Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• I like this one, as far as it goes - and that's its big drawback. There isn't much content. The exploring and crafting thing is pleasant, and executed reasonably smoothly. I like the aesthetic of the island, and the logic of crafting is familiar enough for anyone who's played something like Minecraft or Terraria (the game also doesn't fall into the trap of some crafting-based games of having the recipes be obscure). I was enjoying it for a while... But it doesn't take long to realise that there isn't much to do. You can craft swords from various materials, but there doesn't seem to be anything to use them on. You can craft a hoe to till the soil, but that's just an aesthetic change. There's nothing you can do with tilled soil, at least as far as I've been able to discover. You can build a house out of stone and/or wood, and I enjoyed that, but there's no option to create windows or doors, so it's really just a box with a hole for you to enter and leave. Once I'd made myself some gold tools, built all of the three possible crafting stations (unless I'm missing something), and excavated every scrap of stone on the island (risking RSI in the process, thanks to having to press the key every single time you swing your pick), there's nothing left to do. Overall, then, I think Roguecraft has potential - it looks nice, mostly feels pleasant to play, and executes the mining and crafting thing fairly smoothly. But potential is all it has right now - it feels like there are at least two or three major features missing (e.g. the presence of danger is implied by being able to craft swords, but there's no danger in the game). There isn't really an endgame either - I thought at first that it might be possible to build a boat and leave, but no (or if it's there then it's sufficiently well hidden that I can't find it). I can't find any way to tunnel down or get to any sort of other area. Tellingly, you can't save your game either, so the time you spend excavating the island and building a house will be lost as soon as you exit. All of this leads to the game feeling unfinished, even for a jam game. I respect how difficult it is to put something functional together in just a week, and I'd like to rate this higher, but it's missing too much. Good effort as far as it goes, but it needs more to be recommendable.
• Let's start with a disclaimer: I've never played Minecraft, and I generally don't enjoy games without a goal, including sandboxes. That said, I had a fun time trying to mine and craft, and enjoyed a lot of things about this product. I want to call out the graphics: I think the font and color palette choices are great, and make the game visually pleasing. 4 for Aesthetics. Completeness-wise, I think the game is pretty well polished, but without a purpose it feels a bit pointless. One development direction I could suggest that would entice me to play this game is to combine it with quest/puzzle elements: for example, given a level and a goal ("craft golden sword"), try to achieve it. Something like "The Incredible Machine" games. Just a suggestion :) That aside, I also felt like my level was a bit low on coal mines - perhaps there was a different way to obtain coal I missed? Anyway, Completeness 3 I gave 2 for Fun due to abovementioned aversion towards goalless games. Innovation and Scope hopefully speak for themselves; in terms of Roguelikeness, the mechanics play out as a roguelike, but without opposition, it doesn't feel quite like one.