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Plunk's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Made Me Think | #7 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Compelling Gameplay | #13 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Satisfying Interactions | #15 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Overall | #20 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Stylish Visuals | #36 | 2.333 | 2.333 |
| Appealing Theme | #39 | 2.889 | 2.889 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
I've played this a few times and I like puzzle games. Plunk has nice easy aesthetics that work well
What was the most frustrating moment in what you experienced?
There's not really much to get frustrated at. But the pipe looked more like an in than an out. Not that that's tricky to see after one shot
What was your favorite moment?
Planning a roll, seeing the plan in action and then getting the points was really satisfying. My favourite would have been when I completed quite a complicated plan that worked well - I forget how I did it but it was cool
Was there anything you wanted to do, but the game didn’t let you?
Have flat/square bounce pieces that make the ball bounce in the reverse direction. Maybe one these as a cube could even be a tunnel along the other axis?
If you had a magic wand where you could change any part of the game, regardless of cost or complexity, what would you add/change/remove?
More! But like the above, some 'trick' pieces could be cool - either by some sort of spend points or gain unlocks mechanic
What would you say you were doing in the game?
Creating a path for guiding a ball to the exit
How would you describe the game to friends and family?
It's like making trick shots in pool, but you place blockers to bounce the ball off and the balls numbers make score go up
Thanks for playing! I've got so many ideas to expand the mechanics of the game. A lot of people have gotten confused by the pipe and I'm still figuring out how I want to change it.
Excuse the terribly laggy video; my laptop was unable to handle the game and recording at the same time.
What was the most frustrating moment in what you experienced?
In the beginning, when I did not understand how to place bumpers and it seemed like there is nothing for me to do.
What was your favorite moment?
Figuring out combos, especially those involving bumpers placed while the marble was rolling. Also longer combo sequences.
Was there anything you wanted to do, but the game didn’t let you?
Collecting marbles in the corner or edges without it being the end of the run.
If you had a magic wand where you could change any part of the game, regardless of cost or complexity, what would you add/change/remove?
More level variety: obstacles, effects, extra gameplay. The current level gets repetitive very quickly.
What would you say you were doing in the game?
Building a marble parcour to collect colorful buttons with numbers on them.
How would you describe the game to friends and family?
A prototype of a puzzle game where I do the above thing. You need to hit two marbles with the same color or number in sequence to score enough points.
Thanks for playing! You're the first person to be confused by the bumper placement rather than the pipe rotation. I've fixed the bug where you run out of buttons a couple times but good to know it's still there. I've got some ideas to make the gameplay and tutorial a bit clearer that haven't worked their way into the prototype yet.
Thanks for playing! Adding variation through the roguelike deckbuilding is the next step. It's good to know I'm headed in the right direction.
I’m a fan of puzzle games and I feel like you have a solid concept here! High Score: 505
Thanks for playing! So far I've only got the puzzle core working but the next step is adding the roguelike elements so the randomization makes more sense. Combos are the gameplay I want thing I want to lean into the most so it sounds like I'm headed in the right direction.
I enjoyed the game, I did get a bit confused to begin with regarding consecutive pairs of numbers, I kept aiming for 1, 2, 3 rather than 2,2,2 etc.
I like the art style, it has an elegant minimalism to it. Though I do think the 3D angle in the capsule image is much more visually appealing than it is in game (assuming they are the same assets).
Like others I had treated it as a puzzle game more than a rougelike-score chaser, so I see a bit of a mismatch there.
I have a recording of my playthrough that I will send your way so you can see my thoughtprocess in real time.
Overall a good game :D Well done!
Thanks for playing! I have a scoring system for scoring runs but it's not in the prototype yet. It is the same assets. I'm using the current angle since I like it the best for the clarity of the game while still being visually appealing. I do want to add a fun optional first person camera mode for when the marble rolls around. I'm still working on the roguelike upgrades so it is just the puzzle core for now.
Hello! Here are my notes for feedback that I made while playing, and a recording.
-I like the SFX
- I think going the way of a roguelike like you're starting to do would make this much more engaging for me personally. Right now it feels more like a puzzle game which isn't my jam.
- I like that you can add bumpers as the ball is going, though that wasn't obvious to start with.
- Also wasn't obvious that the little octagon guys would just eat the ball.
- Could definitely see the potential here with more roguelike 'number go up' elements, or being able to change some of the balls so we could get a pair etc more easily if the game didn't spawn them near each other for example.
Thanks for playing and thanks for the video! Did you understand how to score? What would expect the octagon/runestone to do when hit?
No worries! I wasn't 100% sure how to get a 'big' score if that made sense. I saw that we could do pairs so assumed that if I rolled over multiple 6's for example that would score more, is that correct? But if there was anything more than pairs I wasn't aware of it, though if I had to assume it would be like three of a kind etc. I also wasn't sure if rolling over multiples of the same colour would score more, or if it was multiples of the same number, or both. Perhaps a button somewhere on the side listing the patterns would be helpful for that (like the poker hands button in Balatro). I do think if I understood that better it would have motivated me more to try to get more of the patterns.
In terms of the runestone I think I was expecting it to work like the bumpers, that the balls would bounce off of it. Even when I knew that that wasn't what it did after hitting it in a previous round my brain kept making that association. I see that it's a different colour than the bumpers, but maybe making it a drastically different colour would help? Or if it looked more like a hole or something the ball would fall into, I'm not sure.
It's multiples of the same color or number. Hovering over the runestone / octagon explains it but good to know it's still not obvious enough. I hadn't gotten around to adding a stone shader to the runestone yet so it is in an awkward spot visually. I'm still figuring out the pattern scoring a bit so I was keeping it simple with pairs and sets for the demo. Having a different spot for patterns is a good idea.
Gotcha. Honestly I really do think it has promise, I like the core concept.
If you ever want someone to playtest future versions just send me a message on discord, I have the same username but with an I instead of a 1. Id be more than happy to play it again sometime :)
The first 2 rounds kept me thinking I'm not a puzzle-game person (not the games fault, I'm don't really like puzzle-games), but then it became really engaging and I wanted to score more. Well done! I feel like this could be really cool with an interesting theming.
Thanks for playing! I'm hoping to get away from the puzzle game part a little more as I add the upgrades and deck building aspects. Any ideas for a different theme? I'm partial to the abstract theme but I have thought about changing up the theme for limited time events and such if I get around to something like that.
Hmmm why not make it a self insert and use a front garden with gnomes, plastic flamingos and stuff?
I enjoyed the time I spent with the game, but didn't feel like I got any better. I kept just falling shy of the 300 point threshold level, but it never seemed to click what I was missing to pass that stage. Because the level is random I couldn't see what I had missed to learn from.
A couple of times I realised after I had rolled the ball that I had set up one of the walls incorrectly. Since there is no undo or level retry, an error like that has a really high cost since it effectively ends the run.
Thank you for playing! It seems like I might have constrained the starter set of buttons a bit much. Right now it's just about chasing a high score since I'm still in the process of adding the upgrade systems. I have some random elements I still want to play around with so I don't know that I'll add an undo button but I do want to add a guide line that will highlight possible marble paths before rolling the marble.
I enjoyed the time I spent with the game, but didn't feel like I got any better. I kept just falling shy of the 300 point threshold level, but it never seemed to click what I was missing to pass that stage. Because the level is random I couldn't see what I had missed to learn from.
A couple of times I realised after I had rolled the ball that I had set up one of the walls incorrectly. Since there is no undo or level retry, an error like that has a really high cost since it effectively ends the run.
Cool idea. all mechanics work great. The puzzle aspect does feel a bit loose, is it all procedural? I don't think it offers the same satisfaction as an concrete solution does when solving other precision puzzles Ive seen with similar mechanics. Might be better tuning a bit the approach but I wouldn't know how. 😅
Thanks for playing! It is all procedural. I'm aiming for a big number roguelike rather than a puzzle but it's still missing the big aspect of tweaking your deck of buttons and upgrades.
I was thinking that maybe a Star rating system similar to candy crush or overcook might be a nice incentive. Where 1 star gets to to the next level, but 3 stars help to boots the gamers ego. That works great with loose point base challenges. But it would need to store previous game and allow replay though. Something to get the player hooked.
Auto Password Link: https://gnomable.itch.io/plunk?password=yay
Hey, I gave this a play. It's super intuitive, though I didn't read the tutorial at first, so I didn't know about the consecutive bonus. Once I had that it was really fun to play around with, and I didn't run into any issues. Is the only board the 5x5? It could be fun to have bigger boards, and other kinds of combos to get bigger scores (like 3 of the same color gets you 100, having a run of 3 numbers in a row give you a bonus, etc). I did make some bone headed mistakes (like didn't place a bumper where I planned) and wished there was an undo button. So that would be a nice enhancement. But regardless it's already a fun game with the increasing score requirement to add difficulty. Good work!
Thanks for playing! It's good to hear it's intuitive. I do want to expand the board but I'm keeping it smaller for demo purposes. You can erase bumpers by right clicking but an undo button is a good idea. It does have the ability for more interesting scoring but I haven't fully finished the upgrade items. It's the next task on the docket after I finish this round of visual polish.
Yeah, I figured out the erase bumper thing. I was more talking about after I sent a ball flying, I realized the bumpers weren't actually where I wanted them because the ball didn't go where I wanted it. It's really just a matter of being careful on the player's part, but at the same time I don't think it would be a big deal to give that undo as an option for boneheaded mistakes. I guess the only concern would be people could brute force solutions by trying lots of combos, but at the same time that seems like it would be a lot more work than just trying to think of a solution.
I still have some random elements to add and I might want to mess with some real time elements so I'm not thinking about a full undo. I want to avoid the brute forcing of solutions that you mentioned too.