Character controller has no modular height in the jumps. No grace jump either. The character is very tall, so he is very prone to hitting platforms above him. The game has a high focus on precision jumps, while having few to no tools to help in this area. Further, the coin management system causes undue anxiety on the platforming and the precision. If you have to make precision jumps, you have to frequently make small adjustments to move to the optimal position. This is impossible in this game, because all adjusting movement costs money. I think it would be a much better solution to spend money over time somehow. Say, every covered meter. That way you get an objective measurement and you allow people to do the precision platforming that your level design and physics demand.
In my case, collecting the bags of money was always pointless. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I end up losing more money going to the bag than simply ignoring it.
The Replay button needs the mouse, when nothing else in the game does. Why can I not press the R key instead?
I didn't see how the game meets the theme.
Graphically, it's somewhat consistent, I guess? Though books, skulls, pencils... How do these fit together, logically? Why does a man who needs to pay bills have to avoid stationary? Context makes no sense.
In conclusion, I stopped playing fairly quickly. Wasn't enjoying myself in the process. I think the level I gave up on is the level after the one with the rotating pencils.
Viewing post in The Expensive Tale of Mr. Henry Crabs jam comments
Thank you for such an in-depth insightful review of the game.. Really appreciate it..
In most cases the character height does pose a problem of hitting the platform above him but we saw this as an additional difficulty.
The whole point of the levels and the random enemy types is to keep character spending money by moving and also because the the game light hearted as it does get a bit serious in the end. But the idea that you suggested about charging every meter covered is also pretty good.. we'll surely consider that.
The money bags were granting you 50 additional coins but the coins animation and the increment was not in sync. the coins were incremented the moment you touched the money bag.
The reference to the theme has been mentioned at the end of the game. We have mentioned it in the description too. I won't be spoiling the lie here in the comments but the lie of the game is explained pretty clearly. We thought that theme is pretty short and which is why players would reach till the end pretty quickly. Our focus was never the game play or the graphics. We wanted to incorporate the theme of the jam in the game well and explain it to the player at the end in a way that the player would actually be in a shock.
Also, we wanted the player to stick to the arrow keys specifically which was the reason we put a physical button for replaying the level.
Anyway, I would sincerely like to thank you again for taking so much time and giving your honest opinions an suggestions about the game.It was our first jam and getting reviews and guidance like this really helps us understand where we stand and how much more we have to go. It motivates us and helps boost our confidence. We really appreciate that and will surely consider all your suggestions in our next jam. We hope that we have cleared out some of the doubts you might have had about the game in this post .
Thank you for playing our game :)