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A jam submission

FeeView game page

Submitted by AwsApps (@AppsAws) — 8 minutes, 38 seconds before the deadline
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Fee's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Music#1013.3333.333
Art#1213.4443.444
Originality#1733.2593.259
Overall#1843.1173.117
Gameplay#1872.7412.741
Theme#2232.5562.556
Black and White#2493.3703.370

Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted

Can't rate this because it looks like the version I had available to play was not the version you had done when the game jam submission period was over, but I have a couple suggestions that I think would improve what I played:
- Make sure the dialogue script matches what's being said. If the character says "I am afraid" then the on-screen dialogue should read "I'm afraid", no typos, etc.

- Name the language toggle after the target language (in the target language) i.e. "Castellano" when it's in English and then "English" (or handle language selection in a separate menu).

It looks neat, but it's hard to tell how many colors were used (just black and white, or also many shades of gray?).

Developer

Yeah, I didn't know that I can't update the project during the gamejam, sorry for that!

Thanks for your suggestions! 

I will review each line of text and correct possible typos, also, thanks for the language toggle suggestion, I'll try that!

The game only uses two colors and the shaders do the rest, but as you say, it's hard to tell.

Did you like the gameplay? ^^

Submitted(+1)

Loved the atmosphere and focus on the story, good job! :)

Submitted(+1)

THE GOOD PARTS

  • It’s a game that FEELS driven by the narrative. Let me elaborate on this one: many jam games attempt to create a narrative experience but often lack the elements that make for a well-presented one. I’m talking about cutscenes, pauses, time for the player to try to engage with the events of the game, some camera movements that really made the game feel “cinematic”, and the voice-over were the elements that enhanced the narrative-driven design of this game. With that said, I think most of those elements do well, which is not a minor achievement.

  • A platformer that feels good enough. During my playthrough, the platforming controls felt nice, I managed to get everywhere I wanted without having to battle the controls and that’s something that I’m thankful for. There were some instances where the character felt sluggish and not on par with some of the platforms’ movement speed but that can easily be attributable to the limited time we have to develop these games so it’s all right.

  • The music is great. I really enjoyed the music up until the end of my playthrough; I did feel like the last soundtrack, when you’re running away, didn’t really match the situation or the feel of the game [but this is just my subjective opinion, though].

THE BAD PARTS

  • I didn’t get the story. Yeah, I just praised the narrative-driven design of the game which had elements that work well when they’re separated or mildly connected, but as a cohesive/homogeneous entity, I don’t think the premise is communicated well enough to at least grasp what’s going on. Some explosions, then you’re with Fee [which seems to be an important character because the game is named after it, but doesn’t have a lot of screen time which resulted in me having a mixed impression as to what’s going on with that character], then you have to pick an orb, and finally, the orb goes haywire which means you have to escape from something. I feel that the game had an intention but the story didn’t get to me even though I paid attention to each line of dialogue (I swear).

  • Some on-screen effects were too much. And I’m not joking, the 3D elements have so many effects that try to enhance the experience but they’re so many that they end up competing for your attention and made me dizzy (no joke, I had to look away from the screen for a while, have some water, rest my eyes a bit and then come back to write this review after my playthrough). I’d recommend toning down the number of on-screen effects and using them to highlight important elements of the game like a point of interest, a collectible, power-ups, threats, etc.

  • The voice-over was not OK. I think this game would have benefited from having just a single jingle for each audio line played in a loop for each character that appears on-screen (like in Undertale/Banjo Kazooie/games alike). Instead, the voice-over was kinda distracting because I was trying to figure out if they were actually recorded by humans or computer-generated because you need to have the talent [or be a computer] to communicate so little emotion when interpreting a line. I saw someone else in the comments making fun of the game’s voice lines which I think it’s not fair because the game doesn’t seem to be presented as something that’s trying to capitalize on being half-assed or badly done on purpose; instead, it’s presented as something that was trying to be great and awe-inspiring but missed the mark by a little bit.

  • Ummmm… Loop? I missed the jam theme on this one, I didn’t really get where the theme interpretation is other than the character running in a loop when the scenes are loading; I think this can be attributable to lack of time to develop the idea further and present what was supposed to be the theme’s interpretation but I think the theme implementation should have been prioritized further.

CONCLUSION

I think the game is good. It has a little issue with the mouse sensitivity but that can easily be attributed to my computer. The narrative-driven design works well when it works (particularly some cutscenes make the game look like you’re in for a ride) which is something that’s not easy to do and this game managed to do in certain scenarios. Gameplay-wise, it’s a light game so you won’t have any issues getting to the end of it and enjoying the full experience; beware the eye strain, though!

Developer(+1)

Hi Zcyon, I really appreciate the time you take for making the review! 

Driven by your comments, I've uploaded a new version were the textures are slowed down, (In the next versions I'll try to experiment with the textures positions, to reduce the dizziness/eye strain further).

Also, I've added an option to control the camera speed, which turns out to be a Must-to-have in the game, after reading all the reviews!

Now, about the story and the theme: True, the cinematic took a lot of time to do and I should have prioritized reflecting the theme. 

The Story is certain not finished, but I'm a little confused you didn't get the main points of the story: Taras lives in a country surrounded by a war, lost his mother, and he wish he could disappear. Then he suddenly appear in another world and meet Fee, who affirms that is linked to Taras somehow and asks him to help her to recover his powers... (Sure, I'm not a writer haha). My plan was to hook the player wanting to know who's Fee, and advance/enrich the story introducing new conflicts to resolve. I'm very welcome to listen any suggestions from you!

About the voices: they are generated by a computer, so the emotions aren't quite well painted :( I've the experience making games with banjo kazooie voices, and in this game, I bet to put the full audio to give it a more cinematic feeling (paying the price of being emotionless...), In my previous experience, the jiggles tends to sound too comical, so they doesn't fit quite well in this game. If someday I've the resources to pay for actors I'll surely add a little of color to the voices! 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I uploaded the last soundtrack, I think the new one is more accurate (but still seems a piece from another puzzle, and don't quite fit with the other soundtracks, like a MrPotato add-on haha)


Thank you so much for your review, really, I'm a little moved that you take your time to elaborate it.

 I'll love to hearing to you when the game finally reaches the end!

Submitted(+1)

I really like the atmosphere of your game (music, art, voiceover, etc.)! I had a hard time with the camera movements (it was really sensitive for my mouse, so it was a bit jerky), so I couldn't get really far. But I did enjoy the game as far as I got :)!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for your honest review!  The new version includes a mouse sensitivity option in the game menu (Escape) so now the player will be able to adjust the camera speed! 

Again, thanks, because this are the type of malfunctions that I don't think of when making the game, and have a great impact over the gameplay!

Submitted

That's great you've taken the time to make adjustments based on feedback, it's all part of the game dev process! I'll give your latest version a play :D 

Submitted(+1)

The transition to the sphere shape at the end of the level was really cool! I also liked the different camera angles used in different parts of the level.

Developer(+1)

Thanks!! It's all done with Unity's Cinemachine package ^^  

Submitted(+1)

Good voice-overs! Loved the game.

Developer

Thanks! Did you feel the voices too "robotic" ?

Submitted(+1)

Very cool, music and atmosphere were also great, dialogue progression was a little but overall you did a great job man :D

Developer(+1)

Thanks! I ask twitch streamers to play my game, and all suggest that it will be nice to be able to skip the dialogues.

I've made the first one skippable, but the others will take me a little more time.

Thanks for your review man!

Submitted(+1)

You made me travel with your game. Nice atmosphere, the art and the music are really cool actually.

It's a really good work !

Developer(+1)

Thanks! I wish I've time to end the game, so you can find more adventures, and know who is Fee!

Submitted(+1)

What I liked:

  • The art style was really cool
  • Player controls felt pretty solid
  • The music fit with what I was seeing, it didn't feel out of place.
  • You kept the game short enough to keep a player's interest (which is hard imo)
  • In relation to the above, it seemed that it gave you more time to work on polish

Suggestions:

  • While I liked the shifting textures on objects, I think they should either shift slower or have less detail to them. The doorway put a strain on my eyes.
  • The camera acts a guide to the goal at points in the game, which isn't bad in itself, but I think it should be a button feature rather than automatic (like a hint when you can't figure out where to go.) There were points where I was trying to jump to platforms, but I was fighting the camera while trying to jump the platforms
  • I liked the voice acting, but I felt like there were instances where the dialogue's implied certain emotions and it didn't sync up with the voices (mostly Fee)

Overall this is a really cool entry and congrats! Do you plan to move forward with the game?

Developer

Hi Dan! Yeah I would like to continue the game. At least until Taras discovers who's Fee.


Thank you so much for your review. I will go point by point with your suggestions:

1) Texture shift: I received this suggestion several times, so the new release have the textures slowed down!

2) The camera acts as a goal point: True, that was the main idea, at least for the level 1. I thought that if the camera focus the objective, the players would know what to do, and at the same time the cinematic fit very well.  On the other hand, I've received several reviews about the camera moving so fast. Now, in the Menu of the game (Escape) you can adjust the sensitivity of the mouse ^^

3) About the voices: This I can't do so much, the voices are auto generated, and don't provide a control to give the voice more emotions (change the tone or pitch, etc). I tried to shirk that problem making more pauses, but yeah, there's a "Taras You've to escape NOW" that sounds really light. I'll investigate this problem further, thanks to pointing me out!

Do you think the voices adds to the game or I should remove it ? 

Thank you so much for your honest review!

Submitted(+1)

No problem! I didn't know the voices were auto-generated. That's pretty impressive that I didn't notice that. I do think voices add to the game, but if you can't get friends to record the lines, what you have is fine.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Nice music, graphics and an interesting idea. I was surprised by the curving effect at the end. Nice game.

Developer

Thanks!!  I want to introduce the opposite curvature in a second level.

Glad you liked the style of the game!

Submitted(+1)

This game is very good in many areas, the only thing that could be improved is a tutorial haha the rest is super cool.

Developer

I've added the button commands in the description of the game, but I'm with you: a little tutorial will be nice

Thanks Miventech!

Submitted(+1)

An original idea and incredible sound.

Developer(+1)

Glad you like it!

Submitted(+1)

Nice game, interesting idea! I think that’s camera can be better.

Developer

Thanks!! Could you elaborate a little bit?

Submitted(+1)

Very interesting art style. The overlay was a bit hard for my eyes - maybe it should have been added in worldspace coordinates?

The music was amazing!

Developer

I'll definitely investigate the texture drawing in worldspace coordinates! 

Thanks for the suggestion!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

This was amazing! The curve was super cool at the end. The poor level design and voice acting actually make it even better as I couldn't stop laughing. Great job, really, I was amazed when I thought "This is a jam game" while playing it. It had a very cinematic feel too.

Edit: I almost forgot to mention that the thing with the strange texture is very cool, so shall you develop further versions - you should keep that effect.

Developer

Thanks you very much!! The idea was to set a lot of cutscenes to make the game feel like a triple C game haha

Glad you liked the first version of the game!

Submitted(+1)

This is a really nice game, I appreciated the different parts and the level design (I just would have same remark as Point Vertex about the first gate). An option to adjust the mouse sensitivity would have been nice also for this demo (because a little high for me) Apart from that, the voice acting and music also bring a lot, well done and it makes we want to see the full version

Developer(+1)

Wow, that's true, I totally forgot about the mouse sensitivity, I think I will add it in the next version!

Thank you so much for your review!

Submitted(+1)

It had beautiful art and music. I thought the voice acting was a nice touch. With some more content and polish this could be something really amazing. Keep up the good work, I'm excited to see what it becomes!

Developer

Yeah, I'm with you: the voice acting is nice, but feels a little robotic. 

Thanks for your review, I'll keep this project alive! 

Submitted(+1)

This game is awesome and well made, if you're planning to develop it further it will make a great game! 

Developer

Thank you very much for your review! I'm glad you like it!!

Submitted(+1)

I think I broke it. I skipped the dialogue and it just gave me a black screen.

Developer

Ups, I'll debug that! Thank for the bug report!

Submitted(+1)

Hi,

this is a pretty cool demo, I like the focus on story and telling that story, this is the only game I've seen in this jam that has voice acting in it, love that! The music is also very good in my opinion, good job on that one! The movement feels smooth, and I love the details like the labyrinth having a view from above and the deathride having a cinematic view. Because you guys are planning to continue on the project, here's some feedback:

  • I think the game would benefit from having some more polished models, but this is of course personal preference.
  • Having to climb up the mountain to pass the first gate was not really what I expected, so maybe you could have something small indicating you could get up there (e.g. a ladder) or you could have a key (if it's in there, I didn't find it, my bad) to open the gate.
  • My last tip is to just keep developing this game, because when a polished version of this project comes out, it will be fantastic!

Hope you can do something with this review and keep up the good work :)

-Remi

Developer(+1)

Thanks, I'm only one guy, so working in this projects is a little "big" on me, 1 day before the game jam closes I realized I couldn't finish it  entirely haha

I'll take into the account each of your feedbacks to improve the game!

About the models, I don't know what to do, I feel like setting more polished models would make the game run slower, but I haven't so much 3D experience so I don't know 100%: I'll try to do so until the performance starts punishing the game.

About the first fence, I'll try to introduce keys and switches, It sounds like a great idea.

Thank you so much for your review, it means a lot to me!

Submitted

Oh, making this on your own is a whole different thing :) I misinterpreted the credits, I thought that was the team. And about the models: if you want to have smoother models, texturing them will help you a lot. Instead of making the amount of vertexes bigger, you just make it look like they are (I'm not a 3D artist either, but I've tried getting my hands on it). Again, this game has a lot of potential when finished!

-Remi