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Laser Pointer Clicker's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| xkcd-ness (how well it matches/interprets the comic) | #19 | 4.286 | 4.286 |
| Fun | #38 | 2.857 | 2.857 |
| Overall | #40 | 3.071 | 3.071 |
| Innovation | #49 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
| Visuals | #49 | 2.786 | 2.786 |
| Audio | #59 | 1.571 | 1.571 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to xkcd comic / 'what if' article the game is based on
https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/
Please list any pre-made art/music/other assets that you used.
Guns: https://pngtree.com/freepng/vector-illustration-laser-gun_2502059.html
Font: http://www.1001fonts.com/games-font.html
Team size
2
Team's social media links:
https://twitter.com/angelo_nikolaou
Anything else you want players to know before they play?
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Comments
Excellent take on the what-if article. Clicker games are not my forte, so not much in the way of constructive comments here, but I definitely enjoyed it.
I hear tale of another idle/clicker based on a "What If?" article in the jam so I thought I would check it out. You definitely followed the source material to the t. The graphics and UI are good and the concept is solid.
Two things moving forward with the game: First, I think those numbers really need to be beautified. They are really hard to read in the raw form. Keep them rounded to 2 or 3 decimal places and then either add a number shorthand, like other idles(K, M, B, T), or keep it in scientific notation with a x10^whatever. Second, as others have noted, the unstable progression of the upgrades. Though, I am betting it is really difficult to deal with real world numbers, as they don't care about a balance gamescape. I had the luxury to flow my numbers any way I pleased as long as it hit one mole in the end. Real world be damned! :-P
Either way, I was amused enough by the game and that is what counts. :-D
I love clicker games, and I think this was an excellent inspiration for a clicker game. For this genre, balance is really, really important, so the fact that it's a little bit off (especially with the NIF, as you've pointed out) really impacts it, but not enough to keep it from being fun. I thought you did a good job making the mechanics clear, but maybe I'm biased because I've played similar games in the past.
I liked it but it seems far to complex for a clicker game. Overall I still liked it.
Anyway one thing I do want to mention is I'm doing a review of design on the games in this jam so here's a shameless plug to my channel if you want to be notified of the vid when released: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Vj46GGL9VMUvd4YTMtjXg
Thank you for your kind words! Playtesting previous versions proved that the goal of the game was unclear and the controls were complicated. We ended up not making a tutorial, instead tried to make the buttons clearer and add info in the loading screen. Sounds like it was a partial success.
Well hey in the end I still understood it! So you accomplished your goal!
My XKCD game jam analysis is out!
Hey, this is the first game in the jam I've played that's based on a "what if?" article and not a comic! So that's nice. :)
I wasn't expecting a clicker game, but I found it to be really enjoyable. At first I wasn't sure if it would hold my attention for very long, but once I bought my first laser pointer and the numbers started going up, I was hooked. X)
The progression in this game is pretty steady, getting more and more watts and going from laser pointer to laser pointer. The quests along the way are pretty cool too, gathering more and more supporters for your cause of pointing a laser at the sun and seeing what happens. I like how you took into account how people might be interested in this, and made them into little reward quests the player gets along the way.
The only thing that feels off in this game is the last laser pointer, NIF, which costs far more watts than the laser before it. I assume you did this because you wanted your most expensive laser so that the player could finally reach the sun, and you wanted that laser to match the one in the "what if?" article in its sheer magnitude (btw, awesome job making all the lasers in this game the same as in the "what if?" article!). But it it taking quite a long time to get to 4.11E 11 to buy one NIF; as I write this, I'm letting my watts go up bit by bit to buy one. I'm at 8.52E 09 now.
This is a fun little clicker game. The graphics are nice, and I love the choice of font and laser guns. The game itself is basic but well done. Good job with this! :)
Thank you for your kind words Naomi!
We decided to stick to the numbers of the 'What if?' article, which ended up providing a decent progress. Only hickups were the step to IMAX (too short) and to NIF (waaaay too long), but we decided to stick to the theme instead of taking liberties and changing the actual numbers.
We contemplated making a second button to buy 1% of the NIF, then scale up the power... but time ran out :P
Do you have any other suggestion to fix this problem while still keeping with the theme?
I think scaling up the NIF's power is a great idea! The "what if?" article mentions that the NIF is a laser at a "fusion research laboratory", so maybe you need to earn pieces of the laser or lab?