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Squirrel Plan's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #13 | 3.550 | 3.550 |
| Fun | #29 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
| Visuals | #30 | 3.300 | 3.300 |
| Overall | #31 | 3.350 | 3.350 |
| Innovation | #34 | 3.100 | 3.100 |
| xkcd-ness (how well it matches/interprets the comic) | #53 | 3.400 | 3.400 |
Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to xkcd comic / 'what if' article the game is based on
https://xkcd.com/1503/
Please list any pre-made art/music/other assets that you used.
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/83912
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/73777
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/79898
https://opengameart.org/content/platformer-art-complete-pack-often-updated#
https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/indie-flower
https://opengameart.org/content/ui-pack-rpg-extension
http://kenney.nl/assets/watercraft-pack
http://kenney.nl/assets/space-kit
Team size
2
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Comments
Nice, cute and clean visuals. Music worked pretty well too. Obviously would have needed some sound effects and more polish on the visual side as well.
As already stated by others, getting a full on game over and having to just go grab all the stuff again was kinda tedious. Like if I jump to the water in the beginning it's fine but if I fall there with the balloon it's game over. Didn't quite make sense.
Could have used some more hints on what could be built in game. Only things I found out how to build were the balloon and the turtle taxi. The hints you had there like the string can only join two objects together were along the right line but not really that helpful. Of course I was trying to join two things together with the string but if I didn't have the exact right ones the game was like "nope, those aren't objects, try using objects next time newb". First I made a balloon (without the feather) and you kinda gave away that I'll need to add the feather next time.
After few failed landings with the balloon (WASD controls were for some reason inverted when flying, arrows weren't), I experimented more with crafting and managed to build the turtle cab. And with that, I sailed on... for what felt like an eternity. After I was just about to give up, I saw the island. And then it just went past it. After that, insert another eternity and almost giving up again and I see another island, sweet. Except didn't find any way to get there and the turtle was just stuck on place there. Was I supposed to do something there to get to the island, nothing seemed to do anything.
Knowing that the islands were there, I built another balloon and went on my way towards them. Then I tried to land on the island and the squirrel crashed and died. This was the time I decided to call it quits...
Anyways, good job. As you and others have already discussed, it might have been a tad too ambitious so you couldn't really focus on the most important bits, the gameplay and final polish. Oh well, jams are all about the learning experience anyway so next time you'll know!
I loved the crafting for different outcomes!... I wanted to experiment with different combos more, but got too frustrated when I failed, and the game started over completely. If it just reset me to where I was before, that would've made it much more forgiving and fun. I liked the idea though! Very cute.
The art is cute and the music is nice. Found the controls for the travel portion kinda tricky, and I kinda had to rely on the cheat sheet to create anything. The crafting idea definitely has potential though.
The crafting mechanic has potential, but the controls after you build stuff is kind of hard to understand. The turtle with the carrot was quite a bit of waiting.
I quite liked it.
The art is cute.
It's just a shame it falls a bit flat on the gameplay (due to overambition probably). Also, for the several annoying gameplay quirks, like the need to collect items again if you fall in the water, but not if you abort just before losing...
The idea of crafting household items as a squirrel to get to an island is interesting. But the execution falls quite flat.
For starters, some combinations are not obvious, while others cannot be made. I tried crafting by myself quite a few times before I gave up and relied on the cheat sheet, because the combinations of item I made didn't work.
The item combos that are there are interesting, and I like how there are different mechanics depending on what you build to get to the island. But the limitations surrounding them are ridiculous. Clouds are solid and you can't hit them--really?! And squirrels can swim if they must (and yes, I googled "can squirrels swim" after you game told me "it's obvious you can't swim" [which is false]). I understand wanting to present a challenge to the player, but this is overdoing it a little. And the catapult item is near impossible to use, since it's very hard to tell how far you have to shoot to get to the island.
The art is charming, but the writing is riddled with typos. And the music gets annoying fast. I don't find this to be particularly faithful to the original comic it's based on (which is the squirrels getting to the moon, not an island), but perhaps you changed it for a reason?
Overall, I wanted to like this game, but I personally didn't enjoy it. I'm sure there are others who will, though.
First of all, thank you for your critics. A lot of bad points you bring can mostly be justified by a lack of time or a game maybe a bit too big for 2 men in 3 days. The idea we get out of the comic was that for some entities (like squirrels) have different vision of the world or rules. We tried at least to not get that similar to the xkcd and open the idea. Maybe that was a bad choice maybe not....
My regret is that you didn't have fun playing the game. We try to do it better at the new event. Have a nice day !
I really enjoyed all the art combinations and ending it brought like a sandbox element to it even if it was short! Anyway one thing I do want to mention is I'm doing a review of design on the games in this jam so here's a shameless plug to my channel if you want to be notified of the vid when released: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Vj46GGL9VMUvd4YTMtjXg
My XKCD game jam analysis is out!