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Pirate Software - Game Jam 15

Hosted by Pirate Software · #PirateJam
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A jam submission

Magic MeatballView game page

A cooking-based puzzle game!
Submitted by jbug16 — 10 hours, 26 minutes before the deadline
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Magic Meatball's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Artistic Style#15.0005.000
Theme#2334.0004.000
Cleverness#7553.0003.000
Playability#8043.0003.000

Ranked from 1 rating. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

  • This is a really cute concept and art style is really fun! I would have liked to have a little more in-game guidance on controls and what to do. It wasn't clear from gameplay how give food to the patrons, so I was confused and couldn't really progress. I think that if you were to use some kind of tutorial or tips to provide more guidance, that would make it easier to get accustomed to the game. Overall, I thought the cooking mechanic was great and the recipe guide was very helpful.

Did you include your Game Design Document as a Google Drive link?
Yes

Seriously... did you include your Game Design Document?
Yes

Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
Yes

Tell us about your game!
Welcome to the Magic Meatball! Here you manage a bustling restaurant and a secret potion shop simultaneously, with your movements mirrored in both kitchens. Balance fulfilling orders, toss ingredients through a magical mirror, and master the art of multitasking in this fast-paced, strategic cooking puzzle game.

Move with WASD, and watch in amazement as your shadow moves in tandem!

Left Click on items to pick them up, and if you don't need it, you can throw it with left click as well!

When carrying an item, use Right Click to place it where it belongs! Can't be serving guests raw pizza dough, right?

You also deliver the finished product by Right Clicking on the customer!

Forget what a recipe needs? Hit R! It's also good for skipping cutscenes for when you want to try to beat your high score!

Extra Notes
In our game, we interpreted the theme of 'Shadows' as representing light, secrets, balance, and the concept of opposites or parallels. For 'Alchemy,' we focused on potions, combinations, hidden knowledge, and the process of creation, weaving these elements into the gameplay and narrative. This is heavily inspired by Eldritch Eateries and games like Overcooked.

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Comments

grantlerrSubmitted129 days ago

The game looks pretty nice and has a good framerate on web. I couldn't figure out how to cook anything. You need to introduce the gameplay concepts slowly. I'd also like the option to skip the intro story. Keep integrating player feedback and I think you'll have a nice game here. Good job! keep making games!

Submitted
Midnight Alchemist
Reply
jbug16Developer127 days ago

Thank you for the feedback! I would love to add a tutorial section to explain more how to play. Also, pressing 'R' skips the intro/cutscenes, which is highlighted in the description, as well as in game at the top left. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Reply
FluffowSubmitted130 days ago

Nice concept, well executed, beautiful art.

Well done!

Submitted
Bouncy Brew
Reply
jbug16Developer127 days ago

Thank you!

Reply
HullahoppSubmitted131 days ago

I'm on a 1080p laptop. The right side of the screen is cut off, I can't see potion recipies :\
Probably not your fault, but mine. Still, a default resolution disclaimer would've been nice

Controls are unintuitive. I get why I need to click on the items, but still. Could've moved it to keyboard only by adding in a "conveyor", and make making a mess in the kitchen the player's choice, rather than the default. At any rate, I respect the  current way the game works

It's a neat concept though, don't think I've seen alchemy taken into the culinary direction in the jam. I think you nailed the themes really well.

Gameplay is interesting, though I ran into some issues. The two dominant ones were NPCs requesting food I seemingly couldn't create, and throwing items being super inconsistent.

Hope you can polish up the game post jam, could be a hidden gem of a game!

Submitted
Tenebris Colosseum
Reply
jbug16Developer127 days ago

I'm sorry about your experience. I tested it on a few different and smaller sized screens and it seemed to work fine for me. I did want to add more functionality for full screen and different resolutions, but I didn't have time, so thank you for pointing that out! 

The NPCs do choose a random food to order, which can create some issues if the random food items spawning aren't needed. I was planning to add a more complex system that would randomize the food items spawned based on the orders, so that the player would never have to wait, but I did not have time again. :(

Could you explain more about throwing items being inconsistent? I haven't gotten any other feedback about this mechanic and would love to know how I can improve.

Thank you for all the great feedback!

Reply
HullahoppSubmitted127 days ago

Yes, throwing items across the mirror was inconsistent for me (or perhaps the throw mechanic wasn't explained that well). Half the time my character dropped the item instead of throwing it across the mirror.

Reply
jbug16Developer127 days ago(+2)

Oh I see the misunderstanding. You need to point where you want to throw. You can click near the player to “drop” the item or you can click far away to throw as far as you desire. I will make sure that is clear in the instructions. Thank you! 

Reply
👁️neiromancerSubmitted133 days ago

The controls definitely need more explanation. You need to be close enough to interact with an object, but you also need to click on the object. One of this conditions would be enough I think.

Gameplay is interesting if a little unpolished. I don’t really like that items can spawn on the side of the room where you can’t use them. And IMHO reversed controls is just a bad mechanic.

But still, good job.

Submitted
Transmuted Tower
Reply
jbug16Developer127 days ago

Thank you for the feedback! I would definitely love to add a tutorial section to explain more about the controls. I will also look into making the clicking radius larger, as many others had some issues with that. I'm not sure if you were able to read the intro, but it explained that each side has to help each other complete their orders, hence the items spawning on both sides. You have to 'pass' them through the mirror, which is in the middle, to send them over to the other side. Thanks for the input!

Reply
smukliSubmitted133 days ago

Hey, nice gameplay -feel and the inverted-controls felt challenging and nice!

The gameplay is a bit too messy and hectic tho. Also I feel like the intro movie didn't add much to the game. Maybe the kitchen would have benefited from some obstacles that you'd need to manouver around, asymmetrically placed in the kitchens different sides perhaps?

Music and sounds... sound cool! The pixel art and the look of the game were really tight, cool retro aesthetics! Good job overall!

Submitted
Solar Survive
Reply
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