Love the setting and style! I don't usually play these sorts of "take thing" games but this one was a lot a fun! My only complaint is that the text was kind of hard for me to read, I don't know if it was the size of the font or the color scheme or just that I have old eyes. ^^;
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Reclamation's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay/Usage of the medium | #1 | 4.400 | 4.400 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.025 | 4.025 |
| Story & Plot | #4 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| UI Design | #5 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Usage of Theme | #5 | 3.700 | 3.700 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team Members
groggydog
Program
Adventuron
Comments
This was great! Not a fan of this type of game, but I enjoyed it. I like how you integrated the tutorial into the story too. I appreciate how it's fairly easy to solve, enough for me to do a little speedrun to see the other ending. I thought I'd end up checking the walkthrough multiple times, but only the first puzzle stumped me—I somehow missed the part in the note that there's something else in the report.
Anyway, I liked trying to look at everything, even if it cost me a few loops. I think there's a bit too much going on in the right side of the ship though. I was a little overwhelmed at first, that I almost missed the datapad. Also it would've been nice to have the right click options displayed on a sidebar or something (not sure if I missed it in the tutorial, but I can't check again). I almost missed that there's a save or a full screen option.
Other than that, there wasn't much in the way of the story—I would've liked to see a few more logs from the characters and learn more about them (I helped them, but I didn't really feel bad checking the other ending).
I feel like you could do a lot more with the loop mechanic! Also 3/3 dumb ways to die :P
Submitted
In Auctorem CredimusThanks for your thoughts! I definitely tried to make it approachable, but rewarding. I'm sorry you felt there wasn't much story - unfortunately I only had a month so I feel happy with what I was able to accomplish in the meantime. Glad you were able to check out both endings and get all three secret deaths, though! I appreciate you playing it so thoroughly.
Wow, what a fun experience! I love sci-fi, and this adventure was a really interesting one. The personality in every line of text really shined through, and I really enjoyed playing through to figure out the puzzles. I didn't particularly find the time limit limiting either, and I think the only minor suggestions/changes I'd love to see would be a bit of audio, larger text (or options for larger text - I did have to zoom in a bit to read sometimes), and the ability to move via arrow keys if possible. Overall, a wonderful little game, and it came out pretty darn polished for being a solo gamejam project!
I don't particularly enjoy parser games, mainly because I prefer to play with mouse/space bar only. But I absolutely love puzzle. And your puzzles were worth pushing through my dislike of parsers. The tutorial helped me a lot!
Loved the Groundhog's Day vibe to the game, it was a really fun way to make you feel you are going against a clock, with a number of turn that is high enough to not feel too constraint. However, I do agree with yousayrandy that it became a bit frustrating at times. Maybe a way to fix it would have been to have the loop restart when a puzzle is solved?
The map was really nice to have after the first loop, because I would def have forgotten how it looked :P. Though it would have be nice to have it for your side of the ship, because it got me a bit confused at first.
The story was also really fun. Really enjoyed the humour and the mystery.
Thank you for creating this game! It was really fun :)
Submitted
SPS Iron HammerThanks for your thoughts! I know text adventure games aren't for everyone, and it was a bit of gamble for an IF-style competition. But I'm glad the tutorial helped and you had fun.
Re: your proposed solution. I definitely feel the frustration! It was hard to balance that game mechanic, and I think it's been a mixed bag: for some people, that's just how they want to play. For others, it's a fun mechanic. And what I really wanted was a sort of implicit puzzle on top of all the other puzzles, which is: how can I do everything I need to do most efficiently? The implicit puzzle is figuring out what is needed and what is not. But, again, I 100% understand how that would not be for everyone.
It was also the reason I made sure that the time loop never interrupted story/contextual information. Only movement. Any time you were in a computer terminal menu or reading, the timer would not progress. That was super important to me.
And I'm very glad to hear that the map helped! One of my least favorite qualities of text adventure game is being obtuse. I wanted to make sure the player knew where they were and (thanks to the walkthrough) could always find a way to progress. Hopefully that came through even though you felt frustrated with the time loop mechanic.
Thanks again for playing and leaving feedback.
Very nicely done.
Pros: One of the most polished and complete experiences I've played so far. The love for this type of game really shines through, and I was very intrigued by the mystery. I enjoyed the humorous tone and the puzzle solving. Not too difficult, but not a cakewalk, either. The tutorial was an incredible touch, and something a lot of us take for granted. As a result of that, and the polish in general, I never struggled to PLAY, like I do in a lot of these types of games. The UI, especially the map, was an incredibly nice touch, and made it less tedious trying to figure out what part of the ship I was in.
Cons: Really, the only issue is the nature of the time loop. Time loops are tricky, because they can add a lot if done correctly, but can be incredibly frustrating very easily. In this case, I think the addition of a time limit was a detriment. This type of game doesn't lend itself well to replaying, and I found myself frustrated when I ran out of time and had to repeat the steps I already figured out. Obviously there are narrative reasons for it, but maybe just have a fake loop and a line that says, "And then you retraced your steps" and just put me back where I was. It was doubly frustrating when the timer would tick down when I was just trying to figure out the correct order of operations to use or look at something.
Overall, though, this is probably my favorite one I've played so far. Very fun. Congratulations! Keep it up.
Submitted
Logical ChoicesThanks so much for your feedback. There are some really kind words in here - especially about the tutorial and not struggling to play. Both of these are super important to me.
I appreciate your thoughts on the time loop - I would obviously take a different stance in that I find it very fun to try and figure out the "optimal path" in a game like this, but understand that's not for everyone. I also wish I had had more time to put puzzles in that really utilized the loop aspect (e.g., where you solve part of a puzzle in one loop and the next part in another loop) but alas - a month was too short!
Thanks again for the comments; I'm so glad you enjoyed playing it.
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