Game Review Time

What I liked

The puzzles were relatively simple, but well designed. The sprite work was readable and the background and foreground did not blend in any way that caused issues. Idle animation was good for the main character. The game had a good variety of levels. Music was present, and there was sound feedback when moving. Gamejammer pro tip: A level select is a really good idea. Props for having it. BUT: include a debug method to unlock all levels. This lets people gain access to a vertical slice of your game. It allows streamers to skip sections they're really stuck on and demonstrate more of the game to viewers. (I know you included K for if you get stuck, but all information should be communicated within the game) I want to highlight level 2. I'm a really big fan of hot it introduced the Exposed Wires of Doom ™️ it's ironically quite difficult to create a simple level that introduces concepts without coming off as either too wordy or talking down to the player, and you nailed it here.

What I didn't like, and how to address them.

Whilst there's music and movement based sound feedback, which is more than other games can boast, I'm personally not a fan of the sound effect used by your game, it doesn't feel  Zappy™️ enough. Makes the overall character feel like a floaty little man rather then a metal duder. I also feel like there's a few sounds missing: Victory, Death, being the most important ones. Whilst the animation on the main character is lovely, at the beginning of almost every level, there's very few other animated parts. I would recommend adding a small animation to the exposed wires. Maybe a blinking red light to circuit boxes which switches to green when activated and some small animated gears or pistons for the foreground level geometry. I'm not sure I like the laser pointer length too much? But I've actually struggled to make one I'm happy with for years. I'd maybe recommend adding a little recital at the very end of where the player is going to land, as it would make long distance jumps less unpredictable.

Potential Improvements

• Add in a simple fade in / transition. It really helps polish up the game, and covers up the abrupt resetting of all game pieces.
• Exposed wires could make a very occasional spark particle effect.
• Add a small pitch variation to the sound effects you're generating. This allows you to get a lot more out of 8 bit sounds with very little effort.
• An Undo button would be really good to have. There were moments I was begging for one.
• Maybe music should pitch down the less energy you have?

Overall Thoughts

A very charming game that has a lot of potential. A solid level design core to it and some small improvements here and there that can really polish up the game. A post jam update would really make this shine and make it a good portfolio piece for your game development endeavours.