itch.io

The entire farming loop felt rock solid. Simple and engaging, it really did boil down what makes simulation games so addictive and enjoyable. The horror segments were a great change of pace, and I was genuinely unsettled when the tanky wolf melted into a puddle of flesh and the weird red bugs came out of it. The whole game gives me Darkwood vibes. The ending felt just a bit abrupt, but I definitely see where it was trying to go thematically. Over, very impressive game for the amount of time given!

I can really appreciate the fact that you made a trailer for this game! Just from the little bit shown off in it, there's clearly a really solid concept. I think like Scrumbo said, this could be a really cool game to have showcased at an actual IRL event. Two TVs, back to back, winner take all.

Absolutely absorbed by the art and design of this game. Everything felt very much cohesive and like it belonged together. I think the idea was really interesting, even if I still don't think I ever quite managed to understand the logic behind the ghosts. Sound is great, very atmospheric; made me want to go and explore this place on my own (maybe not at night with the knife wielding specters around!) I also found the interaction of just rushing into the ghosts and shoving them away from you pretty funny. A rather assertive way of dealing with monsters. It also seemed to lead to me discovering a pretty solid strategy of just continually pushing them away from me which would keep filling up my footage. They'd move around sometimes but I would just recenter myself and keep going. Managed to get 14 hours of footage!

I can really appreciate the unique at style of hand drawn sprites! But I do agree that it felt somewhat hard to tell where I was actually going at any point I got killed several times but continued to persist, but then at some point the monster just teleported to my location and killed me once again. There were some interesting ideas like the QR code bit, so would have been cool to see those more fleshed out!

I'll agree with a lot of the other comments here, wherein my biggest complaint was the overall lack of spacial awareness that I really feel ended a lot of solid runs I had going. The angle just feels kind of awkward for something where very specific positioning is important to success. I think this problem was even more compounded once you pass the grassy area and get to the sky portion, which has basically visual indicator of where anything besides you currently is within the game space. The height bar on the left helps, but I do think that being able to tell where you are naturally is a lot more effective vs a UI element. Maybe a simple change of camera could do a lot of work in resolving the issue of determining your place in the world? On the other hand, I did like how the angle made it feel somewhat more cinematic. Perhaps just keeping some form of ground visible in the world, which really seemed to help in the first portion of the game? Maybe clouds, or anything that would let me see where I am. Just a bit of research into Zaxxon, and it looks like you could always see the shadow of the player. The aspect ratio also threw me off a bit at first, and I wasn't sure if the game was imagined being played on a mobile screen?

As for the visuals and audio, they were great! The simple 3D aesthetic really felt cohesive. Very whimsical, and I totally could tell I was grinning through each of my playthroughs. Just a fun ad relaxing vibe, which is what I think you were going for!

I was also really impressed that you managed to fit in a boss battle. I only made it to the boss once before dying and running out of steam to start over, but it really helped make the game feel a lot bigger and more epic.

The whole game feels so well put together and cohesive! Everything feels like it had a place and reacts to the game world. The visuals are awesome, I love the retro style that feels like it fits perfectly into this kind of game.

The music and sound effects are on point too, music gets me hyped and the explosions are exactly what I'd expect from this type of art style.

As for challenge, I actually discovered not too late into my second run that the best strategy (or at least the one that got me consistently the farthest) was to just stand around next to the drill and not use the jetpack at all. Just aim for fuel and TNT, and that basically was enough to get a pretty high score. I wasn't even really sure what killed me on my last attempt, but overall it was s really fun game and I think you did a great job with it!

While I agree with some of the other comments here, I actually do think that it could work in an arcade setting despite being so much a puzzle game! It definitely feels more like a replayable mobile game at first glance, but I do think there's a degree of trial and error that would probably end up working well in the goal of a machine gobbling up people's quarters.

It's definitely not what you'd expect walking into an arcade, but I'm also a big advocate of finding a way to take a project and work it into a genre not normally expected from it. I could see this being a very fun mobile game or PC game of course, but I think for the same reason some people expressed frustration about things like being sent back to the very beginning (which are fair critiques), it also reminds me of old flash games that were brutally punishing. Like I said before, maybe the highly punishing nature of being sent back to level 1 could be incorporated into a way that makes it fun to play over and over.

Its whatever your imagination wants to believe 🧟

I do plan to try and revisit this some point in the future!

Some camera angles are rough.... hope you still had fun! Thanks for the comments.

Thanks! This is one of the developers of the tool. And really it would have for me too! I hope this can at the very least improve your workflow 🙌

-Zach

I couldn't really determine whether the screens not progressing were because I wasn't doing the right thing, or it was just bug. But the atmosphere was fun. Very snappy movement, which is great! You nailed the best part of what makes a platforming game mood.

Thank you! I'd actually have liked to go back and use some more lore-friendly sounds for the camera, but if it works, it works!

Thank you! The scenario was the biggest focus for me. Hope I was able to build up a (semi) interesting world!

Yeah I definitely realize that it's not totally clear what to take photos of, but I think that was part of my goal was to have players kind of explore and decide what they thought looked interesting. But will def consider this if I ever revisit!

Great atmosphere! Love the camera angle. Agree that enemies seem a bit spongey, but not enough to stop me from playing! Got a genuine sense of exploration.

All good! You got the hard part out of the way now you just make it fun :)

I agree with those points! Could almost even have a Persona-esque feature where depending on what you say to the enemies, they join you or attack! (Or not, don't wanna put too much on your plate lol) But yeah I  feel like there's a lot of room for growth.

The gameplay is fun enough, but I feel like you really have a unique style and some interesting narrative ideas (why are the slimes saying "Wassap!" to me?). I couldn't figure out where to go after getting the knife, and I spend a good 20 minutes looking around. Wasn't sure what looking up did, but I saw it has a unique sprite for the motion. Music was very fun and made me pretty nostalgic. 

Really enjoy the bits of irreverent humor that reminded me of Undertale. Felt like I was trying to find some way to have more conversations.

Overall, I'd say that the platforming gameplay kinda felt superfluous and not needed. It's fun enough, but my favorite moment was just conversing with that (tree? fleshwall?) dude. I didn't want to kill him! Could be cool to maybe have another way around? I had an option to ask him to move aside, and well, trees can't move so I get why I had to stab him. But would be cool to have an option for non-violence. Or that tower of basic enemies, which could also have made for interesting dialogue. I'm just a bit sad that a really hard jump kept me from enjoying the worldbuilding. Also, controls could be a lot more streamlined, since a lot of the bindings choices are a bit confusing (down is interact? Up makes me look up?) Great start! Character designs are quite strong, which makes me want to learn more about them!

-Zach

EDIT - I ended up getting farther and was happily greeted by more interesting individuals! I'd really lean into the silly dialogue and strange forms of roadblocks.

I'll be honest, I couldn't really figure out what was happening even after the gameplay started. I'm always on the side of cinematics coming after the gameplay loop is airtight, and I wonder what this game could look like if the time spent on the intro cutscene was put into the game. No that I'm condemning your decision! Cutscenes are great ways to establish things. But yeah was still pretty confused, as the intro doesn't really do much to inform what you do. Art was strong though!

Haven't played Downwell so no criticism here! Great polish. I really like the subtle detail of the player dude stretching as he falls. Really sells the 'gravity'.

I found something interesting however; I notice that when you die and begin rewinding back to the start, you can still interact with enemies. However, there doesn't seem to be any consequence to this, but I thought it could really add a 'unique' factor. Basically what I imagine Braid would be, if the rewind only affected you and not the world. What kind of gameplay emerges when you hit enemies while rewinding to the start? Could be something worth exploring further.

Surprisingly deep gameplay! I agree that the boxes and walls can be a bit hard to tell apart, but shouldn't be too hard to improve. 

I may need to spend more time on it when I'm not on a lunch break, as I feel this one really requires some observation. Also, maybe a better way to undo decisions besides a single undo each time? Maybe just one command that can reset the whole room. Overall, great game!

Very interesting. Agreed it's short, and I was a bit unsure of why other hallways existed when there's nothing in them. Overall though, I really enjoyed the visual appeal. I think the movement works quite well for horror, as it really feels sluggish and distorted, plus the CRT effect just adds to that analog horror vibe. 

I'm curious to see how this would be expanded, since the movement and visuals seem pretty polished considering they don't really contribute to the riddle mechanic.

I'd also be really interested in seeing how scary a game could be just off the riddles it gives you. I for one am not a huge fan of the 'run from scary monster' type of horror game, and riddles/logic puzzles actually seem like they could make a unique gameplay style, since we don't really see it often.

Hope this helps!

-Zach

I LOVED this game! Not enough moral quandary games. I really enjoyed the concept of 'hangman' twisted and reshaped to something as grim as this game. Basically thought I was loading in to a simple game of word guessing by the title, but actually found another game that had me wondering if someone was in the wrong for petty theft. I'd say some more atmosphere would help sell it, since a lot of what made Papers, Please so convincing was that it was just dripping with atmosphere. But overall quite unique and worth expanding what's there!

For some simple feedback, the mouse controls unfortunately gave me a lot of trouble, and it seemed I couldn't easily drag people around. Also, if the queue of people gets too big, their details start clipping out of the screen. That's it though! Maybe try and introduce conditions a little more slowly as to not overwhelm players.

Overall, great idea that got me thinking about my choices!

-Zach

No problem! Best of luck as you improve :)

Great music and fun visuals! I may just be bad, but the first enemies seem to kill me rapidly, and are verrrrry bullet spongey.

Good atmosphere and snappy movement. However, those darn gears seem to read my mind.

Superb! Great atmosphere. Has that distinct indie exploration game feel (which is a good thing!) Colors made me very nostalgic.

Agreed with a lot of points here, I think some less glaring colors would add a lot, as well as it feeling rather floaty. Still had a good time!

Really enjoyed the vibe! Kinda just had it running in the background since the music was so nice!

Thank you so much! Same to you guys, I'm a sucker for trains as well, will def check out Rick's Train!

Surprised at the depth of the mechanics! Seems very simple at first, and the complication of objects blocking your view dawned on me very naturally. I did get pretty stuck at maybe the 3rd puzzle with the rock formation and didn't have time to finish. I'd say the one issue I had was with the visual language for clicking stuff. I kept forgetting if I should left or right click. It's a small gripe however for an otherwise amazing experience! Great job.

Awesome concept! Second level was super hard, I couldn't finish it!