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itch.io Community » Game Development » Get Feedback

Clockwork Constructive Criticism Trade

A topic by NNominatus created Sep 22, 2018 Views: 291 Replies: 2
Viewing posts 1 to 3
NNominatus6 years ago

My game Clockwork has been posted previously as a final release. However, we're now planning to go back and do a big update. I would like some external opinions, what do you think it could use to bring it to the next level?

Currently, I only have the Windows version available since that's the only system I could test the final executable on. If you want a Linux or Mac version just let me know and I'll re-enable them. 

Additionally, if you're inclined, post your game with your comments I will play it and let you know what I think, keep in mind I'm running Windows.

I have tagged this post under "Programming" however I'm looking for criticism of all aspects of the game.

Game link: https://nnominatus.itch.io/clockwork

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No Time To PlayModerator moved this topic to Get Feedback 6 years ago
Mistan6 years ago

Here are some presentation suggestions.

  • Never obstruct the player in the puzzle space so dont have a lower wall at the bottom screen I managed to Hide the cog in this level specificly and it's not good. get rid of this wall and have us Xray trough so that game objects don't get obstructed.
  • when you have finished a puzzle have a proper level transition something like GOOD JOB or in my example CLOCK JOB! 
  • The hook shot is weird. If i want to hook a cog i go to the cog while i still drag it towards me?? That's really strange you should set rules for this. why not just have the cogs come to you and you can hook shoot walls to go to them. make these different so the player clearly understands the limits of the design or else it feels super yank.
  • The cogs final placement should be Automaticly adjusted at the end. If it hits the area it should Automaticly Glide into place and start spinning Should not be able to move it afterwards.
  • make the screen space larger I dont like the scrolling it cant keep up with the player properly and i lose sight of a big part of the puzzle. if you can, fit the entire puzzle on one screen thats better. it feels like im looking trough binoculars when i move around right now.
  • Keep the cogs reasonably the same. Im okay with the larger once but the smaller cogs i dont understand? you have opportunity to create puzzles with these like you cant hookgrab the gold ones but you can push them for example.
  • The push mechanic is really SLOW it doesen't feel right.
  • I think this game would work better on a grid system rather than a free movement.
  • I find that a puzzle should be able to be finished quite quickly if you know what to do. You have some mechanics that slows down the flow a bit its not super bad but some stuff that you need to do that could be automatic would be better.
  • I think the story is just fine i guess.
  • the music could do with something a bit more pizzicato esque instead of this long droning Nes noises. Lolos adventure? I know you are going for a sad sort of tone but Maybe this could be more like an adventure
  • I also think you need more audio to indicate what's going on in the game world to spice up the experience.

Good job though i think you just need to tighten things up.

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NNominatus6 years ago

Thank you Mistan, you've provided excellent feedback for our next update. I've provided some responses to a few of your comments below, most seem very reasonable. Do you have a game you would like me to review in return?

  1. "The hook shot is weird. If i want to hook a cog i go to the cog while i still drag it towards me?? "
    1. The idea behind hooking the gears is, the character travels most of the way to the gold gear, the wood gear travels most of the way toward the character, and the silver gear and the character both travel equidistantly and meet in the middle. It does seem like most people don't intuit this part of the game and is certainly something we need to work on.
  2. "The push mechanic is really SLOW it doesen't feel right"
    1. The push mechanic operates in the same manner as hooking the gears, the heavier the gear the slower you push it. It seems most people push gears instead of grabbing them, so I will likely speed up pushing in order to keep the game pace up.
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