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Exceed/Excess's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #12 | 4.082 | 5.000 |
| Overall | #83 | 3.266 | 4.000 |
| Gameplay | #102 | 2.858 | 3.500 |
| Presentation | #107 | 3.266 | 4.000 |
| Engagement | #111 | 2.858 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Thanks for submitting your entry! While playing through the game, judges noticed a sound effect that sounds identical to the Sonic ring sound:
Could you please clarify whether this is the source of the effect and why it was used? Please note that this sound is technically copyrighted.Hi! Thanks for playing. The sound effect is a remake of the sonic ring which I took from here: https://samplefocus.com/samples/sonic-ring-type-fx. They have it listed as royalty free under a standard licence. As for why... Well, I thought it was funny to equate a sound most gamers associate with gaining wealth (and life) to the idea of amassing debt, the implication being that wealth itself is a form of debt.
Thanks for the clarification. While the effect does sound very close to the original, we'll take your word for it given that it was sourced from a royalty-free site and it would be difficult to prove it's the same.
This is a strange one, since I like it yet mostly found it upsetting to play through. The "exceed/excess" system always makes me feel like I'm on the back foot whenever I need to make progress and like I'm at risk of expending something I'll never be able to recover. The concept of cutting ugly deals in order to manage this system is frustratingly tragic and leads to a feeling that a "good" ending is only possible on a second run with foreknowledge of how to traverse an area.
That said, that is what helps make it interesting as a surrealist morality test. The game mostly made me feel bad and frustrated, but in such a way that was interesting! I haven't played through Pathologic 2 yet, but I have played the "Marble Nest" dlc which feels somewhat similar. It feels like the game is designed to induce bad feelings through the persistent pressure and obfuscation of correct answers, which is clever design in a strange way given how unappealing it is on the face of it.
I will say that the game did frustrate me a bit too much at times from what I've played of it and that the presence of some typos did pull me out of the experience somewhat, but it is a great concept with a very solid visual execution--especially with the 8-way character animations and unique sprinting sprites. Great work!
Thank you for the detailed feedback. That's really interesting to hear. I am certainly trying to create a sense of discomfort and the feeling that everything is somewhat futile, however I don't want it to be as frustrating as you said. I'll think about maybe adding more options to recover the excesses or maybe more hints as to how to proceed in other ways.
About typos - so sorry. I'm rubbish at spelling, always have been, but I will do my best to find and destroy them!
I can't take credit for the character art, that is all by a creator called LOW (find him here on itch).
Once again, thank you for the invaluable feedback.
The writing was chilling, kept me very engaged while reading about this dying world. The setting as a whole was great, I love the bleeding and red iconography and the other parts of this world feel right out of the Tolkien novels. I did have some trouble triggering prompts in the intro and harder stages but overall the system felt satisfying, The Excess system was not only innovative but each affect in it was interesting and unique. It made for something intriguing to work around. can't wait to see this world and game expanded.
Thank you so much for playing!!