I was so scared that you would play the jump scare card on that zoom-out phase ! I loved the contrast with the childish graphics for the minigame and the realist/dark environment. Well done 😉
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TZnake Eyes's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #2064 | 3.118 | 3.118 |
| Overall | #2960 | 2.686 | 2.686 |
| Enjoyment | #3189 | 2.412 | 2.412 |
| Presentation | #3381 | 2.529 | 2.529 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The roll of the dice are important, both literally and metaphorically.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam
Comments
The idea is simple but It is a good base to further work on I believe, adding features to this could make the game much more interesting but it was nice to play, great job!
Submitted
Defend Or DieSince others said ill try to not repeat myself, i want to, if possible, give some feedback on what i think it's bad.
As others said, the gameplay is boring and the player doesn't have much agency on what happens, although with that Twist , i guess it's intentional, but it would have been good if the minigame for the plot was a little more engaging and also had some relation with the twist.
Talking about the twist * Spoilers*:
I think if instead of a pc with a game deciding your life (which is my interpretation of the story), it was maybe some kind of "evil corporation" forcing you to get results or something, something like playing a casino-like game and your "boss" or "kidnapper" threatened to kill you if you got the "wrong dice".
Also i think it's strange that you are just playing a pc game about collecting dices but a lady says if you don't get a good dices she kills you.
But overall the idea it's pretty interesting, also, the sprites and their "effects" (rotation, sprite zoom in-out, etc...) are pretty good and well done, though the sprites themselves could get improved, hope you work a little bit that area, cause u have potential! Overall hope you can make better makes in the future with this feedback! GL bro :)
Submitted
Cursed SoulThank you for playing my game!
Yeah, I agree that there could be a combination of mini-game and story that meshed together better. Your idea is pretty good!
My original idea was that you were playing as a kid staying up late, with you mother telling you to go to bed. And the game was about getting to the next level in an MMO before she came in to pull the plug on your computer. This wasn’t dramatic enough, so I changed it to what the game is now. I think I should have thought it through even more, but I still think this is better than my original idea. But at least you now know why there is an energy drink next to the computer ;)
I’m glad you noticed the sprite effects, as I spent too much time on them. What can I say? I’m glad we’re learning about linear interpolation and sine curves in my university courses courses haha.
Again: Thank you for playing and giving me advice about how the game could be improved.
Cool Man! Though personally i don't think the mom finding you late idea was that bad, you could make it like a horror game where your mother looks like a demon or has red eyes or something and says she is gonna "punish" you, whatever that means, even though that seems like a normal situation, it's quite unexpected. Good luck in future jams!!
Halfway through the game claims "Two more ones and you'll be free." That made me chuckle since even the game seemed to realise that this was a boring purgatory I was trapped in.
And there we have it: The game is boring. Yes, there's a twist at the end and the attempt at a creative framing story, but that part is too short and badly set up.
For the backstory to work:
- You need to start in the zoomed-out state, to make sure people contextualise themselves as players in a game rather than the little witch.
- You need to create a minigame that feels like it would be used for the purpose that it is used for
- You definitely need voiceacting.
If you think of games like Getting over it with Ben Foddy, or The Stanley Parable, both games have the narrator right from the start, and tell a story from beginning to finish. The narrator's tone and voice and in the latter case humour are essential to these games.
This game would have worked better with multiple endings, with the dice actually being random and the narration reacting to that. I feel like the dice react too well to the lines and vice-versa for that to already be the case, and I'm not tempted to play the game again and check if I'm wrong.
Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to write such in depth feedback! Here are some thoughts after thinking about it for a while:
- I did try to voice act the lines myself, but since this was a solo project and I'm not the best voice actor, I figured that no voice acting was better than bad voice acting. Nevertheless, I agree that some good voice acting would have improved the game.
- I agree with you other criticisms of the story. Maybe a better theme would be like a criticism of how pay to get money NFT games work, where the voice is your boss threatening you or something. I dunno haha.
- Multiple endings would be cool, but I figured it was better use of my time to create one good story rather than several crappy ones. If I had more time, I might have included multiple endings.
Regarding the randomness: The drops of the golden dice is actually 100% deterministic, since i wanted complete control of the pacing (meaning that it is impossible to win, which I think fits with the quote at the end). I wish I used that control a little better, since I think the game is a bit too slow. I would probably make it about 30% shorter.
Again: thank you for giving me so honest feedback. It is very appreciated.
Good on you for taking it like a champ!
I know it's hard to pour time and effort and part of your soul into a project only for a guy who spent a few minutes playing through it to disparage all that. I try to temper my criticism with constructive advice, but I know it's hard. It's great you can take this in the spirit it's intended.
Don't worry about your voice quality. Maybe you can borrow a mic from somewhere so the sound is ok, and everyone knows it's for a game jam. Alternatively, just have someone with a few minutes to spare voice act the few lines you have, shouldn't take more than 20 min. I'm sure reddit would help you in a heartbeat.
Thank you for replying, and thanks for participating in the jam. You tried something bold, something with a message perhaps, and that ambition is to be lauded. I hope we'll see you next year, and good luck!
i liked playing this, good concept and twist, it ties into the theme in a really cool way! the recontextualization from a storyless 2D game to something with a proper background and story is really nice. well done!
Submitted
Omon Tetha
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