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nucron2 years ago (3 edits)

Hey, this is a really fun concept! It matches the theme well and I like the art style -- the facial expressions on the guy while he's trying to meditate are hilarious! Also, props to you for taking the time to make an intro cut-scene, haha.

The controls felt really tight and responsive, and, with the "bouncing" mechanic, it was actually surprisingly deep. I couldn't figure out exactly what I needed to do to keep the game going, though. The bubbles didn't come in any specific pattern, so eventually they just overwhelmed (that's a good metaphor for our thoughts, too, haha).

I thought the little icons for the different vices were quite funny, but I also couldn't understand the mapping between what popping the different bubbles was doing to the meter, so my main strategy was to just pop as many as I could. You mentioned in the description that "different thoughts have different effects," but it might help to show some animation or visual indication of what those effects are, so the player knows what is helping and what isn't. I would recommend showing the score during gameplay, too. A lot of times when I got a "Game Over" screen, I'd still be pressing buttons and the game would restart before I could read the score. Maybe you could make it so the player has to click or press a different button to restart.

Anyway, nice game with a fun art style and groovy music! Keep it up!

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pecheny2 years ago(+1)

Whoa, greatest thanks for such detailed response! I didn't hope someone find the deepness but try to put it in anyway.

The internals of mechanic is pretty simple. Each bubble put value in shared "pressure" level. Depending on pressure level the distraction (shown at the top of screen) changes. So if you keep number of bubbles low, distraction decreases and raises if the pressure is high. Low level of distraction (indicated as calm face expression) shows enlightenment. The time spent in enlightenment increases final score. High level of distraction (when the indicator is shaking) turns on the gameover countdown.

Different effects of bubbles is just different value of  pressure for now. Toilet bubble has  highest pressure value. I had planning to add funny outcome like the puddle should appear after disbanding the toilet several times. But as usual the time run out earlier.

Thanks again, you motivated me to keep improving the game. I guess i should just disable controls on gameover screen for several seconds, what do you think?

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nucron2 years ago

Hey, thank you for taking the time to explain this mechanic to me! I totally understand that you ran out of time and couldn't get all the features you planned for -- but this is great for a jam game!

I think if you did want to keep improving it, then it might help to show (with animation, colors, etc.) which bubbles have a bigger effect. Maybe you could even introduce some "combos," like having a bigger effect if the player hits more than one bubble from the same throw, or some bubbles could act as multipliers. There could also be "power ups," like making the ball bigger or having some "explosions" -- I guess you would have to figure out how that fits into the theme of meditation, though! 😆

To answer your question, yes, I think even disabling the controls for just a few seconds on "Game Over" (maybe there could be an onscreen timer) would help prevent someone from accidentally restarting the game before seeing the final score.

Anyway, like I said, I like the art style and you came up with a lot of funny ideas which you executed well for the time you had!

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