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A jam submission

MusculusView game page

Manipulate mice in the name of science, in a cute science puzzle game.
Submitted by Stepford (@Stepf0rd), SlickRamen (@SlickestRamen), RyanAvx (@ryanandbreezy) — 6 minutes, 57 seconds before the deadline
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Musculus's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun#44.4094.409
Creativity#124.3184.318
WOWIE!#154.1364.136
Sound#363.9553.955
Visuals#464.2734.273
Topic#1223.8643.864
Simplicity#2513.8183.818

Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Music Source
The music was made by a friend: https://twitter.com/RyanAndBreezy

Credits
Stepford, SlickRamen and RyanAndBreezy

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

The art is very cute and I liked the puzzles.

Submitted(+1)

Really cute, doesn't fit the topic too well though, but overall awesome game^^

(1 edit) (+2)

I had to disable my antivirus and redownload the game a few times to get this working, but it was so worth it. The levels are well designed, scale at an appropriate difficulty (with one exception, mentioned next), and I was left wanting more at the end. 

I was confused by the third level, "Triple Jump," which I think may have been a mistake/oversight. The rat was used here before being formally introduced. I figured out its bouncing mechanic by accident, but was then confused later when it was given a few tutorial levels explaining its mechanics. This level also includes a mention of wires connecting the buttons and platforms, but I don't see what this references?

Also, somewhere along the line the level names stopped displaying properly and it just said "Placeholder" there.

I usually pay particular attention to the music in Jam games, but I was having so much fun I forgot to do that! I didn't notice any annoying repetitions or awkward balancing of sound/music volumes, so I guess it was all implemented well!

Edit: after posting this I have since remembered that when I launched the game for the first time yesterday, I was immediately captivated by the music on the main menu. A great first impression that made me want to see the game!

The mouse animations are adorable and well done. Kudos to the artist! I particularly loved the jumping animation, and how to rat rotated in the air instead of remaining flat as is typical of a 2D game.

Overall, this has been my favorite game of the jam so far. Great job! 5/5 If you continue to develop this game/make levels, I would love to play them :D

Developer(+1)

I'm really glad you had fun! It makes me HAPPY to hear! As for your concerns, the third level doesn't require a rat to pass. It's just meant to be a parkour trial more than anything - but we forgot to disable the rats on that level (since they are enabled by default in the scripts, just disabled manually in the earlier levels). We'll have to fix that in an update. And for the 'wires between buttons' we didn't have enough time to add it, since we had to rush making most of the levels towards the end. I'm glad you liked the music, since I reached out to our music guy like half way through the jam; they're a very talented person that's for sure!  We're thinking of working on a big update post jam, where we add a bunch of levels and maybe a few new mechanics, but we're just gonna take it easy for a bit; since jamming takes the wind out of ya'. <3

Submitted(+3)

This was a very fun game to play. cute graphics, not annoy music, and pretty intuitive.

Submitted (1 edit) (+3)

Holy moly what a mind-blowing game. It was very clever. The music was top notch, the graphics were charming. This is a 5 star all round for me. Excellent job! 

There were a couple of glitches where the rats didnt mimic exactly what I did, but this only happened occasionally.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the kind words!

Submitted(+3)

I've played a few games submitted to this jam with this idea of having ghost players mimic your movements, but this game by far executes it the best. The puzzles were super cute and fun! I really liked the introduction of the rats, which really spiced up the gameplay. My only real criticism is that when there are a lot of mice/rats, it can be hard to tell which mouse/rat you are playing as. Also, it's easy to mess up sometimes, and I didn't like restarting the whole level every time I missed a jump or moved too soon/late. Amazing job, keep it up.

Developer(+1)

Definitely valid critique! And I appreciate the kind words.

I do agree that it's hard to see which one you are playing as, so we added a little white aura around the currently active one. It's hard to see though, so I wouldn't blame you for not noticing. And for the "undo" option, that's simply because we didn't have enough time to make levels where the mechanics had to be introduced to you one at a time, rather, to pad out time and give the players challenge, we had to just dump a bunch of high difficulty levels towards the end. Not ideal, but for three days progress, I'm still happy with it!

Submitted(+2)

I did notice the aura after playing through the first few levels, but it was still hard to identify with all the other mice in the way. And yeah I totally get the absence of an undo button; I had to cut corners in my game as well due to time constraints.

Submitted (2 edits) (+2)

The first all around 5 star I gave, not only in this jam but also in the other jam I've been in.

This was fun as hell. Made me use my brain. The visuals are awesome. The game deisgn and introduction to new mechanics is top notch, sound design(!!!!) - can't stress this enough it was so so good.

I know there were some other games which did something silimar, but this is executed so well I don't even care. Shame that this gets behind all the rate4rate stuff.. but I guess that's just how jams are.

You have my respect, well done!


Edit: Forgot to mention, I've got a few bugs in which the rat just wouldn't copy the same moves, sometimes missed a jump sometimes went a bit to the right. But it happened 4 times so that's fine.

Developer

Wow!

This really means a lot! I appreciate you taking the time to tell me how much you enjoyed it. And yeah, I do agree with you - it feels like the people at the top of the list are also the ones who are spamming their game in the chat every hour. But oh well, it's not for popularity. It's for making something fun and unique! It's just nice to have your work pay off sometimes. 

I'll definitely give your game a go! Thanks for checking ours out.

(And for those bugs, I think it's because they only record the previous step BEFORE you press the button. So that means that if you press it JUST as you do something else, that something might not make it into the recording. We might have to fix that in the future.)

Submitted(+1)

Nice job! Saw you were featured, well deservered!

Submitted(+2)

There's a lot of good puzzle variety here. Also a lot of good polish with some nice details, like the camera tracking your movement or that the levels have names which is really neat.

Developer

Thanks a lot!

Submitted(+2)

Loved it! An undo button of some sorts would do wonders.
Well done and stay funky,
Dez

Developer

We're always funky. You know that.  😎

Submitted(+2)

This is so great! Definetly one of my favourite games from the jam! I don't really have any criticism, I just love this :)

Developer

Thanks so much! I'll be sure to give your game a go!

Submitted(+2)

Great,  my favorite game ive played so far this jam.

Liked how the level design had very little repetition

Developer

Thanks! We tried to make each puzzle more iterative than the last! 

(+2)

I loved this game! The art style is very good and I love puzzles, these were great. I have also made a puzzle game, check it out if you like.

Developer

I'll definitely give it a look! Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+3)

I would like some kind of undo button so I didn't have to restart the whole level when I screw up, but this was a blast to play regardless. I'll definitely play again if there are ever more levels.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the feedback! We (not confirming anything here) might make a post-jam version with some more mechanics and updated graphics and all that :)

Developer(+1)

I'm glad you liked it so much! 

I feel like it'd go against the puzzle nature if things didn't get a bit TRICKY towards the end, but I understand your frustration. : P

Submitted(+3)

Due to the timing and having to reset the whole level if you fail with the last mouse, its a bit tedious at times, but the style of the game and its gradual tutorial as well as graphics and the general mechanis are really great.

Developer

I appreciate it a lot, thanks!

Submitted(+2)

I adore this! love the little bouncing mouse animations and I love the puzzles. Great entry

Developer

Thanks so much! <3

Submitted(+2)

really nice game but please put jumping on pace

Developer

Jumping on pace?

Submitted(+1)

which AAA game has Jumping not on space as defult? But that is not a problem onley may own prefrence

Developer

Maybe I'll add it in an update. Thanks for the feedback, Crusher. <3

Submitted(+2)

Super cool!

Submitted(+2)

This is a fantastic little game!