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ACATTAG's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Graphics | #14 | 4.368 | 4.368 |
| Soundtrack/SFX | #28 | 3.684 | 3.684 |
| Overall | #34 | 3.618 | 3.618 |
| Overall | #47 | 3.316 | 3.316 |
| Gameplay | #54 | 3.105 | 3.105 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
really nice job on the graphics and music! you got so much detail in the level elements and synthesis interface. this feels like it would be a really fun game once you get in more content and complete it.
Lovely graphics and music, love the gameplay idea.
Los gráficos y la música están bien. La idea me gusta.
Muchas gracias!
This is like a AAA game for the gameboy! So detailed and good! Maybe the music could be improved a bit and…the synthesis. For the rest, really good job!
Wow, thanks! Yeah the music was definitely a struggle, making stuff in trackers isn't super intuitive 😅
I love the artstyle and the vibe, but I was unable to properly play the game as, as you may know, the synthesis mechanic isn't really working. It's a really cool idea though.
Fair enough! Thanks for trying it out nonetheless!
Beautiful graphics, music absolutely sounds like the gameboy puzzle games released on late 90's, as other comments mentioned, the synthesize mechanic is rather glitchy and the game just freezes for me after trying to make something with the blob and opening the game, of course it's understandable, this kind of mechanic takes a considerable amount of time to get right and i would like to see you following this game up in the future, great job!
Thanks so much!
The glitches are a big pain. I have managed to fix a lot of the bugs since the jam ended but even now it still crashes on occasion 😔
Definitely hoping I can pull off that follow up!
So after playing, I read through a bunch of comments on both this page and the game's itch.io page. I'm very surprised to hear that you're not used to making pixel art, this looks great (especially the synthesize menu)!
I came across a lot of bugs unfortunately and was not able to have any synthesized creatures actually do anything other than move continually against the left wall. Obviously this is a big mechanic to take on with a platform like GB, and in such a short amount of time, it'd be tough to accomplish for anyone I'd imagine. I see that you are considering working on the same concept in a more modern engine, I think that'd be great!
Thanks for the kind words!
I have managed to stomp out a lot of the bugs with synthesis since the jam ended, sad I couldn't manage it before😔
Do you happen to remember what kind of synthesized creatures you made?
The moving to the left thing happens whenever there's a worm part on the right-most slot, the intended "solution" for the first room is either a worm left arm or worm legs (those move to the right)
I might have to encourage players to experiment more or possibly make a preview of the effects in the menu!
Ah yes, that would make sense. I can't recall exactly which I made, but I definitely used mostly worm parts. I assumed that it going exclusively in the one direction was a glitch. I think the missing link for my understanding was knowing that I needed to make a creature with a unique combination of parts to accomplish the task at hand, but didn't know what that was supposed to look like for one part (such as worm head, arm, etc) let alone how those parts would work together in a specific combination.
Sounds like you're on the right track though! Maybe even doing something like unlocking the ability to synthesize more parts comes later, and the player is forced to only synthesis the legs and main body to get the basics down first.
I couldn't quite figure out how to progress, but the concept is really interesting to me - with some more time to iron out the interface and bugs, this could be extremely cool, tons of potential for experimentation and neat puzzle setups. Really cute art too!
Thanks a lot!
I have actually managed to iron out most of the bugs since the jam ended, although I definitely still want to do a rework of the interface!
Cool idea and concept. Gameplay feels a bit glitchy, but otherwise this game has potential. I look forward to future updates for the game (If your planning on it)
Thanks for playing! I've ironed out a lot of the bugs since the jam but I don't know how much I'll expand this version; I might try the concept again with a modern engine!
Absolutely love the concept but sadly it kept glitching out and I never get very far. It needs a little more feedback on what I'm doing wrong during synthesis as I was kind of lost. Love the artwork, sound and feel of it. Very impressed despite the glitching issues <3
Yeah, between the glitches making things unclear and the synthesis menu being a bit confusing there's a lot to improve! Thank you for the kind words and feedback!
Super cool concept + great art. Had a couple crashes (same issue as below w/ some arrangements of worm + blob) but I enjoyed playing it.
One bug I noticed is that touching the ceiling seems to reset your jump, so you can beat the second synthesize room just by spamming jump against the ceiling without spawning a monster.
Thank you!
I noticed that bug too, lol; but sadly I didn't have time to re-examine the jump code since all my focus at that point had went to crunching the synthesis system. Speedrunner strat? :)
Very interesting concept. I'd love to see it fleshed out some day. Also, masterful use of dithering.
Great job!
Thank you for playing! I just might do that!
(And thanks, I'm new to making pixel art in general so that's good to hear!)
I loved the graphics. Really detailed despite the limitations with the colors
Like others, it took me a while to understand what to do. I had to read the game description twice and I figured it out with one of the screenshot GIF you have. My issue was mainly the "Synthesize" part. I couldn't understand how to move in that screen and what it's supposed to be doing to help me figure out the puzzle.
With more clarity (like maybe a tutorial at the start) I think it has potential.
For the synthetize part, I'd probably go with a RPG-menu approach maybe ?
1) select the action you want to do
2) if you select to put it on the + part, the cursor moves to the top to select the DNA
3) once you select the DNA, the cursor moves back to the "+", you place it there and it goes back to the action menu where you can press "Synthesize"
I don't know if you see what I mean, it's tough to explain in a comment section!
Overall, the concept is good. Reminds me of "A boy and his blob" on the NES, to solve puzzle using a creatures you carry. I could see it expanded to something bigger!
Good job on your submission!
Thanks!
Yeah, clarity is unfortunately a big issue it seems. Unfortunately I got so crunched just trying to implement the mechanics themselves (and didn't even quite make it all the way on that lol) that everything else ends up more of an afterthought. In the future though!
The advice about a RPG menu that limits what you can do more is a great idea, it would be sort of like a drop down menu except instead of the dropdown it would go above. I like it!
I've never played A Boy and his Blob but I have heard good things about it, and now I definitely will give it a go, especially since I do want to expand on this idea!
The concept is a treat and crafting your own little creatures to solve puzzles makes for a very personal and entertaining puzzle solving experience. And although you say that you didn't finish it and the experience was riddled with glitches, the art and conceptual identity of this game is worth its weight in gold. I highly suggest that you pursue this idea in a less constrained environment!
Thanks so much! I definitely am considering trying again on something modern!
Really interesting idea, I dig it! Unfortunately I had the game crash on me while combining the worm and blob DNA.
Thanks for playing! Unfortunate that it crashed on you, it's definitely not as stable as I had hoped. Do you happen to remember what combination specifically you tried when it happened? (As in which parts were in which slot)
I think it was worm on top, right, and bottom, and blob on the left.
I gave it another try and managed to finish the blob+worm part. The scientist is so cute
I'm glad you had another go! And thanks, I'm glad you like her!😭
I would love some help or explanation to know what to do, I went through a few doors and collected the worm DNA but the synthesizer didn't make any sense. I played it on my Game Boy and the worm was a graphically bugged the first time I played it, but I admire your work nonetheless!
Thanks for the input! Always hard to know how complicated you made something until it's too late.
I added some extra instructions to the description, hopefully it's helpful to future players!
Is there a specific part that was confusing that I might be able to remedy in the game itself later or do you think I just add an instruction screen inside the game? I know I wanted to make the up and down buttons traverse the menu more easily, at least...
I will try those instructions, they will definitely help! Just to make you aware, it is really hard to read the itch page description because the text and the background are both dark colors!
The specific part was the synthesizer screen, but those instructions should help, I will give it another go!
Oh heck thanks for telling me about the colors, I couldn't tell because my browser has an automatic dark mode extension! Fixed!