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.
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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
Comments
Nice game, the art style is pretty cute and after a while I figured out how it worked. Nice entry man :)
Submitted
Good EnoughI 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 🤣
Submitted
The organized capy godLove 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!
Submitted
Every Minute MattersI'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!
Submitted
BleachedHappy 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!
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
Submitted
A Simple Fishing DayThe 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
Submitted
Olive and Motor OilNice 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!
Submitted
Wild CrossingI like the concept of the game. The visual and audio fit the game very well :)
Submitted
Murphy's LawIt's a really cute and fun concept! The explosion when you mix the wrong things is so funny to me lol
Submitted
Potion CommotionCool game! I love the art style as well as well as the soundtrack :)
Submitted
The Witch DoctorReally like the presentation. Wish there was some rule or clue to give the player SOME semblance of hope :D
Submitted
The French QuandaryWow 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!
Submitted
Leap of FaithThank 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!
Submitted
Disaster RescueHappy 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!
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.
Submitted
BridezillaThe 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:
- Being able to let go of an ingredient.
- Faster walking speed/shorter distances/making the game just UI.
- a hint system like giving the name of the candy you're supposed to make or a description of it.
With not too much work, this game could become way more fun in my opinion.
Submitted
Willy's Wishy-Washy Wishes
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