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Six Days at J.U.D.Y.'s itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Theme | #3 | 4.355 | 4.355 |
Design | #4 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Overall | #7 | 3.955 | 3.955 |
Gameplay | #11 | 3.774 | 3.774 |
Technical | #13 | 3.903 | 3.903 |
Artistic | #46 | 3.742 | 3.742 |
Ranked from 31 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Just smashed this little gem out in one sitting over this afternoon. I loved it! Definitely my pick for the jam. Yal absolutely nailed it IMHO. This is a tightly designed puzzler that is bang on theme, with excellent level variety, a clean and functional aesthetic and great sound design.
Even though I could point fingers at stuff that's not there (classic game jam commentary), I never really felt that there were things missing during my playthrough that hampered my enjoyment. Yeah okay some have already mentioned that it's hard and the difficulty ramps quickly but for me that was a strength as each level introduced a new twist and really took some investment into understanding how things fit together. I am not a big puzzle gamer and to me the solutions never felt obtusely out of reach and I solved them quite organically, striking just the right balance between creativity with how I went about solving each one and feeling guided to the solution through the design of the level. The problem space feels large given the size of the map but complexity has been cleverly limited through tile arrangement to prevent extended periods of the dreaded "analysis paralysis". Kudos for throwing in a generous undo too, a much appreciated feature.
The graphics and audio while understated feel entirely appropriate for the setting and are enhanced by all the little visual FX/shader touches. So often this visual and audio candy can feel like unnecessary smoke and mirrors to mask poor gameplay and visual design. But here I think it really works as you've made the UI so minimal that the sfx, spark particles and glow effects that occur as you reorient the tiles work as wonderful feedback mechanisms for the player and look great while not being overly flashy and distracting. Maybe the glow is cranked a little too much, but I never found that it got in the way of me playing and is a minor nitpick.
On top of being a good game you even threw in a story that could have easily felt like bloat but instead really helped to contextualize the game and added an unexpected "employee caught in the middle of a class struggle" moral conundrum layer to the whole thing. A really nice touch, it evoked a similar feeling to Papers Please though obviously much lighter in tone. I would love to see this expanded further if you choose to continue development.
Now it could use a little polish here and there to bring it to release level but the game already feels confident in it's identity. Honestly you two did a great job, it was a pleasure to let myself slip out of game jam critique mode and just enjoy myself.
What a generous review! Thank you very much for taking the time to play it, and especially to write it up like that!
Glad you didn't find it too difficult. It's hard to know where to draw that line, and other reviewers clearly found it tough at times -- all of which is useful feedback. And yeah, Papers Please was one of the games we discussed in the planning stages. My teammate fenchel deserves the credit for bringing that in as a touchstone and introducing the option to disobey instructions (and credit for being a killer teammate across the board, but I digress).
Thank you again!
That was really good tho, congrats on it. loved the mechanic and the sfx, all so good to mess around with ^^
Awesome to hear, thank you for playing it!
this was a really great twist on the classic pipe dreams formula. it starts out very challenging though, imo, and could maybe use a few easier, smaller introductory levels.
my other main criticism is that the brightness of the lights when many pieces are connected make it very difficult to see the surrounding wires. it seems like each wire has a light source attached and perhaps there could be a limit based on a radius, where if there is anything over the limit is activated, just the color of the wire changes to the appropriate activated color.
Very fun though and I could see this easily being released as a full game with a bit more time available and polish!
Thank you for playing! I bet we could put a slider into the pause menu that would turn down the glow effect (or turn it up, if you're a real glowbug).
'twould give it a real glow-up imo
Wow! I could see how this game could be extremely addictive!! Beautiful effects and excellent puzzles! The percentage complete indicator is very helpful and gratifying! Nice game! 💚
Hey, thank you very much for playing!
The flicker of electricity as we move the pieces were really polished and the game looked great. Definately gave the dystopian feel.
Thank you for playing!
Very nicely made, really enjoyed these puzzles. Good job!
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed!
Awesome puzzle game. In my opinion the tutorial could have been separated into smaller chunks. The UI design is great and the puzzles are not too easy. Fantastic job!
Thanks for the feedback and thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed the difficulty level.
This is harder than it looks. Anyways, nice game mechanics
Thanks for playing!
Nice vfx and style :)
Thanks! Appreciate you playing!
Very well made clever puzzle game, congrats!
Thank you for playing!
Really clever puzzle game! Wouldn't have imagined moving pieces going with the theme, so congrats! I really liked the puzzles difficulty level and soft and fun story!
Thank you very much!!
Really cool game, it's pretty darn difficult too. xD
Thanks for playing! Hope you didn't get too stuck.
This is a very polished game! Impressive!
Thanks for playing it!
Nice touch in the start menu!
Thank you! That was fenchel's idea, and I like it too.
Nice game! At first I was thinking there must be hundreds of ways to connect these, and then I realized how few there were.
A few things: I found the font hard to read due to its small size. I also wasn't sure where to click in story mode and kept exiting to the main menu. It would also be nice if right click spun the tile in the opposite direction rather than undoing. Faster tiles spins would be nice too. Other than that, fantastic game!
All useful! I've clicked back to the main menu on accident myself. Appreciate the feedback and thanks for playing!!
The idea to add the first game mechanic to the menu already is really awesome! Also really good idea for the theme. The sound effects are really good as well :). Overall the look and feel is very polished and I actually played it much longer than I thought. Good job!!
Thank you very much! Appreciate you taking a look.
Very well done. I liked it it has an very eerie feeling about it. Like something is mysterious that has to be unraveled. I liked it a lot!
Thank you for playing it!
At first I was, this menu is hard to read, then I turned on the lights. It was a nice surprise. The game reminds me of a old board game I used to play as a kid with hexs and lines, it brought back some memory's playing your game.
Thanks for checking it out!
Love the vfx and the puzzles. Great job!
Thank you so much!
Very Polished! Loved the intro menu unlock. Great game!
The unlock was fenchel's idea -- I really like it too!! Thanks for playing.