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Klub Kofta
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I loved how much care you put into this game! How the character animations and sound effects react to the environment really makes this world feel alive! The wooden bar is a brilliant mechanic for a physics game like this and I don't know what better alternative there could even be. The difficulty curve felt just right and the levels supplement each other and teach players new skills they'd use later on. Overall, this game is golden!
A major change I'd propose though: The smooth camera scrolling should follow the player's mouse instead of the blob (similar to an RTS interface). The current scroll method presents the following issues:
1. Trying to control / switch between multiple elements of the world is really difficult, given that all elements are constantly moving (even just holding onto a single bar and rotating it in a desired direction feels quite awkward at times due to the camera scrolling happening)
2. It is very easy for crucial level elements to get outside of the player's field of view (Think how this is gonna work if you port the game to other platforms and have to deal with inconsistency with screen widths!). Sometimes a bar becomes inaccessible if I left it in a vertical position but then the blob rolled away. Sometimes it's just the blob is rising / falling too fast, so much so that it goes off-screen (might be tricky to get the scroll smoothing right) and the player cannot reach any interactible elements near it.
3. If you intend for this game to be puzzle focused, it could be a flaw that the player is not immediately aware of all the level layout or even where their goal is. I got surprised quite a few times by a spike that suddenly came up or a new bar I didn't know existed. But again, you're the designer here, and you know what's best for your game. Maybe a sense of exploration into the unknown is what you're aiming for, in which case, just keep the scrolling the way it is and let the camera roll faster, so the player would have enough time to react to something that just showed up.
4. Again, if you wanted for this game to be more puzzle-focused, the player should be able to pre-adjust level elements so they don't have to micro manage later on (similar to "Wonderfully Juicy" from earlier). I can see my proposal of mouse-based scrolling as problematic though, because after level 7, the player's range of control had to be limited for those level designs to work.
Anyhow, this comment got way too long - sorry about that. This game has a lot of potential of becoming a rage game though. Consider that approach lol. I was also expecting a dark twist in the end for some reason, haha. Nature is cruel.
Love all your works! Take care!
Thank you for the beautiful game and all its motivational messages, Noa. This game kinda reminds me of one of the "failed" projects you talked about where the player jumps between rotating planets, and hey, you've really made something nice out of it!
I feel like some of the game's elements could be designed more intentionally to communicate their mechanics. Good job on drawing the first girl as pale and sad-looking, which immediately made her stand out from the rest of the colorful world, and I knew straight away that the player's supposed to get her a gift. It's also very clever that you made a sad planet with socks hanging around it, which suggests that I should bring Santa over. But back to the girl though - I at first tried carrying her to the gift shop, which did not work. There should be clear indicators communicating what game objects cannot be lifted (You could put her in a large house or something).
Also, this game has so much potential for player emergence! You know, give the player plenty freedom of interactivity, so they would accomplish tasks in ways you didn't intend. A good example of emergence would be letting me move the girl to the gift instead of the other way around. It'd also have been amazing if when the cat said "We rise by lifting others", I could actually lift the cat up ;)
Anyhow, what a lovely gift this is. Merry Christmas and best wishes in the upcoming year/decade. You're gonna be making awesome stuffs. It's gonna be a good time, I can feel it.
Oh my, everything about this game feels amazing! The bright color scheme, peaceful music choice, cheerful sound effects, and that "paw" cursor all make for a cozy holiday atmosphere.
This game is a pretty balanced blend between the puzzle and action genre. I loved how this game requires just the right amount of action and thinking, but you might benefit from designing some levels specifically centered around one of those areas though.
I would say the main issue of the game lies in its excessive busywork (I'd really appreciate if I could click and hold to release more jellies quickly) and downtime (It was tranquilizing to wait for the jellies to bounce gracefully one by one, but some would find it time consuming). To compensate for the ample amount of time where the player isn't doing much, you might want to encourage the player to play more recklessly. Consider removing the number limit of jellies in stock, so the player doesn't have to be too careful with each jelly they release. You can also make the jellies flow out at a constant rate. Designing more levels where the player is required to constantly manipulate the environment would also reduce the amount of downtime here.
Also, it'd make life a lot easier if I could rotate platforms using my mouse wheel (It also allows for more precise rotations). But I understand that would be counter-intuitive with the one-direction rotations.
Overall, everything about this game is so beautiful! You can really capitalize on the casual nature of this game and make it something people intrinsically want to play when they're chilling (Heck, you could make this a family game about cooperation, given its holiday theme). Stay juicy!
(I died of excitement when I saw Dobby in your latest video btw ;)
Loved this game. Its controls were really fun to interact with, and the overall game feel was on point (with the screen shakes, sounds, particles effects, trails, etc).
One small thing is that I did not realize at first that the thing that moves (I'll call it Dobby) would continue following my mouse cursor even if I let go of the mouse key. My poor hand suffered from having to keep the mouse pressed until I reached the goal so I was internally screaming a lot ;) Also I didn't know that Dobby would not move past the mouse cursor. I guess you can communicate how Dobby's following mechanic works by letting the player start each level by placing their cursor over Dobby (instead of by clicking).
One thing worth noting: I probably wasn't guiding Dobby the way you intended, but when I first got to the level with sharp turns, I would wait for Dobby to arrive at a corner then suddenly swipe my mouse to make it turn. That felt good! I felt as if I was a wizard manipulating a projectile's trajectory telekinetically. I don't think this game would necessarily benefit from having a narrative, but you could certainly use this game's mechanics in some other large-scale wizard-based project. (I'd also tweak the controls to emphasize a tossing-projectile sensation)
You probably intended this, but I could skip a couple levels by going around the maze. Some levels were a bit too long for comfort, but I know that's part of the challenge. Anyhow, loved the idea of this game. Keep on being awesome!
I enjoyed the game. Though figuring out what the black monsters and purple stars do is part of the fun, I would really suggest designing them in a way that communicates their functions (Didn't realize the monsters could destroy the altar and lost all my progress. Then I felt frustrated and did not think I could do anything to stop the monsters until way later when I tried out the purple star).
Repeatedly dragging humans to the altar felt like a lot of busy work, especially in later levels. The players should simply win by reaching a certain population. I like the trade-offs for deciding to collect different kinds of resources, but the consequences for each decision did not feel significant enough. Lastly, I'd be happy to see more player agency since dragging stuffs around gets tiring after a short while. Giving the player the ability to create an optimized, automated system would be way more fun. (Not sure how you'd do that though. Maybe add in something like the programmable worker bees from Slime Rancher that automatically take humans from one specific location to another. The players can then focus on combating monsters later on in the game.)
Great job overall. Best wishes!