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Ink's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #10 | 4.444 | 4.444 |
| Overall | #68 | 3.852 | 3.852 |
| Theme | #85 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Art | #99 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Is the graphics 1 bit? | #151 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Gameplay | #158 | 3.222 | 3.222 |
| Music | #192 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Light horror, 13+
Write down what effects you used.
All 1-bit
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Comments
This was great to play through. I was little confused on what to do after summoning the monster, but I eventually got to see the ending. The music was very atmospheric, and I absolutely enjoyed playing it. Very solid submission!
Thank you for sticking with it!
Wow! i think this is the best usage of the theme i've seen thus far, you're very talented.
The idea and execution are just perfect, the subtle tutorial fits in perfectly and everything just works, i loved playing this game and i think you have good bases here to take it much farther.
If you do decide to continue with it i think it would be best to give in some options for better visibility and you can probably only do that if you dont take the 1-bit route :)
Please rate my game too :)
Thank you, I'll look into it!
From an artistic standpoint, I really like this concept. It's a very unique take on the theme, and I can pretty honestly say I've never seen anything quite like it. The use of minimal music and sounds is also extremely effective; the gentle yet intimidating music when the ink monster showed up unsettled me pretty well. From a gameplay perspective though, I found the lack of visibility pretty bothersome. I know it's kind of a silly thing to complain about when it's the whole point of the game, but the fact that I couldn't see much of the game world made it hard to understand exactly what was happening when I was interacting with objects. For example, it took me a while longer than it probably should have for me to understand that the ringing bell was closing a gate because I couldn't see the gate shutting when the bell rang. I ended up getting stuck in the area with the ink monster and the waterwheels since I couldn't tell exactly what the waterwheels were doing; it seemed like they were draining water, so I assumed the goal was to activate all of them and drain the river, but then it looked like some of them were resetting after a while? Ultimately, I couldn't get enough of an understanding of the area to really know what to do.
I'm not really sure what could be done to fix my problem with the game, since it's so closely related to the core mechanic of the game. Maybe if the ink trails lasted longer/indefinitely until removed so that
I could see more of the screen at the time? This might also just be a "me" issue though, and like I said I really like the gimmick from an aesthetic view, so don't take this to heart if nobody else complains about it. This is incredible for a first published game, keep up the good work!
Thank you for the honest feedback, this is exactly what I was looking for! Trying to find a good way to incorporate the main mechanic into the puzzles and gameplay was the part I was least satisfied with, as I never had someone else play test, and I couldn't tell if the most important mechanics were as intuitive as they needed to be. Part of it was that I dislike when games directly spell things out for the player, so I tried to create and environment where the player could naturally learn, like how there is a moment to explore the water wheel area before the monster comes out. I intended the ringing of two bells to open the main channel with the monster to help signify that the player needs to activate both sides of a channel to open it, but maybe that didn't translate very well to the water wheels? (Btw the goal is to open all three channels, raising the water level of the pit in the first room so you can get the orb). Overall, thank you for the input, and I think I know where to better dedicate my time the next time I try this!
It probably also didn't help that an activated water wheel doesn't actually visually do anything unless both are active, so maybe some sort of visual indicator that both need to be active? And also some more continuity for the functions of each individual component.
The concept is awesome ! :D
Thank you!
I agree with Tim, just an explanation of what the mechanics do would really help with the gameplay. Awesome job!
You should add the controls and a brief overview of how the mechanics work in the description, it took me a while to figure out what was going on and that might be off-putting to some people!
Will do, thank you for the advice!
Fantastic game! I love the concept!
Thank you!