This game is really polished for three days! The juice, squishing and sound effects make this quite nice to play. I am sure it must have been quite the implementation to get the outlaw to remember your movements, and I also noticed design choices that were very good for anti-cheesing and anti-frustration, such as the fact that the timer prevents you from just waiting as a sitting duck, and the outlaw allowing itself to be reset after several failures to prevent you from softlocking. As others have said, the game in later phases sorta becomes turning off your brain and getting to the gold as fast as you can because the platforming is actually that hard, which leaves not as much space for the tactics aspect and so there is less of the initial puzzling/planning that gives the game its hook, and the sheriff usually has an easy shot to the outlaw. I think these could be fixed with more time and more options on both the outlaw and sheriff, but the game's core is very solid and for three days it is incredible quality, so minor gameplay shortcomings can be tweaked so long as the core loop is engaging, and it is.
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Gold Rush Reversal's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Enjoyment | #2 | 4.429 | 4.429 |
| Visuals | #2 | 4.571 | 4.571 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.381 | 4.381 |
| Audio | #3 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
[The answers to this question will be public]
First idea sucked
A restart was required;
3 days is quite short :(
Comments
Your core mechanic is super interesting! It's also very impressive that you did this all in 3 days - the art is great and the music isn't bad for such a short loop. I've seen a couple games like this before (where you have to defeat past versions of yourself) but never quite like this. I only have a couple criticisms - the controls feel great overall, but I wish the jump height was just a little higher just because the cacti are huge (the platforming gets kind of precise at later levels and personally this game feels better to me as a puzzle-adjacent platformer than a precision platformer). And as others have said, playing as the sheriff feels trivial sometimes, especially for the earlier levels, since it involves basically no movement besides maybe jumping. I like the timer for the bandit though, it's a fun challenge having to balance making it easier for yourself in the future but still having to complete the level in time!
I love the mechanic of having to balance both getting the bandit to the gold and making it possible to kill the bandit, it's such a great concept with a lot of potential and what you were able to do with it in only 3 days is insane. Also the fact that you made the the music, art, and code all by yourself is incredibly impressive, you should definitely be proud of what you were able to complete. The only real criticism I can give for the game is that with most levels it was pretty simple for the sheriff to kill the bandit, as you pretty much just have to step back and time your shot right as the bandit arrive at the gold, so perhaps if this were to be expanded at some point it might be a good idea to move the sheriff to somewhere else and have the challenge be increased by requiring the player to move the sheriff to the right position. Overall though, both an incredible concept and an amazing execution, it's a bit short but it still felt like a completed game which is very impressive for something done in only 3 days.
The only criticisms I can say are:
1. the music is a little repetitive
2. some reason I get a huge lag spike whenever I die
3. it's too good. I just wish it were a little longer...
Absolutely everything else is perfect, from the sounds, the effects, the artstyle, the gameplay, and so on. I really, really like this incredibly fun and creative game. And it was made in 3 DAYS?!?!?
This is amazing! Great job, especially for 3 days, if I read that correctly. This game feels very complete, though short, which is awesome for a jam game! The concept is really cool and executed really well. It feels great to play, and I had a lot of fun!
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