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(1 edit)

I really didn't enjoy the game when I first played it but I took a day to gather my thoughts and separate personal preferences from constructive critique and gave it another play. Still didn't like it, but that's besides the point, I hope my perspective is at least something useful because the game does clearly show some strong proficiencies from you, the developer.

So first off, I don't think the mechanic you chose is a particularly load bearing one. QTEs have their place in game design but it doesn't particularly feel like it gels with the multi-use focus of the jam; the visuals in the background are practically ancillary to what the player does or does not do, the player doesn't use the mechanic in multiple ways, Jerry does. So it does fit the criteria to the letter, but it doesn't lend itself to impact on the gameplay that the player can appreciate.

I don't tend to like pure reaction tests anyways, but I recognize it's a perfectly valid mode of play. But I did find myself frustrated with instances where I'd click the button in the window of time where it was up, Jerry's animation was initiated, but he'd still die. And I don't mean the cases where you are supposed to NOT press the button (which, due credit, that is a clever enough spin on the very unconducive to spinning QTE mechanic). I mean he'd jump over a gap and bump his head on the lip on the way down, or a helicopter would rush and he he wouldn't clear it in time. I don't know if this 'true' reaction time frame is an intentional design decision or an emergent quirk, but either way it led me to quit the first time I played and still heavily detracted from my second due to dissonant player feedback.

The audio is fantastic, the ending track made it worthwhile reaching the end on my second play. I wish I could give more on this topic but its my own personal weak area so, I'm just out of my depth giving thoughtful feedback for it.

The visuals however I found to be a bit too overly busy to the game's detriment. They generally provide solid feedback and stylization, it's still quite good, but there are some considerations to note.

The color palette is nice but it blends together a bit too much for the particularities of the game, a complimentary scheme could've lent itself to better contrast.  In particular I found the clarity of the action button to be too variable based on whether it popped up on the lower half or upper half of the screen.

Jerry's animations are quite stiff, the flowing headband helps a lot to convey his movement so kudos to that,l but his form does little favors. A stickman-esque figure is perfectly fine, don't get me wrong on that regard, but it could still benefit from deliberately applying some animation principles.

All in all, I look forward to seeing more of your work even if this particular entry goes against my grain. You should be quite proud of it none-the-less!

EDIT: Also as a note, you REALLY should've made the credits accessible from the title screen instead of only at the end game, as per 8 Bits to Infinity rules. That kind of technicality can get one disqualified so you should probably at least contact Retro Indie Josh or something to make sure everything's copacetic, but you gotta keep an eye out for that kind of thing in the future.

Thank you for your feedback! The events when you had to click the action button at the perfect time were very intentional, so you need to wait a bit on a certain jump. I also wanted to mention that I made sure the credits are in the game, and ALSO in the itch page. The rules state that there can be credits on the page. Thanks again for the comment and have a nice one! :D