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Pye the Pyper's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #6 | 3.867 | 3.867 |
| Polish and Completeness | #6 | 3.733 | 3.733 |
| Overall | #7 | 3.522 | 3.522 |
| Sound | #7 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Overall Impression | #11 | 3.267 | 3.267 |
| Art and Style | #11 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Gameplay | #13 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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This game may be used in a physical and digital multi-cart release and distributed by jam organizers as part of a digital archive (ZIP).
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Comments
This is a really cool arcade-style game; I think it captures the feel of an early NES release quite well. I liked the art and music, it functions well, and I had fun playing it. My favorite parts were the frantic moments when lots of mice would show up in quick succession and I'd have to dispatch them quickly and efficiently while refilling on pies to take on the rest of the group. My main wish is that there were more of these moments; as the game goes on, you're still often facing small groups with plenty of time to refill on pies, coupled with breaks in between where there's nothing to do (presumably to let more pies bake?). I'm not sure how the waves right now are generated, but I wonder if having an explicit 'waves' system with separate, numbered waves would help with balancing it so the game gets progressively harder and more tense. Those wave number milestones would also make it feel like you're getting further into the game.
Another thing I noticed is that you can actually juggle mice on the roof of the pie stand (only once, though, I think), and you get points when you do this. I don't know if this is an intended feature or a bug, but I think it's really cool and I wish you could keep doing it (with a slightly wider timing window than it has right now) and get increasing points each time. I think the game could use a mechanic like this that lets skilled players get more points without just surviving longer. I also noticed that mice can still kill you when they're falling off the roof, which doesn't seem right to me.
Finally, the collision between pies and mice is really wide and this sometimes has weird results, like throwing a pie at one mouse and hitting the mouse next to him. This can make it hard to know which mouse is going to get hit.
Overall, very cool entry and I think you guys did a great job.
1) Congrats on nailing the audio and visual aesthetic of this gameplay era.
2) I similarly struggled with figuring out what was going on, and had to rely on external documentation more than necessary. A few ideas, off the cuff, that might help with that:
Anyway, *very* much enjoyed it!
Glad you liked it!
Regarding the pointers you made, a couple of those were already attempted, namely with the rodent visual identifiers (yellow = rats = apple, etc.). As for things like making the pies more unique, that might be a little tricky given how palettes are currently being done, but will see can can be done. Many thanks!
I totally understand how restrictive the palettes can be. I'll pitch some ideas on how to handle that in #graphics-workshop. 🥧
I really like the gameplay loop here and how everything fits together. I think it's just missing one more feature or mechanic to incentivize the player to go up where the mice/rats spawn since as it is, there isn't a reason to. Really well made overall.
You gain more points the further up the rodent is. Eventually there'll be a better way to communicate that. Glad you like it so far!
This reminds me of the black box NES games. A solid mechanic on repeat until I eventually mess up. A pause button would be nice so I don't lose my highscore when I need a break.
I had some confusion at first figuring out that A and B were separate pies and how deal with the mice on the rooftops. The instructions on the main Itch page were helpful to me understanding. Perhaps that gameplay information is something that could be included in a simple attract mode?
Once I understood how it worked, I really enjoyed the gameplay and the mid-80's arcade aesthetic of the visuals and sounds. It reminded me of the humor of Atari's Food Fight.
I had a lot of fun chasing my score. If I saw this in an arcade, I would certainly play it :)
An attract mode is still planned; we just weren't able to implement it in time for the compo. Glad you enjoyed the game so far, though!
This game looks and feels super classic, so great job with the presentation. It's funny, too! The apple / cherry pie split could have been utilized more, but what's in the game still works. Seems like a good game for both kids and older adults.
Glad you enjoyed it! And many thanks for the feedback; the game'll likely get an update some months later, so we'll need as much of that as possible.
Once I figured out how you’re actually supposed to play, it took me quite a while to even get hit once. Generally kind of a monotonous gameplay loop, especially since there doesn’t seem to be any risk involved in restocking on pies. You can really just spend most of your time at the back of the stage and only come out whenever enemies appear on the far sides. Music was good though!