Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Would have been nice to not have to download the game twice! Unfortunately I couldn't join a second player so couldn't test properly. Looks great from the video though.
• You've essentially made Zombie Overcooked. this is in no way a bad thing. as while the design parallels are obvious the application of unique set design, aesthetic style & even audio quality sets this up fantastically as it's own thing that stands apart by itself very clearly and confidently. Everything is well tutorialised when new mechanics are presented to the player and it can even be brute forced solo with M&KB & Controller set up hackery and still have fun with it. No major notes beyond adding "gibberish" VO to the text whenever Dr Bogus is on screen giving you instructions. And the octopus grabbing could be a little bit more forgiving. (I swear i caught the blighter!) Considering this is meant to be a Vertical Slice, would say this is basically done & ready to be sold as a commercial product as is. hope to see this developed that little bit more and given a final pass of polish before actually seeing it as a product on Steam.
• - Excellent trailer! Fantastic music choice, and really liked that you set it up with some cutscenes to open and close the trailer, rather than just purely game footage! Game footage mixed in nicely! The logo is great :) - Incredibly polished game overall - you should be exceptionally proud! Everything looks and plays? amazing! The audio design is fantastic. The visuals are fantastic and consistent. Everything sits together extremely well - it really reminds me of old kid friendly monster/Halloween cartoons - that kind of comedy horror/monster soundtrack coupled with the tongue in cheek monster design. This feels like a finished game on-pa with Overcooked in terms of quality, difficulty and complexity. A really imaginative twist on to the Overcooked gameplay - you borrow the core design but completely revamp it for monsters with some very...creative recipes for your monsters :D You should ABSOLUTELY show this to them and see if they'd be interested in working with you to finish it and release it! Congratulations!! :D - I really love the humour of this game - the fact that the bodies are in skips, and that rather than retrieving or chopping up wood, it fabricates a WHOLE TREE, that you have to then chop down, you have to spear fish for octopus. I look forward to seeing more levels and for this to come out one day! I will buy it! :) - Fantastic idea to wrap it up as a proper looping demo too with an "end". - UI - Love that the entire "menu flow" is essentially in the world and done through walking through doors and navigating the world map - consider extending the tunnel length a little as you can see there's a black wall at the end. - Particularly like the splash screen and that it's a collection of the monsters that will be created, in a nice animated diorama - the art holds up well up close too! - Really love the chalk board touch for displaying the results and the recipes in the tutorial. - All the button states are well catered for on the main menu with sounds, mouse over events etc. - Would suggest you grey out or don't show menu options you can't access yet - e.g. "continue" when you don't have a save game yet. - The screen resolution options could do with a little more space to separate them from the back button (I'm being a bit picky). - During the tutorial - consider adding a "press a to continue" prompt on the messages just in case people can't read quite fast enough, so they progress at their own pace. - Noticed an issue with the scrolling text reveal from the professor - the text jumps to the next line once the reveal shows enough characters to fill the current line. - The HUD has a few subtle aliasing issues on the countdown timer image. - Game - Environment art - the lighting is fantastic. The level feels full and legitimate. The variety of objects is excellent. The level tells a story - it's not too clean, or too "evenly" dirty that would make it feel artificial. There's dirt smears around machines, bodies lying around on top of things. - Level design - very well thought out, to break up the space and create the sort of "manic" feeling that comes with Overcooked - there's no direct route anywhere. - Love that the monsters you've made gather at the back to watch you. Brilliant touch! - The animation is excellent across the board and suits the style and aesthetic of the game very well. Everything has movement and feels dynamic - it feels like nothing has been missed and everything has been so well thought out. Machines are just a loading bar for gameplay purposes - they animate, like they're doing work and give you something to look at! - VFX - the particle effects throughout the map are fantastic and balanced - they do just enough to animate static areas of the map to add visual interest - torches, smoke on the entry exit portals, lightning strikes. - Audio - Audio speed up is immaculate and sounds great! - All the sound effects make everything feel very satisfying. - "Recipe orders" fantastic icons and layout - the timer bar is a great touch, icons on the game objects in world also make things super clear. - I love all the unnecessary machines that are in the lab to make these monsters - like the machine that makes a full tree, you have to them cut down to get wood from. - Level hazards - great touch that the players to not only make the monsters but be careful they don't get injured themselves. Nice countdown for returning the player to the game. - The tutorial flow is excellent. I really like that you layer in the difficulty and complexity as the level(s) progress. E.g. just put a body on the table and electrocute it, without worrying about batteries, then add an extra step to creating the monster (the slime zombie), then on the following level - "oh yeah, you need to worry about batteries too :p", as well as a new recipe. It's also fantastic that the tables stop at the exit for the first level, but then you increase the difficulty to allow for mistakes and bad monsters to be shipped out. - The graphical quality of the game is excellent. - Audio mix and balance throughout is excellent
• Very impressive. Love the tutorials, really strong polish on this game. The theme was great, and the style of the art, and the animations was all top notch. Good quality all round, and I appreciated the humour too. Only tiny nit pick was that the difficulty curve seemed overly steep, but perhaps that's because it's a demo?! Lots of potential here if you wanted to take it further.
• Great art quality, tutorials with the theme, good use of sound, effects, and UI. This game was a blast to play and I am sad it isn't a full game, could easily pass as an indie game or a prototype for crowdfunding that I would back. Logos, use of character, and a variety of mechanics with small simple levels could easily be expanded and keep the same charm. feedback/bugs Level 3 reads level 2-1 in the end level menu Charming art that seems of consistent quality all round A great little world built here in the short time that it has controls for grab and drop seem slightly unresponsive shame there is no run, dash or bash controls that are in others of the genre