Hello again. Thank you again for testing my game. I'd like to share my thoughts on yours. I'll make every effort to give you the most objective review possible, without any intention of attacking or praising you.
(Message written before the review.)
Here we go.
Run state: Playing time: 30 minutes Ending: Game finished
What I like -Very interesting gameplay. You've transformed reversi with a little rule that gives it a certain depth. This time-based game aspect is really very strong. -I really like the art. -Menu transition with screen tracking is nice. -The resolution is very practical. No need to go back to Windows to write the review. -The theme is used in a way I didn't expect at all and it's excellently executed. -Very well-crafted sound effect. -I don't think this was done on purpose, but the game asked me to play with time in another way that I found ingenious. (See below) -A beginning and an end with a sympathetic story (a nod to "Life is Strange"?) -Embellished with a functional title screen and gallery. It doesn't feel like it, but it's a reward that is always welcome in our community's games. -Perfect playtime. Not too long, not too short. The 30 minutes are mainly due to my inability to give up.
What I like least -No music despite the option. -The pixelated background doesn't work in the game's favor. A blurry effect would have been perfect. -Very difficult game because the time doesn't increase between each difficulty level.
Bug = None
Improvement point idea. -Perhaps review the difficulty. -With a longer story, some additional skills could be interesting. In addition to rewinding time, there could also be: *Stop time = stops the timer *See in time = Show a random dish *Scroll through time = Resolve a duo. - The game can be stopped when you exit the screen. This provides a possible resolution that seems seemingly ingenious in its role-playing aspect while also breaking a gameplay wall. -Some foods are confusing. For example: The yellow pie slice and the one with the red dot are hell. In my opinion, it would be more appropriate to really use extremely different foods. Having a short-term memory close to a goldfish, I had a lot of trouble with this. ^o^;;;;
Final Vision:
I'm not proud of it, but I half-cheated to finish the game. In windowed mode, you can click outside the screen and stop the game. I used this to write each solution and complete the final stage. In a way, it's also a game of playing with time. I don't think this was planned, but it gave me the impression of having to break the four walls to resolve the situation. This particularly stimulated me. A bit like the character who breaks the rules of time. In a way, I found my own way to solve your game. Add to that the fact that your game has very interesting gameplay and appreciable art, and you can say I had a good time. The main problem was balancing, the rest being rather minor. Although a little music wouldn't have gone amiss.
This is a very solid project you're proposing. I would like to congratulate you on your work while thanking you for honoring us with your participation.
I can only hope that you are judged on the merits of your efforts, while wishing you good work and continued success.
P.S.: If I used an unfortunate turn of phrase, I apologize. English is not my native language.
I highly appreciate that you were fully honest in the review. All the points you made about the things that need to be improved are accurate, and I'm glad there were no bugs!
It's good to know that despite these problems the game was still entertaining, even if you had to find alternative ways to win, lol. We will definitely be using this feedback in an update, thank you again for the in-depth review
P.S.: Incase you were worried, all the English in the post is perfect. No misspellings or strange phrases at all :)
Difficult game. When I saw it was a game of "Concentration" I was kinda like "?? really?" but the time travel made things click. It's a creative idea! Time travel also integrates well with the narrative, good job on that front. It doesn't really make logical sense that an eating contest would be won this way, but whatever - can be viewed as an abstraction of her ability to eat each dish c:
I can kinda answer this haha :). The original plan for the plot was to explain first that the protag gets an amulet that rewinds time and once you completed a stage instead of rewinding just the competition you where to rewind a year back to encourage your friend to train and gain weight. I didn't have enough time to write much so we ended with a bare explanation in game
Oh, sorry, I worded that poorly >w> When I said it doesn't make sense I was referring to flipping over each dish to find pairs. Like that's a very "computer game" type of abstraction, doesn't make much literal sense. As stated though, it not making sense doesn't matter a lot c:
The time travel stuff was explained & implied perfectly well!
This was solid, and it was interesting to see the ‘travel’ theme applied to time instead of space.
I do agree that the timing is pretty punishing at the end - it almost felt like random chance was the biggest driver, getting lucky matches early on while scouting the board. The rewind functionality is good in concept, but sometimes hinders more than helps if it takes the player back to a point where they’ve already got one item turned.
Nice art and a cool idea, but I would agree with others and say the time limit needs to be adjusted, either that or you get more options on the redo time button as the level increases since the final one is really difficult to beat (considering the positions of the food are randomised each time after you fail so it's impossible to remember the positions that way).
The idea of this game is neat, though it is made to physically destroy my brain's complete lack of an ability to retain positions, I straight up could not beat the final challenge lol. Also I noticed that even if you lost you would see the full version of the character, which honestly felt kind of backwards considering it's supposed to be partly the reward of winning haha
There are actually 2 full versions for each set! There is one final, slightly fuller version that should still be locked. Also, thanks for the feedback! Definitely seems we need to fiddle with the difficulty a bit.
Neat concept, but those timers are unforgiving. Yes, I am aware there is literally a 'get more time' button. But when a match locks you from making another choice for a couple seconds, and you have to wait for the plate timers, AND you are trying to memorize where everything is, it feels like failure is not only an option, but the expectation. As far as concept goes, its a solid 5/5. And as a game jam game goes, it functions. I just feel I'll enjoy the post jam version more, when its timers have been tweaked slightly.
The last level did turn out a tad more brutal than expected, but I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hoping to touch a few things up post-jam, so we'll look at the timers and see if we can tweak them to be more engaging
Comments
Hello again. Thank you again for testing my game. I'd like to share my thoughts on yours. I'll make every effort to give you the most objective review possible, without any intention of attacking or praising you.
(Message written before the review.)
Here we go.
Run state:
Playing time: 30 minutes
Ending: Game finished
What I like
-Very interesting gameplay. You've transformed reversi with a little rule that gives it a certain depth. This time-based game aspect is really very strong.
-I really like the art.
-Menu transition with screen tracking is nice.
-The resolution is very practical. No need to go back to Windows to write the review.
-The theme is used in a way I didn't expect at all and it's excellently executed.
-Very well-crafted sound effect.
-I don't think this was done on purpose, but the game asked me to play with time in another way that I found ingenious. (See below)
-A beginning and an end with a sympathetic story (a nod to "Life is Strange"?)
-Embellished with a functional title screen and gallery. It doesn't feel like it, but it's a reward that is always welcome in our community's games.
-Perfect playtime. Not too long, not too short. The 30 minutes are mainly due to my inability to give up.
What I like least
-No music despite the option.
-The pixelated background doesn't work in the game's favor. A blurry effect would have been perfect.
-Very difficult game because the time doesn't increase between each difficulty level.
Bug = None
Improvement point idea.
-Perhaps review the difficulty.
-With a longer story, some additional skills could be interesting. In addition to rewinding time, there could also be:
*Stop time = stops the timer
*See in time = Show a random dish
*Scroll through time = Resolve a duo.
- The game can be stopped when you exit the screen. This provides a possible resolution that seems seemingly ingenious in its role-playing aspect while also breaking a gameplay wall.
-Some foods are confusing. For example: The yellow pie slice and the one with the red dot are hell. In my opinion, it would be more appropriate to really use extremely different foods. Having a short-term memory close to a goldfish, I had a lot of trouble with this. ^o^;;;;
Final Vision:
I'm not proud of it, but I half-cheated to finish the game. In windowed mode, you can click outside the screen and stop the game. I used this to write each solution and complete the final stage. In a way, it's also a game of playing with time. I don't think this was planned, but it gave me the impression of having to break the four walls to resolve the situation. This particularly stimulated me. A bit like the character who breaks the rules of time. In a way, I found my own way to solve your game. Add to that the fact that your game has very interesting gameplay and appreciable art, and you can say I had a good time. The main problem was balancing, the rest being rather minor. Although a little music wouldn't have gone amiss.
This is a very solid project you're proposing. I would like to congratulate you on your work while thanking you for honoring us with your participation.
I can only hope that you are judged on the merits of your efforts, while wishing you good work and continued success.
P.S.: If I used an unfortunate turn of phrase, I apologize. English is not my native language.
I highly appreciate that you were fully honest in the review. All the points you made about the things that need to be improved are accurate, and I'm glad there were no bugs!
It's good to know that despite these problems the game was still entertaining, even if you had to find alternative ways to win, lol. We will definitely be using this feedback in an update, thank you again for the in-depth review
P.S.: Incase you were worried, all the English in the post is perfect. No misspellings or strange phrases at all :)
Difficult game. When I saw it was a game of "Concentration" I was kinda like "?? really?" but the time travel made things click. It's a creative idea! Time travel also integrates well with the narrative, good job on that front. It doesn't really make logical sense that an eating contest would be won this way, but whatever - can be viewed as an abstraction of her ability to eat each dish c:
Pretty good overall!
I can kinda answer this haha :). The original plan for the plot was to explain first that the protag gets an amulet that rewinds time and once you completed a stage instead of rewinding just the competition you where to rewind a year back to encourage your friend to train and gain weight. I didn't have enough time to write much so we ended with a bare explanation in game
Oh, sorry, I worded that poorly >w> When I said it doesn't make sense I was referring to flipping over each dish to find pairs. Like that's a very "computer game" type of abstraction, doesn't make much literal sense. As stated though, it not making sense doesn't matter a lot c:
The time travel stuff was explained & implied perfectly well!
This was solid, and it was interesting to see the ‘travel’ theme applied to time instead of space.
I do agree that the timing is pretty punishing at the end - it almost felt like random chance was the biggest driver, getting lucky matches early on while scouting the board. The rewind functionality is good in concept, but sometimes hinders more than helps if it takes the player back to a point where they’ve already got one item turned.
The timer for each item is too long, making it extremely hard to remember where is what
Damn this was brutal. Interesting concept though!
Nice art and a cool idea, but I would agree with others and say the time limit needs to be adjusted, either that or you get more options on the redo time button as the level increases since the final one is really difficult to beat (considering the positions of the food are randomised each time after you fail so it's impossible to remember the positions that way).
The idea of this game is neat, though it is made to physically destroy my brain's complete lack of an ability to retain positions, I straight up could not beat the final challenge lol. Also I noticed that even if you lost you would see the full version of the character, which honestly felt kind of backwards considering it's supposed to be partly the reward of winning haha
There are actually 2 full versions for each set! There is one final, slightly fuller version that should still be locked. Also, thanks for the feedback! Definitely seems we need to fiddle with the difficulty a bit.
Neat concept, but those timers are unforgiving. Yes, I am aware there is literally a 'get more time' button. But when a match locks you from making another choice for a couple seconds, and you have to wait for the plate timers, AND you are trying to memorize where everything is, it feels like failure is not only an option, but the expectation.
As far as concept goes, its a solid 5/5. And as a game jam game goes, it functions. I just feel I'll enjoy the post jam version more, when its timers have been tweaked slightly.
Overall, 3/5
The last level did turn out a tad more brutal than expected, but I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hoping to touch a few things up post-jam, so we'll look at the timers and see if we can tweak them to be more engaging