more money by ending your turn and your cashflow always improves with time. Therefore, in the early game I spend a lot of time clicking Next Turn to get money and in the late game spend a lot of time clicking Next Turn to wait for things to build
- In addition, there is no reason to waste money on utilities as they don't mitigate bad outcomes. For example, why have a fire station if there are no fires. Why make more power plants if there are no power requirements. Why make more parks if people don't respond.
- The real crux of any SIM game is decision making and to have that you need to have competing priorities, and positive and negative feedback loops.
- Minor Feedback:
- Art - 4
- Not a fan myself of low-poly but it makes sense for a jam and game of this type. +1 for the amount of assets you needed compared to other games.
- Sound - 1
- No sound or effects at all