itch.io

Hehe, to be honest I was a little sad that your submission for the 3 day jam was discounted as I liked that one a bit more, but I hope you enjoyed making it! I watched the whole video at the end, was quite interesting also 🦀

🦀🖊🦀

Thank you for making a game, I had fun! For 4 days, it's really impressive, so well done! Looking forwards to next time then.

Please do! I'm excited to see where it goes 🦀

I think that'd be a fun way to do it, yeah! Especially bits like grabbing the laundry with a hook or even just turning on the tap (maybe? might be a bit rubbish) would make you feel more bound IMO. Absolutely huge fan of your artwork by the way!

...and on a side note, I found the last CG and now feel very dumb to have missed it earlier 😅

Yes, I mentioned that in my review already - does it hint at the chair CG?

Any time! Yes, always hard in a time crunch and per player. I think if I was going to work on a game, it'd likely be isometric so they wouldn't quite fit, but thank you for the offer; and well done again on getting something done in time, especially working on your own!

It's an excellent idea and it works really well, so I hope you're proud of it! For a first Unity game especially, it can always be annoying to find these little bugs near the end of the time crunch, but the actual gameplay and ideas are very well done, and the artwork is stellar. Well done on finishing, and I hope to see more from you in the future then 🦀

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary:
A Papers, Please clone, where you have to assess if each agent is a spy or not by validating their documents. If they aren't you must restrain them correctly before moving on.

My Experience:
Let me start with 2 admissions here: 1) I'm not a fan of Papers, Please at all, and didn't enjoy playing it, and 2) I found the instructions below the game nearly overwhelming at first. I'm writing that down because when I say that this is my absolute favourite game of this game jam and I've already played it for hours, I want it to be clear how unlikely I thought that was to happen. The art is fantastic, consistent, playful and functional; the game encourages you to observe the agents carefully so it had to be great, and it really is. The expressions and variety of restraints - I think 10 in total - are all fantastic. There are so many small, subtle details that can give away a spy that I still don't always catch them, the challenge of which makes it more rewarding to get the S rank at the end. There are many games I would like to see continued at the end of this submission period, but it would feel almost criminal to let this one go to waste. With the raving out of the way, let me just quickly note the bits I wish to see improved, because it's a short list: entering agent callsigns by hand is a bit annoying; not being able to cross reference the documents with the screen leads to a lot of flicking back and forth; restraint limits feel arbitrary and not super impactful (other than to stop overkill everyone, maybe?) and the animations to bind someone are way too long after a while. Of those, honestly, only the last one about animation is anything I would care about in the long run. So yes - I very much loved this

Theme Fit:
Not only does the theme fit very well, it's now the only way I can imagine a non-violent (or, I guess, less violent) version of Papers, Please. It's fun to be able to tie up anyone on demand, even if it's wrong, and it meshes with the task perfectly. As close to perfect as I've seen in a bondage game, let alone one made for a jam.

What Could Be Improved:

• A tutorial: The game is a flood of information at the start. In a fuller version, it would be good to be eased in instead.
• Speed up/skip animations: I can understand the design idea of wanting to see someone tied up slowly and have the option to go "oops, I didn't press the button in time" and overdo it; however, sometimes you just want to get to the 3rd stage and it takes quite a while for each step to tick up, and it would be very hard to do it accidentally.
• More impactful resources: Again, I can see the design that wanting people to tie "just enough" means putting limits in place. The resource seems to be random though, and I can't help but wonder if it matters at all. But then my head races to the idea of it being something you manage over the course of a campaign, and all those ideas lead to...
• More content: Not feedback for the game jam, more of a plea to keep this game going. I would happily pay for a fleshed out version of this game, and I really want to see more of it in the future!

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary:  A turn-based tactics, Fire Emblem-esque game, with various unit types and 2 different leaders.

My Experience:
My immediate impression of the game was "how the hell did they make all of this in a week?", and my second impression was just how well everything had been done. The menus are clean and easy to use, the units are all specialised and diverse (though not at all balanced, as you'd expect in a game jam) and there's 6 different missions across 2 different mini-campaigns led by distinct leaders. I've always been a fan of this genre, so the kinky twist and gameplay appealed to me greatly and it didn't disappoint. The graphics are simple but clear, the restraints really shine through on the unit sprites, the writing is fun, the variety is good - it's very easy to imagine this being a much larger game, with a lot more substance, and honestly, I'd love to see it. That's not to say it's flawless - one consistent annoyance is that the special move for rope bunnies has an AoE that also binds allies, and is at the top of the menu without confirmation that you want to use it, so pretty easy to mash into by accident; however, it's also quite funny, interacts with the theme and isn't an issue if you pay attention. Another would be - it's just not easy to memorise which units do what, and in lieu of a quick tooltip when hovering over the unit, i spent a fair while in the first 3 mission referencing and re-referencing all the unit ranges and stats to see if I could be more aggressive. Neither of those bugged me too much; in fact the only major mark against it - and sadly, it is pretty big - is that interacting with the bondage aspect against enemies seems to be a bit pointless. Almost all fights are won faster without using it at all, and in many cases, the chip damage is much more impactful than binding someone. Because it doesn't represent a win condition, it's quite easy to ignore. I mean, you probably won't, because it's a bondage game, but I would've preferred it if the end goal was to fully bind the enemy commander instead of nuking them with range 2 units and  brat tamers. On the whole, easily some of the most fun I had playing through all the game jam submissions.

Theme Fit:
The units get tied up, each restraint type has some interesting mechanics, it's fun to do - but as in the last section, it's not a path to winning and it's often best not to do it. That's a shame, because there does seem to have been quite a lot of though in how to separate each type visually and in game. Ignoring that (fairly big) issue, I think it's about as well integrated as it could possibly be.

What Could Be Improved:

• Tooltips: It's not at all clear what units do from their sprites, other than the commanders and rope bunnies, and there's so much info you need to play. Not a problem to have a complex game, but it definitely could do with holding the player's hand a bit more by showing expected damage, binding, etc when hovering. Similarly, some terrain is impassable and while it's clear what is and isn't visually, it's still be nice to have something which tells you that.
• Make bondage matter more: Beating a dead horse at this point, but if binding represented health more (or maybe exclusively even!) then the game would be elevated to a good level, and probably possible to turn into a product, if that was desirable.
• AI improvements: It's a week long game jam, so I get it, but the AI is very much "I push forwards" and doesn't worry about things like shielding their leader or untying themselves. You can cheese it a fair amount if you don't care about time limits, so something to consider if the game goes any further.

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary:  A retrieval platformer, where you find all the bunnygirls and get out.

My Experience:
The opening is a nice touch, with the music kicking in perfectly. The graphic design is good, the controls work well and the movement is fast but fluid. I did run into the same bug twice, where moving platforms crushed me into a block and I stopped being able to move, but it's hard to criticise bugs like that in a week-long game jam. Stage hazards don't seem to be implemented - I could jump and walk on spikes just fine - and there seems to be neither reward nor counter for gold nor bunnygirls. I did end up finding all 7, including one where I was pretty sure I could hear the Arabian Nokia theme in the background, and it was enjoyable enough to look for them in spite of the ease due to the responsive controls. All the art and level assets are very nicely made, and the music selection is the best in this game jam in my opinion. Overall, I liked it, even if it felt a little incomplete.

Theme Fit:
The bunnygirls are all tied, and you do get a feeling for the restriction of it, because it's quite a lot faster to hop along than to try to just run. Otherwise, there's no ingame interactions with being bound or freeing someone, so it's largely that mechanic and the aesthetic appeal. 

What Could Be Improved:

• More time to cook: It looks like the devs knew exactly what they wanted to do and how, but ran out of time. That's a shame, and it's a fun tech demo, but it definitely feels like a tech demo also.
• More level clarity: Comes under the above, but there was a lot of times when I wasn't sure if dropping down would lead to me being able to get back or not, and so getting all 7 bunnygirls became a memorisation puzzle. Just some way to check first would've been amazing.
• Theming: The theme does come through, but it would've been nice to interact with it a little more, in the form of being bound or something. Given timing constraints, I can understand, but something to consider given the Jam's theme.

In contrast to the other games, it seems daft to give a CYOA a review based on gameplay integration, mechanics, etc when it's entirely plot. So instead - I had a lot of fun reading it all and well done on getting something out for the game jam!

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary:
Escape room genre in the style of an RPGmaker game. Dialogue heavy, with incredibly well drawn images, mostly focused on advancing the plot with short scavenger quests.

My Experience:
Coming into this game, I could tell almost exactly what I should expect, and I wasn't disappointed. Typically, these style of RPG-esque menus and dialogues work best when there's a lot of attention to detail and secrets, which there simply isn't time for in a week-long game jam, but what has been made is very impressive (even if, along the way, I did find mismatched descriptions and dialogue!) I still haven't found the chair CG picture (hints appreciated if it's implemented) but otherwise found two "bad" ends as well as the "good" one. Gameplay is quite repetitive, you go from room to room and pick things up by interacting with them with little challenge or traps to fall into, but the writing and artwork compensate well enough to get away with it. It's particularly nice that doing intuitive actions leads to bad initial outcomes. Also, the robot will give hints as to what to do and where to find things if you pay attention, which serves as a good player aid if you want one, but also doesn't get in the way or signpost too heavily. A small gripe, in that I lost all my progress after the first bad end because there's no autosaves, but that's an RPGmaker issue generally rather than a game issue. Very much enjoyed this one and hope to see more like it in the future!

Theme Fit:
The artwork is constantly on screen and the plot revolves around being tied, having to do things because of it; generally, plenty of justification for mechanics and story progression. Beyond that, the verisimilitude of being restrained doesn't shine through in raw gameplay - movement and actions bound/unbound are effectively the same, so it's really mostly the art and plot.

What Could Be Improved: 

• Gameplay hints: Fetch quests are fine, but clicking on every tile to find the items is a little dull. There are stars at the start to indicate where to click to progress; it might have been nice if there were similar on a dozen locations to "search" for the relevant items instead.
• More complex challenges: As with the first point, retrieving items is fun, but there were a few times where it felt like the theme could have been met even better if there was a small puzzle or similar associated with it. Obviously the project is already ambitious for the timescale, but it would be good to see in future efforts.
• Mechanical changes: The game has a lot of work put into the text and art, but something small like movement speed or controls changing by restriction level could have added something a little more to it, just to add that layer of depth to the bondage.

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary: 
A scavenger hunt platformer, where the player begins very restricted 

My Experience:
After spending a good 30 seconds not understanding how to close the note at the beginning and feeling like an idiot when I just moved past it, I found myself mostly annoyed at the incredibly slow movement. This is by far the weakest part of the game, largely alleviated throughout by constantly jumping to speed up (even when hogtied). Beyond that, the gameplay worked nicely, with the "hopping" stage of movement being a little clunky to judge how much you need to go- but sort of understandably so - and I just adore key hunts generally. The pixel art, particularly on the player character, is quite incredible for the time, and the fluid escaping motions are entertaining to watch for the sake of it, so it's a shame there's some distracting background clipping issues. Each stage of freedom looks and feels different in a way that comes together incredibly well, and as a play on old school platforming tropes of key retrieval/powering up, it fits excellently. Overall, I found myself not wanting it to end and to have another level, which is always a good sign!

Theme Fit:
The theming of the jam comes through strong, with strong contrasts between being more or less bound, and palpable relief as you get items off. As it stands, that part is, I think, perfect; the only minor quibble I have on theme really is that having arrows shoot the player seemed a bit odd, maybe better replaced with a sleeping dart that moves you back to the start or something the reties you, instead of getting "killed".

What Could Be Improved:

• Movement: There is always a trade-off between the experience of being restrained in a game and being able to play a game well, and inching across the screen is definitely a bit too far towards restrained for my tastes. For me, a platformer lives and dies on movement, and the hogtied stage is just a too slow to be enjoyable (though it does pick up after). Perhaps if the hogtied section was shorter, or you got put back into it for brief periods it would be okay, but I wish it wasn't so slow here.
• Being restrained more and less throughout: This is less of a flaw and more just something I would love; the bound sprite design and escape animations are so beautifully done that it's a shame to see them so little. Being retied or similar could bring back some of the fun.
• Level hazards: As per the theme fit section, having crossbows shoot you is quite odd and although it adds some needed challenge, it feels strange. Likewise with conveyor belts in a medieval castle, which don't quite fit in terms of appearance and might be better with different appearances. A very small complaint, but could be some nice polish if you want to take it further in the future.

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary:  A bullet hell style, local multiplayer competition to see who can dodge the most Toads, and claim victory.

My Experience:
I wasn't quite sure what I was doing at the start, so the round 1/3 was fairly confusing! After I realised it was a multiplayer competition though, things clicked into place and I tried to see how long I could survive. I found the faster characters harder to use and control, as if skating on ice a little, which was a shame as they're also the more bound sprites, but the controls otherwise were quite tight and the hitbox seemed pretty forgiving. Difficulty could maybe ramp up the longer you survive though; on my second round (after I figured out what was going on), I was able to survive 5 minutes before simply walking into enemies to continue and see if I was missing something at the end. The assets, both graphical and musical are excellent, fitting well and motion is fluid throughout. Having a victory photo at the end is a cute idea, though I didn't download the desktop version to see if it functioned. Generally speaking, I liked it, though I wish it felt more "bondagey"; the bones are there, it just wants more flesh.

Theme Fit:
Honestly, beyond the player sprite being bound and the ending, I didn't feel as if bondage mattered too much at all to the gameplay. The sprites and variety are well put together though.

What Could Be Improved:

• Difficulty: Obviously in a game jam, balancing is next to impossible, but I could dodge very easily even with the slowest characters which led to me deliberately giving up.
• Enemy variety: Toads fit the game's theme for obvious reasons, but it could be nice to see different styles more than just different speeds, e.g. ones with a projectile attack, area dangers, etc.
• Theming: Between the health system, enemy dangers and ending screen showing bound princesses, it might have been a nice idea to try something like replacing the hearts with the player being increasingly bound (showing off the amazing sprites more!) as they're hit instead, possibly altering the controls as they go, rather having their bound level as part of character selection.

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary: 
The player must escape the constantly hunting killer snail, navigating their way through several connected rooms of a house. There are keys scattered around, which the player must collect to open the door - which is also left for the player to find, and several are tucked into awkward alcoves.

My Experience: 
It's a funny idea, and I'm a particular sucker for key hunting in bondage games, so I was excited to try. At first, I didn't actually realise that I only had to find the right key, so instead simply retrieved every single key and then went to the door - which is at least one way of solving it! Additionally, the heartbeat indicating how close the snail was is a fun indicator, and a good way to add tension to otherwise unobtrusive, necessary information. Sadly, the fidelity of the player sprite, combined with the monotone graphics made it hard to make out what the player sprite was supposed to be, but otherwise I think the gameplay probably reflected the author's design. My major frustration was that bumping into a wall completely freezes you for a few seconds and some spaces are simply too awkward to navigate without bumping into them; I can see the idea behind this (falling over bound as you flee from the snail) but in practice the danger level feels quite low - particularly as the snail slows down as it gets closer - and it ends up being more annoying than threatening, especially when it's so easy to do. This also applies to floor hazards, where one muffles the sound of the heartbeat, but due to the relatively low challenge, serve to make the player feel randomly slower more than in danger. Overall, I had a fun time with it, with the major complaints being around polish!

Theme Fit:
The player sprite is bound, and the opening/ending graphics both show off a bound protagonist. Gameplaywise, you have to fiddle with the controls a bit to pick things up - which actually works surprisingly well to add that air of restriction to the game - and fall over if you stub your toe. Otherwise, there's no contrast between more or less bound states, and it largely serves as mechanical justification.

What Could Be Improved:

• Challenge: The game's difficulty is quite low, giving both multiple hits of health and having AI leniency where it slows down as it approaches. This is more of a polish thing which is always tricky to get correct, but pressure is very necessary in a game where the player is being hunted.
• In-game graphics: It's understandable on such a short time limit that assets had to be made quickly, but the player sprite is really quite hard to discern - which is a shame when it's one of the major parts of the theming.
• Theming: It feels like between playing with the player's lack of vision and having to "squirm" to pick up keys, there was maybe some low hanging fruit, such as making the vision restriction a blindfold that can reappear, or only being able to carry a limited amount of keys at once so the player is forced to hunt back and forth. It's not bad at all, but it could have a little more to it.

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary: 
An interesting concept for a puzzle/memorisation game with gameboy-esque graphics, set in a limbo-purgatory. The bound player needs to solve each level to continue to the next. Each level only allows 4 moves, exceeding which resets the game, and the later ones play on the motif of them appearing impossible whilst still actually being solvable.

My Experience:
The gameplay is simple and relatively short, offset by having to repeat levels several times. Failure resets the player back to the beginning of the game, including rereading all the text. This was the most annoying part; where some levels are quite unfair, they often require the player to simply guess the correct direction with no hints. I think even something as small as not repeating the opening text and teasing the player with almost-but-not-quite manageable routes could be an interesting way to play with the deliberately induced frustration, but as the game stands, it ends up being tedious. The art is cute, but due to the gameplay, it ends up a little too small to fully appreciate, which is a shame. Overall, I had fun and really thought the idea had a lot of merit, though it needs some reworking to reach its potential.

Theme Fit:
The player sprite is bound and as part of the theme, the player is "trapped" in a loop, with the restriction on jumps . Beyond that, it doesn't seem overly like the bondage is integral to the gameplay, and is mostly there for appearance.

What Could Be Improved:

• Better resets: I think it's okay to have unfair elements that set you back to the start in such a short game, but it would have been nice to not have to skip the (fairly long) text every time!
• More complex puzzles: The idea of some limbo that the player is stuck in, with puzzle movement is a really intriguing space to explore, but sadly it feels as if there wasn't enough time to flesh it out. With some more complexity, there could be a lot of merit to it in the future.
• More variety: Again, I suspect one needing more time, but with the current set up, levels are quite empty with the challenge being to memorise the correct path for each. This is fine, but just a few small mix ups would make it much more interesting for the player.
• Theming: The hint of deeper integration is there with the restricted movement, but otherwise it would be great in the future to see some contrast between being more or less bound, perhaps with more or less moves to complete a level.