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Barball's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #10 | 2.838 | 2.905 |
| Storyline | #22 | 2.187 | 2.238 |
| Theme | #26 | 2.698 | 2.762 |
| Overall | #26 | 2.408 | 2.464 |
| Experience | #45 | 1.907 | 1.952 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- Interesting concept but game felt quite laggy and unresponsive. Think the game could've also benefitted with a more interactive tutorial instead of just the how to play section
- Seems like a large scope game for a gamejam that may have tried to bite of f a bit more than it could chew within the timeframe. There is a bit of a learning curve which is approached by wall of text so this has lowered the overall experience in my book. The theme hits rivals really well but the mystery twist seems stapled on with no further thought. So extra time in this area and the storyline presentation could really make this game a contender.
Tell us about your game!
The game is a multiplayer football-manager like inspired by games such as Bloodbowl. Players have to recruit players, organize them into team and send them to compete against other players to climb up the leaderboard.
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Comments
Hey!
How are you? It's Ilias again. I have some new questions for you.
What do you think about game jams in general, and this game jam in particular? What do you think could have been better, and do you have any suggestions?
What were your favorite video games?
Where do you think the strength of video games resides? What do you believe a video game should have to be a successful video game?
If you would like, you can tell me a little bit more about yourself and your background, if you have any information you would like to share.
Thank you in advance,
Ilias.
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To Rate My Game : A Little Thing Made Out Of Clay .
https://itch.io/jam/biga-jam-v2/rate/2402991
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Hi Ilias and thanks for commenting !
Sorry for not answering your first comment, I though it was AI-generated since you're pasting it in a lot of comment section. Are you conducting a poll for university ?
Anyway, I already played and reviewed your game, neat stuff
Hey evigouroux!
No worries; any time can be good. Answer at your own pace!
No, no, it wasn't a robot or AI.
The thing is, I share most of the questions among users/players to get the most out of them in terms of answers. If I ask a set of questions to only one person and get an answer, that's good. However, if I ask the same questions to multiple users, the answers could be enriching.
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No , actuall it's not for a university , The questions/answers and interactions are just for me
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Thank ou for playing and for your ratings , much apreciated .
i checked again , you didnt have any feedback/thoughts for me ,about my game what apects do you think that should be impoved , do you have any suggestions .
-ilias .
Hello again !
Since it's pretty late in the voting period I didn't bother leaving a comment to save some time.
In a nutshell : I think your game is supposed to emulate a "capture the flag" scenario between two teams, but in singleplayer ? The graphics are neat enough and pretty unique whilst remaining readable. The style of all three of your games is pretty reminiscent of little big planet, quite liked that.
The gameplay is clean and simple, the teapot controls adequatly and jumping around is always a pleasure. Aiming with your tea-shots is a bit clunky since the teapot turns slowly and doesn't follow your cursor.
It's still easy enough to be accurate since ennemies don't move however.
It's a shame that your implementation of the theme isn't a bit stronger. I think it lacked some opposition. Collecting cards is easy and, since ennemies don't shoot back and can't move, I never felt in any actual danger. The timer is also extremely lenient and it's definitely feasable to collect every card then pick the red one repeatedly to score a higher score. More emphasis on the companion would have also been great.
The leaderboard is a nice touch, although it only display a single name, but I think the game needs more stuff to feel really alive. More opposition, more danger, a more defined companion.
Still, neat entry. My biggest grip is how it lacked on the theme implementation side.
Hey evigouroux!
Yes, kind of. It was emulating "Capture the Flag," but in singleplayer. I still need to learn how to implement multiplayer in my games; I've never done it before. I am using Unreal Engine. Thank you for your comments about the graphics. Thank you.
Yeah, I still need to work on the teapot controls and movements; it does need some improvements. You know, actually, at first, the implementation of the rivalry theme and companion was strong enough but had so many bugs. I was forced to simplify the gameplay.
Earlier, some of the rival teapots would follow you in the level; they wouldn't stop until you shoot them. And to be able to win, your companion is the one that needs to collect the rival's card. The companion used to follow you as well. It was like that, but then after testing the game on the browser, I had a problems; sometimes the AI worked, sometimes it doesn't. The actor stays still; they don't move, making it unplayable as the companion that is supposed to collect the card stays still. So, you can't win; you'll only lose.
So, I simplified the game so much to have something playable and had the focus on the scoring system. For the leaderboard, I was intending to have one for other users, but the only method I had in hand didn't work, so I didn't include an online one.
Thank you for commenting and sharing your feedbacks, much appreciated. Thanks again.
-Ilias
Ah I understand completely, we had to make a lot of cut due to stuff working in engine but then breaking in the web export, It's always painful having to remove so much of what was functioning.
Being able to cut what need to be cut without hurting the core gameplay is such a hard process, good on you for still uploading a working product. Have a great one
Yeah!
Yes, sometimes choosing what to cut and what to set aside for a working project can be a little hard.
Thank you.
game idea is great keep working on it😁
Thanks a lot for the kind word ! We intent to keep working on it in the coming year
Hey evigouroux, aimedev, Nebula Audio!
How are you? My name is Ilias.
I tested your game, 'Barball.'
I assume that either one of you is a trainer/coach or that all of you are super sports fans.
Games centered around coaching and training could be incredibly knowledgeable and informative for sports fan audiences, as well as sports career amateurs. Covering coaching, recruiting tactics, establishments, and more, such games can offer a unique perspective.
Not many developers would go on creating coaching/training/recruiting games, i guess it takes courage .
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Questions:
Did you implement any optimization techniques, or did you choose to use only in-engine optimizations?
What engine and tools did you use to create your game, including the graphics?
How challenging was it to develop your game? Did you face any significant obstacles?
What inspired your game idea and gameplay? Could you share the story behind the game's name?
How did you get into video game development?
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Note: It would mean a great deal to me if you could rate my game. If you haven't already, feedbacks from friends and fellow gamers is valuable to me. Thank you in advance for your consideration and your time.
Thanks!
Ilias.
https://itch.io/jam/biga-jam-v2/rate/2402991
I can tell there were alot of system links/bridges which took alot of dev-time to code but this one was a tough one for me to play. :( Idk what I was doing wrong but I couldn't form a team :(
No worries ! A lot is going under the hood and what's there is absolutely rough.
What was the problem ? After the team folder is created youn need to click on it then affect 5 players from your pool on the right.
After this is done you can click each player individually (on their summary on the left side of the screen) then place them in the little "placement" blackboard. Once this is done you should be able to click "submit" and your team will be created.
The submit button was doing some issues - could be that I missed something in the instructions. I'll give it a go again!
Alright ! Really liked your entry by the way, super tight polish
Thank you! I tried my best 😅
Looks like a lot of work has been done here to make this game. This simulator has great potential to grow. Well done!
Thanks for playing ! A lot more is going on in the background and what's shown here is only a small part of what we wanted to make.
Have a nice one
The art is very cool and the multiplayer element is great, I feel the how to play could be condensed i don't think you need to explain the main menu and it could just be the quick start guide :)
Haha thanks a bunch ! I had comments on some of my earlier games that my tutorials were too succint so I tried to push it a lot further this time. This may be too much
Thanks for playing anyway
Very interesting and ambitious game! The art and the music are also very well made!
I used to use Gamemaker Studio, so I really appreciate the effort needed to make a game that relies so heavily on UI with it.
Some feedback on making the ux a little friendlier. Maybe you already identified all of these points:
- The scrolling should be limited so that the player can't "overscroll" on both directions.
- It might have been a time limitation, but I think maybe the match tapes should be arranged on a scrollable grid instead of a single column? That way you could show more tapes before requiring scrolling from the player.
- You could also have the game show the results of a match right after it's finished so the player doesn't have to alternate between tabs after every match.
Also, the game goes into a black screen when trying to read the results of my 8th and 15th match. My login is Agnimis if it helps you debug it.
Other than that, I am very impressed with the amount of systems and interfaces you managed to put out for the event. Nice job!
Thanks a lot for your comment and the very detailed bug report ! We're well aware of all those problems but as you said : time constraints an the fickleness of Gamemaker web export forced us to cut a lot of corners during the last days.
Still hope you've appreciated what's there, sincerely expect to see your entry at the very top. Have a great one
I'm having difficulties scrolling through the list of players ( both in a small window as well as fullscreen ) so my current review is limited to what I was able to use so far:
Making a simulator in a game jam is quite daunting and I think, considering the time you could spend, you guys did a great job so far!
I think all core elements are in and really like what I see so far. In the past I played a game called Speedball and this gave me the same vibe.
There were a small number of issues which limited me in really playing it. After initially registering ( personally, i think this should never be a thing for a jam, but that's a personal opinion ) i was unable to login in my second session, so I had to make a new account. Fullscreen does not actually scale up the window, so it's -very- small.
I hope to get a trick for the scrolling, since I really want (NEED!) the full experience :-D
Hi and thanks a lot for your comment !
The scrolling not working in full screen is definitely weird, in insight we should have added another way to browse your players without it. I'm going to upload a downloadable version to the itch page, hopefully it will make you able to play in fullscreen or, at least, get the full experience. Thanks a lot for reporting by the way.
I usually share your sentiment on registering in jam game but, at the time of making this, it seemed like our best option for a persistent multiplayer game. We probably could have managed something by using the player's itch account in retrospect.
Anyway thanks again for sticking by, this was definitely a huge challenge in such a short time.
Here goes : https://evigouroux.itch.io/barball-downloadable-version
It's entirely identical to the web build but should be easier to scroll since it's not embedded in a web page
I liked a lot simulators and this was a nice one! Be entirely online is a cool feature!
Awesome game!
Thanks for the kind word ! Really liked your entr
I really liked the idea and I liked the look of the game. I don't know if it's just me, but the game goes to a black screen sometimes. Other than that, it is a pretty good game.
Thanks a lot for the kind word, the game is pretty rough around the edges so can't say I'm too surprised by these black screens. Thanks for playing anyway