No problem! Definitely a very creative game! I'm sure you'll find the balance between chaotic and annoying :)
DirectCherry
Creator of
Recent community posts
Pros:
- The hand-drawn font is fun and creative.
- The art is well done and fits the theme.
- The idea and gameplay are fun and creative (besides the some of the controls)
- Ending was kind of unexpected
Cons:
- The overlapping letters in the title (on the menu) really bothered me, also the "Bonus" text looks gross. IDK how to explain it.
- The controls are HORRIBLE. The WASD movement is wayyyy to slidey and controlling the dial was a nightmare.
- When controls change, there is no prompt. How am I supposed to know that to strain the macaroni, I have to spam the spacebar? For each step, I recommend adding little popups in the bottom corner telling you how to do it (like you did for the first task).
- Don't show me the score after each task. Gamers don't like being interrupted by unnecessary, uninterruptable cutscenes. This is the same.
- Physics are bad. A few times macaroni fell through the bottom of the pot or strainer. It was also frustrating that when it was time to stir, the macaroni would catapult the spoon out of the pot every time you started stirring fast enough.
- The "gre/at(e)!" thing was just odd and confusing. I get that you are trying to make a pun, but its just confusing. Change it to "grate"!
Overall, creative idea with potential, but the execution needs some work.
Thank you so much! Once I expand the game, I will add a score table, but since the score is capped at 60 right now, I haven't done that.
I understand what you mean with it feeling cramped, and will try out different layer spacing and I'm really glad you liked the music and the visuals!
Thanks, again, for your feedback ;)
I appreciate it! All my thoughts are mentioned in the survey, but the two main things I didn't like were:
- game was too bright. Really started to hurt my eyes (especially on the listening level)
- the listening level was too long. I was really bored on that level and was just holding down one of the movement keys the whole time so I could see the tree and how much longer it would take for the level to end.
Played the whole game and filled out the survey! There were some things that I loved about the experience and others that I really disliked! This whole experience caused some introspection and helped me to realize what it is that I like about gaming.
If you wouldn't mind, I'd love it if you could return the favor and give some feedback on my first game (it should only take a few minutes to play).
https://directcherry.itch.io/circle-jump
My game (posted below) has a Mac build, but since I am on Windows I wasn't able to test if it works. Please download it and let me know what you think!
https://directcherry.itch.io/circle-jump
I'd love to get some feedback on my first game (made for the game jam in which all games can be completed in less than 1 minute).
PLEASE: Download the standalone version for this game rather than playing in the browser. It is a little laggy in the browser because it is not optimized for WebGL. Still working on that.
https://directcherry.itch.io/circle-jump
Please give any feedback you can (positive or negative) as I'm considering expanding this retro arcade inspired genre into a full game that has many arcade game-like levels.
Pros:
- SFX are good
- The graphics for the bullets are very satisfying
- Particle effects are a +
Cons:
- No tutorial or in-game explanation of controls, mechanics, and objective
- Neon (Bloom) effect is WAY too strong. Hurts the eyes after a while.
- Can't read a lot of the text on this page. Would suggest making the Embed Background solid.
To Fix:
- When I click to shoot, it is not shooting in the direction of my cursor, it is shooting a bit to the side.
- There were a few times when enemies would try shooting at me, but the projectile would not move. It would stay where it spawned.
Suggestions:
- Make getting a higher score more rewarding. Maybe make the score grow big and shake at major milestones (Accompanied by a rewarding sound effect.
- Change the font used for wave numbers and the "wave completed" message to a more blocky (or geometric) font to match the theme.
- Add a menu page.
Reminds me of this game: https://lawrenceparry.itch.io/ctrlx-bullet-hell
Creative idea! Definitely could be improved a bit and cater to fast-paced reaction-based gaming audience. Something like OSU or Aim Labs. Imagine if there was only one circle on the screen at a time, but if the player took to long to click on it, it would turn into a bomb. If the player clicks on the bomb, they lose points, if they click on a circle they gain points. Add a time limit and increase the rate at which circles turn into bombs, and you have a great game! You could even do something sneaky and instead of spawning a circle, occasionally have a bomb spawn. Since the player is trying to click on the circles as fast as possible (before they turn into bombs), they might actually click the bomb.
P.S. I tried clicking on a bomb and it wasn't clear if I lost or not. Coins stopped spawning, but I couldn't find any way to reset the game. Also, the World Highscore was empty.
Creative grapple idea. I'd recommend making it clear that in order to shoot a thread the user has to click on a wall or floor. I kept trying to click in various directions and wasn't sure why my thread wasn't coming out. I'd also recommend zooming the camera out, as the player's options seem too limited with the close camera.
P.S. Might help to change the "Options" button in the menu to say "Controls"
Creative concept! Having a menu and a way to exit would be nice. Also, adding the ability for me to pull up the prompt again if I forget the controls would be useful.
It seems you used some non-physics based movement controls, which makes the game physics very messy and buggy. There were many times that I was not able to move or I got stuck inside a wall or on top of a roof.
Great game. Sound effects and music are GREAT (especially the music) and the game is challenging, yet fun. Getting the green powerup is very satisfying and rewarding, but I was a little confused at first when the yellow orbs weren't disappearing when I collected them. I thought I wasn't getting points for them.
Also, the statistics are a nice touch.
Fun concept, but very difficult (at least for me). The grapple points were very small, which made it difficult for me to rapidly click between them while I'm bouncing everywhere :P
Granted, I'm not good at fast-paced games that require a lot of mouse movement and precision.
I love the art and the SFX. I like how Hamda makes noises when he hits the walls hard.
P.S. I was able to glitch through many floors and walls a few times by going really fast and spam clicking the blue grappling points.
For short game jams, a simple tutorial screen with text (and maybe images) explaining the controls and the mechanics of the game (basically a short version of what you explained here) along with a sentence explaining the objective is usually enough, but it goes a long way. Definitely a lot of potential here :)
I like the concept, and the art is pretty nice, but the gameplay is very confusing. There are no instructions, I can't tell what the "powerup" thingies are, and the controls are very confusing. Some times when I am turning I seem to slide all over the place and "spin out", completely losing control of the spider, while other times when I turn the spider does a sharp, controlled, 90 degree turn. Also, I'm not sure how the web mechanic works, but it seems to come out at random times. Also, one time a fly just broke through my web? I thought the point was for the web to catch the flies.
With tighter controls and a tutorial, I think this could be a great game.
Also, please make a simple way to exit the game (like an exit button on the menu) and give prompts of what the user has to push to continue after dying (like "Press space to restart").
*SPOILER ALERT*
I played the demo all the way through and was fairly satisfied. I noticed a few bugs and possible improvements that I will list below. Hopefully they will be of help.
Bugs:
- After already collecting the water bucket and using it to put out the fire, when I went back to the sink and clicked on it again, I received water into my inventory (without a bucket).
- When trying to leave the shed through the portal, I walked up to the portal then pressed Q to go into the other world. It wouldn't let me enter the portal unless I backed up, then walked into it again. Minor bug.
- When I walked up to the "portal" in the attic, I was not in "other world" mode, so even though I couldn't see what was inside the portal, the "jump scare" sound played. I think you probably meant for it to play only when the player sees what is inside.
Suggestions:
- Make the ghost dude scarier and his hands more detailed and realistic. I wasn't very frightened when he popped out after I looked at the Merry-Go-Round.
- Make the words on the paper that is pulled into the wall before the Merry-Go-Round appears more readable. I struggled to read it and couldn't figure out what it said before it was taken away.
Overall, great demo! Keep it up!
Really fun game! I enjoy trying to quickly dash back and forth over the same enemies and I like how the number of consecutive dashes decreases as your health does. I don't, however, like that you have to scroll over your character to see your health. I think that you should add a health indicator to the GUI. Overall, well done!