Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• This game feels original and intriguing, with a nice feel to it. The main character is cute and makes you feel connection to it right from the neatly design main screen. The gameplay lacks some continuity, feeling at times luck based and down to a good grind to get your upgrades to get the first level down. some mechanincs should be added to give a larger feeling of control over our little guy's destiny. Overall, a nice game with a great idea at it's core and a lot of potential that can come with more work!
• The music is a great fit to the gameplay itself. Some sounds were a bit disturbing (in that they interrupted the gaming experience). The concept of upgrading is very nice. The game's economy needs a big change. The player can very easily upgrade their miner to max levels on all parameters even before the first stage is complete. The player should need to grind for the upgrade. Also, after a few tries of the first level, it becomes clear that without upgrading there is no chance of winning. The player should be able to win without upgrading - or else they start looking for gold instead of gems. Come bugs: The miner's response to input is a bit sluggish. When the level begins the miner moves a little to the left on it's own. When you lose your last life, the miner continues for a while allowing the player to continue collecting resources. The gold counter some times is incorrect. The fact that the miner is digging without seeing anything on the screen is original. Most mining games are 2d side scrollers which show the player towards what they are mining. All in all I enjoyed upgrading the miner and beating the level easily. Was disappointed there wasn't another level.
• Even though this game is quite simple, I enjoyed it surprisingly more than I had originally expected and found myself playing more and more rounds trying to get better. I enjoyed the luck system, which is a creative addition in my opinion. My one significant change (provided I understood it correctly) would be to change the bomb mechanics - right now, if I encounter a bomb - I'm dead. Perhaps escaping it could be an option? Either way, this game was very enjoyable - Thank you for making it!
• Better Miner is great! I love how the mechanics enforce the theme literally - each time you play, you get better both because you become more skilled at the game and also because you have more upgrades unlocked! The character in the main menu telling you what the goal is was a great touch, which made the game way easier to understand and play. I liked the art direction and the music, and all the sound elements that enhanced the experience (sfx when you collect something, the music stopping when you die to emphasize that the game is over). It was great! Obviously this is a game jam, so there isn't time to polish everything. I still found it a little disappointing that the shop system was buggy - it feels bad for a player when they work hard to buy an upgrade and their money disappears without getting an improvement. Normally this wouldn't be such a big problem but since this directly ties to the theme it was more noticable. All in all - this was a great entry, especially for one made by one person. Great work!!!