Interesting game! It feels like you put a lot of heart into this and it shows.
I noticed that the forwards-scaling can go through every hole? It sort of feels like a pity since you went through the effort of colour-coding every wall with a hole (which I appreciate). It's like a symptom of a problem that the scaling and platforming are sort of... separate? You can scale, platform, and dodge lasers, but they don't end up interacting, feeling like 3 game mechanics put together instead.
I was sort of blindsided by the story. Throughout the first 6 levels, it felt like something deeper was implied, but things only started to happen at the end of the 6th. By then, I wasn't really expecting any story and wasn't paying attention, so the dialogue elements felt kind of like a waste (which is a pity because it was very well-implemented!)
Finally, I think this game has too much precision platforming. The player's shadow doesn't correspond to what's below you, which theoretically makes sense, but now you can't tell whether you are above a platform and have to approximate it and hope for the best. This feels like the weakest part of the game and is a frustrating part of what would have otherwise been a pretty clean experience.
Whew, I've said a lot. Like the others have said, it's charming and has artistic flair, and I can tell there's attention to detail. It's just got a couple of issues that might turn the average player away.
Viewing post in Agent DOC jam comments
Thank you for the review. Regarding the fact that forward scaling passes on every wall, I made it so that if you go by a wall with the scaling not matching the wall, the speed reverts to the base speed (thus losing the accelleration gained) this makes it virtually impossible to get three stars if you use the wrong shape (it is a hidden mechanic though, making it explicit would have been better). I am very interested in the talk about disunity of mechanics. Do you have any ideas how they could have been made more synergistic? Or if other mechanics would have benefited the experience? Thank you very much for the feedback.
I didn't really notice the stars because I didn't see any indicator of what gives you the stars or how fast exactly you have to be? (I actually thought they were pickups I was missing) Because speed is the only reason to match the shape, if the player isn't interested in stars, the acceleration loss actually becomes a good thing (I've slipped off a ledge to my death many times due to going too fast).
I'd say the scaling might need a purpose other than speeding through the right hole, like if scaling in a direction also scaled your speed in said direction (so y scaling gives more jump height, forward scaling makes you faster forwards, etc.).
I think having to get to a certain location to revert your scaling had some puzzling potential, i.e. you have to get to location A before you can resize yourself and fit into location B rather than a linear route. Though, this wouldn't work in this specific game because having time pressure and puzzling don't mix.
A more brute-force method would be to give the stars a purpose, like an alternate ending if you manage to get a certain amount. It's elegant and easy to implement, but it also forces players to prioritize speed, and time pressure can be rather stressful.
I think the best solution really depends on what you think is most important about the game. Is it about beating the clock and executing moves with the perfect timing? Is it about using the mechanics given to you and the map's features to methodically solve each level? Is it about coming up with new and novel ways to use a mechanic already given to you? As long as it feels rewarding to engage with, I'd say it works.
The times to get the stars are only present at the end of each level (in the tab that is opened when collecting the microchip) but it would be more correct to include them in the selection menu as well.
I agree that the purpose of the stars is indeed ephemeral, a player can decide to strive to get them all or ignore them not interested in the challenge. Giving a reward for achieving a number of stars (such as unlocking levels, dialogue, endings, cosmetics, or in-game currency) is certainly a clever way to entertain players who are not solely interested in the challenge.
The puzzle approach I usually rule out since these gamejams are always saturated with such games, but the idea of providing a speed boost based on the scaled-down axis is something that would definitely have interesting applications.
The idea I started from here was actually was to create a very basic version of Neon White, then make the speed of level completion a priority challenge.
One design (or rather geometric and engine) problem I had was that resizing on the z-axis could virtually negate the need to have to choose other types of resizing. I solved it by reducing the speed when the hole was mismatched and limiting the ability to resize on that axis by level. Initially, though, I had solved it by making that transformation a little bit thicker in the x and y axes so that it still didn't go through the other holes, but capturing the velocity caused Unity to make the colliders interpenetrate anyway. If this solution had worked, the levels would definitely have been geared toward a more puzzle approach.