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The Murder of HawkZombie's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| People's Choice | #2 | 4.462 | 4.462 |
| Judge's Score | #2 | n/a | n/a |
Ranked from 13 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What genre did you decide to use for the jam?
visual novel and mystery (Ace attorney or Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog) and Bullet hell mini game.
Content Warnings?
I don't know if generators count as AI art(?) Here's the website to judge it yourself: https://deep-fold.itch.io/space-background-generator
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Comments
THIS GAME WAS ADORABLE AND FUN. I actually liked the bullet hell even though I sucked at it bc my attention span sucks.
This game is super cute and works pretty well overall. I love how the murder mystery was set up. The bullet hell parts are impressive for being in RM, but I have to wonder: why? The play style is at odds with the overall feeling of the game, which would be fine as an optional side thing but feels weird as a required element. Also, minor quibbles about the grammar but I still understood everything.
Overall, impressive work!
Thanks for giving the game a try! The...er...bullet hell part erm...I have no excuses, I was too stubborn on making a mini game like murder of sonic. (The original plan was unity ace attorney, with brick breaker mini game. Would it be worse/better? We'll never know, especially since I forgot about coherence in gameplay)
I did had a small tiny voice telling me this feels weird before the final release but I...er, too far in?Anyway, thanks for the suggestion for the bullet hell to be optional! I'll be sure to look into it after the post jam update!
Sorry about the writing issues XC
I... got frustrated with this game. I loved the interrogation and testimonies, but the bullet hells really got to me, especially with bombs going off automatically when I don't need them, which meant I never had them when I DID need them. I also could not get the safe to open correctly despite following every clue and needing to use google to look up most of the answers felt awkward to me. If there was a way to find the answers in-game, that would feel more cohesive (I felt like the library would've been perfect for this). I loved the writing and I want to beat the game. I might even come back after a little bit. Overall, I like what you were going for, but I feel like you were trying to cram two games at once, and it didn't always mesh together. I felt like the bullet hell could be optional and it wouldn't have changed the story much.
With that being said, I do understand what you meant about it being a fan game. I actually think you did a good job with what I've seen, and I love how you reversed the idea of the solving the crime, not by finding the murder weapon, but by eliminating every murder weapon until only one remains. Very good take on it.
I'm so sorry about your experience with the game ;-; The bombs automatically goes off when you are hit by a bullet so it replaces all your bombs before costing the actual life. I'd recommend using the bombs(u can literally spam it on the 1st life and then suicide to clear all current bullet on screen XD) since the bombs refill when you die.
As for the puzzle thing. I won't lie I should have listened to some of the feedback from my friends >.> (during the production) I did heed their advice for the horoscope part, but not the hachiko part because.... ;-; because I figured key's puzzle was optional and I wanted people to know about the loyal doggo. So I do apologize for forcing player to google it (and the hint wasn't good enough) That library suggestion is good, I'm so sad I didn't thought about it!
Also thanks for the feedback on the bullet hell! I'll
maybe make it optionaladjust it/buff the player more after the post jam update, or maybe nerfs some of the stages. I am surprised the main game(reverse murder mystery) was so well received than the bullet hell that it felt like the bullet hell dragged it down XD Anyway, I do hope you give it another chance(or maybe after the post jam update) and have fun with it :3Don't be sorry. I've seen other bullet hells that do the same thing, so you're not necessarily doing anything wrong. It's just something I personally never like in any game like that, because I try to conserve bombs and special attacks for when things really get haywire. I learned about the suicide trick after a few tries; I normally only died because I'd crash into a straggler out of nowhere (I think they're the ones that hone in on you). But I did figure it out and used it in the later stages. That one's a good concept to keep.
The thing to remember about puzzles is that the ones that do best are the ones that you can figure out in-game. Remember that a player is already working on figuring out your game. If they need to take a break and leave the game to go find information about a puzzle, that could make it more tedious for them. I do understand wanting to add fun lore in, and it's not a bad thing to do. But IF you do, the better part of valor is to find a way that the players learn that information naturally. It'll make the optional things more fun to try and it won't feel so jarring for the player. Hints are a good way to do it, but if you want to be sneaky, subtlety is the best! It's fun to think of ways to sneak in information that makes the player go "...WAIT A MINUTE! I saw this! I have to go back and read it!"
I think the reason it was so well-received is because it was a concept no one else went with. I don't think any of us thought about looking at it that way. That's the fun of these jams. You come across a bunch of different ideas that help you see new ways of looking at a specific genre.
This made me literally cackle out loud multiple times. It's always so satisfying when you feel rewarded for feeling clever. I'm SOOOOO bad at bullet hell games, I was so literally almost stopped just at the first level haha. Muscled through though! Practiced, many times, got good and got through it. Found a few grammatical and tense errors in the text, but there's SO much text I don't blame you for that much at all, this is a really impressive big project to pull of so smoothly in a small time frame. Funny, fun, memorable and moved right along, very forgiving to player mistakes which is always nice (especially in the bullet hell game, the bombs are what saved me so many times). Really good job!
I....after rewatching the streams, I must apologize for the amount of writing errors ;-; (I promise I'll try to improve on it) But I'm glad to know about the forgiving part! One of bullet hell issue seems to be the stage 5(ozzy) due to the pre-release buff. ....So, expect a small balance update for the bullet hell and text correction after the jam :p
writing errors aren’t a huge deal don’t stress too much! Those are easy fixes and most ppl don’t even notice them and automatically correct in their head. Last game I made I drew a whole ass typo onto an asset haha. It happens. Your game had us all rolling with laughter!
Very fun concept, I love the ideas of a zombie making an event out of being put to rest, and of all the suspects frantically piling fake evidence onto the body until it becomes a chaotic mess.
I had a bit of trouble following the logic for what evidence to present, but got through it eventually and still had fun
weeee, I'm so happy to hear that you had fun with the game! I apologize if certain logic maybe a bit wonky because... >.> i never really wrote a "all joker find murderer" amongus.
OMG This is the crime-fighting shmup ever.
In all seriousness, the writing in here was what sold me on this. I was pretty happy to debunk the Butler's testimony. Wish I can continue more on this, but first I gotta git gud.
I know this is bit too late(hawk already streamed it/how to play XD) but thank you so much for the compliment on the writing! I'm glad to hear you had fun debunking the butler's testimony!
You are welcome. I just love comedies like these. I gotta try for something like The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog next time too. But probably not use a SHMUP (or else I too can't complete it.)
generators are not ai art btw bc someone made the art for it still!! Even if we dislike it ai, it doesn't mean it's not allowed so you should be good either way!