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Sleeper Cells's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Controls | #13 | 3.565 | 3.565 |
| Audio | #13 | 3.565 | 3.565 |
| Originality | #13 | 3.913 | 3.913 |
| Fun | #19 | 3.565 | 3.565 |
| Overall | #22 | 3.460 | 3.460 |
| Accessibilty | #33 | 3.130 | 3.130 |
| Theme | #33 | 3.696 | 3.696 |
| Graphics | #90 | 2.783 | 2.783 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
4.2.1.stable
Wildcards Used
All 3.
Game Description
A cellular automata inspired puzzle game with rock-paper-scissors mechanics.
How does your game tie into the theme?
The key cell type cannot grow on its own and must piggy-back off other cells as a parasite.
Source(s)
N/A
Discord Username(s)
thesquaregroot
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
This will be my 4th time, 3rd time solo.
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Comments
This is a very cool game with a very inventive concept. I played with my son (5) and tho the green ones were very confusing he still got the basics and enjoyed playing it so he has given you a solid 4 stars on every category except fun - which gets a 5
That’s great, thanks for playing and for the feedback! I have 5 year old myself and she was super interested in it while I was making it, so it’s fun to get another 5 year old’s perspective. Glad you had fun with it!
Very interesting concept, I really like it! The sounds are pretty good too
Thanks for playing, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Really enjoyed this! I don't think I've seen this type of game before so thank you
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for playing!
I am very proud to say that I managed to create an infinite loop of green and blue overwriting each other. Very fun little game. Also great audio haha.
Ha ha, that was definitely a fun, unexpected consequence of the rules.
Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it!
Really nice little game! The mechanics were a bit to digest at first, but they are interesting. I appreciated the attention and progression you put into each level, too. I felt I was brute forcing a few levels rather than really understanding the solution, though. I also couldn't beat level 15, but the others were a fun challenge.
Good work on this! I enjoyed the puzzles and I look forward to what you make in the future.
This game definitely requires more trial and error than I would have liked, so I definitely understand that feedback (which has been fairly common). I found it difficult to extract teachable lessons that had direct, practical uses in future levels. The snake-like level is the only one that I felt really good about in that regard, and even then it’s hard to know if that and the level that follows it are enough to really drive home the point. I’m definitely counting the user to recognize what’s happened and carry that lesson with them afterward, which is probably a lot to ask for a game that’s already so abstract.
That said, going in, I really wasn’t sure if this would yield anything worthwhile at all, it was really just an experiment in whether a cellular automata-based game “would puzzle” with the help of rock-paper-scissors mechanics. And I think it got the job done in that regard, so I’m happy with that.
Anyway, I do appreciate the feedback. Thanks for playing, I’m glad you had fun with it!
Well done. Good mechanics. Good game feel. Nice progression.
Thank for playing! Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent game! Really cool take on the theme and wildcards, great style and audio too, just a lovely puzzler overall. Nice one!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Refreshing puzzle mechanics. Very fun mix of conway and RPS. Love it! :D
Thanks for playing, so glad you enjoyed it!
Very very nice puzzle game! Quite entertaining and original. I like the animation and in particular I love the rolling eyes when you complete a level, very satisfying. Nothing to add, this is a little gem. I'm hoping you will add some more levels in the future :D
Thank you so much for the kind words! I had the idea for this almost immediately when I saw the theme/wildcard announcement but I knew there was a risk it would be too convoluted for many people. So glad to hear it’s landing for some.
Thanks again!
Really neat idea! I'll admit, definitely struggled with the difficulty and all the different systems to keep track of. I loved the googly-eyes though and the audio alongside it was fantastic.
Thanks for the feedback! I definitely knew going into this that even though I was trying to keep things relatively simple, there were still going to need to be a fair number of moving parts to make sure there would be interesting interactions. Plus cellular automata aren’t exactly common game mechanics, let alone in a puzzle game.
Glad you enjoyed the silly side of it though, I had a lot of fun putting it together.
I really liked it, although I'm pretty dumb so I pretty much guessed every level XD
Hey, thanks for playing nonetheless, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Really cool game! Maybe I'm a little dense but admittedly I was kinda just guessing by the later levels. I also couldn't get past level 15. I would just run the simulation and watch how it played out and try to adjust my walls and infections accordingly.
One thing that I think might have helped me internalize how the game worked would have been the ability to pause and "step" the growth of the parasites. I was sort of able to achieve this by turning the speed slider all the way down and then moving it up and back down to make them advance a cycle. This is something I learned with my game--when you've made it, you're very accustomed to how it works so it is a lot easier for you to understand how a level might play out. Next time I'll try to have more friends playtest so I can get a better feel for how a noob experiences the game.
Nevertheless, everything game together well into a nice puzzle game, great job!
Gotcha, that makes sense. I had thought about pausing but hadn’t really thought about stepping through bit by bit, I can definitely see how that would feel more natural if you’re trying to figure things out. And I agree more play testers would have helped, too.
Also, I added a hint for level 15 to the bottom of the game page, in case you decide to take another shot at it.
Thanks for the feedback!
Really cool entry! I got stuck on level 15, but I really enjoyed playing up to that point. This was a very unique entry. I think it fits the theme well and it was very satisfying whenever I beat a level. Great job!
Thank you! Level 15 is definitely tricky, I had the idea for that level and really liked it but ended up having to spend quite a while trying to get it to work, so I’m not surprised it’s challenging. If it helps, though, I think the ultimate solution feels pretty simple and straightforward when you get it. There’s also definitely at least one hint I can give that could be pretty helpful, so if there seems to be a lot of trouble with that level maybe I’ll add that as a spoiler on the game page.
Regardless, glad you enjoyed the rest of it! And if you do revisit and beat level 15, I would love to hear what you think!
Just wanted to mention that I did add a hint for level 15 to the bottom of the game page, in case you want to give it another shot.
Alright. It still took me a while, but I finally got it! Thank you for the hint.
Nice job with this. Thanks for having a good tutorial. Too many games skip it. (Including mine D:)
Thank you! The tutorial felt necessary if I wanted people to stick with it. 😅
Normally I would just try to teach the mechanics in simple levels, but it felt like there was too much going on to trust that the average player would get it. I did spend a fair amount of time trying to make sure it was reasonably concise but also sufficiently clear, so I appreciate you calling it a “good tutorial.” Thanks again!
Nice little puzzle game, some of the levels really made me think. Well done for using all the wildcards.
Thanks for playing, glad it got you thinking!