Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

• Most Fun: This is a really nice little game. It's pleasant, It's calming, It's whimsical. It does a lot of things right, and commits very few sins, mostly born of the limited development time. The movement set is tight, yet intuitive and forgiving. The narrative is light with flashes of depth to it, and the experience is backed up by a wonderful composition that both fits the game and stands on its own two feet. You've scoped correctly, and crafted a cohesive experience from start to finish. It's clear you spent quite a bit of time on the music, which has given you a strong atmosphere to build your experience around. I would expect to see more polish if given a few more days, especially in the core gameplay loop QoL of dying (I often fell off as soon as I respawned). What you have is objectively good - It just needs a little bit more polish, and a little bit more content. Use of Theme: Objectively good use of theme, baked into the core gameplay mechanic and referenced in the narrative. I might have liked to see a bit more polish in the feedback loop mechanic, or an extended story that asks more questions about the feedback loop existential crisis that these robots seem to experience. However again, what you have is good, and there is a clear direction with which its potential could be realised. Game Design: I think everything I've said for Use of Theme applies here. I will say that you do a fantastic job of ramping difficulty and cycling through a core loop however, which are core skills when designing an experience. Level Design: It's approachable, but that means it ends up being quite simplistic in some places. My score in this area is a reflection of lack of quantity, as the game practically begs there to be another level with some tougher level design or some trickier puzzles. 2D Art & Art Direction: It's always tempting to stick to a single theme, especially when dealing with Sci-Fi. You get marks for competently blending nature visuals with Sci-Fi. The character sprite that you created fits the rest of the artwork, and the animations are perfect for the experience you've created. I obviously can't mark too highly for the lack of original artwork, but I can award for art direction, as I think you set out with a vision for what this game should look like, and executed it very well. Audio Design: Not only paying attention to the importance of music in a game experience, but your own music that's mapped flawlessly to the atmosphere and emotion of your own dreamed up experience? Cute SFX that slot right into place alongside it? That is the high level work of a true game developer. Outstanding. User Interfaces: Really nice for the most part, with particular achievement found in the dialogue menu. I might have liked to see some more accessibility in especially the poorly contrasting text at the top right of the screen, but it's a small issue that clearly just slipped through the cracks and would be fixed with polish. Another unfortunate thing is the blurriness of most of the UI in the game. I'm sure this was one of those tricky technical issues that become a timesink, but its one of those things that sticks out like a sore thumb, and every player will judge you on. Itch Page: This is textbook portfolio layout design. Straight into the video, controls because I already know you want to play it, good looking screenshots to build my anticipation, a short "hey I'm a likeable person" segment, and straight into an easy to access download. So many people get this wrong. You have clearly thought about the experience of reading through the itch page, and given it the respect it deserves as an important part of the player experience. Very well done. Commercially Viable: It needs polish. It needs content. It needs more art. It begs for more of the subtle and intriguing narrative. It's rough around the edges in the same way that an uncut gemstone is. The core is there, and everything else can come. I could easily see an expanded form of this game having a small audience that love it. Technical Accomplishment: A game on your own is no small feat, and you've done an exceptional job with so many of the elements, but I don't really think there's any technical marvel in here - Just well implemented, tight features. I don't see this as a negative however, as you've clearly placed focus elsewhere and it's paid off in those areas.