Alright! I'm writing up as much feedback as I can, so here are my notes:
- As we discovered in the playtest, the scanner that the zookeeper has is far too useful, to the point of overshadowing the other game mechanics (after all, why use the other game mechanics when you've got the position of the alien(s) right in the palm of your hand). I think there's a version of the scanner that works quite well, but I'm not sure what it is
- I wish that the zookeeper could see what animals that the aliens have to abduct, I think it could add some interesting strategy of "hmm, I know that the alien needs to abduct a lion, and I've got this awfully suspicious-looking penguin in the lion pen". I don't know how that would work thematically (how would a humble zookeeper know the ambitions of an alien), but I think it might work mechanically pretty well
- It really feels like the zookeeper should be punished if they accidentally tranq one of their own animals, at the moment there isn't any incentive for the zookeeper to not just machine-gun tranquilizer darts at every suspicious thing they see, which feels weird both narratively and mechanically (narratively, this zookeeper loves their animals so why are they fine with tranquilizing them, and mechanically, it lowers the tension if the zookeeper faces no consequences for an incorrect tranq)
- I think the visuals are pretty good (as I'll speak on later) and perfectly fine for a jam game, but I think they could be a bit better if you decide you want to continue work on the game, mostly in terms of the environment (like if ya peek too far over the fence, you can spot the edge of the world)
- I noticed (in solo playtesting) that on time-out, the aliens win, which is potentially dangerous balancing-wise (as if the aliens never abduct any animals, then all they have to do is manage to blend in for 5 minutes, which seems fairly-easy without the scanner, but also it sounds like no fun at all, so it'd be good to make sure that that isn't a valid strategy)
- Burrowing doesn't work great as an escape strategy when you're one of the larger animals like the elephant, it's pretty easy to spot an elephant suddenly materialize into existence after the alien burrows. I dunno what there is to be done about that, but I figured I'd put it out there (maybe auto-transform the alien into a meerkat when using the burrows? who knows)
- I think that abducting might take too long as an alien- if the zookeeper is on your trail, then you can't really risk the (what feels like) 5 seconds to abduct an animal. I feel like it could potentially be balanced where abducting takes less time, but has a longer cooldown
- I wish that there was a crosshair for the zookeeper, as it is the tranq is reeeally hard to aim (sometimes it even feels like the dart is being shot somewhat downwards from where I'm aiming, which feels weird), and it feels a little strange when the zookeeper has found the alien, but the mechanism with which the zookeeper tells the game "hey! I found the alien!" malfunctions
In terms of positives:
- This game is just plain fun. There's a reason why there are so many hide-and-seek games that let you shapeshift and blend into the environment, and I like the twist (which I haven't seen before) of the hiding player having to do things that drop their disguise.
- I think all of the animals, aliens, and zookeepers are all very cute, and having all the animals just bob back and forth to walk is both cute and efficient (in terms of time spent developing)
- There's a wonderful tension when you're an alien and you've got the zookeeper hot on your trail, and you're trying to transform or burrow to try and shake 'em off of you for long enough to snag another animal
- There's also a lot of tension as the zookeeper, watching the alien gradually tick off their checklist as you go around watching the sky to try and get an indication of where the alien is
- In particular, I really like the balancing decision of having the alien see from a third-person perspective while having the zookeeper see from first-person, it means that the alien always has the upper hand in terms of seeing the zookeeper coming, which serves to escalate the tension as you can watch the zookeeper narrow in on your position
- I don't know what kinda dark magic you pulled to manage to get online play working (and working pretty flawlessly) in a game jam, but dang that's pretty impressive all on its own
- Put simply, the game left me wanting to play more, and that's one of the best things a game can do