| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Mood | #73 | 3.375 | 3.375 |
| Audio | #73 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
| Overall | #79 | 3.375 | 3.375 |
| Theme | #82 | 3.375 | 3.375 |
| Graphics | #88 | 3.375 | 3.375 |
| Game Design | #113 | 2.750 | 2.750 |
Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Quite an interesting game for sure. I've come across the general concept where performing actions costs certain resources and gains other resources in other games, but I can't say I've ever come across one with as many resources as this one. The numerous resources and the constant threat of the hands meant you can't really sit down and calculate the most optimal actions to take, which is good - the lack of one clear ideal strategy means that the player can't optimize the fun out of the game.
On the other hand, it is really hard to get a grasp of everything going on, even with the various tutorials at the beginning and the occasional tips that appeared. Unfortunately, I'm not sure of a good way to address the issue that would be tonally consistent with the rest of the game, since it wouldn't make much sense to start with a child with less responsibilities like is often the case in the real world. And showing an example day to show how to balance things would inevitably influence players to follow a similar path, meaning that it's hard to be more helpful without limiting the players options (or their perception of optimal actions).
Still, overall I like what you're doing here. I like the light, which gives the game a little more action, and which provides occasional inspirational quotes that probably inspire the main character. Although I didn't make it far enough in the game to see, I wonder if that light gets dimmer as the game goes on, as a reflection of the programmer's fall into madness and increasing disillusion with the world? In any case, Man of Sorrows leverages games as a medium in an unusual but powerful way, and I think it's a great contribution to the jam.
I'm going to have to a detailed review for this one (cracks knuckles):
Theme: Yes, that was definitely a lot of sorrow, although it felt more like a lot of hunger, seeing how easy it was to get hungry. The real sorrow was seeing the character just collapse when you thought you had things under control.
Mood: Welp, I might not have a job yet or regularly see a psychiatrist, but I can clearly tell that the people who made this game did an excellent job at reflecting the mindset of a programmer, especially one participating in a game jam such as this. You really nailed it, from "feeling too overjoyed to bother to eat anything" to the jarringness of having to walk very long distances after having spent the past few hours in-place on a computer. I could almost call it hyper-realism, I'm not sure if a game should ever be this tedious, but mood wise it really helps the game get its message across.
Audio: The music was okayish for my tastes, it was nice that you managed to include a unique sound effect for almost every action. But maybe that was the point? As you play longer and longer, the music almost gets nauseating, not to say it's bad or anything, but that it can really wear down the listener. Similarly the sound effects begin to sound annoying, not ugly, but as if every pill is slightly harder to swallow than the last one. Whether intentional or not, it got to the point where I began to dread certain sounds, especially the aforementioned pills as the psychiatrist would keep prescribing higher and higher dosages.
Graphics: Again pretty simplistic designs, but considering the scale of the world stretching from your house to the psychiatrist, I'd say quantity to quality works here. But just because it adds the visual elements necessary to keep the player pre-occupied at all times, instead of having them stuck in a very well designed house all day.
Game Design: Tedium. Everything is tedious, everything is difficult, you have to make difficult choices while being punished for not paying attention. On paper this is a horrible idea for a game, but as you can tell from my words above, I think the theme let's you get away with this horrendous gameplay.
That being said it could use a lot of improvements. I would rather watch an unskippable cutscene when going to the psychiatrist than walk there with my horrendously slow speed. I don't like not being able to rest when I get tired, I mean there was the sofa but it was unreasonably far from the character's room. If we're going for realism here, I would have rather been able to fling myself on the bed for a short rest or nap.
The tutorials were a mess, moving the flashlight around was very clunky, I couldn't quite figure out why the light was sometimes talking to me... Not to mention how confusing it was that the hunger and health bars work in reverse (100 for max. hunger, 100 for max. health; but one goes up while the other goes down). But I imagine these were just issues you were unable to resolve during the course of the jam and might have had a better chance to look into if you had more time.
Overall: Definitely very experimental. Feels a lot like a point and click game, reminds me a bit of "sim" games considering how many status bars you have to balance. A full release would definitely need a lot of reworking, but as is it's definitely one of the most unique games for this jam. It's a good kind of unique, where gameplay and artistic choices really complement one another. Is it a fun game? Maybe not. I'd say it's more appropriate to look at it like avant-garde art. It's definitely not for everyone, I can't see myself playing this for prolonged amounts of time, but again maybe that is the point.
All in all I'm just astounded you were able to finish this within the time constraints of the jam at all. Great job there!
Really great mood, the super long arms are really creepy. The thing that bothered me was the UI, very polluted and hard to read, but that's a hard thing to do in such a small time, especially with that much info. Great job overall!
Yup I agree. I was planing to add icons for each of them but we didn't have much time to create them and testing had a higher priority :P Because for a game like this everything must be balanced. An object or item should not increase or decrease more features than it should. Well, it's not perfect but i tried to balance them. In the end, you are right, it's obious, we don't need a bar for money xD
Thank you for your great feedback and rate !
The atmosphere, especially the audio, was fantastic! The hands aren't really a threat but they're really creepy and spooked me a couple times. For feedback I'll say that this game is a bit of info overload at the beginning. I think polishing up the UI might be a start to fixing that cause its a little hard to read as is. There were also times when the game was telling me to do something but when I went to go do it the character would say "I don't want to do that." same with eating there were times when my hunger was almost full but I couldn't eat. Great work!
Yeah! That was pretty intense. The gameplay is pretty articulated but once the player figures it out is really interesting. Mood and music were nice too! Good job!! :)
Oh boy, this game creates a really dense atmosphere. I liked the light beam mechanic and also the art style and although somehow complex, I really "enjoyed" the game, if that's the appropriate word for it.
I can see that it is a very complex game where a lot of work was put it but I just have no idea what's going on :/ There's so much information thrown at the player at every step that you just get lost in it, confused. Maybe a little tutorial would help? Or introducing all those stats one by one?
Yea you are right. Yesterday i codded around 15 hours to add every ideas we have but in the end I was able to finish only half of them xD Lesson learnt xD Well, i need to think about the tutorial, mean while I threw out more information texts at the begining of the game. I know reading is borring but it's the easiest way xD Thanks for the feedback and rate ! ! ! ! !
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