itch.io

(playtested alone with 2 controllers unfortunately, didn't have another player around)

Rather simple couch game, but can be enough to entertain a few people for an evening. Well aware of the complications of a 48h game jam, here are a few points in case you plan to upgrade the game :

The inability to drop a weapon (or at least, I didn't find how to) makes the game a real "all-in" gamble at the very beginning as some weapons seem much stronger than others. Possible fixes (implying a weapon respawn system is implemented) :

• The last weapon collected replaces your current one (even by accident)
• Ammo system (you drop your weapon when you run out of ammo)
• Implement a dropping mechanic (might require to add an extra button)

The camera angle is weird especially near the borders of the map. I feel like it's rotating too much instead of translating along the playable axis.

Some UI would be welcome. At least a very simplistic life bar.

As you used animals, I feel like you completely missed the opportunity of implementing different stats (HP, jump height, move speed, mass/knockback...).

You implemented destructible obstacles, but they seem really underused (even if they kind of feel more interesting than domes). As domes are related to the theme of the game jam, it would've been great to make destructible domes and/or domes that dynamically vary in size or even position (and then simply get rid of the current destructible obstacles).

Still a pretty good result for a game jam !

Nope, nevermind :)

I'm sorry I only played for a few minutes while passing by, because I thought the art was cute! Though, I just had to comment to ask you this : you do know that ducks have 2 legs right ? =) I might not be seeing a "spread legs" pose, but it really does look like a 4-legged duck to me and I just had to point that out xD

Maxed jumbotron (total destruction), took some time to align my aim so that I can hit the ball in a perpendicular manner with the upper wall, spent the rest of the game stationary spamming mouse clicks (carefully bringing my pointer to the same spot after shopping). I don't think any enemy could reach me before I hit 5 times no matter how many they were =) All other upgrades were pretty much just for eye candy.

Anyway, this game is a good example of why I like to come and play games here. This is a very simple and working formula for a casual game. You now have a good skeleton to build something great.

Sorry if I was too harsh, I was kind of in a hurry when reviewing this (as you were during the game jam ;) ) and focused mainly on negative points because it's what improves games. Ofc your game has potential ;) Otherwise, as you mentioned, I wouldn't have spent time playing it (and tried to beat it without success).

If you start making walls (rows of fences), all enemies will glitch and won't move. 

Also, there's a real math issue here. Restocking the towers is way too expensive, even if you kill all enemies, you barely have enough money to restock all towers. Failing at killing a single enemy or even making a single mistake (getting hit, losing a tower) will put you in deficit and make you lose. Make sure you get at least as much money for killing an enemy as you spend in bullets for killing it (even take into account a safe margin as you may spend more bullets than required if multiple towers shoot at the same enemy).

Restocking towers isn't a truly interesting mechanic, especially if you have to do it during a wave. The player will already be busy moving towers around if he wants to optimize. If you're worried he has nothing to do, give him the ability to shoot (that would significantly add to the gameplay).

Controls are messy. You'd really want to add another button instead of using the hold to "pickup/set down", especially if it's something you have to do in a hurry. If you really need to keep that mechanic, you should at least do it the other way around (hold to upgrade, click to pick/drop), as upgrading happens rarely and not in a hurry.

The "closer to HQ = more gold" mechanic is useless and counterproductive as regrouping your defenses around your HQ is actually easier. It would make more sense to reward risky plays by earning more money if you kill enemies near a border. 

Fun idea and cool "style" though, but it was kind of sloppy imo.

POSITIVE

• graphics
• atmosphere
• level design
• game concept

NEGATIVE

• clunky movements
• poor combat system (weapons and their varieties aren't really useful)
• not "replayability-friendly" (you have to go through the whole same long scripted events)

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS

• free movement (zelda style) or smoothed tiled-based (pokemon style)
• different weapon designs (useful for different situations)
• different weapon management (e.g. swap between two, prevent erasing the previous one when collecting a new one or stack ammo)
• procedural level generation or randomized content (multiple possible spawn points for objectives/items)
• local co-op multiplayer

I'll make sure to try your recommendations whenever I feel like playing this genre. If you got inspiration from those for Spectacle, then they surely must be great!

Well, thanks for the game! I think most people don't realize how much time it takes to make a game of this quality, so publishing it for free is something to honor.

I didn't even know it was based on a particular game family, so I guess your design choices make sense. However, keep in mind that implementing such a game from scratch is a great opportunity for you to add your own touch and features that weren't possible or weren't thought of at the time. I'm pretty sure adding things that make it more comfortable for the player wouldn't damage the nostalgia trip (considering how everything else is well set up).

About the time things, if you tested and came up with these values, then I think I can't argue much about it. But in my opinion, there are two different "too easy" for the player. The first "too easy" would be if the player completes a puzzle by chance or if the puzzles are too obvious to figure out, this one, of course, you want to keep it away. The second "too easy" is when a player figured out a hard puzzle or found the solution to a hard problem, and then isn't struggling to achieve it "mechanically" (clicking something that is too small, too fast, navigating in a slow UI etc...), that kind of "easy" is something you want. Not having it would only be great for action games in my opinion. It felt a bit weird to have to do "come and go" to pass time by 30 minutes instead of just clicking a button. If it was intended to have to figure out the "move, freeze, come back", maybe design a puzzle specifically to have to do something like this (e.g. you can't stay on a tile or you would die from quicksands or something...). Because once the player figured this out, if he has to repeat this task multiple times at other places, you will bore him (pushed to the extreme, that would be like having to cross the desert manually everytime, but you identified that it would be boring and implemented the second kind of "making it easy"). Also, I would undoubtedly prefer a "choose the time spell" with a very long animation over a fast "6 hours forward", this way I would only be able to easily do what makes sense and won't "bruteforce" the solutions. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you have your reasons to design it this way, but just sharing some ideas here.

I haven't played any of the games you mentioned. I've played all the monkey islands, runaways, day of tentacle and this particular king's quest I talked about (also some other indie games). I'd say I'm an experienced gamer and game designer in general, but not particularly in those kind of games.

I saw you made another game of this kind, I felt more attracted to the universe of this one, but I might try the other someday ;)

Also, I edited my other comment and added 2 more things. See ya!

I finally finished this game! It was great :) I enjoyed it a lot and it reminded me of the old adventure games (in particular, the universe brought me back memories of King's Quest VI). The quality is good enough to pay for the game. Now here's a more detailed feedback from a gamedev's point of view (for possible improvements):

[SPOILERS]

• More specific text with failed, but plausible actions could be great. For example: I tried to pick the floating bottle with the sabre and polearm (I didn't have the correct item). It would be great if the game acknowledges that this is viable, but finds an explanation of why this doesn't work. Same for grabbing the fruit with the same items. This could also be an opportunity to give the player more accurate information on what kind of item he has to use and makes him understand more why the item is stuck/unreachable. This would be a smart way to give hints.
• The background is sometimes tedious to examine. It is hard to understand what the game considers separate entities or just plain background. I know it's part of the game, but maybe hovering over the background could already give an info (highlighting or displaying the pointed entity's name). I ended up clicking the same background way too much and had to lose time to pass the generic text. I wouldn't have lost that much time if while hovering it still says "palace" or something. "use X on X" text could also be great. It would also help with all the hidden things (which are kinda lame if you're stuck because of them :) ). Also, the door on the right in the monastery could react to exams when it's closed.
• Remove the items that aren't needed anymore. Players will always appreciate when their inventory doesn't get filled with single-usage items and will be able to focus more on what's important. I know it is already implemented (hook or polearm), but some extra cleaning could help (e.g. "torn note" or scrolls)
• A "wait" button (forward 30min) could be easily implemented and would be great. In particular, if you want to be 30min later on the same spot, doing the whole "move + freeze time + come back" is tedious. Also, seeing the sky while the time passes seems like an essential mechanic to the game (forwarding 6h is too much to see how things change). By the way, the spell to pass time would be more useful if you could choose directly what hour of the day you want (by clicking on the watch for example). I don't think it would impact the gameplay in a negative way.
• Some things could be hinted a tiny bit more. Actually, I think all secret places (or their existence) should be mentioned somewhere (in a book or whatever). Also, maybe mention something about the glowing insects related to time.
• I found some spelling mistakes. I can't remember where exactly, but I swear I read "theives" (instead of thieves) and "tress" (instead of trees) and some more. Maybe double-check.
• I liked the idea of the procedural dungeon. However, I think the timer was a bit "off". The game didn't require to react quickly so far, so it was weird for me. I think it would have been more relevant to have a limited number of steps (or limited number of 30 in-game minutes). This way, you could add some interactions with the environment. Having to run through these corridors without being able to examine/use anything was kinda frustrating. All I did was just brainlessly use the "follow the wall" trick and quickly skipped the whole section, which I suppose required quite some time to implement.
• The game crashed when I used "open" on the torn note. Also got some "generic fail X", but I can't remember where.

All in all, this was a great game! I loved the idea of the use of time and I liked that you're guided by the scrolls. This magical universe is really immersing. If there are players reading me that are stuck, make sure to check for secret places everywhere (especially where you already collected items).

[SPOILERS]

Hi, just dropping by. Also stuck for a few hours now :( Got 3 keys (still haven't used the yellow one though).

• statue in front of the tomb still there : I expected the "blothny gem" to make it move (as written in scroll 2), but it doesn't. Fashion solution doesn't seem to be doing anything :)
• king's alkazar : gate locked, nothing seems to be able to open it. Haven't found any item there.
• meteor : still there, got 2 fragments, but don't know what to do with them.

I feel like I've seen all these places way too much and I'm getting close to trying all combinations. Any hint? Great game so far, though :)