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Sapphire City - Looking for some feedback

A topic by Pehriska created Sep 16, 2023 Views: 157 Replies: 4

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Hello!

I'm looking for feedback on a game I released called Sapphire City, It's a 2d top down game set in a dystopian city with lots of Pixel art! The game has developed quite a bit over time and I'm constantly going back to find new ways to improve it and implement user feedback. I have also recently part 2.

It's first and foremost a narrative game so would appreciate any feedback on the narrative structure, writing and plot pacing etc. There are some light gameplay elements i.e adventure style choices when approaching obstacles & minigame puzzles, part 2 contains more gameplay elements like a hacking minigame and stealth sections. Any advice on the effectiveness of these would also be great.

Link to the game - Sapphire City by Pehriska (itch.io)

THanks!

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Wasabi1 year ago(+1)

Very nice work with this game!

The pixel art is really good, and is very RPG maker-like, with the high amount of detail in the smaller assets. The addition of multiple solutions and ways to progress is a good touch, it adds a sense of variety and player freedom (though it could be portrayed better). It seems to be solid and decently written, with a fun mystery element and themes of technology and dystopia. The story, characters, and themes seem to have a more serious tone to them... I'm interested in how you may use these distinct themes to drive home some kind of message, or something the player can take away from the game once they finish?

My biggest recommendation: Add a quest log for clearer story progression (optional toggle on/off). I can't figure out what to do after I get the lady to open the door. Merc mentioned a ladder but I don't know what he's talking about...

From what I've seen, a hooking narrative will have things that appeal to the player's expectations and emotions. Make the characters relatable, maybe some a little edgy, maybe some a little sad. Put them in tense situations, funny ones, tragic ones, mysterious situations that keep the player guessing. Oh, and make a character that the player wants to beat the hell out of. That's just my way of doing it :)

The biggest problem with this game in my opinion is its lacking in ability to engage the player. It appears to be similar to a fetch quest walking sim, with little input from the player to progress the story forward. Now, I don't have a problem with fetch quest walking sims; I actually think it's fun and somewhat entertaining to, for example, get this guy some noodles so he'll let you through. But once you do that, you move on with the story and... I don't know, I'm just not really engaged.

Engagement usually comes with an abundance of solid gameplay and core mechanics that flesh out a game's story, its characters, and world... But a game like yours doesn't need solid gameplay to be great. It needs to compensate for the lack of it with a really engaging story, characters, and world, which I'm sure you're working very hard on!

Please feel free to give my game some feedback as well, I could really use it! https://wasabiiii.itch.io/grass-elemental-demo-demo

I hope this post helps you out, I really would like to be more engaged with Sapphire City!

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Pehriska1 year ago

Hello, thanks very much for taking the time to play it. Glad there were aspects that you liked. The plan is to release four parts so this opening Part is laying the foundations/themes for the payoffs (hopefully) later down the line. It ends on a bit of a cliff hanger so hopefully that will hook players to the part 2. A quest log is in the pipeline, at the moment the PC in the protagonists apartment provides clues and reminders on what to do next but I agree it could be better implemented. (the ladder is to the left of the fence bit the lady opened). i've added some more player engagement in act 2 but thinking about ways to implement more in this first game. Interesting points about the hooking narrative part will have a think about getting more of those in. Thanks again for the feedback, all really useful.

I played your game and gave it a rating. Not usually my kind of game but actually quite enjoyed the short experience. Bit weird, bit disturbing but in good ways. Song at the start was well done, only minor nit-pick was the text seemed to scroll at varying speeds, not sure if intentional or not. When the game closed a few times was close to walking away as wasn't sure what was happening but glad I went back in and got an ending.

Thanks again.

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Wasabi1 year ago(+1)

I'm glad you're working on improvements and part 2, and thank you so much for playing and rating!

I'm happy you enjoyed even though it isn't usually your kind of game. To address the game closing: There is an easter egg where if you skip the girl's dialogue when she first appears, she will warn you not to do it again, and if you skip again, she will crash the game. Also, the text moving at different speeds during the character selection is somewhat intentional, like how it moves really slowly when picking the boy. There are two different outcomes to the fight, new dialogue upon a second replay, all that good stuff :)

When I get time, I'll look back into parts 1 and 2. Thanks for pointing out the ladder thing! I tried to consult the gameplay video from NolanAlighieri about it, but he stopped playing before he got that far :( I might reach out to him about playing my game. I'm interested to see where Sapphire City goes, best of luck to you!

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Pehriska1 year ago

No problem! Yes I think that happened a few times, that the girl crashed the game. Was cool when I figured out what was going on, nice touch. Will have to go back to try and see that other ending. Thanks again for playing my game, yes I recommend reaching out to Nolan, he's a good bloke and plays through lots of games from Devs like us in his streams.

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