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Billy Wonder's Candy Factory's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #273 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Audio | #387 | 3.383 | 3.383 |
| Visuals | #424 | 3.717 | 3.717 |
| Overall | #794 | 3.047 | 3.047 |
| Innovation | #947 | 2.783 | 2.783 |
| Gameplay | #1198 | 2.433 | 2.433 |
| Enjoyment | #1338 | 2.367 | 2.367 |
Ranked from 60 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does the game fit the theme?
This game is about making candy for the most famous candy maker in the world. In order to make candy, you've got to go through a lot of trial and error until you get it right. Nothing is allowed to go wrong, otherwise you have to start over.
What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
All assets that were made outside of the jam are included in the game's credits.
How many people worked on the game?1
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Comments
Really liked the art style.
Gameplay-wise, I found myself very directionless with no clues around recipes etc, and trial and error is fine if it weren't for the fact that it takes so long to carry ingredients to the combiner.
Happy to hear you like the art!
I agree that the gameplay is a bit unfair, and that the trial and error would feel better if the overall gameplay was faster. Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!
Nice game, the art style is pretty cute and after a while I figured out how it worked. Nice entry man :)
Thank you! I'm glad you liked the artstyle!
No problem man :)
hmm very cute game with a nice layout. Good work!
Thank you!
I liked the art style and the idea of the game :) I agree with other players that mentioned making the walk a little faster and maybe giving some kind of hint. Other than that, I enjoyed it. Also, I liked the sign, reminded me of The Simpsons 🤣
Happy to hear you liked the art and idea! Your criticisms are fair, I'll be sure to keep them in mind for my future games. Glad you got the Simpsons reference! Thanks for playing my game!
Love the artstyle and the idea, but it feels unfair to me, I might've missed somtething but there doesn't really seem to be any way for me to figure out how to do things, except to constantly try again methodically, which quite quickly loses its appeal.
I see in comments below that the idea was to have unique endings for everything, that would've been really cool, maybe even worth scrapping something else from your todo list (although I know scope management is really hard 😅).
I'm also always a big advocate of allowing the user to very quickly restart, in the case where you can die often, so maybe allowing a user to restart by pressing a button so that you don't have to switch between keyboard & mouse could also be a big improvement
Glad to hear you liked the art and concept! You're right that the gameplay loop is pretty boring and unappealing. When I scrapped the unique outcomes, I forgot to rebalance the game to fit the new gameplay loop, which is why the game is in it's current state. The restart being too slow is a very fair criticism, I'll be sure to make restarting more snappy in my future games. Thanks for playing my game and giving feedback, I really appreciate it.
Stardew Valley with a dark undertone, which I liked! The trial and error part of figuring out recipes made me feel like I didn't have much agency. Would love clues or hints hidden in the level or something so I could feel like I solved a problem without using brute force. I think this is a solid start though!
I'm glad you liked the artstyle, it was indeed inspired by Stardew :)
I agree that the trial and error aspect feels very punishing, it was originally supposed to be different and make the player feel somewhat rewarded when they failed, because each fail was supposed to be a unique outcome. I had to cut that out because of time constraints though, so I just used an explosion as a universal fail instead. Adding hints would make the current gameplay loop a lot more fair, which makes me regret that I haven't added any.
Thanks for the feedback and for playing my game!
Nice one, but I didn't understand how we were supposed to figure out recipes? just randomly, or did I miss a menu or something? The overall vibe with audio & art is very cool! Another detail is i felt like it took a long time to walk from one side of the room to another.
Overall a nice game still, gg!
Happy to hear that you liked the audio and art! The recipes are supposed to be figured out randomly through trial and error. I admit that I haven't communicated that very clearly to the player and I'll make sure to make the gameplay a lot more clear in my future games. You're also right about the player being too slow, I should've made him faster. Thank you for the feedback!
Nice little game, cute graphics. Good work -- well done!
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for playing!
Cool idea! Very cozy combination of this graphic with this music. But I think it would be great to keep the progress instead of remaking old recipes
Happy to hear you liked the art and music. I agree that not saving the player's progress after making a product was a bit harsh, I'll make sure to make my future games more fair. Thanks for the feedback!
The game is able to make something really simple really funny, it must be the big sign in the background hahah. When I first got the chocolate shell I felt really satisfied, but when I saw all the ingredients change to new ones I felt really pranked hahaha. Really cool entry with a super nice art style, great work :D
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the game! I really appreciate that you like the art, thanks for playing my game!
Nice art and audio! I did remind me a lot of Stardew Valley as well. There's not a whole lot to complain about on my end, maybe a faster walking speed? Great work either way!
Thank you! I was very inspired by Stardew when making the art, I'm glad you like it. Happy to hear you enjoyed the game, I agree that the player is too slow. Thanks for the feedback!
I like the concept of the game. The visual and audio fit the game very well :)
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for playing my game!
It's a really cute and fun concept! The explosion when you mix the wrong things is so funny to me lol
Thank you, I'm glad you liked the concept! Happy to hear I made you laugh with the explosion. Thanks for playing my game!
Cool game! I love the art style as well as well as the soundtrack :)
Thank you! I'm glad you liked the art and music. Thanks for checking out my game!
Really like the presentation. Wish there was some rule or clue to give the player SOME semblance of hope :D
Glad you liked the presentation! I agree that giving the player small hints would make this game a lot more fair. Thanks for the feedback!
Wow Great presentation! Super polished and the Art and sound work wonderfully, feels like a whole world you enter into. Simple mechanics that are easy to pick up! Just wish the mixer was next to the ingredients since walking back and forth becomes a slog, especially since its all down to trial and error.
Would love to see different failure "endings" based off the ingredient combo to give a bit more variety to the trial and error.
Excellent work! Really enjoyed the overall vibe of the game!
Thank you for your kind words! Really glad you liked the overall presentation and art. I agree that the distance between the ingredients and the mixer is a bit too far and that the player is too slow for the gameplay loop to be very fun.
The different failures were originally meant to be in this game, it was actually the main premise! However due to time constraints, I didn't have enough time to implement them, so I had to make all fails the same. This also ended up being the reason why the gameplay isn't very engaging, because I kept the gameplay the same but I've changed the punishment of failing.
Thanks for checking out my game!
Good idea! But considering that progress resets to zero, it would be better to place the mixer next to the table with the ingredients so that when restarting, it's faster to collect known recipes. Also, hints for recipes would be helpful. But other than that, it's a wonderful game!
Happy to hear you liked the idea! You are absolutely right about the retrying process being frustrating and the gameplay loop being slow. However I feel that putting the mixing machine right next to the ingredients would speed up the gameplay loop too much to the point where the game would become quickly boring. But I do understand what you mean. I should've made the player walk faster or just shortened the distance between the ingredients and the mixing machine, as well as made the retrying a lot faster. I also agree with you that hints would definitely make this game a lot more fair. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
Loved the cute art and the simpsons reference on the wall :D, about the gameplay, definitely needs faster walking speed, or at least a couple "lives" before it explode, otherwise the constant restart can feel a little bit too much :D
I'm glad you liked the art! I agree that the gameplay is far too frustrating, I'll definitely look into making my future games easier and more satisfying to play. Thanks for checking out my game!
Vibe was great, art was great, did all three candy just felt like if the only method on making a correct match was to guess and check, the distance travel was way too long xD other than that, congrats on your game.
Happy to hear you liked the vibe and art! I'm glad you finished the game all the way to the end. You're totally right about the distance, I should've made the character walk faster so that the constant trial and error can be a bit less annoying and slow. Thanks for checking out my game!
The game is very well made and very polished. Audio was on point, did not feel tiring at all.
The gameplay was a too frustrating, which isn't always bad in my opinion, but in this case I felt like it was too much work for very little payout. Instead of feeling like a puzzle, it felt like a chore.
Some QoL that could be added to make it more fun while still retaining a trial and error factor:
With not too much work, this game could become way more fun in my opinion.
Thank you! I'm very glad you liked the audio.
You are absolutely right about the gameplay. I could not have said it better myself. Your suggestions are all great ideas and they would absolutely make this game more fun!
Thanks for the feedback!