itch.io

I'm glad it's helpful. I don't want to come across as mean, but I do think it's best to be honest about what I think, as critical feedback is how people grow. And hey, you did finish something that resembles a game in a week. That's an accomplishment and not easy to do.

First, congratulations on finishing a game jam game! That is a significant accomplishment in and of itself.

This is an interesting puzzle game. It's rather difficult, and I have yet to successfully solve it. You may want to consider offering variable difficulty. Additionally, I am disappointed when I just fail, and I don't get to see what the correct solution was. Seeing the solution is helpful in me understanding what errors I made, which could help me improve in the future.

A mathematician may have opinions on whether every game is solvable according to the mechanics you created and whether a unique solution can be determined. You may want to explore yourself proofs to justify that the puzzle is solvable, if you have not already done so.

This feels like a minesweeper-esque game, and I think the core ideas are very good. The visuals are good enough given the time you had, though you could definitely get prettier in the future. I myself am not that into puzzle games, but I think this game has very good ideas.

It's working for me now, thanks. Will edit review.

Thank you for the feedback! I'm glad you liked it and had fun with the puzzles. Those can be tough to do solo, since you know the solution, and I don't have anyone to test them on.

I'll keep in mind your comment on block placement. I thought that some uncertainty in the placement might add to the fun, but I'm thinking that in general players do not like uncertainty about the effects of their controls, unless that's done really well as a part of the game's mechanics. I do wonder if putting silhouettes on the blocks, or removing the isometric perspective, would detract from the puzzles.

Making a playable game in a week is an accomplishment. It's a hard thing to do. That's why these are not easy. That was actually my goal for this game jam myself (also solo), after previous ones where I was overambitious with my goals and BARELY got something out the door.

When giving reviews, I try to not just say "Good job." There's not much content in that review, and there's plenty of reviews like that. Critical comments foster growth. That's my philosophy.

Not bad. It's playable, the combat is interesting and balancing between doing the job and dealing with the other monster is good. It's a typical fighting game, and the upgrades give you something to go for.

I had some initial difficulty figuring out what I was supposed to be doing and it took a couple tries to figure out that I was supposed to knock down the building then defeat all enemy monsters.

The upgrades are pretty bland. They amount to stat upgrades. While stat boosts are nice, after a few plays of the game, I don't see how the stat boosts actually change how I play the game. You're still doing essentially the same thing: knock down a building, fight a monster. In that sense, other than serving as a carrot, the upgrades don't add anything to the experience. However, they do feel thematic.

This is a mostly conventional fighting game, which is fine.

There is basically no gameplay here. You walk around, jump, and do... nothing, really. There's no consequences for the decision you make at the end in any case. Waiting for the elevator is annoying; this seems like something where it should detect when you are around and lower in response, then go to the next floor up. Visuals are okay, and there may be something in the concept eventually, but as of now, I don't even consider it a game.

EDIT: Let's think about ways to make this an actual game. Right now, there's mechanics, but no real decision space, no demand for player to develop skill. So what could we do to make things interesting? Well, supposedly there are safety hazards in the factory but the boss wants you to overlook them. One might even think the boss is willing to kick back for you overlooking stuff, and you get some monetary reward, or the boss will punish you for each negative item on the report. But this is a trade-off with ensuring safety in the factory, so people could get hurt by the hazards you spot. What if you earned money for each "Yes" but developed a "bad" score whenever something bad happens for the things you overlook? And what goes wrong is randomly determined and unpredictable, so there's an element of risk in what you choose to overlook and what you choose to report. But you also have to manage angering your boss for reporting hazards, so there's an anger score that you have to deal with too. Furthermore, instead of you seeing at the end what your score was, what if you got intermediate feedback so that the player felt like they were making meaningful decisions in the moment?

EDIT: As bugs were fixed with the game, I can edit now.

First, congratulations on finishing the game! That alone is an accomplishment to be proud of.

If viewed as a prototype for a game, I think this has some interesting ideas. I like the idea of a deduction game where you have to wander around a facility to figure out what one needs to do in order to rob it, and listen for clues. Here, finding the clues seems straightforward, by just wandering around and seeing when the pop-up to interact opens, though you DO need to actually read what's said in order to solve the puzzle.

I think I would like this game more if it were not so obvious when you found a clue. I think bringing this game into 3D and having your character wandering around, with audio cues that provide clues on robbing the facility, and there be more "red herrings" when you inspect stuff. I think there may have been some this iteration too that I did not notice (I have not successfully finished the game yet).

You could even keep the hand-drawn art. I like it; it gives the game some character. If you kept the hand-drawn sprites in a 3D space, that could be very appealing.

As it stands right now, the game is okay, fine enough for a game jam game. It's an interesting enough deduction game where you explore, get clues, and use those clues in the end to rob the bank. I think the idea could go further if you wanted to explore it more.

It's difficult to remember the recipes. Maybe that's part of the point, but I did not find it particularly enjoyable. I guess at the end of the day the game is about being a race against time, or at least that's what the music conveys.