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A jam submission

Broken DollsView game page

Submitted by Mutagen R. (@DoomDino1) — 19 hours, 33 minutes before the deadline
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Broken Dolls's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#1033.3753.375
Innovation#1283.2503.250
Theme interpretation#1893.2503.250
Gameplay#2172.7502.750
Overall#2192.9382.938
Graphics#2692.6882.688

Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

GitHub repository URL:
https://github.com/mmutee/gameoff2021

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Interesting concept, I can see how you can turn this into a cool horror game!
I would recommend changing the game screen size to be more bigger, I don't know if it's only on my end but the game screen was really small and I had to zoom in alot.
Also the timer getting longer if you hit a normal doll felt a bit like a weird punishment, maybe switch it to a heart system? where if you hit a normal doll you lose a heart or something like that.

Developer

All valid points that I agree with. Thank you for a thoughtful review!

Submitted

Good game. The theme was interpreted well. I found a few “glitches” or “bugs” during the game, I mean, sometimes I hit but dolls don’t fix.

I didn’t passed level 3, honestly. It was funny, anyway.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing and writing a review, much appreciated. I am happy you found the game funny, that was the intention but it got lost a little.

Submitted(+2)

cool concept the game is fun and the theme match very well, the difficulties of the game, however, in my opinion mainly depend on three problems that could be fixed and not on the game itself:

Sometimes the character stops just before the dolls.

Sometimes, even when hit, dolls don't fix and need to be cultured again.

Sometimes dolls cluster on top of each other and if a functioning doll sits on top of a broken doll then the broken doll becomes impossible to repair.

the bonus level feels like a level made to let off steam on dolls without a purpose but still fun

Developer

Very valid points, thank you for playing and taking the time out for reivew.

Submitted

I verified your application on a Year 2006 unused Windows machine. I reached until Level 3.

At Level 1, I didn't know what the correct action was to finish the level. This is even after reading the instructions guide.

At Level 2, I was already counting the TIME before the level finishes.

At Level 3, the broken dolls increased and the broken animation became clear.  In addition, the Audio began to remind me of PINBALL.

Thank you. Health!

Submitted(+1)

Fun game concept, I couldn’t pass level 3 despite getting within 20s of completion several times. Eventually I gave up. If you can, think of ways to make the reward-vs-challenge balance out so that it motivates you to keep trying :)

Some frustrations on level 3:

  • sometimes I’d run towards a doll and apparently stop running right in front of it, not where I clicked but somewhere before it, so I couldn’t plan ahead much
  • sometimes a doll I’d just bumped (hopefully fixed) was broken again immediately afterwards and I can’t tell if I missed it and nothing happened (unlikely, I was right on it) or it randomly picked exactly the same doll to break in the very next second, in the latter case maybe it could skip breaking a recently fixed doll for a few seconds to get you to run around a bit?
  • at one point 3 dolls all gathered right on top of each other in the top-right which made it impossible to fix one without bumping the others and incurring me a huge time penalty, maybe some logic to make them collide or otherwise avoid each other by at least a few pixels would help with this

Either way fun game concept, matches the Jam theme well IMO, the movement control is novel and even though it got very hard very fast I must say I generally enjoyed it. Well done and hope to see you next year too! :)

Developer(+1)

I am very very grateful to you for taking the time out and sharing such detailed analysis and awesome feedback. Thank you!

And your analysis is spot on! Almost all of the points you raise I already have my eyes on. Like preventing a doll from becoming glitchy right after it has been reset or the player character not finishing the run correctly, or the dolls stacking up in the corner. 

A lot of balance is indeed needed, the 3rd level is extremely difficult for me too (the 4th one is basically hell). Thank you once again for giving it your time!

Developer

Updated the game, fixing most of the issues.

Submitted

Hey!

Very completed style! 

Like a magic console which can buy only serisous boys. 

Nobody know what in this console in this room. 

Music bring to concentrate for gameplay.

Submitted

Congrats on the game. It was fun to play :)

Submitted(+1)

I like it. In my opinion the music you selected fits perfectly with your game.

As others pointed out, it seems that sometimes it took a while to a glitch to appear and that could be a little frustrating.

I reached level 3 and nothing happened, I assume the game ends there. Would be nice to have a way to communicate that in order to be clear, just a simple end screen would be great to make sure it looks finished and not a bug.

Developer

Hey Patrick, thanks for trying out my entry. Thank you for the compliments, I made the music myself, just a little whimsical peace for the absurd setting of the game. About the unfinished nature of the game, I am reluctant to update it due to the rules, I am not sure if its allowed. I will ask and do an update.

Submitted(+1)

Sure, I totally understand you being reluctant about changing because of the rules, I was just point out things that could be improved if you want to continue this project in the future after this jam, or just a suggestion for future entries on other game jams.

Submitted(+1)

I like the unique gameplay and how fast the challenge grew! I liked the running sound effect as well! in the first level I had to wait a while for anything to happen, but by the time level 3 came around there was always something going on which made it really fun haha! Good work!

Submitted(+1)

Very cool game. 

Looked simplistic at first but you provided some really interesting movement mechanics.

You have to be careful how to approach the broken dolls so you don't bounce off into the other dolls.

Game looks great and I liked your sound effects :)

Awesome job!

Submitted(+1)

I played your game!  When I started, I didn't expect to have some fun as it wasn't clear to me what to do, but then I realized and I had fun! However, the time kept jumping around, backward into the minus when I would hit a non glitchy enemy and then it would jump forward a lot when I did hit a glitchy enemy, so I wasn't sure!

Also, at one point I was waiting around 20 seconds for a glitch to appear. I think if you tweak the times between and make sure the player is always moving, it would be really fun!


Nice work on your entry! You should be happy!

Developer

I am so glad the first review I got is from you. I agree with all that you have pointed out, the game was made in the last 2 days of the jam and it requires a lot of testing and bug fixing, so you are analysis is spot on and exactly the things I am working on. Thank you for playing!