Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• The scope of this game is impressive, given your limited time budget. Well done! This was a head-scratcher of a puzzle/strategy game. I found that planning out the chain reactions was very fun... but pixel hunting for enemy buildings/vehicles under the fog was not as fun. Some of the interactions/timings took me a bit of time to figure out; I think that some more time spent on level design and introducing these different elements in very deliberate ways could help with emerging gameplay and ramping difficulty smoothly. That being said the level designs as stand-alone puzzles were very fun and worked very well! I did not feel a whole lot of moral consequence for casualties - nor did I feel much motivation for avoiding casualties. I think some narrative devices could really help tug at the player's emotions. Maybe generate news articles after each level that gives some "flavor" to the events and puts faces on victims.
• Very well done! The art took me back to some of my favorite NES games. I really enjoyed the ability pick what I could shoot. (The trees for example. Even though it did not help me complete the level, you let me do it!) White Text on white clouds at beginning was confusing. I felt frustrated at one of the levels because it took so long to find a green building that was mostly hidden. This took me out of puzzle solving mode and into tedious hide and seek mode. Sound and music added SO much to this game. Loved the camera shake. Wish the red aim indicator was always rendered below the scenery. This would help players to register location of shot more quickly, making it seem like it was always on the ground. Amazing work!
• I thought the interpretation of morality, leaving the weight of the casualties up to the player instead of a game system, to be great. Cost of human life is definitely up there with some of the biggest moral choices someone can make... Gameplay/mechanics were good, but the original design made its way in near the end making the goals of the gameplay less clear. The puzzle gameplay is great, but trying to sneak a peak of a building outside the fog of war just added frustration. The controls are on the itch page and in the game, but the initial placement of the game board means a new player won't be able to see them, and you can't move the map without knowing the controls, so it's a catch-22. Besides that, very simple to understand and see the action/reaction and to experiment with the different things you can blow up and how they react. A way to reset the mission early could help with that, though, to speed up the learning process. Great art, great sound. The sound and music really bring it all together. Only complaint are the few art assets which could have used one more pass to bring them to the same level of polish as the rest, namely the roads and how they fit together. All together it makes for a very cohesive game. Feels like an interactive art piece disguised as a puzzle game. Or a puzzle game disguised as an art piece. Either way, everything fits.