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Bug Souls Pinball's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Sound/Music | #2 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Overall Fun | #4 | 4.333 | 4.333 |
| Controls / UI | #7 | 4.167 | 4.167 |
| Art / Graphics | #8 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest 6! My name's Hythrain, and I'm one of the hosts and streamers for this event! This feedback is being written live on my stream.
Pinball! Yay! I love pinball! The visuals and sound design are also all very well done. This feels incredibly polished!
That said, there were two things I didn't get: what choosing a card before each machine did, and how you actually win. I played several games, one going into "overtime" yet I still "lost." If there's a win condition, I don't know how to achieve it as it's not being told to the player.
I will also admit, I'm not a fan of the mechanic where you hold the flippers and they actually stop working if you keep holding. This is a normal pinball tactic when you need to regain control and reorient yourself, so not allowing it feels weird to me.
Also, secret squirrel.
I see the lack of in-game tutorial has struck, I had a feeling it would at some point, adding a tutorial is definitely a top priority right now.
The cards are activated abilities, while playing the pinball part of the game they show up on the left side and you can press w or space to use them to do things like have the ball jump or spawn some extra bouncers, this is also why the flippers turn off when you hold them, because some cards give points and being able to keep the ball in one place allows you to infinitely use those cards, which is a pretty boring way of getting infinite points, (otherwise it would be allowed).
The win condition 100% needs to be explained in-game i realize now, tutorial or not. The win condition is to collect enough lives to survive falling out of 6 cabinets, there's a little cabinet stat on the side and if you fall out of the 6th one with enough lives remaining you win!
I'd suggest trying the game again with these mechanics in mind because they really are a big part of the game, but you can do what you want.
Thanks for the feedback! also, secret squirrel.
Would making it that new cards don't spawn unless the ball is actively moving work? Maybe where it needs to interact with bouncers and those gusts a certain number of times before a spawn can happen, and even then it matters by minimum time?
Nice visuals and polish! It looks pretty nice so far!
- I liked the idea of getting powerups! I love a good roguelite mixed with something!
- I echo that Octopus X kind of said about not feeling too much like pinball. Although we have the bumpers and paddles it still feels like its missing something.
- I know playing pinball machines at my local arcade they are themed, and sometimes when you hit a certain bumper a side quest occurs which instructs the player to hit certain bumpers for a point bonus. Maybe you could do something similar since you are rolling with a roguelike pinball game?
- Might just be me, but the ball feels kind of too heavy at times. Sometimes when I hit the ball it will arc up then fall straight into the deadzone.
I hope you keep working on this because I feel the idea is solid, but it just needs some more content and too lean a bit more into the feeling of pinball! :D
Thanks for the feedback! I'm definitely looking into changing the ball physics a bit to make the game feel better, the bumper side quest idea is cool and It's definitely something that I would like to add, so after I get a bunch of other stuff out of the way (like a tutorial) and can add new mechanics again I'll try to do that.
Pretty cool, nice sounds and visuals! The only thing I thought was that the ball didn’t bounce well off the drums. Game didn’t feel like pinball and therefore got boring quickly. Pinball machines often have the ball bouncing around like crazy, but here it moves too predictably and boringly. Otherwise this is a great project!
Thanks for the feedback! I'll see what I can do to make it feel more like pinball.
Current version of the game has no tutorial (game is still in development), I will be adding one in game at some point but for now if you have no clue what's going on this devlog > https://thesolarslime.itch.io/bug-souls-pinball/devlog/671574/tutorial-and-v03-p... < has a short tutorial.